Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Berkeley Family Papers, Accession 38-113-g, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

This material was loaned to the Library by Edmund Berkeley, Jr., of the Special Collections Department of the University Library, on March 15, 1991.

Funding Note

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

Scope and Content

These papers, 1835-1898, consist of 62 items, pertaining chiefly to the estate of James L. Stratton (d. March 19, 1859). There are also two letters, 1835 and 1840, from Stratton to his wife, Eliza . In his letter of February 14, 1835, he writes from Augusta, Georiga , news about family and travel. His letter of June 12, 1840, from Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia , describes his travel from the Washington, D. C. area to Norfolk . A portion of the estate papers, 1844-1845 and 1859, are concerned with Smith-Stratton & Company (formerly P. B. Smith & Company ) in New York City , and include articles of agreement between Stratton and Nathan Smith with Pascal B. Smith for the sale of the business and trade of manufacturing and dealing in varnishes. Documents pertaining to the estate include receipts, bonds, indentures, and agreements. Throughout the papers are statements of accounts between Robert Benner , attorney for the estate, and Eliza Stratton , the executrix, and William White Crissey (after Mrs. Stratton's death on March 28, 1888). On March 26, 1867, there is a letter of administration from the State of New York to Annie E[lizabeth] Coffin , widow of Charles G. Coffin . Following the deaths of all executors, including John H. Hunt , executor, and Eliza Stratton , executrix, there is a petition, May 16, 1888, of Albert Peter Moriarty and Annie E. [Coffin] Crissey , requesting that William White Crissey be appointed as substituted trustee of the Stratton estate. William White Crissey (1844-1912) married Annie Elizabeth Coffin (1840-1896) on September 1, 1875. There are also documents, 1888-1889 and 1892, pertaining to the Hudson Orphan and Relief Association as one of the residuary legatees.