Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Harshbarger Family Papers, 1893-1953. Accession 51441. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Purchased.

Biographical Information

Annie Colena Chittum was born on 28 August 1881 in Bedford County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Anderson Chittum (1841-1883) and Deliah Ann Kessler (1849-1896). She married James Nicholas Harshbarger. He was born on 23 February 1882 and died on 19 September 1953. They resided in Hollins, Virginia where he was a farmer and orchardist. She died on 6 October 1960, and she and her husband are buried in Sherwood Burial Park in Salem, Virginia. Their daughter Annie Louis Harshbarger was born on 17 August 1910 and died on 6 December 1997. Their son Clyde Nicholas Harshbarger was born on 24 July 1914 and died on 2 March 1944 in Italy from wounds received in battle during World War II.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1893-1953, of the Harshbarger family of Hollins, Virginia, namely James Nicholas Harshbarger (1882-1953) and his wife Annie Colena (Chittum) Harshbarger (1881-1960), and their children Annie Louis Harshbarger (1910-1997) and Clyde Nicholas Harshbarger (1914-1944). The collection includes accounts and receipts, church newsletters, correspondence, insurance papers, memorandum book, poetry and lyrics, promissory notes, report cards, and school exercises.

The earliest letters are written to Annie Colena Chittum while she was living in Bedford and Rockbridge Counties, and Roanoke, Virginia prior to her marriage to James Nicholas Harshbarger. Many are written by her sister Elizabeth Frances Chittum (1866-1913) and her daughter Olevia Ennis (Chittum) Reynolds (1888-1960) in Rockbridge County. Later letters to her are written by her brother James Lewis Chittum (1878-1974) and his wife Clissie Ann (Nicely) Chittum (1885-1975) of Richmond, Virginia. The post-1925 correspondence also includes letters written to Annie Louis Harshbarger. Finally, there is a good deal of correspondence written to Clyde Nicholas Harshbarger in 1943, many by his parents, while he was serving with the 124th Infantry and stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia prior to his deployment overseas.