A Guide to the Papers of the Washington Family of Caroline County, Virginia 1800-1875
A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 3683
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Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryUniversity of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Special Collections Department
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.
Preferred Citation
Papers of the Washington Family of Caroline County, Virginia, Accession #3683, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
The collection was purchased from Mr. and Mrs. George Washington of Woodford, Virginia on March 16, 1951.
Scope and Content Information
The papers of the Washington Family of Caroline County, including ca. 500 manuscripts and 6 ledgers, 1800-1875, consist of receipts, accounts, and deeds, with a few letters concerning financial matters. Mentioned in the papers are George Washington, [his widow] Elizabeth Washington, [their] children Anna, Selma, William, Dorthea, and Eliza; John Washington, his wife Anne, and their children George B. Walker, and John, Jr., and grandson Thomas Henry Purks; George Buckner and his brother Dr. Horace Buckner, John Vass and his daughter Ann Vass, Thomas Henry Burke and his daughter Susan, and William Taliaferro. Most of the papers are the financial records of Elizabeth, John, and William Washington and of Thomas Henry Burke. Included in the papers is the will of John Washington, 1850, and a deed, 1853, concerning a division of his property among his sons and grandsons.
The ledgers are: (1) John Washington's arithmetic example book, 1816; (2) his notebook of accounts with George Buckner, 1830-1847; (3) his farm account book, 1826-1876; (4) a ledger of accounts, 1823-1829, of Anna, Selma, Willliam, and Dorthea Washington with Elizabeth Washington, Jr., containing accounts of John Washington 1849, records of litigation and law notes taken at the University of Virginia, 1846-1848; (6) John Washington, Jr.'s commonplace and latin excercise book.
Items of special interest include: the folder containing William Washington's orations; a folder of early surveys of the Washington estate; and several documents relating to the purchase of new slaves and the retrieval of runaway slaves, which are located in the Legal and Correspondence folders. Scattered throughout the Bills, Receipts and Financial Records folders are references to the hiring out of slaves: see for example the list of bonds for the hire of Mrs. Sally Hill's negroes located in the 1938 financial folder.
Arrangement
The contents of the collection have been filed by subject, with financial records further subdivided into chronological folders. Financial items involving expenses over a period of years are filed under the earliest relevant year.