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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Reuben T. Durrett Collection of Lewis Family Papers 1778-1835

© 2016 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Lewis Family Papers

Dates:

1778-1835

Size:

0.5 linear feet (1 box)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

Reuben Thomas Durrett (1824-1913), lawyer, manuscript and book collector, and Kentucky historian. The Lewis family were 18th century land dealers in Kentucky. The Reuben T. Durrett Collection of the Lewis Family Papers consists primarily of legal and business documents connected with the Kentucky land dealings of John Lewis and his sons, Gabriel and Warner Washington Lewis. It contains receipts, land grants, household accounts (including one that involves the sale of slaves), contracts, land surveys, land indentures, promissory notes, and a travel journal.

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Lewis Family Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Acquisition Information

The existence of the Durrett library first came to the attention of the University of Chicago through William E. Dodd, a professor of American history at the University who had consulted the library as a student. Like other faculty members of the Division of the Social Sciences early in the century, Dodd was concerned about the University's lack of extensive research materials for history and related subjects, and since he was aware of Durrett's advanced age, he persuaded A. C. McLaughlin, also of the history department, to accompany him to Louisville in June, 1910, to see the collection and to make discreet inquiries about plans for its disposition. The two found Durrett himself uncertain about his plans, but learned that the Durrett family opposed making a donation of the collection, and that they were in communication with Princeton University and the University of Illinois about selling the library.

Dodd himself was very enthusiastic about the research potential which Durrett's library represented, and won the support of many of his colleagues on the social science faculties in his efforts to persuade President Judson to consider the purchase by the University of the entire library, numbering some 30,000 volumes. Convinced that the collection would be a valuable addition to the University's holdings, but wary of the expense involved, Judson agreed cautiously to investigate the idea. Although Dodd and his colleagues were anxious to conclude the agreement quickly, fearing competition from other would-be purchasers or the dispersal of the collection upon Durrett's apparently imminent death, the task of deciding upon a fair offer was made difficult by the fact that the collection had never been adequately catalogued.

Durrett's own suggestion made in December, 1912 of $45,000 seemed high, so in February 1913, the University engaged Walter Lichtenstein, a Northwestern University librarian who had previously acted as purchasing agent for the University of Chicago libraries, to assess the value of the Durrett collection. Lichtenstein's report was submitted to President Judson on February 21, 1913, following a trip to Louisville to sample the collection.

The assessment, made on terms of commercial market value rather than scholarly significance, divided Durrett's library into four parts. Some 20,000 bound volumes (including 500 volumes of Kentuckiana) he estimated at $7,200. Two hundred fifty file folders of pamphlet material had no apparent commercial value. Numerous manuscripts and newspapers were difficult to assess but Lichtenstein thought they could be fairly purchased for $15,000. A collection of maps was estimated to have a value around $50. Lichtenstein's estimate, therefore, totaled $22,000-$22,500, considerably less than Durrett's own. When the University authorized Lichtenstein to make this offer to the Durrett family, however, they accepted it, apparently favoring Chicago as the repository of their collection. The purchase sum, which was too high to be taken from the University's ordinary budget, was raised among outside donors, and under Lichtenstein's supervision, the library was dismantled and shipped to Chicago by early May. It filled 287 large packing crates. Its arrival provoked considerable comment in the Louisville and Chicago press, and almost immediately the University began to receive research inquiries from scholars and requests from several libraries for copies of some of the Durrett material to add to their own collections.

In his report Lichtenstein had warned President Judson that considerable effort and expense would be required to process the collection once it was at the University. His warning proved to be justified. Aside from the massive undertaking of unpacking, sorting, and cataloguing the collection, much of the material was found to be in poor condition, requiring cleaning, repair, and binding or rebinding. To facilitate the efficient processing of the Durrett acquisition, the entire operation was assigned to Edward A. Henry of the library staff, who, with the help of his assistants, was to devote most of his attention to the Durrett project for some seven years. It was decided that duplicates should be disposed of, that a number of Filson Club possessions in Durrett's library should be returned to the Club, and that most of the non-manuscript material in the collection would be distributed according to subject matter among the University's various departmental libraries. On several occasions between 1913 and 1937, items of an official character were returned to Kentucky upon request, including records of Jefferson County, journals of Kentucky constitutional conventions, and certain manuscripts and photographs of the Filson Club identified by the club's president, R. C. Ballard Thurston. Most of Henry's time seems to have been devoted to preparing the material for this dispersal. His assignment was expanded in 1914 when the University purchased a collection totaling 436 volumes of Kentucky newspapers and miscellaneous books from Mrs. Joel R. Lyle, sister of Robert C. Boggs of Lexington, Kentucky. It was deemed appropriate to merge the Boggs-Lyle acquisition with the Durrett, and the two were processed together.

By the end of the 1915-16 academic year, about 9,000 of the Durrett and Boggs-Lyle volumes had been processed and distributed to the departmental libraries. It was then that Henry and his staff turned some of their attention to the manuscripts--that is, to the material comprising the Durrett Collection as described in this guide. At that time the Durrett manuscripts were apparently divided into four large groups--the Joel Tanner Hart Papers, the Joshua Lacy Wilson Papers, miscellaneous manuscripts, and miscellaneous separately bound items--either mounted in scrapbooks or bound together. A card catalog was compiled for at least the first three of these groups.

The Durrett Collection remained in this state until the mid-1950s. By then it had been incorporated within the holdings of the Department of Special Collections (1951), and it became clear that reorganization of the manuscripts was necessary. Paul Angle, a member of the staff of the Chicago Historical Society, who had surveyed the University of Chicago's manuscript collection as a consultant in 1944, had pointed out that the Durrett miscellaneous bound manuscripts in particular were of little use to scholars as they were then arranged and described. Moreover, the Special Collections staff had observed that the mountings and bindings done by Henry's staff were detrimental to the lives of the manuscripts, and that the existing catalog and descriptions provided inadequate access to the documents. The manuscripts, therefore, were removed from their bindings and divided into smaller and more coherent sub-collections.

In the 1970s, an effort was undertaken to edit the 1956 guide, to enhance the descriptions of the Durrett codices for greater detail and accuracy, and to differentiate between transcripts and original manuscript material bound together in the codices. Manuscript material also received conservation treatment. In 1983, another attempt was made to write a comprehensive guide to the entire collection. This guide remained in use until 2015. The current guide was completed in 2016.

Biographical Note

Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1747, John Lewis was the only son born to Colonel Fielding Lewis by his first wife, Catherine Washington, the daughter of Major John Washington of Gloucester County, Virginia. After the death of Catherine Washington Lewis in 1750, Fielding Lewis married Betty Washington, the younger sister of George Washington. This union provided young John Lewis with eleven half-brothers and -sisters. As befitted the eldest son of a well-to-do eighteenth- century American, John Lewis went abroad for much of his education. He returned to Virginia in about 1769, having studied for a time at Oxford.

In that year John Lewis, who was to be widowed four times, took as his first wife – his cousin Lucy Thornton of Caroline County, Virginia. Lucy died shortly after the birth of a daughter, Mildred, and in 1771 Lewis was married for the second time, to Elizabeth Thornton of Northumberland County, Virginia. This marriage lasted only a few months before Lewis was widowed again. His third marriage, to Elizabeth Bates Jones, the daughter of Gabriel Jones, produced three sons (the younger two are represented in this sub-collection): Fielding (1773-1798), Gabriel (1775-1864), and Warner Washington (1779-1833). Widowed a third time in 1783, Lewis was married again in 1786, this time to Mary Ann Fontaine Armistead, the daughter of Peter Fontaine and widow of Bowles Armistead. Already the mother of four children, Mary Ann Lewis bore three more by John Lewis: Frances, Howell, and Mary Ann. The death of his fourth wife in 1799 left John Lewis a widower once more. His last marriage, to Mildred Ann Byrd Carter Mercer, the daughter of Landon Carter and widow of Robert Mercer, was not a happy one, and after the birth in 1810 of a son, Attaway, the couple separated.

As a young Virginian John Lewis enrolled in the state militia, attaining the rank of captain in about 1780, and assisted his father in the manufacture of gunpowder. His father's death in 1781 left the business entirely in Lewis' hands. At the same time he continued to be active in civic affairs, holding a seat on the Common Council of Fredericksburg. In 1785 he became seriously ill, and recuperated during lengthy visits to Abingdon, the home of Dr. David Stuart, and to Mount Vernon. (George Washington noted the latter visit in his diary). During the 1790's Lewis became interested in western lands, and after his separation from his fifth wife, he moved to Warren County, Kentucky, with his daughter Mary Ann.

Meanwhile Lewis' sons Gabriel and Warner Washington had also settled in Kentucky. The sons' connection with western affairs had begun in 1801 when they were employed by their father's half- brother Lawrence Lewis, the principal executor of the estate of George Washington, to survey the Kentucky lands belonging to the Washington estate. At the same time the two acted as agents for their father in locating tracts connected with military warrants he was purchasing. John Lewis gradually consolidated these properties into a single large holding in Warren County, and it was there that he and his daughter settled when they moved west in 1811. About a year later, however, Lewis' title to his Kentucky lands was challenged in the Kentucky courts, which decided in favor of the rights of the squatters on the property. Now landless, Lewis joined his sons in Logan County and remained at their home, “Elmwood,” until his death in 1825.

Gabriel Lewis outlived his father by nearly forty years, married twice, and fathered many children. Warner Washington Lewis, however, lived for only eight years after his father's death. He was drowned in an accident on the Wabash River while on a journey to New Harmony, Indiana, in the late spring or summer of 1833.

Scope Note

The Lewis Family Papers consist principally of legal and business documents connected with the Kentucky lands dealings of John Lewis (1747-1825) and his sons Gabriel (1775-1864) and Warner Washington Lewis (1779-1833).

The collection is split into two series:

Series I, Legal and Business Documents, contains personal notes, memoranda, and bills and receipts pertaining to land dealings and travel. Materials are arranged chronologically.

Series II, Correspondence, contains incoming and outgoing correspondence with the Lewis family. The series is split into three subseries, one for each member of the family represented in the material – John, Gabriel, and Warner Washington. Correspondence between the brothers can be found in Subseries 3 (Gabriel Lewis) and materials are organized chronologically within the subseries.

Related Resources

Browse finding aids by topic.

Fielding Lewis. Papers. 1783-1900

Researchers interested in topics represented in the Durrett Collection should check the author, title, or subject headings relevant to their interests in the Library catalog for potentially useful books and pamphlets from the Durrett Library, which were dispersed among the existing departmental libraries at the time of acquisition. Some of these items have since been transferred to the Rare Books collection and to the Reuben T. Durrett Collection of Broadsides, Pamphlets, and Leaflets, in the Special Collections Research Center.

The Durrett rare book collections include works of literature, travel and description, early histories of Kentucky such as Mann Butler's, biographies, legislative acts, and other legal documents.

Examples include Henry McMurtrie's Sketches of Louisville and Its Environs (1819); a collection of humorous verses, The Kentucky Miscellany, by Thomas Johnson, Jr. (1821), one of two known copies of the fourth edition, the first known to survive; and The Confession of Jereboam O. Beauchamp ... (1826).

Among the newspapers are 135 titles published in Kentucky, beginning in 1788 with the Kentucky Gazette, the first newspaper established in the state. Other important titles include the Mirror, the Palladium, the Guardian of Freedom, the Farmer's Library or Ohio Intelligencer, and numerous campaign newspapers such as The Patriot and The Spirit of '76 from 1826.

Included in the American Paper Currency Collection in the Special Collections Research Center is Durrett's collection of confederate currency, among which are many examples of notes issued by the Bank of Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Correspondence, reports, and clippings concerning the acquisition of the Reuben T. Durrett Collection for the University of Chicago are found in the University of Chicago Library Records Addenda.

In addition, the following collections contain material related in subject matter to various portions of the Durrett Collection:

Codex MS 798 Lettres de Mr. Cahusac, Américain, juge de paix à Fleurance, 1806-1836

Church History Documents Collection

Codex MS 790, Letters to Virgil David, 1828-1838

Douglas, Stephan A. Papers

English, William H. Papers

Ethno-History Collection

Lafayette Manuscripts

Lafayette-Bonaventure. Collection

Lane, Ebenezer, Family. Papers

Lewis, Fielding. Papers

Robertson, Wyndham. Papers

All Durrett sub-collections are as follows:

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Boggs Family. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Boone Family. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Broadsides, Broadsheets, Pamphlets, and Leaflets

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Christopher Columbus Graham. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. George and William Croghan. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. George Nicholas. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. George Rogers Clark. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Government Records

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Edmund Lyne Estate. Records

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. James Wilkinson. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Joel Tanner Hart. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Joshua Lacey Wilson. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Lewis Family. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Louisville, Kentucky Board of Trustees. Records

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Mann Butler. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Michael Walsh Cluskey. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Miscellaneous Manuscripts and Codices

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Portraits, Illustrations, and Cartographic Material

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Reuben T. Durrett. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Richard H. Collins. Papers

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Richard Jouett Menefee Collection on Matthew Harris Jouett

Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. Shelby Family. Papers

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Series I: Legal and Business Documents

Box 1   Folder 1

1778-1788

  • Estill, Wallis to James Estill, Boonesborough, Kentucky - Receipt - November 10, 1778 (Acknowledging payment by John Lewis)
  • Floyd, John to John Lewis – Receipt – May 6, 1780 (For surveying lands for John Harvie, Gabriel Jones, Fielding Lewis, Isaac Melchor, Ephriam Howard, George Weedon, and Richard Peters)
  • Virginia Land Office to George Washington and Andrew Lewis - Land Grant – July 14, 1780 (For land in Greenbriar County; signed by Thomas Jefferson)
  • Lewis, John and Rober Nielson, Louisville - Account – November 19, 1784
  • Shelby, John, North Carolina to John Lewis – Indenture – November 19, 1784 (Deeding lands in Fayette County, Kentucky)
  • Lewis, John and Robert Neilson – Account – November 4, 1784 - May 31, 1785
  • Neilson, Robert to John Lewis - Receipt – March 28, 1785 (Money from Henry Crutcher)
  • Buckner, Will to John Lewis – Receipt – October 2, 1782 (For eight land warrants)
  • Snickers, Edward to John Lewis – Account – August 10, 1782
  • Jefferson Co., Kentucky, Surveyor's Office – Memorandum – December 11, 1783 (Containing two surveys for John Lewis)
  • May, [George?] – Memorandum – February 21, 1784 (Certifying that John Lewis has lodged with him certain Treasury warrants pertaining to lands on Green River)
  • Lewis, John, Abnor [sic] Martin Dum, and James Wilkinson – Agreement – May 28, 1784 (To form a joint merchandizing venture)
  • Wilkinson, James, Fayette Co., District of Kentucky, and John Lewis, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Co., Virginia – Agreement – July 3, 1784 (Regarding search for certain missing land warrants)
  • Lewis, John to James, Thomas, Antietam, Maryland – Receipt – July 7, 1784
  • Surveyors Office, Fayette Co., District of Kentucky to John Lewis – Land Survey - August 15, 1784
  • May, John, Dinwiddie Co., Virginia - Indenture – October 3, 1785 (Contract between himself and John Lewis regarding a portion of Lewis' land which belonged to Richard May, deceased; never signed by Lewis)
  • Surveyor's Office, Lincoln Co., Kentucky to John Lewis – Land Surveys – January 25, 1786
  • Surveyor's Office, Hardin Co., Kentucky to John Lewis – Land Surveys – April 6-7, 1786
  • Wilkinson, James, Kentucky – Bills of Exchange – June 11, 1788 (To be paid to John Lewis by Major Isaac B. Dunn)
  • Drew, J. to Sam H. Bradford – Certified copy of two promissory notes – September, 1784 (On reverse, two receipts acknowledging payment of certain sums by Captain Quarles to Sam H. Bradford, and request to Drew from Bradford for payment)
Box 1   Folder 2

1789-1795

  • Wilkinson, James and John Lewis – Account – 1789 (List concerning various payments in cash and in kind)
  • Wilkinson, James and John Lewis, Louisville, Kentucky – Account – May 16, 1789
  • Lewis, Isaac and James Wilkinson, New Orleans - Account - May 16, 1789
  • Surveyors Office, Mercer County to John Lewis - Report of Land Survey – June 9, 1789
  • Lewis, John, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and James Wilkinson, District of Kentucky – Agreement – September, 1789 (Regarding Wilkinson's interest in a cargo of merchandise imported by Lewis)
  • Lewis, John, New Orleans to Philip Nolan, Kentucky - Power of Attorney – September 12, 1789
  • Wilkinson, James, District of Kentucky, Richard Scott Blackburn, Fairfax Co., Virginia and John Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia – Bond – September 14, 1789
  • Lewis, John from George May - Memorandum – November 23, 1790
  • Memorandum – December,1790
  • Lewis, John to John O’Cannon – Receipt – October 14, 1792 (With note by John Lewis regarding additional credit to be deducted)
  • Posey, Thomas, Spotsylvania Co., Virginia, and John Lewis, Spotsylvania Co., Virginia – Indenture - March 29, 1794
  • Lewis, J., to the Sheriffs of Franklin Co. – List of Taxes – 1792-1795.
  • Surveyor's Office, Jefferson Co., Kentucky to John Lewis – Memorandum - July 23, 1795
  • List of accounts - July- October, 1795
  • Lewis, John, Fredericks-burg, Virginia, to Gabriel Lewis – Power of Attorney – October 3, 1795
Box 1   Folder 3

1796-1798

  • Lewis, John and Mary Ann Lewis to Robert Patton, Richard S. Hackley, and Samuel Greenhow – Indenture - 1796
  • Helm, Benjamin and William Hardin to Gabriel, Lewis - Valuation of Lands – April 9, 1796
  • Trigg, William to Andrew Lewis, Montgomery Co., Kentucky - Indenture – April 19, 1796 (Deeding lands in Franklin Co., Kentucky, to Lewis Craig)
  • Lewis, John and Mary Ann Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Robert Patton, Richard S. Hackley, and Samuel Greenhow, Fredericksburg, Virginia –
  • Madison, George - Receipt – June 23, 1796 (For land tax for 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795 paid by Thomas Lomas)
  • Wilkinson, James, Philip Nolan, and Gabriel Lewis – Agreement – September 18, 1796 (Regarding correction of imperfect adjustment made on account between Lewis and Wilkinson)
  • Lewis, John, Louisville, Kentucky to James Wilkinson – Settlement of Accounts - October 28, 1796
  • Garrard, James, Governor of Kentucky to John Lewis – Land Grant -November 19, 1796 (Endorsed by Baker Ewing)
  • Land Office Military Warrant – December 15, 1796 (Authorizing survey of lands in Virginia to be granted to Elijah Diboard)
  • Carneal, Thomas to John Lewis – Plan of Land Surveyed – November 5, 1797 (Land on Green River; signed in the presence of Robert Bainet, Thomas Posey, and Robert Baird)
  • Weisiger, Daniel, Baker Ewing, and Elijah Gray – Land Evaluation - February 8, 1798 (Requested by James Blair, attorney for James Wilkinson, and Gabriel Lewis, attorney for John Lewis)
  • Wilkinson, James to John Lewis - Indenture – March 16, 1798 (For lands in Frankfort, Kentucky; signed by James Blair, attorney-in-fact for James Wilkinson)
  • Wilkinson, James and Anne Wilkinson to John Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia – Indenture – April 13, 1798 (Signed by James Blair, attorney for James and Anne Wilkinson)
  • Report of Land Survey – April 28, 1798 (In Shelby Co., Kentucky, belonging to John Lewis)
Box 1   Folder 4

1800-1803

  • Lewis, John, Fredericksburg, Virginia to Gabriel Lewis, Henry Co., Kentucky – Land Grant - February 13, 1801
  • Lewis, Gabriel - Report of Land Survey - August 1, 1801
  • Lewis, John, Fredericksburg, Virginia, to Thomas Posey, Franklin Co., Kentucky – Indenture – [January 30, 1802]
  • C., David and Margaret Kerr, [Fredericksburg, Virginia], to Warner Washington Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia – Power of Attorney – March 23, 1802 (To complete certain land transactions between them and Henry Massie)
  • C., David and Margaret Kerr, [Fredericksburg, Virginia], to Gabriel Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia - Indenture – March 30, 1802
  • Patton, Robert - List of land plots – April 14, 1802
  • Lewis, Gabriel, Fayette Co., Kentucky, to Warner Washington Lewis, Spotsylvania Co., Virginia – Indenture – July 7, 1802
  • Thornton, Anthony to James Madison, Auditor for the State of Kentucky – Letter – October 24, 1802 (Regarding sale of various tracts of land formerly owned by Thornton)
  • Tennent, John, and Sally Tennent, Caroline Co., Virginia, to Gabriel Lewis Fayette Co., Kentucky – Power of Attorney - September 30, 1803
  • Field, Benjamin to Lawrence Leis - Report of Land Survey - October 5, 1803
Box 1   Folder 5

1804-1820

  • Smith, Augustine J. Smith, Fairfax Co., Virginia, to Gabriel Lewis, Kentucky – Power of Attorney – September 27, 1804
  • Travel journal – 1802- 1805 (Notes of journey from Lexington to Boston, 1802; Fredericksburg to Lexington, 1805; Lexington to New Orleans, 1805)
  • “List of Lands belonging to Reed and Forde in Kentucky” – January 22, 1805
  • Wingate, J. to Gabriel Lewis – Bill - August 10, 1805
  • Lewis, Warner Washington – Passport – November 17, 1806 (Signed by James Madison, Secretary of State. With French visa markings)
  • Lewis, Warner Washington – Certification of American citizenship – February 20, 1807 (Signed by George R. Curtis, agent of American Consul General in Holland)
  • Madison, George, Logan Co. Kentucky to John McVicker – Indenture – March 20, 1807
  • Madison, George to Gabriel Lewis – Receipt – March 20, 1807 (Acknowledging payment by Gabriel Lewis of $230.00 for redemption of certain tracts of lands)
  • Crown Court, Westminster, London to Warner Washington Lewis – Right of Passage – March 26, 1807 (Signed by John Reeves, Superintendent of Aliens)
  • Lewis, Gabriel with Joshua Wilson – Accounts – May, 1805 – August, 1808
  • George, [W.] and Elizabeth Hopkins, Logan Co., Kentucky, to Gabriel Lewis, Logan Co., Kentucky – Indenture – April 4, 1810
  • Lewis, John and Thomas Posey – Agreement – October 7, 1814 (Regarding adjustments in earlier land transaction)
  • Personal notebook - 1818-1820
Box 1   Folder 6

1822-1831, undated

  • Crittenden, John J., Frankfort, Kentucky to Warner Washington Lewis – March 22, 1830 (Deeding lands in Charlton Co., Missouri)
  • Lewis, Warner Washington, to John U. Waring, Union Circuit Court – Legal Response - June 13, 1831
  • Lewis, John - Memorandum – undated (On lands in Kentucky) Memorandum – undated (On various land transactions of Robert Patton)
  • Tax Memorandum – undated (Showing amounts paid by various landowners in Knox, Logan, and Main Counties)
  • Barton, Seth to Warner Washington Lewis – Memorandum – undated (Regarding purchase of lands)
  • Lewis, Andrew to Francisco – Memorandum – undated (Regarding instructions for items of legal and financial business)
  • Lewis, Andrew to Woodford Circuit Court – Legal Response – undated (Answer to Bill of John Machis in John Machis vs. Cameron Williams Lewis)
  • Account – undated
  • of Household Goods- undated
  • Personal account book – undated [ca. 1789-1801]

Series II: Correspondence

Subseries 1: John Lewis

Box 1   Folder 7

Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence – 1784-1801

  • Springer, Uriah to John Lewis – May 19, 1784
  • Neilson, Robert to Henry Crutcher – January 16, 1785
  • Neilson, Robert to Henry Crutcher – January 26, 1785
  • Neilson, Robert to Henry Crutcher – March 28, 1785
  • Brown, George to John Lewis – June 30, 1785
  • May, John, Petersburg to John Lewis – October 1, 1785
  • Ewing, Baker, Danville to John Lewis, Fredericksburg – October 25, 1785
  • Heth, Andrew, Louisville to John Lewis – March 29, 1786
  • Ewing, Baker to John Lewis – May 8, 1786
  • Fontaine, Jus to John Lewis, Fredericksburg – April 26, 1790
  • Crutcher, L.V.H. to Colonel William Fountain – November 15, 1790
  • Lewis, John to Governor Isaac Shelby – July 1, 1793
  • T. Posey, Spotsylvania, to John Lewis, Fredericksburg – December 11, 1797
  • [Momillen] to John Lewis – February 20, 1799
  • Unknown to John Lewis – March 7, 1800
  • Lewis, John, Fredericksburg, to the Land Office, Kentucky – May 1, 1800
  • Unknown to John Lewis, Lexington – September 19, 1801

Subseries 2: Warner Washington Lewis

Box 1   Folder 8

Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence – 1805-1828

  • For[bes], Standish to W.W. Lewis – January 22, 1805
  • For[bes], Standish to W.W. Lewis – April 7, 1805
  • Gazzain, C.W. to W.W. Lewis – July 18, 1825
  • Mag[enden], Allen to W.W. Lewis – September 1, 1806
  • Reed[?] to W.W. Lewis – October 25, 1805
  • Sneed, Achilles to W.W. Lewis – June 10, 1814
  • Sneed, Achilles to W.W. Lewis – June 25, 1814
  • Sneed, Achilles to W.W. Lewis – September 23, 1814
  • Bibb, George M. to W.W. Lewis – July 20, 1821
  • Crittendon, J.J. to W.W. Lewis – June 14, 1824
  • Lewis, W.W. to W. Crittendon – October 27, 1828

Subseries 3: Gabriel Lewis

Box 1   Folder 9

Correspondence with John Lewis – 1799-1801

Box 1   Folder 10

Correspondence with John Lewis – 1802-1808

Box 1   Folder 11

Correspondence with Warner Washington Lewis – 1803 - 1831

Box 1   Folder 12

Incoming Correspondence – 1796-1801

  • Shaumburgh, B. – April 26, 1796
  • Wilkinson, James - August 12, 1796
  • Posey, Thomas – November 15, 1797
  • Posey, Thomas – August 21, 1799
  • Posey, Thomas – September 11, 1799
  • Herndon, William – May 6, 1801
  • Lattimore, D. – June 8, 1801
  • Logan, J. – June 15, 1802
  • Ballinger – June 26, 1801
Box 1   Folder 13

Correspondence – 1802

  • Mercer, H.W. – January 5, 1802
  • Patton, R.W. – February 16, 1802
  • Ovirton, John – March 2, 1802
  • Sneed, Achilles – June 25, 1802
  • Mercer, John – July 7, 1802
  • Casey, Robert – July 9, 1802
  • Henderson, David – July 27, 1802
  • Mercer, John – August 9, 1802
  • Orr, A. – August 13, 1802
  • Innes, Harry – August 30, 1802
  • Mercer, John, and H.T.W. Mercer – September 4, 1802
  • Posey, Thomas – September 9, 1802
  • Mercer, H.W. – September 7, 1802
  • Mercer, H.W. – September 9, 1802
  • Hughes, J. – October 2, 1802
  • Thornton, Anthony – October 25, 1802
Box 1   Folder 14

Correspondence – 1803

  • [Mobley] and Metcalfe – January 1, 1803
  • Henderson, D. – January 27, 1803
  • Tennent, W. – March 16, 1803
  • Mapie, Henry – April 22, 1803
  • Maury, Fontaine – May 12, 1803
  • Arthur, Thomas – August 3, 1803
  • Mercer, Hugh – October 19, 1803
  • Ficklin, J. – October 19, 1803
  • Briggs, D. – November 2, 1803
  • Scott, Abraham – September 14, 1802
  • Ballinger, M.O. – March 1, 1803
  • Gabriel Lewis, Lexington, Kentucky. List
Box 1   Folder 15

Correspondence – 1804

  • Ridgley, F – January 20, 1804
  • Smith, August – February 26, 1804
  • Frazer, William – April 17, 1804
  • Stevens, Edward – June 6, 1804
  • Henry Massie – July 10, 1804
  • Maury, Fontaine – July 18, 1804
  • Scott, George M – August 4, 1804
  • Smith, August J. – August. 7, 1804
  • Smith, August J. – September 18, 1804
  • Smith, August J. – September 18, 1804
  • Mercer, Hugh – September 25, 1804.
  • Terrent, John – October 9, 1804.
Box 1   Folder 16

Correspondence – 1805

  • Herndon, William – January 2, 1805
  • Craick, William – March 2, 1805
  • Thornton, Anthony – March 23, 1805
  • Smith, August J. – July 18, 1805
  • Woodward, James – August 3, 1805
  • Posey, Thomas – August 27, 1805
  • Tennent, William - October 30, 1805
  • Lewis, William – December 29, 1805
  • Darby, Adam – January 17, 1805
Box 1   Folder 17

Correspondence – 1806

  • Mercer, Hugh – January 6, 1806
  • Herndon, William – January 30, 1806
  • Mercer, Hugh – March 9, 1806
  • Welford – April, 1806
  • Allen, Thomas – May 11, 1806
  • Tennent, William – May 29, 1806
  • Herndon, William – June 24, 1806
  • Henderson, David – August 12, 1806
  • Madison, George – September 10, 1806
  • Askin, Courtney – October 1, 1806
  • Mapie, H. – November 10, 1806
  • McVicker, John – November 11, 1806
Box 1   Folder 18

Correspondence – 1807-1809

  • Mapie, H. – January 10, 1807
  • Wallace, W.B. – April 7, 1809
  • Mapie, H. – April 15, 1807
  • Tennent, William – August 2, 1807
  • Mapie, H. – October 19, 1807
  • Mead, David – December 24, 1807
  • Mercer, Hugh – March 14, 1808
  • Logan, John – May 18, 1809
  • French, G.W. – May 26, 1809
Box 1   Folder 19

Correspondence – 1813-1835

  • Carr, Dabney – July 2, 1813
  • Crittenden, John – January 22, 1820
  • Macy, A.R. and R. Bibb – January 4, 1828
  • Unknown – September 15, 1829
  • Unknown – March 19, 1831
  • Swigert, P. – July 18, 1833
  • Morehead, Pousley – February 11, 1835
Box 1   Folder 20

Correspondence - undated

  • Taylor, Jonathan
  • Postlethwaite, I.
  • Baston, H.L.