 | Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Notes
Chapter 3
153. Cooper to TJ, 5 January 1819, ViU:TJ. During this period Cooper and Jefferson
frequently corresponded about the offer of a professorship at the Central College that the
Board of Visitors previously had extended to Cooper and which was rescinded when the
Central College became the University of Virginia.
154. James C. Fisher, Edward Burg, John Vaughan, and John Read to Nelson Barksdale, 17
March 1819, ViU:TJ.
155. Robert Mills to TJ, 20 March 20 1819, ViU:TJ. Mills added in a postscript that "we
have raised the Column of the Washington Monument the last season to upwards of 100 ft.
& hope this year to get on the Capital. the whole is built with white marble."
156. Ware to Nelson Barksdale, 26 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Ware listed his address as 178
North 4th Street, Philadelphia.
157. See ViU:PP, Ledger 1, and Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy," Magazine of
Albemarle County History, 46:28-95.
158. A Bill for the Establishment of an University, 1818, in TJ's writing, ViU:TJ. The act
passed by the General Assembly on 25 January 1819 differed slightly from Jefferson's draft.
See also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, (appendix K) 447-50, and
Knight, A Documentary History of Education in the South Before 1860, 180-83.
159. David Watson, Miscellaneous Memoranda, 22-24 January 1819, ViU: Watson Family
Papers. David Watson (1775-1830), who commanded a cavalry company during the War of
1812, served six terms in the Virginia House of Delegates. Watson and his wife Sally Minor
are buried at Brackett's, their Louisa County estate situated on Hudson's Creek at Route 638
(Chisholm and Lillie, Old Home Places of Louisa County, 182, 197, 221).
160. TJ to Cabell, 28 January 1819, in ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 154. Cabell, who had kept Jefferson abreast of the legislature's
actions on the bill prior to the votes, relayed him the news of its passage in both houses. See
Cabell to TJ, 21 and 25 January, in ViU:TJ; see also ibid., 152-53. Governor Wilson Cary
Nicholas wrote Jefferson on 28 January to inform him of the bill's passage, saying, "The
object was always dear to me, it is doubly so, as it is now so compleatly identified with your
fame" (DLC:TJ).
161. Jefferson also wrote Governor Wilson Cary Nicholas and William Cabell Rives on 28
January to voice the same sentiments that he did to Cabell. The letters are in DLC:TJ.
162. TJ to Duke, 24 January 1819, DLC:TJ. Richard Duke (d. 1849) and his brother James
(d. 1844) owned the Rivanna Mills (later Burnt Mills), a busy sawmill on the Rivanna River
(see DNA: Records of the Bureau of Census, Manufactures of Fredericksville Parish,
Albemarle County, 1820). Duke, who served as sheriff of Albemarle County in 1847, and
his wife Maria Barclay Walker (1785-1852), the granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Walker of
Castle Hill, lived at Mill Brook in Albemarle County (see Gayle M. Schulman, "Court
Square 1863 As Recalled by Richard Thomas Walker, Jr.," in Magazine of Albemarle
County History, 52 (1994), 114-24; see also Woods, History of Albemarle County Virginia,
181-82).
163. Ambrose Flanagan, Proposal for Plank, 15 February 1819, ViU:PP. Ambrose Flanagan
and his brothers James and Whittle owned a 400-acre tract of land near Hudson's and
Bunch's Creeks in Lousia County and located west of Route 15 and south of Route 22. Red
Hill, a "well-preserved, story-and-a-half frame dwelling constructed over a partially raised
brick basement," still stands on the property (Chisholm and Lillie, Old Home Places of
Louisa County, 214).
164. Flanagan to Barksdale, 1 April 1819, ViU:PP. Flanagan added the stipulation "payable
on the Delivery of the plank" when writing to Barksdale. Barksdale's letter to Flanagan of
26 March, mentioned in Flanagan's reply, has not been identified.
165. Thomas Appleton and Michele and Giacomo Raggi, Agreement for Stonecarving, 17
February 1819, ViU:TJ. See also TJ's Memorandum on the Raggi Brothers, 17 February
1819 to 17 February 1820, in ViU:TJ. The memorandum shows the sculptors' advances and
wages for the year 1819.
166. Appleton to TJ, 25 February 1819, DLC:TJ. The Strong did not actually leave port until
18 March. See Appleton to TJ, 30 April 1819, in DLC:TJ.
168. Cabell to TJ, 15 February 1819, ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 161-63. Governor Preston sent the commissions to the members of
the board on 27 February. See Preston's letters of that date to TJ, in ViU:TJ, to Madison, in
DLC:JM, and to Cabell, in ViU:JCC; see also the governor's copies in Vi: Executive
Letterbook. Preston's letter to Cabell and Cabell's reply of 17 March 1819 are printed in
ibid., 160. On 3 March Jefferson sent letters to the new visitors, copies of which (for
Johnson and Breckenridge) are located in DLC:TJ, inviting them to Monticello on the "day
before our appointed meeting, which gives us an opportunity of talking over our business, at
leisure, of making up our minds on it, & even of committing it to paper in form, so as that
our report to the College (where there is no accomodation) is a mere legal ceremony for
signing only" (TJ to Breckenridge, 3 March 1819, DLC:TJ). Chapman Johnson (1779-1849)
of Louisa graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1802, studied law under St.
George Tucker, and set up practice in Staunton after being admitted to the Virginia bar. A
member of the state senate from 1815 to 1831 and of the Virginia Constitutional Convention
in 1829, Johnson served on the Board of Visitors from 1819 to 1845. James Breckenridge
(1763-1846) of Fincastle graduated from William and Mary in 1785 and was admitted to the
Virginia bar in 1787. One of the most prominent Federalists in the Virginia General
Assembly before representing the Botetourt district of Virginia in the United States
Congress from 1809 to 1817, Breckenridge served on the Board of Visitors from 1819 to
1833. Robert Barrand Taylor (1774-1834) returned to his native Norfolk to study law after
graduating from William and Mary in 1793. He soon became a respected attorney and was
elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and towards the end of his life he became Judge
of the General Court of Virginia. Taylor also served as a brigadier general in the state militia
during the War of 1812, and in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829. Taylor
served on the Board of Visitors from 1819 to 1822.
173. In the postscript of Jefferson's letter to Madison of 3 March 1819, Jefferson wrote that
he obtained Watson's signature on the original visitors' minutes when "on my return I fell in
with mr Watson who signed our proceedings" (DLC:TJ).
174. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 26 February 1819, ViU:TJ; see
also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 451-52.
175. See Nelson Barksdale, Advertisement for Workmen, ca 1 March 1819, in James
Oldham's "Memoriall to the bord of Visitors of the U.Va. Octobr 3. 1823," ViU:PP. For
instance, Jefferson sent a copy of the advertisement to Thomas Cooper on 3 March with
instructions for Cooper to place it in the Philadelphia paper "most read by the mechanics."
In the postscript Jefferson requested Cooper to inquire into open stoves for the pavilions: "I
believe they are called Rittenhouse stoves in Philadelphia. the largest for their larger rooms
should be about 26. I. wide in the back, and a smaller size for the bedrooms. will you be so
good as to select two of the handsomest forms, and desire the holder of them to mark them
for us? we shall apply for 5. as immediately wanting, for half a dozen more towards the end
of the year, & others subsequently as we advance in our buildings. I know there is a good
deal of choice in forms, and wish to avail of your presence there to select" (ViU:TJ). Cooper
succeeded in finding suitable stoves, and the university sent Louis Leschot to Philadelphia to
arrange their shipment to Bernard Peyton in Richmond. See TJ to Cooper, 9 April, and
Cooper to TJ, 11, 15, 22 April, 21 June, James Dinsmore to TJ, 1 July, Dinsmore to
Brockenbrough, 2 July, and List of Items Lacking Vouchers, 9 April 1819, all in ViU:PP.
176. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the Central College, 26 February 1819, ViU:TJ; see
also ibid. For a later resolution by the university's Board of Visitors concerning the Bursar's
compensation, see its Minutes, 3 October 1820, in ViU:TJ.
177. Watson to Cocke, 8 March 1819, ViU:JHC. Ten days later Watson wrote in his
memoranda book that about the "1st inst: I was at the site of the University of Virga. The
hands (negros) were then engaged in leveling the ground. Two pavillions (as Mr. Jefferson
calls them) are raised & covered in . . . The site is beautiful; but the buildings appear to me
to [be] too small. . . . The pavillions, two stories high, are not sufficiently roomy for the
convenient accommodation of a genteel family, & no plan yet of attaching gardens or back
grounds to them. The dormitories are to small for convenience" (Miscellaneous Memoranda,
18-29 March 1819, ViU:Watson Family Papers; see also appendix D).
178. The five Brockenbrough brothers were the sons of Dr. John Brockenbrough, Sr. (d.
1801), who studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh in the early 1790s and is buried
at Doctor's Hall in Richmond County, and Gabriella Harvie Randolph, daughter of Colonel
John Harvie of Richmond and widow of Thomas Mann Randolph of Tuckahoe, whom
Herman Blennerhassett (Aaron Burr's accomplice in the conspiracy and fellow jailbird)
called "the nearest approach in this town to a savante and bel esprit" (see Blanton, Medicine
in Virginia in the Nineteenth Century, 216, 367, 370, Weddell, Richmond Virginia in Old
Prints, 1737-1887, 162, and Stanard, Richmond: Its People and its Story, 100). Dr. John
Brockenbrough, Jr. (d. 1853), a native of Essex County and a leader of the Republican
political power, the Essex Junto (or Richmond Junto) with Judge Spencer Roane and editor
Thomas Ritchie, was chosen cashier of the Bank of Virginia when it was chartered in 1804.
He served as one of the jurors in the Aaron Burr conspiracy trial, and in 1818 built a
residence on the corner of 12th and Clay streets which was used as the executive mansion
for the Confederate government and as a public school by the city in the 1880s.
Brockenbrough, whom John Randolph of Roanoke described as "A one among men," later
became the proprietor of the Warm Springs and lived there until his death (see Dabney,
Richmond: The Story of a City, 64, 66, 72, 84, and Mordecai, Richmond in By-Gone Days,
89). Thomas Brockenbrough was a Richmond merchant who often sold building materials
to the university. Dr. Austin Brockenbrough remained in Tappahannock and served in the
House of Delegates in 1820 and 1824. His son William Austin Brockenbrough (1809-1858)
and grandson Austin Brockenbrough (b. 1846) were also doctors. Judge William
Brockenbrough, who served on the Virginia Court of Appeals, served with Judge Spencer
Roane, Colonel Wilson Cary Nicholas, and others on the 1817 commission to overseer the
building in Richmond of Philadelphian Thomas Crawford's Washington Monument. The
laying of the cornerstone for the monument was delayed, however, until 1850, the equestrian
statue was not unveiled until 22 Feb. 1858, and the symbolic groups were set up only after
the war in 1868 and 1869. By then the monument's total cost of $259,913.26 nearly equaled
the cost of building Jefferson's original Academical Village (see Weddell,
Richmond Virginia in Old Prints, 1737-1887, 119-20).
179. Stanard, Richmond: Its People and its Story, 95. Brockenbrough also built a "typical
city house of the early 1800's" in Richmond at 314 East Clay Street that remained in the
family until the late 1880s (Scott, Old Richmond Neighborhoods, 233-34).
180. Nicholas to TJ, 28 February 1819, DLC:TJ. According to his docket, Jefferson received
Nicholas' letter on 4 March.
181. After meeting with Garrett and Nicholas, Cabell wrote Jefferson on 12 March that
"from every thing I can learn in regard to Mr. Brockenbrough it would be important to
engage him, and as any salary we could give a Proctor would not procure his services,
neither Mr. [Chapman] Johnson nor myself, as at present advised, see any impropriety in
combining for that object, the appointment of Proctor, with that of Undertaker of the
wooden part of the buildings" (ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of
Virginia, 173-74).
183. See Nicholas to TJ, 27 March 1819, in DLC:TJ. Nicholas wrote Jefferson to introduce
Brockenbrough, "who I anxiously hope you will be able to employ on some terms or other, I
wish it most on your account, as I am sure he wou'd save you much trouble & vexation."
Jefferson replied to Nicholas on 1 April, instructing him to attempt to engage
Brockenbrough for $1,500 a year, and "we shall be all tolerably contented. if you are
obliged to go as far as 2,000. D. we shall not be contented but will submit to it of necessity"
(DLC:TJ).
184. See the Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 29 March 1819,
in ViU:TJ.
188. Brockenbrough married Lucy Gray in 1811 (see Eva Eubank Wilkerson, Index to
Marriages of Old Rappahannock and Essex Counties, Virginia, 1655-1900, 33). Jefferson
later said that "Hotel E. was planned and built particularly for the Proctor, and supposed to
be sufficient for him including his office" (TJ to Brockenbrough, 13 December 1825,
ViU:PP), but Brockenbrough apparently never occupied the building. After eleven years of
dedicated service to the university, the Board of Visitors demoted Brockenbrough to the
office of sheriff of the university (see appendix V).
189. Jefferson wrote Mathew Carey on 11 March requesting him to "forward by mail a copy
of the House carpenter's book of prices printed by him in 1812. it is of importance to us as
being the standard to which we refer for prices in our contracts for all the buildings of our
University" (DLC:TJ).
190. Nelson Barksdale, Advertisement for Workmen, ca 1 March 1819, in James Oldham's
"Memoriall to the bord of Visitors of the U.Va. Octobr 3. 1823," ViU:PP. For references to
the placing and appearance of this advertisement, see TJ to Thomas Cooper, 3 March, and
Cooper's reply of 11 April, TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 6 March, and Cabell's reply of
12 March, TJ to Dabney Carr, 11 March, all in ViU:TJ, and Israel Collett's Account for
Advertising, 18 March, in ViU:PP, as well as the letters cited below. This advertisement
appeared in the Richmond Enquirer on 12 March (see Richard M. Burke to Barksdale, 6
April 1819, in ViU:TJ).
191. Israel Collett's Account for Advertising, 18 March 1819, in ViU:PP, shows that the
advertisement cost $5 to publish in the Staunton newspaper.
193. William S. Reid, John M. Gordon, George Cabell, and John Bullock to TJ, 3 March
1819, in ViU:TJ.
195. Hudson to TJ, 10 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Jefferson's dockets on the letters sent on behalf
of David White indicate they were all received on 10 March. By "lathing" Hudson means
preparing the groundwork of a wall or ceiling by nailing narrow, thin strips of wood of
various sizes to ceiling joists, studding, or rafters. The lathes are covered with tile, slate, or
especially plaster to create a finished (and often polished) final surface.
196. Stuart to TJ, 9 March 1819, in ViU:TJ. Colonel John Jordan (1777-1854), an Irishman
who moved from his native Goochland County to Lexington in 1796, and Samuel Darst
(1788-1864), the son of prominent Lexington contractor Benjamin Darst, operated the firm
of Jordan & Darst from 1815 to 1824, with Jordan negotiating the contracts and Darst
managing its operations (see Lyle and Simpson, Architecture of Historic Lexington, 81). The
firm built some of Lexington's "most impressive buildings," including Stono, Jordan's home
near the Virginia Military Institute at Jordan's Point, Darst's own mansion, Barclay House
(now called Beaumont) on Lee Avenue, and The Pines, the residence of the elder Darst
(ibid., 18-20). Jordan also contributed to Lexington's transportation system by building
roads connecting the town with the more established routes across the Blue Ridge and
Allegheny mountains, the bateau canal on the James River at Balcony Falls beginning in
1824, and the North River Canal System in the 1830s (23-24). Jordan previously worked as
a brickmason at Monticello and owned a slave woman married to TJ's brickmason slave
"Brown," whom TJ ultimately sold to Jordan (see TJ to Jordan, 21 December 1805, in
MHi:TJ; see also Betts, Farm Book, 21-22, McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: The
Biography of a Builder, 103, 113, and Lay "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy, Magazine
of Albemarle County History, 46:52-53). Allen Hawkins layed the garden walls at Pavilion
II and Hotels A and D (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).
201. James C. Fisher, Edward Burg, John Vaughan, and John Read to Barksdale, 17 March,
and Mills to TJ, 20 March 1819, ViU:TJ.
202. William Mann Randolph to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 17 March, enclosed in
Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., to TJ, 23 March 1819, in ViU:TJ. His undated petition in
ViU:TJ shows that Calverly was competent to do mahogany, satin, oak maple, and marble
graining "or any other fancy work to be done as low as any other estimate," in addition
to glazing.
206. David Hickey, Proposal for Plastering, 10 July 1819, ViU:TJ. Hickey inadvertently
dated his letter 1818. By "plastering and Stone worke" Hickey meant the process of
applying to the walls and ceilings the coats of lime, sand, and horse hair composition that
hardens into a firm smooth surface.
207. Parham to Barksdale, 23 March 1819, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the
University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:27-28.
209. Curtis Carter and William B. Phillips to TJ, 24 March 1819, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal,
"Workmen at the University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:28.
Curtis Carter built a residence in Richmond at the northeast corner of Main and First streets
in 1814, later owned by Claudius Crozet; on the other end of the block on Main Street,
facing Second Street Carter's brother William Carter built a "brick-and-frame house" in
1812 (Scott, Old Richmond Neighborhoods, 197). Before coming to the university Carter
also built in Richmond a pair of brick houses at the southwest intersection of Marshall and
Munford streets (ibid., 228, 230), and from 1816 to 1818 laid the bricks for the
Brockenbrough mansion, later known as the White House of the Confederacy (see Lay,
"Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:43). At
the time of his death Carter owned lots in the Libby Hill neighborhood of Richmond's
Churchill section, which his heirs sold in 1850 (ibid., 27). Carter, the principal brickmason
at Pavilion VI and Hotel A, also laid the paving bricks for the cellar of Pavilion IV; between
11 May 1820 and 4 February 1822 Carter was paid $4,951.81½ (ViU:PP, Ledger 1). Carter
joined John M. Perry to do the brickwork for dormitories nos. 5 to 13 on the east lawn and
nos. 1 to 9 on the east range. Carter and William B. Phillips laid bricks at Pavilions I and IX
and dormitories nos. 1 to 4 and 27 to 28 on the west lawn. Carter & Phillips also built the
garden walls at Pavilion III; between 1 August 1819 and 25 November 1820 Carter &
Phillips was paid $4,945.95 for brickwork (ViU:PP, Ledger 1). Phillips worked alone as the
principal brickmason for Pavilion X and Hotel C, dormitories nos. 22 to 26 on east lawn and
nos. 24 to 28 on the east range, and an additional six dormitories on the west range. Phillips,
who also worked on some of the walls at Pavilions II and VII and did some unknown minor
work at Hotel A, contracted for the brickwork of the Anatomical Hall, for which he received
$1,998.73, and for the Rotunda (along with Thorn & Chamberlain), receving $7,106.98;
between 1 March 1820 and 25 November 1822 Phillips was paid $7,798.95½ (ViU:PP,
Ledgers 1 and 2). Phillips and brickmason Dabney Cosby of Staunton apparently worked
together on the west range dormitories.
210. TJ to Carter & Phillips, 9 April 1819, ViU:TJ. The detailed 3-page agreement between
Carter & Phillips and the university's proctor of 15 June 1819 is in ViU:PP. It required "front
Walls" to be "faced with Oil stock bricks, the others with sand stocks, the interior mass to be
place bricks, all to be laid with good bond, to be clinkers, and not a single sammel brick to
be used in any part of the work under a penalty of five cents for every such brick, nor more
than two bats for nine whole bricks, the inner mortar to be one third lime and two thirds
good clean gritty sand, without any mixture of earth, the outer mortar to be half lime and
half such sand, and the whole to be grouted with a mortar of the inner quality." William B.
Phillips brought letters of recommendation from N. Turner, Christopher Tompkins, and B.
Tate, written at Richmond between 31 August 1818 and 15 March 1819 and located in
ViU:TJ, showing that he served a seven-year apprenticeship and then as a foreman for
Turner, who wrote that "I do not know a better workman in that line."
212. Gray to TJ, 26 March 1819, ViU:TJ. For Smith's proposal for painting and glazing, see
his letter to Barksdale of 29 March 1819, in ViU:TJ.
213. Hudnall to TJ, 26 March 1819, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University of
Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:29.
217. Oldham to Barksdale, 27 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Oldham asked the favor of "renewing"
his proposal after James Dinsmore and John Perry told him that they "were aboute handing
in proposals different from theare former ones." See Oldham to TJ, 3 April 1819, in ViU:TJ.
Jefferson accepted Oldham's terms with an allowance to him of the "Philadelphia printed
prices without any discount" (TJ to Oldham, 8 April 1819, document A in Oldham vs
University of Virginia, ViU:UVA Chronological File). See also TJ's second letter to Oldham
of the same date in which TJ encloses an architectural drawing of the "pavilion No 1 alloted
to [Oldham], and wishes him to take a copy for his own use so that Th. J. may receive back
his own on his return from Bedford . . . the master work men may lodge in the Dormitories
themselves and the under workmen in the cellars of the Dormitories" (document B in
Oldham vs University of Virginia, ViU:UVA Chronological File). When Oldham later filed
suit against the university he referred to these letters to buttress his argument that his
contracts were with Jefferson and not the proctor.
218. Widderfield to Arthur Spicer Brockenbrough, 27 March 1819, ViU:PP. James W.
Widderfield (b. 1789) of Albemarle County worked for Perry for at least 4 years (see
Widderfield to TJ, 1 April 1821, in ViU:TJ). He received only $31.97 in direct payments
from the university between 3 January 1821 and 1 October 1824, however (ViU:PP, Ledger
1). Widderfield also worked with university brickmason William B. Phillips on Christ
Church Glendower. By 1850 Widderfield and his wife Eliza J. Branham were living next to
George W. Spooner, Jr., and his family. See Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy,
Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:49.
220. Dinsmore & Perry to the Board of Visitors, 27 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Apparently
Dinsmore and Perry joined Allen Dawson on 27 March as Dawson surveyed the 6¼ acre
tract of land that the university had purchased from Jesse W. Garth. See Dawson's Survey of
Plot Purchased from Jesse W. Garth, 27 March 1819, in ViU:PP.
221. Perry to the Board of Visitors, 27 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Perry and Proctor
Brockenbrough disagreed over the terms of Perry's contract in June. See Brockenbrough to
John Hartwell Cocke, 19 June 1819, in ViU:JHC. The proctor, scheduled to move into a
house now occupied by Perry in August, thought their disagreement threatened his projected
move.
222. Smith to Barksdale, 29 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Wood graining and marbleizing are
painting techniques employed to simulate more expensive wood or marble and granite
patterns.
224. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 29 March 1819,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes. Barksdale's estimate of the property value for the Central College
has not been identified but in early September the total value of improvements for the
university was set at $5,281.80. See William D. Meriwether and Robert Lindsay, Jr.,
Valuation of Improvements, 4 September 1819, in ViU:PP.
227. Oldham to TJ, 3 April, ViU:TJ, and TJ's two letters to Oldham of 8 April 1819,
documents A and B in Oldham vs University of Virginia, ViU:UVA Chronological File.
233. Joseph H. Smith of Philadelphia, who practiced an unknown trade, wrote to
Brockenbrough on 24 June thanking "thee for engaging to keep the Job . . . I find I cannot
make any estimate without first examing the primises, and knowing a little more of the
nature of the work" (ViU:PP). In July the last bid for the season filtered in from Joshua M.
Stokes, "a mechanic by trade a painter & Glaizer" who was working in Petersburg. Stokes
sent Jefferson a proposal written on Independence Day and located in ViU:TJ but
inadvertently dated 1818. Jefferson correctly docketed it "Stokes Joshua M. Petersbg. July 4.
19. recd July 27" and enclosed it in his letter to Brockenbrough of 29 July 1819, written
from Poplar Forest.
234. "The establishment of a proctor," Jefferson had informed Joseph Carrington Cabell in
March 1816, "is taken from the practice of Europe, where an equivalent officer is made a
part, and is a very essential one, of every such institution; and as the nature of his functions
requires that he should always be a man of discretion, understanding, and integrity, above
the common level, it was thought that he would never be less worthy of being trusted with
the powers of a justice, within the limits of institution here, than the neighboring justices
generally are" (The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, 902.)
235. TJ to James Breckenridge, Robert B. Taylor, James Madison, and Chapman Johnson,
8-26 July 1819, ViU:TJ.
236. TJ to Ware, 9 April 1819, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University of
Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:31. On his retained polygraph copy,
Jefferson made an estimate of the number of bricks required for Ware's buildings: 100,000
for Pavilion V; 58,955 for Hotel A; 74,575 for Hotel B; and 345,000 for 23 dormitories,
making a total of 578,530. Jefferson offered Ware $11½ per thousand for place bricks and
$20 per thousand for oil stock bricks.
237. Cooper to TJ, 18 April 1819, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University of
Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:31-32, and Lay, "Charlottesville's
Architectural Legacy," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:43-45.
240. In describing this predicament, Jefferson and Cocke later wrote, "our embarrasment
was extreme." See TJ and Cocke to Cooper, 15 October 1819, in ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal,
"Workmen at the University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:37.
241. TJ to Brockenbrough, 28 May 1819, ViU:PP. Brockenbrough apparently came to the
university while Ware was making his initial visit. See Brockenbrough to Cocke, 19 June
1819, ViU:JHC.
242. Ware to Brockenbrough, 11 and 22 June 1819, ViU:PP. One stone carver, Joseph H.
Smith, wrote Brockenbrough on 12 June saying he was "ready to engage" as either a
foreman, "working occasionally myself," or by contract, "at the regular prices of Stone
Cutting" (ViU:PP).
243. See Samuel Griscom to Brockenbrough, 19 June 1819, ViU:PP. Also, on 5 June
Jefferson advised Brockenbrough not to omit the Philadelphia newspapers if he advertized
for stonecutters, "they are the cheapest, and generally the most steady & correct workmen in
the US" (ViU:PP). Abiah Thorn worked with Albemarle County contractor John M. Perry
on Pavilion VIII, Hotel B, and fourteen dormitories on the east range, nos. 10-13 and 14-23.
In the spring of 1823 Thorn formed a partnership with Nathaniel Chamberlain and the firm
contracted for the Rotunda's brickwork. See Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy,
Magazine of Albemarle County History, 46:43, and Lay, "Jefferson's Master Builders,"
University of Virginia Alumni News, 80 (October 1991), 16-19. Thorn received $364.25 in
payments for brickwork at the university in his own name between 23 March 1820 and 30
September 1823; the firm of Perry & Thorn received $7,489.52 between 9 April 1821 and
22 August 1821; and from 14 May 1823 to 30 September 1824 the firm of Thorn and Chamberlain
received $3,692.46 for brickwork (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).
244. See Ware to Brockenbrough, 22 June 1819, ViU:PP. In that letter Ware told the proctor
that "if you could forward the buildings thats already up I would be verry glad otherwise we
Shall not have nor A place to lay our heads & I wish to keep all of the Men to gether upon
the premisis & away from the Town" (ViU:PP). Jefferson informed Brockenbrough on 29
June that John Perry "promised to have dormitories for the master workmen and Cellars
ready for the others which was my promise" (ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the
University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History, 17:35).
245. See TJ to Brockenbrough, 29 June, in ViU:PP, and TJ to Thomas Cooper, 11 July 1819,
in ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, "Workmen at the University of Virginia," Magazine of
Albemarle County History, 17:35.
248. Garrett to Brockenbrough, 30 July 1819, ViU:PP. Also, George W. Spooner, Jr.,
informed Brockenbrough on 9 August that the "Philada bricklayers have declind laying
stone & are engaged in their brick yard" (ViU:PP).
249. See TJ to James Breckenridge, Robert B. Taylor, James Madison, and Chapman
Johnson, 8-26 July 1819, ViU:TJ.
251. TJ to John Hartwell Cocke, 7 July 1819, ViU:JHC, and TJ to James Breckenridge,
Robert B. Taylor, James Madison, and Chapman Johnson, 8-26 July, ViU:TJ. The quotes are
from the second letter. See also Jeremiah Sullivan and Thomas Pettigrue to TJ, 9 August
1819, in ViU:TJ.
253. TJ to Brockenbrough, 2 July 1819, ViU:PP; see also James Dinsmore to
Brockenbrough 2 July 1819, in ViU:PP.
254. TJ to James Breckenridge, Robert B. Taylor, James Madison, and Chapman Johnson,
8-26 July 1819, ViU:TJ. The quotes were written on 11 July, the day before Jefferson
wanted to leave for Bedford. Jefferson's granddaughter was ill, however, forcing him to
delay his trip once again. See TJ to Brockenbrough, 14 July 1819, in ViU:PP. In the fall,
even more to Jefferson's chagrin, the Raggis informed Jefferson that they could travel back
to Italy and carve the four large Corinthian and ten Ionic capitals and their bases, well
finished and crated, for half the cost of producing them in the uncertain Virginia stone. See
Michele and Giacomo Raggi to TJ, 17 September 1819, in ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal,
"Michele and Giacomo Raggi at the University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County
History, 18:18-19. The Italians' dissatisfaction in Virginia eventually led Jefferson to see the
wisdom of their proposal.
255. Ware to Brockenbrough, 26 July 1819, ViU:PP. As for marble wearing down chisels,
see Daniel Davis' Account with the University of Virginia, 28 July to 9 November 1819, in
ViU:PP. Davis sharpened 166 chisels and made 6 more between those dates, earning (with
some other work he did on stone tools) nearly £20.
256. See Christopher Anthony to Brockenbrough, 27 July 1819, in ViU:PP. Christopher
Anthony (d. 1835), a prominent Lynchburg Quaker, suffered a financial reverse in the Panic
of 1819 but recovered during the 1820s. His daughter, Margaret Couch Anthony Cabell (b.
1814), wrote the first history of Lynchburg, Sketches and Recollections of Lynchburg,
published in 1857 (see Chambers, Lynchburg: An Architectural History, 21, 78, 107).
257. Jeremiah Sullivan and Thomas Pettigrue recommended "Patomac Marble both in slab
and block" of the "best quality" when writing Jefferson on 9 August (ViU:TJ).
258. TJ to Brockenbrough, 29 July 1819, ViU:PP. In late June Brockenbrough requested a
drawing (from Palladio's first book) of the bases and capitals for the Tuscan and Doric
columns in an attempt to ascertain the expense involved in cutting each but the outcome of
his experiment is unknown. See James Dinsmore to TJ, 1 July, in ViU:TJ, and Dinsmore to
Brockenbrough, 2 July 1819, in ViU:PP.
259. TJ to Brockenbrough, 17 August, ViU:PP. John Gorman's Agreement for Stonecutting,
1819, is in ViU:PP; see also appendix F.
260. Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy, Magazine of Albemarle County History,
46:40; see also Lay, "Jefferson's Master Builders," University of Virginia Alumni News, 80
(October 1991), 16-19. John Gorman (1786-1827) bought a triangular building lot to the
east of the university (situated on the corner of modern 14th Street and University Avenue)
from James Dinsmore in 1825 and was living there with his wife and daughter Mary Ann at
the time of his death (Lay, "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy, Magazine of Albemarle
County History, 46:34, 40). Gorman received $2,822.21 between 30 September 1819 and 30
November 1822 for work performed at the university, which also included setting stove
stones, gate blocks, and steps, in addition to stonework at the gymnasia and some of the
dormitories (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).
261. Alexander Garrett and George W. Spooner, Jr., visited the quarry in July and August
but found little work going on. In a letter to Brockenbrough of 30 July Garrett mentioned
that he had visited the quarry twice and found the stonemasons "absent" each time (ViU:PP).
Spooner was more blunt in his assessment of the quarry work. On 9 August he observed to
the proctor that the "twoo Ittalians are going on quite laisurely they have cut three Bases and
one Corrinthian Cap the twoo from Philadelphia I went out to the Quarries to see, they
appear to go on quite slow owing to the difficulty in Quarryg this verry hard Rock"
(ViU:PP). And on 13 August Spooner informed Brockenbrough that the "Itallians are going
on the same gate earning about fifty cents a day as for the youngest of them I verry seldom
see him" (ViU:PP). Spooner said the quarry needed a "man acquainted with blowing" rock
and moved the hands onto Meriwether's property about three-fourths of a mile beyond the
present quarry.
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