 | Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Notes
Chapter 2
105. James Patton Preston, Appointment of Commissioners to Choose a Site for the
University of Virginia, 18 March 1818, DLC:JM. Preston enclosed the commission in an
unfound letter to James Madison of the same date (see Madison to Preston, 19 May 1818, in
Vi: Executive Papers).
106. See Richard Beale Davis, Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia, 1790-1830, 62-69.
Davis called Jefferson's educational venture a "cooperative intellectual enterprise to which
many Virginians contributed."
112. TJ to Latrobe, 19 May 1818, DLC:TJ. House of Delegates and Board of Visitor
member David Watson of Louisa also looked forward to the Central College being chosen
as the site for the new university. "I am really sorry that it is out of my power to attend [the
spring Board of Visitors meeting]," Watson wrote to his brother-in-law Peter Minor of
Ridgeway on 10 May, "for I am anxious to see the visitors, & know what's the prospect, &
what's to be done, about turning the Central College into the University of Virga., which I
think with good management, & the help of three presidents, may be done" (ViU: Watson
Family Papers).
113. Undated interview with John Lewis, Shane Historical Collection, vol. 13, 116-17
[314-15], WiHi: Draper Collection. "The University was a great political movement," Lewis
continued. "It was designed to provide an institution for the whole South and South-west,
and thus, to prevent that patronage from going to the north. To train up a democratic party,
under the influence of education. There was no hostility to William and Mary. But here was
a definite end. It was necessary, in order to attain it, to go up from the low-lands--which
were unhealthy, and which were forsaken at a given period of the year by all the
wealthy--who were able to leave. It was necessary to go up into the mountains. It was
moreover more central." Lewis also claimed that Jefferson at the same time read a letter in
his presence from John Adams "telling him of a report--that he had gotten the declaration of
Independence from the Mecklenburg resolutions." For Adams' duplicity with Jefferson
regarding the Mecklenburg document, see Ellis, Passionate Sage: The Character and
Legacy of John Adams, 121.
114. Larkin notes that during this period in American history, "few used brick and stone
except for German settlers and their descendants" (The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 107).
115. Jaggard, Brickwork and its Construction, 1-3, and The Stonemason and The Bricklayer,
203.
118. Chisholm to Nelson Barksdale, 29 July 1818, ViU:PP. Some material that has been
marked out on the verso of this letter (which also contains Perry's receipt for $800), in
accountant Martin Dawson's writing, indicates that a portion of this payment was for
brickwork completed the previous year, $200 on 25 October and $300 on 6 November 1817.
On 6 July 1819 Perry wrote Jefferson requesting the ballance of his wages (ViU:TJ).
119. Rockett's Landing was a major wharf on the James River in Richmond in the vicinity of
31st and Mains streets where "various steamers plying between Richmond and Norfolk,
Fortress Monroe, Baltimore, and New York" arrived and departed. Robert Rockett operated
a ferry there as early as 1730 and tradition has it that Abe Lincoln walked from Rockett's to
the Davis mansion when he visited Richmond on 5 April 1865. See Weddell, Richmond
Virginia in Old Prints, 190, 216, and Lutz, A Richmond Album, 70, 82. Jefferson's former
farm manager Edmund Bacon recalled in an interview given in Kentucky during the Civil
War that Milton "was the head of navigation for bateaux. A great deal of flour, grain, and
other produce was brought from the western part of the state and shipped there, the wagons
carrying back groceries and other things that the bateaux had brought from Richmond. This
and other business employed a good many families. Nearly all the families in Milton were
supplied with firewood from Mr. Jefferson's estate" (Bear, Jefferson at Monticello, 80).
122. For the Rockfish Gap Commission, see the Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for
the University of Virginia, 1-4 August 1818, in Vi., and the Report of the Commissioners for
the University of Virginia, 4 August 1818, in ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, (appendix I) 432-47; Honeywell, The Educational Work of Thomas
Jefferson, (appendix J), 248-60; and Knight, A Documentary History of Education in the
South Before 1860, 3:162-78. The attending members unanimously elected Jefferson to
preside over the commission.
126. TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 4 August 1818, in Betts and Bear, Family Letters of
Thomas Jefferson, 423-24. Archibald Stuart (1757-1832), who was born in Waynesboro,
studied law under Jefferson following his Revolutionary War service as an aide-de-camp to
Major General Nathanael Greene. At this time Stuart was judge of the General Court of
Virginia for the Augusta district. He built a mansion on Church Street in Staunton that was
later occupied by his son, Judge Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart, an early graduate in law
from the university and President Filmore's Secretary of the Interior in the early 1850s.
128. Rockfish Gap Commission Report, 4 August 1818, in Knight, A Documentary History
of Education in the South Before 1860, 163-64; see also "Extract from the Report of the
Commission for the University of Virginia, assembled at Rockfish Gap, in the County of
Augusta, August 1, 1818," in Cabell, Letter and Accompanying Documents Relative to
Literary Institutions of the State: Addressed to His Constituents (Richmond, 1825), in
ViU:JCC.
129. TJ to Cooper, 7 August 1818, DLC:TJ. When the Central College was superseded by
the University of Virginia the new Board of Visitors elected Cooper to a profesorship of
chemistry, mineralogy, natural philosophy, and law, to begin in April 1820. The
postponement of the opening of the university because of a lack of funds, combined with the
"storm of clerical protest" against Cooper's unorthodox religious views, eventually led to a
revocation of Cooper's appointment (Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of
Monticello, 366-69, 376-80).
130. John Hartwell Cocke, Diary, 26 August 1818, ViU:JHC. The waters at Warm Springs
did not have the therapeutic value that Jefferson hoped for. "I returned from the warm
springs a few days, in prostrated health, from the use of the waters," he wrote to Thomas
Cooper on 12 September, "their effect, and the journey back reduced me to the last stage of
exhaustion; but I am recovering. . . . the steady progress of my convalescence assures my
being well . . . I cannot yet set erect to write and writing with pain I must do it with brevity"
(DLC:TJ). TJ's serious indisposition following the trip lasted several months; on 8
November he informed Julien Honoré that "my health is getting better slowly, but I do not
venture out of the house yet" (DLC:TJ). On 6 October TJ described his illness at length in a
letter to Colonel William Alston of Clifton, S.C., whom he met at the springs with an
entourage of "eight other Alstons, big and little" (see Reniers, The Springs of Virginia, 49).
TJ wrote Alston to inform him that he had "made up a box of a couple of dozen bottles" of
French and Italian wine and was sending it to South Carolina via Bernard Peyton of
Richmond: "I became seriously affected afterwards by the continuance of the use of the
waters. they produced imposthume, eruption, with fever, colliquative sweats and extreme
debility. these sufferings, aggravated by the torment of long & rough roads, reduced me to
the lowest stage of exhaustion by the time I got home. I have been on the recovery some
time, & still am so; but not yet able to sit erect for writing. among my first efforts is that of
recalling myself to your recollection, & of expressing the gratification I derived at the
springs from your acquaintance & society. however little of life may remain for cherishing a
cordiality which it must so soon part with. it will not be the less felt, while feeling remains,
and in the hope that the tour I recommended of the upper & lower valley of the Blue ridge
may give me, the ensuing autumn, the gratification of recieving you at Monticello, I pray
you to accept the assurance of my friendly attachment & high respect" (DLC:TJ). TJ again
described his illness on 5 July 1819 in a letter to Henry A. S. Dearborn of Boston: "I
recieved yesterday your favor of June 24. and am very Sensible of the interest you so kindly
take in my health. the eruptive complaint which came upon me in Aug. last was
unquestionably produced by the bath of the warm springs, which I tried on account of
rheumatism. the cause of the eruption was mistaken, and it was treated with severe unctions
of mercury & sulphur. these reduced me to death's door, and on ceasing to use them I
recovered immediately, and consider my health as now perfectly re-established, except some
small effect on the bowels produced by these remedies and nearly, altho' not entirely worn
off. I am still thankful for your recipe, and should the eruption return, I shall certainly try it's
effect, in preference to those before tried" (DLC:TJ). For more on TJ's illness, see his letters
of 6 October to Mathew Carey, Julien Honoré, James Breckinridge, and Joseph Dougherty,
his letters of 7 October to John Adams and William F[arley]. Gray; Robert Walsh, Jr., to TJ,
8 November, TJ to David Baillie Warden, 24 November, and TJ to George Ticknor, 24
December 1819, all in DLC:TJ, and ibid., 54-55. In a letter to John George Jackson of 27
December, TJ pronounced himself "entirely recovered" in strength and in health: "My trial
of the Warm springs was certainly ill-advised. "for I went to them in perfect health, and
ought to have reflected that remedies of their potency must have effect some way or other. if
they find disease they remove it; if none, they make it" (DLC:TJ). Unfortunately, TJ became
seriously ill twice again during the following year. On 7 November 1819 he wrote Robert J.
Evans "I am just now recovering from the third long & dangerous illness which I have had
within the last 12. months" (DLC:TJ), and on the same date he wrote John Adams that
"Three long and dangerous illnesses within the last 12. months must apologize for my long
silence towards you" (DLC:TJ).
134. See John M. Perry, Account with James Dinsmore, 18 September 1818 to 10
September 1821, in ViU:PP. The account shows that Perry hauled scantling to Dinsmore for
29½ days before the end of 1818.
137. William John Coffee (1774-ca 1846), an oil painter and sculptor who worked in
porcelain, plaster, and terra cotta, emigrated from England to New York City in 1816. The
following year Coffee traveled to Monticello to sculpture the busts of Jefferson and two
family members, daughter Martha and granddaughter Ellen, and in April 1818 he visited
James Madison at Montpelier where he won a commission to model the busts of Madison,
his wife Dolly, and her son. After that Coffee made plaster busts of many other prominent
Americans, and with Jefferson's help he made a southern tour for that purpose in 1821. See
Rauschenberg, "William John Coffee, Sculptor-Painter: His Southern Experience," Journal
of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 4 (November 1978), 26-48, and two unpublished papers
loaned to the author and placed on deposit at the Albemarle County Historical Society by
Brian Bricknell of England, "William John Coffee, 1773-c1846, Modeller, Sculptor, Painter
and Ornamentalist: His Career in America, 1817-c1846," (August 1993), and "William John
Coffee, 1773--c1846, A Brief Review with Emphasis on his Employment by the Derby
Porcelain Factory, (February 1994). Coffee made the composition and leaden ornaments for
all the pavilions and the Rotunda (ViU:PP, Ledgers 1 and 2), and he apparently made the
Bucrania in the freize of the great hall at Estoutesville in 1828. See Lay, "Charlottesville's
Architectural Legacy, Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:51, Lay, "Jefferson's
Master Builders," University of Virginia Alumni News, 80 (October 1991), 16-19. James
Gibson casted plaster ornaments for the cornices at Pavilion V (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).
138. Coffee to TJ, 7 November 1818, DLC:TJ. Beneath his docket for the letter Jefferson
wrote this memorandum: "the Roman cement is a native production of the Isle of Thanst. it
is an earth impregnated with iron ore, the vitriolic acid & Manganese. and it is said may be
found wherever there is an iron ore."
139. Peter Maverick's engravings of the ground plan of the university show five cisterns, all
of which were located immediately outside the garden walls: one each behind Pavilions V
and VII on the west lawn, and one near the rear of each of the three hotels on the eastern
range (see Guinness and Sadler, Mr. Jefferson, Architect, 136-37, 150, and O'Neal,
"Iconography of the Nineteenth-Century Prints of the University of Virginia," in American
Association of Architectural Bibliographers, Papers VI, 75-80. Other early sources of water
included the old reservoir on Observatory Mountain and two ponds to the northwest of the
Rotunda, photographs of which from the 19th century are in Special Collections, Alderman
Library, ViU; see also O'Neal, Pictorial History of the University of Virginia, 100-101.
140. Appleton to TJ, 10 November 1818, DLC:TJ. Cote briefly discusses the Raggi brothers'
work at the university, in "The Architectural Workmen of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia,"
69-71.
141. ViU:PP, Ledgers 1 and 2. Brooks covered the roofs of Hotels A, B, and C, all the
pavilions except nos. III, V, and VII, and several dormitories, and he covered the gallery and
put up tin pipes at Pavilion III, and installed tin gutters and did minor tin work at Pavilion V.
Brooks received $156.59 for covering Pavilion X, for example. Jefferson thought Brooks
charged too much for the type of work that he executed (see appendix N). The Proctor's
Ledgers show that "Carpenter Sam" (apparently a slave) also did tin work at Pavilions V and
VII, Hotels A, D, and F, and some of the dormitories, and that Anthony Bargamin of
Richmond, who covered the roof of the Rotunda, installed the gutters at Pavilion III.
144. Randolph to TJ, 14 December 1818, DLC:TJ. David Meade Randolph, Jr., was married
to Mary (Molly) Mann of Tuckahoe, the sister of Jefferson's son-in-law, Thomas Mann
Randolph, Jr. Jefferson fired Randolph, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a staunch
Federalist, from his position as U.S. Marshal for Virginia four days after his inauguration as
president in 1801, and Randolph subsequently became involved in the James Calander
affair. Bankruptcy soon followed, and in 1808 Molly Randolph opened a successful
boarding house on Cary Street in Richmond. In 1824 Molly Randolph published the first
edition of her popular cookbook, The Virginia Housewife. See Daniels, Randolphs of
Virginia, 130, 149, 193, 196-202, 228, 247-48.
146. James Dinsmore, Chimney Brick Measure, 20 December 1818, ViU:PP. In January
1819 Alexander Garrett wrot Jefferson to inform him that Dinsmore had "heard with regret,
that you were dissatisfied with the contract made with, and beg'd me to assure you, that he
would take no advantage of any mistake you may have made in that contract; that he will be
entirely satisfied to work by the printed prices of the book now sent you, not even insisting
on the correction of those by Latrobe" (Garrett to TJ, 26 January 1819, ViU:TJ).
147. Cosby to TJ, 18 December 1818, ViU:TJ. Cosby came to Charlottesville with excellent
recommendations from some of the leading citizens of Staunton: Erasmus Stribling called
Cosby "one of our most respectable Citizens"; John Waugh expressed confidence in his
honor and integrity; Rockbridge County House of Delegates representative John Bowyer
recommended him in "high terms"; John Brown said he was a good workman and "sober,
attentive, and industrious"; and Judge Archibald Stuart recommended Cosby as "a man of
Industry, Energy & I believe Capacity & may be relyed on to execute whatever he
undertakes . . . for years past been more extensively employed in his line than any man in
This County" (Stribling to TJ, 6 January, John Waugh to TJ, 7 January, Samuel Carr to TJ, 1
February, John Brown to TJ, 8 February, Archibald Stuart to TJ, 9 March 1819, all in
ViU:TJ).
148. Dabney Cosby (1779-1862) was born in Louisa County but moved to Staunton,
Virginia, and by 1820 had married Frances Davenport Tapp; of their fourteen children two
became successful architects. Cosby moved to Buckingham County in 1824 and to Prince
Edward County in 1830, where he remained until 1839 when he moved to Raleigh, North
Carolina, and his work includes Randolph-Macon College (1830), Venable Hall at
Hampden-Sydney College (1830), Tabb Street Presbyterian Church in Petersburg (1844),
the Virginia courthouses of Buckingham, Goochland, Sussex, Lunenburg, and Halifax
counties, and some thirty buildings in the Raleigh area. See Lay, "Charlottesville's
Architectural Legacy, Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:50-51. After working
alone on the brickwork at Hotels D and E and eight west range dormitories, Cosby appears
to have cooperated with William B. Phillips in the brickwork for several of the west range
dormitories (ViU:PP, Ledger 1). Part of the period that Cosby worked at the university is
covered in his daybook, located in ViHi and discussed in Cote, "The Architectural Workmen
of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia," 91-100. Cosby's obituary notice, published in the Raleigh
Semi-Weekly Standard on 12 July 1862, says that Cosby "often spoke of his conversations
with that illustrious man [Jefferson], and the information he received from him in
architecture and the art of making brick."
152. Barksdale and Branham, Security Bond, 15 December 1818, ViU:PP. The bond bears a
docket that reads: "Barksdale to Boxley Feb: 12 '20 $670 Bond for the hire of Negroes paid
12th Feby 1820 $670." The bond's verso contains two columns of figures, and Boxley's
signed receipt, which reads: "14th Feby 1820 Recvd the withn of Alexr. Garrett Bursar Uy
by the hands of Barksdale P. Boxley." A related receipt in the loose receipts for 1818 in
ViU:PP reads: "15 Decr. 1818 This day recvd of N Barksdale Proctor to C College &
Ludlow Branham (the sd Barksdle Security) bond for the hire of Seven Negroes to wit 4
Men 2 Boys & a woman to the amt of Six hundred & Seventy dollars which Sd Negroes is
to be delieverd to Sd. N Barksdale at the C College in or about the first day of Jany. 1819 &
to be returned to Sd Boxly without cloathing Pallison Boxley Test Geo Vest John Nunn."
Ludlow Branham purchased Boswell's Tavern in 1801. Located in Louisa County at the
intersection of Routes 15 and 22, Branham's ordinary became a notable county landmark
because such political figures as Jefferson, Madison, and Patrick Henry frequently met there
during the Revolutionary War; the Marquis de Lafayette made his headquarters at Boswell's
Tavern in 1781 (see Chisholm and Lillie, Old Home Places of Louisa County, 180).
| Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |