Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

William Alexander Stuart Documents, Mss. Collection 2001.20, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by Ruth Ann Chitwood in 2001 as part of the W. R. Chitwood Collection.

Biographical Information

William Alexander Stuart (1826-1892) was the son of Archibald Stuart and Elizabeth Pannill Stuart of Laurel Hill in Patrick County  , Virginia. His brothers included James Ewell Brown Stuart and Dr. John Dabney Stuart. A lawyer and businessman, Stuart was admitted as a deputy clerk of the Circuit Superior Court of law and chancery in Wytheville. He eventually served as the clerk in 1847 and also worked as a bank cashier.

Stuart owned several businesses including, with partner George   W. Palmer, the Preston and King   Salt Works in Saltville, Virginia and the Stuart Land and Cattle Company. He also operated a dry goods store with W. C. Auman named Stuart and Auman.

Stuart first married Mary Taylor Carter of Russell County  ; after her death in 1862 he married Elmira (Ellen) Spiller Brown, daughter of William Hickman Spiller and Susan Crockett Spiller. Stuart died in 1892 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after suffering a heart attack.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of four documents including an account statement (1855-1859) and attachment (1859) in the case of Stuart and Auman Company vs. William Walters. Henry Simmerman, justice of the peace, ordered the Wythe County sheriff to levy William Walters, through the estate of his father Michael Walters, $12.70 in order to pay a debt Walters owed William A. Stuart and W. C. Auman.

Another document is a 31 March 1866 letter from William Alexander Stuart to his wife Ellen Spiller Brown Stuart regarding his visit to Wytheville, visits with her family including her mother, Susan Crockett Spiller, and her brother, Joseph Robert Spiller. Stuart evidently received $3,400 from a settlement of family lands in Missouri (probably lands from the estate of William Hickman Spiller, his deceased father-in-law).

Another document is a statement between W. A. Stuart and G. W. Palmer in account with W. B. Stuart dated 1886-1890 regarding loan and interest.