Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Hamner Family Papers, Accession 10324, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

This collection was given to the Library by Michael E. Carter on March 26, 1979. Copies of the documents in this collection are located at the Virginia State Library in Richmond.

Funding Note

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Scope and Content

This collection is comprised of four items, 1821-1856, relating to the Hamner family of Hardware River, Albemarle County, Virginia . Included are two letters, 1821 and 1846. One letter, August 14, 1821, written by Nicholas Hamner Cobbs of Bedford to "Dear Uncle," describes the death of his mother, and of a slave, from fever. Cobbs (1796-1861) was chaplain at the University of Virginia between 1834-1835, and later became the first Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama. The other letter, July 20, 1846, written by Thomas W. Roberts to Nicholas Hamner , regards a church congregation in Hardware, Virginia .

Also included in the collection are two receipt and account books, dated December 1, 1853 to December 26, 1854 and June 1, 1855 to February 8, 1856, of the executor of the estate of Nicholas Hamner . These books contain records of the transfer of Hamner's property to his heirs and the sale of portions of his property, including slaves owned by him.