Documents

Bibliography
List of sources, published and unpublished.

Court Records
Marriage licenses, wills and deeds from Proffit stored at the Albemarle County Court House

Letters of Kate Coles
Samples from letters and other materials written by Kate Coles from as early as 1894 up to her death around 1943. The letters indicate that Coles was born on January 7, 1857 as a slave at Gale Hill plantation in Albemarle County, where her mistress, Mary Terrell Minor, taught her to read and write. At some point—presumably after emancipation—Kate Coles and her husband, Jeff, moved to Proffit, where they spent the rest of their lives. The letters included in the collection were written mostly to members of the local planters with whom Coles had apparently developed on-going friendships.

Family Trees
Moore/Tinsley Family Tree. Images of the Richard and Josephine Moore family tree and history, presented at the Second Reunion, July 1, 1995, McIntire Park, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Flannagan Family Tree. Created by Pauline (Flannagan) Johnson, Larnell Flannagan, and Mieka Brand, 2001.

Maps of Proffit and Vicinity
Portions of maps dating from 1875 to 1987

Newspaper Clips
Selected articles relating to Proffit's citizens and local events. The clippings come from three newspapers published during the 19th century—Charlottesville Chronicle, Richmond Planet, and Jeffersonian Republican.

Timeline

Historic Documents, Newspapers, & Literature

Document Name & Description:	Link:
Albemarle County Circuit Court.  Clerk’s office.  Deed Books, Chancery Orders, Land Books.
Bitting, Samuel T.    1915  Rural Land Ownership Among the Negroes of Virginia with a Special Reference to Albemarle County.  Publication of the University of Virginia Phelps-Stokes Fellowship Papers (Number Two).
Carr, Hugh Thomas    1976  My First Eighty Years on the Planet Earth.  Claremont Harbor, MS: Privately Printed.
Charlottesville Chronicle. Various issues. This newspaper was published intermittently from 1866 to 1904, first as a tri-weekly and eventually as a daily newspaper.  Copies of some relevant items can be found in the ‘News Clips’ section.  Microfilm and hard copies can be found at the University of Virginia library (call number Micfilm N-US Va-5), or in the Special Collections Department.
Coleman, Elizabeth Dabney    1944  “Peter Carr of Carr’s-Brook (1770-1815).”  In Papers of the Albemarle County Historical Society, Vol. IV (1943-44):5-23. Item can be found at the Albemarle County Historical Society, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Freedman’s Bureau Records “A microfilm copy of the records of Charlottesville and Albemarle County made from the originals in the National Archives.”  Located on microfilm at the University of Virginia. Call Number: M-632.
Gee, Wilson, P. B. Barringer, A. L. Bennett, Ottie Craddock, Elizabeth Fahrney, Odie Mayhew, Mable Nussman and C. F. Whitmore    1922  University of Virginia Record Extension Series: An Economic and Social Survey of Albemarle County.  Charlottesville: University of Virginia.
Hedges, Dr. Halstead S.    1943  “A Doctor’s Reminiscences of Albemarle County.”  In Papers of the Albemarle County Historical Society, Vol. III (1942-43):5-16. Item can be found at the Albemarle County Historical Society, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Irwin, Marjorie Felice       1929  The Negro in Charlottesville and Albemarle County: An Exploratory Study. Publication of the University of Virginia Phelps-Stokes Fellowship Papers (Number Nine).  “A Thesis Presented to the Academic Faculty of the University of Virginia In Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts 1929.”  Includes approximately 1½  pages about Proffit Town (or relevant to Proffit).  Provides information about landscape, house structure, and household layouts of places where African Americans were living in the first part of the 20th century, as well as some info about the economic role of African Americans in and around Charlottesville, including Proffit. A copy of the book can be found at the University of Virginia library.  Call numbers: UVA 3/P 51/9 and E 185.93 .V8 I72 1929.	View document (52 images total)
Jeffersonian Republican. Various issues. This newspaper was published weekly from 1835 to 1862, and semi-weekly from 1873 to 1894 and was aimed mostly at the University of Virginia student body, although occasional entries pertained to non-student issues.  Copies of some relevant items can be found in the ‘News Clips’ section.  Microfilm and hard copies can be found at the University of Virginia library (call number Micfilm N-US Va-48), or in the Special Collections Department.
Leap, William Lester    1933  Red Hill—Neighborhood Life and Race Relations in a Rural Section. Publication of the University of Virginia Phelps-Stokes Fellowhip Papers, Number 10.  William Lester Leap was a Phelps-Stokes Fellow during 1929-1930.
Rawlings, Mary    1935  Ante-Bellum Albemarle.  Historical Sketches by Mary Rawlings, Drawings by H. Heyward and A. Robinson. This book contains drawings and short descriptions of some of the wealthy houses around Albmarle County.  Among these are included Bentivar, Glen Echo and various other houses in the Proffit vicinity.  This book is held by the Albemarle County Historical Society, Charlottesville, VA.
Richmond Planet. Various issues. This newspaper was published weekly from 1883 to 1945 and catered specifically to the interests and concerns of African Americans. The Planet was published in Richmond but covered also outlying areas including Albemarle County.  Copies of some relevant items can be found in the ‘News Clips’ section.  Microfilm and hard copies can be found at the University of Virginia library (call number Micfilm N-US Va-11), or in the Special Collections Department.	News Clips
Russell, James S.    1926  Rural Economic Progress of the Negro in Virginia. In Journal of Negro History, Volume 11, Issue 4 (October, 1926), 556-562. This article describes the successes achieved by African Americans in Virginia in the sixty years since emancipation.  The article details such statistics as the amounts of land that had been purchased, the value of the land and other assets held by African Americans, and other factors which the author uses to demonstrate a successful transition.
Southall, James P. C.    1944  “Reminiscences of Charlottesville in the 1880’s.”  In Papers of the Albemarle County Historical Society, Vol. IV (1943-44):24-34. Item can be found at the Albemarle County Historical Society, Charlottesville, Virginia.
United States Bureau of the Census    Albemarle County Returns for 1840, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920. (1890 returns for Virginia were destroyed by fire). Aside from pertinent information about the people who lived in Proffit, the US Census provides insight also into residents’ lifeways and activities, especially as they pertained to agriculture.  The 1880 census, for example, lists John Coles, Ben Brown, James Lot, James Flannagan and W. W. Minor all within one 10-house group and provides information about the number of acres owned by each, types of agriculture and horticulture and labor invested in the land.  Census records can be found at the University of Virginia library.
A Virginian         1855  A Southern Home.  Richmond: A. Morris.  The book—published anonymously in the Antebellum period—describes in detail the daily lives of affluent whites living in the South in this period.  The book is presumed to have been written by Clarissa Carr Woodson, who resided at Bentivar.  Two Chapters, “An Old Servant” and “Servants,” can be viewed in this website.  A copy of the book is held by the University of Virginia library.  Call number: PZ7 .S7 1855.	View document (24 images total)
Waddell, W. W.    1942  “Charlottesville in 1875.”  In Papers of the Albemarle County Historical Society, Vol. II (1941-42):5-8. This item can be found at the Albemarle County Historical Society, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Wilson, Susan Colston.  Susan Colston Wilson Papers. “ca. 1,000 items, 1895-1960.  Personal, financial, and legal correspondence of the Minor family of Charlottesville and the Wilson family of New Jersey.  Included are photographs of Afro-Americans who were servants for the Minor family).”  Located at the Special Collections department at the University of Virginia. Call Number: 10489.
Woods, Edgar    1978 [1901]  Albemarle County in Virginia: Giving some account of what it was  by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it.  C. J. Carrier Company, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
As research on Proffit continues, more documents will be added to this section.  These will include various types of personal documents as well as public documents such as land deeds, church records, court papers, and road orders.