Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Leftwich-Shepherd-Bowles Familiy Papers, 1854-1920. Accession 27988, Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Styles of Chester, Virginia, 3 May 1973.

Biographical Information

Reverend James C. Leftwich (1799-1852) and Anne Bilbro Leftwich (1812-1864) of Bedford County, Virginia, had six children, including Frances Jane Leftwich (1833-1906), John William Leftwich (1835-1868), and Sarah (Sallie) North Leftwich. Frances Jane Leftwich married John Newton Shepherd (1834-1866) of Fluvanna County, Virginia, 12 February 1857, and they had four children. She was principal of the Edgewood Female Institute in Fluvanna County from 1866 to 1871. She later moved to Austin, Texas, where she taught and served as principal of the Austin Female Institute. John William Leftwich attended the University of Virginia and Bellevue Hospital in New York, New York. He served as a physician in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Leftwich practiced medicine afterwards in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and also farmed. He married Martha Elizabeth Jones (1842-1908) 16 May 1860, and they had three children. Sarah (Sallie) North Leftwich attended Valley Union Seminiary and Hollins College. She married Thomas J. Shepherd (1832-1874) of Fluvanna County 17 April 1861, and they had four children, including Thomas Joseph Shepherd (b. 1868). Clyde Dennis Shepherd (1896-1965) was the son of Sallie N. Shepherd's son James Leftwich Shepherd (b. 1861) and his wife Susie Rives Jackson Shepherd (b. 1875). Francis Norman Bowles (b. 1901) was the son of Sallie N. Shepherd's daughter Fannie Newton Shepherd (b. 1866) and her husband Charles Knight Bowles (b. 1861).

Scope and Content

Papers, 1854-1920, of the Leftwich-Shepherd-Bowles family of Bedford, Fluvanna and Pittsylvania Counties, Virginia, consisting of correspondence, exercise books, notebooks, and photographs. Correspondence, 1860-1867, consists of letters to and from Sarah (Sallie) North Leftwich (Shepherd) (1839-1911), John William Leftwich (1835-1868), and Frances Jane Leftwich Shepherd (1833-1906) containing family and personal news discussing Sallie Leftwich's marriage to Thomas J. Shepherd, John William Leftwich's details of his Civil War service and life in Reconstruction Pittsylvania County, and Sallie Leftwich's concern over Thomas J. Shepherd's (her future husband) illness. Also contains a letter, ca. 1861-1864, from Ann Bilbro Leftwich (1812-1864) to Sallie N. Leftwich Shepherd containing personal news and a letter, 3 June 1882, from Thomas J. Shepherd (b. 1868) (her son) asking if he may come home. Collection also includes Sallie N. Leftwich's French exercise book, 1854, which includes transcripts of letters, 1857-1860, to family and friends, as well as Sallie Leftwich's accounts for cloth and other items; John William Leftwich's treatise, ca. 1865-1868, on growing tobacco in Pittsylvania County and F. N. Bowles' (b. 1901) chemistry notebook, ca. 1920, while a student at Richmond College. Collection also contains twelve photographs, including portraits of Clyde Dennis Shepherd (1896-1965), M. M. Sneed, [Gen. Ray?] Wood, and Bertha Caldwell; a book on sights from around the world, and a french language story book.