Administrative Information

Access

There are no restrictions.

Publication Rights/ Restrictions on Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Librarian/ Associate Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the holder of the copyright, if not the Rockefeller Library at Colonial Williamsburg.

Preferred Citation

Mordecai B. Sweeney Papers, Manuscript MS 31.22, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Acquisition Information

Gift, 1931.

Alternative Form

Also available on microfilm M-1553.

Biographical/Historical Information

Mordecai B. Sweeney, tailor in Williamsburg, Va., ante 1830-1833, and Methodist minister in Richmond, Va., about 1837-1846 and 1855-1863, and in Baltimore, Md., ca. 1848-1852. According to a note in the papers, he moved to Austin, Tex., in May 1871.

Scope and Content Information

Included in the papers is a ledger volume of accounts for Sweeney's tailoring business, which also contains the accounts of Sweeney and Vanderslice of Norfolk; also included are Sweeney's book of personal expenses; lists of marriages performed in Richmond and Baltimore; accounts 1838-1884; marriage licenses, 1837-1860 and 1881; and recipes and other miscellany. The names in the Williamsburg accounts include Burwell Bassett, Augustine Deneufville, Goodrich Durfey, [Dr.] Alexander Galt, John Maupin, Philip Moody, George Morrison, George Newton, Robert Saunders, James Scott, Richard Taliaferro, and Benjamin Waller. Tailor's accounts have own rough index.

Arrangement

Each series is arranged chronologically. Loose pages from the account book come at the end of the financial series.

The collection is divided into two series. The first series consists of financial papers. The second series consists of marriage licenses and certificates with a few miscellaneous items at the end.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Bassett, Burwell, 1764-1841.
• Deneufville, Jean Augustine, 1763-1838.
• Durfey, Goodrich, d. ca. 1868.
• Galt, Alexander Dickie, 1771-1841.
• Maupin, John, d. 1852.
• Moody, Philip.
• Morrison, George, d. 1833.
• Newton, George.
• Saunders, Robert, 1761-1835.
• Scott, James.
• Taliaferro, Richard.
• Waller, Benjamin, d. 1865.

Subjects:

• Tailors--Virginia--Williamsburg.

Corporate Names:

• Methodist Episcopal Church--Virginia--Richmond--Clergy.
• Sweeney and Vanderslice (Firm).

Genre and Form Terms:

• Ledgers (account books)--Virginia--19th century.
• Marriage licenses--Maryland--Baltimore--19th century.
• Marriage licenses--Texas--Austin--19th century.
• Marriage licenses--Virginia--19th century.

Occupations:

• Pastors.