Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Shelton-Winn-Oliver Family Papers, 1764-1965. Accession 42149, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Various portions of the collection were gifted, lent for copying, and purchased by and from Mary Winn Shelton and William R. Shelton, Jr.

Biographical/Historical Information

Edwin Shelton was born on 5 June 1798. He was the son of John Shelton III (ca. 1750-1798) and Ann Barrett Southall (1760-1830). Edwin Shelton inherited "Rural Plains" in Hanover County, Virginia from his father. He married Sarah Elizabeth Oliver (1810-1887) on 5 September 1827. She was the daughter of Isaac Oliver and Nancy Alexander Austin of "Laurel Meadow" in Hanover County. Edwin Shelton died on 4 November 1874.

Edwin Shelton and Sarah Elizabeth Oliver had nine children. The youngest was Walter Mitchell Shelton, who inherited "Rural Plains." He was born 1 June 1849. On 9 February 1866 he married Roberta "Bertie" Winston Winn (1856-1903). She was the daughter of William Robert Winn and Susan Parke Goodall. Walter Mitchell Shelton died on 11 July 1903. They had eight children, including their eldest William Robert Shelton.

William Robert Shelton was born on 29 January 1877. He was the next to inherit "Rural Plains." He married Maud Elizabeth Greenlee (1884-1949) on 2 June 1915. They ran a landscape business at their home, and called it "Rural Plains Nursery," specializing in the cultivating and growing of boxwoods. He died on 8 September 1958. They had two children: Mary Winn Shelton (1916-1967) and William Robert Shelton, Jr. (b. 1920). The latter was the last to inherit "Rural Plains." He also continued the family landscape business. In 2001, he sold "Rural Plains," and it will be preserved and administered by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1764-1965, of the Shelton, Winn, and Oliver families of Hanover County, Virginia, primarily Jesse Winn (ca. 1788-1849) and his son William R. Winn (b. 1828). Includes correspondence, accounts and receipts, subject files, ledgers, and oversize items.

The correspondence written to Jesse Winn and William R. Winn deal primarily with legal matters. Both were attorneys, and Jesse Winn also served as sheriff of Hanover County. There is also correspondence that is more personal in nature written between members of the Greenlee family, most notably James Hervey Greenlee (1811-1905) of "Turkey Cove," McDowell County, North Carolina. Some of the more notable items in this series are letters written during the Civil War by Mary Eliza Greenlee (1845-1866), as well as John Alexander Flemming (1836-1864) while he was serving in the 49th North Carolina Infantry. There are also letters written by John Mitchell Greenlee and his brother David William Greenlee while they were attending Davidson College in 1869 and 1870. There is correspondence of Maud Greenlee (1884-1949) while she was on a trip to Cuba which include detailed descriptions of Havana, and there is a substantial amount of correspondence of William R. Shelton, Jr. (b. 1920) while he was stationed in the U.S. Navy at Camp Peary during 1944 and 1945.

The accounts and receipts are divided into two groups. Those of Jesse Winn are arranged alphabetically by the name of business or individual to whom money was owed. Those of William R. Winn and others are arranged chronologically by year.

The subject files contain a wide variety of material, and the researcher should consult the inventory to the collection for a complete listing. There are agreements and contracts, bonds and promissory notes, cancelled checks, clippings, two cyphering books, deeds, estate papers, fee bills, guardian accounts, surveys, tax receipts, copies of wills, and other items. There are a large amount of suit papers relating to various cases in which Jesse Winn and William R. Winn were involved, either as attorney and/or sheriff. This series also contains papers relating to the estates of numerous individuals, including John Austin, Jr., Albert C. Blake, Fleming Brown, James Brown, Peter W. Brown, Sarah Camron, Thomas B. Cawthon, Hector Davis, Ellen P. Duke, L. G. Ellyson, Charles P. Goodall, Jane M. Goodall, Meriwether Jones, Henry King, Henry Lefevre, John T. O'Harrow, Isaac Oliver, Michel Picot de Boisfeillet, Fendall Ragland, Jesse Rice, John Richardson, Joanna Robinson, Silas Shelburn, Maud G. Shelton, John Street, Jr., Parke Street, Nelson Thacker, Garland Thompson, Charles Tinsley, Ann S. Vest, Isaac W. Wingfield, Jesse Winn, Peter Winston, Philip H. Winston, and Polly Woodfin. There are copies of wills for the following individuals: James Brown, Walter Coles, John Darracott, Peter Foster, John B. Green, Henry King, John F. Lucord, Austin Morris, Isaac Oliver, Moses Parsons, Parke Street, Louisa A. Thacker, Wyatt Tinsley, Peter Winston, and Richard M. Winston. Also included at the end of this series is a collection of postal covers, envelopes, stamps, and cancels.

The oversize series also contains a variety of material, and the researcher should consult the inventory to the collection for a complete listing. Included are a Confederate bond, deeds, maps, plats and surveys, Roosevelt/Garner election posters, an 1864 issue of The Soldier's Visitor , an 1823 issue of The Western Carolinian , a copy of the will of Walter Coles (1815), and other items.

The ledgers consist of five account books and day books for mercantile stores owned by John, James, and Benjamin Oliver and Benjamin Oliver, Jr. They contain entries for sale of clothing, liquor, building materials, food stuffs, cooking supplies, and other sundry goods to customers. They also mention tobacco and wheat sales and shipments. There are also some entries for the firm Brand and Oliver. Included are: Daybook, 13 May 1799-3 June 1800, of a Caroline County store owned by John and Benjamin Oliver; Account book, 1790-1791, for James and Benjamin Oliver's Hanover County store; Daybook, 21 October 1790-10 November 1791, 1 November 1794-12 February 1796, for a Hanover County store owned by James and Benjamin Oliver; Daybook, 15 November 1794-29 June 1797, for a Caroline County store owned by James and Benjmain Oliver; and Ledger A, 1794-1812, for James and Benjamin Oliver's Caroline County store. There is also an account and memorandum book, 1829-1851, belonging to James Hervey Greenlee.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series: I. Correspondence. II. Accounts and Receipts. III. Subject Files. IV. Ledgers. V. Oversize.