Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia Leigh Refo, The Moody Letters: A Collection of Letters (1829-1881) to, from and about the Moody and Leigh Families. Accession 40561. Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Virginia Leigh Refo in April 2003.

Scope and Content

Transcripts of the Moody family letters, 1829-1881, transcribed by Virginia Leigh Refo in 2003. Consists of letters mostly written to Martha William (Wright) Moody (1816-1885) of Brunswick County, Virginia, and North Carolina, from family members in Greensville County and Petersburg, Virginia, and Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee. The letters span much of her life beginning in 1829 when she goes to school and ending in 1881 about four years before her death. Notable correspondents include George W. Charlton(1797-1863), Charles Fenton Mercer Dancy (1814-1875), Martha Alice (Moody) Leigh (1838-1906), John Mason Moody (1809-1877), John Mason Moody, Jr. (1840-1890), Julia Ann Patterson (1820-1866), Martha Robinson (Crump) Wright (1793-1871), Weldon Edwards Wright, and William H. Wright (d. 1836). Concerns southern plantation life during the period of western migration, illness and death of family members, crop production, slaves, fashion, and religion.