James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
880 Madison Drive MSC 1704 Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807 Telephone: (540) 568-3612 library-special@jmu.edu URL: https://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/
Dillon Thomas
Repository
James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
Identification
SC 0233
Title
Thomas Gathright papers 1923-1933
Quantity
2.1 cubic feet, 4 boxes, 1 flat file
Language
English
.
Abstract
The Thomas Gathright Papers, 1923-1933, consisting of 2.1 cubic feet of material, are primarily comprised of the business
correspondence and property blueprints of Thomas Gathright, a land-purchasing agent for the C&O Railway.
The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library.
For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).
Access Restrictions
Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this
collection.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [box #, folder #], Thomas Gathright Papers, 1923-1933, SC 0233, Special Collections, Carrier Library,
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Acquisition Information
Transferred to Special Collections by Clarence Geier of James Madison University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Processing Information
Select groupings of correspondence, primarily dating from 1923 to 1924, were damaged by rodent or other pest and inactive
mold. Severely affected materials were photocopied and originals discarded. Rusted fasteners were removed and replaced with
plastic paperclips. Due to extensive tearing down its center, oversize blueprint 21, titled Property to be Acquired from Industrial
Rayon Corporation Near Covington, Alleghany Co., Virginia, was mended and placed in Mylar.
Oversize blueprints were separated from their original order (interfiled with correspondence) and filed in flat storage. The
blueprints and maps are listed hierarchically under the respective file of correspondence where they were originally filed.
Separation sheets indicate the original location of the blue prints as well as their location in flat storage.
Thomas Morton Gathright, known in adulthood as "T. M.," "Mort," "Tom," and "Uncle Tom," was born on March 11, 1874 in Louisa
County, Virginia to Thomas "Tommie" Morton Gathright (1842-1909) and Mary Goodwin Bowles Gathright (1846-1909). He married
Martha Burdette Stone (1874-1953) and they had one child, Thomas "Tom" Morton Gathright (1906-1991).
Shortly after WWI, Gathright acted as agent for the now-defunct Columbia Gas and Electric Company. In 1922 he became a land-purchasing
agent on behalf of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway. His duties primarily consisted of contacting landowners of potential
areas for rail construction in order to negotiate the purchase of the land and rights of way. He then would relay information
on interested parties to his superiors in the main offices of C&O Railway in order to facilitate a beneficial transaction.
He also served as chairman of the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors.
Gathright's other ventures included acting as a broker for various other companies and also turning land purchases for personal
profit. After attempting to sell a large area of timbered land in Alleghany and Bath counties to Virginia Power, the Great
Depression resulted in the cancellation of the purchase. Gathright then converted the land, acquired over a thirty-year period,
into the Hickory Lodge game preserve, a private hunting and fishing club which he operated between 1932 and 1947. The club
disbanded in 1947 when Gathright's health began to decline. The commonwealth of Virginia upheld and maintained the land after
Gathright's death in 1956. In July 1958, the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries purchased the 18,500 –acre T.
M. Gathright Wildlife Management Area from the Virginia Electric and Power Company and the heirs of Thomas Gathright. In 1974,
construction began on a dam on the property, named after Gathright, resulting in the creation of Lake Moomaw.
It should be noted that Thomas Morton Gathright is the second of three generations of Thomas Gathrights. All materials in
this collection concern Thomas Morton Gathright (1874-1956), son of Thomas "Tommie" Morton Gathright (1842-1909) and father
of Thomas "Tom" Morton Gathright (1906-1991).
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) was formed in 1869 in Louisa County, Virginia after the Louisa Railroad merged with
various other smaller railway companies. It continued to grow through the late nineteenth century. It reached from Newport
News, Virginia into Cincinnati, Ohio with its initial span, eventually making its way into several parts of Michigan and Illinois.
Its primary freight was coal from West Virginian coal fields, while it did operate some passenger services as well. Thomas
Gathright began his work with C&O at its height of expansionary purchases in the 1920s as it sought increased amounts of land
to extend its track. C&O continued to grow until it merged with Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and Western Maryland Railway
to form Chessie Systems in 1963. Chessie Systems then merged with Seaboard System Railroad in 1986 to form the modern CSX
Transportation, which continues to operate to this day.
The Thomas Gathright Papers, 1923-1933, consist of four Hollinger boxes and 1 flat file (2.1 cubic feet). The collection consists
primarily of correspondence and blueprints written by and addressed to Thomas Gathright, land-purchasing agent for the C&O
Railway. The correspondence is primarily typed or printed on high-pulp paper or onion-skin carbon copy paper. The collection
also includes blueprints of land purchases that relate to correspondence.
The collection contains correspondence, telegrams, deeds, indentures, and blueprints. The subject matter of the correspondence
consists primarily of business dealings and land inquiries, acquisitions, rights of way, and disputes which Thomas Gathright
engaged in on behalf of the C&O Railway. Correspondents include local land owners; colleagues at the C & O Railway Company
including R. P. Eubank, the General Real Estate Agent at C&O and C. W. Johns, the C&O's chief engineer; and J. M. Perry, Attorney
and Counselor at Law in Staunton, Virginia. Some letters are addressed to Gathright by disgruntled landowners regarding land
and/or payment disputes. One such letter is from Mary E. Allen of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. In an October 1, 1931
letter to Gathright, she writes:
"There is a mistake here about my place. I want you yourself to come here and straighten it up. There is a dispute over how
much land you got and if you don't come and fix it up there is going to be someone burried [sic] here….These servayors [sic]
don't do a thing but steal. You haven't paid me all of my money anyway."
In general, the land purchases discussed in the correspondence involve communities in Alleghany County, Virginia, including
Covington, and Summers County and Greenbrier County, West Virginia, including While Sulphur Springs, Fort Springs, and Ronceverte.
Other companies mentioned in the correspondence include Kanawha –Dunlap Land Company and Low Moor Iron Company.
"Chesapeake and Ohio Railway." Wikipedia. March 15, 2017. Accessed March 15, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Railway.
Rutherford, James T. "Hickory Lodge." Virginia Wildlife 22, no. 12 (December 1961): 16-19.