Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Richard Watkins Carrington, Accession #2705, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Carrington papers were given to the University of Virginia Library on March 21, 1973, by Richard Watkins Carrington, Jr., of Richmond, Virginia.

Notes on the Carrington Family

Richard Watkins Carrington (1888-1933) was born in Richmond, Virginia, on May 19, 1888, to Tazewell Morton and Julia (Watkins) Carrington. Richard Carrington attended McGuire's University School of Richmond, and then entered Hampden-Sydney College, graduating in 1907 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Carrington received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1910, and belonged to the Richmond City, Virginia State, and American Bar Associations. Elected to the General Assembly as a Democrat, he served in the sessions of 1918 and 1919 on the general laws and insurance and banking committees. He was also a director of the Union Bank of Richmond, a member of the congregation of the Second Presbyterian Church, a member of the Board of Directors of the Country Club of Virginia, and a member of the Commonwealth Club. During the Great War, Carrington entered the Officer's Training School at Fort Monroe, but the armistice was signed before he saw active service. On November 4, 1915, Richard Carrington married Delia Davenport, a daughter of Charles and Ellen (McCaw) Davenport, residents of Richmond, Virginia. They had two children, Richard Watkins Carrington, Jr., born on January 9, 1917, and Delia Davenport, born on December 14, 1919. Charles Davenport was the son of Isaac Davenport, Jr. and Ellen (McCaw) Davenport, was the daughter of Dr. James B. McCaw.

Tazewell Morton Carrington (1857-?) was a prominent figure in the tobacco industry, serving as head of the Carrington Company in Richmond, Virginia, one of the largest businesses dealing in leaf tobacco, and president of the Tobacco Association of the United States. Tazewell Carrington was born in Richmond, Virginia, on February 21, 1857, to William Tucker and Bettie L. (Morton) Carrington. He was educated at the McGuire School at Richmond, and attended the University of Virginia for one year, 1875-1876. He has served as president of the Chamber of Commerce of Richmond, and as a director in both the First National Bank and the Mechanics and Merchants Bank of Richmond. During World War I, in 1918, T.M. Carrington was state chairman of the United War Work Campaign in Virginia. He was also a member and elder of the Second Presbyterian Church. He was married to Julia M. Watkins (d. 1900), daughter of Richard V. Watkins, on January 21, 1886, in Halifax County, and they had three sons: Richard W. Carrington, who married Delia Davenport; Tazewell M. Carrington, Jr., associated with his father in the Richmond tobacco business, who married Carter Ingram, and attended the University of Virginia, 1909-1911; and William Tucker Carrington, unmarried, who served overseas during the Great War with the Eightieth Division, A.E.F, and then became engaged in the manufacture of building supplies in Richmond.

The founder of the Carrington family in Virginia was George Carrington, who emigrated from the British Island of Barbados, West Indies, in 1712, marrying a Miss Mayo, and settling in Cumberland County, Virginia, as a farmer and planter. His son, Judge Paul Carrington, was born in Cumberland County, becoming a distinguished attorney, a member of the House of Burgesses, and in 1780, the chief justice of the General Court of Virginia. He married a Miss Read, and lived in Charlotte County, where his son, George Carrington, was born. George Carrington fought in the Revolutionary War and married a Miss Tucker; his son, the Honorable John Bonaparte Carrington, was born in Charlotte County, and fought in the War of 1812, before serving in the Virginia Legislature from 1823-1827 and 1835-1836 for Halifax County. John B. Carrington married Judith Winbish, a native of Halifax County. The grandfather of Richard Watkins Carrington was Captain William Tucker Carrington (1831- 1913), an officer of the Confederacy, and a tobacconist in Richmond. He married Bettie Lewis Morton (1836-1916) who was born in Farmville, Virginia. They had at least nine children:

Tazewell Morton Carrington m. Julia M. Watkins
John B. Carrington m. Leila Gamble
Tucker Lewis Carrington, unmarried
Judith Carrington m. Edward R. Stettinius
Bessie L. Carrington, unmarried
Randolph Carrington
Mary Carr, unmarried
Henry Paul Carrington, Jr. m. Hazel [Dimenick?]
Emma Carrington, unmarried

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of the corporation lawyer and civic leader, Richard Watkins Carrington (1889-1933) of Richmond, Virginia, and related Davenport Family. Carrington was a law student at the University of Virginia, 1907-1910. The papers, ca. 1880-1933, include legal case files, estate files, personal and family files, investment statements, bank registers and statements, bound volumes, blueprints, photographs, and financial records. The legal case files and the estate files include correspondence, insurance policies, property deeds, titles, wills, receipts, minutes of meetings, contracts, notes, and other related papers.

Organization

I) Legal Cases & Subject Files, arranged alphabetically by client name or subject (Boxes 1-84)
II) Estates, arranged alphabetically by client name (Boxes 85-94)
III) Personal and Family Papers
Subseries A: R.W. Carrington Personal (Boxes 95- 101)
Subseries B: Family Papers (Boxes 102-108)
IV) Bank Documents -Passbooks, Registers & Statements (Boxes 109- 113)
V) Bound Volumes & Artifacts in Mini-Tray 41 (Boxes 114-116, & 2M Ledgers)
VI) Oversize Folders (Oversize Tray 14 & Oversize Box M-21)