Records of ante-bellum southern plantations - LexisNexis

1887–1904 President of the University of Tennessee.
1887–1890 Director of Tennessee Experiment Station.
1893–1896 Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1897 Special agent, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
1902–1904 Head of “Summer School of the South,” at Knoxville, Tennessee.
1904–1920 President of the University of Cincinnati.
1920–1945 Retired educator and scientist, active writer. Universal Education in the South
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1936).
Robert Lewis Dabney (1820–1898) was a Presbyterian clergyman and teacher and was
associated with Hampden-Sydney College and with the Union Seminary of Virginia at Farmville,
Virginia, from 1836 to 1837, 1844, and from 1853 to 1883. He married Lavinia Morrison (1828–
1908) in 1855, and together they had several children. During the Civil War he served with the
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, first as a chaplain with the 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment
in 1861, then as an officer on the staff of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson in 1862. After
Jackson’s death in 1863, Dabney wrote a biography of the general entitled Life and Campaigns of
Lt. Gen’l. T. J. Jackson (“Stonewall Jackson”) (1866), and other works as well. A biographical
essay on Robert Lewis Dabney can be found in the Dictionary of American Biography. He was
the son of Charles William Dabney (1786–1833) and Elizabeth (Price) Dabney and the brother of
Charles William Dabney (1809–1895), who served during the Civil War, in 1861 and 1862, as the
captain of Company C, 15th Virginia Infantry Regiment.
Charles William Dabney (1786–1833) was the son of Samuel Dabney and Jane (Meriwether)
Dabney. Samuel Dabney was the son of William Dabney (born before 1708, died ca. 1773) and
Anne (Barret) Dabney. Anne (Barret) Dabney was the daughter of Charles Barret and Mary
(Chiswell) Barret. William Dabney was the son of George Dabney, and the grandson of Cornelius
Dabney who probably came to New Kent County, Virginia, about 1649. Charles Dabney (1745–
1829), a son of William Dabney, served as an officer during the American Revolution in the 2nd
Virginia State Regiment.
Related Morrison family members mentioned in these papers include clergyman James
Morrison (fl.1817–1865), father of Lavinia (Morrison) Dabney and Henry Rutherford Morrison
(who served during the Civil War in the 31st Virginia Militia until his death in 1864); Mary Anna
(Morrison) Jackson (1831–1915), born near Charlotte, North Carolina, who married Thomas
Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson in 1857; and Mary Moore (Morrison) Smith, who married
clergyman Benjamin Mosby Smith (1811–1893) in 1839.
Series 1. Correspondence and Business Papers (1716–1945 and undated)
Subseries 1.1. (1716–1833 and undated) The earliest papers are deeds and wills of
members of the Dabney family. Papers of William Dabney of Hanover County, Virginia, begin with
1745; they begin to overlap in the 1760s with the papers of his son Charles. The papers for the
rest of the eighteenth century are those of Charles Dabney of Hanover, his brothers George,
Robert, and Samuel and his sister Susanna, of Hanover and Louisa counties.
There is a deed of release, dated 11 October 1716, granted to George Dabney at King
William County, from George Alves at New Kent County, with bond (fragment and photostat of
missing part). There is George Dabney’s patent to 400 acres in Hanover County, dated 9 July
1724. There is George Dabney’s will, dated 24 October 1729, naming sons, daughters, grandchildren
(William, Susannah, Sarah, Judith, and George Dabney, Mary Pettus, and Mrs.
Anderson) and property. There is a memorandum, dated 3 December 1741, of the will of Mary
Barret (grandmother of George and William Dabney?). There is a letter dated 26 April 1743 from
a London shipper to Esther Chiswell at Robert Barrett’s, York River, Virginia, discussing mostly
business matters.
Papers for the years 1746 to 1750 are chiefly those related to William Dabney at Hanover
County, Virginia, as executor of the estates of Mrs. Esther Chiswell, George Dabney, and Major
Morris. There are numerous accounts and receipts. There are also receipts from George
Anderson, grandson of George Dabney, and various scattered bills and memoranda. There are
receipts for slaves dated 13 January and 27 November 1746. There is a letter dated 2 July 1749
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