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The Bushrod Washington Family Papers consist of documents gathered by the descendants of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The collection comprises an assortment of correspondence and legal documents documenting the lives and property ownership of several branches of the Washington family. The collection is organized into five series: Correspondence, Legal Documents, Social, Miscellaneous, and Indenture Notices (Land Deeds).

This collection of historic manuscripts dates from 1607-1933, with the bulk of materials dating from 1738-1868. The correspondence, journals and diaries, legal and financial records, estate documents, and printed ephemera in the collection primarily relate to the Washington and Custis families, the Revolutionary War, and society life in antebellum Washington D.C. and Virginia.

Papers, chiefly 1783-1846, of Archibald Woods of Ohio County, West Virginia. The papers concern his family, the Poage family, and the Houston family, as well as his business dealings. Correspondents include Levi Barber, Daniel Call, Philip Doddridge, Chapman Johnson, Henry Lee, James Pindall, Benjamin Ruggles, Daniel Sheffey and John Tyler, Edgar Campbell Wilson, George Washington Wilson and Thomas Wilson. Subjects dealt with in the collection include banking, cholera, the Cumberland Road, land speculation, pioneer life near Wheeling, West Virginia and in Kentucky and Indiana, formation of and early days in Belmont and Monroe counties, Ohio (including the founding of Woodsfield, Ohio), the Northwest Territory, Indians of North America, family life, marriage and courtship, Virginia militia during peacetime and in the War of 1812, Ohio politics, sale of slaves and the Whiskey Rebellion. There are also letters of members of the Baker and Morgan families of Fauquier County, Virginia and Wheeling, West Virginia which concern life in St. Louis, Missouri during the 1840's.

Papers, 1770-1875, of the Blow family of "Tower Hill," Sussex County, Va. and of the Waller family. Prominent correspondents in the collection include Philip Barraud, John Hartwell Cocke, Henry Lee and Edmund Ruffin. Most of these accessions were integrated as the collection was partially processed, but some are boxed separately.

Letters, accounts, and legal papers of Dr. Charles Brown. Collection includes letters, 1813-1818, concerning patients (including slaves).

This collection consists of a diary and three letters written by Henry Lee III; also included are three land grants and one military commission signed by Lee during his tenure as governor of Virginia.

Letter, 1794 April 27, Norfolk, [Va.] to [?]. 4 p. on 1 leaf ; 20 cm. Relates an incident of tarring and feathering in Norfolk, Va. in connection with the embargo and notes the arrival of Major [John] Rivardi to examine points of defense on the river.

This collection contains letters to and from Martha Washington that have been acquired by the MVLA since 1858. For more information, see content note for individual items. The collection grows organically as new items are acquired.

Two page land grant issued to Thomas Read on 18 September 1782. This land is recorded as number 14,340 and is for 740 acres in Charlotte County, Virginia. Survey of the property as outlined in the grant was completed on 18 January 1793. The signature on the deed, issued by the Governor of the Commonwealth, Henry Lee, is from William Price, Esq. and is dated Augist 20, 1794.

Documents, prints, and heraldry pertaining to Virginia governors from the 17th and 18th centuries. Includes letters and documents signed by John Murray, Robert Brooke, James Wood, Beverly Randolph, Patrick Henry, Edmund Andros, Jeffrey Amherst, Norborne Berkeley, Robert Hunter, Francis Fauquier, Earl De La Warr, James Blair, and Robert Dinwiddie among others. Also included in the collection are prints, coats of arms, and commemorative coins.