Papers of James S. Easley 1837-1904

Access and use

Location of collection:: University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

University of Virginia

P.O. Box 400110

160 McCormick Rd

Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110

Contact for questions and access:: POC: Brenda Gunn

Email: bg9ba@virginia.edu

Phone: (434) 924-1037

Phone: (434) 243-1776

Fax: (434) 924-4968

Web: library.virginia.edu/special-collections

Web: library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/reference-request

Restrictions:: There are no restrictions.
Terms of access:: See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred citation:: Papers of James S. Easley, Accession #38-52, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Summary

Language:: English
Preferred citation:: Papers of James S. Easley, Accession #38-52, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

The James S. Easley collection consists of ca. 2600 items (4 Hollinger Boxes, 1.6 linear shelf feet) and 115 bound ledgers (18 linear shelf feet), 1837-1904, containing business records of James S. Easley and his successors of Halifax Court House [now Halifax], Virginia.

James S. Easley was born in 1802 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. With various associates, he sold general merchandise in Halifax Court House , Virginia, and speculated in mid-western lands. Mr. Easley died in 1879. Over the years James Easley's businesses were conducted by a variety of the following associates, executors and successors: Easley and Willingham; W.W. Willingham; Easley, Holt and Co.; Easley, Carrington and Co.; Samuel W. Holt; Easley and Hurt; R. Holt Easley, Wood Boudin, Jr. and Banister Mills.

The collection includes the records of merchandising business, land speculation, a milling enterprise and the settling of Easley's estate. Also included are the records of the continuation of these activities in a business operated by R. Holt Easley, son of James. Easley. The records of the general merchandising business are contained chiefly in day books/ journals, journals and ledgers. They include the names of wholesale suppliers and customers, and detail the variety of goods handled. The records of Easley's land speculations dominate the collection and include correspondence, maps, registers of various land records, receipts, bonds, deeds, tax lists and accounts. They are to be found throughout the manuscript material and the bound ledgers. The land records begin in 1853 and continue through 1904. Business was conducted with Iowa land agents such as Weare and Allison, W.J. Barney and Co., E.S. Hedges, J.P. and J.N. Casady, and Casady and Test as well as agents in Kansas, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, and Nebraska. Brief references to a milling enterprise are included in a receipt (Banister Mills, 1881) and in several business letters (1903--1904).

Beginning in 1879 all records, including those of the land speculation, reflect the adjustments necessitated by Easley's death. Records of R. Holt Easley's management of the business can be found in both the manuscript material and the bound ledgers, beginning ca. 1882. The collection contains references to the existence of lead in Iowa, the influence of new railroads, and problems resulting from the Civil War in relation to the ownership of property in the north by a Virginia businessman.

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Acquisition information:

The collection was given to the Library by James S. Easley, a grandson of James S. Easley (1802-1879), of Halifax, Virginia, in 1934.

Arrangement:

The manuscript material is filed in chronological order. The material within each folder is in forward chronological order, except for some letters which had been serialized. These letters have been filed by number, and vary between being in reverse chronological order and an inconsistent forward chronological order. Some of these folders also contain an index of fair accuracy.

The ledgers are arranged in six groups: Letter books, Daybooks/ Journals, Journals, Ledgers, Land Records, and Miscellaneous. Each group is lettered (A to F, respectively), and ledgers in each group are arranged in chronological order and numbered. (See listing at the end of this guide.) Several of the journals contain two sets of records, each set separated by a number of years. The letters in some of the ledgers are letter press copies and, therefore, many are difficult to read.

Physical description:

This collection consists of ca. 2600 items (4 Hollinger Boxes, 1.6 linear shelf feet) and 115 bound ledgers (18 linear shelf feet).

Collection