Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Spiller-Brown Family Letters, Mss. Collection 2001.21, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Ruth Ann Chitwood donated the Spiller-Brown Family Letters in 2001 as part of the W. R. Chitwood Collection.

Biographical Information

William Hickman Spiller, son of Hickman Spiller and Catherine M. Smith Spiller, was born on 8 October 1800. He married Susanna Crockett in Wythe County on 22 December 1831. A successful merchant, Spiller amassed great wealth through his real estate transactions and his various general merchandise stores (Auman and Spiller, Henderliter and Spiller, Bosse and Spiller); at his death in 1855 his estate was worth over $29,000 and included 49 slaves.

Susanna Crockett Spiller and William Hickman Spiller raised eight children including: Catherine Markham Spiller (1833-1872)(married James Hammet); Jane Crockett Spiller (b. 1835) (married Robert G. Carrington); Elmira Spiller (b. 1838) (married 1) Alexander Stuart Brown (1858) 2) William Alexander Stuart (1863); Josephine Spiller (1840-1904) (married John Preston Sheffey); Lucy Ann Spiller (b. 1842) (married Dr. Samuel Rush Sayers); Frances Smith Spiller (b. 1844); William Hickman Spiller Jr. (b. 1847) (married Cynthia McComas Boyd); and Joseph Robert Spiller (1850-1882).

James Austin Graham, angered over an unsuccessful wooing of Catherine Spiller, shot William Hickman Spiller on 31 March 1855 at the Boyd Hotel in Wytheville, Virginia. Spiller was in the bar room with Connally F. Trigg, William Terry, Charles Crockett, Oscar Cox, and Mr. Taliaferro. Graham shot Trigg, who was wounded, before shooting Spiller, who died later in the office of Dr. Ewing. Spiller is buried in St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia.

The son of Judge James Ewell Brown and Anne Dabney Stuart, Alexander Stuart Brown was born on 20 January 1831. Brown and his sisters, Jane Brown (1819-1873) and Frances Peyton Brown (1821-1860) (married Joseph F. Kent) were first cousins of William Alexander Stuart and James Ewell Brown Stuart and their siblings who were children of Archibald Stuart (brother of Anne Dabney Stuart Brown)and Elizabeth Pannill Stuart. Alexander Stuart Brown died on 8 April 1859 after a ten day illness of stomach inflammation. He is buried at St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Scope and Content

This collection contains four letters written to, from, and about the Spiller family and the Brown family of Wytheville, Virginia. Correspondents include William Hickman Spiller, Elmira Spiller Brown Stuart, Jane S. Brown, Alexander Stuart Brown, M. T. Stuart and M. C. Carter. Topics include the schooling of Elmira Spiller, murder of William Hickman Spiller, and death of Alexander Stuart Brown.