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Johnston Family. Papers, 1779-1891. Accession 24154, 24321. Personal papers collection. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Gift of Anne Mason Lee, Richmond, Virginia, 17 May 1955.
The Johnston family was a prominent family in southwestern Virginia and was related to the Preston and Floyd families. John Warfield Johnston (1818-1889) served as a member of the Virginia Senate from 1846 to 1848. He served the Confederacy as receiver for the Southwest District of Virginia during the Civil War. After the war, he was judge of the circuit court from 1866 to 1870. In 1869, he was elected to the United States Senate and served until 1883. Johnston married Nicketti Buchanan Floyd, the daughter of Governor John Floyd (1783-1837) and Letitia Preston Floyd (1779-1852) and sister of Governor John B. Floyd (1806- 1863), all of Virginia. Their daughter Sally Buchanan Floyd (1848-1925) married Henry Carter Lee (1842-1889), the nephew of Robert E. Lee (1807-1870).
Papers, 1779-1891, of the Johnston family of Washington County, Virginia, consisting of business records, clippings, commissions, court records, deeds, invoices, land grants, letters, lists, and receipts. Letters often concern political and historical matters of Virginia and the United States, including the American Revolution and the Civil War. Collection includes the diary, 1831-1834, of John Floyd (1783-1837), written during his term as governor of Virginia, and gives good insight to the state and national politics of the early 1830s; letters, 1885, from Henry C. Lee concerning the choice of Robert E. Lee of a potential successor as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia; data on Truro Parish in Fairfax County, Virginia; data on Fairfax Parish in Alexandria, Virginia; list of governors up to 1885; and clippings concerning the restoration of Arlington to Mary Custis Lee. Correspondents include: Edward Bates, John C. Calhoun, William Campbell, Lewis Cass, Henry Clay, John Esten Cooke, Jefferson Davis, Lyman C. Draper, John Floyd, John B. Floyd, Letitia Floyd, Edward Fontaine, John S. Gallaher, Wade Hampton, Robert Y. Hayne, Andrew Jackson, George Ben Johnston, John W. Johnston, William King, George Washington Custis Lee, Henry Lee, Henry C. Lee, Mary Custis Lee, Letitia Lewis, James Longstreet, Matthew Fontaine Maury, James McDowell, Thomas T. Munford, Francis Preston, William C. Preston, Beverley Randolph, John Randolph, Douglas Robinson, Theodore Roosevelt, Winfield Scott, John Tyler, George Washington, William C. Wickham, and James Wood. There are three letters from George Washington which are copies. All three original letters are at the Library of Virginia. The final page to the Washington letter dated 31 October 1786 is located at the New York Public Library. There is a typed transcript of Floyd's diary, and it is included in part in Life and Diary of John Floyd, by Charles H. Ambler, 1918, and The John P. Branch Historical Papers of Randolph-Macon College, volume V, June 1918.
Papers are arranged chronologically in each series.
OrganizationPapers are divided into two series based on accession numbers 24154 and 24321.