Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Edmond Family Papers #5529, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC of Philadelphia, Pa., in July 2012 (Acc. 101621).

Custodial History

Papers appear to have been passed on to the youngest son upon the death of the father: from Robert Edmond (1808-1875) to Walter S. Edmond (1843-1908) and from Walter S. Edmond to Hector D. Edmond (1874-1950). Hector D. Edmond passed his papers to his only child, daughter Courtney Edmond van Fossen (1919-2011).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Danielle Fasig, April 2013

Encoded by: Danielle Fasig, April 2013

Updated by: Dawne Howard Lucas, January 2022

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Bath County (Va.) -- History.
• Big Springs Water Company.
• Business enterprises--Virginia.
• Davenport & Co.
• Davenport, Isaac, 1813-1896.
• Diaries (Blank-books)
• Edmond family.
• Edmond, Hector D. (Hector Davis), 1874-1950.
• Edmond, Robert, 1808-1875.
• Edmond, Walter S. (Walter Scott), 1843-1908.
• Families--Virginia--Photographs.
• Families--Virginia.
• General stores--Virginia.
• Love-letters--20th century.
• Medical education--Photographs.
• Medicine--Study and teaching--Photographs.
• Merchants--Virginia.
• Millboro, Va.
• New York World's Fair (1939-1940 : New York, N.Y.)--Photographs.
• Photographs.
• Richmond (Va.)-- History.
• Van Fossen, Courtney Edmond, 1919-2011.
• Virginia--Photographs.
• Virginia--Social life and customs.

Members of the Edmond family lived in Richmond and Millboro, Bath County, Va. Robert Edmond was born about 1808 in Vermont, but moved to Virginia as a young man to work with his uncle, a Mr. Porter, who was principal owner and operator of stage lines from Washington, D.C., to New Orleans, La., and other points in the South. Robert Edmond developed a friendship with Isaac Davenport Jr. (died 1896), which led to the founding of the firm of Edmond & Davenport, a wholesale groceries business, in 1834. The firm was in business until Robert Edmond died in 1879. Isaac Davenport Jr. was originally from Maine but came to Richmond in 1829 to work for his namesake uncle, Isaac Davenport Sr., who was a successful merchant with the firm of Davenport & Allen.

Edmond and Davenport, with a Mr. Boyd of Lynchburg, Va., also managed the James River Pack Company, which ran a line of canal boats from Richmond to Lynchburg by which mail, freight, express, and passengers were transported to points along the James River. Over time they became involved in exporting flour and cotton and importing sugar and coffee to and from South America. The companies were successful, and Edmond apparently owned four slaves who worked for him in his mercantile business. Following the Civil War, the company ceased to be in active business.

During the Civil War, Robert Edmond served as a member of the Ambulance Committee of Richmond, Va. Meanwhile, Isaac Davenport Jr. formed the banking and insurance firm Davenport & Co. Davenport also invested heavily in local railroads, the old Richmond and Danville line and the Virginia Central. He was active in consolidating the smaller railroads into these two larger lines. Davenport also later was president of the First National Bank of Richmond and the Union Bank of Richmond. All three firms served as the bankers and brokers of the Edmond family for several generations.

Robert Edmond and his wife Sarah A. Edmond had at least six children, including Horace P. Edmond (died 1895), Mary Edmond, David Edmond, George Edmond, Walter S. Edmond (1843-1908), and Martha Edmond. During the Civil War, Horace P. Edmond served as an engineer with Virginia's 1st Company Howitzers Light Artillery Battery. After the war Horace set up business in Richmond as a machinist and engine builder. He married Sarah Edwards Woodbridge. Walter S. Edmond was a member of Company I, Virginia 4th Cavalry, assigned to ambulance duty. He later owned a farm on the Chickahominy, near Richmond, Va., named "Strawberry Hill." He married Courtney Davis (died 1911) and with her had four sons: Hector Davis Edmond (1874-1950), Courtney Edmond, Marion Edmond (died 1937), and Robert Edmond (born 1868). Courtney Edmond and Marion Edmond were both doctors. Courtney Edmond was an eye and throat specialist in Clifton Forge, Va. He married a woman named Elma Crump. Robert Edmond married and moved to New Orleans where he worked as a clerk in the naval station.

Hector D. Edmond was a farmer living in Millboro, Bath County, Va., by 1900. During the 1920s he began several businesses, including a general store selling groceries, drugs, tobacco, auto supplies, beer, and other items, and the Big Springs Water Company, which provided water to people from a spring he controlled. He was also the executor or trustee of many estates, particularly those of family members. He and his wife Margaret Edmond had one daughter, Courtney Edmond (1919-2011), who was a member of the Stuarts Draft Baptist Church and at different times employed at Millboro High School as a teacher; at BARC Electric Corporation in Millboro, Va., which was one of the rural electrification administration projects in Virginia; and at the U.S. Forest Service in Harrisonburg, Va. as a secretary. She was married to Edward van Fossen (d. 1998).

The Edmond Family Papers consist of business and personal papers of four generations of the Edmond family of Richmond, Va., and Millboro, Bath County, Va. The family was involved in various business ventures, including Edmond & Davenport, a wholesale groceries business; James River Pack Company, which ran a line of canal boats between Richmond and Lynchburg and was involved in importing and exporting with South America; farming; a general store; and the Big Springs Water Company. Family members include Robert Edmond (1808-1875), Walter S. Edmond (1843-1908), Hector D. Edmond (1874-1950), and Courtney Edmond van Fossen (1919-2011). The collection chiefly consists of personal letters, business papers and ledgers, and other financial papers, primarily documenting the family, its business endeavors, and financial interests. Most of the papers were created or added to in later years by Hector D. Edmond. The financial materials reflect long relationships between the family and Davenport & Co., the First National Bank of Richmond, and the Union Bank of Richmond, all three of which were owned or presided over at one time by Isaac Davenport Jr., the co-founder of Edmond & Davenport.

Personal letters chiefly document daily life concerns of family members, but there are also love letters of Hector D. Edmond in the 1910s, of Courtney Edmond van Fossen in the 1940s, and of Palma Hawkins, whose connection to the Edmond family is uncertain, in the early 1900s. Other materials include Courtney Edmond van Fossen's diaries and notebooks, many of which are written in shorthand; two autograph books from 1926; advertisements from the 1910s to 1961; and miscellaneous other papers.

The collection also includes photographs, some in frames, and photograph albums, dating from the 1860s to the 1970s. A small number of photographs show members of the Edmond family, particularly Courtney Edmond van Fossen, but most are of unidentified individuals and groups. The majority of the photographs, particularly the earlier ones, are professional studio portraits of individuals, groups, or children. Photographs taken after the 1920s tend to be informal portraits and snapshots of events and outdoor activities. Other photographs of note depict medical students and a surgical procedure from the 1890s, the 1939 New York World's Fair, an unidentified Native American man, landscapes in Virginia, and many animals. Older photographic formats include tintypes, cyanotypes, cabinet cards, and cartes de visite.

• Photograph Folders (PF-5529/1-43)
• Photograph Albums (PA-5529/1-7)
• Special Format Images (SF-P-5529/1-24)
• Oversize Image Folder (OP-PF-5529/1)