Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Items C, D, E, F, and I are temporarily unavailable.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Philip Rainey Papers, 1830-1851. Accession 27850, Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Purchased from R. P. Rainey, Jr., Clarksville, Virginia, 13 September 1972.

Biographical/Historical Information

Philip Rainey was born 19 January 1794 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He became a successful businessman with wide-ranging interests. He was a saddler and ran a tanyard, but also operated a tavern, held interests in various mercantile businesses, and speculated in land. His business dealings ranged as far as Arkansas and Illinois. Rainey married Ann L. Boyd (1807-1871) in June 1824, and they had five children. Rainey died in Mecklenburg County 19 May 1850.

Scope and Content Information

Papers, 1830-1851, of Philip Rainey (1794-1850) of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, consisting of Rainey's business correspondence, business papers. Also includes a ledger containing Rainey's business accounts.

Includes: a) business ledger, 1830-1851, of Philip Rainey recording accounts for leather items produced by Rainey, for slave hires, for lot and house rentals, and land speculations in Arkansas, for tanyard work, and for a tavern. Ledger shows that Rainey was a partner in the mercantile firm of John Bennett in Petersburg, Illinois. Accounts are recorded for the firms of Hicks and Rainey, Philip Rainey and Company, Rainey and Manning, and Rainey and Puryear.

Also includes: b) promissory note, 31 March 1836, for $365.74 from Bennett and Rainey to Rhoades, Weed and Company of New York, payable in six months from date, includes endorsement on back; c) letter, 11 October 1836, from an unidentified correspondent in Hempstead County, Arkansas, to Rainey concerning conditions in Hempstead County; d) letter, 4 May 1838, from John Bennett of Petersburg, Menard County, Illinois, to Rainey concerning business matters and land speculation in Arkansas; e) letter, 4 January 1840, from William C. Hamner of Hempstead County to Rainey concerning a debt owed Rainey; f) letter, 4 April 1840, from Bennett to Rainey concerning their business ventures and discussing politics and the upcoming presidential election; g) account, 1836-1840, from Rhoades, Weed and Company to Bennett and Rainey; h) judgment, 25 August 1839, for $499.21 in suit of David Perkins vs. the firm of Bennett and Rainey, includes receipt, 10 September 1840, stating that Rainey has paid the full amount; and i) letter, 10 October 1851, from Daniel E. Williams of Hempstead County to T. F. Sorrells concerning a certain tract of land in Hempstead County.