Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Saunders Family Records, 1830-1899. Accession 28053, Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Jeanne D. Saunders, 19 July 1973.

Biographical/Historical Information

The Saunders family of Buckingham County, Virginia, operated a tanyard. Francis Saunders and Sarah B. Penick, daughter of Judy Walker and William Penick Jr., married on 9 April 1805 in Prince Edward County, Virginia. She died in 1864 in Buckingham County.

Scope and Content Information

Records, ca. 1830-1900, of the business enterprises, personal property, and estates of the Saunders family of Buckingham County, Virginia, including ledgers, patient accounts, estate records, slave records, and financial records.

Ledger, 1851-1865, containing customer accounts, 1851-1853, of the tannery and tanyard owned by Saunders and Campbell and located in New Store, Buckingham County, Virginia. This ledger also contains the estate sale accounts, 1864-1865, of Francis Saunders and Sarah B. Saunders.

Ledger, 1852-1900 [bulk 1852-1865], principally containing the business accounts of George D. Saunders but also some accounts of other Saunders family members.

Ledger, 1850-1864, consisting of the patient accounts, 1850-1858, of Dr. E. Peterfield Trent, a physician residing in Buckingham County. Includes medical services rendered to Saunders family members and African-American patients. Some customer accounts were settled after Trent's death. The ledger also contains the estate accounts, 1856-1864, of E. Peterfield Trent as executed by his wife Sarah F. Trent; a list of slave births, 1819-1855; and notes regarding the sale of a slave belonging to the estate of Francis Saunders.

Ledger, 1830-1869, containing various accounts of the Saunders family. Includes accounts, 1830-1835, between Jonathan Penick and his guardian Francis Saunders; accounts, 1844-1860, between George D. Saunders and Francis Saunders; accounts, 1946-1864, between Sarah B. Saunders and George D. Saunders; estate accounts, 1845-1866, of Francis Saunders; estate accounts, 1865, of Sarah B. Saunders; estate accounts, 1849-1851, of Thomas Saunders; estate accounts, 1852-1854, of James Routon; and estate accounts, 1869, of Nathaniel Simmons. There is also a list of names, birthdates, and mother's names for Saunders' family slaves; and a record of the marriage of George D. Saunders and Mary A. Jones, 1843.

This collection also contains loose receipts, promissory notes, business letters, court records, and slave records pertaining to the business enterprise of the Saunders family and specifically George D. Saunders and Charles D. and R. J. McKinney. Of note is a form for the hire of a slave dated 1852, and copy of General Order No. 11, issued 24 April 1865, by Headquarters, U. S. Forces, Petersburg, and signed by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wood, 2nd New York Regiment, Provost Marshall, Buckingham County, concerning the status of recently freed slaves. There are also loose receipts, court records, and estate records for the estate of Wilson E. Gilliam. The collection also has information on Saunders family members contained in eight newspapers in the collection: Farmville Herald, 20 November 1873 and 1 December 1892; Nottoway Journal, 8 October 1897 and 11 February 1898; Richmond Enquirer, 11 November 1873; Richmond Dispatch, 24 November 1887 and 26 November 1884; and Richmond Times, 7 October 1897.