A Guide to the James Ligon Kent Papers, 1771-2000 Kent, James Ligon, Papers, 1771-2000 1968.3

A Guide to the James Ligon Kent Papers, 1771-2000

A Collection in
Special Collections, Kegley Library
Collection Number 1968.3


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Special Collections, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College

Special Collections
Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Wytheville, Virginia 24382-3308
USA
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Fax: (276) 223-4745
Email: gmattis@wcc.vccs.edu
URL: http://kegleylibrary.wcc.vccs.edu/

© 2011 By Wytheville Community College. All rights reserved.

Processed by: Cathy Carlson Reynolds

Repository
Special Collections, Kegley Library
Collection Number
1968.3
Title
James Ligon Kent Papers 1771-2000
Physical Characteristics
60 folders.
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

James Ligon Kent Papers, Mss. Collection 1968.3, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by the estate of Frederick B. Kegley in 1968. Additional material donated by Edna Isbill in 2000.

Biographical Information

The son of David Cloyd Kent (1833-1902) and Judith Elizabeth Ligon Kent(1831-1900), James Ligon Kent was born on 27 August 1867 in Pulaski County, Virginia. Kent grew up on a large cattle farm as his father was an agricultural entrepreneur. David Cloyd Kent, a founder of the Pulaski County Agricultural and Mechanical Association, actively competed in agricultural fairs and shows. He also developed and patented a hay carrier. Judith Ligon Kent was the daughter of James Ligon and Judith Bentley Ligon of Powhatan County, Virginia.

James Ligon Kent attended Hampden Sydney College from 1884 to 1887 an graduated from medical school at The University of Virginia. He worked at Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan Eye and ear Hospital, and the New York Polyclinic Hospital and College at varying periods between 1897 and 1903. He served as physician for the Bertha Mineral Company in Pulaski until 1896. In 1898, Kent set up his medical practice at 811 Church Street in Lynchburg, Virginia.

James Ligon Kent married Annie Donoho Bayliss (1876-1959) on 7 June 1898. Originally from Memphis and St. Louis, Bayliss garnered acclaim for her paintings and photography. She studied at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D. C. and exhibited her art work nationally including the 1892 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. James and Annie Kent had four children. Their first child, born 27 June 1902, lived only two days. They had twins born on 5 April 1908; only David Cloyd Kent survived. Finally a daughter, Margaret Bayliss Kent, was born on 9 June 1914.

The Kents returned to Pulaski County in 1913 to live on Triple Brook Stock Farm, an inherited property. Here James Ligon Kent retired from medicine and engaged in his lifelong passion of gentleman farming and historical studies. He also invested time and money in the coal mining business with little success. With his nephew D. Gray Langhorne, Kent struggled to launch the D. Gray Langhorne Coal Company into prosperity. The competition from northern companies forced Langhorne and Kent to sell rights to the Pulaski coal lands to various companies including the Virginia Anthracite Coal Corporation, the Empire Corporation, and the repossession of the coal mines in 1930. they chartered the Anthracite Coal and Briquetting Company in September 1931. Although D. Gray Langhorne's strove to compete with Pennsylvania mines, the company folded and the mines closed in December 1938.

Kent then spent most of his time researching and writing about Pulaski County history and genealogy. He wrote a series of articles on Pulaski County history for The Southwest Times in 1938 and 1939 as well as regularly writing letters to the editor on historical topics. Kent also corresponded with genealogists primarily regarding the Ligon and Kent families.

James Ligon Kent died in a Wytheville nursing home in 1950.

His son, David Cloyd Kent, attended Hampton-Sydney College and the Clarence White School of Photography in New York City. He returned to Pulaski in 1929 and opened a studio, specializing in commercial and portrait photography. He also worked under contract with Hercules Company photographing various aspects of the defense works in the Pulaski and Dublin areas.

During World War II, David served as a sergeant in the Photo Mail Section of the Army at the Pentagon. He married Sally Combs on 28 February 1944 at the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City. He returned to Pulaski and resumed his successful photography career. Kent died on 12 January 1996. Margo Kent, a photographer, lives in Staunton, Virginia.

Scope and Content

Series I, Correspondence (1799-1946) contains a letter by David and Randal McGavock to their father James McGavock (1799), a letter by David McGavock to Joseph Kent (1809), and a letter of James W. Ligon to his daughter Elizabeth Ligon Kent and her husband David Cloyd Kent (1855). Transcriptions are included.

Other letters in this series reflect the historical research of James Ligon Kent. Kent corresponded with staff of the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, the Virginia State Library, the United States War Department, the Virginia State Commission on Conservation and Development on various historical topics. He also exchanged letters with F. B. Kegley, John Gemmell Jr., and Alice V. D. Pierrepont.

Series II, Genealogical Records (1771-1947, undated) contains notes on the Barrister family, Bentley family, Buford family, Campbell family, Christian family, Cloyd family, Crockett family, Kent family, Langhorne family, Ligon family, McGavock family, Poage family, and others. Also included are various genealogical charts of the Kent family, Campbell family, and others.

Series III, Literary Manuscripts (1886-1939, undated), includes articles which James Ligon Kent wrote on Pulaski County history for The Southwest Times . Also included are articles on physicians in Pulaski County, Pulaski Veneer Corporation, New Dublin Presbyterian Church, and 19th century Presbyterian schism.

Series IV, Historical Notes (1932-1970, undated), is comprised of various notes Kent assembled on Augusta County, the Civil War, formation of Virginia counties, Fincastle County, Indians, land plats, military, Montgomery County, Pulaski County, new Dublin Church, transportation, and Southwest Virginia.

Series V, Photographs (undated), contains identified photographs of James Ligon Kent, Mrs. David Dyer, Marguerite Ligon Page, Mrs. Oscar Langhon, R. C. Liggett, and the Honorable Richard E. Lygon. Also included are photographs of a monument marking Aspenvale, home of General William Campbell, a memorial to Robert Poage, Kenton, and the battlefield at Cloyd's Mountain. Two unidentified photographs are also included.

Series VI, Miscellaneous (1878-1949, undated), includes legal documents, medical certificates of James Ligon Kent, a 1935 Pulaski town directory, a 1949 Pulaski County financial report, a 1901 manual for First Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1883 memorial biography of Charles Porterfield Krauth, and a booklet, "record of Proceedings of the Royal Arch School Held at Mountain Lake, Virginia, " 1896. Also included are various alumni brochures from the University of Virginia and Albemarle County, Virginia. Publications on Virginia include a Rand McNally Indexed Pocket Map tourists' and Shippers Guide and Yorktown Sesquicentennial Program, 1931.

Series VII contains various newspaper clippings (1911-1939, undated) collected by James Ligon Kent. Included are newspaper clippings of articles James Ligon Kent wrote on Pulaski County history, genealogical information on the Ligon family, Bullitt family, Boone family, Hall family, and the Bacon family. Other clippings includes articles on Wilderness road (Route 11) anniversary , Fincastle Resolutions, Colonel Charles Lynch, description of social life in Wytheville in early 1800s by Julia Hieronymus Tevis, early explorations, a photograph of the Pepper's Ferry Bridge, Radford Ordnance Works, Ingles Ferry, the home of the Burwell family, New Dublin Church, Fotheringay and Colonel George Hancock. Also included are articles on Dr. John Preston McConnell, Radford history, and the death of Gov. J. Hoge Tyler in Radford.

Series VII contains items donated by Edna Isbill, executor of the David Cloyd Kent estate, in 2000. Original items donated include photographs of David Cloyd Kent, Anna Bayliss Kent, and James Ligon Kent. Other original items donated include two advertisement flyers for the Kent Hay Carrier invented by David Cloyd Kent Sr. and medical autopsy reports by James Ligon Kent, as well as car registration, Exxon Travel Club and credit cards. Mrs. Isbill also donated computer prints of several items in her personal collection including correspondence, genealogical materials, and photographs.