Papers, 1623-1930

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Creator:
Tazewell family
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Papers, 1623-1930, of the Tazewell family of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Norfolk, Virginia, consisting of the personal and family papers, including account books, accounts, advertisements, agreements, bills of sale, clippings, commissions, correspondence, deeds, diaries, essays, genealogies, insurance policies, judicial records, legal papers, notes, receipts, speeches, tax records, and wills.

Series I: Papers, 1650-1890, contain the legal, political, business, and personal papers of the Tazewell family, mainly those of Henry Tazewell (1753-1799) and Littleton Waller Tazewell (1774-1860). Papers contain deeds from James City County, Northampton County and Norfolk, Virginia, as well as other counties; wills of members of the Tazewell family, and accounts of their plantations in James City County, Northampton County, and Princess Anne County, Virginia. Also includes the political correspondence of Henry Tazewell and Littleton Waller Tazewell, both of whom were senators from Virginia; Littleton Waller Tazewell also served as a congressman and as governor of Virginia. Also contains correspondence between John Nivison Tazewell (1807-1869) and Hugh Blair Grigsby (1806-1881) concerning the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830. Papers also include the personal papers of Littleton Waller Tazewell's children, including correspondence from Ann Tazewell Bradford (1817-1898) regarding the confiscation by the federal government of Sandhills Plantation in Princess Anne County during the Civil War.

Series II: Undated papers, correspondence, legal papers, political essays, clippings, and miscellaneous papers. Contains political essays by and legal of Henry Tazewell; typescript copies of letters, 1782- 1825, from Thomas Jefferson to Henry and Littleton Waller Tazewell; undated legal, business, political, and personal correspondence of Littleton Waller Tazewell; legal papers of Littleton Waller Tazewell; estate papers of Benjamin Taliaferro; papers related to Littleton Waller Tazewell's plantations in Northampton County; correspondence of John Nivison of Norfolk, Virginia; deeds and other legal papers; obituaries of William T. Nivison and of Littleton Waller Tazewell; remarks on the death of Jefferson Davis; and newspaper clippings.

Series III: Diaries, Account Books, and Family Sketches, 1650-1930, contain a family sketch, 1823, written by Littleton Waller Tazewell; account books, 1820-1826, of Littleton Waller Tazewell; field notes for land grants in what became Northampton County from 1623 to 1629, made by Littleton Waller Tazewell in 1835; plantation books, 1836-1852, for King's Creek, Old Plantation, and New Quarter plantations in Northampton County; plantation books, 1829-1849, for Sandhills Plantation in Princess Anne County; diaries, 1847-1852, of John N. Tazewell; letterbook, 1829-1830, of John N. Tazewell; register, 1821-1854, of letters received by John N. Tazewell; household account book, 1836-1837, of Littleton Waller Tazewell; inscriptions from St. Paul's Church in Norfolk made by C. W. Tazewell; and typescripts of letters to Henry Tazewell and Littleton Waller Tazewell from Stephen Decatur, William B. Giles, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, William Ludwell Lee, and Benjamin Watkins Leigh, among others.

Series IV: Political correspondence, 1794-1858, including letters, 1794-1798, from John Taylor to Henry Tazewell concerning national and Virginia politics, including the presidential election of 1796; letters, 1831-1834, from John Floyd to Littleton Waller Tazewell regarding national and Virginia politics, Andrew Jackson, and whether Tazewell will run for governor; letters, 1789-1830, from St. George Tucker, Henry St. George Tucker, and Beverley Tucker to Henry Tazewell and Littleton Waller Tazewell concerning national and Virginia politics; letters, 1841-1846, from Francis H. Smith to John N. Tazewell regarding the Virginia Military Institute; letters, 1832-1858, from John M. Patton to Littleton Waller Tazewell concerning national and Virginia politics and legal matters.

Series V: Wills, Legal Papers, Notes, and Correspondence, 1623-1890. Contains copies of land patents, 1623-1675, which became Littleton Waller Tazewell's holdings in Northampton County; wills, 1656-1890, of members of the Tazewell family; depositions, 1759, for a case in King George County, Virginia; deeds, 1790, in Norfolk County; letters, 1822-1823, from Littleton Waller Tazewell to his sons Henry and John Nivison Tazewell concerning their education.

Biographical / historical:

Henry Tazewell was born 27 November 1753 in Brunswick County, Virginia, to Littleton Tazewell and Mary Gray Tazewell. He attended the College of William and Mary, then studied law under his uncle John Tazewell in Williamsburg, Virginia. He represented Brunswick County and then Williamsburg in the House of Delegates from 1776 to 1786. Tazewell was appointed to the General Court in 1785, and served as chief justice from 1789 to 1793. He then was appointed judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals that year. The Virginia General Assembly appointed Tazewell United States Senator in 1794 and he served until his death in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 24 January 1799. He was buried at Christ Church in Philadelphia. Tazewell married Dorothea Elizabeth Waller (1754-1777), daugher of Benjamin Waller (1716-1786), 13 January 1774, and they had two children, Littleton Waller Tazewell and Sophia Ann Tazewell who married Benjamin Taliaferro (d. 1801) of Williamsburg.

Littleton Waller Tazewell was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, 17 December 1774 to Henry Tazewell and Dorothea Elizabeth Waller. Educated by his grandfather Benjamin Waller and George Wythe (1726-1806), Tazewell attended the College of William and Mary, graduating in 1791. He studied law under John Wickham (1763-1839) of Richmond, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1796. Tazewell represented James City County in the House of Delegates from 1798 to 1800. That year, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served until 1801. In 1802, Tazewell relocated to Norfolk, Virginia, to continue his law practice. He represented Norfolk in the House of Delegates from 1804 to 1806 and in 1816. President James Monroe appointed Tazewell a commissioner to settle claims under the treaty in which Spain ceded Florida to the United States. In 1824, Tazewell was appointed to the United States Senate, and he served eight years before resigning 16 July 1832. He served as a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829- 1830. Tazewell was elected governor of Virginia in 1834 and served until 1836, when he resigned. Tazewell returned to Norfolk where he spent most of his time running his plantations in Northampton County, Virginia. Tazewell died 6 May 1860 in Norfolk, and was buried at King's Creek plantation in Northampton County. He was reinterred at Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk.

Littleton Waller Tazewell married Ann Stratton Nivison (1785-1859) 15 July 1802, and they had nine children: Louisa Nivison Tazewell (1804-1873), Henry Tazewell (1805-1828), John Nivison Tazewell (1807-1869), Sarah Tazewell (1809-1810), Sarah Ann "Sally" Tazewell (1812-1892), Littleton Waller Tazewell (1815-1848), Ann Elizabeth Tazewell (1817-1898), Mary Tazewell (1822-1886), Ella Waller Tazewell (1826-1885). Ann Elizabeth Tazewell married Edmund Bradford (1816-1889), Mary Tazewell married Matthew Page Waller (1823-1861), and Littleton Waller Tazewell married Sarah Elizabeth Walters (ca. 1821-1877).

Acquisition information:

Acc. 21619 was purchased from Martha R. Adams, Lynchburg, Virginia, 30 September 1939.

Acc. 21673 was purchased from Mrs. A. J. Davis, Richmond, Virginia, 1 February 1940.

Acc. 22066 was purchased from James Lewis Hook, Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, 22 July 1942.

Acc. 23749 was purchased from Mrs. C. W. Tazewell, Tampa, Florida, 19 November 1951.

Acc. 24194 was purchased from C. W. Tazewell, Tampa, Florida, 16 July 1954.

Acc. 24199 lent for copying by C. W. Tazewell, Tampa, Florida, 3 August 1954.

Acc. 24230 lent for copying by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, 21 October 1954.

Acc. 27157 was a gift from Edmund Berkeley, Jr., acting curator at the University of Virginia library, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 30 1969.

Arrangement:
Arrangement

Arranged chronologically within each series.

Organization

Organized into the following five series: Series I: Papers, 1623-1890. Series II: Undated Papers, Correspondence, Legal Papers, Essays, Clippings, and Miscellaneous Papers. Series III: Diaries, Account Books, Family Sketches, 1650-1930. Series IV: Political Correspondence, 1794-1858. Series V: Wills, Legal Papers, Correspondence, and notes, 1673-1890.

Miscellaneous microfilm reels correspond thusly: Misc. reel 670-Box 1, Folder 1; Misc. reel 671-Box 1, Folder 16; Misc. reel 672-Box 3, Folder 1; Misc. reel 673-Box 4, folder 4; Misc. reel 674-Box 5, Folder 7; Misc. reel 675-Box 6, Folder 11; Misc. reel 676-Box 7, Folder 11; Misc. reel 677-Box 8, Folder 10; Misc. reel 678-Box 9, Folder 13; Misc. reel 679-Box 10, Folder 11; Misc. reel 680-Box 11, Folder 7; Misc. reel 681-Box 12, Folder 11.

Physical location:
Personal Papers Collection, Acc. 24194
Physical description:
6.435 cubic feet