 | Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Notes
Chapter 6
433. See Phillips to Brockenbrough, 6 January, and Lowber to Brockenbrough, 18 January,
in ViU:PP, and TJ to Perry, 21 January 1821, in DLC:TJ.
436. Cabell to TJ, 4 January 1821, ViU:TJ, and Cabell to TJ, 18 January 1821, ViU:JCC; see
also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 194-95, 196-97.
438. TJ to Cabell, 31 January 1821, ViU:JCC; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 201-3.
439. TJ to Cabell, 31 January 1821, ViU:JCC; see also ibid., 201-3. "Partly because he was a
long-term optimist, Jefferson was a notably patient man," wrote Dumas Malone, "but the
Old Sachem, as Cabell called him, knew that his sands were running out and wanted to lose
no time" (Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 365). Even the near approach of
his 79th birthday could not force Jefferson, whom Edmund Bacon later called the "most
industrious person I ever saw in my life," to enter into the expected rest of old age (Bear,
Jefferson at Monticello, 84).
441. See John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 28 February and 5 March, and Loose
Receipts, 13 and 19 March 1821, in ViU:PP.
443. See Warwick to Brockenbrough, 22 and 23 March, and Loose Receipt, 24 March 1821,
all in ViU:PP.
454. Crawford to Brockenbrough, 30 March 1821, ViU:PP. Malcom F. Crawford (b. 1794),
said to have been born in Maine, and his partner Lyman Peck contracted for the carpentry
work of twenty-seven dormitories on the west range. Crawford purchased building lots from
James Dinsmore in 1822 and 1825 on West Main Street at the corners of 12th and 11th
streets, and Peck lived in a rented house in the same area. Crawford and brickmason
William B. Phillips built the Nelson County jail in 1823, the new Edgehill after the earlier
house burned in 1828, and the courthouses of Caroline, Page, and Madison counties;
Crawford later built the Spotsylvania and Rappahannock counties courthouses. Phillips and
Crawford also are believed to have built for future university law professor John A. G.
Davis in 1826 a Jeffersonian styled house in downtown Charlottesville that came to be
called The Farm; the house, which is extant, served as the headquarters for Brigadier
General George Armstrong Custer when General Philip Sheridan's Yankee troops moved
into the city in 1865 (see Brickhouse, "The Farm," Virginia: The University of Virginia
Alumni News, 84 (1995), 30-35). Christ Episcopal Church was built in 1824 on Crawford's
downtown Charlottesville lot at the corner of 2d and High streets, and the following year
Crawford married Amanda M. F. Craven, the daughter of James Dinsmore's Pen Park Mill
partner, John H. Craven. See Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy," Magazine of
Albemarle County History, 46:48-49.
455. Peck & Crawford, Agreement for Carpentry, 10 August 1821, ViU:PP. In addition to
doing the carpentry work for the west range dormitories, which cost the university
$4,618.25, the firm of Peck & Crawford also put up some of the blocking courses at
Pavilions I, II, IV, and VI, the steps at Hotel B, and the Chinese railings for the windows at
Pavilions III, V, and VII; Crawford, who is identified as having hung a pair of doors at Hotel
F for $8.16, earned $1,078.10 in his own name at the university between 2 July 1824 and 18
May 1829 (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).
458. See Pitt to Brockenbrough, 30 March, in ViU:PP, and Alexander Garrett to Joseph
Carrington Cabell, 8 September 1821, ViU:JCC.
462. Widderfield to TJ, 1 April 1821, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University
of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:38.
468. David Watson, delegate from Louisa and member of the Central College Board of
Visitors, wrote in his Miscellaneous Memoranda, ca 1 April, that the act was passed "by our
Assembly with much difficulty . . . At the last session of our Assembly, the University was
authoris'd to borrow $60 thousand; estimated then to be sufficient to finish the buildings; &
upon the application for more money, at this session, much discontent was manifested by the
Members--the bill was rejected by one vote; & passed, on reconsideration, next day"
(ViU:Watson Family Papers; see also appendix D).
469. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2 April 1821,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia:
The Rotunda, 20-21.
471. Johnson and Breckenridge to Cocke, 5 April 1821, ViU:JHC; see also Malone,
Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 385-86.
472. TJ to Eppes, 8 April 1821, printed in Betts and Bear, Family Letters of Thomas
Jefferson, 438-39. Francis Wayles Eppes (b. 1794), who was the oldest child of John Wayles
and Mary Jefferson Eppes and the inheritor of Poplar Forest, was at this time attending
South Carolina College in Columbia. Jefferson's hopes that his grandson would finish his
formal education were dashed in the fall of 1822 when Eppes married Mary Elizabeth
Cleland Randolph, a fourth cousin and the daughter of Thomas Eston Randolph of Ashton
in Albemarle County (see ibid., 10-13, 446-48).
474. TJ to Cocke, 9 April 1821, ViU:JHC; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the
University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 20-21. Cocke's plantations kept him away from the
university for the whole spring, and two months later he wrote to his James River colleague
at Edgewood, "If you will come down in some short time I will go with you to the
University and Monticello; for I feel that I have neglected my duties more than I ought to
have done" (Cocke to Cabell, 23 June 1821, privately owned [1995]).
475. TJ to Appleton, 16 March, ViU:TJ, and TJ to Samuel Williams, 16 April 1821, in
DLC:TJ; see also ibid., 21. For a list of the origins and sizes of the capitals intended for
pavilions nos. II and III west, and I and IV east, see TJ's Specifications for Corinthian and
Ionic Capitals, ca 16 April 1821, in ViU:TJ.
476. Appleton to TJ, 7 July 1821, DLC:TJ. Appleton also informed Jefferson that Giacomo
Raggi's wife died "about three months Since [i.e., early April]; thus, the painful task of
communicating this Distressing information to her husband must Devolve, of course, on
yourself." Jefferson informed Raggi of his wife's death by letter on 3 October (ViU:TJ).
477. TJ to Patterson, 15 May 1821, DLC:TJ. John Patterson was married to Wilson Cary
Nicholas' daughter Mary (see TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 10 January 1809, in Betts
and Bear, Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, 377-78).
478. George W. Spooner, Jr., Account with John M. Perry, 16 April to 6 November 1821,
ViU:PP. The account shows that in August and November Spooner purchased another 5,090
feet of boards from Perry, including "525 feet first Rate flooring."
479. Dinsmore to Brockenbrough, 21 April 1821, ViU:PP. Dinsmore's account with Monroe
shows that the carpenter previously had purchased 3,993 feet of lumber from the president's
lands for $101.85 in October 1820 and January 1821. Another account between Dinsmore
and Monroe, dated 23 April 1821 to 9 July 1822, shows that Dinsmore purchased another
3,165 feet of boards during that period.
480. See John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 10, 17 April, 7, 18 June, and Loose
Receipt, 19 April, 8 May, and 18 June 1821, all in ViU:PP.
481. See Page to Brockenbrough, 11 April, 22 May, 13 June, 30 July, 9 August, 6 September
1821, in ViU:PP.
482. See Thomas Brockenbrough to Arthur Spicer Brockenbrough, 19 April, and Loose
Receipt, 9 and 13 June, 14 July 1821, in ViU:PP.
484. See D. W. & C. Warwick to Brockenbrough, 26 April, 31 July 1821, and Loose
Receipt, 13 November 1820, 15 May 1821, in ViU:PP.
485. Blackford, Arthur & Co. to Brockenbrough, 14 May, 13, 22 June, and 13 August 1821,
ViU:PP.
487. See Andrew Smith to TJ, 16 April, in ViU:PP, and TJ to Brockenbrough, 20 April, in
ViU:TJ, Smith to Brockenbrough, 1 and 30 May 1821, in ViU:PP,
488. See Smith to TJ, 16 April, in ViU:PP, TJ to Brockenbrough, 20 April, in ViU:TJ, Smith
to Brockenbrough, 1, 30 May, 1, 2, 13 June, and 17 July, and Loose Receipts, 1, 7, 8, and 10
June 1821, in ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University of Virginia, Magazine
of Albemarle County History, 17:39. The undated printed directions for making Roman
Cement are also in ViU:PP.
489. See Peyton to Alexander Garrett, 23 April, Peyton's Account with the University of
Virginia, 11 June 1821 to 29 August 1822, and Loose Receipt, 13 April 1821, all in ViU:PP.
491. TJ to Randolph, 21 July 1821, DLC:TJ. On 8 September Bursar Alexander Garrett
informed Senator Cabell that "Mr. Jefferson has just returned from Bedford & was at the
University today pushing Brockenbrough about the settlement of the accounts Mr B. thinks
he will be ready in a short time" (ViU:JCC).
492. See TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 3 August, and Board of Visitors' Bond to the
Literary Fund, 3 August 1821, in ViU:TJ. The bond actually was made for $900 less than
the amount requested.
493. D. W. & C. Warwick to Brockenbrough, 31 July (two letters), and Loose Receipt, 31
July 1821, ViU:PP.
494. John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 2 August 1821, ViU:PP. Brockenbrough &
Harvie was more explicit in its letter to Brockenbrough of 18 September: "The end of the
year is approaching and your funds are I suppose not very abundant We are very much in
want of money and we must therefore beg the favor of you to settle our accounts for you
know if your funds give out before they are paid that it may possibly never be paid--I hope
you as a matter of favor as well as of justice settle this before that event arises. Will [you] be
good enough to write and say when we may expect to receive the balance" (ViU:PP).
496. Brockenbrough, Notice to Undertakers, 25 August 1821 (document G ), in Oldham vs
University of Virginia, ViU:UVA Chronological File.
497. See Robert Gentry, Account for Hauling Rock, 21 August 1821 to 8 February 1822,
John Neilson to Brockenbrough, 22 August, 27 October, Perry to Brockenbrough, 23
August, 5 September, Dinsmore to Brockenbrough, 8 September, R. & J. McCullock to
Brockenbrough, 10 September 1821, all in ViU:PP. During the remainder of 1821, the only
other local deliveries of materials were wagonloads of plank, sand, and lime, sent to John
M. Perry (see Perry to Brockenbrough, 14, 20 November, 24 December 1821, in ViU:PP);
plank for the "terris floor of pav. No. 3," delivered to Dinsmore & Perry (see Dinsmore &
Perry to Brockenbrough, 17 December 1821, in ViU:PP); and 1,452 feet of lumber for
James Oldham (see Oldham to James Black, 1 December 1821, in ViU:PP).
498. See John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 20, 30 August, 4 September, 15 October,
Blackford, Arthur & Co. to Brockenbrough, 1, 15 September, D. W. & C. Warwick to
Brockenbrough, 6, 17, 26 September, 3, 4, 25 October 1821, all in ViU:PP. Out-of-town
merchants made only three other sales to the university before the end of the year: Andrew
Smith's November shipment of 4 casks of Roman Cement (see Charles Gardner to
Brockenbrough, 6 September, and Smith to Brockenbrough, 10 November 1821, in
ViU:PP); Alexander Galt's early December shipment from Norfolk of a bolt of copper and
two barrels of rosin (see Galt to Brockenbrough, 4 December 1821, in ViU:PP); and John
Van Lew & Co.'s late December shipment of hardware, oil, and 17 kegs of paint (see John
Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 27 December 1821, in ViU:PP).
506. See James Glasgow to Brockenbrough, 24 March, William Thackara and Edward
Evans to Brockenbrough, 23 April, Brockenbrough to William Thackara and Edward Evans,
Queries Regarding Plastering Prices, ca 1821, and Edward Evans, Philadelphia Prices of
Plastering, ca 1821, in ViU:PP.
507. See Oldham's Account, October 1821 (document C ), and TJ to Oldham, 2 November
1821 (document E ), in Oldham vs University of Virginia, ViU:UVA Chronological File, and
TJ to Brockenbrough, 2, 3 November 1821, in ViU:PP; Brockenbrough to Oldham, 5
November (document F ), in Oldham vs University of Virginia, ViU:UVA Chronological
File; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle
County History, 17:39.
508. See Johnson and Breckenridge to John Hartwell Cocke, 5 April 1821, ViU:JHC.
Actually, by December, Johnson was the "only doubtful member on that head" (see TJ to
Breckenridge, 9 December 1821, in ViU:TJ).
512. Brockenbrough to the Rector and Board of Visitors, 26 November 1821, printed in
Report and Documents Respecting the University of Virginia (Richmond, 1821), 32; a copy
is in ViU:JHC.
513. Cocke to Cabell, 8 December 1821, ViU:JCC; see also Malone, Jefferson and His
Time: The Sage of Monticello, 388.
514. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 30 November 1821,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 465-70.
Literary Fund President Thomas Mann Ranolph, Jr., on 3 December forwarded the visitors'
report to the House of Delegates, which published it under the title of Report and
Documents Respecting the University of Virginia (Richmond, 1821); a copy is in ViU:JHC.
| Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |