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Hooe Family Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Hooe family were of Welsh descent and settled in colonial Virginia in the mid-17th century. In the late 18th century, Bernard Hooe acquired land in Prince William County, Virginia, and established a house and plantation called Hazel Plain, the remains of which later became part of the battlefield of Manassas. Other members of the Hooe family owned property nearby in Brentsville, Yorkshire, and Centerville, Virginia. Various family members, including John Hooe, Jr., held dozens of enslaved laborers on their plantations from the 17th through the mid-19th century.
Consists of a small collection of correspondence and documents belonging to the Hooe family of Prince William County, Virginia, primarily concerning the hire and recapture of African Americans whom they enslaved on their plantation in the mid-19th century. Materials primarily relate to John Hooe, Jr., and James H. Reid, who was the administrator of Hooe's estate following his death. Other family members' names that appear in the documents include Bernard Hooe, Mary D. Hooe, and Dade Hooe. The majority of the collection consists of receipts, agreements, and correspondence related to the hire of enslaved laborers to neighboring plantation owners, as well as related taxes. Additional correspondence regards efforts to recapture enslaved people who had liberated themselves from the Hooes' plantation; these include letters from a Philadelphia lawyer and a Hampshire County (West Virginia) jailer about men purported to have escaped from the Hooes' plantation. There are also legal documents pertaining to a property dispute between John Hooe, Jr., and William Courtney, which contain inventories listing the names of enslaved people.
As no original order was discernible, materials were arranged by type/genre.
Purchased from Swann Auction Galleries in 2019 (AM 2019-104).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Kelly Bolding in April 2019. Finding aid written by Kelly Bolding in April 2019.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2019 processing.
Subject
- Fugitive slaves -- Virginia. -- 19th century
- Plantations -- Virginia. -- 19th century -- Sources
- Slaveholders -- Virginia. -- 19th century
- Slavery -- Virginia -- History. -- 19th century
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Kelly Bolding
- Finding Aid Date
- 2019
- Access Restrictions
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Open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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