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], Tyler-McConnell-Wilson Family Papers, Ms2026-069, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Tyler-McConnell-Wilson Family Papers were donated to Special Collections and University Archives in 2026.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Tyler-McConnell-Wilson Family Papers commenced and was completed in July, 2026.
James Hoge Tyler (1846-1925), Virginia governor from 1898 to 1902, was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1846. He was the son of George and Eliza Hoge Tyler but was reared by his grandparents, James and Eleanor Howe Hoge, in Pulaski County, Virginia.
Tyler joined the Confederate army and served as a private in the Signal Corps throughout the Civil War. After the war, he returned to Pulaski County, where he had inherited the Hoge farm. He renamed the farm "Belle Hampton" and become a successful farmer and businessman.
Tyler married Sue Montgomery Hammet (1845-1927) in 1868. While living at Belle Hampton, the Tylers had eight children: Edward H., James H. Jr., Stockton Heth, Lucy Belle, Sue H., Henry C. ("Hal"), Eliza ("Lily") and Eleanor Howe Tyler (died in infancy). In 1891, the family moved to "Halwick," their home in Radford.
Tyler was elected to the state senate in 1877 and served one term. He also served on the board of visitors and as rector of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). He served as Virginia's lieutenant governor 1890 to 1894 and as governor from 1898 to 1902. Tyler remained somewhat active in state politics in his later years and also served as food administrator for Radford and Montgomery County during World War I.
Eldest child of James H. and Sue Hammet Tyler, Edward Hammet ("Ned") Tyler (1869-1939) graduated from Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. He managed the family farm at Belle Hampton and also owned Kirkland Farm near Dublin (Pulaski County), Virginia.
James Hoge Tyler Jr. (1871-1937) attended Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and graduated from Hampden-Sidney College. He worked in the governor's office during his father's administration and later for the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company. He married Evelyn Gray Bell (1879-1924) in 1908, and the couple lived in Roanoke.
Stockton Heth Tyler (1874-1943) was a graduate of the Washington and Lee School of Law. During the Spanish-American War, he was a major in the U. S. Army, serving as an additional paymaster. He married Nelle Louise Serpell in 1904; the couple had five children. Tyler served as mayor of Norfolk, Virginia from 1924 to 1932.
Lucy Belle Norwood Tyler (1876-1955) married Colonel Frank Percy McConnell (1870-1941) in 1908. The couple, with their son, James Hoge Tyler McConnell, lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Frank McConnell was engaged in several business enterprises, before returning by 1927 to Radford.
Sue Hampton Tyler (1877-1949) married Rev. Robert Ware Jopling (1865-1944), a Presbyterian minister, in 1915. The couple had two children, Sue Tyler and James Robert Jopling, and resided in Texas and South Carolina. Following her husband's death, Sue Jopling made her home in Norfolk, Virginia.
Henry Clement ("Hal") Tyler (1878-1941) graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1901. He established a law practice in Radford, where he was appointed commonwealth attorney in 1906. He continued in that position through successive elections until 1922. In 1909, he was elected city attorney and served in that position until his death. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1924 to 1925.
Known to her family and friends as "Lily," Eliza Lillian Tyler (1882-1974) married Henry Harrison Wilson (1882-1933) in 1915. The Wilsons eventually made their home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and had three children: James Hoge Tyler (1916-1994), Lily Norwood (1919-2008), and Henry Harrison Wilson II (1923-2016). Following her husband's death, Lily Wilson returned to Virginia and by 1948 was living at the Tyler family home.
More detailed biographical information on the J. Hoge Tyler family may be found in the J. Hoge Tyler Family Collection, Ms1967-002.)
This collection contains correspondence and ephemera of Virginia Governor James Hoge Tyler; his wife Sue Hammet Tyler; several of their children (Lucy Belle Norwood Tyler McConnell, Henry Clement ("Hal") Tyler, James Hoge Tyler Jr., Stockton Heth Tyler, and Lily Tyler Wilson); and grandchild Lily Norwood Wilson.
Much of the collection consists of postcards addressed to various family members. A few of these are illustrated greeting cards for Christmas and Easter. Others show images of West Side School (Johnson City, Tennessee), Watts Hall and Spence Library at Union Theological Seminary, Roanoke Country Club, and the cafe-bar at Hotel Martinique, New York City. Also included in the correspondence is a letter of sympathy from William Sulzer following the death of J. Hoge Tyler; a letter from C. F. Ward of Roanoke, regarding a case against Eli Sohn and expressing anti-Semetic sentiments; a letter from the Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, inviting (Lucy) Belle Tyler to appear at an upcoming reunion as maid of honor to the 9th Congressional District sponsor; a letter from J. H. Hoge regarding repairs to the grave of Col. Jospeh Tyler; letters from the Clapp Stove Company regarding goods purchased by J. Hoge Tyler; and a letter from O. Bence Ross, an army trainee at Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, to Mrs. H. E. McDonald of Roanoke. (The relationship of Ross or McDonald, if any, to the Tylers is unknown.)
Several pieces of ephemera, consisting largely of commercial promotional materials, complete the collection. Included are materials promoting Leonard's White-tipped Scarlet Turnip Radish / Jones Mercantile Co. (East Radford, Virginia); Red Cross Shoe / Johnson Bros. (Radford, Virginia); Armstrong Manufacturing Company (Huntington, West Virginia); and Crown Sea Food Company (Gloucester, Massachusetts). Also included are two invitations to events connected to the 300th anniversary celebration of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia.
The guide to the Tyler-McConnell-Wilson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (
See also the finding aid for the J. Hoge Tyler Family Collection, Ms1967-002 and the Tyler-Wilson Family Papers, Ms2017-014.