 | Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Notes
Chapter 9
601. Board of Visitors, Annual Report to the Literary Fund, 6 October 1823, PPAmP:UVA
Minutes; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 477-79 (appendix M,
no. 5), and Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 394.
603. Out-of-town wagons hauled only some trivial shipments to the university over the
course of the winter. See Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 13 November, Loose
Receipt, 11 November, Benjamin Blackford to Brockenbrough, 22 December 1823, and
Robert Johnston to Brockenbrough, 16 January 1824, in ViU:PP.
605. See Brockenbrough's Estimate of Brickmaking Costs for the Rotunda, 1823, in ViU:PP.
Brockenbrough's Estimate of Bricks Required for the Rotunda, 1823, also in ViU:PP, shows
the specific sizes of various types of brickwork required for the Rotunda and the proctor's
calculations of the number of bricks required for each particular job of the foundational
work, the basement story, the principal story, the second story, the attic, and the terrace
walls, a total of 1,087,740 bricks. TJ's undated Instructions for Bricklaying and Carpentry
for the Rotunda, possibly made in October 1823, is also in ViU:PP; see also O'Neal,
Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 22.
608. For the delivery of lime to the university in 1824, see Henry Burkholder to
Brockenbrough, 19 April, and J. W. Stout to Brockenbrough, 21 April, and Lewis Wayland,
Loose Receipt, 4 August, Balance Sheet, 30 September 1824, and John Laurance, Loose
Receipt, 17 March 1826, in ViU:PP; for the shipping of building materials to the university,
see Thomas Brockenbrough to Arthur Spicer Brockenbrough, 25 March, D. W. & C.
Warwick to Brockenbrough, 25 March, 6 April, 7, 14, 21 June, Brockenbrough & Harvie,
Account, 26 March, John Van Lew & Co., 26 March, Thomas Nelson to Brockenbrough, 29
March, Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 22, 29 April, 24 May, 10 June, John
Brockenbrough, Jr., to Brockenbrough, 3 May, TJ to Brockenbrough, 4 May, all in ViU:PP,
and Brockenbrough to TJ, 3 May 1824, in DLC:TJ. "As the trade of lime Apears at an end
for the present," John Laurance wrote to Brockenbrough on 19 January 1825, "perhaps We
may Again commence Upon A different Article, My Wife has from forty to fifty Wt. of
butter for Sale Which She Will engage fresh And good--it All having been Made Within A
Short time is Not Fancie Or ill tasted Also A quantity of Cheese that perhaps you Might
fancy . . . please let Me know Whether You Want either of her Articles of trade And the
price An[d] also the prospect for lime Selling this Spring" (ViU:PP). The loose receipts for
1825 in ViU:PP indicates that the delivery of lime was greatly reduced in the spring of 1825.
609. Brockenbrough to TJ, 28 March 1824, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings
at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 29. Beneath Brockenbrough's signature Jefferson
wrote "disapproved."
611. Randolph to Trist, 4 April 1824, NcU:Trist Papers; see also Lasala's description of
Neilson's drawing in "Thomas Jefferson's Designs for the University of Virginia," #19-04.
Virginia Jefferson Randolph (1801-1882) and Nicholas P. W. Trist, Jr. (1800-1874), were
married at Monticello on 11 September 1824 after an engagement of several years (see
Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 373, 454).
612. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 5-7 April 1824,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes. The Board of Visitors tried to keep Gilmer's mission a secret but
knowledge that "a large Bill of Exchange [$6,000] had been purchased for his use with the
money of the University" soon made it "quite useless to pretend to any reserve upon the
subject" (John Hartwell Cocke to TJ, 27 August 1824, CSmH:TJ). At their meeting the
following fall the visitors resolved for Gilmer to use $600 or $700 of the funds "for the
purchase of books and Apparatus" (Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of
Virginia, 4 October 1824, PPAmP:UVA Minutes). Francis Walker Gilmer (1790-1826), a
grandson of Dr. Thomas Walker of Castle Hill, was born at Pen Park in Albemarle County,
and, after graduating from William and Mary College in 1810, read law under his eminent
brother-in-law, William Wirt. Generally regarded as one of Virginia's most promising
antebellum intellectuals, he left behind several "bits of brilliant writing," including Sketches
of American Orators (1816), Reports of Cases Decided in the Court of Appeals of Virginia
(1821), and Sketches, Essays and Translations (1828). Gilmer succeeded in convincing five
foreign scholars to accept professorships at the university: George Long (1800-1879; ancient
languages), George Blaetterman (modern languages), Thomas Hewett Key (1799-1875;
mathematics), Charles Bonnycastle (1796-1840; natural philosophy), and Robley Dunglison
(1798-1869; medicine and anatomy). Another foreign-born professor was recruited in New
York, John Patton Emmet (1796-1842; natural history), and the remaining professorships
were filled by Americans with staunch Jeffersonian republican principles: George Tucker
(1775-1861; moral philosophy and ethics), and John Tayloe Lomax (1781-1862; law), after
Gilmer rejected the offer. See Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello,
397-401, 401-10, Davis, Intellectual Life in Jefferson's Virginia, 63-65, Cunningham, In
Pursuit of Reason, 342-43, and O'Neal, Pictorial History of the University of Virginia, 43-46.
613. Brockenbrough's Estimate of the Cost of the Rotunda, 5 April 1824, ViU:PP; see also
O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 30. Thomas
Draffin furnished lumber for the Rotunda between 1 May and 28 June (see Draffin's
Account, 1 July 1824, and Balance Sheet of the University of Virginia, 30 September 1824,
both in ViU:PP). Joseph Antrim did the plastering work for the Rotunda (indeed he
plastered all the buildings), and although Charles William McGuiness in early summer
enquired about painting the Rotunda, John Vowles continued to oversee all the painting and
glazing at the university (see McGuiness and S. Jacobs to Brockenbrough, 1 July, Edward
Lowber to Brockenbrough, 6 July, Thomas Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 4 November,
Vowle's Account with Brockenbrough & Harvie, 15 November, and Balance Sheet of the
University of Virginia, 30 September, 31 December 1824, and Lowber to Brockenbrough, 4
January 1825, all in ViU:PP).
614. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 5-7 April 1824,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes.
615. TJ to Trist, 13 April 1824, ViU:TJ. For the opening of the university in 1825, see
Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 411-25.
616. See Cabell to TJ, 22 November 1823, in ViU:JCC; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 284.
617. Cabell to TJ, 3 December 1823, ViU:JCC; see also ibid., 285. James Pleasants, Jr.
(1769-1836) of Goochland County was involved in public service for over thirty years:
Virginia House of Delegates, 1797-1802; clerk of the House of Delegates, 1810-1811;
United States House of Representatives, 1810-1819; United States Senate, 1819-1822;
governor of Virginia, 1822-1825; and Virginia Constitutional Convention, 1829/1830.
Pleasants is buried at Pleasant Green in Goochland County.
621. See Cabell to TJ, 7 March, 1 April, in ViU:JCC, and Cabell to James Monroe, 2 April
1824, printed in ibid. (appendix N), 488-99; see also ibid., 294-96, 299-301.
622. See Brockenbrough to TJ, 28 March, and TJ to Brockenbrough, 29 March 1824, in
ViU:PP (discussed above).
623. See Warwick to Brockenbrough, 6 April, and Brockenbrough's Estimate of the Cost of
the Rotunda, 5 April 1824, in ViU:PP.
624. John Brockenbrough, Jr., to Arthur Spicer Brockenbrough, 3 May 1824, ViU:PP. John
Brockenbrough also informed Arthur that their brother "Austin has taken a wife of
fifteen--last Thursday--Can anything be more foolish?"
625. Anthony Bargamin and his wife, Marie Thérèse Guyot, "a woman of much vivacity
and charm" who outlived her husband by many years, lived at 203 East Cary Street, next
door to George Bargamin (Munford, Richmond Homes and Memories, 79). The spelling of
Bargamin's name, which is rendered in a variety of ways, is taken from Anthony's signature
when writing to the proctor.
627. TJ to Brockenbrough, 4 May 1824, ViU:PP. In 1862 Edmund Bacon claimed to have
purchased Eagle, the horse that Jefferson rode as long as he was able to ride horseback:
"The last thing I ever did for poor old Mr. Jefferson was to buy Eagle for him for a riding
horse. The last time he ever rode on horseback, he rode Eagle; and the last letter I ever got
from Mr. Jefferson, he described that ride and how Eagle fell with him in the river and
lamed his wrist. I am very sorry I have lost that letter. I bought Eagle of Captain John
Graves, of Louisa County. He was a bay, with white hind ankles and a white spot on his
nose; full sixteen hands high and the finest sort of a riding horse" (Bear, Jefferson at
Monticello, 62; see also Betts, Jefferson's Farm Book, 88, 105, 108-9). Bacon confused
Jefferson's November 1822 injury to his wrist from a fall at Monticello with a subsequent
mishap on horseback, which Jefferson described in his letter to Bacon of 10 August 1823,
located in MHi:TJ. For a description of the fall at Monticello, when a decayed plank on the
steps at one of the terraces gave way, and for mentions of Eagle during Jefferson's last years,
see Randolph, Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson, 382-83, 421.
628. TJ to Swift, 22 May 1824, DLC:TJ. Swift loaned TJ his copy of Delorme, and TJ
apparently returned it to Swift the next spring (see TJ to Swift, 21 June 1825, in ViU:TJ).
Philibert Delorme (c. 1515-1570) was a French architect who, according to Sowerby,
"studied in Italy, where he was employed by Pope Paul III. On his return to France he was
first employed by Cardinal Du Bellay, and later by Henri II and Charles IX. Delorme built a
number of chateaux in France, including those of St. Maur and Anet, and the Tuileries were
built from his designs. Delorme is considered one of the great masters of the Renaissance"
(Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 4:364 [4183]). TJ's architectural
detail for the wooden roofing frame is in ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at
the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, plate 9, and #17-08 in Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's
Designs for the University of Virginia."
629. See Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 24 May, and 10 June, and D. W. & C.
Warwick to Brockenbrough, 7, 14 June, 6, and 13 July 1824, all in ViU:PP. Warwick
stopped furnishing tin to the university before the Rotunda was finished because of the
university's inability or unwillingness to pay cash for the purchases. See Brockenbrough to
William J. Robertson, 13 August, D. W. & C. Warwick to Brockenbrough, 14 August, 4
September, Thomas Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 16 September, Brockenbrough &
Harvie to Brockenbrough, 4 October, John Van Lew & Co., 5 October 1824, Warwick to
Brockenbrough, 28 January, and 8 February 1825, all in ViU:PP.
630. Bargamin to Brockenbrough, 21 June 1824, ViU:PP; see also D. W. & C. Warwick to
Brockenbrough, 21 June 1824, in ViU:PP.
631. See Bargamin to Brockenbrough, 4 February, John Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough,
11 March and 12 August 1825, in ViU:PP. Bargamin, who also installed the gutters at
Pavilion III (ViU:PP, Ledger 2), apparently was accompanied in his work on the dome by
James Clark, who had installed tin gutters at Pavilions V and IX and at all the hotels (see
Balance Sheet, 28 February and 31 December 1824, Loose Receipt, 4 February 1825, and
Ledger 1, in ViU:PP). The measurement of the dome from the "top of the last step to the
center of the Sky light," the proctor informed Jefferson in a letter of 2 December 1824, was
27 feet, 5 inches (ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of
Virginia: The Rotunda, 33).
632. Brockenbrough to TJ, 3 May 1824, DLC:TJ; see also Brockenbrough's undated
Memorandum of Marble Flagging for the Rotunda, in ViU:PP.
633. TJ to Appleton, 17 May, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the
University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 30-31, and O'Neal, "Michele and Giacomo Raggi at the
University of Virginia, Magazine of Albemarle County History, 18:30-31. Appleton wrote to
TJ on 28 July to inform him that he had ordered the marble squares and that the bases "are
now Satisfactorily progressing under the Direction of my Sculptor and will be compleated in
October--[Giamoco] Raggi overlooks Some part of the work; but hitherto, he Can labour but
little, from the misfortune he Suffer'd in fracturing the clavicule.--The bases, and the
Squares, Shall be Shipp'd by the first vessel, after their Arrival here, and I hope and beleive,
you will receive them in the course of December; and as the Capitals cannot be finish'd until
february, it is probable you will received them, before May" (DLC:TJ). Raggi's injury and
the resulting delay in receiving the bases at the university meant that the columns could not
be set until the following year (see TJ to Appleton, and Appleton to TJ, both 8 October
1824, in DLC:TJ). The marble paving squares and bases were shipped to Boston on board
the ship Caroline in April 1825, and the capitals were shipped to Boston on board the brig
Tamworth in June (see Appleton to TJ, 13 April, 4-12 May, 22 June, 12 July 1825, in
DLC:TJ, TJ to Brockenbrough, 23, 24 July, 30 August 1825, in ViU:PP, TJ to Appleton, 10
August 1825, in ViU:TJ, Appleton's accounts for marble columns, 4 May 1825, in ViU:TJ,
22 June 1825, DLC:TJ, and 12 July 1825, in ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings
at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 35, 36, 38).
634. Dinsmore & Neilson, Memorandum, 19 May 1824, ViU:PP; see also Brockenbrough &
Harvie to Brockenbrough, 24 May, 1 July 1824, and Brockenbrough & Harvie's Account
No. 1, 4 December 1824, inclosed in Thomas Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 4
December 1824, all in ViU:PP. "Colo. Harvies Nail Factory" and "J. B. Harvie's Nail Book"
are mentioned in Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 24 May, and 4 December
1824, respectively, in ViU:PP, and on 13 May 1825 Brockenbrough & Harvie informed the
proctor that "Mr Harvie has declined making Nails for the present, owing to the high price
of Iron" (ViU:PP).
637. Perry and Brockenbrough, Agreement for Brickwork, 25 May 1824, ViU:PP. An
undated memorandum made by TJ and located in DLC:TJ indicates that Perry made bricks
from 15 June to 29 September 1824.
638. For a brief overview of the evolution of firefighting methods in the United States, see
Hazen and Hazen, Keepers of the Flame: The Role of Fire in American Culture, 121-53.
639. Brockenbrough to Jefferson, 4 June 1824, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's
Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 31. An undated and unsigned faculty
member memorandum in ViU:JHC listing the "Cares devolved upon the executive
Committee" indicates that the faculty communicated its concerns about the university's
water supply and lack of protection against fire to the executive committee. John Hartwell
Cocke wrote on the memorandum his estimates regarding laying water pipes and the daily
consumption of water for a professor's family (60 gallons per day) and noted that water for
the university was gathered from the "Middle Spring," the "Spring at Maurys," and the "Old
Cistern."
640. See TJ to the Board of Visitors, 15 April 1825, in ViU:JHC, Joseph Carrington Cabell
to TJ, 6 May 1825, in ViU:TJ, John M. and Frances T. Perry's Land Indenture, 9 May 1825,
TJ to Brockenbrough, 14 May, 27 June 1825, John Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 4
June 1825, and Brockenbrough to TJ, 27 June 1825, in ViU:PP. The university paid Perry
for the land over a two-year period (see Loose Receipts, 10, 14 May 1825, and 4 June, 1
September, and 9 November 1827, in ViU:PP).
642. See Brockenbrough's agreement with Daniel A. and Mary A. Frances Piper, 22
September, Allen Dawson's Plat of Land, 24 September, Brockenbrough's Statement of
Funds, 30 September, Brockenbrough and Daniel Piper, Contract, 8 October, Daniel A. and
Mary A. Frances, Deed, 8-9 October 1824, all in ViU:PP, and Jefferson's Plat of Land, ca 8
October 1824, in ViU:TJ; see also #20-02 in Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's Designs for the
University of Virginia." The visitors ratified both purchases at their meeting on 4 October
(see Board of Visitors Minutes, that date, in PPAmP:UVA Minutes).
643. Brockenbrough to TJ, 14 July 1824, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at
the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 31, and #17-12 in Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's
Designs for the University of Virginia."
644. See Brockenbrough's Statement of Funds, 30 September, Gorman to Brockenbrough,
30 December 1824, and Loose Receipts, 12 February, 18 March, and Balance Sheet, 31
March 1825, in ViU:PP.
645. A sash pulley is a small lightweight pulley in a window frame over which the sash cord
runs. A rim lock has a metal case which is attached to the face of the door, as opposed to a
mortise lock, which is sunk in the door's edge.
646. See Robert Johnston & Son to Brockenbrough, 13 August, 5 November, and Draffin's
undated Loose Receipt, in ViU:PP.
647. See Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 24 August, 4 October, Andrew Smith
to Brockenbrough, 27 September, and 10 November 1824, in ViU:PP.
648. See Thomas Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 4 December, and Loose Receipts, 4, 8
December 1824, in ViU:PP.
649. See Thomas May to Brockenbrough, 8, 11 January, 14 February, 10 March, 4 April, 14
May, 9 July, 20, 27 July, 4, 24 August 1825, all in ViU:PP. Andrew Smith moved to New
York in late 1824 and Thomas May replaced him as the Boston Glass Manufactory's
Richmond agent in January 1825. The Boston firm also manufactured the heavy sheet glass
for the dome's skylight (see May to Brockenbrough, 14 February 1825, 17 December 1826,
and Brockenbrough's Memorandum on Glass, 28 September 1826, all in ViU:PP). The
installation of the skylight had not been completed by mid-July 1827 when N. & D. Sellers
of Philadelphia sent some necessary "wire work" to the university (see N. & D. Sellers to
Brockenbrough, 19 July 1827, in PPAmP: Nathan and David Sellers Letterbook, 1821-1830).
651. Balance Sheet, 30 September 1824, ViU:PP. When Brockenbrough made a new balance
sheet six months later, the figures had risen by $16,738.72½, broken down as follows:
$110,803.93 for pavilions, $78,509.55 for dormitories, $32,200.66½ for hotels, $27,626.89
for the Rotunda--altogether $249,141.03½--plus $73,262.53 for other expenses, including
real estate ($9,465.75), salaries for the proctor, bursar, clerks, and professors ($3,872.23),
labor ($4,010.83), privies ($2,827.12), water works ($1,380.79), and smokehouses
($649.05). See Balance Sheet, 31 March 1825, ViU:PP.
653. In the spring of 1825 John M. Perry sold the university a tract of land connecting the
two tracts purchased from the Pipers. See TJ to the Board of Visitors, 15 April, in ViU:JHC,
James Madison to TJ, 21 April, in DLC:JM, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to TJ, 6 May, in
ViU:TJ, and John M. and Frances T. Perry, Indenture, 9 May 1825, in ViU:PP; see also
Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 348-50, 351
655. Bear, Jefferson at Monticello, 18. Isaac Jefferson (1775-c. 1849), the son of Jefferson's
slaves Great George (King George; 1730-1799) and Ursula (1737-1800), apparently trained
in tinwork and ironmongery while in Philadelphia and practiced the trades at Monticello
after returning to Virginia (see ibid., 13-16, 19, 126).
656. Dinsmore's memorandum, dated 15 April 1809 and located in DLC:TJ, lists several
dozen woodworking tools--planes, rasps, saws, chisels, augers, files, and etc.
658. Board of Visitors Minutes, 5 October 1824, PPAmP:UVA Minutes; see also Cabell,
Early History of the University of Virginia, (appendix M, no. 6) 480-83.
659. See Lafayette to TJ, 1 October, in Chinard, Letters of Lafayette and Jefferson, 421-23,
TJ to Thomas Appleton, 8 October, in DLC:TJ, and TJ to Lafayette, 9 October 1824, in
DLC:TJ. Lafayette and his son George Washington Lafayette arrived in New York in
August 1824 and then journeyed to New England and back to New York before heading
south for Philadelphia and Washington. "We are all alive here with LaFayette's visit,"
Jefferson wrote to former Monticello farm manager Edmund Bacon on 9 October 1824. "He
will be at Monticello as soon as relieved from York, and our nbors will give him a dinner in
the University, where probably the principals of the surrounding counties will wait on him"
(CSmH:TJ). After crossing the Potomac River the only old French general's first stop in
Virginia was at Mount Vernon to visit the grave of George Washington. From Mount Vernon
Lafayette and his entourage went by water to Yorktown where he was greeted by Chief
Justice John Marshall, Virginia Governor James Pleasants, and an enthusiastic crowd of
Revolutionary War veterans. Lafayette next traveled to Williamsburg, Norfolk, and
Richmond before setting out by stage to see his old friend at Monticello. During his
nine-day stay with Jefferson in Albemarle, Lafayette was honored for three hours at a
400-person dinner in the Rotunda's unfinished dome room, where he reportedly gave a toast
to "Charlottesville and the University--an admirable establishment." Lafayette concluded his
Virginia tour by riding from Monticello to Montpelier, James Madison's Orange County
home, and then to Fredericksburg and back to Washington. See the Richmond Enquirer, 16,
26 November 1824, and Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello, 402-8.
661. Marshall later became a planter in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana. For his full description of
his visit to the university on Saturday 30 October 1824, see the extract from his diary in
"Charlottesville and the University: An 1824 View," Magazine of Albemarle County History,
29:29-31.
663. TJ to Coffee, 9 December 1824, DLC:TJ; see also appendix K and Guinness and
Sadler, Mr. Jefferson, Architect, 126.
664. Coffee to TJ, 20 December 1824, DLC:TJ; see also Coffee to TJ, 1, 16 January, in
DLC:TJ, Brockenbrough & Harvie to Brockenbrough, 19 January, and Coffee to
Brockenbrough, 31 January 1825, in ViU:PP, and O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings of the
University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 33, 33-34. In his letter of 20 December, Coffee also
informed Jefferson of his plan to manufacture clay and composition flat tiles as an
inexpensive roofing alternative to slate and pantiles.
666. Chiles Brand, Labor Account, 6 January 1825, ViU:PP. Also during December 1824,
incidentally, Daniel Webster accompanied George Ticknor and his wife on a trip from
Washington to Monticello, where they visited with Jefferson for several days, discussing,
among other things, the course of studies planned for the students at the university.
667. See Thomas May to Brockenbrough, 8, 11 January, 14 February, and 10 March, and
William Crenshaw's Loose Receipt, 10 January 1825, all in ViU:PP.
668. See Brockenbrough's Balance Sheet, 31 March, and Zigler's Loose Receipt, 4 March
1825, in ViU:PP. By the following fall Zigler, whose receipt was "for Eleven dollars for
Pumplogs for 4 pumps," was working for Dabney Smith Carr, Jr., and Joseph Carrington
Cabell (see Alexander Garrett to Cabell, 24 September 1825, in ViU:JCC). Additional
waterworks were added in 1826 and 1827.
| Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |