{"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family","last":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family\u0026page=1"},"meta":{"pages":{"current_page":1,"next_page":null,"prev_page":null,"total_pages":1,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":0,"total_count":2,"first_page?":true,"last_page?":true}},"data":[{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","type":"collection","attributes":{"title":"Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","creator":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361#creator","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"Withrow family","label":"Creator"}},"abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others.","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","ead_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","_root_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","_nest_parent_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2361.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","title_ssm":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"title_tesim":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"unitdate_ssm":["1780-1998"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1780-1998"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Ms.2008.040"],"text":["Ms.2008.040","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","Montgomery County (Va.)","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Women -- History","The collection is open for research.","The collection is arranged into series corresponding to the creators. Each series arranged by type of material and then placed in chronological order. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Sr. Papers, 1917-1962\t\t\t\t","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, 1919-1970\t","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Jr. Papers, 1921-1967\t","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers, 1925-1978\t","Series V: Bell Family Papers, 1834-1841\t","Series VI: James Withrow Papers, 1848-1910","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers, 1864-1936","Series VIII: Annie Withrow Papers, 1889-1981","Series IX: Withrow Family Papers, 1870-1941","Series X: Kent Family Papers, 1814-1881","Series XI: Cloyd Family Papers, 1792-1866","Series XII: Other Family Papers, 1780-1998","Series XIII: Other Materials, 1901-1997","Gen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek. ","Joseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.","David Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.","Gordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.","David Fenton Kent and Elizabeth Cloyd were married on January 2, 1834. Together they had seven children: Gordon Cloyd, born December 7, 1834, died November 11, 1837; an unnamed son, April 23, 1836 who lived eight days; Mary Elizabeth, born May 17, 1837, died December 14, 1837; James Randal, born August 15, 1838, died September 4, 1861; Sarah McGavock, born November 5, 1839, died March 9, 1891; Joseph Gordon, born March 22, 1841, died July 15, 1886; David Fenton, born May 17, 1844, died October 18, 1878. David F. Kent lived at the Springfield property and ran businesses with a Thomas Miller. He was reputed to have been an entertaining storyteller. David Fenton Kent died on January 28, 1850. Elizabeth Cloyd Kent outlived him by nineteen years, dying February 7, 1869.","James Randal Kent and Mary Cloyd Kent moved to Buchanan's Bottom and lived at first in the old Trigg house. Later, they built Kentland mansion, which stands to this day. Together James and Mary had five daughters, Elizabeth Cloyd, born 1819, Sarah James, born 1822, Mary Louisa, born 1824, Cynthia, born 1827, and Margaret Gordon, born 1840. James Randal Kent was an enslaver, prominent landowner, and successful farmer. He also held several minor public offices including Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1822 to 1823, he also served as a Justice and a land surveyor. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, James Randal Kent bought up land, he owned around 8000 acres in 1860. In 1855, construction began on a resort at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a hotel that later served as a hospital during the American Civil War. In 1860, James Randal Kent became a founder of the Preston and Olin Institute, a Methodist school in Blacksburg that was the predecessor to present day Virginia Tech. He was among the wealthiest men in Montgomery County with an estimated wealth of $196,000. Kent was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, he enslaved more than 100 people at the start of the war. He served as an organizer for the Confederate Army, as well as a supplier of foodstuffs, providing grain and beef to the Confederate Army all the way up to the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Though Kentland survived the war, many barns and out-buildings were burned, including the plantation office with the majority of James Kent's personal papers, and in 1867 his land was valued at 41% less than it had been in 1860. James Randal Kent died on May 29, 1867. ","Sarah James Kent, daughter of James Randal Kent, married Francis Bell, a cattle buyer from Staunton, in 1855. Together Sarah and Francis had four surviving children: twin sons, James Randal Kent Bell and Samuel Hays Bell in 1858, a daughter, Mary Louisa Bell in 1861, and Francis \"Frank\" Bell in 1864. They built a home on the land in Pulaski given to Sarah by her father. They lived at Mountain Home until the mid-1870s, when in 1872 Francis Bell purchased land from the Darsts and the Cloyds, their new home, Rockwood, was built c. 1876.","The four Bell children were well educated and all attended college for some period of time. Public schools were non-existent at this time, so a governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick taught them while they lived at Mountain Home. James Randal Kent and Samuel Hays Bell both attended Washington College in Lexington from 1875 to 1877. Mary Louisa Bell went to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. Frank Bell attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the Virginia Military Institute and graduating with the class of 1885.","Sarah James Kent Bell died in April of 1884; Francis Bell followed her nine years later in 1893. In their will, all their land and properties were to be divided by the four children as they saw fit. James Randal Kent Bell received the Mountain Home properties, Samuel inherited the land in Augusta County, and Rockwood was split between Frank Bell and Mary Louisa Bell.","James Randal Kent Bell married three times. His first wife was Maria L. Sedgwick, the daughter of their governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick, Maria died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Mary Peck Bell. His second wife was Lida Howell Whitsett, Lida died in January of 1902. Together they had five children, Amelia Louise, Elizabeth Kent, Sarah Frances, James, and Francis Joseph. The name of James R. K. Bell's third wife is unknown. All of his children were born at Mountain Home and grew up there.","Samuel Hays Bell married Bessie Arbuthnot on May 18, 1893. Together they had four daughters, Sarah James, Elizabeth, Mary Lou, and Margaret. They lived in Staunton on the land inherited from Francis Bell. Samuel Bell died in Staunton on June 26, 1903.","Mary Louisa Bell married Dr. Kent Black at Rockwood November 14, 1894. Dr. Black graduated from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1875, he worked as physician and surgeon at the school until 1890. Dr. Black died in 1909, following his death Mary Louisa Bell Black moved back to Pulaski to live with her family, she died at Rockwood December 12, 1943.","Frank Bell married Ellen Gordan Kent, the granddaughter of David Fenton Kent, in 1889. They had eight children: Sarah Kent Bell born September 28, 1890, Gordon Cloyd Bell born January 16, 1892, Ellen Howe Bell born February 12, 1893, Francis Bell born August 16, 1894, Mary Lou Bell born July 1, 1896, Elizabeth Cloyd Bell born September 7, 1897, Samuel Hays Bell born May 16, 1901, and Agnes McGavock Bell born September 1, 1905. Frank Bell worked in the cattle business just like his father and grandfather, he was an accomplished business man and over the years he bought up the rest of the Rockwood property from his sister, Mary Louisa Bell Black. He died at Rockwood on December 21, 1939, just a few months after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversary.","Frank Bell's son, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow on November 16, 1918. They had four sons, Edgar Withrow Bell, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr., David Kent Bell, and Andrew Mathews Bell. Gordon Bell Sr. was a farmer and overseer of farm lands, he also served as the President of the Bank of Dublin. Mary Withrow Bell died September 30, 1938. Gordon Cloyd Sr. then married Lucy Preston King in October of 1942, they lived for a time in Phoenix, Arizona where Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. died in 1965.","Edgar Withrow Bell, the eldest son of Gordon Cloyd and Mary Withrow Bell was born on October 27, 1919. He grew up in Dublin and attended Lees-McCrea College in North Carolina. He wrote articles about music trends and opened \"The Record Bar\" at Wysor Electric Appliance Co. in Dublin. He also served as a postal worker in Arlington where he died in November of 1971.","Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. was born in Dublin on May 13, 1921. He was a farmer and overseer of the Withrow and Bell lands in Pulaski County, VA. He also served on the board of the Bank of Dublin. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Furman College before entering the armed services in January of 1943 and served with the Black Panther Division during World War II. Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September of 1967.","David Kent Bell was born in Dublin on April 5, 1925. David attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated with the Class of 1949. He also served in the armed services during World War II. He married Beverly Ann Gould from Baltimore, together they had two children: Sheri Lynn Bell born April 30, 1957 and James Gordon Bell born March 3, 1959. David Kent and Beverly Gould divorced and he married Helga Lewandowski. David Kent Bell died January 26, 2003.","Andrew Mathews Bell was born in Dublin on July 14, 1932. He died October 26, 1948.","Ellen Howe Bell was born February 12, 1893. She attended Mary Baldwin College. Ellen married Orrin Rankin Magill on September 30, 1915. Through the National YMCA, they moved to China where they lived for many years. Upon retiring, they moved to Blacksburg where they often entertained Chinese students attending Virginia Tech. Ellen Howe Bell Magill was elected the 1962 Mother of the Year in Blacksburg. She died January 19, 1968.","In 1918, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow. She was the granddaughter of James W. Withrow of Greenbrier County. James Withrow was born in Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia, on October 23, 1818. Though not a licensed attorney he served as a judge and for many years, the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court. He also represented the county in the state legislature where he served on the Judiciary Committee. He married Mary Jane Kincaid and had two sons, Edgar Daingerfield Withrow and Heber K. Withrow, and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Feamster, Miss Mary J. Withrow, and Mrs. Lucy Withrow Montgomery. James Withrow died June 26, 1901.","Edgar Daingerfield Withrow was born December 9, 1845. He married Mary See Renick on November 3, 1886. Edgar served in the Civil War as a member of Confederate company E of the 14th Virginia Cavalry. Edgar was captured at Berryville in 1864 and spent the end of the war at Camp Chare in Ohio. Following the War, Edgar went into business with his father, and later ran his own business selling agricultural implements. Together with Mary Renick, he had six daughters and one son: Mary Mathews Withrow, born September 16, 1887, died October 3, 1892; Annie Primrose Withrow, born January 26, 1889, died June 16, 1982; Mary Eliza Withrow, born November 29, 1892, died September 29, 1938; Helen Cameron Withrow, born January 9, 1895, died July 25, 1903; Letitia Renick Withrow, born July 1, 1897, died December 24, 1922; Geraldine Withrow, born August 1, 1901, died July 8, 1902; Edgar D. Withrow Jr., born July 8, 1903, died October 2, 1913. The Withrows moved to Pulaski County sometime around 1910. Edgar Withrow died March 9, 1926 and Mary Renick Withrow died January 7, 1929. ","Annie P. Withrow never married. She was very close with her nephews, Edgar, Gordon, David and Andrew Bell, and much of their correspondence was written to her. She attended the Lewisburg Female Institute beginning in 1907. Annie Withrow died in June of 1982.","Letitia R. Withrow was born July 1, 1897. She moved with her family to Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School. She then attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon until the school burned in 1914. She then entered Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, following graduation she became a special student of voice under Professor A. Y. Cornell of New York for two years. In 1919, she took a job as Assistant Voice Teacher at Greenville Women's College in Greenville, South Carolina. She taught there for two years, and one year at Annville College in Annville, Pennsylvania. She left Annville College to return to New York in order to resume her training with Professor Cornell in preparation for a singing career. Shortly thereafter she returned home, where she died from influenza on December 24, 1922.","The guide to the the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).","The processing, arrangement, and description of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection began in June 2008 and was completed in October 2008.","A listing of individuals and families in the Biographical Vertical Files at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives is available online,  but files of particular interest may include:","Bentley family (related to the Cloyd, Kent, and McGavock families)--this file contains a 2014 update to: Robert Gray's  The McGavock Family. A Genealogical History of James McGavock and His Descendants from 1760 to 1903 . Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1903. CS 71 .M144 1903 (copies in Special Collections and University Archives and Newman Library).  The 2014 update is also available online. Kent","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","\"Whitethorne Photographs of Kentland for Margaret K. Cowan\" Photograph Album, Ms2021-020","Francis Bell Letter, Ms2024-088","The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection spans the dates 1780 to 1998. The collection contains the papers and business records of four prominent families from Montgomery County and Pulaski County, Virginia and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Also included are documents relating to numerous other individuals and families from across Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. Documents include correspondence, land deeds and warrants, as well as financial records including debt statements, receipts, account statements, and money orders. The collection is divided into thirteen major series: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers, Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers, David Kent Bell Papers, Bell Family Papers, James Withrow Papers, Edgar D. Withrow Papers, Annie P. Withrow Papers, Withrow Family Papers, Kent Family Papers, Cloyd Family Papers, Other Family Papers, and Other Materials. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers: This series spans the years 1917 to 1962 and includes personal correspondence to and from Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. as well as business correspondence and materials from Bell's time as the President of the Bank of Dublin in Dublin, VA. The series also contains bank statements from 1940 to 1941.","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers: This series contains materials dating from 1919 to 1970, including a birth certificate for Edgar W. Bell. The papers are mainly personal in nature. There is extensive correspondence, dating from 1934 to 1970 as well as a scrapbook and some newspaper clippings. There is a limited amount of Edgar Bell's financial records including bank statements dating from 1942 to 1945.","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers: these papers date from 1921 to 1967. These papers include a birth certificate and academic records, as well as, land deeds, tax documents, and financial records. Also included are materials from Gordon Bell Jr.'s time in the military including correspondence from the time of his service in World War II. World War II materials also include a \"Save Conduct Leaflet.\" These leaflets were air dropped in Western Europe by Allied forces in order to aid in the surrender of German Soldiers, the leaflet in this collection was most likely the version distributed from December 1944 through April 1945, it contains both English and German text.","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers: These papers date from 1925 to 1978. They range in scope from David Bell's birth certificate and education records to financial records and insurance documents. Also included is correspondence, some of which dates from David Bell's service in World War II. Also from this period are military documents dating from 1943 to 1948.","Series V: Bell Family Papers: This series is composed for documents from various members of the Bell family including James Bell, Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, Francis Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. These items range in date from 1834 to 1967. They include financial records for James Bell, along with correspondence from Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. This series also contains information regarding the settlement of the estates of both Francis Bell and Mary Withrow Bell.","Series VI: James Withrow Papers: This series contains material ranging in date from 1848 to 1910. The bulk of the material in this series is financial records for James Withrow's business in agriculture, including contracts, correspondence, checks, receipts, money orders, debt statements, and account statements. Also present are documents relating to the settlement of James Withrow's estate.","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers: This series spans the dates 1864 through 1936. Included in this series are personal items including correspondence from Edgar Withrow's time as a Confederate Prisoner of War. Also included are records from the Greenbrier Light Infantry Grays of which Edgar Withrow was a member. The majority of this series is composed of financial records and business records from Edgar Withrow's business as an agricultural implements salesman.","Series VIII: Annie Primrose Withrow Papers: These papers consist of personal correspondence and items dating from 1889 to 1981, including land deeds and other legal documents as well as a 1908 \"Greenbrier\" yearbook from the Lewisburg Female Institute.","Series IX: The Withrow Family Papers: This series spans from 1870 to 1941, it contains materials from members of the Withrow family including business records from various businesses run by James Withrow and his son, Edgar, in addition to this are papers from Heber K. Withrow, Mary Renick Withrow, Helen Withrow, Mary E. Withrow, Mary J. Withrow, Letitia Withrow, and papers from Withrow Place as well as the Withrow Tourist Home.","Series X: The Kent Family Papers: This series includes materials dating from 1814 to 1881. The series includes the correspondence and financial records of two prominent Southwest Virginia landowners, James Randal Kent and David Fenton Kent.","Series XI: The Cloyd Family Papers: The Cloyd family papers include correspondence and financial records for Gordon, Mary, and James Cloyd. Also included are several land surveys done by Gordon Cloyd, a land surveyor for Southwest Virginia. These materials date from 1792 to 1866.","Series XII: Other Family Papers: This series is composed of land warrants and deeds, financial records, and personal correspondence from numerous individuals and families from Southwest Virginia and what is now, Southern West Virginia. These materials range in date from 1780 to 1998 and are dived into two categories, those materials sorted by individual or family and items organized by category.","Series XIII: Other Materials: This series is composed of magazines, booklets, brochures, and photographs that could not be identified as belonging to any one person or family. The series spans the dates 1901 through 1997.","The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.","The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others.","Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family","The materials in the collection are in English."],"unitid_tesim":["Ms.2008.040"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"collection_title_tesim":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"collection_ssim":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"repository_ssm":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"repository_ssim":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"creator_ssm":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"creator_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"creators_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"access_terms_ssm":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"acqinfo_ssim":["The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection was donated by James Gordon Bell to Special Collections in 2008: \"In memory of my grandfather, Gordon Cloyd Bell, who collected items of historical interest, and my father, David Kent Bell, who treasured them, my wish is that these items be used to preserve our history.\""],"access_subjects_ssim":["Montgomery County (Va.)","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Women -- History"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Montgomery County (Va.)","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Women -- History"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["9.5 Cubic Feet 18 boxes"],"extent_tesim":["9.5 Cubic Feet 18 boxes"],"date_range_isim":[1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is open for research.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["The collection is open for research."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is arranged into series corresponding to the creators. Each series arranged by type of material and then placed in chronological order. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries I: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Sr. Papers, 1917-1962\t\t\t\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, 1919-1970\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries III: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Jr. Papers, 1921-1967\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV: David Kent Bell Papers, 1925-1978\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries V: Bell Family Papers, 1834-1841\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI: James Withrow Papers, 1848-1910\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers, 1864-1936\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII: Annie Withrow Papers, 1889-1981\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX: Withrow Family Papers, 1870-1941\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries X: Kent Family Papers, 1814-1881\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XI: Cloyd Family Papers, 1792-1866\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XII: Other Family Papers, 1780-1998\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XIII: Other Materials, 1901-1997\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The collection is arranged into series corresponding to the creators. Each series arranged by type of material and then placed in chronological order. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Sr. Papers, 1917-1962\t\t\t\t","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, 1919-1970\t","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Jr. Papers, 1921-1967\t","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers, 1925-1978\t","Series V: Bell Family Papers, 1834-1841\t","Series VI: James Withrow Papers, 1848-1910","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers, 1864-1936","Series VIII: Annie Withrow Papers, 1889-1981","Series IX: Withrow Family Papers, 1870-1941","Series X: Kent Family Papers, 1814-1881","Series XI: Cloyd Family Papers, 1792-1866","Series XII: Other Family Papers, 1780-1998","Series XIII: Other Materials, 1901-1997"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eGen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJoseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavid Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavid Fenton Kent and Elizabeth Cloyd were married on January 2, 1834. Together they had seven children: Gordon Cloyd, born December 7, 1834, died November 11, 1837; an unnamed son, April 23, 1836 who lived eight days; Mary Elizabeth, born May 17, 1837, died December 14, 1837; James Randal, born August 15, 1838, died September 4, 1861; Sarah McGavock, born November 5, 1839, died March 9, 1891; Joseph Gordon, born March 22, 1841, died July 15, 1886; David Fenton, born May 17, 1844, died October 18, 1878. David F. Kent lived at the Springfield property and ran businesses with a Thomas Miller. He was reputed to have been an entertaining storyteller. David Fenton Kent died on January 28, 1850. Elizabeth Cloyd Kent outlived him by nineteen years, dying February 7, 1869.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJames Randal Kent and Mary Cloyd Kent moved to Buchanan's Bottom and lived at first in the old Trigg house. Later, they built Kentland mansion, which stands to this day. Together James and Mary had five daughters, Elizabeth Cloyd, born 1819, Sarah James, born 1822, Mary Louisa, born 1824, Cynthia, born 1827, and Margaret Gordon, born 1840. James Randal Kent was an enslaver, prominent landowner, and successful farmer. He also held several minor public offices including Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1822 to 1823, he also served as a Justice and a land surveyor. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, James Randal Kent bought up land, he owned around 8000 acres in 1860. In 1855, construction began on a resort at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a hotel that later served as a hospital during the American Civil War. In 1860, James Randal Kent became a founder of the Preston and Olin Institute, a Methodist school in Blacksburg that was the predecessor to present day Virginia Tech. He was among the wealthiest men in Montgomery County with an estimated wealth of $196,000. Kent was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, he enslaved more than 100 people at the start of the war. He served as an organizer for the Confederate Army, as well as a supplier of foodstuffs, providing grain and beef to the Confederate Army all the way up to the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Though Kentland survived the war, many barns and out-buildings were burned, including the plantation office with the majority of James Kent's personal papers, and in 1867 his land was valued at 41% less than it had been in 1860. James Randal Kent died on May 29, 1867. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSarah James Kent, daughter of James Randal Kent, married Francis Bell, a cattle buyer from Staunton, in 1855. Together Sarah and Francis had four surviving children: twin sons, James Randal Kent Bell and Samuel Hays Bell in 1858, a daughter, Mary Louisa Bell in 1861, and Francis \"Frank\" Bell in 1864. They built a home on the land in Pulaski given to Sarah by her father. They lived at Mountain Home until the mid-1870s, when in 1872 Francis Bell purchased land from the Darsts and the Cloyds, their new home, Rockwood, was built c. 1876.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe four Bell children were well educated and all attended college for some period of time. Public schools were non-existent at this time, so a governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick taught them while they lived at Mountain Home. James Randal Kent and Samuel Hays Bell both attended Washington College in Lexington from 1875 to 1877. Mary Louisa Bell went to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. Frank Bell attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the Virginia Military Institute and graduating with the class of 1885.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSarah James Kent Bell died in April of 1884; Francis Bell followed her nine years later in 1893. In their will, all their land and properties were to be divided by the four children as they saw fit. James Randal Kent Bell received the Mountain Home properties, Samuel inherited the land in Augusta County, and Rockwood was split between Frank Bell and Mary Louisa Bell.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJames Randal Kent Bell married three times. His first wife was Maria L. Sedgwick, the daughter of their governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick, Maria died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Mary Peck Bell. His second wife was Lida Howell Whitsett, Lida died in January of 1902. Together they had five children, Amelia Louise, Elizabeth Kent, Sarah Frances, James, and Francis Joseph. The name of James R. K. Bell's third wife is unknown. All of his children were born at Mountain Home and grew up there.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSamuel Hays Bell married Bessie Arbuthnot on May 18, 1893. Together they had four daughters, Sarah James, Elizabeth, Mary Lou, and Margaret. They lived in Staunton on the land inherited from Francis Bell. Samuel Bell died in Staunton on June 26, 1903.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eMary Louisa Bell married Dr. Kent Black at Rockwood November 14, 1894. Dr. Black graduated from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1875, he worked as physician and surgeon at the school until 1890. Dr. Black died in 1909, following his death Mary Louisa Bell Black moved back to Pulaski to live with her family, she died at Rockwood December 12, 1943.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrank Bell married Ellen Gordan Kent, the granddaughter of David Fenton Kent, in 1889. They had eight children: Sarah Kent Bell born September 28, 1890, Gordon Cloyd Bell born January 16, 1892, Ellen Howe Bell born February 12, 1893, Francis Bell born August 16, 1894, Mary Lou Bell born July 1, 1896, Elizabeth Cloyd Bell born September 7, 1897, Samuel Hays Bell born May 16, 1901, and Agnes McGavock Bell born September 1, 1905. Frank Bell worked in the cattle business just like his father and grandfather, he was an accomplished business man and over the years he bought up the rest of the Rockwood property from his sister, Mary Louisa Bell Black. He died at Rockwood on December 21, 1939, just a few months after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversary.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrank Bell's son, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow on November 16, 1918. They had four sons, Edgar Withrow Bell, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr., David Kent Bell, and Andrew Mathews Bell. Gordon Bell Sr. was a farmer and overseer of farm lands, he also served as the President of the Bank of Dublin. Mary Withrow Bell died September 30, 1938. Gordon Cloyd Sr. then married Lucy Preston King in October of 1942, they lived for a time in Phoenix, Arizona where Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. died in 1965.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEdgar Withrow Bell, the eldest son of Gordon Cloyd and Mary Withrow Bell was born on October 27, 1919. He grew up in Dublin and attended Lees-McCrea College in North Carolina. He wrote articles about music trends and opened \"The Record Bar\" at Wysor Electric Appliance Co. in Dublin. He also served as a postal worker in Arlington where he died in November of 1971.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGordon Cloyd Bell Jr. was born in Dublin on May 13, 1921. He was a farmer and overseer of the Withrow and Bell lands in Pulaski County, VA. He also served on the board of the Bank of Dublin. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Furman College before entering the armed services in January of 1943 and served with the Black Panther Division during World War II. Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September of 1967.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavid Kent Bell was born in Dublin on April 5, 1925. David attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated with the Class of 1949. He also served in the armed services during World War II. He married Beverly Ann Gould from Baltimore, together they had two children: Sheri Lynn Bell born April 30, 1957 and James Gordon Bell born March 3, 1959. David Kent and Beverly Gould divorced and he married Helga Lewandowski. David Kent Bell died January 26, 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAndrew Mathews Bell was born in Dublin on July 14, 1932. He died October 26, 1948.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEllen Howe Bell was born February 12, 1893. She attended Mary Baldwin College. Ellen married Orrin Rankin Magill on September 30, 1915. Through the National YMCA, they moved to China where they lived for many years. Upon retiring, they moved to Blacksburg where they often entertained Chinese students attending Virginia Tech. Ellen Howe Bell Magill was elected the 1962 Mother of the Year in Blacksburg. She died January 19, 1968.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eIn 1918, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow. She was the granddaughter of James W. Withrow of Greenbrier County. James Withrow was born in Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia, on October 23, 1818. Though not a licensed attorney he served as a judge and for many years, the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court. He also represented the county in the state legislature where he served on the Judiciary Committee. He married Mary Jane Kincaid and had two sons, Edgar Daingerfield Withrow and Heber K. Withrow, and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Feamster, Miss Mary J. Withrow, and Mrs. Lucy Withrow Montgomery. James Withrow died June 26, 1901.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEdgar Daingerfield Withrow was born December 9, 1845. He married Mary See Renick on November 3, 1886. Edgar served in the Civil War as a member of Confederate company E of the 14th Virginia Cavalry. Edgar was captured at Berryville in 1864 and spent the end of the war at Camp Chare in Ohio. Following the War, Edgar went into business with his father, and later ran his own business selling agricultural implements. Together with Mary Renick, he had six daughters and one son: Mary Mathews Withrow, born September 16, 1887, died October 3, 1892; Annie Primrose Withrow, born January 26, 1889, died June 16, 1982; Mary Eliza Withrow, born November 29, 1892, died September 29, 1938; Helen Cameron Withrow, born January 9, 1895, died July 25, 1903; Letitia Renick Withrow, born July 1, 1897, died December 24, 1922; Geraldine Withrow, born August 1, 1901, died July 8, 1902; Edgar D. Withrow Jr., born July 8, 1903, died October 2, 1913. The Withrows moved to Pulaski County sometime around 1910. Edgar Withrow died March 9, 1926 and Mary Renick Withrow died January 7, 1929. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAnnie P. Withrow never married. She was very close with her nephews, Edgar, Gordon, David and Andrew Bell, and much of their correspondence was written to her. She attended the Lewisburg Female Institute beginning in 1907. Annie Withrow died in June of 1982.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLetitia R. Withrow was born July 1, 1897. She moved with her family to Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School. She then attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon until the school burned in 1914. She then entered Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, following graduation she became a special student of voice under Professor A. Y. Cornell of New York for two years. In 1919, she took a job as Assistant Voice Teacher at Greenville Women's College in Greenville, South Carolina. She taught there for two years, and one year at Annville College in Annville, Pennsylvania. She left Annville College to return to New York in order to resume her training with Professor Cornell in preparation for a singing career. Shortly thereafter she returned home, where she died from influenza on December 24, 1922.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Family History"],"bioghist_tesim":["Gen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek. ","Joseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.","David Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.","Gordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.","David Fenton Kent and Elizabeth Cloyd were married on January 2, 1834. Together they had seven children: Gordon Cloyd, born December 7, 1834, died November 11, 1837; an unnamed son, April 23, 1836 who lived eight days; Mary Elizabeth, born May 17, 1837, died December 14, 1837; James Randal, born August 15, 1838, died September 4, 1861; Sarah McGavock, born November 5, 1839, died March 9, 1891; Joseph Gordon, born March 22, 1841, died July 15, 1886; David Fenton, born May 17, 1844, died October 18, 1878. David F. Kent lived at the Springfield property and ran businesses with a Thomas Miller. He was reputed to have been an entertaining storyteller. David Fenton Kent died on January 28, 1850. Elizabeth Cloyd Kent outlived him by nineteen years, dying February 7, 1869.","James Randal Kent and Mary Cloyd Kent moved to Buchanan's Bottom and lived at first in the old Trigg house. Later, they built Kentland mansion, which stands to this day. Together James and Mary had five daughters, Elizabeth Cloyd, born 1819, Sarah James, born 1822, Mary Louisa, born 1824, Cynthia, born 1827, and Margaret Gordon, born 1840. James Randal Kent was an enslaver, prominent landowner, and successful farmer. He also held several minor public offices including Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1822 to 1823, he also served as a Justice and a land surveyor. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, James Randal Kent bought up land, he owned around 8000 acres in 1860. In 1855, construction began on a resort at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a hotel that later served as a hospital during the American Civil War. In 1860, James Randal Kent became a founder of the Preston and Olin Institute, a Methodist school in Blacksburg that was the predecessor to present day Virginia Tech. He was among the wealthiest men in Montgomery County with an estimated wealth of $196,000. Kent was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, he enslaved more than 100 people at the start of the war. He served as an organizer for the Confederate Army, as well as a supplier of foodstuffs, providing grain and beef to the Confederate Army all the way up to the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Though Kentland survived the war, many barns and out-buildings were burned, including the plantation office with the majority of James Kent's personal papers, and in 1867 his land was valued at 41% less than it had been in 1860. James Randal Kent died on May 29, 1867. ","Sarah James Kent, daughter of James Randal Kent, married Francis Bell, a cattle buyer from Staunton, in 1855. Together Sarah and Francis had four surviving children: twin sons, James Randal Kent Bell and Samuel Hays Bell in 1858, a daughter, Mary Louisa Bell in 1861, and Francis \"Frank\" Bell in 1864. They built a home on the land in Pulaski given to Sarah by her father. They lived at Mountain Home until the mid-1870s, when in 1872 Francis Bell purchased land from the Darsts and the Cloyds, their new home, Rockwood, was built c. 1876.","The four Bell children were well educated and all attended college for some period of time. Public schools were non-existent at this time, so a governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick taught them while they lived at Mountain Home. James Randal Kent and Samuel Hays Bell both attended Washington College in Lexington from 1875 to 1877. Mary Louisa Bell went to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. Frank Bell attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the Virginia Military Institute and graduating with the class of 1885.","Sarah James Kent Bell died in April of 1884; Francis Bell followed her nine years later in 1893. In their will, all their land and properties were to be divided by the four children as they saw fit. James Randal Kent Bell received the Mountain Home properties, Samuel inherited the land in Augusta County, and Rockwood was split between Frank Bell and Mary Louisa Bell.","James Randal Kent Bell married three times. His first wife was Maria L. Sedgwick, the daughter of their governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick, Maria died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Mary Peck Bell. His second wife was Lida Howell Whitsett, Lida died in January of 1902. Together they had five children, Amelia Louise, Elizabeth Kent, Sarah Frances, James, and Francis Joseph. The name of James R. K. Bell's third wife is unknown. All of his children were born at Mountain Home and grew up there.","Samuel Hays Bell married Bessie Arbuthnot on May 18, 1893. Together they had four daughters, Sarah James, Elizabeth, Mary Lou, and Margaret. They lived in Staunton on the land inherited from Francis Bell. Samuel Bell died in Staunton on June 26, 1903.","Mary Louisa Bell married Dr. Kent Black at Rockwood November 14, 1894. Dr. Black graduated from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1875, he worked as physician and surgeon at the school until 1890. Dr. Black died in 1909, following his death Mary Louisa Bell Black moved back to Pulaski to live with her family, she died at Rockwood December 12, 1943.","Frank Bell married Ellen Gordan Kent, the granddaughter of David Fenton Kent, in 1889. They had eight children: Sarah Kent Bell born September 28, 1890, Gordon Cloyd Bell born January 16, 1892, Ellen Howe Bell born February 12, 1893, Francis Bell born August 16, 1894, Mary Lou Bell born July 1, 1896, Elizabeth Cloyd Bell born September 7, 1897, Samuel Hays Bell born May 16, 1901, and Agnes McGavock Bell born September 1, 1905. Frank Bell worked in the cattle business just like his father and grandfather, he was an accomplished business man and over the years he bought up the rest of the Rockwood property from his sister, Mary Louisa Bell Black. He died at Rockwood on December 21, 1939, just a few months after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversary.","Frank Bell's son, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow on November 16, 1918. They had four sons, Edgar Withrow Bell, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr., David Kent Bell, and Andrew Mathews Bell. Gordon Bell Sr. was a farmer and overseer of farm lands, he also served as the President of the Bank of Dublin. Mary Withrow Bell died September 30, 1938. Gordon Cloyd Sr. then married Lucy Preston King in October of 1942, they lived for a time in Phoenix, Arizona where Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. died in 1965.","Edgar Withrow Bell, the eldest son of Gordon Cloyd and Mary Withrow Bell was born on October 27, 1919. He grew up in Dublin and attended Lees-McCrea College in North Carolina. He wrote articles about music trends and opened \"The Record Bar\" at Wysor Electric Appliance Co. in Dublin. He also served as a postal worker in Arlington where he died in November of 1971.","Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. was born in Dublin on May 13, 1921. He was a farmer and overseer of the Withrow and Bell lands in Pulaski County, VA. He also served on the board of the Bank of Dublin. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Furman College before entering the armed services in January of 1943 and served with the Black Panther Division during World War II. Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September of 1967.","David Kent Bell was born in Dublin on April 5, 1925. David attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated with the Class of 1949. He also served in the armed services during World War II. He married Beverly Ann Gould from Baltimore, together they had two children: Sheri Lynn Bell born April 30, 1957 and James Gordon Bell born March 3, 1959. David Kent and Beverly Gould divorced and he married Helga Lewandowski. David Kent Bell died January 26, 2003.","Andrew Mathews Bell was born in Dublin on July 14, 1932. He died October 26, 1948.","Ellen Howe Bell was born February 12, 1893. She attended Mary Baldwin College. Ellen married Orrin Rankin Magill on September 30, 1915. Through the National YMCA, they moved to China where they lived for many years. Upon retiring, they moved to Blacksburg where they often entertained Chinese students attending Virginia Tech. Ellen Howe Bell Magill was elected the 1962 Mother of the Year in Blacksburg. She died January 19, 1968.","In 1918, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow. She was the granddaughter of James W. Withrow of Greenbrier County. James Withrow was born in Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia, on October 23, 1818. Though not a licensed attorney he served as a judge and for many years, the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court. He also represented the county in the state legislature where he served on the Judiciary Committee. He married Mary Jane Kincaid and had two sons, Edgar Daingerfield Withrow and Heber K. Withrow, and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Feamster, Miss Mary J. Withrow, and Mrs. Lucy Withrow Montgomery. James Withrow died June 26, 1901.","Edgar Daingerfield Withrow was born December 9, 1845. He married Mary See Renick on November 3, 1886. Edgar served in the Civil War as a member of Confederate company E of the 14th Virginia Cavalry. Edgar was captured at Berryville in 1864 and spent the end of the war at Camp Chare in Ohio. Following the War, Edgar went into business with his father, and later ran his own business selling agricultural implements. Together with Mary Renick, he had six daughters and one son: Mary Mathews Withrow, born September 16, 1887, died October 3, 1892; Annie Primrose Withrow, born January 26, 1889, died June 16, 1982; Mary Eliza Withrow, born November 29, 1892, died September 29, 1938; Helen Cameron Withrow, born January 9, 1895, died July 25, 1903; Letitia Renick Withrow, born July 1, 1897, died December 24, 1922; Geraldine Withrow, born August 1, 1901, died July 8, 1902; Edgar D. Withrow Jr., born July 8, 1903, died October 2, 1913. The Withrows moved to Pulaski County sometime around 1910. Edgar Withrow died March 9, 1926 and Mary Renick Withrow died January 7, 1929. ","Annie P. Withrow never married. She was very close with her nephews, Edgar, Gordon, David and Andrew Bell, and much of their correspondence was written to her. She attended the Lewisburg Female Institute beginning in 1907. Annie Withrow died in June of 1982.","Letitia R. Withrow was born July 1, 1897. She moved with her family to Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School. She then attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon until the school burned in 1914. She then entered Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, following graduation she became a special student of voice under Professor A. Y. Cornell of New York for two years. In 1919, she took a job as Assistant Voice Teacher at Greenville Women's College in Greenville, South Carolina. She taught there for two years, and one year at Annville College in Annville, Pennsylvania. She left Annville College to return to New York in order to resume her training with Professor Cornell in preparation for a singing career. Shortly thereafter she returned home, where she died from influenza on December 24, 1922."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe guide to the the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\"\u003ehttps://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\u003c/a\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"],"odd_heading_ssm":["Rights Statement for Archival Description"],"odd_tesim":["The guide to the the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ )."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe processing, arrangement, and description of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection began in June 2008 and was completed in October 2008.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["The processing, arrangement, and description of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection began in June 2008 and was completed in October 2008."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_3149.xml\"\u003eA listing of individuals and families in the Biographical Vertical Files at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives is available online,\u003c/a\u003e but files of particular interest may include:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003clist\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eBentley family (related to the Cloyd, Kent, and McGavock families)--this file contains a 2014 update to: Robert Gray's \u003ctitle render=\"italic\"\u003eThe McGavock Family. A Genealogical History of James McGavock and His Descendants from 1760 to 1903\u003c/title\u003e. Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1903. CS 71 .M144 1903 (copies in Special Collections and University Archives and Newman Library). \u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/items/show/2684\"\u003eThe 2014 update is also available online.\u003c/a\u003e \u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eKent\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003c/list\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSee the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1290.xml\"\u003eBlack, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1474.xml\"\u003eJames Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1779.xml\"\u003eElizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_3537.xml\"\u003e\"Whitethorne Photographs of Kentland for Margaret K. Cowan\" Photograph Album, Ms2021-020\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_4314.xml\"\u003eFrancis Bell Letter, Ms2024-088\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Archival Materials"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["A listing of individuals and families in the Biographical Vertical Files at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives is available online,  but files of particular interest may include:","Bentley family (related to the Cloyd, Kent, and McGavock families)--this file contains a 2014 update to: Robert Gray's  The McGavock Family. A Genealogical History of James McGavock and His Descendants from 1760 to 1903 . Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1903. CS 71 .M144 1903 (copies in Special Collections and University Archives and Newman Library).  The 2014 update is also available online. Kent","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","\"Whitethorne Photographs of Kentland for Margaret K. Cowan\" Photograph Album, Ms2021-020","Francis Bell Letter, Ms2024-088"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection spans the dates 1780 to 1998. The collection contains the papers and business records of four prominent families from Montgomery County and Pulaski County, Virginia and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Also included are documents relating to numerous other individuals and families from across Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. Documents include correspondence, land deeds and warrants, as well as financial records including debt statements, receipts, account statements, and money orders. The collection is divided into thirteen major series: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers, Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers, David Kent Bell Papers, Bell Family Papers, James Withrow Papers, Edgar D. Withrow Papers, Annie P. Withrow Papers, Withrow Family Papers, Kent Family Papers, Cloyd Family Papers, Other Family Papers, and Other Materials. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries I: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers: This series spans the years 1917 to 1962 and includes personal correspondence to and from Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. as well as business correspondence and materials from Bell's time as the President of the Bank of Dublin in Dublin, VA. The series also contains bank statements from 1940 to 1941.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers: This series contains materials dating from 1919 to 1970, including a birth certificate for Edgar W. Bell. The papers are mainly personal in nature. There is extensive correspondence, dating from 1934 to 1970 as well as a scrapbook and some newspaper clippings. There is a limited amount of Edgar Bell's financial records including bank statements dating from 1942 to 1945.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries III: Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers: these papers date from 1921 to 1967. These papers include a birth certificate and academic records, as well as, land deeds, tax documents, and financial records. Also included are materials from Gordon Bell Jr.'s time in the military including correspondence from the time of his service in World War II. World War II materials also include a \"Save Conduct Leaflet.\" These leaflets were air dropped in Western Europe by Allied forces in order to aid in the surrender of German Soldiers, the leaflet in this collection was most likely the version distributed from December 1944 through April 1945, it contains both English and German text.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV: David Kent Bell Papers: These papers date from 1925 to 1978. They range in scope from David Bell's birth certificate and education records to financial records and insurance documents. Also included is correspondence, some of which dates from David Bell's service in World War II. Also from this period are military documents dating from 1943 to 1948.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries V: Bell Family Papers: This series is composed for documents from various members of the Bell family including James Bell, Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, Francis Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. These items range in date from 1834 to 1967. They include financial records for James Bell, along with correspondence from Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. This series also contains information regarding the settlement of the estates of both Francis Bell and Mary Withrow Bell.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI: James Withrow Papers: This series contains material ranging in date from 1848 to 1910. The bulk of the material in this series is financial records for James Withrow's business in agriculture, including contracts, correspondence, checks, receipts, money orders, debt statements, and account statements. Also present are documents relating to the settlement of James Withrow's estate.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers: This series spans the dates 1864 through 1936. Included in this series are personal items including correspondence from Edgar Withrow's time as a Confederate Prisoner of War. Also included are records from the Greenbrier Light Infantry Grays of which Edgar Withrow was a member. The majority of this series is composed of financial records and business records from Edgar Withrow's business as an agricultural implements salesman.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII: Annie Primrose Withrow Papers: These papers consist of personal correspondence and items dating from 1889 to 1981, including land deeds and other legal documents as well as a 1908 \"Greenbrier\" yearbook from the Lewisburg Female Institute.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX: The Withrow Family Papers: This series spans from 1870 to 1941, it contains materials from members of the Withrow family including business records from various businesses run by James Withrow and his son, Edgar, in addition to this are papers from Heber K. Withrow, Mary Renick Withrow, Helen Withrow, Mary E. Withrow, Mary J. Withrow, Letitia Withrow, and papers from Withrow Place as well as the Withrow Tourist Home.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries X: The Kent Family Papers: This series includes materials dating from 1814 to 1881. The series includes the correspondence and financial records of two prominent Southwest Virginia landowners, James Randal Kent and David Fenton Kent.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XI: The Cloyd Family Papers: The Cloyd family papers include correspondence and financial records for Gordon, Mary, and James Cloyd. Also included are several land surveys done by Gordon Cloyd, a land surveyor for Southwest Virginia. These materials date from 1792 to 1866.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XII: Other Family Papers: This series is composed of land warrants and deeds, financial records, and personal correspondence from numerous individuals and families from Southwest Virginia and what is now, Southern West Virginia. These materials range in date from 1780 to 1998 and are dived into two categories, those materials sorted by individual or family and items organized by category.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XIII: Other Materials: This series is composed of magazines, booklets, brochures, and photographs that could not be identified as belonging to any one person or family. The series spans the dates 1901 through 1997.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection spans the dates 1780 to 1998. The collection contains the papers and business records of four prominent families from Montgomery County and Pulaski County, Virginia and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Also included are documents relating to numerous other individuals and families from across Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. Documents include correspondence, land deeds and warrants, as well as financial records including debt statements, receipts, account statements, and money orders. The collection is divided into thirteen major series: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers, Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers, David Kent Bell Papers, Bell Family Papers, James Withrow Papers, Edgar D. Withrow Papers, Annie P. Withrow Papers, Withrow Family Papers, Kent Family Papers, Cloyd Family Papers, Other Family Papers, and Other Materials. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers: This series spans the years 1917 to 1962 and includes personal correspondence to and from Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. as well as business correspondence and materials from Bell's time as the President of the Bank of Dublin in Dublin, VA. The series also contains bank statements from 1940 to 1941.","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers: This series contains materials dating from 1919 to 1970, including a birth certificate for Edgar W. Bell. The papers are mainly personal in nature. There is extensive correspondence, dating from 1934 to 1970 as well as a scrapbook and some newspaper clippings. There is a limited amount of Edgar Bell's financial records including bank statements dating from 1942 to 1945.","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers: these papers date from 1921 to 1967. These papers include a birth certificate and academic records, as well as, land deeds, tax documents, and financial records. Also included are materials from Gordon Bell Jr.'s time in the military including correspondence from the time of his service in World War II. World War II materials also include a \"Save Conduct Leaflet.\" These leaflets were air dropped in Western Europe by Allied forces in order to aid in the surrender of German Soldiers, the leaflet in this collection was most likely the version distributed from December 1944 through April 1945, it contains both English and German text.","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers: These papers date from 1925 to 1978. They range in scope from David Bell's birth certificate and education records to financial records and insurance documents. Also included is correspondence, some of which dates from David Bell's service in World War II. Also from this period are military documents dating from 1943 to 1948.","Series V: Bell Family Papers: This series is composed for documents from various members of the Bell family including James Bell, Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, Francis Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. These items range in date from 1834 to 1967. They include financial records for James Bell, along with correspondence from Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. This series also contains information regarding the settlement of the estates of both Francis Bell and Mary Withrow Bell.","Series VI: James Withrow Papers: This series contains material ranging in date from 1848 to 1910. The bulk of the material in this series is financial records for James Withrow's business in agriculture, including contracts, correspondence, checks, receipts, money orders, debt statements, and account statements. Also present are documents relating to the settlement of James Withrow's estate.","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers: This series spans the dates 1864 through 1936. Included in this series are personal items including correspondence from Edgar Withrow's time as a Confederate Prisoner of War. Also included are records from the Greenbrier Light Infantry Grays of which Edgar Withrow was a member. The majority of this series is composed of financial records and business records from Edgar Withrow's business as an agricultural implements salesman.","Series VIII: Annie Primrose Withrow Papers: These papers consist of personal correspondence and items dating from 1889 to 1981, including land deeds and other legal documents as well as a 1908 \"Greenbrier\" yearbook from the Lewisburg Female Institute.","Series IX: The Withrow Family Papers: This series spans from 1870 to 1941, it contains materials from members of the Withrow family including business records from various businesses run by James Withrow and his son, Edgar, in addition to this are papers from Heber K. Withrow, Mary Renick Withrow, Helen Withrow, Mary E. Withrow, Mary J. Withrow, Letitia Withrow, and papers from Withrow Place as well as the Withrow Tourist Home.","Series X: The Kent Family Papers: This series includes materials dating from 1814 to 1881. The series includes the correspondence and financial records of two prominent Southwest Virginia landowners, James Randal Kent and David Fenton Kent.","Series XI: The Cloyd Family Papers: The Cloyd family papers include correspondence and financial records for Gordon, Mary, and James Cloyd. Also included are several land surveys done by Gordon Cloyd, a land surveyor for Southwest Virginia. These materials date from 1792 to 1866.","Series XII: Other Family Papers: This series is composed of land warrants and deeds, financial records, and personal correspondence from numerous individuals and families from Southwest Virginia and what is now, Southern West Virginia. These materials range in date from 1780 to 1998 and are dived into two categories, those materials sorted by individual or family and items organized by category.","Series XIII: Other Materials: This series is composed of magazines, booklets, brochures, and photographs that could not be identified as belonging to any one person or family. The series spans the dates 1901 through 1997."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuareproduction\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuareproduction\u003c/a\u003e. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuapublication\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuapublication\u003c/a\u003e. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract id=\"aspace_a5f70c760aaa388e4b03cbb66aec856e\" label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThe Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others.\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others."],"names_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech"],"names_coll_ssim":["Withrow family","Kent family","Cloyd family","Bell family"],"famname_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"language_ssim":["The materials in the collection are in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":221,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:41:59.155Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","ead_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","_root_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","_nest_parent_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2361.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","title_ssm":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"title_tesim":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"unitdate_ssm":["1780-1998"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1780-1998"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Ms.2008.040"],"text":["Ms.2008.040","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","Montgomery County (Va.)","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Women -- History","The collection is open for research.","The collection is arranged into series corresponding to the creators. Each series arranged by type of material and then placed in chronological order. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Sr. Papers, 1917-1962\t\t\t\t","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, 1919-1970\t","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Jr. Papers, 1921-1967\t","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers, 1925-1978\t","Series V: Bell Family Papers, 1834-1841\t","Series VI: James Withrow Papers, 1848-1910","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers, 1864-1936","Series VIII: Annie Withrow Papers, 1889-1981","Series IX: Withrow Family Papers, 1870-1941","Series X: Kent Family Papers, 1814-1881","Series XI: Cloyd Family Papers, 1792-1866","Series XII: Other Family Papers, 1780-1998","Series XIII: Other Materials, 1901-1997","Gen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek. ","Joseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.","David Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.","Gordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.","David Fenton Kent and Elizabeth Cloyd were married on January 2, 1834. Together they had seven children: Gordon Cloyd, born December 7, 1834, died November 11, 1837; an unnamed son, April 23, 1836 who lived eight days; Mary Elizabeth, born May 17, 1837, died December 14, 1837; James Randal, born August 15, 1838, died September 4, 1861; Sarah McGavock, born November 5, 1839, died March 9, 1891; Joseph Gordon, born March 22, 1841, died July 15, 1886; David Fenton, born May 17, 1844, died October 18, 1878. David F. Kent lived at the Springfield property and ran businesses with a Thomas Miller. He was reputed to have been an entertaining storyteller. David Fenton Kent died on January 28, 1850. Elizabeth Cloyd Kent outlived him by nineteen years, dying February 7, 1869.","James Randal Kent and Mary Cloyd Kent moved to Buchanan's Bottom and lived at first in the old Trigg house. Later, they built Kentland mansion, which stands to this day. Together James and Mary had five daughters, Elizabeth Cloyd, born 1819, Sarah James, born 1822, Mary Louisa, born 1824, Cynthia, born 1827, and Margaret Gordon, born 1840. James Randal Kent was an enslaver, prominent landowner, and successful farmer. He also held several minor public offices including Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1822 to 1823, he also served as a Justice and a land surveyor. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, James Randal Kent bought up land, he owned around 8000 acres in 1860. In 1855, construction began on a resort at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a hotel that later served as a hospital during the American Civil War. In 1860, James Randal Kent became a founder of the Preston and Olin Institute, a Methodist school in Blacksburg that was the predecessor to present day Virginia Tech. He was among the wealthiest men in Montgomery County with an estimated wealth of $196,000. Kent was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, he enslaved more than 100 people at the start of the war. He served as an organizer for the Confederate Army, as well as a supplier of foodstuffs, providing grain and beef to the Confederate Army all the way up to the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Though Kentland survived the war, many barns and out-buildings were burned, including the plantation office with the majority of James Kent's personal papers, and in 1867 his land was valued at 41% less than it had been in 1860. James Randal Kent died on May 29, 1867. ","Sarah James Kent, daughter of James Randal Kent, married Francis Bell, a cattle buyer from Staunton, in 1855. Together Sarah and Francis had four surviving children: twin sons, James Randal Kent Bell and Samuel Hays Bell in 1858, a daughter, Mary Louisa Bell in 1861, and Francis \"Frank\" Bell in 1864. They built a home on the land in Pulaski given to Sarah by her father. They lived at Mountain Home until the mid-1870s, when in 1872 Francis Bell purchased land from the Darsts and the Cloyds, their new home, Rockwood, was built c. 1876.","The four Bell children were well educated and all attended college for some period of time. Public schools were non-existent at this time, so a governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick taught them while they lived at Mountain Home. James Randal Kent and Samuel Hays Bell both attended Washington College in Lexington from 1875 to 1877. Mary Louisa Bell went to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. Frank Bell attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the Virginia Military Institute and graduating with the class of 1885.","Sarah James Kent Bell died in April of 1884; Francis Bell followed her nine years later in 1893. In their will, all their land and properties were to be divided by the four children as they saw fit. James Randal Kent Bell received the Mountain Home properties, Samuel inherited the land in Augusta County, and Rockwood was split between Frank Bell and Mary Louisa Bell.","James Randal Kent Bell married three times. His first wife was Maria L. Sedgwick, the daughter of their governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick, Maria died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Mary Peck Bell. His second wife was Lida Howell Whitsett, Lida died in January of 1902. Together they had five children, Amelia Louise, Elizabeth Kent, Sarah Frances, James, and Francis Joseph. The name of James R. K. Bell's third wife is unknown. All of his children were born at Mountain Home and grew up there.","Samuel Hays Bell married Bessie Arbuthnot on May 18, 1893. Together they had four daughters, Sarah James, Elizabeth, Mary Lou, and Margaret. They lived in Staunton on the land inherited from Francis Bell. Samuel Bell died in Staunton on June 26, 1903.","Mary Louisa Bell married Dr. Kent Black at Rockwood November 14, 1894. Dr. Black graduated from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1875, he worked as physician and surgeon at the school until 1890. Dr. Black died in 1909, following his death Mary Louisa Bell Black moved back to Pulaski to live with her family, she died at Rockwood December 12, 1943.","Frank Bell married Ellen Gordan Kent, the granddaughter of David Fenton Kent, in 1889. They had eight children: Sarah Kent Bell born September 28, 1890, Gordon Cloyd Bell born January 16, 1892, Ellen Howe Bell born February 12, 1893, Francis Bell born August 16, 1894, Mary Lou Bell born July 1, 1896, Elizabeth Cloyd Bell born September 7, 1897, Samuel Hays Bell born May 16, 1901, and Agnes McGavock Bell born September 1, 1905. Frank Bell worked in the cattle business just like his father and grandfather, he was an accomplished business man and over the years he bought up the rest of the Rockwood property from his sister, Mary Louisa Bell Black. He died at Rockwood on December 21, 1939, just a few months after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversary.","Frank Bell's son, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow on November 16, 1918. They had four sons, Edgar Withrow Bell, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr., David Kent Bell, and Andrew Mathews Bell. Gordon Bell Sr. was a farmer and overseer of farm lands, he also served as the President of the Bank of Dublin. Mary Withrow Bell died September 30, 1938. Gordon Cloyd Sr. then married Lucy Preston King in October of 1942, they lived for a time in Phoenix, Arizona where Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. died in 1965.","Edgar Withrow Bell, the eldest son of Gordon Cloyd and Mary Withrow Bell was born on October 27, 1919. He grew up in Dublin and attended Lees-McCrea College in North Carolina. He wrote articles about music trends and opened \"The Record Bar\" at Wysor Electric Appliance Co. in Dublin. He also served as a postal worker in Arlington where he died in November of 1971.","Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. was born in Dublin on May 13, 1921. He was a farmer and overseer of the Withrow and Bell lands in Pulaski County, VA. He also served on the board of the Bank of Dublin. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Furman College before entering the armed services in January of 1943 and served with the Black Panther Division during World War II. Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September of 1967.","David Kent Bell was born in Dublin on April 5, 1925. David attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated with the Class of 1949. He also served in the armed services during World War II. He married Beverly Ann Gould from Baltimore, together they had two children: Sheri Lynn Bell born April 30, 1957 and James Gordon Bell born March 3, 1959. David Kent and Beverly Gould divorced and he married Helga Lewandowski. David Kent Bell died January 26, 2003.","Andrew Mathews Bell was born in Dublin on July 14, 1932. He died October 26, 1948.","Ellen Howe Bell was born February 12, 1893. She attended Mary Baldwin College. Ellen married Orrin Rankin Magill on September 30, 1915. Through the National YMCA, they moved to China where they lived for many years. Upon retiring, they moved to Blacksburg where they often entertained Chinese students attending Virginia Tech. Ellen Howe Bell Magill was elected the 1962 Mother of the Year in Blacksburg. She died January 19, 1968.","In 1918, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow. She was the granddaughter of James W. Withrow of Greenbrier County. James Withrow was born in Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia, on October 23, 1818. Though not a licensed attorney he served as a judge and for many years, the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court. He also represented the county in the state legislature where he served on the Judiciary Committee. He married Mary Jane Kincaid and had two sons, Edgar Daingerfield Withrow and Heber K. Withrow, and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Feamster, Miss Mary J. Withrow, and Mrs. Lucy Withrow Montgomery. James Withrow died June 26, 1901.","Edgar Daingerfield Withrow was born December 9, 1845. He married Mary See Renick on November 3, 1886. Edgar served in the Civil War as a member of Confederate company E of the 14th Virginia Cavalry. Edgar was captured at Berryville in 1864 and spent the end of the war at Camp Chare in Ohio. Following the War, Edgar went into business with his father, and later ran his own business selling agricultural implements. Together with Mary Renick, he had six daughters and one son: Mary Mathews Withrow, born September 16, 1887, died October 3, 1892; Annie Primrose Withrow, born January 26, 1889, died June 16, 1982; Mary Eliza Withrow, born November 29, 1892, died September 29, 1938; Helen Cameron Withrow, born January 9, 1895, died July 25, 1903; Letitia Renick Withrow, born July 1, 1897, died December 24, 1922; Geraldine Withrow, born August 1, 1901, died July 8, 1902; Edgar D. Withrow Jr., born July 8, 1903, died October 2, 1913. The Withrows moved to Pulaski County sometime around 1910. Edgar Withrow died March 9, 1926 and Mary Renick Withrow died January 7, 1929. ","Annie P. Withrow never married. She was very close with her nephews, Edgar, Gordon, David and Andrew Bell, and much of their correspondence was written to her. She attended the Lewisburg Female Institute beginning in 1907. Annie Withrow died in June of 1982.","Letitia R. Withrow was born July 1, 1897. She moved with her family to Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School. She then attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon until the school burned in 1914. She then entered Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, following graduation she became a special student of voice under Professor A. Y. Cornell of New York for two years. In 1919, she took a job as Assistant Voice Teacher at Greenville Women's College in Greenville, South Carolina. She taught there for two years, and one year at Annville College in Annville, Pennsylvania. She left Annville College to return to New York in order to resume her training with Professor Cornell in preparation for a singing career. Shortly thereafter she returned home, where she died from influenza on December 24, 1922.","The guide to the the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).","The processing, arrangement, and description of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection began in June 2008 and was completed in October 2008.","A listing of individuals and families in the Biographical Vertical Files at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives is available online,  but files of particular interest may include:","Bentley family (related to the Cloyd, Kent, and McGavock families)--this file contains a 2014 update to: Robert Gray's  The McGavock Family. A Genealogical History of James McGavock and His Descendants from 1760 to 1903 . Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1903. CS 71 .M144 1903 (copies in Special Collections and University Archives and Newman Library).  The 2014 update is also available online. Kent","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","\"Whitethorne Photographs of Kentland for Margaret K. Cowan\" Photograph Album, Ms2021-020","Francis Bell Letter, Ms2024-088","The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection spans the dates 1780 to 1998. The collection contains the papers and business records of four prominent families from Montgomery County and Pulaski County, Virginia and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Also included are documents relating to numerous other individuals and families from across Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. Documents include correspondence, land deeds and warrants, as well as financial records including debt statements, receipts, account statements, and money orders. The collection is divided into thirteen major series: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers, Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers, David Kent Bell Papers, Bell Family Papers, James Withrow Papers, Edgar D. Withrow Papers, Annie P. Withrow Papers, Withrow Family Papers, Kent Family Papers, Cloyd Family Papers, Other Family Papers, and Other Materials. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers: This series spans the years 1917 to 1962 and includes personal correspondence to and from Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. as well as business correspondence and materials from Bell's time as the President of the Bank of Dublin in Dublin, VA. The series also contains bank statements from 1940 to 1941.","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers: This series contains materials dating from 1919 to 1970, including a birth certificate for Edgar W. Bell. The papers are mainly personal in nature. There is extensive correspondence, dating from 1934 to 1970 as well as a scrapbook and some newspaper clippings. There is a limited amount of Edgar Bell's financial records including bank statements dating from 1942 to 1945.","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers: these papers date from 1921 to 1967. These papers include a birth certificate and academic records, as well as, land deeds, tax documents, and financial records. Also included are materials from Gordon Bell Jr.'s time in the military including correspondence from the time of his service in World War II. World War II materials also include a \"Save Conduct Leaflet.\" These leaflets were air dropped in Western Europe by Allied forces in order to aid in the surrender of German Soldiers, the leaflet in this collection was most likely the version distributed from December 1944 through April 1945, it contains both English and German text.","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers: These papers date from 1925 to 1978. They range in scope from David Bell's birth certificate and education records to financial records and insurance documents. Also included is correspondence, some of which dates from David Bell's service in World War II. Also from this period are military documents dating from 1943 to 1948.","Series V: Bell Family Papers: This series is composed for documents from various members of the Bell family including James Bell, Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, Francis Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. These items range in date from 1834 to 1967. They include financial records for James Bell, along with correspondence from Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. This series also contains information regarding the settlement of the estates of both Francis Bell and Mary Withrow Bell.","Series VI: James Withrow Papers: This series contains material ranging in date from 1848 to 1910. The bulk of the material in this series is financial records for James Withrow's business in agriculture, including contracts, correspondence, checks, receipts, money orders, debt statements, and account statements. Also present are documents relating to the settlement of James Withrow's estate.","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers: This series spans the dates 1864 through 1936. Included in this series are personal items including correspondence from Edgar Withrow's time as a Confederate Prisoner of War. Also included are records from the Greenbrier Light Infantry Grays of which Edgar Withrow was a member. The majority of this series is composed of financial records and business records from Edgar Withrow's business as an agricultural implements salesman.","Series VIII: Annie Primrose Withrow Papers: These papers consist of personal correspondence and items dating from 1889 to 1981, including land deeds and other legal documents as well as a 1908 \"Greenbrier\" yearbook from the Lewisburg Female Institute.","Series IX: The Withrow Family Papers: This series spans from 1870 to 1941, it contains materials from members of the Withrow family including business records from various businesses run by James Withrow and his son, Edgar, in addition to this are papers from Heber K. Withrow, Mary Renick Withrow, Helen Withrow, Mary E. Withrow, Mary J. Withrow, Letitia Withrow, and papers from Withrow Place as well as the Withrow Tourist Home.","Series X: The Kent Family Papers: This series includes materials dating from 1814 to 1881. The series includes the correspondence and financial records of two prominent Southwest Virginia landowners, James Randal Kent and David Fenton Kent.","Series XI: The Cloyd Family Papers: The Cloyd family papers include correspondence and financial records for Gordon, Mary, and James Cloyd. Also included are several land surveys done by Gordon Cloyd, a land surveyor for Southwest Virginia. These materials date from 1792 to 1866.","Series XII: Other Family Papers: This series is composed of land warrants and deeds, financial records, and personal correspondence from numerous individuals and families from Southwest Virginia and what is now, Southern West Virginia. These materials range in date from 1780 to 1998 and are dived into two categories, those materials sorted by individual or family and items organized by category.","Series XIII: Other Materials: This series is composed of magazines, booklets, brochures, and photographs that could not be identified as belonging to any one person or family. The series spans the dates 1901 through 1997.","The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.","The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others.","Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family","The materials in the collection are in English."],"unitid_tesim":["Ms.2008.040"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"collection_title_tesim":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"collection_ssim":["Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection"],"repository_ssm":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"repository_ssim":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"creator_ssm":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"creator_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"creators_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"access_terms_ssm":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"acqinfo_ssim":["The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection was donated by James Gordon Bell to Special Collections in 2008: \"In memory of my grandfather, Gordon Cloyd Bell, who collected items of historical interest, and my father, David Kent Bell, who treasured them, my wish is that these items be used to preserve our history.\""],"access_subjects_ssim":["Montgomery County (Va.)","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Women -- History"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Montgomery County (Va.)","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Women -- History"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["9.5 Cubic Feet 18 boxes"],"extent_tesim":["9.5 Cubic Feet 18 boxes"],"date_range_isim":[1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985,1986,1987,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is open for research.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["The collection is open for research."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is arranged into series corresponding to the creators. Each series arranged by type of material and then placed in chronological order. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries I: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Sr. Papers, 1917-1962\t\t\t\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, 1919-1970\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries III: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Jr. Papers, 1921-1967\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV: David Kent Bell Papers, 1925-1978\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries V: Bell Family Papers, 1834-1841\t\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI: James Withrow Papers, 1848-1910\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers, 1864-1936\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII: Annie Withrow Papers, 1889-1981\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX: Withrow Family Papers, 1870-1941\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries X: Kent Family Papers, 1814-1881\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XI: Cloyd Family Papers, 1792-1866\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XII: Other Family Papers, 1780-1998\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XIII: Other Materials, 1901-1997\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The collection is arranged into series corresponding to the creators. Each series arranged by type of material and then placed in chronological order. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Sr. Papers, 1917-1962\t\t\t\t","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, 1919-1970\t","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell, Jr. Papers, 1921-1967\t","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers, 1925-1978\t","Series V: Bell Family Papers, 1834-1841\t","Series VI: James Withrow Papers, 1848-1910","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers, 1864-1936","Series VIII: Annie Withrow Papers, 1889-1981","Series IX: Withrow Family Papers, 1870-1941","Series X: Kent Family Papers, 1814-1881","Series XI: Cloyd Family Papers, 1792-1866","Series XII: Other Family Papers, 1780-1998","Series XIII: Other Materials, 1901-1997"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eGen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJoseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavid Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavid Fenton Kent and Elizabeth Cloyd were married on January 2, 1834. Together they had seven children: Gordon Cloyd, born December 7, 1834, died November 11, 1837; an unnamed son, April 23, 1836 who lived eight days; Mary Elizabeth, born May 17, 1837, died December 14, 1837; James Randal, born August 15, 1838, died September 4, 1861; Sarah McGavock, born November 5, 1839, died March 9, 1891; Joseph Gordon, born March 22, 1841, died July 15, 1886; David Fenton, born May 17, 1844, died October 18, 1878. David F. Kent lived at the Springfield property and ran businesses with a Thomas Miller. He was reputed to have been an entertaining storyteller. David Fenton Kent died on January 28, 1850. Elizabeth Cloyd Kent outlived him by nineteen years, dying February 7, 1869.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJames Randal Kent and Mary Cloyd Kent moved to Buchanan's Bottom and lived at first in the old Trigg house. Later, they built Kentland mansion, which stands to this day. Together James and Mary had five daughters, Elizabeth Cloyd, born 1819, Sarah James, born 1822, Mary Louisa, born 1824, Cynthia, born 1827, and Margaret Gordon, born 1840. James Randal Kent was an enslaver, prominent landowner, and successful farmer. He also held several minor public offices including Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1822 to 1823, he also served as a Justice and a land surveyor. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, James Randal Kent bought up land, he owned around 8000 acres in 1860. In 1855, construction began on a resort at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a hotel that later served as a hospital during the American Civil War. In 1860, James Randal Kent became a founder of the Preston and Olin Institute, a Methodist school in Blacksburg that was the predecessor to present day Virginia Tech. He was among the wealthiest men in Montgomery County with an estimated wealth of $196,000. Kent was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, he enslaved more than 100 people at the start of the war. He served as an organizer for the Confederate Army, as well as a supplier of foodstuffs, providing grain and beef to the Confederate Army all the way up to the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Though Kentland survived the war, many barns and out-buildings were burned, including the plantation office with the majority of James Kent's personal papers, and in 1867 his land was valued at 41% less than it had been in 1860. James Randal Kent died on May 29, 1867. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSarah James Kent, daughter of James Randal Kent, married Francis Bell, a cattle buyer from Staunton, in 1855. Together Sarah and Francis had four surviving children: twin sons, James Randal Kent Bell and Samuel Hays Bell in 1858, a daughter, Mary Louisa Bell in 1861, and Francis \"Frank\" Bell in 1864. They built a home on the land in Pulaski given to Sarah by her father. They lived at Mountain Home until the mid-1870s, when in 1872 Francis Bell purchased land from the Darsts and the Cloyds, their new home, Rockwood, was built c. 1876.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe four Bell children were well educated and all attended college for some period of time. Public schools were non-existent at this time, so a governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick taught them while they lived at Mountain Home. James Randal Kent and Samuel Hays Bell both attended Washington College in Lexington from 1875 to 1877. Mary Louisa Bell went to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. Frank Bell attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the Virginia Military Institute and graduating with the class of 1885.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSarah James Kent Bell died in April of 1884; Francis Bell followed her nine years later in 1893. In their will, all their land and properties were to be divided by the four children as they saw fit. James Randal Kent Bell received the Mountain Home properties, Samuel inherited the land in Augusta County, and Rockwood was split between Frank Bell and Mary Louisa Bell.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJames Randal Kent Bell married three times. His first wife was Maria L. Sedgwick, the daughter of their governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick, Maria died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Mary Peck Bell. His second wife was Lida Howell Whitsett, Lida died in January of 1902. Together they had five children, Amelia Louise, Elizabeth Kent, Sarah Frances, James, and Francis Joseph. The name of James R. K. Bell's third wife is unknown. All of his children were born at Mountain Home and grew up there.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSamuel Hays Bell married Bessie Arbuthnot on May 18, 1893. Together they had four daughters, Sarah James, Elizabeth, Mary Lou, and Margaret. They lived in Staunton on the land inherited from Francis Bell. Samuel Bell died in Staunton on June 26, 1903.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eMary Louisa Bell married Dr. Kent Black at Rockwood November 14, 1894. Dr. Black graduated from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1875, he worked as physician and surgeon at the school until 1890. Dr. Black died in 1909, following his death Mary Louisa Bell Black moved back to Pulaski to live with her family, she died at Rockwood December 12, 1943.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrank Bell married Ellen Gordan Kent, the granddaughter of David Fenton Kent, in 1889. They had eight children: Sarah Kent Bell born September 28, 1890, Gordon Cloyd Bell born January 16, 1892, Ellen Howe Bell born February 12, 1893, Francis Bell born August 16, 1894, Mary Lou Bell born July 1, 1896, Elizabeth Cloyd Bell born September 7, 1897, Samuel Hays Bell born May 16, 1901, and Agnes McGavock Bell born September 1, 1905. Frank Bell worked in the cattle business just like his father and grandfather, he was an accomplished business man and over the years he bought up the rest of the Rockwood property from his sister, Mary Louisa Bell Black. He died at Rockwood on December 21, 1939, just a few months after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversary.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrank Bell's son, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow on November 16, 1918. They had four sons, Edgar Withrow Bell, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr., David Kent Bell, and Andrew Mathews Bell. Gordon Bell Sr. was a farmer and overseer of farm lands, he also served as the President of the Bank of Dublin. Mary Withrow Bell died September 30, 1938. Gordon Cloyd Sr. then married Lucy Preston King in October of 1942, they lived for a time in Phoenix, Arizona where Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. died in 1965.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEdgar Withrow Bell, the eldest son of Gordon Cloyd and Mary Withrow Bell was born on October 27, 1919. He grew up in Dublin and attended Lees-McCrea College in North Carolina. He wrote articles about music trends and opened \"The Record Bar\" at Wysor Electric Appliance Co. in Dublin. He also served as a postal worker in Arlington where he died in November of 1971.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGordon Cloyd Bell Jr. was born in Dublin on May 13, 1921. He was a farmer and overseer of the Withrow and Bell lands in Pulaski County, VA. He also served on the board of the Bank of Dublin. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Furman College before entering the armed services in January of 1943 and served with the Black Panther Division during World War II. Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September of 1967.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavid Kent Bell was born in Dublin on April 5, 1925. David attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated with the Class of 1949. He also served in the armed services during World War II. He married Beverly Ann Gould from Baltimore, together they had two children: Sheri Lynn Bell born April 30, 1957 and James Gordon Bell born March 3, 1959. David Kent and Beverly Gould divorced and he married Helga Lewandowski. David Kent Bell died January 26, 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAndrew Mathews Bell was born in Dublin on July 14, 1932. He died October 26, 1948.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEllen Howe Bell was born February 12, 1893. She attended Mary Baldwin College. Ellen married Orrin Rankin Magill on September 30, 1915. Through the National YMCA, they moved to China where they lived for many years. Upon retiring, they moved to Blacksburg where they often entertained Chinese students attending Virginia Tech. Ellen Howe Bell Magill was elected the 1962 Mother of the Year in Blacksburg. She died January 19, 1968.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eIn 1918, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow. She was the granddaughter of James W. Withrow of Greenbrier County. James Withrow was born in Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia, on October 23, 1818. Though not a licensed attorney he served as a judge and for many years, the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court. He also represented the county in the state legislature where he served on the Judiciary Committee. He married Mary Jane Kincaid and had two sons, Edgar Daingerfield Withrow and Heber K. Withrow, and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Feamster, Miss Mary J. Withrow, and Mrs. Lucy Withrow Montgomery. James Withrow died June 26, 1901.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEdgar Daingerfield Withrow was born December 9, 1845. He married Mary See Renick on November 3, 1886. Edgar served in the Civil War as a member of Confederate company E of the 14th Virginia Cavalry. Edgar was captured at Berryville in 1864 and spent the end of the war at Camp Chare in Ohio. Following the War, Edgar went into business with his father, and later ran his own business selling agricultural implements. Together with Mary Renick, he had six daughters and one son: Mary Mathews Withrow, born September 16, 1887, died October 3, 1892; Annie Primrose Withrow, born January 26, 1889, died June 16, 1982; Mary Eliza Withrow, born November 29, 1892, died September 29, 1938; Helen Cameron Withrow, born January 9, 1895, died July 25, 1903; Letitia Renick Withrow, born July 1, 1897, died December 24, 1922; Geraldine Withrow, born August 1, 1901, died July 8, 1902; Edgar D. Withrow Jr., born July 8, 1903, died October 2, 1913. The Withrows moved to Pulaski County sometime around 1910. Edgar Withrow died March 9, 1926 and Mary Renick Withrow died January 7, 1929. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAnnie P. Withrow never married. She was very close with her nephews, Edgar, Gordon, David and Andrew Bell, and much of their correspondence was written to her. She attended the Lewisburg Female Institute beginning in 1907. Annie Withrow died in June of 1982.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLetitia R. Withrow was born July 1, 1897. She moved with her family to Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School. She then attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon until the school burned in 1914. She then entered Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, following graduation she became a special student of voice under Professor A. Y. Cornell of New York for two years. In 1919, she took a job as Assistant Voice Teacher at Greenville Women's College in Greenville, South Carolina. She taught there for two years, and one year at Annville College in Annville, Pennsylvania. She left Annville College to return to New York in order to resume her training with Professor Cornell in preparation for a singing career. Shortly thereafter she returned home, where she died from influenza on December 24, 1922.\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Family History"],"bioghist_tesim":["Gen. Gordon Cloyd was a descendant of David Cloyd. In 1764, Indians attacked the homestead of David Cloyd in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His wife, Margaret, was killed, as well as his son, John. Another son, Joseph Cloyd was away from the house at the time of the attack and was thus spared. David Cloyd passed away in 1792; Joseph Cloyd bought land and settled in Back Creek in present day Pulaski County in 1773. During the American Revolution, Joseph Cloyd served under Col. William Preston of Montgomery County. He is credited with saving Col. Preston's life when Preston was thrown from his horse during a skirmish at Wetzell's Mill in North Carolina. Following the war, Joseph Cloyd bought up more land in Pulaski County and built a brick house on Back Creek. ","Joseph Cloyd married Mary Gordon and together they had three sons, Gordon, David, and Thomas. Gordon and David married two sisters, Sallie and Elizabeth McGavock. The McGavock sisters were the daughters of James McGavock and Mary Cloyd, Joseph Cloyd's sister. James and Mary McGavock also had a third daughter, Margaret, who married Joseph Kent.","David Cloyd and Sallie McGavock had five children: Margaret, Joseph, Gordon, Cynthia, and James McGavock. James McGavock Cloyd married Frances E. McNutt on November 5, 1853, together they had on child, David, in January of 1855. Frances died on December 21, 1858. James then married Harriet J. Ernest on January 10, 1861. They had four children: Fanny Ernest, Lucy McGavock, Sally, and Harriet Gordon. James Cloyd lived at the homestead on Back Creek in Pulaski County that was originally settled by Col. Joseph Cloyd.","Gordon Cloyd commanded the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812; he was later promoted to Major-General and thereafter was known as General Cloyd. He later served as a land surveyor for the Montgomery County area, and together with his brothers, purchased a tract of land along the New River know as Buchanan's Bottom. Gen. Gordon Cloyd and Elizabeth McGavock Cloyd together had six children, only two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Cloyd survived. The two sisters married two brothers, James Randal and David Fenton Kent. David and James were the sons of Joseph Kent and Margaret McGavock Kent. Gordon Cloyd left the Buchanan's Bottom land to his daughter, Mary, and her husband, James Randal Kent. Elizabeth Kent and David Fenton Kent received the land at Back Creek and the house known as Springfield.","David Fenton Kent and Elizabeth Cloyd were married on January 2, 1834. Together they had seven children: Gordon Cloyd, born December 7, 1834, died November 11, 1837; an unnamed son, April 23, 1836 who lived eight days; Mary Elizabeth, born May 17, 1837, died December 14, 1837; James Randal, born August 15, 1838, died September 4, 1861; Sarah McGavock, born November 5, 1839, died March 9, 1891; Joseph Gordon, born March 22, 1841, died July 15, 1886; David Fenton, born May 17, 1844, died October 18, 1878. David F. Kent lived at the Springfield property and ran businesses with a Thomas Miller. He was reputed to have been an entertaining storyteller. David Fenton Kent died on January 28, 1850. Elizabeth Cloyd Kent outlived him by nineteen years, dying February 7, 1869.","James Randal Kent and Mary Cloyd Kent moved to Buchanan's Bottom and lived at first in the old Trigg house. Later, they built Kentland mansion, which stands to this day. Together James and Mary had five daughters, Elizabeth Cloyd, born 1819, Sarah James, born 1822, Mary Louisa, born 1824, Cynthia, born 1827, and Margaret Gordon, born 1840. James Randal Kent was an enslaver, prominent landowner, and successful farmer. He also held several minor public offices including Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1822 to 1823, he also served as a Justice and a land surveyor. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, James Randal Kent bought up land, he owned around 8000 acres in 1860. In 1855, construction began on a resort at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, a hotel that later served as a hospital during the American Civil War. In 1860, James Randal Kent became a founder of the Preston and Olin Institute, a Methodist school in Blacksburg that was the predecessor to present day Virginia Tech. He was among the wealthiest men in Montgomery County with an estimated wealth of $196,000. Kent was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, he enslaved more than 100 people at the start of the war. He served as an organizer for the Confederate Army, as well as a supplier of foodstuffs, providing grain and beef to the Confederate Army all the way up to the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Though Kentland survived the war, many barns and out-buildings were burned, including the plantation office with the majority of James Kent's personal papers, and in 1867 his land was valued at 41% less than it had been in 1860. James Randal Kent died on May 29, 1867. ","Sarah James Kent, daughter of James Randal Kent, married Francis Bell, a cattle buyer from Staunton, in 1855. Together Sarah and Francis had four surviving children: twin sons, James Randal Kent Bell and Samuel Hays Bell in 1858, a daughter, Mary Louisa Bell in 1861, and Francis \"Frank\" Bell in 1864. They built a home on the land in Pulaski given to Sarah by her father. They lived at Mountain Home until the mid-1870s, when in 1872 Francis Bell purchased land from the Darsts and the Cloyds, their new home, Rockwood, was built c. 1876.","The four Bell children were well educated and all attended college for some period of time. Public schools were non-existent at this time, so a governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick taught them while they lived at Mountain Home. James Randal Kent and Samuel Hays Bell both attended Washington College in Lexington from 1875 to 1877. Mary Louisa Bell went to Mary Baldwin College in Staunton. Frank Bell attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute before transferring to the Virginia Military Institute and graduating with the class of 1885.","Sarah James Kent Bell died in April of 1884; Francis Bell followed her nine years later in 1893. In their will, all their land and properties were to be divided by the four children as they saw fit. James Randal Kent Bell received the Mountain Home properties, Samuel inherited the land in Augusta County, and Rockwood was split between Frank Bell and Mary Louisa Bell.","James Randal Kent Bell married three times. His first wife was Maria L. Sedgwick, the daughter of their governess, Mary Eliza Sedgewick, Maria died shortly after the birth of their daughter, Mary Peck Bell. His second wife was Lida Howell Whitsett, Lida died in January of 1902. Together they had five children, Amelia Louise, Elizabeth Kent, Sarah Frances, James, and Francis Joseph. The name of James R. K. Bell's third wife is unknown. All of his children were born at Mountain Home and grew up there.","Samuel Hays Bell married Bessie Arbuthnot on May 18, 1893. Together they had four daughters, Sarah James, Elizabeth, Mary Lou, and Margaret. They lived in Staunton on the land inherited from Francis Bell. Samuel Bell died in Staunton on June 26, 1903.","Mary Louisa Bell married Dr. Kent Black at Rockwood November 14, 1894. Dr. Black graduated from the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1875, he worked as physician and surgeon at the school until 1890. Dr. Black died in 1909, following his death Mary Louisa Bell Black moved back to Pulaski to live with her family, she died at Rockwood December 12, 1943.","Frank Bell married Ellen Gordan Kent, the granddaughter of David Fenton Kent, in 1889. They had eight children: Sarah Kent Bell born September 28, 1890, Gordon Cloyd Bell born January 16, 1892, Ellen Howe Bell born February 12, 1893, Francis Bell born August 16, 1894, Mary Lou Bell born July 1, 1896, Elizabeth Cloyd Bell born September 7, 1897, Samuel Hays Bell born May 16, 1901, and Agnes McGavock Bell born September 1, 1905. Frank Bell worked in the cattle business just like his father and grandfather, he was an accomplished business man and over the years he bought up the rest of the Rockwood property from his sister, Mary Louisa Bell Black. He died at Rockwood on December 21, 1939, just a few months after the celebration of his fiftieth wedding anniversary.","Frank Bell's son, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow on November 16, 1918. They had four sons, Edgar Withrow Bell, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr., David Kent Bell, and Andrew Mathews Bell. Gordon Bell Sr. was a farmer and overseer of farm lands, he also served as the President of the Bank of Dublin. Mary Withrow Bell died September 30, 1938. Gordon Cloyd Sr. then married Lucy Preston King in October of 1942, they lived for a time in Phoenix, Arizona where Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. died in 1965.","Edgar Withrow Bell, the eldest son of Gordon Cloyd and Mary Withrow Bell was born on October 27, 1919. He grew up in Dublin and attended Lees-McCrea College in North Carolina. He wrote articles about music trends and opened \"The Record Bar\" at Wysor Electric Appliance Co. in Dublin. He also served as a postal worker in Arlington where he died in November of 1971.","Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. was born in Dublin on May 13, 1921. He was a farmer and overseer of the Withrow and Bell lands in Pulaski County, VA. He also served on the board of the Bank of Dublin. He attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Furman College before entering the armed services in January of 1943 and served with the Black Panther Division during World War II. Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September of 1967.","David Kent Bell was born in Dublin on April 5, 1925. David attended the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and graduated with the Class of 1949. He also served in the armed services during World War II. He married Beverly Ann Gould from Baltimore, together they had two children: Sheri Lynn Bell born April 30, 1957 and James Gordon Bell born March 3, 1959. David Kent and Beverly Gould divorced and he married Helga Lewandowski. David Kent Bell died January 26, 2003.","Andrew Mathews Bell was born in Dublin on July 14, 1932. He died October 26, 1948.","Ellen Howe Bell was born February 12, 1893. She attended Mary Baldwin College. Ellen married Orrin Rankin Magill on September 30, 1915. Through the National YMCA, they moved to China where they lived for many years. Upon retiring, they moved to Blacksburg where they often entertained Chinese students attending Virginia Tech. Ellen Howe Bell Magill was elected the 1962 Mother of the Year in Blacksburg. She died January 19, 1968.","In 1918, Gordon Cloyd Bell married Mary Eliza Withrow. She was the granddaughter of James W. Withrow of Greenbrier County. James Withrow was born in Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia, on October 23, 1818. Though not a licensed attorney he served as a judge and for many years, the Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court. He also represented the county in the state legislature where he served on the Judiciary Committee. He married Mary Jane Kincaid and had two sons, Edgar Daingerfield Withrow and Heber K. Withrow, and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Feamster, Miss Mary J. Withrow, and Mrs. Lucy Withrow Montgomery. James Withrow died June 26, 1901.","Edgar Daingerfield Withrow was born December 9, 1845. He married Mary See Renick on November 3, 1886. Edgar served in the Civil War as a member of Confederate company E of the 14th Virginia Cavalry. Edgar was captured at Berryville in 1864 and spent the end of the war at Camp Chare in Ohio. Following the War, Edgar went into business with his father, and later ran his own business selling agricultural implements. Together with Mary Renick, he had six daughters and one son: Mary Mathews Withrow, born September 16, 1887, died October 3, 1892; Annie Primrose Withrow, born January 26, 1889, died June 16, 1982; Mary Eliza Withrow, born November 29, 1892, died September 29, 1938; Helen Cameron Withrow, born January 9, 1895, died July 25, 1903; Letitia Renick Withrow, born July 1, 1897, died December 24, 1922; Geraldine Withrow, born August 1, 1901, died July 8, 1902; Edgar D. Withrow Jr., born July 8, 1903, died October 2, 1913. The Withrows moved to Pulaski County sometime around 1910. Edgar Withrow died March 9, 1926 and Mary Renick Withrow died January 7, 1929. ","Annie P. Withrow never married. She was very close with her nephews, Edgar, Gordon, David and Andrew Bell, and much of their correspondence was written to her. She attended the Lewisburg Female Institute beginning in 1907. Annie Withrow died in June of 1982.","Letitia R. Withrow was born July 1, 1897. She moved with her family to Dublin and graduated from Dublin High School. She then attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon until the school burned in 1914. She then entered Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, following graduation she became a special student of voice under Professor A. Y. Cornell of New York for two years. In 1919, she took a job as Assistant Voice Teacher at Greenville Women's College in Greenville, South Carolina. She taught there for two years, and one year at Annville College in Annville, Pennsylvania. She left Annville College to return to New York in order to resume her training with Professor Cornell in preparation for a singing career. Shortly thereafter she returned home, where she died from influenza on December 24, 1922."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe guide to the the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\"\u003ehttps://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\u003c/a\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"],"odd_heading_ssm":["Rights Statement for Archival Description"],"odd_tesim":["The guide to the the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ )."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe processing, arrangement, and description of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection began in June 2008 and was completed in October 2008.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["The processing, arrangement, and description of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection began in June 2008 and was completed in October 2008."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_3149.xml\"\u003eA listing of individuals and families in the Biographical Vertical Files at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives is available online,\u003c/a\u003e but files of particular interest may include:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003clist\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eBentley family (related to the Cloyd, Kent, and McGavock families)--this file contains a 2014 update to: Robert Gray's \u003ctitle render=\"italic\"\u003eThe McGavock Family. A Genealogical History of James McGavock and His Descendants from 1760 to 1903\u003c/title\u003e. Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1903. CS 71 .M144 1903 (copies in Special Collections and University Archives and Newman Library). \u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/items/show/2684\"\u003eThe 2014 update is also available online.\u003c/a\u003e \u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eKent\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003c/list\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSee the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1290.xml\"\u003eBlack, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1474.xml\"\u003eJames Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1779.xml\"\u003eElizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_3537.xml\"\u003e\"Whitethorne Photographs of Kentland for Margaret K. Cowan\" Photograph Album, Ms2021-020\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_4314.xml\"\u003eFrancis Bell Letter, Ms2024-088\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Archival Materials"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["A listing of individuals and families in the Biographical Vertical Files at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives is available online,  but files of particular interest may include:","Bentley family (related to the Cloyd, Kent, and McGavock families)--this file contains a 2014 update to: Robert Gray's  The McGavock Family. A Genealogical History of James McGavock and His Descendants from 1760 to 1903 . Richmond: W.E. Jones, 1903. CS 71 .M144 1903 (copies in Special Collections and University Archives and Newman Library).  The 2014 update is also available online. Kent","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","\"Whitethorne Photographs of Kentland for Margaret K. Cowan\" Photograph Album, Ms2021-020","Francis Bell Letter, Ms2024-088"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection spans the dates 1780 to 1998. The collection contains the papers and business records of four prominent families from Montgomery County and Pulaski County, Virginia and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Also included are documents relating to numerous other individuals and families from across Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. Documents include correspondence, land deeds and warrants, as well as financial records including debt statements, receipts, account statements, and money orders. The collection is divided into thirteen major series: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers, Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers, David Kent Bell Papers, Bell Family Papers, James Withrow Papers, Edgar D. Withrow Papers, Annie P. Withrow Papers, Withrow Family Papers, Kent Family Papers, Cloyd Family Papers, Other Family Papers, and Other Materials. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries I: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers: This series spans the years 1917 to 1962 and includes personal correspondence to and from Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. as well as business correspondence and materials from Bell's time as the President of the Bank of Dublin in Dublin, VA. The series also contains bank statements from 1940 to 1941.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers: This series contains materials dating from 1919 to 1970, including a birth certificate for Edgar W. Bell. The papers are mainly personal in nature. There is extensive correspondence, dating from 1934 to 1970 as well as a scrapbook and some newspaper clippings. There is a limited amount of Edgar Bell's financial records including bank statements dating from 1942 to 1945.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries III: Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers: these papers date from 1921 to 1967. These papers include a birth certificate and academic records, as well as, land deeds, tax documents, and financial records. Also included are materials from Gordon Bell Jr.'s time in the military including correspondence from the time of his service in World War II. World War II materials also include a \"Save Conduct Leaflet.\" These leaflets were air dropped in Western Europe by Allied forces in order to aid in the surrender of German Soldiers, the leaflet in this collection was most likely the version distributed from December 1944 through April 1945, it contains both English and German text.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV: David Kent Bell Papers: These papers date from 1925 to 1978. They range in scope from David Bell's birth certificate and education records to financial records and insurance documents. Also included is correspondence, some of which dates from David Bell's service in World War II. Also from this period are military documents dating from 1943 to 1948.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries V: Bell Family Papers: This series is composed for documents from various members of the Bell family including James Bell, Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, Francis Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. These items range in date from 1834 to 1967. They include financial records for James Bell, along with correspondence from Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. This series also contains information regarding the settlement of the estates of both Francis Bell and Mary Withrow Bell.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI: James Withrow Papers: This series contains material ranging in date from 1848 to 1910. The bulk of the material in this series is financial records for James Withrow's business in agriculture, including contracts, correspondence, checks, receipts, money orders, debt statements, and account statements. Also present are documents relating to the settlement of James Withrow's estate.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers: This series spans the dates 1864 through 1936. Included in this series are personal items including correspondence from Edgar Withrow's time as a Confederate Prisoner of War. Also included are records from the Greenbrier Light Infantry Grays of which Edgar Withrow was a member. The majority of this series is composed of financial records and business records from Edgar Withrow's business as an agricultural implements salesman.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII: Annie Primrose Withrow Papers: These papers consist of personal correspondence and items dating from 1889 to 1981, including land deeds and other legal documents as well as a 1908 \"Greenbrier\" yearbook from the Lewisburg Female Institute.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX: The Withrow Family Papers: This series spans from 1870 to 1941, it contains materials from members of the Withrow family including business records from various businesses run by James Withrow and his son, Edgar, in addition to this are papers from Heber K. Withrow, Mary Renick Withrow, Helen Withrow, Mary E. Withrow, Mary J. Withrow, Letitia Withrow, and papers from Withrow Place as well as the Withrow Tourist Home.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries X: The Kent Family Papers: This series includes materials dating from 1814 to 1881. The series includes the correspondence and financial records of two prominent Southwest Virginia landowners, James Randal Kent and David Fenton Kent.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XI: The Cloyd Family Papers: The Cloyd family papers include correspondence and financial records for Gordon, Mary, and James Cloyd. Also included are several land surveys done by Gordon Cloyd, a land surveyor for Southwest Virginia. These materials date from 1792 to 1866.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XII: Other Family Papers: This series is composed of land warrants and deeds, financial records, and personal correspondence from numerous individuals and families from Southwest Virginia and what is now, Southern West Virginia. These materials range in date from 1780 to 1998 and are dived into two categories, those materials sorted by individual or family and items organized by category.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries XIII: Other Materials: This series is composed of magazines, booklets, brochures, and photographs that could not be identified as belonging to any one person or family. The series spans the dates 1901 through 1997.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection spans the dates 1780 to 1998. The collection contains the papers and business records of four prominent families from Montgomery County and Pulaski County, Virginia and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Also included are documents relating to numerous other individuals and families from across Southwest Virginia and Southern West Virginia. Documents include correspondence, land deeds and warrants, as well as financial records including debt statements, receipts, account statements, and money orders. The collection is divided into thirteen major series: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers, Edgar Withrow Bell Papers, Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers, David Kent Bell Papers, Bell Family Papers, James Withrow Papers, Edgar D. Withrow Papers, Annie P. Withrow Papers, Withrow Family Papers, Kent Family Papers, Cloyd Family Papers, Other Family Papers, and Other Materials. ","Series I: Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. Papers: This series spans the years 1917 to 1962 and includes personal correspondence to and from Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr. as well as business correspondence and materials from Bell's time as the President of the Bank of Dublin in Dublin, VA. The series also contains bank statements from 1940 to 1941.","Series II: Edgar Withrow Bell Papers: This series contains materials dating from 1919 to 1970, including a birth certificate for Edgar W. Bell. The papers are mainly personal in nature. There is extensive correspondence, dating from 1934 to 1970 as well as a scrapbook and some newspaper clippings. There is a limited amount of Edgar Bell's financial records including bank statements dating from 1942 to 1945.","Series III: Gordon Cloyd Bell Jr. Papers: these papers date from 1921 to 1967. These papers include a birth certificate and academic records, as well as, land deeds, tax documents, and financial records. Also included are materials from Gordon Bell Jr.'s time in the military including correspondence from the time of his service in World War II. World War II materials also include a \"Save Conduct Leaflet.\" These leaflets were air dropped in Western Europe by Allied forces in order to aid in the surrender of German Soldiers, the leaflet in this collection was most likely the version distributed from December 1944 through April 1945, it contains both English and German text.","Series IV: David Kent Bell Papers: These papers date from 1925 to 1978. They range in scope from David Bell's birth certificate and education records to financial records and insurance documents. Also included is correspondence, some of which dates from David Bell's service in World War II. Also from this period are military documents dating from 1943 to 1948.","Series V: Bell Family Papers: This series is composed for documents from various members of the Bell family including James Bell, Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, Francis Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. These items range in date from 1834 to 1967. They include financial records for James Bell, along with correspondence from Mary Withrow Bell, Andrew Bell, and Ellen Howe Bell Magill. This series also contains information regarding the settlement of the estates of both Francis Bell and Mary Withrow Bell.","Series VI: James Withrow Papers: This series contains material ranging in date from 1848 to 1910. The bulk of the material in this series is financial records for James Withrow's business in agriculture, including contracts, correspondence, checks, receipts, money orders, debt statements, and account statements. Also present are documents relating to the settlement of James Withrow's estate.","Series VII: Edgar D. Withrow Papers: This series spans the dates 1864 through 1936. Included in this series are personal items including correspondence from Edgar Withrow's time as a Confederate Prisoner of War. Also included are records from the Greenbrier Light Infantry Grays of which Edgar Withrow was a member. The majority of this series is composed of financial records and business records from Edgar Withrow's business as an agricultural implements salesman.","Series VIII: Annie Primrose Withrow Papers: These papers consist of personal correspondence and items dating from 1889 to 1981, including land deeds and other legal documents as well as a 1908 \"Greenbrier\" yearbook from the Lewisburg Female Institute.","Series IX: The Withrow Family Papers: This series spans from 1870 to 1941, it contains materials from members of the Withrow family including business records from various businesses run by James Withrow and his son, Edgar, in addition to this are papers from Heber K. Withrow, Mary Renick Withrow, Helen Withrow, Mary E. Withrow, Mary J. Withrow, Letitia Withrow, and papers from Withrow Place as well as the Withrow Tourist Home.","Series X: The Kent Family Papers: This series includes materials dating from 1814 to 1881. The series includes the correspondence and financial records of two prominent Southwest Virginia landowners, James Randal Kent and David Fenton Kent.","Series XI: The Cloyd Family Papers: The Cloyd family papers include correspondence and financial records for Gordon, Mary, and James Cloyd. Also included are several land surveys done by Gordon Cloyd, a land surveyor for Southwest Virginia. These materials date from 1792 to 1866.","Series XII: Other Family Papers: This series is composed of land warrants and deeds, financial records, and personal correspondence from numerous individuals and families from Southwest Virginia and what is now, Southern West Virginia. These materials range in date from 1780 to 1998 and are dived into two categories, those materials sorted by individual or family and items organized by category.","Series XIII: Other Materials: This series is composed of magazines, booklets, brochures, and photographs that could not be identified as belonging to any one person or family. The series spans the dates 1901 through 1997."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuareproduction\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuareproduction\u003c/a\u003e. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuapublication\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuapublication\u003c/a\u003e. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract id=\"aspace_a5f70c760aaa388e4b03cbb66aec856e\" label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThe Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others.\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["The Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection contains the personal papers and financial records of members of four prominent families. Included are members of the Bell, Kent, Cloyd, and Withrow families, as well as, materials from related families and acquaintances. This is a diverse collection containing materials dating from 1780 to 1998. Items of interest include several Land Deeds and Warrant from the late 18th Century, including one signed by Benjamin Harrison, then Governor of Virginia; American Civil War correspondence from Confederate POW, Edgar Withrow; Regimental listings from the 19th Brigade of the Virginia Militia; and correspondence and military documents dating from World War II. The main collection contains materials from Gen. Gordon Cloyd, James Randal Kent, David Fenton Kent, Gordon Cloyd Bell Sr., David Kent Bell, James and Edgar Withrow, and many others."],"names_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech"],"names_coll_ssim":["Withrow family","Kent family","Cloyd family","Bell family"],"famname_ssim":["Withrow family","Cloyd family","Kent family","Bell family"],"language_ssim":["The materials in the collection are in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":221,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:41:59.155Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_2361"}},{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","type":"collection","attributes":{"title":"Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","ead_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_root_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_nest_parent_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1290.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","title_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"title_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1779-1984"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1779-1984"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Ms.1974.003"],"text":["Ms.1974.003","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)","Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History","The collection is open to research.","Some of this collection has been digitized and is available online.","A microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library.","The papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.","Series include the following:","Series I. Harvey Black Papers Series II. Black Family Papers Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers Series IV. Black Family Business Records Series V. John S. Apperson Papers Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company Series X. Assorted Papers","In 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.","Harvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.","On August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.","After the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.","From 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.","John S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.","John Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.","After his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.","In 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.","Harvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.","Germanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.","Sources Glenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183 A Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995) Biographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183 \"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d.","The guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).","The papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.","Three boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","Medical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040","The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.","Series I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.","Dating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.","The Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.","General Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.","The Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.","The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.","Series II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.","Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.","Series IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026 Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.","Series V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.","Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.","Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.","Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.","Series X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and  The Christian Union  publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown.","The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.","This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.","Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)","The materials in the collection are in English."],"unitid_tesim":["Ms.1974.003"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"collection_ssim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"repository_ssm":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"repository_ssim":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"geogname_ssm":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"geogname_ssim":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"places_ssim":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"access_terms_ssm":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"acqinfo_ssim":["The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers were donated to Virginia Tech from 1955 to 1990. The American Civil War letters of Harvey Black and the Civil War diaries of John Apperson were donated in 1974."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["ca. 7 Cubic Feet 21 boxes and 1 oversize folder"],"extent_tesim":["ca. 7 Cubic Feet 21 boxes and 1 oversize folder"],"date_range_isim":[1779,1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is open to research.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["The collection is open to research."],"altformavail_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca show=\"_blank\" href=\"https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/collections/show/38\"\u003eSome of this collection has been digitized and is available online.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eA microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library.\u003c/p\u003e"],"altformavail_heading_ssm":["Existence and Location of Copies"],"altformavail_tesim":["Some of this collection has been digitized and is available online.","A microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003clist\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries I. Harvey Black Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries II. Black Family Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries IV. Black Family Business Records\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VII. Alexander Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries X. Assorted Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003c/list\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.","Series include the following:","Series I. Harvey Black Papers Series II. Black Family Papers Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers Series IV. Black Family Business Records Series V. John S. Apperson Papers Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company Series X. Assorted Papers"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eIn 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHarvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eOn August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAfter the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrom 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJohn S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJohn Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAfter his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eIn 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHarvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGermanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003clist type=\"ordered\"\u003e\n      \u003chead\u003eSources\u003c/head\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003eGlenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183\u003c/item\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003eA Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995)\u003c/item\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003eBiographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183\u003c/item\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003e\"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d.\u003c/item\u003e\n    \u003c/list\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Note"],"bioghist_tesim":["In 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.","Harvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.","On August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.","After the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.","From 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.","John S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.","John Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.","After his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.","In 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.","Harvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.","Germanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.","Sources Glenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183 A Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995) Biographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183 \"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\"\u003ehttps://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\u003c/a\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"],"odd_heading_ssm":["Rights Statement for Archival Description"],"odd_tesim":["The guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ )."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThree boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["The papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.","Three boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1474.xml\"\u003eJames Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1779.xml\"\u003eElizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2503.xml\"\u003eMedical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2361.xml\"\u003eBell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Archival Materials"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","Medical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGeneral Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026amp; Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eThe Christian Union\u003c/emph\u003e publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.","Series I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.","Dating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.","The Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.","General Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.","The Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.","The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.","Series II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.","Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.","Series IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026 Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.","Series V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.","Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.","Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.","Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.","Series X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and  The Christian Union  publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuareproduction\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuareproduction\u003c/a\u003e. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuapublication\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuapublication\u003c/a\u003e. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract id=\"aspace_36b4a62ab56ab232aa259e6ea40349e2\" label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThis collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson."],"names_coll_ssim":["A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son"],"famname_ssim":["Apperson family","Black family","Kent family"],"persname_ssim":["Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"language_ssim":["The materials in the collection are in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":172,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:41:45.450Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","ead_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_root_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_nest_parent_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1290.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","title_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"title_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1779-1984"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1779-1984"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Ms.1974.003"],"text":["Ms.1974.003","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)","Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History","The collection is open to research.","Some of this collection has been digitized and is available online.","A microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library.","The papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.","Series include the following:","Series I. Harvey Black Papers Series II. Black Family Papers Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers Series IV. Black Family Business Records Series V. John S. Apperson Papers Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company Series X. Assorted Papers","In 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.","Harvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.","On August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.","After the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.","From 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.","John S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.","John Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.","After his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.","In 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.","Harvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.","Germanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.","Sources Glenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183 A Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995) Biographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183 \"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d.","The guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).","The papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.","Three boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","Medical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040","The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.","Series I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.","Dating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.","The Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.","General Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.","The Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.","The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.","Series II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.","Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.","Series IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026 Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.","Series V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.","Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.","Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.","Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.","Series X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and  The Christian Union  publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown.","The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.","This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.","Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)","The materials in the collection are in English."],"unitid_tesim":["Ms.1974.003"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"collection_title_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"collection_ssim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"repository_ssm":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"repository_ssim":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"geogname_ssm":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"geogname_ssim":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"places_ssim":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"access_terms_ssm":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"acqinfo_ssim":["The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers were donated to Virginia Tech from 1955 to 1990. The American Civil War letters of Harvey Black and the Civil War diaries of John Apperson were donated in 1974."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["ca. 7 Cubic Feet 21 boxes and 1 oversize folder"],"extent_tesim":["ca. 7 Cubic Feet 21 boxes and 1 oversize folder"],"date_range_isim":[1779,1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is open to research.\u003c/p\u003e"],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["The collection is open to research."],"altformavail_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca show=\"_blank\" href=\"https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/collections/show/38\"\u003eSome of this collection has been digitized and is available online.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eA microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library.\u003c/p\u003e"],"altformavail_heading_ssm":["Existence and Location of Copies"],"altformavail_tesim":["Some of this collection has been digitized and is available online.","A microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003clist\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries I. Harvey Black Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries II. Black Family Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries IV. Black Family Business Records\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VII. Alexander Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries X. Assorted Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003c/list\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.","Series include the following:","Series I. Harvey Black Papers Series II. Black Family Papers Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers Series IV. Black Family Business Records Series V. John S. Apperson Papers Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company Series X. Assorted Papers"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eIn 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHarvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eOn August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAfter the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eFrom 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJohn S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eJohn Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAfter his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eIn 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHarvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGermanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003clist type=\"ordered\"\u003e\n      \u003chead\u003eSources\u003c/head\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003eGlenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183\u003c/item\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003eA Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995)\u003c/item\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003eBiographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183\u003c/item\u003e\n      \u003citem\u003e\"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d.\u003c/item\u003e\n    \u003c/list\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Note"],"bioghist_tesim":["In 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.","Harvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.","On August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.","After the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.","From 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.","John S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.","John Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.","After his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.","In 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.","Harvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.","Germanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.","Sources Glenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183 A Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995) Biographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183 \"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\"\u003ehttps://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\u003c/a\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"],"odd_heading_ssm":["Rights Statement for Archival Description"],"odd_tesim":["The guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ )."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThree boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.\u003c/p\u003e"],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["The papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.","Three boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1474.xml\"\u003eJames Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1779.xml\"\u003eElizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2503.xml\"\u003eMedical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2361.xml\"\u003eBell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Archival Materials"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","Medical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eGeneral Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eThe Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026amp; Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eThe Christian Union\u003c/emph\u003e publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.","Series I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.","Dating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.","The Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.","General Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.","The Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.","The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.","Series II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.","Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.","Series IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026 Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.","Series V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.","Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.","Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.","Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.","Series X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and  The Christian Union  publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. \u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuareproduction\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuareproduction\u003c/a\u003e. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuapublication\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuapublication\u003c/a\u003e. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. ","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form:  http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form:  http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract id=\"aspace_36b4a62ab56ab232aa259e6ea40349e2\" label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThis collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.\u003c/abstract\u003e"],"abstract_tesim":["This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson."],"names_coll_ssim":["A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son"],"famname_ssim":["Apperson family","Black family","Kent family"],"persname_ssim":["Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"language_ssim":["The materials in the collection are in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":172,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:41:45.450Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290"}}],"included":[{"type":"facet","id":"repository_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Repository","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University","value":"Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University","hits":2},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family\u0026f%5Brepository%5D%5B%5D=Virginia+Polytechnic+Institute+and+State+University"}}]},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/facet/repository_ssim.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family"}},{"type":"facet","id":"collection_ssim","attributes":{"label":"Collection","items":[{"attributes":{"label":"Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","value":"Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection","hits":1},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Bell%2C+Kent%2C+Cloyd%2C+Withrow+Family+Collection\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family"}},{"attributes":{"label":"Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","value":"Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","hits":1},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Black%2C+Kent%2C+and+Apperson+Family+Papers\u0026f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family"}}]},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/facet/collection_ssim.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1782\u0026f%5Bnames%5D%5B%5D=Kent+family"}},{"type":"facet","id":"date_range_isim","attributes":{"label":"Date 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