Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Maury Family Papers, Accession 6742-a, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

This collection was purchased by the Library on February 14, 1991.

Funding Note

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

Scope and Content

This collection consists of fourteen letters, 1826-1857, chiefly to Ann Maury in New York City, New York and elsewhere, from other members of the extended Maury Family , concerning the publication and purchase of her new and enlarged edition of Memoirs of a Huguenot Family , compiled from the original autobiography of the Reverend James Fontaine , partially published in 1838. In the earliest letter, Ann Maury describes herself as busy transcribing the memoirs of her great-great grandfather, James Fontaine (1826 May 31). Most of the subsequent letters to Ann mention the ordering and purchasing of the Memoirs, but also include personal family news from the various related branches of the Maury family from Alabama , Virginia , Tennessee , and Kentucky .

Other topics include a description of the wounding and recovery of Dabney Herndon Maury (1822-1900) at Cerro Gordo, Mexico , during the Mexican War, and how he avoided the amputation of his arm (1847 May 24). The same letter also mentions that Matthew [Maury ?] is with Judge Mason and President   James K. Polk on their way to a North Carolina college. Daniel Maury supplies the names of his siblings' children, and argues that the name of the province his ancestor Mathew Maury emigrated from was Bretagne , not Gascoigne (1853 Dec 31). Leonard H. Maury writes concerning the death of his son, William Walker Maury , in 1854 (1855 April 20). John Fontaine mentions the deaths of his son, John Fontaine , in 1855, and his daughter, Nancy Fontaine , in 1856, and also refers to an article in Harper's Weekly concerning the Memoirs (1857 April 15).

Correspondents include: Edmund Fontaine , Richmond, Virginia , President of Central Railroad (1853 Feb 15); John Fontaine , Verona, Virginia (1857 Apr 15); Walter L. Fontaine , New Canton, Buckingham County, Virginia (1854 Mar 17); [Mary ?] Ludlow , Mobile, Alabama (1852 Nov 26); Maury, Ann , Seacombe (1826 May 31); Daniel Maury , Williamson City, Tennessee (1853 Dec 31); Leonard H. Maury , Dry Fork, Barren County, Kentucky (1855 Apr 20); R. H. Maury , Richmond, Virginia (1853 Feb 8); E. C. Owen and F. L. Owen , Mobile, Alabama (1852 Nov 20; 1854 Jan 20); E. B. Vass , Fredericksburg, Virginia (1853 Jan 22); P[hilip ?] Williams , Winchester, Virginia (1852 Dec 9)