A Guide to the Wickham Family Papers, 1754-1977
A Collection in
the Virginia Historical Society
Collection Number Mss1 W6326 c
FA2
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Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Historical SocietyP.O. Box 7311
Richmond, Virginia 23221-0311
USA
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Email: reference@virginiahistory.org
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Virginia Historical Society Staff



Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Preferred Citation
Wickham Family Papers, 1754-1977 (Mss1 W6326 c FA2), Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Mrs. Credilla B. W. Bordley, Ashland, Va., and Lawrence V. M. Wickham, Hanover, Va., in 1987. Accessioned 22 July 1988.
Biographical/Historical Information
The Wickham family of Richmond and Hanover County
, known as
the "Hickory Hill Wickhams," was founded by the celebrated
post-Revolutionary attorney John Wickham (1763-1839). This
collection traces the descendants of Wickham and his first
wife, Mary Smith Fanning, through the line of his eldest son,
William Fanning Wickham.
Scope and Content Information
The collection opens with materials of William Fanning
(1728-1782) of Brunswick and Greensville counties
, Va., an
Anglican clergyman who was both an uncle of John Wickham and
father of Wickham's first wife. Included are a certificate of
ordination, 1754, issued to Fanning as a deacon in the Church
of England (signed by the Bishop of Gloucester and bearing a
seal of the Bishop of London); a 1781 letter of Fanning to
Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson (a copy made in 1857)
concerning John Wickham; and a will probated in Greensville
County
. Early folders also contain notes on the Fanning, Gray,
Tazewell, and Wickham families (apparently taken from the
family Bible of Mary (Gray) Tazewell Fanning); and
correspondence, 1930, of Henry Taylor Wickham with
George
MacLaren Brydon concerning William and Edmund Fanning.
Series 2 contains papers of Edmund Fanning (1739-1818),
another of Wickham's uncles who took a particular interest in
the younger man's education and career. Edmund Fanning pursued
his own colorful career in colonial administration and
eventually served as governor of Nova Scotia. His records in
this collection include correspondence, 1738-ca. 1812, with
Sir Robert Pigot, John Wickham (concerning Wickham's service
in the King's
American Regiment and as a lawyer in Richmond,
Va.), and Mary Smith (Fanning) Wickham; letters, 1777-1778
(copies made in 1873) of Fanning (while serving in the
King's
American Regiment) to James Fanning and Hannah Smith (Fanning)
Wickham (concerning John Wickham); a prayer, ca. 1788, for the
governor, council, and assembly of Prince Edward Island,
Canada; and biographical sketches, ca. 1800-1829.
Series 3 contains a limited number of John Wickham's own personal records survive in Box 1 of this collection. Letters, 1806, written to Philadelphia merchant David Parish concern the personal and financial affairs of entrepreneur David Ross; while letters, 1778-1799 (copies of which were made in 1873-1874) written to John Wickham (1734-1808) and Harriet Smith (Fanning) Wickham, John Wickham's parents, describe his travels in Europe and practice of law in Richmond, Va.
John Wickham's land records, 1801-1842, primarily concern
plantations in Henrico and Goochland counties
known as "Middle
Quarter," "Lower Quarter," and "Ellerslie" and are related to
his acquisition of the "East Tuckahoe" plantation. These
papers consist of proceedings, exhibits, decrees, and other
records from the lawsuit of Wakelyn Welch, surviving partner
of Robert Cary and Company of London v. the executors of
Thomas Mann Randolph (a British debt case that concerns in
part the sale of "Middle Quarter Plantation" and its Negro
slaves to Wickham in 1800) signed by
George
Wythe and bearing
a seal of the Virginia High Court of Chancery; a deed of
trust, 1838, of Wickham to BenjaminWatkins Leigh and William
Fanning Wickham for the benefit of John Wickham's children
(deed covers slaves, cattle, horses, and personal property on
the plantation); and a newspaper notice, 1842, of the public
auction of these lands.
Wickham's miscellany contains a commission, 1782, in the
King's
American Regiment of Foot (signed by
George
III and
Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney, and bears seal); an
argument, 1795, of John Wickham (through not in his hand) as
counsel for the U.S. in the U.S. Circuit Court at Richmond in
U.S. v. Daniel Lawrence Hylton (concerning the
constitutionality of the federal carriage tax); a deed of
trust (copy), 1800 to shares in the Bank of Baltimore for the
benefit of Mary (Gray) Tazewell Fanning; a statement, ca.
1820, of the case of John Ponsonby Martin concerning the
confiscation of the Virginia estate of John Martin by the
Commonwealth of Virginia in 1779; a student notebook, n.d.,
used (probably by one of Wickham's children) to practice
handwriting; lines of verse, 1835, copied from the Southern
Literary Messenger concerning Wickham's speech before the
Virginia House of Delegates; and drafts of a biographical
sketch, 1887, by Williams Carter Wickham.
The next three boxes (Boxes 2-4) cover the very extensive and complicated proceedings over the estate of John Wickham. Due to a number of technicalities, Wickham's estate matters eventually absorbed the estates of Richmond physician James McClurg, his father-in-law, and of several of his children who died young, and gave rise to an enormous amount of litigation.
The estate records begin with two copies of Wickham's
lengthy will, 1839, probated in Richmond. Correspondence,
1852-1875, of William Fanning Wickham (as surviving executor
with Benjamin Watkins Leigh) including numerous letters from
Julia (Wickham) Leigh (concerning family affairs and the U.S.
Customs House in Richmond), John Wickham (1825-1892) of St.
Louis, Mo., and John Wickham (1825-1902) of "East Tuckahoe,"
Henrico County
, Va. An account book, 1856-1880, kept by
William Fanning Wickham bears frequent notes on transactions
and financial affairs of the estate and on his trusteeship for
a younger Wickham daughter, Frances (Wickham) Graham. Loose
accounts cover the period 1848-1863; bonds, 1853-1869.
Materials concerning land of John Wickham in Kentucky and
Missouri and of Doctor McClurg in Randolph
County
[W.Va.] and
in Kentucky (Folder 5) include correspondence with Joseph
Rogers Underwood and others and notes of William Fanning
Wickham. Estate miscellany consists of a petition to and order
of the Richmond Circuit Court in 1864; materials, 1858,
concerning Amy (a Negro slave) at Eastern Lunatic Asylum
(later Eastern State Hospital) in Williamsburg, Va., and notes
of William Fanning Wickham.Box 4 contains records of a trust
established by the estate for a granddaughter of John Wickham,
Charlotte Georgiana Wickham, upon her marriage in 1859 to
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee. William Fanning Wickham and Robert
E. Lee served as trustees. Materials include the deed of trust
(marriage settlement) establishing the trust, signed by all
the above parties plus Williams Carter (grandfather of the
bride and her guardian); notes and memoranda of William
Fanning Wickham, 1858-1868; and an order and receipt,
1866-1868, of William Henry Fitzhugh Lee concerning shares of
Virginia 6% state stock (also signed by Robert E. Lee).
Correspondence of William Fanning Wickham as trustee
includes numerous communications with Doctor Charles Carter,
Robert E. Lee, and William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (of "Arlington,"
"Ravensworth," Fairfax County
, and "White House," New Kent
County
). Two bank books and some loose accounts cover the
period 1854-1867. Materials, 1856-1879, concern lot #502 at
Grace and Sixth streets in Richmond and #533 at Broad and
Sixth streets, owned respectively by Maclurg Wickham and W. H.
F. Lee in the division of the estate of Doctor James McClurg.
Another group of records, 1861, concern the lot and tenanment
on Cary Street adjoining the Bank of Richmond, A deed of
release (copy), 1867, of W. H. F. Lee conveys land in Warwick
County
, Va., received from the estate of Doctor William
Foushee. Lastly, materials, 1880-1882, concern a lawsuit in
Richmond Chancery Court of William Henry Fitzhugh Lee v.
William Carter Wickham (executor of William Fanning Wickham)
etal. (including correspondence of Wickham and Lee, an answer
of Wickham, exhibits, receipts, and notes).
Series 4, containing the personal records of William
Fanning Wickham (1793-1880) commences with Box 5. A prominent
attorney of early Richmond like his father, William Fanning
Wickham retired early to his plantation in Hanover County
,
"Hickory Hill," and devoted the rest of his life to his family
and to agriculture. He kept a long series of diaries (17
volumes) beginning in 1828, in which he recorded little of a
personal nature but much on agricultural operations. weather,
the sale of produce, plantation life, horse breeding, and
local affairs. Many of the diaries include lists of Negro
slaves (with their ages) at"Hickory Hill" and adjoining
plantations, as well as records of slave births and deaths.
Some volumes include plats of fields (beginning with volume
5). Volume 8 covers the Hanover
County
homefront during the
Civil War, describing the treatment of slaves and noting
runaways to the Union Army. It mentions a battle near "Hickory
Hill" on 27 May 1862 (entry for 31 May), news of campaigns and
Union raids during the summers of 1862 and 1863, and reports
on the Spotsylvania Campaign, 14-31 May 1864. Volume XIV
reports the devastating fire at "Hickory Hill" on 13 February
1875.Wickham's general correspondence covers the period
1817-1878 and is generally maintained with family members.
Letters to Anne Butler (Carter) Wickham and William Carter
Wickham mostly concern the elder Wickham's trip to Europe in
1852 (visiting Geneva, London, Paris, and Rome). Other
correspondents include Doctor Charles Carter of Philadelphia
(largely concerning the estate of Williams Carter, and "North
Wales," in Caroline
County
, letters dated 1865 concern the
postwar crisis in Virginia), Edmund Fontaine (concerning train
stops on the Virginia Central Railroad in Hanover
County
),
William Cabell Rives, Judith Page (Walker) Rives (concerning
the death of William Cabell Rives), Littleton Waller Tazewell
(imperfect), James Maclurg Wikcham (concerning the death of
George
Wickham) and Lucy Penn (Taylor) Wickham. Letters of
condolence, sent to William Fanning Wickham upon the death of
Anne Butler (Carter) Wickham in 1868, also include
acknowledgements by Wickham (especially to Robert E. Lee) and
other members of the Carter and Wickham families, and a prayer
by Wickham.
Wickham's financial records in Box 7 include accounts, 1828-1841, 1854-1863, and 1872-1878; a memoranda book of stocks, 1853-1861; bonds, 1878, of Wickham to John Henry Wickham and Mrs. Maria F. Wickham; and bonds, 1879, with E. and S. Wortham, Richmond commission merchants.
"Hickory Hill" land records cover the acquisition of the
plantation and adjoining acreage between 1828 and 1878 which
totaled nearly 3500 acres by the latter date. An 1878 survey
report, title history, and map give an overview of the gradual
evolution of the plantation. Folder 1 contains deeds,
1820-1828, of the heirs of George
William Smith to William
Fanning Wickham and include an agreement, power of attorney,
and plat. A deed, plat, and survey cover the lands of Doctor
Josiah Holt. Other records consist of deeds, agreements, and
plants, 1836-1837, of adjacent lands acquired from the heirs
of John D. Thilman; plats, notes, and a deed covering the John
H. Taliaferro lands, 1837-1858; a deed and plats, 1867-1873,
of land exchanged with Edmund Winston; plats and surveys of
"Hickory Hill," ca. 1852-1861; miscellaneous adjacent tracts,
1833-1867; notes of William Fanning Wickham; and a deed, 1880,
of Wickham to Williams Carter Wickham.
Folder 2 consists of a report, 1844, concerning a petition
to build a mill dam t power grist and saw mills; estimated
values and lists of taxable real and personal property, 1823,
1852-1864, 1873; records, 1842-1857, concerning the purchase
of slaves; accounts of expenses of farm operations, 1866-1876;
and records of the division of the farm into a field system
for crop rotation, 1871-1878. The next folder concerns "South
Wales," the largest trace of the "Hickory Hill" plantation.
Materialsinclude a letter, 1769, of Harry Terrill concerning
farming operations; a plat, n.d., of a portion of the tract
between the railroad and the county
road; agreements, 1859,
with the Virginia Central Railroad Company; and a survey and
plat, n.d., of the Hanover Courthouse Road. Lastly, Folder 4
concerns "The Lane" (a tract also known as "Lanefield" or
"Long Lane"). Items include a deed, 1825, of Thomas Nelson
Carter, deed of trust, agreement, and bond; a bond, 1841, of
Elizabeth Jacquelin (Ambler) Brent Carrington (with deeds of
trust and release); a bond, 1843, of Wickham to Littleton
Waller Tazewell (with deeds of trust and release); and undated
plats.
One of the most interesting matters handled by William
Fanning Wickham as an attorney concerned the estate of Samuel
Gist (d. 1815), a London merchant. Gist lived in Virginia for
a number of years but returned to England before the American
Revolution. During that conflict, the Commonwealth of Virginia
sought to confiscate his lands and goods but the General
Assembly was prevailed upon to enact legislation in 1782
vesting his property in the hands of a daughter Mary (Gist)
Anderson Pearkes and her first husband, William Anderson. Gist
continued to receive the profits from his estates after the
war through his manager in Hanover County
, Benjamin Toler, and
by his will sought to emancipate his slaves and provide for
their welfare through the sale of property in Goochland
County
. An act of Assembly in 1816 created a trust supervised
by the Superior Court of Chancery in Richmond to be
administered until all creditors of the estate were satisfied,
when funds could be generated from the sale of land and other
property to benefit the freed slaves, who in turn had to leave
the Commonwealth. William Fanning Wickham acted as one of the
trustees from 1817 until 1847 and in 1858-1859 heard from
members of the Quaker committee devoted to the care of free
blacks in Ohio, where Gist's slaves finally settled. The whole
issue was raised again in 1877-1880 by E. Cumberland, one of
the original freedmen who moved to Ohio and settled on lands
purchased through funds from the estate but which the blacks
had no right to alienate themselves.
Materials from the Gist estate include correspondence of
William Fanning Wickham as surviving trustee with agents,
attorneys, former slaves, and Quakers in Ohio (especially
David Bailey, a former resident of Petersburg, and George
Carter) during three periods: 1845-1849 (closing the Virginia
affairs of the trust), 1850-1858 (reports from Ohio Friends),
and 1870-1880 (the re-establishment of extended claims by
former Gist slaves and their descendants). General materials
include loose accounts, 1826-1853; bonds, 1819; records,
1832-1847, concerning the acquisition of lands in Brown and
Highland
counties
, Ohio, and the maintenance of former slaves;
and a letter (copy) of John Wickham (1763-1839) to John
Hampden Pleasants concerning his role as one of the original
trustees.
Records from supervision of the Gist estate by the Virginia Superior Court of Chancery in Richmond (later the Circuit Superior Court of Chancery) include memorials to the court, decrees, orders, etc., 1845- 1847, and a long series of commissioner's reports, 1818-1847. Records of the case Archibald Anderson etal. v. Samuel Gist's executors etal., heard by Chief Justice John Marshall in the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court for the Virginia District in Richmond (concerning claims under the will of William Anderson) consist of an 1824 decree of the court, a statement of accounts, notes of argument of the opposing counsel (Robert Stanard and Benjamin Watkins Leigh), and agreement and bond with Richard Anderson, and miscellany (copy of an amended bill of complaint and letter of William Fanning Wickham to Chancellor Creed Taylor).
William Fanning Wickham also served for many years as agent
or trustee for his younger sister Frances (Wickham) Graham
after the death of her husband. Records include an account
book, 1867=1880; loose accounts, 1871-1882; bonds, 1875-1879,
of John Wickham (1825-1902), Littleton Waller Tazewell
Wickham, and Maclurg Wickham; agreements, 1874-1878,
concerning cash advances for her above-named brothers; a
lease, 1868, to Grubbs and Williams of Richmond to a lot on
Eleventh Street between Main and Bank streets; and a receipt,
1881, for payment for buildings erected on that lot. Specific
materials concerning the indebtedness of John and Littleton
Waller Tazewell Wickham to Maclurg Wickham are comprised of
deeds of trust, 1858-1877, to "East Tuckahoe" and "Woodside,"
Henrico County
; a deed of trust (copy) concerning mineral
rights, 1874, granted to the James River Coal Company; a plat
of "East Tuckahoe," ca. 1858; and materials of William Fanning
Wickham concerning John Wickham's bankruptcy proceedings.
Additional personal records of William Fanning Wickham
(Boxes 9-10) include pardon materials, 1865 (provost marshal's
certificate, petition to President Andrew Johnston,
certificate of the Secretary of State (William Henry Seward),
and pardon document); notes, charts, and materials collected
by Wickham concerning the Carter, Fanning, Nelson, Randolph
and Wickham families (see also general correspondence); and a
commonplace book, n.d. (early nineteenth century), consisting
primarily of descriptive and historical notes on England and
English counties
.
Wickham's miscellany includes a sketch of Benjamin Watkins
Leigh prepared by William Hamilton Macfarland; a personal
reminiscence of John Marshall; a commonplace bok, n.d.
consisting of notes on the U.S. Constitution and
constitutional history; essay speech, n.d., probably made at
Hanover Court House concerning reconstruction in Virginia; an
inventory of personal papers; a letter, 1843, of Thomas Tabb
Giles to William Daniel (concerning a book in the library at
"Hickory Hill"); lines of verse; and miscellaneous notes.
Estate materials consist of a will probated in Hanover County
,
accounts, a letter to the executor (Williams Carter Wickham),
and bonds.
Williams Carter Wickham (1820-1888), a son of William Fanning Wickham, trained as a lawyer but abandoned the law early to become a planter at "Hickory Hill." He served as a local militia officer prior to the Civil War and became a cavalry general in the army of Northern Virginia. After the war, he surprised neighbors and fellow veterans by joining the Republican party, a political organization in which he became very influential. For many years a second vice-president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, Wickham also served in the Virginia Senate, where he opposed the Readjusters. His materials are represented in Series 5.
An important group of three postwar letterbooks
(letter-press) kept by Williams Carter Wickham survives in
this collection. Volume I covers the years 1877 to 1880 and is
largely devoted to personal and business affairs and
Republican party politics. (Indexes to each of the letterbooks
have been prepared by VHS staff members and are filed with the
appropriate volumes.) Among the individuals to whom Wickham
addresses letters in this volume are Robert Rufus Bridgers,
Doctor Charles Carter (of Philadelphia, concerning the estate
of Williams Carter and "North Wales," Caroline County
, VA),
John Echols, Charles Meriwether Fry (concerning the Chesapeake
Coal Company of New York), President Rutherford B. Hayes,
Virginia Governor Frederick William Mackey Holliday, Collis
Potter Huntington, Hugh McCullock, William Snead Oakey (of
Salem, Va.), Doctor Thomas Pollard (concerning the use of marl
at "Hickory Hill"), John Warren Porter (of the Charlottesville
Republican),
George
William Richardson (concerning the sale of
"Oakland," Hanover
County
, Va.), William Lawrence Royall,
James Beverley Sener, U. S. Treasury secretary John Sherman,
Samuel M. Yost (a Republican party associate), Haxall-Crenshaw
Company of Richmond, and the Richmond Whig.
Letterbook II (1880-1881) also concerns Wickham's personal
and business affairs, some relating to the C. and O. Railroad,
plantation operations and agricultural production, Republican
party activities, and St. Paul's Church in Hanover County
(see
especially letters to Bickerton Lyle Winston). Among the
addressees are Chester A. Arthur, James G. Blaine, Doctor
Charles Carter, Robert Randolph Carter, John Callaghan (of
Norfolk), Charles Meriwether Fry, Philip Haxall (as president
of Haxall-Crenshaw Company, Richmond), Collis Potter
Huntington (concerning William Lawrence Royall [p. 7] and
artist John Adams Elder [p.2651], William Henry Fitzhugh Lee,
Conway Robinson (concerning the trial of Aaron Burr, a dinner
for Burr hosted by John Wickham and attended by Chief Justice
John Marshall, and Benjamin Watkins Leigh),
George
William
Richardson, James Beverley Sener, Henry Taylor, and Samuel M.
Yost.
Finally, Volume III (also 1880-1881) was kept as chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, concerns activities of the Central Committee and the Republican State Convention in Lynchburg in August 1881, and includes letters written to Republican leaders throughout Virginia, especially concerning the presidential election of 1880 and state elections in 1881. Among the addressees are John Callaghan, President James A. Garfield, Doctor Joseph Jorgenson, John Singleton Mosby, Arthur Alexander Spitzer, J. B. Work, and Samuel M. Yost.
General Wickham's correspondence, 1862-1888, covers any of
the same subjects as do his letterbooks, with the addition of
letters concerning the offer of the post of Secretary of the
Navy to Wickham in the administration of James A. Garfield in
1880 and Wickham's own efforts to acquire information on his
ancestors. Prominent correspondents include Cornelius Clarke
Baldwin (concerning Joseph Glover Baldwin and Benjamin Watkins
Leigh), Doctor Charles Carter, Judge Robert William Hughes,
Collis Potter Huntington, Henry Brainered McClellan
(concerning James Breathed, Wickham's service as colonel of
the 4th Virginia Cavalry Regiment, and Jeb Stuart's raid into
Pennsylvania in 1862), George
William Richardson, Thomas
Lafayette Rosser (concerning cavalry in the Confederate State
Army), David Watson Taylor, and Doctor Thomas Fanning Wood (of
Wilmington, N.C., enclosing a manuscript history of the Wood,
Fanning, and Coffin families).
Box 12 contains eleven volumes of Wickham's personal account books, 1875-1885, and an account book covering "household expenses at Hickory Hill." Loose accounts are scattered, but cover 1861, 1868-1888, and are heaviest in the years 1873-1879. Many of these accounts relate to farming, shipping of goods, construction of the mansion at "Hickory Hill," and furnishing the house.
The "Hickory Hill" farm materials begin with 15 volumes of
"farm books," 1866-1888, which bear records of expenditures
and receipts, as well as accounts with individual laborers,
managers, and timbermen. Loose materials, 1871-1888, include 2
folders of records concerning the purchase of adjacent lands
added to the "Hickory Hill" tract; a lease to "Knapp's" in
Hanover County
for conducting an egg and poultry business; an
agreement concerning the care of sheep; materials concerning
the construction of a stable and barn; insurance policies; a
written plan for farm operations; measurements for carpeting
several rooms in the mansion house; notes on the division of
fields for crop rotation; notes and accounts concerning farm
laborers; and miscellany.
Box 16 is wholly devoted to materials, 1867-1887,
concerning "North Wales," a plantation across the Pamunkey
river in Caroline County
that Williams Carter Wickham managed
for his cousin, Doctor Charles Carter of Philadelphia. Initial
materials include a deed of William Carter, William Fanning
Wickham and Williams Carter Wickham (all as executors and
trustees of the estate of Williams Carter [d. 1864]) to
Charles Carter; a lease to John H. Allen, an agreement
concerning a debt owed by Allen's estate, and a letter of Mrs.
N. V. Allen to William Fanning Wickham; a letter of E. and S.
Wortham of Richmond to doctor Carter; an agreement of Williams
Carter Wickham with John C. Allen as overseer; an appraisal of
livestock; a map of 1878; and a lease to Williams Carter
Wickham in 1882. Farm books (3 volumes) cover the period
1878-1886, while loose accounts date from the years 1877-1879.
Miscellaneous items include shipping records (corn); notes on
plantation operations and field divisions for crop rotation;
and inventories of stock and equipment.
The next box (17) of Wickham's papers concerns the estate of Margaret William Tryon (Fanning) Cumberland of Enham Lodge, Leamington, Eng., a sister of Wickham's grandmother Mary Smith (Fanning) Wickham. These materials, 1880-1888, concern Mrs. Cumberland's bequest of personal items to Wickham. Documents that survive include correspondence of Wickham with Mrs. Cumberland, Ann Carter (Wickham) Renshaw Byerly, and London attorney William Ford, executor of Mrs. Cumberland's estate. A folder contains notes on the Fanning family; a copy of an autobiographical "statement" of Edmund Fanning; and biographical notes made by Maria Fanning. Another folder contains a sketch of a window of Lillington Church, Warwickshire, Eng., memorializing Lt. Col. Bentinck Harry Cumberland; materials concerning Fanning Grammar School, Malpeque, Prince Edward Island, Canada; notes on silver plate and jewelry; and a memorandum of assets of the estate.
Wickham followed his father as a trustee for Frances
(Wickham) Graham, who came to live at "Hickory Hill." Acting
with Maclurg Wickham over the years 1880-1888, Wickham
maintained a few items of correspondence, accounts (including
contributions to the salary of Sewall Stavely Hepbron as a
rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Hanover County
), and
records of financial advances to John Wickham (1825- 1902) and
Littleton Waller Tazewell Wickham.
Williams Carter Wickham also served as a trustee under a
marriage agreement between George
Harrison Byrd of Baltimore
and Lucy Carter Wickham, one of Wickham's nieces. The records
of this trusteeship, 1857- 1892, include correspondence with
Byrd, accounts, and a release issued to the estate of Williams
Carter Wickham. Materials, 1876-1889, cover Wickham's
activities as trustee for Reverend Edmund Wilcox Hubard and
his wife Julia Leiper Taylor (a sister of Wickham's wife,
Lucy). These consist of correspondence with the Hubards (of
Bedford an Rappahannock
counties
, Va.), Henry Taylor, and
William Penn Taylor; accounts and receipts; a memoranda
concerning title to land in Richmond, Va.; orders of the
Westmoreland
County
Court; and letters to Henry Taylor Wickham
as executor of Williams Carter Wickham.
There follow materials concerning Wickham's years of
service with the C. and O. Railway, 1872-1888. Items
concerning the Central Land Company of West Virginia include
an agreement of John and Daniel Kerr Stewart regarding lands
in Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio purchased by Collis
Potter Huntington and his associates under contract with the
C. and O.; a letter of Daniel Kerr Stewart; and accounts. Some
records cover Wickham's post as receiver and consist largely
of newspaper clippings, a letter to the committee for
reorganization, and an agreement. Another agreement concerns
fences along Wickham's property in Hanover County
. Lastly,
miscellany includes accounts and complimentary tickets from
the Richmond City Railway Company.
Some loose Republican party materials, 1881-1887, include
newspaper clippings concerning Virginia Senator William
Mahone; an invitation issued to Wickham by the U.S. State
Department; a petition from Hanover County
voters encouraging
Wickham to retain his seat in the Virginia Senate; and a
letter of William Fanning Wickham [1860-1900] to Ann Carter
(Wickham) Rensaw Byerly concerning General Wickham's political
career. Miscellaneous land records, 1876-1878, consist of a
deed to land in Hanover
County
owed by E. F. Baker; insurance
policies on a lot and house on Cedar Street in Richmond,
"Oakland," Hanover
County
, and the Episcopal parsonage of St.
Paul's Parish, Hanover
County
, Va.
General Wickham's personal miscellany is comprised of a
broadside, 1861, as a Virginia state senator for Hanover and
Henrico counties
concerning the Virginia Secession Convention;
a certificate of election, 1863, to the Confederate States
Congress (signed by
George
Wythe Munford); a code book, n.d.,
used for messages between Wickham and C. T. Dabney; a stock
certificate, 1886, for 100 shares in Spring Valley Gold Mining
Company of California; a contract, 1887, for enclosing the
Wickham family section in Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Richmond;
and a letter, 1882, of Henry Hall of the New York Tribune to
John Page. Wickham's estate materials include a copy of his
will probated in Hanover
County
; telegrams of condolence sent
to Lucy Penn (Taylor ) Wickham and Henry Taylor Wickham (many
from his railroad associates and fellow veterans like Collis
Potter Huntington andFitzhugh Lee); a letter from Virginia L.
Nelson; a biographical sketch of Wickham and memoranda of his
Civil War service; resolutions of respect and tribute; and
obituary notices and newspaper editorials.
Williams Carter Wickham married Lucy Penn Taylor in 1848 and they lived at "Hickory Hill." Mrs. Wickham's papers, in Series 6, include several dozen early letters, 1848-1866, she wrote to Elizabeth (Kane) Shields, daughter of Judge John Kintzing Kane of Philadelphia and sister of Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane and Thomas Leiper Kane (all of whom are mentioned in the letters, along with notes of William Fanning Wickham). Mrs. Wickham's correspondence, 1888-1913, is primarily with Henry Taylor and Henry Taylor Wickham, in part concerning "Hickory Hill." Her accounts sporadically cover the period 1875-1913, along with personal property tax returns, 1893-1909. Correspondence, 1902, of Henry Taylor Wickham concerns his mother's purchase of shares in the Chesapeake Land and Improvement Company of Richmond. Her collected genealogical notes concern the Hubard, Leiper, Pendleton, and Taylor families.
Two folders of Mrs. Wickham's personal papers concern the
estate of her father, Henry Taylor of "Belvidera,"
Spotsylvania County
, Va. These materials, 1853-1921, are made
up of a letter of Taylor to Mrs. Wickham; copies of Taylor's
will; a memorandum and notes of Henry Taylor Wickham;
materials concerning Julia Leiper (Taylor Hubard v. Henry
Taylor's administrator in the Westmoreland
County
Court
(1864-1866) and Julia Leiper (Taylor) Hubard v. Henry Taylor
etal. in the Westmoreland
County
Circuit Court. Materials
regarding a trust created for the benefit of Lucy Penn
(Taylor) Wickham consist of the appointment by Julia Dunlap
(Leiper) Taylor and William Penn Taylor of William Fanning
Wickham and Williams Carter Wickham as trustees; decrees and a
report to the Westmoreland
County
Circuit Court in William
Carter Wickham etal. v. Henry Taylor's executors etal.; a deed
of trust and release of Henry Taylor to "Leeds Farm,"
Westmoreland
County
; extracts from the records of the Circuit
Court for Spotsylvania
County
; and proceedings in Rosa V.
Taylor v. Henry Taylor etal. in Spotsylvania Circuit
Court.
Five folders of documents concern the estate of Lucy Penn
(Taylor) Wickham, 1913-1915. These include copies of her
numerous wills; a legal opinion of Hill Carter; inventories;
correspondence and accounts of the executors. One folder
contains records from Henry Taylor Wickham etal. v. Stuart Lee
Dance, as guardian of the children of William Fanning Wickham
(1860-1900) in the Hanover County
Circuit Court (bill of
complaint and exhibits; motions and decrees; depositions;
accounts; notes; petitions for appeal to the Virginia Supreme
Court of Appeals). "Hickory Hill" materials are comprised of a
lease to Henry Taylor Wickham, 1892; financial records of
William Fanning Wickham's (1860-1900) management of the farm;
deeds of the heirs of Lucy Penn (Taylor) Wickham (Ann Carter
(Wickham) Renshaw Byerly, Williams Carter Wickham Renshaw, and
Williams Carter Wickham [1887-1985]); and a deed and agreement
concerning sale of a portion of "Prospect Hill," adjoining
"The Lane," to C. P. Cardwell, and access to a road called
"The Boulevard" in Hanover
County
. Estate miscellany consists
of materials concerning a debt of Sol L. Bloomberg, a
memorandum and notes of Henry Taylor Wickham, and obituary
notices.
Henry Taylor Wickham (1849-1943), eldest child of Williams
Carter Wickham and Lucy Penn (Taylor) Wickham, also trained as
an attorney and practiced for many years in Hanover County
and
Richmond. He was long- time general counsel for the Chesapeake
and Ohio Railway Company. Henry Wickham's papers begin with a
series of six letterbooks, 1931-1940, kept at his office in
the First National Bank Building in Richmond. They cover
personal business and family affairs, Democratic party
politics, Wickham's lengthy career in the Virginia Senate, his
law practice, and his activities as a member of the
Westmoreland Club and supporter of the Richmond Community
Fund. Reminiscences of the Civil War service of Williams
Carter Wickham are sprinkled throughout these volumes. His
papers make up Series 7.
Along with numerous family members, addressees (indexed in
each letterbook by Wickham himself) include Matthew Page
Andrews (beginning in vol. IV), Leon Maurice Nelson Bazile
(begin vol. V), Harry Flood Byrd, William Duval Cardwell,
Herbert Fitzpatrick McCall Frazier, Carter Glass, Newton Lewis
Hall (as farm manger of "Hickory Hill"), George
P. Lyon,
Andrew Jackson Montague, Rosewell Page,
George
C. Peery, John
Garland Pollard, Absalom Willis Robertson, William H. Shelton,
Cornelius T. Smith, Claude Augustus Swanson, and William
Munford Tuck (beginning vol. V), and the Richmond real estate
management firms of Elam and Funsten, Charles A. Rose Co., and
Morton G. Thalhimer, Inc.
Henry Taylor Wickham's loose correspondence, 1874-1941, is
largely personal, directed mostly to family members, although
some items concern his business affairs. A good number are
letters of condolence on the death of Williams Carter Wickham
(1820-1888). Among the more frequent or significant
correspondents are Alice (Carter) Bransford (of "Shirley,"
Charles City County
, Va.), Ann Carter (Wickham) Renshaw
Byerly, William Anderson Glasgow (enclosing a typescript copy
of a memoir by Frederick Johnston and letters, 1814-1815, of
John Randolph of Roanoke and Custis Lee, Mildred Childe Lee,
Robert Henry Renshaw,
George
Barksdale Wickham (while
attending Virginia Military Institute,, Lexington), Williams
Carter Wickham (1887-1985), and Eleanor Landis (Porcher)
Windle (enclosing a typescript copy of a letter of Anne Butler
(Carter) Wickham concerning the capture of William Henry
Fitzhugh Lee at "Hickory Hill" by Union forces in 1863).
An account book, 1867-1870, of Henry Taylor Wickham covers his student days at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington and at the University of Virginia, and includes lists of law books and lines of verse written by Wickham. Along with an account book, 1942, two passbooks, 1915-1926, and a check stub book, 1922-1926, financial records also include loose accounts, 1920-1939 (mostly consisting of canceled checks before 1931).
Box 26 contains materials relating to several real estate properties managed for Wickham in the 1930s by Elam and Funsten and by Charles A. Rose Co. (1309 East Cary Street, 13 North Governor Street, and 1333 West Broad Street).
"Hickory Hill" materials fill more than three boxes (17-30). Beginning with four volumes of farm books, 1893-1913, that record wages paid to laborers, general farm accounts, and records of agricultural operations, these materials likewise include loose farm records and accounts, 1929-1943, consisting in part of time sheets, payrolls and produce statements. A few additional loose items cover agricultural operations in 1894-1898; records collected by Wickham of the southern boundary of "Hickory Hill," "South Wales," the "Lane Island" (formed from a portion of "The Lane" by the changing course of the Pamunkey river), and land belonging to the estate of Christopher Wingfield, consisting primarily of plats, surveys correspondence, and notes (most dated between 1908-1915); and contracts, 1927-1942, with Newton Lewis Hall as farm manager.
Some loose items concerning Wickham's college days include certificates and diplomas, 1867-1868, issued by Washington College (all signed by Robert E. Lee and various faculty members); a membership certificate in the alumni association signed by John Echols, Samuel H. Letcher, and others); a diploma issued by the University of Virginia, 1870, as Bachelor of Law (signed by Socrates Maupin, John Barbee Minor, and others); and an honorary doctor of laws degree conferred by Washington and Lee University, 1935.
Records concerning Wickham's lengthy career in the Virginia
Senate range widely. They include vote totals in Hanover and
Caroline counties
for elections held in 1899 and 1907;
certificates of election, 1923- 1939; a transcript of a
newspaper clipping, 1906, concerning Thomas Staples Martin;
clippings concerning members of the Bryan family, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch, and alleged legislative corruption, 1913;
certificates concerning election expenditures, 1935; materials
concerning the primary and general elections of 1939;
materials, 1934, concerning a proposal to alter Hanover
County's
form of government to a "
county
executive" system
(newspaper clippings, notes and a letter of Dr. Early Lee Fox
of Randolph-Macon College, Ashland); and a joint resolution,
1942, of the Virginia General Assembly concerning Henry Taylor
Wickham.
Many of Mr. Wickham's speeches over the year survive in his
personal papers. Some loose items, 1935-1942, primarily
concern Democratic party politics and historical subjects in
Virginia (such as Patrick Henry's political career and college
life at Washington and Lee University under Robert E. Lee).
Many more items are bound together in three volumes of
speeches and addresses (Box 31), including a number of items
written by or about Williams Carter Wickham (1820-1888). For
examply, in Volume I (1860-1926) there are remarks made by
Williams Carter Wickham at a meeting of citizens at Henrico
courthouse, 3 December 1860, concerning instructions from
electors on his course in the Virginia Senate (no. 1); an
address of Williams Carter Wickham, ca. 1860, concerning a
call to the U.S. Congress for a convention to amend the U.S.
Constitution (no. 2); a speech of Andrew Jackson Montague,
1926, concerning Williams Carter Wickham (no. 16); numerous
addresses of Henry Taylor Wickham to literary societies,
veterans' groups, and local celebrations and commemorations
(such as the unveiling of portraits at Hanover Court House in
1926, with biographical sketches of Henry Rose Carter, George
Pitman Haw, John Enoch Mason, John Robert Taylor, and others).
The remaining two volumes include the following: Volume II
(1901-1937): addresses of Henry Taylor Wickham to the League
of Women Voters and local woman's clubs, and as president of
the Patrick Henry Centennial Association; an 1858 manuscript
roll of the Hanover Dragoons (later Company G of the 4th
Virginia Cavalry Regiment, C.S.A., commanded by Williams
Carter Wickham); and biographical sketches of James Churchill
Cooke, William Brockenbrough Newton, Samuel Cornelius Redd,
and Thomas White Sydnor; and Volume III (1888-1938): primarily
political campaign speeches of Henry Taylor Wickham;
recollections of Robert E. Lee; and addresses to local
Confederate veterans' associations.
Boxes 32 through 37 contain 12 volumes of scrapbooks assembled and indexed by Henry Taylor Wickham, 1867-1943. Each is listed separately below, with a brief reference to general and/or outstanding contents:
Scrapbook I (1867-1932): mostly newspaper clippings
concerning Republican party politics; orations and speeches of
Henry Taylor Wickham; Funders-Readjusters in Virginia; John
Sergeant Wise (pp. 6-10); Williams Carter Wickham (pp. 12-30,
40-76); obituary notice of Williams Carter Wickham (p. 39);
and broadsides, 1867-1886, of Williams Carter Wickham issued
to voters of Hanover and Henrico counties
(pp. 17, 70,
72).
Scrapbook II (1888-1936): largely concerns the death of Williams Carter Wickham and the monument erected in Monroe Park, by Edmund Virginius Valentine; Hanover Troop Association reunions.
Scrapbook III (1888-1905): election campaigns and service of Henry Taylor Wickham in the Virginia Senate, especially as chairman of the senate finance committee and president pro tem; broadside to voters (pp. 5- 6); Democratic party politics; the Virginia Debt Commission (concerning West Virginia's portion of the Virginia state debt).
Scrapbook IV (1905-1923): Henry Taylor Wickham's Virginia senate career and elections; letter of Thomas Staples Martin to Wickham, 1906 (p. 5); newspaper clippings and magazine articles concerning historical subjects and railroad business.
Scrapbook V (1923-1930): Virginia Senate career; historical
celebrations in Hanover County
; obituary notices of Admiral
James Harrison Oliver of "Shirley," Charles City
County
, Va.
(pp. 75-77); letter of Harry Flood Byrd to Wickham, 1929 (p.
92).
Scrapbook VI (1930-1934): Wickham's memoir of Judge Edmund Waddill (pp. 39-41); reports and speech of Wickham concerning the bust of Patrick Henry placed in the hall of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1932 (pp. 52ff); letter of Douglas Southall Freeman to Wickham, 1934 (p. 90).
Scrapbook VII (1934-1937): local legislative issues;
letters of Francis Pendleton Gaines of Washington and Lee
University (pp. 12, 24), and William Thomas Reed (pp. 20-21,
concerning "Rocky Mills," Hanover County
); two letters of
Harry Flood Byrd (p. 94); activities as president of the
Patrick Henry Bicentennial Association; texts of some speeches
included.
Scrapbook VIII (1883-1937): Henry Taylor Wickham's career and speeches; broadside of Williams Carter Wickham, 1883; many clippings about Virginia Chesterman Wickham, Richmond socialite.
Scrapbook IX (1937-1938): Virginia Senate service and Democratic politics.
Scrapbook X (1939-1940): Virginia Senate career; some speeches; correspondence tipped in: R. Walton Moore (15 September 1939), Robert Kincaid Brock (1 June 1939), Harry Flood Byrd (28 February 1940), Carter Class (March 1940).
Scrapbook XI (1940-1942): Virginia Senate career.
Scrapbook XII (1942-1943): letter of Harry Floor Byrd (30 November 1942); death of Henry Taylor Wickham in March 1943.
Records from the law practice of Henry Taylor Wickham date
mostly from the later years of his career. These include
materials concerning Wickham's association with the C. and O.
Railway Company, 1889-1935; license applications and fees,
1931-1933; updated law notes; records from Henrico County
Board of Supervisors v. J. B. Bourne etal., 1934, in the
Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals; and a certificate of
incorporation (typescript copy), 1919, of the Richmond Gas and
Electric Appliance Company (including
George
Barksdale Wickham
as an officer).
Wickham's land and tax records consist of a deed
(typescript), 1890, to lot 590 on Grace Street in Richmond; a
deed (unexecuted), 1916, to land in Hanover County
; personal
property tax forms, 1899-1909; a title insurance policy, 1938,
covering the Boulevard Apartments, 225 North Boulevard, in
Richmond; and a petition (typescript copy), ca. 1920 in Henry
Taylor Wickham v. Commonwealth of Virginia in the Hanover
County
Circuit Court (concerning personal property and income
taxes).
Wickham saved a large number of newspaper clippings that
cover his legal and political career, Confederate military
history, and local history in Caroline and Hanover counties
and the City of Richmond. He also collected notes and records
on the following families: Barksdale, Carter, Fanning, Leiper,
Penn, Taylor, and Wickham. His general miscellany, finally,
includes cards, notes, telegrams, etc., concerning the
Wickhams' 50th wedding anniversary in 1935; a power of
attorney, 1938, concerning the Social security Act; newspaper
clippings and an eulogy by Wickham at the funeral of Rosewell
Page; historical notes on the Blair family of Virginia; notes
concerning visitors to the While Sulphur Springs, W.Va., in
1875 (identified in an accompanying photograph); a letter
(copy), 1926, of Judge Jake Fisher of Braxton
County
, W.Va.,
to Herbert Fitzpatrick concerning a Michael Miley photograph
of Robert E. Lee; lists of books; and miscellaneous notes and
lines of verse.
Wickham's estate records fill seven folders in Boxes 38-39/ They begin with obituary notices, resolutions, and memorial tributes, and certificates of death and probate. Much of the correspondence of the estate, handled by the widow, Elise Warwick (Barksdale) Wickham, and Richmond attorney R. Grayson Dashiell, is directed to Williams Carter Wickham (1887-1985). Financial records include loose accounts, 1943-1944, an account book and account statements rom the Savings Bank and Trust Company in Richmond, and a check stub book. Tax forms and receipts for the years 1940-1944 follow.
Records of rental properties in Richmond managed by Charles
A. Rose Co. (225 North Boulevard, 721 West Broad Street, 1333
West Broad Street, and 2711 Hanover Avenue) and by Elam and
Funsten (1309 East Cary Street, 13 North Governor Street)
appear in folders 5-6. Lastly, estate miscellany is comprised
of correspondence and an application for widow's benefits
filed with the Railroad Retirement Board, 1947; and an
agreement with Hill Carter concerning timber on "Loblolly
Hill," in Hanover County
, a portion of the Wickham farm.
Series 8 concerns Elise Warwick Barksdale (1861-1952), who
married Herny Taylor Wickham in 1885 and lived at "Hickory
Hill." Her correspondence includes one letter to her father
dated 1869, and numerous items of communication with family
members, 1896-1948. Some are written or received as a member
of the Board of Managers or as president of the Exchange for
Woman's Work in Richmond, Va. Many letters are written by
George
Barksdale Wickham (while attending Virginia Military
Institute, Lexington) and Williams Carter Wickham ([1887-1985]
while serving in the U.S. Navy), while a letter from Doctor
George
Ainsley Barksdale itself bears a letter of Margaret
(Branch) Glasgow written at Summer Rest resort in Greenwood,
VA.
Financial records (boxes 41-42) consist of loose accounts (including numerous canceled checks), 1902-1936, three passbooks on Richmond banks, 1891-1919, and seven check stub books, 1896-1923. Bank statements and canceled checks from 1948-1950 are filed separately. State and federal income and personal property tax forms and returns, 1941-1951, follow.
Farm records at "Hickory Hill" are quite similar to those
kept by Henry Taylor Wickham and consist of time sheets,
payrolls, produce statements, records of expenditures, and
loose accounts arranged by year. Records (including some lease
agreements) of investment properties in Richmond managed for
Mrs. Wickham by Charles A. Rose Co. in the years 1932,
1942-1945, and 1947-1950, cover income and disbursements for
rental properties at 1517-21 West Broad Street, 613-15 North
Lombardy Street, 721-23 West Broad Street, 225 North
Boulevard, 1319-23 West Broad Street, 1333 West Broad Street,
and 2711 Hanover Avenue. Those managed by Elam and Funsten
were located at 1309 East Cary Street, 13 North Governor
Street, 1417-23 East Cary street, 1301 East Main Street, and
124-30 Virginia Street. Morton G. Thalhimer, Inc., managed the
properties at 1319 West Broad Street in 1932 and in
1947-1950.Box 47 contains some miscellaneous items of members
of the Barksdale and Warwick families. Mrs. Wickham's
ancestors. An account, 1859, of Abraham Warwick with Hunt and
Roskell of London bears a draft of a letter of Warwick to that
firm, dated 19 November 1860, concerning the unsettled
political situation in the American South. A letter of Robert
E. Lee, dated 1 June 1866, to Elise Florence (Warwick)
Barksdale has been indexed elsewhere. These miscellaneous
items also include passports, 1810 and 1854, issued to William
Jones Barksdale by William Pinkney (as American minister to
great Britain) and William Learned Marcy (as U.S. secretary of
state). Newspaper clippings collected by Doctor George
Ainsley
Barksdale primarily concern Virginia and Confederate military
history, while the doctor's scrapbook, 1889-1892, includes a
pardon signed by Andrew Johnson and William Henry Seward (p.
15), as well as autograph notes (taken from official C.S.A.
documents) of Fitzhugh Lee, John Letcher, James Alexander
Seddon, Walter Herron Taylor, and John Withers (p. 92). The
scrapbook if filed oversize after Box 47.
Box 48 contains records of the distribution of land at
"Brookfield," Henrico County
, VA., to the heirs of Abraham (or
Abram) Warwick, including a portion of adjoining land that was
developed in 1925 as "Lakeside Terrace." Materials include
bills of complaint, answers, proceedings, decrees, memoranda,
plats, leases, deeds, and notes and correspondence of Henry
Taylor Wickham in the related cases of Eliza Agnes (Hayes)
Warwick (widow of Abram Warwick v. Peter C. Warwick etal. and
Caroline Warwick v. Elise Warwick (Barksdale) Wickham
etal.
Mrs. Wickham kept records as an officer of the Ladies' Aid
Society of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Hanover County
from
1893 to 1916. The organization raised funds for building
projects, mission activities, and to supplement the salary of
their rector. These records are a few items of correspondence;
an account book, 1893, which includes lists of members; a bank
pass book, 1893-1894; loose accounts; resolutions of the
vestry; and notes.
A visitors'' register, 1930-1961, records the sojourn of guests at "Hickory Hill" and includes the signatures of Admiral William Fredericks Halsey (25 Sept. 1938, 29 July 1942, 14 Nov. 1946, 27 Jan. 1950, and 22 April 1950) and William Munford Tuck (15 April 1939). Mrs. Wickham made many diary-like entries in this volume through these years. Another visitors' register, 1949, was kept on behalf of the Ashland Branch of the Garden Club of Virginia. Miscellany includes a membership certificate, 1896, in the Virginia Society of the Colonial Dames of America; a life membership certificate issued in 1909 by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities; newspaper clippings concerning the Wickham and Barksdale families and "Hickory Hill"; and notes, recipes and lines of verse. Letters, cards and telegrams of condolence sent to Williams Carter Wickham on his mother's death in 1952 complete Box 48.
Series 9 contains materials relating to Henry Taylor Wickham's brother, William Fanning Wickham (1860-1900), who trained to be an attorney and lived for many years at "Hickory Hill." His records surviving in this collection include materials concerning the Hanover Troop (Troop D of the 1st Cavalry Battalion of Virginia Volunteers) consisting of letters (including one from Governor Fitzhugh Lee, 19 July) written to Wickham in 1889, many enclosing bills of lading for military supplies; and oaths of allegiance subscribed to by officers and men of the unit. Wickham's personal miscellany includes two items of correspondence, 1874; loose accounts, 1877 and 1889; notes and records concerning "Hickory Hill" farm, 1886-1888; and materials, 1900, concerning his estate.
Henry and William Wickham's sister, Ann Carter (Wickham) Renshaw Byerly appears throughout the collection, but in Series 10 are gathered only a small number of letters, 1869-1888, written to her by Eleanor Agnes Lee, Mary Anna Randolph (Custis) Lee, and William Henry Fitzhugh Lee.
Series 11 contains the papers of Williams Carter Wickham (1887-1985), son of Henry Taylor and Elise Wickham and the last major character to appear in this collection. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and served for many years in the U.S. Navy. During the Second World War he was hospitalized in Denver, Colo., and later Bethesda, Md., and retired on disability in 1945 after reaching the rank of captain.
Captain Wickham's correspondence, 1897-1967, includes
communications from Harry Flood Byrd, Richmond attorney
Randolph Grayson Dashiell, Admiral William Frederick Halsey,
and Wickham's wife, Credilla (Miller) Wickham. Records of his
naval service consist of a letter (copy), 1940, of Doctor
George
Ben Johnston concerning Wickham's physical condition;
grade records, 1907, and certificates of graduation, 1909,
1911, from the U.S. Naval Academy; commissions (some signed by
Claude Augustus Swanson, William Howard Taft and Woodrow
Wilson); a Bachelor of Science degree awarded as a graduate of
the Naval Academy in 1938; orders and reports concerning
Wickham's naval service, 1941-1943; correspondence and records
concerning his disability and retirement, 1944-1949 (including
orders signed by James Forrestal); correspondence and records
concerning military insurance with the Veterans
Administration; commendation for services, 1942-1944, as
Convoy Control Officer of the U.S. Tenth Fleet; and an
address, n.d., of Wickham to the Hanover
County
Woman's Club
concerning his early years of naval service.Miscellany is
comprised of an undated teacher's recommendation signed by E.
R. Whitlocke; correspondence and exams of Wickham in the
LaSalle Extension University course in law, Chicago, Ill.,
1945; lineage charts showing the descent of Williams Carter
Wickham for the Virginia Society of Colonial Dames; wedding
invitations; a membership certificate, 1912, in the A.P.V.A.;
and collected newspaper clippings.
Captain Wickham's younger brother, George
Barksdale Wickham
(1888-1928), attended Virginia Military Institute and later
became a Richmond businessman. His records, in Series 12 of
this collection, include school materials, n.d.-1903; grade
reports while a student at V.M.I., 1904-1905, 1907; a wedding
invitation, 1916; A.P.V.A. certificate, 1912; and obituary
notices.
In Series 13, the collection closes with family miscellany (materials of Lawrence Vernon Miller Wickham while service in the U.S. Marine Corps; and a commonplace book, 1973-1977, of Lois (Wingfield) Wickham, widow of Williams Carter Wickham [1917-1982]) and a few items of general miscellany (autograph album, 1877-1889, kept by Carrie Lee Colton in Annapolis and Jessup's Cut, Md.; and correspondence, 1877-1886, of Reverend Pike Powers of Richmond, Va.)
Arrangement
Arranged in thirteen series by main entry and further subdivided by date or subject as necessary.
Index Terms
- Agriculture -- Virginia -- History.
- Carter, Charles, 1818-
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company.
- Democratic Party (Va.) -- History -- 20th century.
- Diaries -- Virginia -- Hanover
County
-- History -- 19th century.
- Fanning family.
- Fugitive slaves -- Virginia -- Hanover
County
-- History -- 19th century.
- Gist, Samuel, d. 1815.
- Hanover
County
(Va.) -- History.
- Hickory Hill (Hanover
County
, Va.)
- Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870.
- Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh, 1837-1891.
- North Wales (Caroline
County
, Va.)
- Plantations -- Virginia -- Hanover
County
.
- Real estate management -- Virginia -- Richmond -- History -- 20th century.
- Reconstruction -- Virginia.
- Republican Party (Va.) -- History -- 19th century.
- Slaves -- Emancipation -- Virginia.
- Trusts and trustees -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century.
- Virginia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.
- Virginia -- Politics and government -- 1865-1950.
- Wickham family.
- Wickham, Elise Warwick Barksdale, 1861-1952.
- Wickham, Henry Taylor, 1849-1943.
- Wickham, John, 1763-1839.
- Wickham, Lucy Penn Taylor, 1830-1913.
- Wickham, William Carter, 1820-1888.
- Wickham, William Fanning, 1793-1880.
Contents List
Certificate of ordination; letter, 1781; will, 1782; genealogical notes; Henry Taylor Wickham correspondence, 1930
Certificate of ordination; letter, 1781; will, 1782; genealogical notes; Henry Taylor Wickham correspondence, 1930
Correspondence, 1783-1812; letters, 1777-1778; prayer; biographical sketches
- Box 5
Series 4.1: Diaries, 1828-1880
- Box 6
Series 4.2: Correspondence, 1817-1878
Includes letters of condolence, 1868
- Box 7
Series 4.3: Financial and legal materials
Accounts; memorandum of stocks; bonds; land records ("Hickory Hill," "South Wales," "The Lane").
- Box 8
Series 4.4: Samuel Gist estate
- Box 9-10
Series 4.5: Miscellaneous materials
Frances (Wickham) Graham trust; pardon materials; genealogical notes; commonplace book, miscellany; estate
- Box 10
(cont.)
Series 5.1: Letterbooks, 1877-1881
- Box 11
Series 5.2: Correspondence, 1862-1888
- Box 12-13
Series 5.3: Financial materials, 1861-1888
Personal account books, 1875-1885 (11 v.); account book, 1880-1888, "household expenses"; accounts, 1861, 1868-1888; bonds, 1877-1888
- Box 13
(cont.)-15
Series 5.4: Hickory Hill materials, 1866-1888
Farm books, 1866-1888 (15 v.); loose materials, 1871-1888
- Box 16
Series 5.5: North Wales materials, 1867-1887
- Box 17
Series 5.6: Margaret William Tryon (Fanning) Cumberland estate materials, 1880-1888.
- Box 18
Series 5.7: Frances (Wickham) Graham trust, 1880-1888
- Box 19
Series 5.8: Miscellaneous and Other legal papers, 1872-1888
- Box 20
Series 6.1: Correspondence, 1848-1913.
- Box 20
(cont.)
Series 6.2: Financial materials, 1875-1913
Accounts, 1875-1913; tax returns; Chesapeake Land and Improvement Co..
- Box 20
(cont.)
Series 6.3: Miscellaneous
Genealogical notes; estate of Henry Taylor
- Box 20
(cont.)-21
Series 6.4: Estate materials, 1913-1915
- Box 22-23
Series 7.1: Letterbooks, 1931-1940
- Box 24-25
Series 7.2: Correspondence, 1874-1940
- Box 25
Series 7.3: Financial materials, 1867-1942
Account book, 1867-1870; account book, 1942; passbooks, 1915-1926 (2 v.); check stub book, 1922-1926; and accounts, 1920-1925, 1931-1933, 1938-1939.
- Box 26
Series 7.4: Richmond, Va., rental properties.
- Box 27-30
Series 7.5: Hickory Hill materials
Farm books, 1893-1913 [4 v.]; time sheets, payrolls, produce statements; and land records.
- Box 30
(cont.)
Series 7.6: Student records, etc., 1867-1935.
- Box 30
(cont.)-31
Series 7.7: Virginia State materials
Speeches, addresses, etc.
- Box 32-37
Series 7.8: Scrapbooks, 1874-1943
- Box 37
(cont.)
Series 7.9: Legal papers
Law practice; land and tax records
- Box 37
(cont.)-38
Series 7.10: Miscellany
Newspaper clippings; genealogical notes and records; general miscellany.
- Box 38
(cont.)-39
Series 7.11: Estate materials, 1943-1945
- Box 40
Series 8.1: Correspondence, 1869, 1896-1948
- Box 41-42
Series 8.2: Financial materials, 1891-1951
Accounts, 1902-1936; passbooks (3 v.), 1891-1919; check stub books (7 v.,) 1896-1923; bank statements and canceled checks, 1948-1950; tax forms and returns, 1941-1951.
- Box 43-45
Series 8.3: Hickory Hill materials. Farm records (time sheets, payrolls, produce statements, accounts, etc.)
- Box 45
(cont.)-47
Series 8.4: Richmond, Va., rental properties, 1931-1951.
- Box 47
(cont.)
Series 8.5: Barksdale and Warwick family miscellany.
- Box 48
Series 8.6: Miscellaneous materials.