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[identification of item], [box#, folder #], John Walter Rice slavery documents, 1831-1832, SC 0417, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Purchased November 21, 2025 at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc. Fall Premier Americana: Day Two Featuring The Benny Long Collection.
From the collection of Benny Long, New Market, Virginia. Previously Booze Vaughn estate, New Market, Virginia.
Dr. John Walter Rice (1793-1862) attended medical school in Philadelphia before permanently moving to New Market, Virginia by 1819. He served in the War of 1812, possibly as a surgeon. In 1815, Rice married Anna Maria Gilliams in Philadelphia, and the couple had twelve children. In 1834, Rice, one of the largest landowners in the New Market area of Shenandoah County, built Stanley Hall, a Greek Revival plantation house, that is presently situated on land preserved by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. He was elected president of the Valley Turnpike Company in 1843, a position he held for many years. According to the 1840 census, Rice enslaved 12 people. The 1850 census lists 22 people enslaved by Rice.
Other than their names and previous enslavers - information found within the documents in this collection - the archivist was unable to locate additional information about Dianah (also spelled Diana) and Edmund. In the documents, they are referred to as a girl and boy respectively, suggesting they were children at the time of their sale.
Robert H. Turner (1789-1861), originally from Woodstock, moved to Warren County in 1836 where he became county clerk.
John W. Dulaney (1800-1883) was born in Culpeper County, Virginia and later moved to Ohio.
Philip Broadus Grandstaff Jr. (1792-1865) and Benjamin Grandstaff (1794-1873) were brothers from Edinburg, Virginia.
The collection comprises three documents recording Dr. John Walter Rice's purchase of two enslaved people - Dianah from Robert Harry Turner of Woodstock, Virginia (later of Front Royal, Virginia) in 1831 and Edmund from John William Dulaney of Woodville, Virginia in 1832. The documents include an 1831 promissory note and indenture as well as an 1832 bill of sale. Brothers Benjamin and Philip Grandstaff Jr. of Shenandoah County were named in the documents related to Dianah as one or both were previously her enslavers.
Bill of sale for Dianah, an enslaved woman, from Benjamin Grandstaff to John W. Rice, 1831 April 19 :manuscript signed., American slavery documents collection, 1757-1878 and undated, RL.11093, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Stewart, Nancy Branner. "African Americans in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Notebooks," Vol. 4, Book A, 2010.