Collections : [Thomas Balch Library]

This collection consists of six ephemeral documents related to Jacob S. Wiard of Leesburg Virginia. Included is one dollar note in Leesburg municipal currency, also known as Dog Money. The note is numbered 17234, dated 31 December 1861 and signed by Mayor John M. Orr. Property in Leesburg owned by Wiard between 1885 and 1887 is documented by one Loudoun County 1887 tax receipt issued to Wiard and signed by Benjamin Osburn, County Treasurer and three Leesburg Corporation tax receipts issued to Wiard between 1885-188, each signed by B.F. Head. These show head taxes, personal property taxes, and taxes paid on Wiard’s lot in Leesburg on the northeast corner of Market and Liberty Streets. Taxes were also collected for one dog. A flattened envelope addressed to Jacob S. Wiard documents Wiard’s later life spent living with family in Jersey City, New Jersey. Notes and doodles cover the exterior of the envelope.

The Nipple Family Register consists of one hand-colored lithographic print 25.4 cm x 35.56 cm with entries for the family of Jacob F. Nipple. Entries date between 1827 and 1911. Handwritten entries in ink are recorded on a copy of a mass-produced Family Register form published by Kellogg & Comstock of Hartford, Connecticut and distributed by D. Needham Company of New York. The form features designated areas for inscribing Family Names, births, marriages, and deaths. It is decorated with small illustrated cartouches. At the top of the Register, four scenes depict the events to be recorded - a family group, a mother and child in a nursery, a marriage in a church, and a woman and child in mourning in a cemetery. At the bottom of the page, four small landscapes are depicted including a town, a small house, a stone bridge over a stream, and a house in a forest. Each landscape includes a road with travelers. This print, numbered 356 was one of a series of family registers printed by the Kellogg Brothers between 1848 and 1870. On the reverse side of this copy of the print, doodles, and a handwritten message have been inscribed. The message reads: Joseph R. Farmer's Property - February 14th 1855, Juniata Co. Pa. My good friend honest thief do not steal this property for fear the gallos [sic] might be your end by the hand of Joseph R. Farmer.

This collection consists of newspaper articles, manuscript materials, photographs and artifacts that document the lives of the Patterson and Lefferts families, the history of Leesburg and Round Hill, and numerous businesses that once operated throughout Loudoun County. Three newspaper articles have been photocopied for preservation and discarded. "Corner of the Past," a feature appearing in the Washington Star on 14 November 1965, focuses on Pharmacist James Patterson and Patterson's Pharmacy in Round Hill which opened its doors in 1915. An article inThe Washington Post Panorama from 21 May 1970 is titled, "Its Small Town Status at Stake, Leesburg Frets." In the 27 June 1971 issue of The Sunday Star, the article "Out of Town, The Old South, Civil War and Revolutionary War are still having their heyday in Leesburg, VA" by Josephine F. Caplan appeared.

This collection contains one letter of condolence, written 10 Sept 1849, from John McCarty in Leesburg to Thomas P. Knox concerning the death of Thomas' daughter, Janet Fauntleroy.