A Guide to the Blow-Cook Family Papers, 1811-1952
A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 40242, 40397
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference)
Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference)
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
© 2002 By the Library of Virginia.
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Jim Greve
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Blow-Cook Family Papers, 1811-1952. Accessions 40242 and 40397, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from Mr. Joe Woolard, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 26 November 2002.
Biographical Information
The Blow family were prominent residents of Sussex County and Portsmouth, Virginia. George Blow (1787-1870) and his wife Elizabeth Waller (1791-1841) were married in Williamsburg on 12 December 1807. They had thirteen children. Among them were George Blow (1813-1894) and William Nevison Blow (1822-1901). George Blow was an attorney, and later judge of the Norfolk Circuit Court. He married Elizabeth Taylor Allmand (1823-1868) in Norfolk on 27 August 1846. They had twelve children, including Emma Blacknall Blow (1847-1914). She married Arthur Clarico Freeman (1845-1908) in Norfolk on 5 March 1873. They had four children, including Emma Blow Freeman (b. 1876). She married Allen M. Cook (1870-1941).
William Nevison Blow (1822-1901) married Lavinia Cargill (1821-1868) in Norfolk on 4 March 1847. They had ten children, including a son also named William Nevison Blow (1855-1907). He married Mary Elizabeth Thomas (1863-1943) of Maine on 27 October 1882 in Denver, Colorado. They later resided at "Tower Hill," the family plantation in Sussex County, Virginia. They had one son, William Thomas Blow (1883-1943), who inherited the property after his father's death.
Scope and Content Information
Papers, 1811-1952, of the Blow and Cook familis of Sussex County, Portsmouth, and Norfolk, Virginia, including the allied families of Allmand and Freeman. The collection contains correspondence, subject files, ledgers, and photographs relating to the descendants of Judge George Blow (1813-1894) and his brother William Nevison Blow (1822-1901), as well as Emma Blow Freeman (b. 1876) and her husband Allen M. Cook (1870- 1941).
Organization
Organized into the following series: Series I.
Correspondence
Series II. Subject Files
Series III. Ledgers
Series IV. Photographs
Contents List
The correspondence covers the years 1811 to 1939, but the bulk of it dates from 1900 to 1915. The earlier correspondence is sparse, but it includes a number of interesting letters. There is an 1819 letter to Richard Blow (d. 1833) regarding financial matters and the purchasing of stock in the Bank of the United States. Among the other early letters are those from Eliza (Waller) Blow (1791-1841) to her son George while he was away at school. They concern the health of the family, weather, and she also gives her son advice on the importance of a good education. There are also letters in the 1850's to Honoria Allmand (b. 1829) from her brothers John O'Grady Allmand (1831-1909) in Baltimore, and William H. Allmand (1820-1864) while he was serving in the Navy and stationed in England. Detailed descriptions of England and Ireland are given, including the religious observations of the citizens, and he also describes the various tourist attractions he visits. There is an 1878 letter from George Blow to his son George Preston Blow (1860-1922) while the latter was attending the United States Naval Academy. William Nevison Blow describes his poor financial situation and the possibility of losing his plantation "Tower Hill" in an 1887 letter to his son William N. Blow (1855-1907).
The majority of the letters after 1895 are written by Allen M. Cook (1870-1941) to his wife Emma Blow (Freeman) Cook (b. 1876). Subject include their courtship and marriage and family matters. Much of it also relates to his naval service in South America and South Africa, his duty during the Spanish-American War, in the Philippines and China during the Boxer Rebellion, as well as in this country.
Finally, there is a large amount of correspondence from William T. Blow (1883-1943) during the period 1914 to 1915. Much of it is to his mother Mary "Molly" Elizabeth (Thomas) Blow (1863-1943), as well as to officials at the American Farmers School in Minneapolis concerning correspondence courses in which he was enrolled.
- Box 1 Folder 1
1811, 1819
- Box 1 Folder 2
1826,1838
- Box 1 Folder 3
1840
- Box 1 Folder 4
1851-1855
- Box 1 Folder 5
1865-1868
- Box 1 Folder 6
1877-1878
- Box 1 Folder 7
1883-1889
- Box 1 Folder 8
1891
- Box 1 Folder 9
1892
- Box 1 Folder
10
1894
- Box 1 Folder
11
1896 (January-June)
- Box 1 Folder
12
1896 (July-December)
- Box 1 Folder
13
1897 (January-February)
- Box 1 Folder
14
1897 (March-December)
- Box 1 Folder
15
1898-1899
- Box 1 Folder
16
1901
- Box 1 Folder
17
1904
- Box 1 Folder
18
1905 (January-February)
- Box 1 Folder
19
1905 (March, December)
- Box 1 Folder
20
1906
- Box 1 Folder
21
1907
- Box 2 Folder 1
1908 (January-September)
- Box 2 Folder 2
1908 (October)
- Box 2 Folder 3
1908 (November)
- Box 2 Folder 4
1908 (December)
- Box 2 Folder 5
1909 (January 1-18)
- Box 2 Folder 6
1909 (January 19-31)
- Box 2 Folder 7
1909 (February 1-21)
- Box 2 Folder 8
1909 (February 22-28)
- Box 2 Folder 9
1909 (March)
- Box 2 Folder
10
1909 (April)
- Box 2 Folder
11
1909 (May-July)
- Box 2 Folder
12
1909 (August)
- Box 2 Folder
13
1909 (October, December)
- Box 2 Folder
14
1910
- Box 3 Folder 1
1911
- Box 3 Folder 2
1912
- Box 3 Folder 3
1913 (February-July)
- Box 3 Folder 4
1913 (August-December)
- Box 3 Folder 5
1914
- Box 3 Folder 6
1915-1917
- Box 3 Folder 7
1922-1923
- Box 3 Folder 8
1930-1939
- Box 3 Folder 9
1940-1952
- Box 3 Folder
10-11
n.d.
The subject files contain a variety of materials, including accounts and receipts, agreements, cancelled checks, an 1861 crop book, deeds, estate papers, genealogical notes on the Blow, Cook, and other families, an 1842 report card from West Point, resolutions of respect for Allen M. Cook, tax receipts, a transcription of Waller family Bible records, and other items.
- Box 4 Folder 1
Accounts and Receipts
- Box 4 Folder 2
Agreements
- Box 4 Folder 3
Appointment, 1874
- Box 4 Folder 4
Autograph Book
- Box 4 Folder 5
Cancelled Checks, 1900-1902
- Box 4 Folder 6
Cancelled Checks, 1913-1919
- Box 4 Folder 7
Cemetery Plot Diagram
- Box 4 Folder 8
Clippings
- Box 4 Folder 9
Crop Book, 1861
- Box 4 Folder
10
Daughters of the American Revolution
- Box 4 Folder
11
Deeds
- Box 4 Folder
12
Edgewater Garden Club
- Box 4 Folder
13
Envelopes
- Box 4 Folder
14
Estate of Harrison Allmand
- Box 4 Folder
15
Estate of Mary Louisa Allmand
- Box 4 Folder
16
Estate of William D. Blow
- Box 4 Folder
17
Estate of Henry C. Cook
- Box 4 Folder
18
Estate Papers - Misc.
- Box 4 Folder
19
Genealogical Notes - Blow
- Box 4 Folder
20
Genealogical Notes - Cook
- Box 4 Folder
21
Genealogical Notes - Misc.
- Box 4 Folder
22
Genealogy of the Furnas Family by Tanzy R. Furnace (1897)
- Box 4 Folder
23
Guide Books
- Box 5 Folder 1
Journal of Allen Blow Cook
- Box 5 Folder 2
Memorandum Book
- Box 5 Folder
3-4
Miscellaneous
- Box 5 Folder 5
Poetry
- Box 5 Folder 6
Postcards
- Box 5 Folder 7
Programs
- Box 5 Folder 8
Promissory Notes, 1874, 1902
- Box 5 Folder 9
Publications
- Box 5 Folder
10
Report Card - West Point, 1842
- Box 5 Folder
11
Resolutions of Respect - Allen M. Cook, 1941
- Box 5 Folder
12
Resume - Cook, Clarice A.
- Box 5 Folder
13
Suit Papers - Atkinson vs. Freeman
- Box 5 Folder
14
Suit Papers - Freeman vs. Barraud
- Box 5 Folder
15
Surveys
- Box 5 Folder
16
Tax Receipts,
- Box 5 Folder
17
Waller Family Bible Records, 1716-1786
- Box 5 Folder
18
Wedding Invitation (Cook/Gardner)
- Box 5 Folder
19
Will of Allen M. Cook, 1931
There are three volumes of ledgers belonging to William Nevison Blow (1855-1907) relating to the operation of "Tower Hill" plantation. They include farm and household accounts and expenses, as well as valuations of lands owned in Sussex and Southampton Counties, logs of persons employed, and amounts of various crops picked.
- Box 6
1873-1884
- Box 6
1894-1898
- Box 6
1894-1899