W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1972 Calender of the Preston Family Papers, Joyes Collection James Robert Bentley College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Library and Information Science Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Bentley, James Robert, "Calender of the Preston Family Papers, Joyes Collection" (1972). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539624782. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-tb8d-1a02 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CALENDAR OF THE PRESTON FAMILY PAPERS- JOYES COLLECTION A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by James R. Bentley 1972 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Author Approved, August 1972 hi Edward M. Riley Joh . Selb Lu'd^ell H. J ohns 11 For Francis Getty Bentley and Elizabeth Wescott Bentley TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............... v ABSTRACT .................... vi INTRODUCTION .................... 2 CALENDAR . 10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES .................................... 285 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................... .3^3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer expresses his appreciation particularly to Edward M. Riley, who directed, encouraged, and supported this study. The author is indebted to John E. Selby and Ludwell H. Johnson who read and criticized the manuscript; to John Frederick Dorman of Washington, D. C., who read the calendar and helped with notes for some of the biographical sketches; to Mrs. Patricia Johnson of Camp Springs, Mary­ land for help in identifying William Preston Anderson; to the staff of The Filson Club for many courtesies; to Mrs. Frank J. Callan, Jr., who typed the manuscript; and, to the late Preston Pope Joyes, Sr. for donating the manuscripts calendared here to The Filson Club for the use of historical researchers. y ABSTRACT The intention of this calendar is to list com­ pletely the contents of the Preston Family Papers-Joyes Collection, which is owned by The Filson Club of Louis­ ville, Kentucky. The five hundred eighty seven items constituting this manuscript collection are of suitable significance that an abstract of the contents of the letters and a descriptive listing of the other papers is useful for researchers. The papers are listed in chronological order. All topics of consequence in each letter are described or quoted and all personal names contained in each letter are brought out. A physical description of the characteristics of each document is given. To aid in understanding the collection, brief biographical sketches of the members of the Preston family and their principal correspondents are supplied following the calendar of the collection. vi CALENDAR OF THE PRESTON FAMILY PAPERS- JOYES COLLECTION INTRODUCTION The Preston Family Papers-Joyes Collection, 1780- 1963, containing 587 items, grew naturally over the years, as do most such accumulations. The papers were created by practical necessity for purposes of communication and legal record. But unlike the majority of such manuscripts, they were safeguarded by succeeding generations rather than being discarded when their immediate purpose had been ful­ filled. The largest number of documents preserved are letters which are, also, the most interesting. Some of the correspondence of Major William Preston is official in nature, regarding army matters in the early years of the republic, or legal matters, usually pertaining to the acquisition or sale of land, but others were written by members of the Preston family or by their friends. These last contain crucial details on the life’s activities of the family, the gossip shared by sisters, and, almost incidentally, valuable details concerning local affairs in Kentucky and Virginia. v Aside from the correspondence, the collection con­ tains land papers (deeds, agreements on the division of real property, plats, and lists) dated between 1786 and 1866; legal papers, including petitions, agreements concerning slaves, depositions, wills and other documents, from 179^ to 18*17; military papers such as a deposition of Hugh Brady relating to Col. Hamtramck’s activities at Fort Wayne in 1795? militia returns, and recruiting instructions, dated between 1796 and 1810. The Prestons were an important family in both Virginia and Kentucky. Like so many of the eighteenth- century settlers of south-western Virginia, they were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The immigrant ancestor, John Preston, was married to a sister of Col. James Patton, a significant figure in the frontier settlements of the colony. John Preston's only son was Col. William Preston, who became a leader of the area and acquired large land­ holdings primarily in present Montgomery County, Virginia, and in Kentucky. Among the children of Col. William Preston, was a son, generally known as Major William Preston (1770-1821), who inherited much of his father’s land in Jefferson County, Kentucky (Louisville), and who removed his family to this property in 1815. The Preston Family Papers-Joyes Collection is composed of the papers of Major Preston, his family and descendants. Preston was well connected, for his immediate family included his older brothers, Gen. John Preston, who served as treasurer of Virginia, Gen. Francis Preston, who served in the United States House of Represen­ tatives and married the only child and heiress of Gen. William Campbell (17*15-1781), a revolutionary hero and large landholder, and younger brothers, Col. James Patton Preston, who became governor of Virginia, and Thomas Lewis Preston, who married a daughter of Edmund Randolph. Major Preston's sisters were married to men of standing, increasing the importance of his connection. To indicate the more important of these alliances, Sarah Preston married Col. James McDowell, Susanna Preston mar­ ried Col. Nathaniel Hart of Woodford County, Kentucky, and Letitia Preston married John Floyd of Kentucky, who became governor of Virginia. Beyond his brothers and sisters, Major Preston's first cousins on the Preston side included John Breckin­ ridge, United States senator from Kentucky and attorney general of the United States; Gen. James Breckinridge of Virginia; John Brown, United States senator from Kentucky; James Brown, United States senator from Louisiana and minister to France; Benjamin Howard, governor of Missouri Territory; the wife of James Blair, Kentucky's attorney general; the wife of .Governor George Madison of Kentucky; the wife of Dr. Louis Marshall of Buckpond; and the wife of Robert Wickliffe, one of the richest and most influential men in Kentucky. His nephews and nieces included, Senator William r Campbell Preston of South Carolina; the first Mrs. Robert J. Breckinridge; Gen. John S. Preston, C.S.A.; 5 Mrs. Wade Hampton of South Carolina; Mrs. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri; Governor James McDowell of Virginia; the second Mrs. Robert J. Breckinridge; William Ballard Preston, secretary of the navy and Confederate senator; Governor John B. Floyd of Virginia; the wife of Senator John W. Johnston of Virginia; Col. John Thomas Lewis Preston; Francis Preston Blair; Thomas Francis Marshall; Alexander Keith Marshall, congressman from Kentucky; Congressman Edward C. Marshall; and, Mrs. Caleb Logan. Major William Preston chose the military as his career and served in the United States Army between 1791 and 1798. After leaving the army, Preston devoted himself to his property in Botetourt County, Virginia. He served in the War of 1812 and, as indicated, moved to Kentucky in 1815. He died while visiting in Virginia in 1821. Six of Major Preston’s children lived to adulthood and all are represented in the Preston papers. His daughters were: Henrietta Preston (the first wife of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston), Maria Preston (who married John Pope), Caroline Preston (wife of Col. Abram Woolley), Josephine Preston (wife of Capt. Jason Rogers), and Susan Preston (who married first, Howard F. Christy, and second, H. P. Hepburn). The Major’s only son was Gen. William Preston, who served as a member of the United States Congress, United States minister to Spain, was an officer in the Mexican War, and became a major general in the Confederate States Army and Confederate minister to Mexico. Other collections of papers of the Preston family are preserved at the Virginia Historical Society and in the Draper Manuscripts at the State Historical Society of Wis­ consin. The papers here calendared were created or received by Major William Preston, his wife Caroline Han­ cock Preston, and his children, principally Maria Preston Pope and Susan Preston Christy Hepburn. The two last were both widowed and lived their final years together in a large house in Louisville. When their sister Josephine Preston Rogers died in 1842, Mrs. Pope and Mrs. Hepburn took over the raising of Mrs. Rogers’s children. At the death of the sisters, the manuscripts apparently were acquired by Susan Preston Rogers, one of the children raised by the Preston sisters, who had married Judge John Watson Barr of Louisville. From Mrs. Barr possession of the papers passed to her daughter, Caroline Preston Barr (1864-1943), who married Morton Venable Joyes, Sr., of Louisville. The collection was next inherited by her son, Preston Pope Joyes, Sr. (1893-1970), who realized their value to historians and generously gave them to The Filson Club for preservation in 1968. v Although the family was actively involved with the Civil War, material from that period is conspicuously absent. Major Preston’s son, who served as a major general in the Confederate army, was close to his sister Susan and had her watch over his Kentucky affairs.