There are four series for this collection, Series 1. Correspondence 1842-1964, Series 2. Legal 1808-1816, Series 3. Military 1862-1864, Series 4. Personal 1913-1924
The Burnleys were a well-known family in nineteenth-century Albemarle County, Virginia. Nathaniel Burnley (1786-1860) owned the Hydraulic Mills complex as well as Rio Mills on the South Fork of the Rivanna River. The Burnley family may have originally descended from [John Burnley 1760-1810 of England] who bought land in Albemarle County, Virginia.
Nathaniel Burnley (the patriarch-great grandfather in this collection) married Sarah (Sallie) Sutton Drury Wood(1795-1879) in 1811. They lived near Stony Point and owned a tavern. In 1829, Nathaniel Burnley and his partner, Rice W. Wood bought the Rio Hydraulic Mills, which was at the junction of Ivy Creek and the South Rivanna River.
Nathaniel and Sarah Burnley's children were Martha Caroline Burnley (1820-1904), Emily (Emma) Garth (1824-1896) (married to Garland Garth), Lucy Vest (1828-1903), Horace Buckner Burnley (1822-1891), Sarah Frances Burnley (1831-1901), Cornelia Rice Railey (1834-1896), Drury Wood Burnley (1826-1906), James Fendall Burnley), Dr. William Rice Burnley (1815-1842), and Mary Jane Garth (1818-1890) (married to Burwell Garth). Martha Caroline Burnley married Samuel Goodman Burnley (1800-1875) (who was a cousin of her father Nathaniel Burnley).
Samuel Goodman and Martha Caroline Burnley's son, William Henry Burnley (1840-1919) married Emma C. Dyson Burnley. Their son was William Samuel Burnley (1868-1942). William Samuel Burnley was a teacher and writer. He was married to Lula Payne Burnley and their children were Byron, William, James Henry, and John Nathaniel Burnley (1916-1964). Samuel Goodman and Martha Caroline Burnley also had a son named James Nathaniel Burnley (1848-1908). Both James Nathaniel Burnley and Dr. William Rice Burnley attended the University of Virginia. Carrie Cornelia Burnley, Charlottesville school teacher and principal is not in this collection but these are her uncles and aunts.
MSS 15926, Burnley Family papers, 1839-1964, Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Virginia
There are no restrictions.
This collection of Burnley Family letters, 3 cubic feet, contain family correspondence and papers of a prominent Albemarle County, Charlottesvile, Virginia family from 1808 to 1964 which include civil war and slave documents, military papers of Company F, 7th Infantry orders, teaching papers of Samuel Goodman Burnley, political letters about Harry Flood Byrd, writings of William Samuel Burnley, and letters reflecting the turn of the century family life, friends, church services, and family and local news.
Also included is University of Virginia Law professor John B. Minor's advice to student William Samuel Burnley (1890); and a record book for Rockbridge Academy (1841) and a yearbook for Charlottesville High School, 1924.
Correspondents include Sarah (Sallie) Stoddard Wood Burnley, Samuel Goodman Burnley, Martha Caroline Burnley and her siblings, William Henry Burnley, Emma C. Dyson Burnley, James Nathaniel Burnley, William Samuel Burnley, N.B. Early, Byron Burnley, John Nathaniel Burnley, and James Henry Burnley.
Other Burnley family members (brother and niece) MSS 7871, MSS 4902
Originals temporarily removed by preservation.
Legal papers, 1808-1879, including the sale of Nathaniel Burnley's estate and slaves executed by James F. Burnley and Samuel Goodman Burnley; Deeds and wills. Horace and Jenny L. Burnley 1873; Samuel G. Burnley and debts to Thomas Gilbert and Ann B. Michie; (James F. Burnley, James H. Burnley, Cornelia Burnley); Land in Albemarle County to James H. and Mildred Jane Burnley, James F. and Amanda Burnley, Drury Wood Burnley, Martha Caroline Burnley 1879; auction of Burnley's property (signed D. R. Goodman), receipts from Henry Mills Burnley as executor of Abner Burnley's estate, token, and coat of arms. One of the terms of sale documents (James Fendall Burnley and Samuel Goodman Burnley selling the estate of Nathaniel Burnley) notes that "in selling the negroes any defect that is known will be mentioned, but the negroes will not be warranted in any way."
Military papers including orders, muster rolls, pay and clothing accounts, ordnance and ordnance stores accounts, morning reports, requests for leave, passes, receipts. Most are signed by or on behalf of Jeremiah Newcomb McMullan. Of interest is an 1861 muster roll "of Captain John B. Magruder's company of light infantry from the County of Albemarle known as Rivanna Guards" (Co. H., 57th Virginia Infantry). There are many comments about deaths and injuries of soldiers (e.g."Killed at Malvern Hill", "Badly wounded and captured at Gettysburg", "Deserted", "Died in hospittle [sic]", etc.) Also included are several mail sorting bags.
Personal papers of John Nathaniel Burnley include school papers, photograph of John, photograph of Burnley, Vest, and Wingfield family, McGuffey school program for "Hiawatha" 1923, newspaper clipping and photograph of John marching in the George Washington re-enactment, and military discharge papers.
Also included are personal and school papers for Byron Burnley. There are also miscellaneous newspaper clippings about Grover Cleveland and an editorial about J. R. Wingfield.