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Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16849, Isaac French letter, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was purchased from Kurt A. Sanftleben LLC by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on May 24, 2024.

Biographical Description: Robert Buckner Bolling

Robert Buckner Bolling was born March 28, 1805 in Petersburg, Virginia. He graduated from Princeton University in 1825 before returning to Virginia, where he managed the Bolling family properties and businesses in the Petersburg area and worked as an attorney. He married Sarah Melville Minge of Charles City County on November 29, 1831. The couple had eleven children. Nine Bolling children survived to adulthood. The family lived at "West Hill" and spent time at a home Robert's father had built called "Centre Hill". Bolling was a devoted Episcopalian and a Freemason at the Blandford Lodge in Petersburg. He ran for the Virginia legislature in 1840 and represented Petersburg for ten years. He was president of the Virginia Colonization Society but resigned due to health concerns and his involvement in other interests. Bolling also served as president of the Loudon and Fauquier Bell and Everett Union Club, president of the Agricultural Society, and a councilman for the East Ward of Petersburg, beginning in 1846. In 1855, a year after his wife Sarah's death, he commissioned the Bolling mausoleum in Petersburg's Blandford Cemetery. Bolling died in 1881, leaving each of his children a proportionate share of his estate, amounting to $40,000 for each. He was buried in Bolling mausoleum alongside his wife and their two children who preceded the couple in death.

Sources

" Robert Buckner Bolling (1805-1881)" Find a Grave . Accessed May 2, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28777095/robert_buckner-bolling.

" Robert Buckner Bolling (1805-1881)" WikiTree . Accessed https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bolling-805.

Content Description

This collection contains a letter from Isaac French to J. Huntsman, Esq. dated June 17, 1849. French was a guest at Robert Buckner Bolling's plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, called Sandy Point. The letter has no postal markings or stamps, indicating an individual carried it. French describes to his friend his trip to the plantation, the weather, the size of Bolling's fields, the condition of the crops, and the epidemic of cholera and smallpox in Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Richmond. Robert was part of the prominent Bolling family and directed the operations of their holdings. The Sandy Point plantation, on the banks of the James River, was included in the dowry of his wife, Sara Melville Menge. Bolling was said to have over 500 enslaved workers and was active in the American Colonization Society.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Agriculture
• Bolling, Robert Buckner, 1805-1881
• Cholera
• Kurt A Sanftleben, LLC
• Smallpox