Joseph and Ellen Wayles Coolidge to Bennett Taylor, 1864 November 17

MSS 9221 Bennett Taylor papers consist of family correspondence with letters to and from Bennett about education at the University of Virginia, descriptions of United States Civil War battles including the 19th Virginia Regiment Company F, Picketts Divison at 2nd Manassas, a prisoner exchange for Lieutenant Colonel Bennett Taylor from Johnson Island in Lake Erie New York, and family news of descendants of Thomas Jefferson and local Charlottesville families from 1851-1894. Correspondence of Bennett Taylor (1836-1898): 30 letters. In addition to the letters there is a University of Virginia examination report for Bennett Taylor's father John Charles Randolph Taylor, dated July 5, 1860.

Many of the letters are digitized on the Thomas Jefferson Foundation website. Also included is a compact disk containing scans of the 30 Taylor family letters.

While Bennett Taylor had a low income and probably did not enslave people, his relatives did. Some letters describe "servants" who are helping them with cooking or cleaning or experiencing sickness. One letter in particular mentions the selling of "Eugenia". (January 8, 1857) It is likely that this is an enslaved person.

This addition to the collection contains the original letters. The existing collection contains photocopies of the letters, and printed items including a circular about Bennett Taylor campaigning for Clerk of the Circuit Court (October 1, 1874), a Sketch of the Life of Lieutenant Colonel Bennett Taylor, Death memoriam of Jane Hollins Randolph (January 18, 1871), and information about the death of Captain Lewis Randolph. There is also an essay containing the genealogy of Rawleigh Colston.

There is a related collection in the University Archives that contains an autograph album of Bennett Taylor with signatures of his fraternity brothers, Alph Kappa at the University of Virginia. RG-30/17/1.821