Smithfield Preston Foundation
Papers, 1784-1881, n.d., 0.4 cu. ft., 204 items, Ms97-002
Introduction/Scope and Content:
The Smithfield Preston Foundation collection consists of 200 letters written almost exclusively by two generations of members of the Preston family of southwest Virginia, Kentucky, and South Carolina, to James and Sarah Preston McDowell of Rockbridge County, Virginia. The collection also includes a will of William Campbell Preston, an obituary of John Smith Preston and his photograph, and a circular asking for funds for a memorial in honor of John Smith Preston.
Many of the correspondents are the children and grandchildren of William (1729-83) and Susanna Smith (1740-1825) Preston, settlers of Botetourt and then Montgomery County, Virginia. William Preston was a surveyor in the counties and active in the military affairs of the Virginia frontier. He built Smithfield Plantation, located in Montgomery County, in 1772. This home remained in the family for generations and is currently maintained by the Montgomery County branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Greenfield was a home in Botetourt County where William and Susanna Smith Preston resided in the 1760s.
The letters were written by the brothers and sisters, and their spouses, of Sarah Preston McDowell and the children of her brothers Francis Preston and James Patton Preston. Most of the letters are addressed to Sarah Preston McDowell and James McDowell, and their son James McDowell and his wife Susanna Smith Preston McDowell. A more detailed list of correspondents and recipients, with some biographical information, is available.
For more information about the Preston family, see John Frederick Dorman, The Prestons of Smithfield and Greenfield in Virginia (Filson Club, Inc.; Louisville, Kentucky, 1982).
Provenance:
The Smithfield Preston Foundation papers were donated in May 1997 to the Special Collections Department of the University Libraries at Virginia Tech by the Smithfield Preston Foundation, based in Blacksburg, Virginia. The materials were processed in 1997 and 1998 by Danielle Morrison, student assistant, and Laura Katz Smith, Manuscripts Curator.
Contents List of letters in the collection.
Return to:
Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the University Libraries
Guide to Resourcesfor the History of Blacksburg, Virginia
Manuscript sources for AppalachianHistory
Manuscript sources for Montgomery County, Virginia, History
Send questions and comments (about the collections in the University Libraries of Virginia Tech only, please) to:
specref@vt.edu
