Rich Family Papers 1798-1952

Access and use

Location of collection:
Wytheville Community College
F.B. Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Smyth Hall, Room 103
1000 East Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382
Contact for questions and access:
POC: William A. “Bill” Veselik
Phone: (276) 223-4876
POC: George Mattis
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Arranged into seven series, the Rich Family Papers concentrate upon the business activities of Fleming Kean Rich and his family including furniture and coffin design, transportation, and boarding house operation.

Series I includes correspondence arranged chronologically and dating from 1832 to 1952, of Fleming Kean Rich, his second Mary Polly Thompson Rich, his son David Allen Rich, and numerous customers, business colleagues and relations. Highlighting the collection are thirty-five letters from Wythe Countians and others requesting Fleming Rich to build coffins. Of additional significant interest are the many letters to Rich and his father-in-law, Thomas Moyers, ordering furniture including pie safes, beds, and wardrobes. The diversity of economic status and residence of these customers emphasizes the popularity of Fleming Rich as a cabinet and furniture maker in Southwest Virginia.

The business and family correspondence of Mary Polly Thompson Johnson Rich and her father, Palser Johnson, is also found in Series I. Mary Rich operated a boarding house in Wytheville from the 1860s to the early 1890s.

Bills and receipts dating from 1798 to 1937 from the business ventures of Thomas Moyers, Fleming Rich, Mary Rich, and Palser Johnson comprise much of the financial records in Series II. Bills and receipts of Fleming Kean Rich are arranged in two sections; one chronological and one alphabetical by individual business or trade. This particular arrangement scheme follows the original provenance arrangement.

Of primary interest in Series III, legal records, are four contracts between Fleming Kean Rich and Thomas Moyers and apprentices dating from 1827 to 1860. Summons, indentures, receipts, and inventory of the estate and insurance policies of Mary Polly Thompson Rich are also found in this series.

Series IV contains land records including deeds dating from 1810 to 1889 and plats and surveys.

Genealogical records compiled by Mary Rich Early, daughter of David Allen Rich, her husband P. A. Early, her son P. A. Early Jr., and historian Mary B. Kegley comprise Series V. Families covered in this series include Allen family, Johnson family, Rich family, Rosenheim family, and the Williams family. Much of the Rich family genealogical notes concerns medieval and Tudor-Stuart era British lineage.

With Series VI, books, the focus reverts to the business of Thomas Moyers and Fleming Rich. Account books (1829-1858) and ledgers (1832-1887) document daily transactions of a prominent furniture making trade.

Series VII, miscellaneous records (1834-1891), includes school reports, recipes for various foods, varnishes and stains, militia fines of Fleming Rich, and application for business licenses by Mary Rich.

Photocopies (1838-1860) of Rich papers owned by a private individual form Series VIII. Included are four letters from John Rich of Benton County, Arkansas to his brother Fleming Kean Rich. Receipts and tax records of Palser Johnson complete this series.

Biographical / historical:

A prosperous furniture empire was born in 1830 when Fleming Kean Rich and Thomas Moyer united their talents as cabinet makers and businessmen. In the late 1820s, Fleming Rich moved to Wytheville, married Ann Catherine Moyers, and worked in his father-in-law's cabinetmaking shop.

The firm of Moyers and Rich expanded their trade to include manufacture of pie safes, beds, wardrobes, sofas, signboards, and coffins. Repair of fine furniture and musical instruments as well as a delivery service offering transportation throughout southwest Virginia also enable Moyers and Rich to prosper. Fleming Rich, a shrewd merchant, offered funeral services to complement his fine coffins.

With the death of Thomas Moyers in 1840, Rich renamed the firm Fleming K. Rich Furniture Shop. His brother Nimrod Rich assisted with tinsmithing while numerous apprentice cabinet and furniture makers created distinctive pieces of fine furniture sold throughout the region.

Ann Catherine Moyers and Fleming Rich had five children, of whom one, William W. Rich, survived childhood. Catherine Rich died in 1836 and Fleming Rich remarried in 1839. His second wife, Mary Thompson Johnson, was nicknamed Polly or Molly T. Together, they had six children, two of whom died in infancy.

When Fleming Rich died in 1861, his son William W. Rich assumed control of the family business. His sons, William Rich and George Rich, continued the tradition of fine furniture manufacture and sale until 1943. By 1871, William Rich had turned his Main Street store in Wytheville into a fashionable furniture gallery while his workers built furniture in a water-powered plant on Union Street (present day Withers Road.)

David Allen Rich, son of Fleming Rich and Mary Polly Thompson Rich, married Mary Margaret Allen in 1881. He served as deputy sheriff, superintendent of the water works, and clerk for the town of Wytheville. His daughter, Mary Rich, married P. A. Early in 1908. His son Fleming Rich married May Hamilton while his son Robert Rich married Anna Gleaves.

Mary Polly Thompson Rich operated a boarding house in Wytheville until her death in 1891. A tourist guide of 1887 claimed that Rich's Boarding House had been a popular boarding house of summer visitors for 15 years.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Mary B. Kegley in 1994.
Physical description:
128 folders.