Browse Items (1533 total)

The institution of slavery system kept family connections obscure and few slaves had last names. Establishing the roots and identity that come from knowing one’s family heritage became important for freedmen in the generations after the war. …

These images are copies of original labor contracts from Louisa County after the Civil War. Notice the stamps on each document showing it was approved by the Freedmen's Bureau office at Louisa Courthouse.

Contracts are between Henry Taylor and the…

In 1904, at the age of 43 and with her husband and seven children, Christian Guild left her homeland of Scotland to immigrate to the United States. When she reached Dabneys, Louisa County, Virginia, she became actively involved in an attempt to start…

Dates in parentheses refer to the day the membership card was signed. All other words in brackets refer to anything written on the front or back of the card.

Names of the enrollees:

Neal. A. Hasher and Mrs. N. A. (Minnie) Hasher of Trevilians,…

Leon Luxford Loyall, from Willowbrook, Louisa County, Virginia, is one of many individuals to join the Equal Suffrage League. He was born on November 1, 1876 and is noted as being a teacher at the time he registered to vote in 1902. He married Ada…

The brochure for the country inn run by Nancy and Lucy: "The Misses Taylor" of Westend. Their mother, Mary Minor Watson Taylor, specified in her that her unmarried children should have a life interest in Westend.

The girls' mother and father,…

Parke Taylor, a renowned horticulturalist for her knowledge and cultivation of boxwood hedges, sent box clippings around the US, and to several different countries around the world. In the 1930s, Parke ran her boxwood business at Westend, in…

The car which Lucy Taylor likely took to the Trevilians train station to pick up boarders for their country inn.

Virginia (Taylor) Syndor's remembrances of Westend's farm and country in in the early 20th century

Ellen Glasgow was a prominent part of the movement for women’s suffrage and was the honorary vice-president of the Equal Suffrage League. Glasgow was born and lived most of her life in Richmond. As a young child, before she became a well-known…

Lucille Holt, born in 1883, became an influential woman in early twentieth century Louisa County. Born with a light skin tone, she was sometimes seen as a white woman and other times as a black woman. In 1916, Lucille Holt was appointed the first…

Anna T. Jeanes, born in 1822 in Quaker Pennsylvania, became the sole inheritor of her family fortune. Her Christian faith led her to establish The Friends Boarding House, a home for the ill and elderly. Two years before her death in 1907, Jeanes…

Zelda Carter Fletcher Morton was born on June 6, 1874 on Sylvania in Green Springs. Her parents, Andrew and Sarah Carter, were married while enslaved and their marriage was recorded by the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1866 in the Cohabitation Lists.…

Likely the five daughters of Henry Taylor II of Westmoreland County, who married Mary Minor Watson Taylor of Westend. They lived at Montrose for several years before moving out to Westend, where they raised nine children. The five daughters are…

Virginia (Taylor) Syndor, a niece of Lucy Taylor's, is shown here racing horses in her late 20s or early 30s. She writes of spending her childhood days at Westend Farm with her Aunt Lucy, who was like a "second mother" to her. She also remembers…

Women in a carriage, likely Virginia Taylor (to be Mrs. W.B. Syndor) and a friend, up to visit their aunts Nancy and Lucy Taylor, who had a life interest in Westend. Virginia's father, Henry Taylor III, was a brother of the Nancy and Lucy and had…

This photograph was likely taken in the fields of Westend Farm during WWI, when there would have been a need for farmers to supply food to the soldiers overseas.

Lucy and Nancy Taylor stayed on Westend and kept it going as a farm while two male…

Lucy Taylor, the only remaining unmarried daughter who inherited a life interest in Westend, is pictured here as an octogenarian in September of 1955. She is seated in the middle, fixing her headband. She ran Westend with the help of her sister,…

Adam Toler, born in 1766, took detailed notes in a ledger book throughout his education. In a linen-covered notebook, there are comments regarding measurements in many different subjects, including time, the division of money and crops, simple…