Contents
Collection Access
Lewis, Fielding. Papers
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Lewis, Fielding. Papers
- Dates
- 1783-1900
- Language
- Documents in English
- Size
- 1.25 linear feet (3 boxes)
- Repository
-
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research CenterUniversity of Chicago Library1100 East 57th StreetChicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.
- Abstract
- Fielding Lewis, plantation owner. Papers contain business records, legal documents, tax receipts and other records that document the management of an ante-bellum plantation on the James River. The collection also includes receipts for purchase of slaves as well as daily expenses.
Information on Use
Access
This collection is open for research.
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Biographical Note
Fielding Lewis (d. 1834) owned a plantation on the James River, where he raised corn and wheat. Lewis was the son of Col. Warner Lewis and Eleanor Bowles of Warner Hall, Gloucester County, Virginia. He was also a great uncle of the famed Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Around 1788, Lewis married Agnes Harwood, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Woddrop Harwood. With that marriage came the estate of Weyanoke on the James River.
Scope Note
Fielding Lewis, plantation owner. The Fielding Lewis Papers contain business records, legal documents, tax receipts and other records that document the management of an ante-bellum plantation on the James River. The collection also includes receipts for slaves as well as daily expenses. Lewis practiced advanced methods of agriculture at that time and some of the papers detail his actual operations in this regard.
The collection contains material relating mostly to Weyanoke plantation but also another property Lewis owned called Belle Farm. The invoices and receipts include Lewis’s business and personal expenses, arranged chronologically. Included are receipts for food, clothing, equipment and slaves.
Processing Information note
This collection was surveyed as part of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium's Survey Initiative on 2010 January 21 by Lisa Calahan and Bergis Jules.