Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of the Tayloe Family, 1756-1893, Accession #38-630, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were loaned to the library by Edward D. Tayloe of Albemarle County ca. 1932. The loan was confirmed by Edward Thornton Tayloe of Charlottesville on May 22, 1958.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of ca. 200 items, primarily of family and business correspondence of the Tayloe family, 1756-1893. Principal correspondents are John Tayloe, Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, William Henry Tayloe, Edward T. Tayloe and Henry A. Tayloe. Frequent references are made to plantation business involving estates in Virginia at Windsor, Mount Airy, Menokin, Powhatan Hill and Oakley; in Maryland at Middlebrook and Nanjemoy; and in Alabama at Walnut Hill, Adventure and Ash Grove.

Of particular interest is the extensive series of letters from Edward T. Tayloe to Benjamin Ogle Tayloe and their parents, Col. and Mrs. John Tayloe from Mexico, Bogota, Colombia, and later from Virginia. Another important group of letters is the correspondence of Henry A. Tayloe, especially to Benjamin Ogle Tayloe.

Numerous papers of the period 1795-1820 concern purchases and sales of real estate in Georgetown and Washington, D.C. Later papers include correspondence on the Octagon House in Washington, race horses, horse pedigrees and breeding, transactions with cotton brokers in New Orleans and Mobile and the management of land holdings in Maryland, Virginia and Alabama.