Documents, 1872-1921

The E. A. Williams Papers (1749-1969) include personal and business papers (letters, financial records, legal agreements), documents, genealogical material, photographs, and other papers of the Williams family of Mecklenburg County, Virginia.

Most of the papers are those of Captain Edwin Anderson Williams, and relate to his activities as a lawyer, bank trustee, treasurer of the Roanoke Valley Railroad, tax collector, tobacco grower, and Confederate Army officer. His papers date from 1828-1873, and include letters, financial papers, legal papers, and tax accounts. His papers document his varied business and public activities and have references to slaves and the Civil War, but reflect little of his private life.

The letters of Captain Williams' second wife, Lucy Kennon, and his sons Carter N., Thomas Nelson and Henry S. Williams, daughters-in-law Rosa Haskins and Sue Withers, and his daughter Alice Kennon Williams complement his papers by reflecting family life. The letters of Alice Kennon Williams (1865-1878) are courtship letters from numerous suitors.

The papers of Edwin Anderson Williams, III include letters and documents and photographs relevant to family history (1908-1928). Also, two volumes of genealogical material, Plain Facts About Some Virginians and its index are included.

A significant item in the collection is the diary of William Chancellor (1750-1751), a ship's doctor who kept a diary during a slaving voyage from New York to the coast of West Africa.