Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of the Preston and Related Radford Families, Accession #6353, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was a gift to the Library from Mrs. William P. Moore of Charlottesville, Virginia, on June 22, 1960.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of ca. 1300 items (4 Hollinger boxes, ca. 2 linear shelf feet), 1744-1895, chiefly correspondence, financial, land, legal, military correspondence and other records pertaining to four generations of the Preston and later, the Radford family.

The correspondence, 1763-1895, includes several letters from University of Virginia students (see folders for the years 1819 to 1828) mention: negotiation difficulties with a Mr. and Mrs. D. F. Carr, the reputation of "Mr. Jefferson" (1819 August 2) and the intention of General John Hartwell Cocke to "petition to cut a double moat, or construct some kind of barrier to prevent the students from visiting Charlottesville." (1828 June 1)

Land records, 1744-1810 & 1858, include surveyors' field notes and sketches as well as records of transactions involving large acreage of lands in Augusta County and adjoining counties.

Financial records, 1745-1865, include estate settlements, receipts, promissory notes, bills and ledgers.

Military records, 1756-1766 & 1792, are concerned with Fort Miller and Fort George on the Virginia frontier in British North America. These mention "obligations of the country" to various individuals and accounts of provisions for Cherokee Indians. Morning report dated 1792 are also present.

Arrangement

The documents are arranged chronologically within the individual folders.