Documentary History
of the Construction of the Buildings
at the University of Virginia, 1817-1828
Frank Edgar Grizzard, Jr.
Notes
Chapter 11
741. Mumford, "The Universalism of Thomas Jefferson," in The South in
Architecture, 62.
742. Board of Visitors Minutes, 7 April 1826, PPAmP:UVA Minutes.
743. Emmet to Brockenbrough, 9 April 1826, ViU:PP. Jefferson wrote to Emmet
on 27 April 1826 to discuss the details of building the botanical garden, including
"our 1st. opern the selection of a piece of ground, of proper soil & site, suppose of
about 6. a[cre]s. . . . 2d. opern. inclose the ground with a serpentine brick wall 7 f
high this wd. take abt 80 M bricks & cost 800 D . . . 3d. opern. form all the hill sides
into level terrasses curving with the hills of conven[ien]t. breadth & the level ground
into beds & allies 4th. make out a list of the plants thought necessary & sfft for
botanical purposes and of the trees we propose to introduce" (ViU:TJ; see also
Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 16:163-67). Emmet apparently
was hesitant in beginning the project (see TJ to Emmet, 28 April 1826, in DLC:TJ),
and on 3 May Jefferson drafted a letter to James Madison complaining that "I have
percieved in some of our Professors a disinclination to the preparing themselves for
entering on the branches of science with which they are charged additionally to their
principal one" (DLC:TJ).
744. Cocke to Jefferson, 16 April 1826, ViU:TJ.
745. Dunglison to Brockenbrough, 8 September 1826, ViU:PP.
746. TJ to Brockenbrough, 5 May 1826, ViU:PP.
747. See John Hartwell Cocke and Alexander Garrett's Demands of the Resources
of the University, 31 May 1826, in DLC:TJ.
748. Warwick to Brockenbrough, 12 June 1826, ViU:PP. D. W. & C. Warwick
and Co. shipped six boxes of tin plate and one bundle of sheet iron to the university
by wagoner William Estes on 28 April, and Daniel Warwick sent four more boxes
of tin plate on 31 July (see Daniel Warwick to Brockenbrough, 28 October 1826, in
ViU:PP). The total cost for the metal was $300.08.
749. Brooks to Brockenbrough, 13 June 1826, ViU:PP. Brooks wrote the proctor
again on 19 June to say that "the ill health of my Step Son Compells me to Start to
Lewisburg [now West Virginia] to morrow on my return I will either write or Come
over" (ViU:PP). Jefferson must have been particularly chagrined when he recieved
a letter from his grandson Francis Wayles Eppes, written at Poplar Forest of 23
June: "Knowing that all of your pavilions at the university have tin coverings, I
write to learn whether they have ever leaked, and if so what method of prevention
had been used. Our roof here was perfectly close until about mid winter. It then
began to leak not in one but a hundred places: and from that time I have
endeavoured to discover the cause without effect. For some time I thought that the
water found its way, between the sheeting and the bottom of the platform, just
where the gutters vent their water, but after removing the tin and making the
sheeting perfectly tight, I found myself mistaken. A subsequent examination
immediately after a hard rain, showed me, on the lowest side of every sheet of tin,
spots of water on the sheeting plank. This water must have been drawn upwards, as
there were no traces above: and that a few drops could be so drawn up, I could
readily conceive; but the quantity is really incridible. The plaistering of the parlour
is so entirely wet every rain, that I begin to fear it will fall in. Large buckets of
water pass through it. Your room is nearly as bad and the others leak more and
more every rain. The hall is in fact, the only dry room in the house. I have been so
completely baffled in every attempt to stop the leaking, that I really feel quite at a
loss; we have had here, in the last four weeks three of the most destructive rains ever
known in this neighbourhood. The tobacco hills on flat land were entirely swept
off" (Betts and Bear, Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, 478-79).
750. TJ to John Hartwell Cocke, 20 May 1826, ViU:JHC; see also O'Neal,
Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 47.
751. Jefferson wrote to his grandson-in-law Joseph Coolidge, Jr., on 4 June 1826
to inquire about the matter of a pipe borer from the north: "The art of boring for
water to immense depths, we know is practised very much in the salt springs of the
Western country. and I have understood that it is habitually practised in the
Northern states generally for ordinary water. we have occasion for such an artist at
our University, and myself and many individuals round about us would gladly
employ one. if they abound with you, I presume we could get one to come on and
engage in the same line here. I believe he would find abundant employment. but
should it be otherwise, or not to his mind, we could by paying his expences coming
and returning and placing him at home as we found him, save him from any loss by
the experiment. will you be so good as to make enquiry for such a person, to know
the terms of his work, and communicate them to me, so that we may form a general
idea of the cost of this method of supply. I could then give him immediate
information of the probabilities & prospects there. I am anxious myself on behalf of
the University, as well as the convenience it will afford to myself" (ViU:TJ; see also
Lipscomb and Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 18:354-57). Jefferson died
before Coolidge had time to inquire into the matter, however (see Coolidge to TJ, 15
June 1826, ViU:TJ), and seven weeks later, on 20 August 1826, Brockenbrough
wrote John Hartwell Cocke asking him to follow up on the matter of additional
water for the university: "Some additional water works are absolutely
necessary--whether it shall be by pumps or otherwise I am at a loss to determine--If
Water from the Mountain could be gotten in sufficient quantity I should prefer it, the
stream is weak, and would hardly justify the expence--if brought from the Mountain
the best way would be to have a large cistern in my yard (being the highest situation
near the University,) the water from thence to be conveyed in pipes to every part of
the University the works to be so constructed to let off any quantity at a given time
that may be required for the supply of the buildings or in case of fire--This requires
money tho' of which we have very little" (ViU:JHC). In December 1826
Brockenbrough estimated the "Probable cost of an additional & adequate supply of
water" to be $1,000 (Brockenbrough's Statement of the Debts and Resources of the
University as of 1 October 1826, in his letter to the Rector and Board of Visitors, 11
December 1826, ViU:PP).
752. Perhaps Edgar Allan Poe was remembering back to an evening spent in a
room in a professor's pavilion or in the Rotunda when in an essay he wrote
favorably about Argand lamps at the expense of gas lamps: "We are violently
enamored of gas and of glass. The former is totally inadmissible within doors. Its
harsh and unsteady light offends. No one having both brains and eyes will use it. A
mild, or what artists term a cool, light, with its consequent warm shadows, will do
wonders for even an ill-furnished apartment. Never was a more lovely thought than
that of the astral lamp. We mean, of course, the astral lamp proper--the lamp of
Argand, with its original plain ground-glass shade, and its tempered and uniform
moonlight rays. . . . an Argand lamp, with a plain crimson-tinted ground-glass
shade, which depends from the lofty vaulted ceiling by a single slender gold chain,
and throws a tranquil but magical radiance over all" ("Philosophy of Furniture," in
The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, 462-66).
753. Shortly after requesting these dimensions Jefferson prepared the south
elevation and partial first floor plan of the Rotunda, which is located in the Williard
Homestead in Grafton, Massachusetts (see Guinness & Sadler, Mr. Jefferson,
Architect, 135, and #17-11 in Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's Designs for the
University of Virginia"). Jefferson apparently enclosed the drawing in his letter to
Joseph Coolidge, Jr., of 4 June 1826 (ViU:TJ; see also Lipscomb and Bergh,
Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 18:354-57).
754. TJ to Brockenbrough, ca May 1826, DLC:TJ
755. TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 14 February 1826, ViU:TJ; see also Cabell,
Early History of the University of Virginia, 373-74.
756. TJ to Robert Mills, 3 March 1826, DLC:TJ. The letter was printed in the
Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer, 25 October 1826, under the
heading "Extracts of a letter from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Robert Mills, of South
Carolina" (see appendix I).
757. Thomas Jefferson Randolph gives the following account of his grandfather's
death: "Died 50 minutes after 12. July the 4th. Thomas Jefferson in the 84th year of
his age. his health had been impaired by an indiscreet use of the Hot spring bath in
1818[.] this indisposition had steadily increased untill the last six months when it
attained a troublesome & alarming violence giving him certain indications of a
gradual decay of health[.] The consequences of which he early foresaw. early in
June he observed to a friend that he doubted his weathering the ensueing summer[.]
on the 24th of June his disorder & weakness having attained an alarming extent, he
yielded to the entreaties of his family and called in a Phiscian (Dr Dunglison of the
University)[.] on this occasion a friend having private business with him he warned
`there was no time to be lost['] and expressed the believe that he could not hold out
to the fourth. that he had called in a Phisician and for the comfort of his family
would follow his prescriptions (which he literally did) but that it was unavailing the
machine had worn out and could go on no longer. He retained during his illness and
to death the same serene dicisive & cheerfull temper which had marked his life.
speaking upon various topics with his usual spirit & animation. upon the university
hoping that the state would not now abandon it: of the changes he feared would be
made: of his probably sucessor as rector. of the services he had rended his native
state. &c. speaking with earnestness to his executor of steps to be taken upon his
demise. advising as to the arrangement & disposition of his hopes. &c. Upon
being unusually ill for a short time he observed with a smile `well Dr a few hours
more and the struggle with be over' When the Dr entered the room his usuall
expression was well Dr. you see I am here yet. When his disorder was arrested and
a friend observed to him he hoped he would mend his reply was that the power of
nature were too much exhausted to be rallied. a member of his family expressing a
believe that he was better and that the Dr thought so. after listening with impatience
he replyed do not imagine for a moment that I feel the smallest solicitude as to the
result. on giving directions as to his funeral. forbidding all pomp & parade. he was
answered with hope that it might long ere occasion would riquire their fulfilment.
he asked with a smile `do you imagine I fear to die.['] He expressed himself pleased
with the course of his phisician. gratified by the affectionate attentions of his family
& servants. he uttered no thought he expressed no feeling--unworthy of the vigor of
his body or mind. Death stole not upon him in the Dark. he came not unexpected.
he saw his approaches & smiled at his terrors, Thus died Thomas Jefferson"
(Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Account of TJ's Last Illness and Death, ca July 1826,
ViU:TJ; see also Randolph's revised account in Randolph, Domestic Life of Thomas
Jefferson, 419-32). For several newspaper accounts of TJ's death, see the clippings
from the Norfolk Hearld, 10 July 1826, in DLC:TJ.
For some of the eulogies delivered in the honor of Jefferson and John Adams,
who died at his home in Massachusetts on the same day, see the Washington, D.C.,
Daily National Intelligencer, 14, 19 August, and 1 September 1826. A interesting
related news item appeared in the Daily National Intelligencer on 25 August 1826,
reads: "The last Darien Gazette records the following singular circumstance: `A
circumstance occurred in this city, which, for its singularity, may not be deemed
unworthy of notice, in the transactions of the day. A Gun, which had been dubbed
Thomas Jefferson, on the 4th inst. was brought out to perform the funeral salute,
in commemoration of the departed great. This sturdy `Bull Dog,' as if proud of the
honor conferred on him, allowed himself to be disgorged of 82 thundering loads,
without complaint; but, the match was no sooner applied for the 83d, and last, for
the age of Mr. Jefferson, than he expired, as a Gun! That is, he burst, as if
determined, after performing the last duty to the memory of him after whom he was
named, to quit the world forever. We are happy to state that no person was injured
by the accident.'"
758. Alexander Garrett to Evelina Bolling Garrett, 4 July 1826, ViU: Garret
Papers. Four days after TJ's funeral Frank Carr wrote to John Hartwell Cocke on 9
July proposing William Cabell Rives "as a proper son to occupy the vacancy
produced by the death of Mr. Jefferson. His talents, and his attainments, together
with his convenient residence to the University, point him out, especially
considering his religious character, as the fittest person that could be selected. It is
not for me however to urge his claims upon you. It is highly probable that your own
reflections have turned to him--and if your preference be for him, I have no doubt
that any influence you may have with the executive will be exerted to place him in
your body" (ViU:JHC).
759. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 17 July 1826, ViU:PP. Edmund Bacon said in
1862 that Jefferson's slave Burwell "was a fine painter. He painted the carriage and
always kept the house painted. He painted a good deal at the University" (Bear,
Jefferson at Monticello, 102).
760. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 17 July 1826, ViU:PP.
761. Emmet to Cocke, 29 August 1826, ViU:JHC.
762. Dunglison to Brockenbrough, 8 September 1826, ViU:PP. A news report in
the 25 August 1826 issue of the Washington, D.C., Daily National Intelligencer,
reprinted from the Richmond Enquirer, says: The University of Virginia has at
present about 170 students within its walls . . . The architects are going on with the
Anatomical Hall and Rotundo. Of the latter, the Library and the Portico are rapidly
advancing. The Italian capitals to the columns of the Portico are of the purest
marble and of the most beautiful workmanship."
763. Annual Report to the President and Board of Directors of the Literary Fund,
7 October 1826, ViU:TJ. At the end of the year the proctor estimated the "Supposed
Amt due to D & Neilson after finishing the Rotunda & anatomical Hall" to be
$10,000, not counting $1,500 for the "finishing of the Steps of the Portico," $1,000
for "All other work after D & Neilsons work is completed on the Rotunda," and
$1,000 for the anatomical Hall exclusive of D & Ns. bill"; add the venetian blinds,
smokehouses, and water supply, and the "Supposed sum to meet all the demands
against the University of Va and complete the unfinished buildgs" totaled
$23,473.72 (Brockenbrough's Statement of the Debts and Resources of the
University as of 1 October 1826, in his letter to the Rector and Board of Visitors, 11
December 1826, ViU:PP).
764. William Wertenbaker to Brockenbrough, 15 January 1828, ViU:PP. William
Wertenbaker was the son of Christian Wertenbacher, who moved from Baltimore to
Milton following the Revolutionary War (see Wust, Virginia Germans, 100).
Wertenbaker often was involved in transmitting the visitors' resolutions to
Brockenbrough (see appendix U). In the first quarter of the 19th century, cast-iron
Franklin and "six-plate box" stoves were typically for warming parlors and sitting
rooms. "Beginning in 1816," writes Nylander in Our Own Snug Fireside, "stove
manufacturers patented a variety of innovations, such as smoke domes, which
increased the radiating surface of a stove or improved combustion efficiency; but it
was not until the 1830s that these were produced in very large numbers. Once these
technologically improved stoves were readily available, `Franklin Stoves, of Old
patterns' were advertised for sale at `reduced prices.' The installation of cast-iron
stoves in parlors, sitting rooms, and even some bedchambers in the years after 1820
resulted in a more efficeint and reliable source of evenly distributed heat than had
been possible with open fireplaces" (99-100). Incidentally, until William T. James
of Troy, New York, patented the first successful cookstove in America in April
1815, Count Rumford's cast-iron roasters and boilers were the best ovens available
for cooking. By 1823 the Troy firm of James & Cornell had sold 5,000 of James'
distinctively ornamented ovens, at a cost of $15 to $50 each, and by mid-century
another 550 patents had been issued for cookstoves (ibid., 213-18).
765. Nothing more about this roofwork has been identified although on 4 January
1828 John Mahanes received $16 for his delivery of 4,000 wooden shingles to the
university (loose receipts for 1828 in ViU:PP).
766. Brockenbrough to Dinsmore & Neilson, 23 April 1827, ViU:PP. On 5 June
ASB gave Dinsmore & Neilson a draft on the Bursar for $1,000 "on acct of the
work executed by Dinsmore & Neilson." Dinsmore previously had received on 13
February a draft for $98 from ASB "on acct. of work by Dinsmore & Neilson," and
on 4 September and 1 October 1827, Rice W. Wood received for Thomas Darrett
$173.40 and $15 "in part of Dinsmore & Neilsons Draft on the Proctor for
$580.43½ on acct of Lumber for the University of Va." A draft on the bursar for
$2,000 was paid to Dinsmore & Neilson on 13 November, and on 15 December
1827 Nelson Barksdale gave ASB a receipt for $50 "on acct. of Lumber furnished
for the Rotunda, it being in part payment of the Dft of Dinsmore & Neilson." On 15
September 1827 Hugh Chisholm received $20 "on account of the P[l]astering of the
Anat: Hall." These receipts are in the loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP. Dinsmore
& Neilson's receipt of 21 February 1828 for a draft on the bursar for $1,000, in the
loose receipts for 1828 in ViU:PP, is specifically for "work on the Rotunda & Anat:
Hall." Rice W. Wood performed legal work against the university for carpenter
James Oldham (see Grizzard, "To Exercise a Sound
Discretion"), and in July 1822, Wood purchased from Archibald Stuart a tract of
unimproved land totaling 880 acres in northern Augusta County on the south branch
of Naked Creek, just west of the Valley Turnpike to the southwest of Burketown.
Wood died young, survived by his wife, Sarah W. Wood, and their four infant
daughters, Anne, Cornelia, Mary, and Antoinette (see C. E. May, My Augusta: A
Spot of Earth, Not a Woman, 302-3).
767. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 24 May 1827, ViU:JHC. Cocke had sought a
"trust-worthy hirer of my Stone cutters" in a letter to Brockenbrough of 3 April
1827 before leaving "on an absence of 4 or 5 weeks" (ViU:PP; see also Cocke to
Brockenbrough, 31 May, and 13 June, in ViU:PP, and Brockenbrough to Cocke, 1
June 1827, in ViU:JHC). Cocke engaged his gang of six slave stonemasons in the
building of a "large dwelling" in Charlottesville during the previous winter (Coyner,
"John Hartwell Cocke of Bremo," 119). This gang included his best masons, Cato
and Peyton, whom Cocke had apprenticed to Thomas Whitelaw and James Currie,
two white artisans who worked at the Bremo plantations from 1812 to 1821. On 23
December of this year Peyton made his mark on a receipt located in the loose
receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP, written by Brockenbrough and witnessed by G. W.
Wood, for a $25 draft on the Bursar "for Stone cut for the Anatomical Hall." For a
discussion of Cocke's slave stonemasons, see ibid., 101-8, 146-48.
768. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 24 May 1827, ViU:JHC. George Blaettermann, a
German-born law graduate of Göttingen University (who came from Oxford) is
described as an "irascible but gifted man" by Wust in The Virginia Germans, 100.
769. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 31 May 1827, ViU:PP.
770. See Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 8 March 1827, in ViU:PP.
771. See Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 31 March 1827, in ViU:PP. For Willard's
compensation for his work, see Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 3 April, 6 June, 19 July
1827, and John Brockenbrough to Brockenbrough, 29 May 1827, in ViU:PP.
772. See Peyton to Brockenbrough, 21 April 1827, in ViU:PP.
773. Peyton to Brockenbrough, 25 April 1827 (first letter), ViU:PP.
774. Peyton to Brockenbrough, 25 April 1827 (second letter), ViU:PP.
775. Coolidge wrote to Brockenbrough on 16 August 1827 to inform him that he
had recieved the proctor's letter of 28 July requesting Coolidge to order a bell.
Coolidge thus ordered "a bell to be cast, of purest metal, to weigh about 450 lbs . . .
The bell will be ready in three weeks; I shall have it provided with a wheel &c in the
best and cheapest manner, and forward it, immediately, to Richmond to Care of
Bernard Peyton" (ViU:PP; see also Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 8
August 1827, in ViU:JHC). This actually was the third bell ordered by the
university in 1827. On 8 May 1827 Joseph F. White of 213 Water Street, New
York, had written to Brockenbrough about a "Bell Made of 168 lbs. Open at the
bottom, bent flatways, and gives a noble, pleasant Sound" (ViU:PP), and on 11 July
1827 John Van Lew & Co. wrote to the proctor to inform him that "We have this
day Shipped (pr John Fly) to Mr Jos F. White, the Cast Steel Bell receivd from you
last week" (ViU:PP), apparently to replace another steel cast bell that had been
shipped to the university in January of this year. See Thomas Brockenbrough to
ASB, 2 December 1826, and White to Brockenbrough, 19 July 1827, in ViU:PP.
776. Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 9 November 1827, ViU:PP. A tine is the tongue
or clapper that strikes the inside of a bell, causing it to sound. Coolidge wrote the
proctor again on 22 November to send "the warrantee of its maker Mr Holbrook,
who desires me to Say that it will much improve by use; if it does not, or any flaw
or defect is discovered, he will recast it, free of expense, if delivered to his Agent in
Boston" (ViU:PP). The total cost of the bell was $159.25, which the proctor
reimbursed Coolidge for in February 1828 (see Coolidge to Brockenbrough, 18
February 1828, ViU:PP).
777. Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 8 August 1827, ViU:JHC. Keziah
Davis received $2 from the proctor on 16 November 1827 "for Making Table covers
for the Library room" (loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP). The Rotunda's interior
"iron work" was an "iron Railing forming the Lobby at the head of the Stair
Cases. ... effectual against unauthorised intrusions into the Library" (Cocke to
Brockenbrough, 10 November 1827, ViU:PP). The "Doors on the Stair Cases"
were to be removed after the completion of the iron railing. For the summer
vacation period, see Brockenbrough's Subjects for Consideration, ca 1828, in
ViU:JHC.
778. See Benjamin Wright to Cocke, 18 August 1827, in ViU:PP.
779. Edward W. Sims wrote to an unidentified person on 23 August 1827: "It
affords me no little uneasiness to hear of the situation of the buildings at the
University--Before the recipt of your letter I had expected as much--and wrote to
the Proctor upon the subject--Early last week I sent two Boxes with Slate, but they
could not, after waiting near a week at Columbia, ascend the Rivana--and
consequently had to unload at that place, from whence they reach'd home on
yesterday--Were it possible I would have the Slate taken over by land. Waggons
could not be had at any price--You may rest assured that I shall the moment I can,
send the Slate up--and I will take it an especial favor of you to write to the Proctor
upon the subject" (ViU:PP). Edward W. Sims was married to Margaret Caroline
Towles, a daughter of an officer of the War of 1812, Col. Oliver Towles of
Campbell County, and Agatha Lewis Towles (1774-1843), the daughter of Col.
William Lewis of Sweet Springs. Sims often did business with Board of Visitor
member John Hartwell Cocke of Bremo.
780. Charles Bonnycastle, Plan for a Fountain, ca August 1827, ViU:PP. The
cisterns were lined with White's Patent Hydraulic Cement, purchased from the New
York firm of Peter Remsen & Co. See Benjamin Wright to John Hartwell Cocke,
18 August 1827, John C. and George Newton to Brockenbrough, 12 September
1827, and John Van Lew & Co. to Brockenbrough, 30 December 1827, all in
ViU:PP, and Peter Remsen & Co.'s one-page circular for White's cement, in the
undated material for 1828 in ViU:PP.
781. An extract of this resolution, passed on 18 or 19 July, is in ViU:TJ and
printed in O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda,
49.
782. Trist to Brockenbrough, 11 September 1827, in ViU:PP.
783. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 7 October 1827, ViU:JHC.
784. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 22 October 1827, ViU:PP. Cocke replied to the
proctor after receiving another letter from Brockenbrough, which has not been
found, written on 13 October.
785. Brockenbrough, Memorandum to Cocke, 9 November 1827, ViU:JHC.
786. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 10 November 1827, ViU:PP. On 14 November
1827 John M. Perry received $121.42 "for Lumber for the Rotunda" (loose receipts
for 1827 in ViU:PP).
787. Emmet to Brockenbrough, 20 September 1827, ViU:PP. Receipts in the
loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP indicate that Joseph Antrim was busy with plaster
work at the university around this time. Antrim was paid $30 on 1 September for
plaster work on an unidentified building, and on 15 September he drew an
additional payment of $75 "on account of the Plastering of the Rotunda." Antrim
signed a receipt on 12 December for $160 "on account of & in full of the Plastereing
done by me at the University of Va." No receipts for payments for plaster work on
Emmet's pavilion have been identified, however. Michael F. Crawford apparently
still was engaged in making shutters for the buildings' doors and windows at this
time.
788. Brockenbrough to Emmet, 23 September 1827, ViU:PP. The proctor
apparently found the lead in Richmond because a receipt in the loose receipts for
1827 in ViU:PP shows that on 15 November Thomas Brockenbrough received
$18.80 from his brother as payment "in full for a large Ledger and some Sheet Lead
furnished for the Virginia University as per Bill in Septr. last." On 17 November
Thomas Brockenbrough also wrote receipts, which can be found in the same
location, for Brockenbrough & Harvie for $153.54 for Brockenbrough's payment
"in full of our Acct. against the University of Virga," and for $38.52 "in full of amt
Recd. due the late Firm John Van Lew & Co." Thomas Brockenbrough was agent
for the defunct firm. Burwell Colburn's receipt of 17 November 1827 in ViU:PP for
$20 "on account of Painting at the University of Va." may include the repairs and
painting of Emmet's pavilion.
789. See Emmet to Brockenbrough, 9 August 1828, and John Hartwell Cocke to
Brockenbrough, 23 August 1828, both in ViU:PP, Brockenbrough to Cocke, 27
August 1828, in ViU:JHC, and Cocke to Brockenbrough, 3 September 1828, in
ViU:PP.
790. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 31 May 1827, ViU:PP.
791. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 1 June 1827, ViU:JHC.
792. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 8 August 1827, ViU:JHC.
793. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 10 August 1827, ViU:PP. On this date Thomas
Draffin gave ASB a receipt for a draft for $28 "on acct of the Waggonage of logs
from Carrs for the U.Va." An undated one-page account with the university
indicates that on 24 April Draffin had charged the university $12 for "3 days hauling
pipes for Water at $4." On 18 May, 3 September, 22 September, and 26 November
1827, A. Zigler gave receipts for $8.06, $60, $15, and $50 and $250, respectively,
"on acct of my work on pipe logs &c" and "on account of waterworks." These
receipts and Draffin's account are in the loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP. John
Smith made a cistern for the chemical laboratory earlier this year, as evidenced by a
receipt for $2.50 that Reuben Maury signed for Smith on 27 February 1827, which
is in the loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP. A pump-stock is the body of a pump.
794. Sellers & Pennock to Brockenbrough, 11 August 1827, ViU:PP. Sellers &
Pennock apparently furnished the city of Richmond with fire fighting equipment as
well: "I never saw so much anxiety to have a good fire Apparatus as the Citizens of
this place display--(they have had some bad fires,) and will be greatly benefited by
the Hose & Hydraulion[.] it will add greatly to the security of all the lower town,
which is as thickly built over as the closest built part of Philada. frame and brick
mixed through each other--they will be great customers to us should the Hydrauler
Arrive[.] the hose they are delighted with--and will no doubt want as much more as
soon as they see the effect [of] the system, Mr. Taylor is a Compleat fireman and
enters fully into the spirit of it" (Coleman Sellers to Coleman Sellers, Sr., 16
January 1828, in PPAmP:Patterson Letters). In ViU:PP there is also a copy of a
circular for a fire engine manufactured by the American Hydraulic Company of
Windsor, Vermont, dated 8 December 1828 (see appendix).
795. Brockenbrough wrote this estimate above Sellers & Pennock's letter of 11
August 1827.
796. On 8 September 1827 Sellers & Pennock wrote Brockenbrough: "Yours
concerning the Hydraulion and hose, would have received earlier attention but for
the sickness of one of the firm, as it is we are not certain that it will be in our power
to Complete your Order by the first of Decr. next, we shall however put it in hand
and Use our best endevours to that effect--you will before that time advise us of the
Quantity of hose that may be required.--The Son in Law of our mutual friend Genl.
Cocke spent a few days with us, with his amiable partner--by whom we learnt that
you are about to take from our City as a professor of Natural Phylosophy Docr.
Thos. P. Jones, a better man for that department probably is not to be found in Our
State--Should you succeed in his appointment, you will not want a person to "keep
the Clock, locks of the Institution, and phylosophical Apparatus in Order" as he is a
first rate Mechanic and workman, and exceedingly Obliging and Accomodating in
his dispo[si]tion" (ViU:PP).
797. See Coleman Sellers to Coleman Sellers, Sr., 16 January 1828, in
PPAmP:Patterson Letters. Coleman Sellers wrote John Hartwell Cocke on 19
January 1828 to inform Cocke that he had "examined with much care the proposed
plan for Supplying the University with water, offered by A S. Brockenbrough Esqr.
and do highly approve of the same" (ViU:PP).
798. The hydraulion arrived safely in Richmond and was shipped to Milton by
water during the winter. On 7 March Nuckols Johnson received $1.45 from
Brockenbrough "For the freight of a box of Hose & pipe for the U.Va.," and on 18
March Jesse B. Garth received $1.75 from the proctor "for the transportation of Fire
engine from Milton" (Loose Receipts for 1828 in ViU:PP).
799. Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 23-24 March 1828, ViU:JHC. On
23 November 1827 Brockenbrough wrote to Cocke: "We have water in the two
cisterns by Mr Longs & Mr Tuckers--the first is very tight entirely full the other
good about half way--I had rather depend on the roman cement than the N. York
cement--the first is only used to coat them inside the last to lay the bricks with"
(ViU:JHC). The Board of Visitors finally relented in its opposition to the proctor's
desire to build a cistern near his house on 24 July 1828, when it passed a resolution
directing the executive committe to oversee its execution "so far as it may be
practicable & consistent with other resolutions adopted by the Board"
(PPAmP:UVA Minutes), and the following month Brockenbrough informed Cocke
that "Zigler has been Sick so that we have done but little in laying Water pipes, we
have them through the alley and on the lawn a few feet" (Brockenbrough to Cocke,
27 August 1828, ViU:JHC). Cocke was glad to hear of even that progress in laying
pipes, however (see Cocke to Brockenbrough, 3 September 1828, in ViU:PP).
800. See Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 7 October 1827, in ViU:JHC.
801. William Mountjoy & Co. to Brockenbrough, 20 October 1827, ViU:PP.
802. On 4 March 1828 Brockenbrough informed John Hartwell Cocke that he had
calculated the "cost of getting the Stone for Steps of the Rotunda--it will take about
700 feet running measure--the stone in the rough State will be about 18 inches wide
& 8½ Thick--which is about equal to a cubic foot not less than six feet long--for
getting & loading agreeable to the aforesaid dimentions 40 cents per foot lineal will
be given or 45 cents for it delivered at the university--I take it four loads a day can
be made from your quarry each load about 20 feet which will be equal to $4.00 per
day for waggon & Teams--The stone must be agreeable to this size to be
given--There will be some smaller stuff wanted--but not much which may be at the
same rate--he getting this quantity of Steps, there will be a considerable quantity of
smaller stuff--which will answer for other Steps or building Stone & which will
more Than pay for what stone will be requir'd for the Rotunda Steps" (ViU:JHC).
Brockenbrough did not contract with anyone for the quarrying of the stone at that
time, however (see Brockenbrough to Cocke, 23-24 March 1828, in ViU:JHC).
803. John Hartwell Cocke to Brockenbrough, 10 November 1827, ViU:PP.
804. Brockenbrough's Memorandum to John Hartwell Cocke, 9 November 1827,
ViU:JHC.
805. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 10 November 1827, ViU:PP. There are wagoners'
receipts of 9 November 1827 in the loose receipts for 1827 in ViU:PP for 82¢ "for
the freight of a bundle of sheet iron" and for $4.68 "for the freight of Lead, Bellows
&c from Richd for the University Va."
806. See Board of Visitors Resolution, 3 October 1828, in ViU:TJ.
807. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 5 October 1828, ViU:PP. Cocke enclosed with his
letter Charles Bonnycastle's Plan for Curing Smoking Chimneys, ca 5 October 1828,
ViU:PP. Smoke and fire matters relative to the Rotunda were still being worked on
at the end of 1828, as the excerpts from the following letters show. On 13
December 1828 Cocke wrote to Brockenbrough: "It has escaped me of late to
remind you of the Sheet lead protection against fire, it was thought would be
prudent to have recourse to, in the rooms of the Rotunda this Winter--if it has not
been attended to, be so good as to let it have your prompt attention" (ViU:PP). On
18 December 1828, the proctor wrote to Cocke: "I procured sheet lead & put it in
place for a protection against fire (before the receipt of your letter) to the two fire-places in the Library--the lecture rooms are so frequently used
I thought it
unnecessary to put lead in them, but ordered & am in daily expectation of receiving
rolled iron to Make fenders for all the fire places of the Rotunda" (ViU:JHC).
808. Blackford to Brockenbrough, 30 November 1827, ViU:PP. The oval stoves
cost $24 each, and the Philadelphia stove cost $15.50; and Blackford also sent
$19.40 worth of stovepipe and elbows with the stoves. Wagoner Jack Wilks
delivered the stoves to the university.
809. See Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 7 October 1827, in ViU:JHC.
Brockenbrough said that "I gave [Bonnycastle] to understand it was an expense I
could not undertake without the approbration of the Executive Committee--The
Walls of the Stair way are very dusty, and whitewashing would not stick on them, I
should recommend painting in the place of it, What think you of it?" Cocke
approved of painting the stairway, "or doing what else may be necessary to render
the tenement decent & comfortable--but the state of the funds will not admit of
doing more" (Cocke to Brockenbrough, 22 October 1827, ViU:PP).
810. Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 23 November 1827, ViU:JHC.
811. See Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 23-24 March 1828, in
ViU:JHC.
812. Lewis S. Carter's Account, 22 June-13 September 1828, ViU:PP. The
account shows that Carter and Kennedy were credited with $8.67 on 22 June for
"6½ days work self & Kennedy at the observatory" and $14.67 on 14 July for "11
Days plastering at the observatory." The two men also were credited $67.33 for
50½ days plastering and whitewashing at the university, including work at Pavilions
III, V, and X, and Hotels D and F. Kennedy also did some of the plaster work at the
cisterns (see Loose Receipt, 6 November 1828, in ViU:PP).
813. Brockenbrough to John Hartwelll Cocke, 4 March 1828, ViU:JHC.
Brockenbrough continued: "The windows tho' are not be dispensed with, &c the
expence of them rather increased by putting sashes & Glass in the North & South
window. where as at first he only required Shutters--The work shall be executed as
cheap as possible, as for instance 8 by 10 glass & battoned or ledged Shutters--I
hope with the Subscriptions I shall be receiving and the timber that will come off the
land it will in our power to pay for it without making a draft on the loan or
annuity--" Battened or ledged shutters are made by fastening horizontal strips of
wood on the rear of parallel vertical boards to hold them together and give the whole
strength. They are generally of a plain and simple nature.
814. Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 23 November 1827, ViU:JHC.
815. Brockenbrough to John Hartwell Cocke, 18 December 1828, ViU:JHC.
816. Coleman Sellers to John Hartwell Cocke, 19 January 1828, ViU:PP.
817. Board of Visitors Minutes, 23 July 1828, PPAmP:UVA Minutes.
818. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 6 August 1828, ViU:PP. Little information
concerning plank for 1828 has been identified, although the loose receipts for 1828
in ViU:PP show that Elijah Battles received $10 on 8 March and for "getting
timber," and $10 on 25 March, $23.24 on 1 April, and $5 on 22 September for
"Hughing & Sawing" timber for the university. Thomas Durrett received a draft for
$50 on 6 November for a lumber delivery. On 30 August Samuel Mahains received
$10 "by Draft on Mr C. Spencer in part payment for shingles for the University of
Va." This experiment with rooflets also may have utilized some of the 4,000
wooden shingles delivered to the university by John Mahanes on 4 January at a cost
of $4 per thousand. The payment to Spencer was for furnishing bacon to Mahains
on that date (see C. Spencer's account with ASB of 28 July-1 September 1828 in the
loose receipts for 1828 in ViU:PP).
819. Brockenbrough to Cocke, 27 August 1828, ViU:JHC. "For the benefit of my
health and with the advice of Dr Dunglison," the proctor told Cocke, "I left home on
the 10th for the Mountains got as far as the warm Springs and arrived here on the
evening of the 25th (this excursion tho' short has done me some service)."
Brockenbrough also added that the dormitories "are all whitewashed & Venetians
will be put up . . . I will have The place Thoroughly cleaned."
820. Cocke to Brockenbrough, 3 September 1828, ViU:PP.
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