Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Stuart-Baldwin Papers, Accession 10378, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

This accession was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. A. Stuart Robertson Jr. , of Orange, Virginia , on April 29, 1980 .

Funding Note

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical Sketch

Briscoe Gerard Baldwin was born on January 18, 1789, in Winchester, Virginia , the eldest son of Cornelius Baldwin and Mary Briscoe . He attended William and Mary College and later studied law under Judge William Daniel in Cumberland County, Virginia . During 1818-1820 he served in the Virginia House of Delegates as representative for Augusta County and in 18291830 was a member of the constitutional convention. He returned to the House of Delegates during 1841-1842. On January 29, 1842, Baldwin was elected a member of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia and held that position until his death on May 18, 1852.

Scope and Content

This accession is comprised of thirty-six items, 1786-1882, primarily letters to Briscoe G. Baldwin and Alexander H. H. Stuart , lawyers in Staunton, Virginia . Also included are a dinner invitation from the Minister of France to Alexander H. H. Stuart ; two certificates of membership for Alexander H. H. Stuart in the Virginia Historical Society ; a handwritten poem entitled "Hope"; two newspaper clippings, one regarding the Whig party in 1844 and another regarding Southern debts owed to Northerners after the Civil War; and an unsigned printed petition, 1848-1849, regarding internal improvements in Virginia .

The letters to Briscoe G. Baldwin are primarily from his wife, Martha S. Baldwin , or his daughter, Frances C. Stuart , regarding family matters but there are also letters from others regarding legal and business matters. These correspondents include J. E. Brown , M. F. Eskridge , and Alexander H. H. Stuart . Letters to Alexander H. H. Stuart regard business and legal matters and a variety of political topics including secession, reconstruction, the "Negro problem,' and Fillmore's cabinet. Correspondents include Charles Francis Adams, Jr. , J. Lidball , R. W. Clelland , Joseph Baldwin , Nathan K. Hall , James H. Dooley , Thomas Hall , and George C. Whiting . One letter, September 20, 1786, was written by Thomas Hall to Archibald Stuart ( Alexander H. H. Stuart 's father) and concerns Hall's supposed drinking problem, family news, the last military expeditions of George Rogers Clark , the desire of Kentucky to separate from Virginia , and local politicians Joseph Crockett and John Fowler .