The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Samuel D. Jones Letter to Henry C. Wysor, 1893, Ms2024-051, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Samuel D. Jones Letter to Henry C. Wysor was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in April 2019.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Samuel D. Jones Letter to Henry C. Wysor was completed in April 2024.
Samuel D. (Dews or Dewes?) Jones was born on May 27, 1856, to William S. and Virginia J. Jones in Campbell County, Virginia. He graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture from Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech) in 1878. He worked as a lawyer according to the 1880 census, and by 1893, he served as principal of the Southwest Virginia Institute for Young Ladies in Glade Spring (later Virginia Intermont College in Bristol). He married Elizabeth "Bettie" Harrison (1862-1928) on October 10, 1883, in Washington County. She was the daughter of Rev. J. R. Harrison, founder of the Southwest Virginia Institute, and his wife Sarah. The couple had several children, including Harrison, Saunders, Lula Dean, and Bolling H. Jones.
In 1898, Jones became Vice President of Atlanta Stove Works, and the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Jones became the president of the company the next year, and the he and his brother Bolling Jones later founded what became the Birmingham Stove & Range Company in Birmingham, Alabama. Jones died on April 6, 1930, and is buried in the Westview Cemetery in Atlanta.
External Sources:
U.S. Federal Census, 1870-1880, 1900-1920.
University Catalogs, 1876-1878.
"Mr. S.D. Jones," Box 18, Virginia Tech Alumni Association Alumni Cards, RG 29e, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va., https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_3335.xml, accessed May 15, 2024.
"Samuel Dewes Jones", Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109068797/samuel-dewes-jones, accessed May 15, 2024.
"Elizabeth Harrison Jones", Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109068923/elizabeth_jones, accessed May 15, 2024.
"Saml D. Jones" in the Virginia, U.S., Birth Registers, 1853-1911, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/343248:62153, accessed May 15, 2024.
"Sam D Jones" in the Fulton and Campbell Counties, Georgia, Cemetery Records, 1857-1933, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/322420:61953, accessed May 15, 2024.
"Forgotten Foundry: Birmingham Stove & Range", Southern Cast Iron, November 17, 2021, https://southerncastiron.com/forgotten-foundry-birmingham-stove-range/, accessed May 15, 2024.
"Samuel D. Jones" in the Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/430245:62154, accessed April 26, 2024.
Henry C. Wysor was born to George Washington and Margaret Ann Wysor in October 21, 1847, in Washington County, Virginia. During the American Civil War, Henry enlisted with the Confederacy at the age of 16 in 1864 with the 45th Infantry and later transferred to Company F of the 54th Infantry. He married Mary Elizabeth Shipp (1846-1922) in 1873, and the couple had six children, Mary S., William W., Henry, Cora R., Rufus J., and Davidson C.
Wysor primarily worked as a Life Insurance Agent who ran his own branch of the New-York Life Insurance Company in southwestern Virginia. He also owned an apple orchard and sold apples to people throughout southwestern Virginia and West Virginia. He died on August 7, 1927, in Dublin, Pulaski County, Virginia.
Sources:
U.S. Federal Census, 1880, 1900-1920.
"Henry Crockett Wysor", FindAGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38066024/henry-crockett-wysor, accessed April 26, 2024.
"Mary Elizabeth Shipp Wysor", FindAGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38064279/mary_elizabeth_wysor, accessed April 26, 2026.
"Henry C Wysor" in the U.S., Civil War Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/676433:1555, accessed April 26, 2024.
The Samuel D. Jones Letter to Henry C. Wysor is a letter written on March 10, 1893, from Jones in Glade Spring, Virginia, to Wysor in Dublin, Virginia. The letter details a payment for an insurance policy and is written on Southwest Virginia Institute for Young Ladies letterhead.
Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives maintains several related Wysor family papers:
Rufus J. Wysor Papers, Ms1968-008
James M. Wysor Letter, Ms2013-035
Henry Wysor Family Papers, Ms2015-026
Henry C. Wysor Family Papers, Ms2023-012
F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor, Ms2024-052
The guide to the Samuel D. Jones Letter to Henry C. Wysor by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).