Alexander Haight family collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
George Mason University
2400 Fenwick Library
Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library MS2FL
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Mieko Palazzo
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-2669
Restrictions:

There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

All materials created up to 1928 are in the public domain.

The following statement applies to materials created from 1929 onward: The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Preferred citation:

Alexander Haight family collection, C0159, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Summary

Extent:
7 Linear Feet 7 boxes, 1 map case
Creator:
Haight, Alexander Levi, 1891-1981
Abstract:
The Alexander Haight family collection contains correspondence, legal and financial documents, account ledgers, photographs, and other materials created and collected by members of the Haight family of Fairfax County, Virginia, including during their time living and working on Sully Plantation, during and after the Civil War, and into the mid-20th century, including during World War I.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Alexander Haight family collection, C0159, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Background

Scope and content:

The Alexander Haight family collection contains correspondence, legal and financial documents, account ledgers, photographs, and other materials created and collected by members of the Haight family of Fairfax County, Virginia, including during their time living and working on Sully Plantation, during and after the Civil War, and into the mid-20th century, including during World War I. The collection contains 3 series.

Series 1: Correspondence (1838-1920) includes sent and received personal and professional correspondence, including letters, cards, and postcards. The bulk of the correspondence represents personal communications between members of the Haight family, both with each other and with family friends, including a number of letters sent by Helen Hill Haight during her time volunteering with the American Red Cross during World War I. Additional correspondence includes communications concerning business matters, such as correspondence to and from legal representatives, and a mix of original and reproduction copy letters sent by Union soldier John M. Young during the Civil War. This series is arranged alphabetically by non-Haight correspondent last name. In cases where a member of the Haight family sent a letter to another Haight, and both are already represented elsewhere in the series, letters are arranged alphabetically by the name of the recipient.

Series 2: Legal and financial documents (circa 1764-1948) includes personal and professional legal and financial records, most connected to members of the Haight family, including account ledgers, bank, registered letter, and tax receipts, formal and informal contracts and agreements, and other legal documents created by organizations within Fairfax County. Additional documents include Union Army passes issued to Alexander Haight during the Civil War, Alexander Levi Haight's Fairfax County draft classification card issued during World War I, a New York court summons for Stephen Sweet Haight, a California gold dig payment issued to George Sweet (brother of Phoebe Haight), currency notes, including Confederate paper money, and military orders issued during the Civil War. This series is arranged alphabetically either by last name of the subject or creator of the document or by title of the document.

Series 3: Photographs and ephemera (circa 1850s-1976) includes photographs, personal records, mementoes, and general ephemera created or collected by members of the Haight family. It is further divided into two subseries. Sub-series 1: Photographs (circa 1850s-1960s) includes original and reproduction photographic prints, including daguerreotypes and tintypes, with subjects including Sully Plantation, formal and informal portraits of members of the Haight family, Alexander Haight's prize horse, a portrait of a girl enslaved on Sully Plantation identified as Clio, and various locations and individuals in and around Fairfax County. Items are arranged chronologically by year of creation. Sub-series 2: Records and ephemera (circa 1862-1976) includes personal records and mementoes including programs, booklets, newspapers and clippings, poems, manuscripts, postcards, scrapbooks, and general ephemera items. Items are arranged chronologically by year of creation and grouped by material type or function.

Biographical / historical:

Alexander Haight was born on February 8, 1822 in Dutchess County, New York to Quaker farmers Jacob (1782-1862) and Amy Clement Haight (1787-1863). In 1842, Jacob and Amy purchased the property known as Sully Plantation in Chantilly, Virginia, which was built by Richard Bland Lee between 1787-1794, and soon after invited Alexander to leave New York and help with the running of the property in Virginia. After moving to Sully, Alexander married Pheobe (also spelled "Phebe") Sweet (1824-1898) in 1845 and finished construction of their new home, known as "Little Sully," in 1851. The couple would go on to have four children. Eldest daughter Margaret Amy (also known as Maggie) was born in 1848 and married Thomas W. Lee in 1873, Stephen Sweet was born in 1857 and married Henrietta Lucas in 1891, Henry Clement was born in 1859, and youngest George Alexander was born in 1867.

Despite belonging to the Quaker faith (also known as The Religious Society of Friends), whose members actively fought for abolition, records indicate that the Haight family used enslaved labor during their time at Sully. Ownership of the property remained in the Haight family, although transferring formally to Alexander's sister Maria and her husband James Barlow in 1852, and remained so throughout the Civil War, during which both Union and Confederate soldiers crossed the property. In 1869, the family sold Sully to Stephen Shear, but most members of Alexander and Phoebe's branch of the Haight family remained in and around Fairfax County.

In 1886, Jacob and Amy's son Henry Clement married Emma Jane Young, daughter of Union Soldier John M. Young (1831-1865), and the couple would go on to have four children of their own: Helen Hill (1887-1977), Elizabeth Barlow [later Hamill] (1889-1974), Mary [later Millan] (1890–1964), and Alexander Levi (1891-1981).

Acquisition information:
Donated by Alexander Levi Haight in 1978.
Processing information:

Processed by Special Collections Research Center staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in April 2009. Finding aid updated by Amanda Brent in April 2022.

Collection reprocessed by Meghan Glasbrenner from February-October 2025. Finding aid updated by Meghan Glasbrenner from October-November 2025.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series.

Series
  1. Series 1: Correspondence
  2. Series 2: Legal and financial documents
  3. Series 3: Photographs and ephemera
Physical location:
R 42, C 3, S 1-2 R 42, C 4, S 1 Map Case 27.2
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard