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Chapter 11
The Final Years: 1826-1828
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Variety of Small Jobs
With the coming of spring the pace of work once again picked up, however. The proctor,
aiming to "finish the little stone work about the Rotunda exclusive of the Front steps,"
negotiated with John Hartwell Cocke for the hire of one of the latter's "good Stone cutters,"
at that time working for Alexander Garrett in Charlottesville, and for some men to quarry
the stone for the portico steps in case the Board of Visitors sought a contemplated $25,000
loan.[767] Brockenbrough also presented Cocke with "Another matter for consideration and
advise," the placement of a privy for the students residing in the "North Eastern Dormitories
near Pav: 2." The proctor complained that "there was one put on the alley (just within Dr
Blaettermans garden) leading down by Richesons Hotel but Dr B would not let it be
used—at present they are put to much inconvenience." Brockenbrough preferred to
dismantle the existing privy and reerect it "at the lower end of garden wall just upon the
outside . . . so constructed that no inconvenience can be felt by its location in the dormitories
below—I propose constructing so that it may be thoroughly cleansed every day."[768] Cocke
left the difficulty to the proctor's "own discretion," and Brockenbrough presumably followed
his own inclinations.[769]
Also in the spring of 1827, the proctor received word from Jefferson's grandson-in-law,
Joseph Coolidge, Jr., informing him that the clock and dial plate intended for the Rotunda at
long last was finished but still needed to be tested, packed, and shipped to Richmond, where
its maker Simon Willard would go to oversee its removal from the vessel.[770] Coolidge
wrote the proctor again on the last day of March saying that the clock and dial had been
placed on board the schooner Magnolia and that Willard was scheduled to leave on 3
April.[771] Bernard Peyton notified the proctor on 21 April that the Magnolia was in the
James River at Richmond,[772] and four days later Peyton wrote saying that wagoner John
Keyser would deliver to the university all the "boxes Containing Clocks &c &c & two (iron
bound) buckets"[773] except for the dial plate which, because of its size, "shall go by first
Trusty Boat, to Milton or Shadwell Mills."[774] Months would pass before the proctor asked
Coolidge to procure the accompanying bell for the mechanism, however,[775] and it was
November before the bell was shipped from Boston to Richmond onboard the Levant. The
maker, "Mr Holbrook, of Medway," assured Coolidge that its metal "cast is good, and the
tine excellent," and warranted the bell for "one year from delivery."[776]
Work on other jobs continued throughout the summer. By August, large "circular tables"
designed for the library had been built and set up, and the Rotunda's interior "iron work"
was nearly finished. Brockenbrough predicted that the building's unfinished plaster work
would be completed before the end of the summer vacation (July to September); and the
Anatomical Hall, the proctor also suggested, would be "in readiness" soon. The "Brick
making business" had stalled, however, "for the want of boys" to make them.[777] (Several
thousands of bricks were necessary for the building of cisterns.)[778] The arrival of slate
required to finish some small job was delayed too.[779] About this time Professor Charles
Bonnycastle designed a water fountain 16 feet in diameter for the lawn, a 5-feet-deep "brick
basin neatly covered with Packer's Cement, & with a stone curb . . . From the height of the
headspring the water would be thrown many feet high."[780]
767. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 24 May 1827, ViU:JHC. Cocke had sought a "trust-worthy
hirer of my Stone cutters" in a letter to Brockenbrough of 3 April 1827 before leaving "on
an absence of 4 or 5 weeks" (ViU:PP; see also Cocke to Brockenbrough, 31 May, and 13
June, in ViU:PP, and Brockenbrough to Cocke, 1 June 1827, in ViU:JHC). Cocke engaged
his gang of six slave stonemasons in the building of a "large dwelling" in Charlottesville
during the previous winter (Coyner, "John Hartwell Cocke of Bremo," 119). This gang
included his best masons, Cato and Peyton, whom Cocke had apprenticed to Thomas
Whitelaw and James Currie, two white artisans who worked at the Bremo plantations from
1812 to 1821. On 23 December of this year Peyton made his mark on a receipt located in the
loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP, written by Brockenbrough and witnessed by G. W. Wood,
for a $25 draft on the Bursar "for Stone cut for the Anatomical Hall." For a discussion of
Cocke's slave stonemasons, see ibid., 101-8, 146-48.
768. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 24 May 1827, ViU:JHC. George Blaettermann, a
German-born law graduate of Göttingen University (who came from Oxford) is described as
an "irascible but gifted man" by Wust in The Virginia Germans, 100.
771. See Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 31 March 1827, in ViU:PP. For Willard's
compensation for his work, see Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 3 April, 6 June, 19 July 1827,
and John Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 29 May 1827, in ViU:PP.
775. Coolidge wrote to Brockenbrough on 16 August 1827 to inform him that he had
recieved the proctor's letter of 28 July requesting Coolidge to order a bell. Coolidge thus
ordered "a bell to be cast, of purest metal, to weigh about 450 lbs . . . The bell will be ready
in three weeks; I shall have it provided with a wheel &c in the best and cheapest manner,
and forward it, immediately, to Richmond to Care of Bernard Peyton" (ViU:PP; see also
Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 8 August 1827, in ViU:JHC). This actually was the
third bell ordered by the university in 1827. On 8 May 1827 Joseph F. White of 213 Water
Street, New York, had written to Brockenbrough about a "Bell Made of 168 lbs. Open at the
bottom, bent flatways, and gives a noble, pleasant Sound" (ViU:PP), and on 11 July 1827
John Van Lew & Co. wrote to the proctor to inform him that "We have this day Shipped (pr
John Fly) to Mr Jos F. White, the Cast Steel Bell receivd from you last week" (ViU:PP),
apparently to replace another steel cast bell that had been shipped to the university in
January of this year. See Thomas Brockenbrough to ASB, 2 December 1826, and White to
Brockenbrough, 19 July 1827, in ViU:PP.
776. Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 9 November 1827, ViU:PP. A tine is the tongue or clapper
that strikes the inside of a bell, causing it to sound. Coolidge wrote the proctor again on 22
November to send "the warrantee of its maker Mr Holbrook, who desires me to Say that it
will much improve by use; if it does not, or any flaw or defect is discovered, he will recast
it, free of expense, if delivered to his Agent in Boston" (ViU:PP). The total cost of the bell
was $159.25, which the proctor reimbursed Coolidge for in February 1828 (see Coolidge to
Brockenbrough, 18 February 1828, ViU:PP).
777. Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 8 August 1827, ViU:JHC. Keziah Davis
received $2 from the proctor on 16 November 1827 "for Making Table covers for the
Library room" (loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP). The Rotunda's interior "iron work" was
an "iron Railing forming the Lobby at the head of the Stair Cases. ... effectual against
unauthorised intrusions into the Library" (Cocke to Brockenbrough, 10 November 1827,
ViU:PP). The "Doors on the Stair Cases" were to be removed after the completion of the
iron railing. For the summer vacation period, see Brockenbrough's Subjects for
Consideration, ca 1828, in ViU:JHC.
779. Edward W. Sims wrote to an unidentified person on 23 August 1827: "It affords me no
little uneasiness to hear of the situation of the buildings at the University--Before the recipt
of your letter I had expected as much--and wrote to the Proctor upon the subject--Early last
week I sent two Boxes with Slate, but they could not, after waiting near a week at Columbia,
ascend the Rivana--and consequently had to unload at that place, from whence they reach'd
home on yesterday--Were it possible I would have the Slate taken over by land. Waggons
could not be had at any price--You may rest assured that I shall the moment I can, send the
Slate up--and I will take it an especial favor of you to write to the Proctor upon the subject"
(ViU:PP). Edward W. Sims was married to Margaret Caroline Towles, a daughter of an
officer of the War of 1812, Col. Oliver Towles of Campbell County, and Agatha Lewis
Towles (1774-1843), the daughter of Col. William Lewis of Sweet Springs. Sims often did
business with Board of Visitor member John Hartwell Cocke of Bremo.
780. Charles Bonnycastle, Plan for a Fountain, ca August 1827, ViU:PP. The cisterns were
lined with White's Patent Hydraulic Cement, purchased from the New York firm of Peter
Remsen & Co. See Benjamin Wright to John Hartwell Cocke, 18 August 1827, John C. and
George Newton to Brockenbrough, 12 September 1827, and John Van Lew & Co. to
Brockenbrough, 30 December 1827, all in ViU:PP, and Peter Remsen & Co.'s one-page
circular for White's cement, in the undated material for 1828 in ViU:PP.
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Chapter 11
The Final Years: 1826-1828
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |