Checklist of
documents in the Watts Collection at the Historical Society of Western
Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia. To consult these documents, go to http://www.vahistorymuseum.org/
and move the cursor to the “Virtual Museum” tile at the top. Then click
“Virtual Collections” on the menu that appears. The documents can be found by a
keyword search, or by catalog number using “Click and Search”.
This set of documents can be divided into three groups. The
first eight, all dated October to December 1845, are letters from Fleming James
to William Watts, related primarily to his efforts to win his lawsuit against
the Stoners. The next six, mostly from 1845, relate to William Watts’s law
practice, notably collecting debts. The last eleven all date from August 1846,
and are bills, receipts, or account statements linked to the death of James
Breckinridge Watts at Red Sulphur Springs, Virginia (now West Virginia). James
had fallen ill in New York, where he was trying to establish a law practice. He
was brought back to Virginia by his family, and taken to a spa for rest and
medical treatment, which proved to be in vain. While he was there, he was
attended by his father, Edward Watts; his sister, Ann Selden (Watts) Holcombe;
his brother, William Watts; and his cousin, William Watts Gwathmey, as well as
by two doctors. As these homely and trivial financial documents suggest,
James’s body was placed in a coffin and brought home to Oaklands, where he was
buried.
doc #
date
abstract
1998.26.376
October 20, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, giving consent for the trustee of Samuel Stoner’s estate, Alexander
P. Eskridge, to sell the perishable property, such as livestock, crops,
furnishings and utensils, but excluding the slaves, with proper safeguards for
payment within six months; he asks Watts to check whether Stoner’s trust deed
guarantees real or fraudulent debts; he describes a new reason for seeking to
administer on Stoner’s estate, namely, an old judgment in Stoner’s favor for
$2000 against a man named Cofer, currently being appealed, with Sidney Smith
Baxter representing Stoner’s case
1998.26.377
October 24, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, confirming his instructions about the sale of Samuel Stoner’s estate
as stated in his previous letter of October 20, permitting the sale of
perishable property for secured bonds but refusing permission to sell the
slaves; discussing his plans to buy Stoner’s widow’s dower right and sell the
land and the slaves, expressing gratification that the widow is disposed to
sell her dower; approving the appointment of Jeremiah Kyle Pitzer as
administrator of the estate, and enclosing papers to be served on Pitzer
reviving all of James’s firm’s judgments against him; and making travel plans
to go to Roanoke County in November
1998.26.378
November 24, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, written on his return from a trip to Roanoke County, saying that
Peachy Ridgway Grattan approves of the actions taken to settle his affairs with
Samuel Stoner’s heirs although a problem remains with the lease of a mill;
saying that an advertisement for the sale of Stoner’s land has been placed in
newspapers in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Fincastle, Virginia; and asking about
his share of grain crops from William McDermid’s land, because of reports of
famine in Europe (the Great Famine, or Irish Potato Famine) have reached the
United States, and suggest an imminent rise in prices
I hope you have been able to recieve my share
of the wheat, corn, oats &c made at McDermid’s last year. This has become
quite an important matter from the fact that all kinds of breadstuffs have
experienced another great rise under the influence of the accounts (almost
alarming in their character) brought by the Steamer Britannica just arrived at
Boston. These accts have caused much anxiety throughout the Land as to the very
great suffering likely to be endured by many of the Irish, English & Scotch
people, as well as by many of the other inhabitants of Europe. There will
beyond doubt be a very great deficiency in the grain, bean & potato Crops,
whereby the grain warehouses of Europe will soon be exhausted, and when once
exhausted it will require several good crops to replenish them. I am therefore
decidedly of opinion, that prices of wheat, flour &c are to rule high for
at least two years to come & most likely much longer, and as it cannot be
doubted that the British corn laws will give way under the state of starvation
which will soon exist, the benefits likely to flow to the UStates from the
present state of things, can scarcely be estimated.
This
is an early report of the Great Famine or Irish Potato Famine, which resulted
from the failure of the potato crop in 1845 and lasted until 1852;
approximately one million Irish people emigrated to America in this period, and
the mortality from starvation among those who stayed behind was about the same.
1998.26.379
November 10, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, announcing his plan to travel to Roanoke County in two days and
asking Watts to meet him on his arrival, to coordinate their activities,
because James cannot remain away from his business for long; he apologizes for
being a “troublesome client”
1998.26.380
November 28, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, enclosing an authorization to proceed with laying off the dower of
Samuel Stoner’s widow, and the opinion of Peachy Ridgway Grattan concerning a
mill leased by Samuel Stoner to a man named Martin and later conveyed to Daniel
Stoner, Samuel’s brother; Grattan believes that the lease may be valid, but the
conveyance void; James insists that Moomaw pay the outstanding debt before
receiving a deed, and he argues against postponing the sale of the estate
because it would invite further complications
1998.26.381
December 4, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, discussing the dower rights of Polly (Huckstep) Koiner (or Coyner)
and of Mary (Dagen) Stoner, mother of Samuel Stoner, who co-signed her husband
Daniel Stoner’s deed to Samuel and therefore is dowerless; James asks Watts to
secure copies of Samuel Stoner’s deed from his parents, and on the advice of
Peachy Ridgway Grattan, of other deeds to Samuel Stoner from Noffsinger and
from William Woodson
1998.26.382
December 13, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, saying that Moomaw must pay F. & J. S. James & Co for forty
acres of land he bought, and explaining that Peachy Ridgway Grattan had seen
all of Samuel Stoner’s deeds when he drew up the trust deed from Stoner to
James’s firm and did not recall any provision for dower rights for Stoner’s
mother. James approves the sale of corn from William McDermid’s farm and gives
instructions for the wheat crop to be milled. He announces his and Grattan’s
plan to travel to Roanoke County by canal boat if the canal has not frozen, or
by stage otherwise. Finally he reports on meetings of the stockholders of the
James River and Kanawha Company, which he views favorably, if the legislature
can be persuaded to act
1998.26.383
December 31, 1845
Letter from Fleming
James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke),
Virginia, asking about his previous letter, written December 25 while at the
Langhorne household in Lynchburg, Virginia, in which he asked to have a lease
for the mill executed to Landon Read; part of the letter was composed of
receipts to Gaynor, Wood and Company, and to Otey and Cottrell, but these
receipts have been cut off
1998.26.384
December 20, 1843
Receipt from James
Breckinridge Watts in Roanoke County, Virginia, to Thomas S. Gholson, for three
bonds submitted for suit and collection, executed by Edmund P. White, Alexander
White, Bernard Pitzer and Madison Pitzer, one to Gholson for $462.00 with
interest, and two to the Reverend George W. Freeman for $4480.00 each, with an
opinion signed by Watts and his father Edward Watts that the parties are good
for thirty thousand dollars
1998.26.385
May 24, 1845
Letter from Drinker
& Morris, stationers in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick
(Roanoke), Virginia, acknowledging receipt of a check for $45.65 in payment of
the debt of William S. Minor, and mentioning an expected settlement of a debt
from Samuel Stoner
1998.26.386
November 7, 1845
Letter from Charles
S. Boker, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to William Watts, in Big Lick
(Roanoke), Virginia, acknowledging receipt of a draft for $91.33 in payment of
debt from Henry Hance, and promising to remember Watts if he should have
business in the county again
Yours of 31st is at hand & Enclosed drft
for $91.33 being in full for my claim agt H. Hance collected by you & for
the same please accept my thanks with our assurances that if we have business
in your county to be attended to, you will be remembered. Yours truly, C. S.
Boker, by Boker & Brothers, 82 Market St
Charles
S. Boker (1797-1858) was a banker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Boker Brothers & Jones, Boots,
Shoes, and Bonnets. Importers and Dealers in British, French, Italian, and
Domestic Straw Goods, Trimmings, &c, No. 82 Market Street, fourth house
below Third” is a listing in Philadelphia as it is, a directory published in 1852, available online. Henry
Hance (or Hanse) (1781- 1850) was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, and died
in Pulaski County, Virginia.
1998.26.387
October 1, 1845
Letter from Hunn
& Remington, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to William Watts, in Big Lick
(Roanoke), Virginia, authorizing John G. Cecil, sheriff of Pulaski County,
Virginia, to pay debts collected from David Fenton Kent by his deputy, James W.
Shields, to Dr Henry Moss Bentley, and requesting Watts to send a check for the
amount to Hunn & Remington; the writer protests about the unfairness of the
situation, and objects to Watts’s fee; the document includes the certification by Thomas W. Micou, postmaster
of Big Lick, that the check on the Bank of Virginia has been mailed for
clearance at the Farmers and Mechanics Bank of Philadelphia
1998.26.388
October 31, 1845
Letter from H. B.
& W. A. Richards, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick
(Roanoke), Virginia, refusing a request from a debtor named Bullitt, apparently
to allow him more time to pay
1998.26.389
October 2, 1845
Letter from Charles
S. Boker, of Boker & Brothers, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to William
Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, giving authorization to transmit $91
collected from Henry Hance; the document also includes the certificate of
Thomas W. Micou, postmaster of Big Lick, that a draft for $71.33 drawn by the
Bank of Virginia at Lynchburg, Virginia, and signed by John Matthew Otey on the
Farmers and Mechanics Bank in Philadelphia, dated October 30 1845 and payable
to Boker, has been mailed
1998.26.390
August 1846
Five receipts from
Red Sulphur Springs, Virginia (now West Virginia), for board, servants, horses
and other items, for William Watts, James Breckinridge Watts, Dr Coats, William
Watts Gwathmey and Ann Selden (Watts) Holcombe, for stays ranging from 8⅔ to
26⅔ days, during the final illness of James Breckinridge Watts
Wm Watts
14⅔ days $21.00
1 Horse 7.50
Bar a/c 4.13
32.63
Alex Dunlap
Augst 14
Mrs Holcomb
self 8⅔ days $12.38
1 servant 6.19
18.57
A. Dunlap
Augst
26
These
are the receipts for William Watts and his sister Ann Selden (Watts) Holcombe. Alexander Dunlap, Jr (1812-1855) was
the proprietor of the hotel at Red Sulphur Springs.
1998.26.391
August 21, 1846
Account statement
and receipt from Thomas J. Burke to Edward Watts for $50 for medical attendance
upon James Breckinridge Watts in his final illness
Genl Watts
1846 To
Thomas J. Burke Dr
July 31st To
Medical attendance upon
Son from date up to 20th August $50.00
Recd
payment
Thomas
J. Burke
Augt
21st 1846
Thomas
J. Burke has not been identified.
1998.26.392
August 21, 1846
Account statement
from John M. Hutchison to Edward Watts for making a coffin for James
Breckinridge Watts in his final illness, and an extra box; with receipt for $9,
paid by William Watts Gwathmey
Genl Watts
1846 To
John M. Hutchison Dr
Augt 21st To Making Coffin & Extra Box $50.00
Recd
payment
from
Wm W. Gwathmey
John
M. Hutchison
John
M. Hutchison has not been identified.
1998.26.393
August 21, 1846
Account statement
and receipt from James Harvey to Edward Watts for $11.75 for board and care of
four horses and one servant during the final illness of James Breckinridge
Watts
1998.26.394
August 22, 1846
Account statement
from John Dickson, presumably to Edward Watts, for $3.00 for board and care of
gentlemen, horses and servants
1998.26.395
August 21, 1846
Account statement
and receipt from James E. Howell to William Watts Gwathmey, for the account of
Edward Watts, for preparing the coffin of James Breckinridge Watts for
transportation
1998.26.396
probably c. August 22, 1846
Account statement
from William Scott to Gofney (William Watts Gwathmey) for $4.50 for food,
lodging and care of horses
1998.26.397
August 21, 1846
Account statement
and receipt from Jacob Carper to William Watts Gwathmey for the account of
Edward Watts, for $10 for bearing an express to Blacksburg, Virginia, and Union,
Virginia (now West Virginia)
1998.26.398
August 20, 1846
Account statement from
Alexander Dunlap to Edward Watts for $5.51 for cloth, gloves and sewing items,
like thread, tape and ribbon
1998.26.399
August 21, 1846
Account statement
and receipt from Alexander Dunlap to William Watts for his boarding at Red
Sulphur Springs, Virginia (now West Virginia) and miscellaneous expenses, such
as goods at the store, planks for the coffin, charcoal and candles, as well as
the bills for Dr Coates, Mrs Ann Scott (Watts) Holcombe and William Watts
Gwathmey, the total being $162.29
1998.26.400
August 1846
Fragment of an
account statement related to Edward Watts’s stay at Red Sulphur Springs,
Virginia (now West Virginia), to attend to his dying son, James Breckinridge
Watts
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