Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Browse Items (63 total)

  • MS1999-10-001.jpg

    Alexander Spotswood writes from Surry County to Edmund Pendleton concerning the dispatch of William Woodford's troops to the defense of Southside Virginia. Spotswood also discusses John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, and loyalist sentiment in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va. Spotswood expresses his belief that more is to be feared from the loyalists of those places than from Lord Dunmore writing "... I woud Rather burn the Towns of Norfolk, Gosport,& portsmouth, than hurt a hair of his Lordsh-ip's head ..."
  • MS2012-16-001.jpg

    Apprenticeship indenture for Alley Anthony a free African American woman of Norfolk, Virginia. The indenture was arranged by Robert Brough at the request of the court. Anthony, who was 18 at the time, was indentured to Thomas McDorman for a term of 3 years to learn the trade of a seamstress. Robert Brough as Chamberlain of Norfolk was responsible for binding out orphans in accordance with an ordinance of 1791. Chamberlain was the term Norfolk used for its treasurer.
  • MS2000-08-001.jpg

    Copy of an amendment to Governor Francis Fauquier's estate inventory, enclosed in his son Francis Fauquier, Esquire's letter sent from England to George Wythe, dated June 21, 1773. The inventory for items at the Governor's Palace includes household furnishings, food supplies, globes and money scales.
  • D2010-COPY-0504-1084.jpg

    Manuscript amulet, or precept, containing a prayer for deliverance from witchcraft for the wearer.
  • MS1929-02-001.jpg

    Following the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act which authorized the closing of that town’s port on June 1, 1774. When news of the Boston Port Act reached Virginia, the General Assembly was sitting in Williamsburg. It responded to the news by passing a resolution setting aside June 1st as a “Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer …” The resolution demonstrated the Burgesses support for the people of Boston linking their cause with the rights of all Americans. Governor Dunmore responded to the resolution by dissolving the Burgesses on May 26. The following day, the former Burgesses met in the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern where they adopted an Association calling for a Boycott of East India Company goods and the meeting of a general congress.

    The Association is signed in print by eighty-nine of the former Burgesses known to have attended that body's most recent session. The document also bears the names of twenty-one men from the Williamsburg area who joined the Association following its adoption by the former Burgesses.

    The broadside was most likely printed by Clementina Rind.

  • MS1999-09-001.jpg

    Estate appraisal of the property of William Smith of Westmoreland County, Virginia. The appraisal was conducted on December 7, 1782 and is signed by James Muse, Anthony Peyton and Thomas Muse. The estate was valued at £1498..5..3. The bulk of the estate's value was in the more than twenty five enslaved persons listed at the top of the appraisal. The appraisal also lists livestock in the form of horses, cattle and hogs. Among the household furniture is listed a desk, chairs, tables and bed furniture. Spinning and flax wheels as well as cards and a loom are listed in the appraisal. Kitchen implements listed in the appraisal include knives, pots, pans, a tea kettle, china plates, pewter plates a delft bowl and a salt cellar. A looking glass and brass candlesticks, box heater and snuffers are listed. Three books, the Bible, a dictionary and a "Bray book" are the only reading materials listed. Farming equipment listed in the appraisal includes hoes, axes, plows, saddles, wedge and froe, a beehive and drawing knife.

  • D2011-COPY-0712-1095.jpg

    Estate inventory of Hannah Robinson of Westmoreland County, Virginia. The inventory includes an extensive list of clothing including shifts, cloaks, stockings, calico and silk gowns, hats, stays etc. Also included are household goods and ten enslaved persons listed by name. Robinson left her estate to her sister Apphia Dangerfield and her nephew John Pettit. Beckwith Butler and John Pettit served as executors. There are no values associated with the inventory.
  • D2020-JBC-1009-0006.jpg

    Ledger of accounts for a store, possibly kept by Andrew Shepherd of Orange County, Virginia. A great variety of goods were sold to people in Orange, Culpeper, Albemarle, and Augusta counties, and the communities of Fredericksburg and Staunton. Customers included Isaac Allen, Captain William Daingerfield, Ambrose Madison, James Madison Jr., Hugh Mercer, Barnet Moore, John Strather, Mrs. William Taliaferro and George Weedon.

    Andrew Shepherd's name appears on a page of calculations near the end of the volume.

  • MS2000-52-001.jpg

  • MS1996-11_001.jpg

    Medical record book prepared by a Barwick Bruce, a plantation doctor of Barbados.  A contemporary title added to the front cover reads: "Barwick Bruce's Day Book Commencing March 17, 1791." Most entries are signed by either John Austin or William Tull. Each entry lists a date, the name of the person examined, and the treatment prescribed. Plantations mentioned include Edge Hill, Grome Hall, and Bay Plantation. A majority of the entries concern treatments prescribed for illnesses or injuries suffered by enslaved persons. James Bruce is listed as the master of many of the slaves treated. In addition, some entries concern prescriptions given to treat planters and their family members. The entries provide insight into care provided by plantation owners for their enslaved laborers and family members and into different remedies prescribed for ailments, such as bleeding, purging, pills, and ointments.

  • MS1932-07-001.jpg

    Benjamin Waller writes to Meriwether Skelton concerning interest on the debt owed Waller by Skelton. Waller laments that many men have repaid his loans made to them in hard currency with devalued paper money by which he has lost a considerable fortune.
  • ms1938-7_vol. 1, page 001.jpg

    Anonymous 18th-century manuscript cookbook and book of medical formulas. The medical formulas are drawn from several sources including the works of Richard Mead (1673-1754), a famous English medical practitioner of his day. Mead's cures for the bite of a mad dog are included. Also included is Joanna Stephens' (d. 1774) cure for the stone and gravel. This was first printed in 1739 and earned Stephens an award of £5,000 from the British Parliament. This occured despite the objections of many respected medical practitioners who believed the only cure for stones involved surgery. Parliament was convinced of the value of the medicine by David Hartley who published the testimonials of patients claiming to be cured by the formula. Hartley also conducted experiments proving the ability of the formula to reduce stones. The manuscript also contains a cure for heartburn attributed to Dr. Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) the famous Dutch botanist, physician and medical instructor.

    Also included are numerous recipes for foods and beverages some attributed to a Miss Bathurst and S. Bathurst, Mrs. Beck, Lady Englefield and others.

  • MS1939.6.pdf

    Cookbook dated 1836 containing a variety of different recipes for beverages, jellies, puddings, cakes, breads, sweets, and one possibly medicinal tonic for sweetening the blood. Finishes with a method for rendering tallow. Table of contents on the first page lists only recipes up to page 24 out of 40. Several people are mentioned as sources of recipes, though without enough to the name to identify them. Origins unknown. Across the bottom of the pages marked 37 and 38, upside down to the rest of the text, is a semi-legible heading to begin a ledger. It appears to read: By Gff Battakey m____y with Robt Hill Carter by 1835 Jan 12 back 1000
  • D2004-TEG-1202-009d.jpg

    Commission appointing Daniel Parke Custis Lieutenant and commander of milita for New Kent County, Virginia. The commission is signed by Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie, dated December 13, 1754.

    Custis was a wealthy planter and politician who owned several properties including one in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was the first husband of Martha Dandridge who married George Washington after Custis's death.

    The commission was displayed in the Clash of Empires exhibit, an NEH supported exhibition at the Senator John Heinz Regional History Center, from May, 2005 to July, 2007.

  • D2020-JBC-1118-0146.jpg

    Bound journal of accounts including household accounts and the settlements of the estates of his uncle and aunt, John and Mary Bagge on surviving pages 33-198. Names appearing in the accounts include Katherine Bagge, Robert Brooke, James Curtiss, William Fosset, John Greene, Robert Gresham, Dr. Alexander Parker, Robert Rose, Alexander Spotswood, William Taliaferro, Thomas Waring, and Benjamin Winslow.

    The second half of the volume is the diary of the Reverend Robert Rose.

    Edmund Bagge (d. 1734) was an Anglican minister serving St. Anne's Parish, Essex County, at the time of his death.

  • D2020-SC-0902-0001.jpg

    Diary of Elizabeth McPherson Whitehead, daughter of Dr. Nathan Colgate Whitehead and Lillian Blair McPherson, of Norfolk, Virginia. The item is inscribed as a journal of her life meant to make her watchful of her thoughts and of her actions towards others. She describes daily activities including visits with her neighbors, including noted sculptor Alexander Galt and his family. Whitehead also mentions a trip to Boston, Massachusetts, and the Athenaeum there, where she viewed sculptures by Greenough and Canova.
  • M2904b0101001.jpg

    Contains various kinds of accounts including accounts with individuals (many individuals in Hanover Co., Va.), for goods purchased from Jerdone; with merchants in Great Britain, and with the ships' captains who carried goods between Virginia and England; lists of supplies of staples such as salt and rum; invoices for tobacco shipped to England; and a summary of Jerdone's finances. Goods include sugar, molasses, chocolates, cheese, tea, beer, raisins, hats, hosiery and snuff. Also concerns buying and selling of slaves; and shows tobacco marks of various planters. Accounts incl ude those of Robert Anderson, John Backhouse, John Baylor, John Chiswell, Henry Cooke, John Cooper, Archibald Crawford, Robert Donald, John Goldsmith, Dr. Alexander Jameson, Bennitt Kirby, Edward Lankford, Thomas Nelson, John Norton, Mann Page, the proprietors of the Raleigh Tavern, William Stevenson, John Thomson, John Winn and George Wythe.

  • MS1965-7_0001.jpg

    Waste book record of cargo imported and tobacco shipped by Francis Jerdone at Yorktown, Virginia. The book documents the variety and volume of goods sold by Jerdone and the many customers he had in Virginia. Customers included Colonel Carter Burwell, the Reverend John Camm, Alexander Craig, Colonel Dudley Diggs, James Dixon, Robert Donald, Thomas Everard, Alexander Finnie, the Reverend Mr. Fontaine, William Jerdone, Warner Lewis, John Lightfoot, William Lightfoot, Thomas Nelson, William Nelson, John Norton, John Palmer, James Shield, Captain John Tabb, and Bennitt Tomkins.
  • MS1984-01-001.jpg

    George Givens was born in Orange County, Virginia in 1740. At some point, he moved his family to Botetourt County. He had served as a lieutenant in Lord Dunmore's War and was at the Battle of Point Pleasant. For his service in the Revolution, Givens was awarded 400 hundred acres of land in Lincoln County. He died in Kentucky in 1825.
  • D2012-Copy-0717-1005.jpg

    Military commission signed by John Hancock appointing George Weedon Lieutenant Colonel in the 3rd Virginia Regiment. George Weedon (1734-1793) was a businessman, landholder and tavern keeper of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He served in George Washington’s Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. By the end of the war, Weedon had risen to the rank of Captain Lieutenant and had eight years of military experience under his belt. Following the war, Weedon ran his mother-in-law’s tavern and sold meat in partnership with Washington’s brother Charles. While not taking a leading political role in the controversy with Great Britain, Weedon was active in the patriot cause. In December, 1774, he was made a captain in the Spotsylvania Independent Company under Colonels Hugh Mercer and Alexander Spotswood. With the outbreak of war in 1775, Weedon put his tavern up for lease in anticipation of active service. The Virginia Convention which met in Richmond in July, 1775 created two regiments under Patrick Henry and William Woodford but decided against a third which was to be commanded by Hugh Mercer with Weedon as his second in command. The Virginia Convention of December, 1775 added several more regiments including the Third which was designated for Continental service. George Weedon was in Williamsburg, Virginia when he received this commission on March 5th, 1776. With Mercer’s promotion to brigadier general, Congress promoted Weedon to colonel. Weedon was involved in the Virginia campaign against Governor Dunmore including the action at Gwynn’s Island. Following Dunmore’s exit from Virginia, Weedon went north to serve in the Continental Army under Washington. In February, 1777, Congress elected Weedon to the rank of brigadier general. While in Fredericksburg on furlough from the American encampment at Valley Forge, Weedon learned that a board of officers had decided to reinstate William Woodford’s seniority over Weedon. Though both brigadier generals, Weedon originally was granted seniority over Woodford because the latter had resigned his colonelcy for a time. With this reversal in seniority, Weedon sought his release from active service. Weedon remained on the sidelines until British forces under Arnold and Phillips brought the threat of invasion home to Virginia in 1780. He was active in raising, equipping and leading militia against British forces. At the siege of Yorktown, Weedon commanded American forces at Gloucester Point opposite the main British force under Cornwallis.
  • MS2013-08-001.jpg

    Retained copy of a letter of American Brigadier General George Weedon to British Major General William Phillips concerning prisoners of war. Weedon expresses his desire "to render the Circumstances of war as little afflicting as possible ..." He notes he is willing to exchange prisoners or grant paroles when exchanges aren't "Subject to my will."


    Phillips himself had been a prisoner of war. Captured at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, he was exchanged for the American general, Benjamin Lincoln, who was captured at Charleston in 1780. Shortly after rejoining the army, Phillips was sent to Virginia where he operated with the traitor, Benedict Arnold. He achieved a number of successes in the field before dying at Petersburg on May 13, 1781.


    Weedon was present at the Siege of Yorktown where he commanded American militia at Gloucester Point. He survived the war returning to Fredericksburg where he died in 1793.

  • MS1996-26-R.jpg

    Indenture between Thomas Craig, tailor of Williamsburg, Va. and the Feoffees and Directors of Williamsburg for the lease of lot 12 in Williamsburg. The lot is located on the south side of Market Square. This property was previously leased by John Dixon. Craig acquired the lease after purchasing Dixon's estate. The indenture is signed by Peyton Randolph, John Blair, William Pierce, Severinus Durfey, James Minzies, Benjamin Harrison, William Rose and James Douglas.
  • D2020-JBC-0825-0011.jpg

    Invoice book of Dr. James Carter (d. 1794), apothecary of Williamsburg, Virginia, including record of drugs, medical supplies, clothing, yard goods, household goods, and food received from the following merchants: James Bland; Butcher & Barrett; Cary & Co.; Dobson, Daltera & Walker of Liverpool; Joseph Etherington; James Gildart of Liverpool; Graham Frank & Co.; Messrs. Popplewith & Co.; Thomas Knox of Bristol; John Norton; Charles Osborne; Welling & Slater; Messrs. Welling & Butcher; and Wellings & Jacobs. Also lists drugs bought from the estates of Dr. George Gilmer and Dr. Kenneth McKenzie of Williamsburg.
  • D2020-COPY-0818-0002c.jpg

    Letter of Williamsburg, Virginia silversmith James Craig to an unidentified recipient. Craig writes that he is overstocked with certain goods and wishes to sell them on reasonable terms. Craig was not comfortable sending the items on credit so he suggested the recipient of the letter send someone to the meeting of the General Court in Williamsburg to conduct business with him.

    On April 7, 1768, Craig ran an advertisement in the Virginia Gazette announcing the arrival of a shipment from London aboard the Matty. The advertisement listed many of the items subsequently offered in the letter.

    This letter may be Craig's first letter to Edenton, North Carolina silversmith and jeweler Thomas Agnis. In Virginia Silversmiths ... Catherine Hollan writes that Craig sold silver and jewelry to Agnis in July, 1761. Agnis sent his enslaved man, Joe Baker to Williamsburg with payment.

  • Recto

    Letter of James McHenry, aide-de-camp to Lafayette, to General George Weedon dated July 10, 1781. McHenry gives a brief and optimistic description of the Battle at Green Spring fought between American forces under Lafayette and the British under Cornwallis.
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