Virginia Connections of the Maverick Family

            Carl Adams, the correspondent who guided me to the Memoirs of Mary Ann Maverick, was interested in the life of her father, William Lewis Adams, between 1800 and 1816, when the Adams family was in Botetourt County. (If any readers of this blog have information about this subject, please get in touch with him or me; his email address is springgrovegarden@hotmail.com.) He had found in this blog the description of a document in the Watts Collection of the Historical Society of Western Virginia, 1998.26.015, which begins: “Deed made Oct 12th 1815 by Wm L. Adams & wife to Edward Watts, conveying a certain tract or parcel of land lying & being in the County of Botetourt on Evans' Spring Branch including the greater part of the Round Hill and being the same tract on which the said Adams once lived.”

Deed made Oct 12th 1815 by Wm L. Adams & wife to Edward Watts, conveying a certain tract or parcel of land lying & being in the County of Botetourt on Evans' Spring Branch including the greater part of the Round Hill and being the same tract on which the said Adams once lived, & is bounded as follows:

The sellers, he explained to me, were William Lewis Adams and Agatha Strother (Lewis) Adams, the parents of Mary Ann Maverick. The tract of land they sold to Edward Watts in 1815 became the core of Oaklands. Moreover, the substantial addition that Watts later bought from the heirs of Andrew Lewis (not the famous general, but one of his grandsons), had belonged to cousins of Agatha Strother Lewis (1998.26.31).

            Then my correspondent very generously sent me a copy of a letter archived in the Maverick Family Papers at the University of Texas. It was addressed to Mary Ann Maverick, dated  Beaverdam, 5 August 1857, and was written by Lizzie Maverick (Houston) Allen. Samuel A. Maverick’s great-niece, Elizabeth M. Houston (1835-1919), married John James Allen Jr (1831-bet. 1880 and 1900) around 1857. Mary Ann Maverick’s memoirs mention seeing her as a girl in San Antonio in 1855. In the letter, she is obviously newly wed, has not been away from Texas very long, and is eager to return: “I like Virginia well enough,” she writes, “ but I will be very glad to get back to Texas once more where I will be sure to stay the rest of my days.”

She and her husband went back soon afterwards, and their first two children were born in Texas in 1858 and 1859; but they returned to Virginia before 1861, and apparently remained near the Allen homestead in Botetourt County for the rest of their lives. Lizzie was still living there at the time of the 1900 census, although she moved in with a married daughter in New York City before 1910.

            Lizzie’s letter also relates that  her husband “went yesterday to Oaklands (your father’s old home) to see his brother-in-law who is sick.”

That brother-in-law was William Watts, who was the widower of Mary Jane Allen, a sister of John James Allen Jr. William and Mary Jane (Allen) Watts’s son, John Allen Watts, who was only two years old at the time of Lizzie’s letter, and at least two relatives of his generation, William Gordon Robertson and George W. Morris, became friends with yet another Maverick during the college years. Albert Maverick (1854-1947) was the ninth of Mary Ann (Adams) Maverick’s ten children. His birth is described thus: “On Sunday, May 7, 1854, was born our ninth child, Albert. I was very weak and did not have milk enough for him.” As a young man, he seems to have cut a striking figure. William Robertson wrote about him to John Allen Watts, who was at William and Mary: “Maverick is a club-mate of mine and is one of the best fellows I ever saw. When last heard from, he was in hot pursuit of buffaloes, and was in imminent danger of being skalped by the Indians. He went home the middle of the session; he said he took ‘the wrong tickets’ and was doing nothing. He will come back next year and take the Engineering course.” (2007.32.169, June 20 1874).

A year later, George Morris wrote: “A. Maverick Esq has gone to Indiana, but he told me before leaving that he would be at Oaklands the latter part of August. I wish he would come sooner, he is one of the best friends I had in College.” (2007.32.178, July 16, 1875).      

             It sounds as though young Albert was a bit of a maverick, as befits the son of the man who left his cattle unbranded and thereby made his name an eponym for an independent and nonconformist person.

Mary Ann (Adams) Maverick

            Not long ago, a correspondent recommended to me that I read The Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick: A Journal of Early Texas (San Antonio: Maverick Publishing Co., 2005), and I am happy to pass along the suggestion with my endorsement. It’s a short and very readable book, only about a hundred pages of text (including illustrations), with a few more pages of front and back matter. This is the fourth version of the work: the first was the original manuscript, completed in 1881, but known only to family members; the second was an edited version of the manuscript, prepared by one of the author’s sons, George Madison Maverick, and duplicated in a small number of copies in 1896; the third was prepared by Rena Maverick Green, a daughter of the first editor, and was privately published in 1921; and the fourth, which I read, was edited by Maverick Fairchild Fisher, a fifth-generation descendant of the author. Mr. Fisher has provided very helpful illustrations, explanatory notes, and an index.

            The book is about Texas, but it has more to do with southwest Virginia than you might suppose, as will be clear in next week’s post. The story begins: “My maiden name was Mary Ann Adams. I was born March 16, 1818, in Tuskaloosa County, Alabama. My parents were William Lewis Adams of Lynchburg and his wife Agatha Strother Lewis of Botetourt County, both of the state of Virginia.” Mary Ann Adams was a great-granddaughter of General Andrew Lewis, an early settler in the region and a military leader in the American Revolution. In my youth, his name was attached to the Roanoke County High School in Salem, which now bears the ho-hum designation Salem High School. At least the local hero is still commemorated in the name of Fort Lewis Mountain.

             In the early 1800s William and Agatha Adams moved to Alabama, where Mary Ann was born and raised. She married Samuel Augustus Maverick on 4 August 1836 at her widowed mother’s home near Tuscaloosa. Samuel was from South Carolina, but had already taken up residence in Texas; in fact, Mary Ann says that he had been presumed lost at the fall of the Alamo earlier in 1836. After the wedding, the couple paid farewell visits to friends and family, including the groom’s father, who tried in vain to persuade his son to settle in South Carolina. They were still in South Carolina when their first son was born, but set off on 7 December 1837 for Texas. Their destination was San Antonio, where they arrived on 15 June 1838.

Samuel Augustus Maverick

            This was very much a frontier region, contested both by Indians and by Mexicans. In the last stages of the journey, the travelers were accosted by a band of Tonkawa Indians, who said, “Mucho amigo” but looked very menacing wearing war paint and carrying Comanche scalps from a recent battle. The Comanches were still more threatening, and harassed the community in raids and battles from 1838 until 1842, when the Mavericks were forced to evacuate their home in San Antonio for a while. Mary Ann tells an amusing tale of meeting the Cherokee chief Bowls and declining his invitation to dance, and heart-rending stories of recovering captive children from the Comanches after they had been tortured and mutilated.

            It was conflict with Mexico, however, that led the Mavericks to flee their home. Between its revolution against Mexican rule in 1836 and its annexation by the United States in 1845, Texas was in principle an independent republic. Mexico, however, continued to claim sovereignty, and periodically sent armed forces into Texas. One such invasion in March 1842 provoked the evacuation of many women and children; another in September 1842 resulted in the capture of Samuel Maverick and about fifty others. The prisoners were taken to Vera Cruz and Mexico City, but ultimately released on 30 March 1843, after an intervention by the American ambassador, General Waddy Thompson.

            Mary Ann and her children spent the first two years of their exile from San Antonio, 1842-44, on a ranch near La Grange on the Colorado River, east of Austin. The climate seemed unhealthy, however, and after Samuel’s liberation they moved to the Matagorda Peninsula on the Gulf Coast. They stayed three years on the coast, but Samuel was spending more and more time in San Antonio on business, so they all moved back there in 1847. Texas had joined the United States, and settlers were flocking to the state. One chapter of the memoir covers all the events from 1847 to 1859, and both the Civil War and the death of Mary Ann’s husband Samuel in 1870 are dealt with in an epilogue.

Mary Ann (Adams) Maverick (center), c. 1852, 

with her children, clockwise from the top left: 

Sam, Lewis, William, Mary, and George

            Obviously, the chaotic and often terrifying days of the early settlement of Texas most interested the memoirist. To a 21st-century reader, the ordinary hardships of the time, which also afflicted the friends and family left behind in civilized Virginia, South Carolina, and Alabama, are just as difficult to imagine living through. Between 1837 and 1857, Mary Ann Maverick bore ten children. Of her pregnancies and the deliveries, she says nothing; her account of her firstborn’s arrival is typical: “Here on Sunday, May 14, 1837, was born our son Sam.” The list of diseases they suffered from or were threatened by, however, is given at appalling length – yellow fever, brain fever (meningitis), congestive chills (malaria), ague, whooping cough, measles, dysentery, bilious fever (typhoid), influenza, scarletina, cholera, smallpox, mumps – not to mention accidents like broken bones, blows to the head causing convulsions, and snakebites. They were beset by floods, snowstorms and hurricanes. I suppose that children who survived into adulthood had to be hardy and resilient; Mary Ann Maverick certainly was, but even her sturdy health began to fail with her last pregnancies, when she was weak, fainted, and could not nurse her newborn infants.

            She nonetheless lived on until 24 February 1898. During her last years, she donated stained glass windows and other important items to Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio. She was also active in civic organizations, especially a historical society campaigning to preserve the Alamo church. When she died, a local newspaper called her the city’s “best beloved friend”.

Watts Collection, documents 476-500

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”. Some or all of the documents described here may not yet be available online, but all may be consulted on site.

This is a relatively ill-assorted group of documents. They range in date from 1850 to 1853, and cover many different topics. The largest number (8)  relate to various lawsuits in which William Watts was a lawyer or adviser. A small group (5) concerns the Exchange Bank of Virginia; William Watts had just taken the presidency of the newly founded Salem branch. Several documents (4) concern land sales, but with no relation to each other. Several (4) involve politics and public affairs. A final group (3) is made up of account statements and receipts. And one letter is a personal request for advice.

doc #

date

abstract

1998.26.476

December 24, 1850

Letter from John Benjamin Irwin Logan, in Norfolk, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, announcing his resignation as cashier of the new Salem branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia, which he has submitted to William Willoughby Sharp

1998.26.477

December 26, 1850

Letter from John Benjamin Irwin Logan, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, withdrawing his tender of resignation as cashier of the new Salem branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia, and trying to arrange a meeting with Watts in Lynchburg, where the letter was postmarked four days after being written; an apparent postscript from the postmaster Armstead P. Neal seems to request that the meeting be in Salem, Virginia

1998.26.478

December 27, 1850

Letter from John Benjamin Irwin Logan, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, trying to schedule a meeting with Watts either in Lynchburg or in Richmond, Virginia

1998.26.479

December 31, 1850

Letter from John S. Wilson, in Buchanan, Virginia, to William Watts, in Roanoke County, Virginia, agreeing with Watts that the tolls are excessively high, given the condition of the road, and asking Watts to support Mr Boyd in Richmond in trying to have them reduced

1998.26.480

March 13, 1851

Letter from William Wilson Corcoran, in Washington, DC, to Cary Breckinridge, in Fincastle, Virginia, asking for a reply to his offer to purchase lots in Washington, DC

I have therefore to ask an answer by return mail, and if the price I offer is not satisfactory, state the lowest figure, & I will determine, at once, whether I will take them. Respectfully yrs, W. W. Corcoran

See my earlier post on James Breckinridge’s land holdings in Washington, DC. 

1998.26.481

April 5, 1852

Letter from Henry Scarsbrook Langhorne to William C. Langhorne, demanding that he produce a letter from William Watts referred to in a deposition by Morton, and notifying William that further depositions will be taken at the tavern house of William Terry in Liberty (Bedford), Bedford County, Virginia

1998.26.482

April 7, 1852

Letter from William C. Langhorne to William Watts, at Fincastle, Virginia, covering the return of the letter requested in 1998.26.481, suggesting that John A. Langhorne also give a deposition, reporting on his own ill health, noting that his brother Henry Scarsbrook Langhorne has retained counsel, and touching on other aspects of the lawsuit

1998.26.483

April 17, 1852

Letter from Gustavus Adolphus Wingfield, in Liberty (Bedford), Virginia, to Alfred Terrell Dillard, proposing a compromise with John M. Patton regarding a fee and percentages of a recovery in the name of Dillard and Alexander Cabell

1998.26.484

May 26, 1851

Letter from Robert Jamieson, in Alexandria, Virginia, to William Watts, in Richmond, Virginia, asking if Watts’s bank can supply Jamieson’s with some banknotes, because they are pressed for currency; also regrets a difficulty in Norfolk, and predicts earnings of 5 percent for the past six months

We are at present so greatly pressed for currency, that I shall feel much obliged, if your bank can furnish us with a parcel of your notes in exchange for ours, and beg you will let me know if it is in your power to aid us. If you have any notes in Richmond to fill up, I will undertake to letter and number them as before, after your name is inserted. Please let me hear from you at your earliest leisure and Oblige your Obt Servt [Obedient Servant], Robt Jamieson

Robert Jamieson was the son of a Scottish-born baker, who settled in Alexandria, Virginia, and founded a large bakery business there. Robert took over the direction of the business in 1821 and continued to run it after he became president of the Alexandria branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia around 1850. He was still president in 1861.

1998.26.485

June 24, 1851

Two separate but related documents are classified under this number. Letter from William M. Cook to William Watts, covering a copy of the record in a court case concerning a slave named Daniel, and sending snippets of news. Letter from William H. Richardson, secretary of the commonwealth of Virginia, to William M. Cook, concerning the payment due to Cook from the auditor of public accounts in the case concerning the slave named Daniel.

1998.26.486

July 24, 1851

Letter from Andrew Dannon, in Covington, Virginia, to an unnamed addressee, presumably William Watts, objecting to a plan to combine Alleghany and Craig Counties in an electoral district for a delegate to the state legislature, and appealing to the addressee to have the Constitutional Convention reconsider the matter

1998.26.487

August 25, 1850

Letter from William Watts, at home at Oaklands, Roanoke County, Virginia, to William C. Langhorne, at Cloverdale, Botetourt County, Virginia, giving his opinion that an effort by Langhorne’s brother Henry Scarsbrook Langhorne to compel someone to go onto William’s land has no legal basis and will not be supported by the courts in Bedford and Botetourt Counties

1998.26.488

August 25, 1851

Letter from John Robin McDaniel, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, asking him to name a price for lots he owns in Lynchburg

1998.26.489

September 2, 1851

Letter from Charles Scott Carrington, at Halifax Court House, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, asking whether Big Lick would be a suitable place for his brother Paul Scott Carrington to practice medicine

Please remember me to my cousins, your lady & the family at Oaklands. Shall we not have the pleasure of seeing all of you in Halifax this fall? Very truly yours, Chas. S. Carrington

Charles Scott Carrington (1820-1891) lived at Mildendo in Halifax County, Virginia. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1839 and practiced law. William Watts and his siblings were second cousins of Charles Carrington, as follows: Charles Carrington was a son of William Allen Carrington and Sara Embra Scott; Sara Embra Scott was a daughter of Charles Tomkies Scott and Priscilla Read; Charles Tomkies Scott was a brother of Mary (Scott) Watts, grandmother of William Watts.

1998.26.490

September 6, 1851

Letter from William Ransom Johnson, in Petersburg, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, asking Watts to take depositions from Yelverton Neal Oliver for a case pending in the chancery court of Louisville, Kentucky

1998.26.491

November 17, 1851

Letter from Samuel C. Robinson, in Lexington, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, asking him to send the power of attorney to vote the shares of his father Edward Watts at a stockholders’ meeting of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company to Dr Archibald Graham, whose presence in Richmond, Virginia, would be more certain

Lexington 17th Nov 1851

Dear Watts, Please enclose to Dr Graham in Richmond the letter of attorney (which you promised me), to act as your father’s proxy in the meeting of the James River Company.

Samuel C. Robinson (c. 1815-aft. 1870) owned iron furnaces in Botetourt County, Virginia; by 1860, he had moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he was recorded in the census as lumber merchant (1860) and a merchant in iron works (1870). He married in 1849 in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Margaret A. Graham (c. 1825-aft. 1870); she was a daughter of Dr Archibald Graham (c. 1794-aft. 1860), who lived in Lexington, Virginia.

            According to Langhorne Gibson, Jr, in Cabell’s Canal: The Story of the James River and Kanawha (Richmond, Virginia: The Commodore Press, 2000), the company formed to construct a canal linking the James River with the Kanawha River was formed in 1785. It would have built and operated a waterway linking the mid-Atlantic cities of Richmond and Norfolk with the Ohio River in the Middle West. It was completed as far as Lynchburg in 1840, and was extended to Buchanan in 1851. Improvements to the North (Maury) River were to link Lexington to the network of waterways. The project had met constant financial difficulties, however, and by 1851 many of the backers wanted to turn the company over to the state. The development of railroads offered viable competition, and recurrent floods made the canal system unreliable. It was never completed west of Buchanan, and ceased to function in 1880.

1998.26.492

November 26, 1851

Letter from George Plater Tayloe, at his home Buena Vista in Roanoke County, Virginia, to William Watts, at his home Oaklands in Roanoke County, Virginia, discussing plans for Tayloe’s electoral campaign for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates; mentions several Whig allies—Dr John Hook Griffin, Henry E. Blair, and James Kyle—and his Democratic opponent, Robert Craig, and several regions in Roanoke County—Stoner’s Store (Bonsack), Salem, Big Lick (Roanoke City), Catawba, Botetourt Springs (Hollins)

1998.26.493

July 24, 1852

Bill and receipt from Adolphus E. Huff, signed by Thomas Baylor, to Edward Watts, by his agent W. M. Burks, for $6.50 paid cash in full for 39 yards of laid linen

1998.26.494

August 14, 1852

Copy of a notice from John M. Patton to Alfred T. Dillard, demanding a copy of an earlier letter from the same to the same, regarding Dillard’s engaging Patton as his attorney in the case of Cabell vs Dillard, which Patton wants produced as evidence in the case Patton vs Dillard, pending in the Roanoke County Circuit Court

1998.26.495

March 25, 1852

Plat and survey by John Snyder, surveyor of Roanoke County, Virginia, made for Charles Houts, of 114 acres of land, which Houts bought from Berryman Stoutmyer, part of the tract of Gasper Stoutmyer deceased, located in Roanoke County adjacent to lands of Edward Watts and Urias Powers, including a portion of Evans Spring Branch (Lick Run), and bounded in part by Cove Road and the Turnpike (Orange Avenue)

Surveyed for Charles Houts 114 acres of Land which he has bought of Berryman Stoutmyer, the S[ai]d 114 Acres is part of the Tract of Gasper Stoutmyer Deceased & is lying in the County of Roanoke and is bounded as followeth, Beginning on the East Side of Evans Spring Branch opposite a white oak corner to the land of General Edward Watts and Urias Powers at 1

Charles Houtz (c. 1826-1857) was born in Salem, Virginia, and died in Johnson County, Missouri. Berryman Stoutmyer (1822-1900) was born in Botetourt (now Roanoke) County and died in Clinton County, Missouri. His father Gaspar Stoutmyer (1787-1822) died in Botetourt (now Roanoke) County. These names, both first and last, are spelled variously.

The tracts belonging to Caspar Stoutamire and Uriah Powers are shown approximately in this detail of a map of “Roanoke County Farms 1825 to 1875” by J. R.Hildebrand. 

1998.26.496

September 1, 1852

Copy of a deed between Berryman Stoutamier and Elizabeth (Pettit) Stoutamier his wife of the one part, and Charles Houtz of the second part, for the sale to Houtz of a tract of 114 acres of land in Roanoke County, Virginia, adjacent to lands of Edward Watts and Urias Powers, including a portion of Evans Spring Branch (Lick Run), and bounded in part by Cove Road and the Turnpike (Orange Avenue)

1998.26.497

October 18, 1852

Receipt signed by Thomas G. Huff to Hugh M. Burks for payment a note on John Bushong, executor, to Edward Watts

1998.26.498

March 24, 1852

Receipt signed by William Moncure Woodson for $247.28 to Edward Watts in payment of all accounts, with Woodson accepting responsibility for paying a bill to Dr Thomas Goode for attending Hector

1998.26.499

January 7, 1853

Letter from Harris, Turner & Hale, druggists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, asking Watts to send a draft or check for the proceeds of their account against Dr John McChesney

1998.26.500

May 31, 1853

Receipt from John Benjamin Irwin Logan, cashier of the Exchange Bank of Virginia, Salem, for two thousand dollars in notes received from Wright Southgate, cashier of the Exchange Bank of Virginia, Norfolk, by the hands of William Watts

Watts Collection, documents 451-475

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”. Some or all of the documents described here may not yet be available online, but all may be consulted on site.

This set of documents is relatively coherent chronologically, but reflects the diversity of William Watts’s activities. The group begins with 4 documents from 1847, the first of which accompanied the last letter in the previous group, and the other three of which relate to Fleming James and his long-standing affairs. The next item, 1998.26.455, in fact contains 20 documents, all of them brief account statements from local sheriffs, relating to law cases handled by the Wattses in the 1840s. The next item, 1998.26.456, is an account statement prepared by Edward Watts regarding the administration of the estate of his father, William Watts, who died in 1797. The remaining 19 items are letters from almost as many different writers, involving legal business like giving and taking depositions; family business, like the sale of James Breckinridge’s lots in Washington, DC; the opening a branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia in Salem, of which William Watts was president; William Watts’s absence during the fall for the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-51; and requests from recommendations and advice.

doc #

date

abstract

1998.26.451

August 30, 1847

Copy of an account statement of the debts of James McClanahan to Harrison Carter France and Edmund Thomas Starling of $198 and $74.51 respectively, sent by William Watts to James Moss Smith with 1998.26.450

1998.26.452

October 12, 1847

Letter from Fleming James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, explaining that he has delayed his trip to Roanoke County to accommodate Landon Cabell Read, but will depart soon and be at Stoner’s Store in six days; asking Watts to collect debts from Captain Nelmes and Abraham Carney, and have his account of charges against James ready to be settled; giving news of Alice Matilda Watts

1998.26.453

December 7, 1847

Letter from Fleming James, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, lamenting the lack of a letter from Watts for the past month and asking for news about rents owed by William C. Langhorne and William McDermid; also sending news of William’s sisters Alice Watts and Ann Selden (Watts) Holcombe, Thomas Philemon Holcombe and William J. Holcombe, called Willie, saying that the Holcombes have gone to Charleston, South Carolina

1998.26.454

August 24, 1847

Account statement from Jeremiah Kyle Pitzer, deputy sheriff of Roanoke County of  the claims of David Gish, James Howell and others against Fleming James and William McDermid, showing an initial debt of $197.36, with interest, costs, and commissions bringing the total to $270.17, and credits for payments by to Hiram Haydon, by McDermid, and by William Watts to Gish leaving $70.19 due to Howell

1998.26.455

1842-1848

Twenty account statements from sheriffs and clerks of courts in Bedford, Franklin, and Roanoke Counties, for charges related to executions of court orders in the 1840s, all presumably involving William Watts as lawyer although he is not always mentioned. Names of the court officers include Green B. Board,  Moses Greer Carper, M. Davis, John Hook Griffin, Frederick Johnston, James Kyle, Nathaniel J. Manson, Armistead Otey, Jeremiah Kyle Pitzer, John R. Steptoe, and Caleb Tate. Names of parties include Nathaniel Burwell, Thomas Saunders Gholson, William Gish, William R. Jones, James McClanahan, William S. Minor, Maclin S. Stith, Samuel Stoner, John W. Thompson, Thomas S. Walton, John E. Watkins, Hugh A. Watt, John F. J. White, Joseph Wilson, and the firms Eskridge and Holcombe, Gaynor Wood and Company, and Peck White and Company.

1998.26.456

about 1849

Account statement of the estate of William Watts, prepared by Edward Watts, showing amounts paid and due to himself and to his sisters, Anna Maria (Watts) Gwathmey, Mary (Watts) Morris, Martha Watts, Alice (Watts) Saunders, Elizabeth (Watts) Brown, or to their heirs and representatives; among the latter, Robert Carter Gwathmey, William Watts Gwathmey, and P. B. Winston are mentioned by name.

 Statement of my account with the estate of Wm Watts

Assets receivd on account of land                                                           3078.

deduct for commissions                                                                           _153.90

            subject to distribution                                                                  2924.10

Having no interests in this fund each share one fifth is 584.82

of the above R. C. and W. W. Gwathmey have receivd in advance           980. excess      395.18

The heirs of Mrs Morris through P. B. Winston                                        480. def           104.82

Mrs Brown has recd                                                                                  550. def             34.82

To be paid to the committee of Martha Watts                                            584.82

To be settled with F. Saunders on account of his land                            _584.82

                                                                                                                3179.64

            deduct excess to Gwathmeys                                                       _395.18

                                                                                                                2784.46

            add deficiency to Mrs M. & Mrs B.                                             _139.64

                                                                                                                2924.10

This account, presumably prepared by Edward Watts to be copied and circulated to the other heirs, must have been prepared in early 1849, soon after the death on 26 December 1848 of Temple Gwathmey, whose two surviving sons – Robert Carter Gwathmey and William Watts Gwathmey – are listed among the heirs. William Watts died 20 December 1797, leaving six children: one son, Edward; and five daughters: Elizabeth (c. 1781-1843), married Preston W. Brown; Martha (1783-1853), never married; Mary (1784-1835), married Richard Morris; Alice (c. 1793-1867), married Fleming Saunders; and Anna Maria (1794-1819), married Temple Gwathmey.

1998.26.457

April 18, 1850

Letter from H. G. Richardson, in Farmville, Virginia, to William Watts and Edward Watts Saunders, at Big Lick, Virginia, stating that he will pay a bond within the next three months

1998.26.458

September 25, 1850

Letter from Gustavus Adolphus Wingfield in Liberty (Bedford), Virginia, to Edward Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, making arrangements to take a deposition from Watts and providing a letter for him to communicate to William Madison Peyton, who was a party to the suit

1998.26.459

September 25, 1850

Letter from Gustavus Adolphus Wingfield in Liberty (Bedford), Virginia, to Edward Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, explaining why his client Matthew Pate wishes to obtain a deposition from Watts in the case of Peyton and Bailey, claiming under McClure, versus Pate, regarding a marshal’s sale of land in Big Lick belonging to John Pate and Edmund Pate in 1826, in which both Watts and James Breckinridge played a part; the letter is extremely deferential, and asks Watts as a personal favor to find it convenient to attend the taking of the deposition at Neal’s Tavern at the Lick on October 3

1998.26.460

October 12, 1850

Letter from Abraham Hupp, in Salem, Virginia, to William Watts, in Richmond, Virginia, informing him that he has been appointed to represent the Light Infantry Grays at a convention in Richmond, and asking him to attend

 Salem Va Oct 12th 1850

Dear Sir, Our company the “Light Infantry Grays” at the Sept muster appointed you among other members to attend a volunteer convention to be held in Richmond I believe the 17th inst. Believing that you have not been informed of the fact, and that none of the other members appointed will attend, I take the liberty of writing to you, and at the same time insist on your representing us in that convention, and go for anything that will be of interest to volunteer companies.

Abraham Hupp (1826-1864) ran a tin shop in Salem, VA; he organized the first volunteer military company in Roanoke County, Virginia, in the early 1840s, “The Yellow Jackets”; after it disbanded, he organized the “Salem Light Infantry Grays”, which disbanded after a few years. Following John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, he organized the “Salem Flying Artillery” which fought throughout the Civil War. Hupp himself became ill in 1862 and had to return home, where he died of cancer.

1998.26.461

October 26, 1850

Letter from William Richard Galt, in Norfolk, Virginia, to William Watts, in Richmond, Virginia, at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, asking permission to use his name as a reference in a prospectus for a new school in Buchanan, Virginia; he cites his own references as William Willoughby Sharp, president of the Exchange Bank of Virginia in Norfolk; Jordan Anthony, who forwarded Sharp’s letter to Watts; and Tazewell Taylor, a Norfolk delegate to the convention. He also invokes a slight acquaintance with Watts when they were students at the University of Virginia around 1840, mentioning that he has recommendations from the faculty there

 Norfolk, Oct 26, 1850

Dear Sir, I take the liberty of addressing you on a subject of much importance to myself, and in which you can be of essential service to me. About two months since I was in the town of Buchanan, Botetourt Co. endeavoring to ascertain what prospects there were of my succeeding in opening a male boarding-school there.

William Richard Galt (1818-1892) was a noted educator. He came from a distinguished family, originally from Williamsburg, Virginia. Watts’s favorable answer to this letter, dated 31 October 1850, is in the Galt family papers in the special collections of the library at William and Mary University, along with copies of the recommendations from faculty and numerous other letters from individuals agreeing to serve as references. He published a prospectus for the “Mountain Home School”, and was living in Botetourt County, Virginia, at the 1860 census, so that one can assume that this project came to fruition. After 1860, however, the census located him in Norfolk, Virginia, where he became head of the Norfolk Academy.

1998.26.462

October 28, 1850

Letter from William G. Peck, at Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, to William Watts, in Richmond, Virginia, giving news on the state of his farm under Walker’s supervision, on his father Edward Watts’s hunting trip to Greasy Creek, on the deer killed by Colonel Oliver, A. White and John Lewis, on preparations for a wedding at Colonel Peyton’s; wishing Watts and his new wife happiness and asking for news about the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850

1998.26.463

October 28, 1850

Letter from Philip J. Ellicott, in Baltimore, Maryland, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia (forwarded to Richmond, Virginia), asking about progress in an effort to recover a debt from Oliver, who failed to appear in court in Washington in a case in which Ellicott had stood as his security

1998.26.464

November 4, 1850

Circular letter from William Willoughby Sharp, president of the Exchange Bank of Virginia, at Norfolk, Virginia, to William Watts, George W. Shanks, Powell A. Huff, Abram Hupp, Charles L. Snyder, Robert Craig, and George Plater Tayloe, directors of the branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia at Salem, Virginia, stating that the stock subscription for the Salem branch of the bank has been fulfilled, and giving instructions for putting the branch into operation

 Exchange Bank of Virg[ini]a, November 4, 1850

Messrs Wm Watts, Geo. W. Shanks, Powell A. Huff, Abram Hupp, Chs L. Snyder, Robert Craig, & G. P. Tayloe, Directors Br. Exch. Bank Va at Salem

Gentlemen, The amount of stock subscribed here and at other points, together with the subscriptions reported by you on the 4th ulto being nearly equal to your proposed capital, it is proper that arrangements be made, without further delay, to put your Branch into operation.

William Willoughby Sharp (1801-1871) lived in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was head of the Exchange Bank of Virginia. It was organized in 1837 and had branches in Richmond and Lynchburg. William Watts served as the first president of the newly organized Salem branch of the bank, which was authorized by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia on 15 March 1849. The other addressees of the letter, who were directors of the bank, were among the leading businessmen of the region: George W. Shanks (1809-1876) was a merchant; Powell A. Huff owned a hat factory; Abram Hupp (1826-1864) ran a tin shop; Charles L. Snyder (c. 1815-1863) was a tanner and farmer; Robert Craig (1792-1852) was a planter and had served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the U. S. House of Representatives; George Plater Tayloe (1804-1897) was a major landowner and businessman.

1998.26.465

November 12, 1850

Letter from Morris and Brother, booksellers, signed by A. Morris, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, informing him that the $10 note on the Bank of Virginia with which he paid for two copies of Hugh Alfred Garland’s The Life of John Randolph of Roanoke, for himself and for James Philemon Holcombe, was a counterfeit, and giving details about the appearance of the note and the way in which the forgery was discovered

1998.26.466

November 15, 1850

Letter from John T. Anderson, in Fincastle, Virginia, to William Watts, at Oaklands, in Roanoke County, Virginia, saying that he has $2450 to pay off a bond on James Shanks, which he had hoped to give Watts when he passed through Fincastle returning from Richmond, but now knows that Watts returned by Lynchburg and so he proposes to bring or send the money to Salem, Virginia; also expresses a wish to change the date of the case of Francis vs White in Roanoke County Court

1998.26.467

November 29, 1850

Letter from Walter S. Leon to Cary Breckinridge, in Fincastle, Virginia, repeating an offer from Mr Corcoran to buy lots

1998.26.468

December 6, 1850

Letter from William Ransom Johnson Jr, in Petersburg, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, expressing satisfaction that Watts has sold a slave mother and child and adding his confirmation to the sale; also congratulating Watts on recent honors

1998.26.469

December 10, 1850

Letter from Jordan Anthony, at the Bank of Virginia in Buchanan, Virginia, to William Watts, presumably at home in Big Lick, Roanoke County, Virginia, transferring his money to the new Exchange Bank of Virginia branch in Salem, Virginia

 Office Bank of Virginia, Buchanan Dec 10th 1850

Dear Sir, I have received your favor of the 9th instant. There is a balance of $1053.30 standing to the credit of your account on the Books of this Office. I am happy to hear you have been placed at the head of the Banking institution to be put in operation in Salem. We must when necessary confer with each other and harmonize.

Jordan Anthony (1788-after 1866) was a cashier at the Bank of Virginia branch at Buchanan, Virginia; his niece Julia Anthony Breckinridge married Peachy Gilmer Breckinridge, an attorney and a cousin of William Watts. In the 1860 census, Julia and her husband were living in her uncle’s household.

1998.26.470

December 13, 1850

Letter from Green James, in Fincastle, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, asking him for a letter of introduction to assist in his application to obtain the advertising of the United States mail routes in Virginia for his newspaper, the Valley Whig; he explains that he does not know the Postmaster General Nathan Kelsey Hall or any other member of the Cabinet, but knows that Watts is acquainted with Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart, Secretary of the Interior; he notes further that General Augustus Alexandria Chapman gained the contract for the Fincastle Democrat under the previous presidency, and hopes that the current administration (under Millard Fillmore) will be favorable to a Whig editor

1998.26.471

December 14, 1850

Letter from John Thomas Anderson, in Fincastle, Virginia, to William Watts, in Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, asking Watts to attend, on behalf of client Noah S. Brown, to the taking of depositions from Roberts and Ballard by Alfred Terrell Dillard; Anderson thinks both deponents are interested in the outcome of the suit and therefore incompetent to give testimony; he also says that he will leave for Richmond on January 2, 1851, traveling by way of Lynchburg, and hopes to have Watts’s company

1998.26.472

December 13, 1850

Letter from William Coleman Campbell, in Salem, Virginia, to William Watts, in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, requesting a letter of recommendation from Watts in support of his application to the Virginia Military Institute, on which he has sought advice from John William Tayloe, Madison Pitzer, and Benjamin Harrison Smith

 Salem Dec 13th 1850

Mr Wm Watts

Dear Sir, In accordance with your suggestion, I wrote to Mr J. W. Tayloe of the V. M. I. in relation to the appointment of State Cadets, and recei[ve]d an answer on the 10th inst stating, that there was a vacancy in this Gen[era]l District, and advising me to send on my recommendations immediately.

William Coleman Campbell (1832-1873) was a Salem, Virginia, native; he graduated from V.M.I. in the class of 1855, never married, made his career in mining and writing for newspapers. He died in Salt Lake City, Utah. John William Tayloe (1831-1904) was born in Big Lick (Roanoke). He entered V.M.I. in 1849 as a member of the class of 1852, but resigned in 1851. He moved to Alabama, where he enlisted as an officer in the Confederate army in 1861. After the war, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he died. Further information on both men may be found in the online archives of V.M.I. 

1998.26.473

December 16, 1850

Letter from Kent, Kendall & Atwater, in Richmond, Virginia, to William Watts, presumably at home in Big Lick (Roanoke), Virginia, discussing options for recovering a debt from George Callaway Langhorne, for which Tayloe has proposed notes from Samuel P. Holt which he, Tayloe, will endorse, this arrangement being contingent on the sale of property by Langhorne to Holt; otherwise Watts is to have the execution against Langhorne levied; Rass will carry the letter to Watts, and consult with him about Langhorne, and about a debt of Edmund Penn White

1998.26.474

December 19, 1850

Letter from William Langhorne, at Cloverdale, Virginia, to William Watts, at home (at Oaklands, Roanoke County, Virginia), asking to be excused from attending a taking of depositions at Bedford County Court because of his rheumatism, and giving advice about points on which to question others who may attend,  mentioning his son George Callaway Langhorne and brothers Maurice Langhorne and Henry Scarsbrook Langhorne, Mr Tompkins, Mr Otey, Mr Radford, and Dad Hanes

1998.26.475

December 24, 1850

Letter from William Willoughby Sharp, in Norfolk, Virginia, to William Watts, in Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, informing him that John Benjamin Irwin Logan has resigned as cashier of the planned Salem branch of the Exchange Bank of Virginia, and suggesting Robert McCandlish as a replacement; mentioning also the problem of any delay because the stock has already been issued