[Manuscript notes for] The University of Virginia Library, 1825-1950; story of a Jeffersonian foundation. |
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WILLIAM WERTENBAKER |
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 | [Manuscript notes for] The University of Virginia Library, 1825-1950; |  |
WILLIAM WERTENBAKER
443. Wertenbaker's connection with the Library covered a span of fifty-six
years, 1826 to 1882. His active service as Librarian was in three parts,
of five years(1826-1831), twenty-two years(1835-1857), and sixteen years
(1865-1881), a total of forty-three years. Miss Dinwiddie holds the record
for the longest continuous term of service, thirty-nine years(1911-1950).
During all except the first year she was Assistant Librarian.
444. There are special authorities for a number of the details about William
Wertenbaker. The first is a letter of 17 July 1952 from Prof. Thomas
Jefferson Wertenbaker, a grandson of the Librarian. The letter is filed
with these footnotes. The second is a memorial to William Wertenbaker,
dated 12 June 1882, in volume two of the Sessional Records of the Charlottesville
Presbyterian Church. See footnote 463 for the text of the
memorial.
445. Rawlings, Mary, The Albemarle of Other Days, Charlottesville, 1925,
pp. 39-45.
446. The tradition is mentioned on page 100 of Richard McIlwaine's Memories
of Three Score Years and Ten, New York, 1908.
447. See articles by William Wertenbaker's son, Charles Christian
Wertenbaker, in Alumni Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 1, May 1897, p. 21, and in
Alumni News, vol. 2, no. 9, 7 January 1914, p. 104. See also Bruce, vol. 2,
p. 198.
448. Rawlings, Mary, The Albemarle of Other Days, Charlottesville, 1925,
p. 67; also the Presbyterian Church Memorial of 12 June 1882. The militia
company was commanded by Capt. Triplett T. Estes of Nelson.
449. See article on John Hartwell Cocke by Armistead C. Gordon, Jr., in
Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 4, pp. 253, 254.
450. Bruce, vol. 1, p. 119 (Trustee of Albemarle Academy); p. 121 (Visitor
of Central College); p. 190 (Proctor of Central College); p. 238 (Bursar
of the University).
451. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 331; Patton, John Shelton, Jefferson, Cabell and
the University of Virginia, New York, 1906, p. 275.
452. Bruce, vol. 1, pp. 188-190.
453. The document is number 1438 of the Jefferson Papers in the Alderman
Library.
454. See page 16 of this historical sketch and footnote 79.
455. In an article "Early Days of the University" in Alumni Bulletin, vol. 4,
no. 1, May 1897, beginning on page 21, his son, Charles Christian
Wertenbaker, stated: "My mother, Louisiana Timberlake, of Poplar Plains,
Caroline County, also came to the University in 1825, accompanying her
sister, Mrs. Warner Minor. Mr. Minor was one of the six University hotel
keepers in 1825, and occupied the central pavilion on the West Range, now
the Hall of the Jefferson Society. My parents were married at Poplar Plains,
in 1829, by the Rev. Addison Lewis, and lived on the East Range...
456. Bruce, vol. 2, pp. 185, 199-201.
457. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 198.
458. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 199, footnote; Faculty Minutes, 16 July 1831.
459. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 199.
460. Faculty Minutes, 10 September 1831. This minute records his resignation
as Secretary of the Faculty. The University Catalogue for 1829-1830 lists
Wertenbaker as Assistant Proctor, but the Catalogue for 1830-1831 does not.
461. Visitors' Minutes, 8 July 1835.
462. The University Catalogues during 1848-1861 list the names of the Hotel
Keepers. Wertenbaker's name appears in the Catalogue for the session 18541855.
His resignation from that position is recorded in Visitors' Minutes,
29 June 1855.
463. McIlwaine, Richard, Memories of Three Score Years and Ten, New York,
1908, p. 100. The following memorial was entered for 12 June 1882 in volume
two of the Sessional Records of the Charlottesville Presbyterian Church.
It is signed by the Rev. George L. Petrie who was Pastor and Clerk of the
Session. The text is an uncorrected copy of a microfilm (M227) that was
read with considerable difficulty.
The committee appointed to prepare a paper with reference to
the death of our esteemed brother, William Wertenbaker, presented
the following, which was approved and ordered to be recorded.
In Memoriam — William Wertenbaker, late a Member of this
Session, died suddenly at his residence near the University on
Friday the 7th of April 1882, and the surviving members of the
Session esteem it to be their duty and privilege to place on
their records some Memorial, though brief and simple, of his life
and character.
Mr. Wertenbaker was the son of Christian and Mary Wertenbaker.
The former was of German descent and was born in Bladenburg,
457. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 198. The expression "chield among them taking
notes" is borrowed from stanza I of Robert Burns' "On the Late Captain
Grose's Peregrinations Thro' Scotland":
I rede you tent it:
A chield's amang you takin' notes,
And faith he'll prent it."
Maryland. The latter was Miss Grady of Caroline County, Virginia.
Our late friend and brother was born in Milton, in the County
of Albemarle, on the 1st of June 1797. When only 14 years of age
he became the efficient Assistant of the Clerk of the County of
Albemarle. Whilst thus employed, the War of 1812 began, and he
soon entered the service of his country as a volunteer in the
Company of Capt. Estes of Nelson, which formed a part of the Brigade
commanded by Gen. John H. Cocke, late of Bremo in the County
of Fluvanna. After the war Mr. Wertenbaker was again employed
in the Clerk's office, where he continued for some years, and then
served for one or more years as Deputy Sheriff of the County of
Albemarle. This position he left at the opening of the University
in 1825, and became a student of Law at the Institution under
John Tayloe Lomax, the first Law Professor and afterwards one of
the brightest ornaments of the Virginia Judiciary. In the summer
of 1826, however, through the influence of Thos. Jefferson, who
knew him well and esteemed him highly, he was appointed Librarian
of the University, and then the course of his life was changed
and thenceforward the University was to be the scene of his labors
and his usefulness, as well as the object of his pride and devoted
affection. This position he held during the remainder of his life
with the exception of a few years; and for many years he was also
Secretary of the Faculty. And the duties of both Stations were so
discharged by him as not only to give entire satisfaction to the
distinguished men with whom as Visitors and Professors during the
long period he was in such intimate and honored association, —
but also to win the respect and confidence and friendship as well
of the great body of the Alumni of the University in whose progress
and standing whilst there and their success and welfare in
after life he exercised and manifested the deepest interest.
For a year or two previous to his death, Mr. Wertenbaker
was unable from age and declining health to discharge the active
duties of Librarian, and they were devolved upon an Assistant.
But whilst doing this, the Board of Visitors did honor to themselves
and afforded substantive and touching evidence of their
high appreciation of more than half a century's faithful and
efficient service, by continuing his salary undiminished as long
as he lived.
Mr. Wertenbaker connected himself with the Presbyterian Church
of Charlottesville on the 26th day of November 1842 — the Rev.
Wm. S. White being then its Pastor, and on the 10th day of February
1844 he was elected a Member of this Session.
Our friend and brother has now closed his long and useful life;
and we desire now to record our testimony founded partly on tradition
of the community and to a large extent on our own observation,
to the great intelligence, integrity, and fidelity with which he
met and discharged the duties imposed on him in the various stations
which he filled, as well as to the quiet and unostentatious and
unobtrusive but steady and consistent Christian character which
marked his life for more than forty years.
And finally in token of our sorrow for his death, and our
respect for his memory:-
Resolved, First — That the foregoing tribute of personal and
Christian regard be spread on the records of the Session
Second — That the same be read to the Congregation at the
convenience of the Pastor, — and
Third — That a Copy thereof be communicated by the Clerk of
the Session to the family of the deceased, with assurances of
our tender sympathy in their bereavement.
464. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 290; vol. 3, pp. 27, 131, 132; vol. 4, pp. 109, 110.
465. See page 27 of this historical sketch.
466. There seems to be no record of Wertenbaker's appointment as Secretary
of the Board of Visitors. But Visitors' Minutes, 28 June 1866, fixed the
salary of the Librarian and the two Secretaries combined, as $800.
Wertenbaker resigned as Secretary of the Board of Visitors in 1871 —
Visitors' Minutes, 27 and 29 June 1871 — and his salary was then reduced
to $700. See also Visitors' Minutes, 19 September 1872.
467. Bruce, vol. 3, pp. 269, 270.
468. See letter of 17 July 1852 from Prof. Thomas J. Wertenbaker, which
is filed with these notes.
469. See page 46A of this historical sketch and the "Dancing in the Rotunda"
supplement to the footnotes.
470. Bruce, vol. 4, p. 55; Faculty Minutes, 18 June 1879; Visitors' Minutes,
3 July 1879 and 29 June 1881.
471. Culbreth, p. 455. The faculty resolutions at the time of his death
are recorded in Faculty Minutes, 1 May 1882, and on the last page of the
University Catalogue for the session of 1881-1882. His death occurred
on 7 April 1882.
472. University Catalogue, session of 1882-1883, p. 55.
473. Faculty Minutes, 1 December 1868, See footnote 172.
474. Bruce, vol. 4, p. 55.
475. Bruce, vol. 5, p. 231; Patton, Glimpses, p. 18: Smith, Francis H., in
Alumni Bulletin, third series, vol. 7, no. 2, April 1914, p. 166.
Patton says the portrait was painted at one sitting. It is now hung in
the Bayly Museum.
476. Bohn Album for 1859, engraving of Secretary of the Faculty.
477. Barringer, Paul B., The Natural Bent, Chapel Hill, c1949, p. 200.
478. In Alumni Bulletin, third series, vol. 7, no. 2, April 1914, pp. 160166.
479. Culbreth, David M. R., The University of Virginia: Memories of Her
Student-Life and Professors, New York, 1809, pp. 22-24, 44, 141, 452-455.
480. McIlwaine, Richard, Memories of Three Score Years and Ten, New York,
1908, pp. 100, 101.
481. In Alumni Bulletin, third series, vol. 8, no. 1, January 1915, pp. 1016.
482. This story is told by Francis H. Smith (Alumni Bulletin, third series,
vol. 7, no. 2, April 1914, p. 166) without giving the names of the two
Professors. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 198, repeats it, and names Key and
Blaettermann.
483. Bruce, vol. 3, p. 210.
484. Alumni News, vol. 2, no. 2, 1 October 1913, p. 20. The article is
entitled "A Look Backward", it is based on a copy of the University
Catalogue for the session of 1856-1857, and it is unsigned.
485. This is oral tradition of an objection made by a Professor in a faculty
meeting discussion in the early days of Alderman's presidency.
486. Both this letter and its draft form are in the Jefferson Papers, number
2283, at the Alderman Library. It is quoted in full in the article
on `"Our Library" by Frederick Page in Alumni Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 2,
November 1895, p. 82, and in Culbreth, p. 22. It is mentioned by his son,
Charles Christian Wertenbaker, in Alumni Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 1, May 1897,
p. 21, and in Alumni News, vol. 2, no. 9, 7 January 1914, p. 104.
487. In section II of this historical sketch, pages 15 and 15A.
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