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PLEASE NOTE:  Collection is also available on microfilm, reel #1489. See Special Collections Librarian for use of originals and microfilm.     

SCOPE AND CONTENT. 

This collection consists of about 200 items (1/2 Hollinger box & 1 Flat box), 1839-(1870-1889)-1893.

The collection is composed mostly of correspondence to Charles O'Ferrall when he resided in Harrisonburg, Virginia; and a small amount of assorted legal, financial, and miscellaneous documents, which are apparently unconnected with O'Ferrall or his family.  Charles Triplett O'Ferrall was born 21 October 1840 in Frederick County, Virginia. At age 15, O'Ferrall was appointed clerk pro tempore of the Morgan County, Virginia (now West Virginia) circuit court, and two years later was elected clerk of the county circuit court there, a position he held until the Civil War. In 1861, he joined the 12th Virginia Cavalry (CSA), Winchester, as a private. By 1865, he was an acting colonel, seeing action in Second Manassas (1862) and Upperville (1863). He was wounded eight times. During his recuperation (after Upperville) in Enterprise, Mississippi, he met Anna E. McLean, and they were married 8 February 1865.

In 1868, O'Ferrall entered Washington College (now Washington and Lee) under Robert E. Lee and graduated with a law degree in August 1869. After moving to Harrisonburg, O'Ferrall was elected as a Democrat to the House of Delegates for two terms (1871-1873). In 1874, he became judge of the Rockingham County Circuit Court, a position he held until 1880. In 1882, he won the Rockingham County Congressional election, and served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1893, Democratic Congressman O'Ferrall was elected Governor. He ran on a bimetallic currency ticket, one which would later ruin his political career. His first two years in office were notable for his liberal stance against lynchings and his favorable economic policies. O'Ferrall's downfall came, however, in 1896, when he refused to endorse the free silver platform of fellow Democrat William Jennings Bryan. This refusal caused his last two years in office to become embittered, and O'Ferrall retired to Chesterfield County, where he wrote his book Forty Years of Active Service in 1904. Charles O'Ferrall died 22 September 1905 in Richmond.

The correspondence series contains personal and business correspondence dating from 1870-1893, which mainly deals with legal matters concerning Judge O'Ferrall, or personal matters concerning relatives. Many letters express sympathy for his wife's death in 1879. There is also correspondence from the State Conservative Executive Committee, a group that supported O'Ferrall's bid for the House of Delegates, and a group from which O'Ferrall elicited support in his gubernatorial campaign.

PROVENANCE
Deposited by contract with the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Malone, Dumas, editor. Dictionary of American Biography, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934, pp. 633-634. Ref. E176.D56
Younger, Edward, editor. The Governors of Virginia 1860-1978. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1982, pp. 135-141. F225.G77 1982

SPECIAL NOTE (from The Governors of Virginia)
The O'Ferrall Executive Papers (Virginia State Library) are modest and deal primarily with administrative matters. A smaller collection of O'Ferrall papers at the College of William & Mary contains a few personal letters from his early years. There are several O'Ferrall letters at the Virginia Historical Society, and a few more (concerning political patronage) can be found in the Grover Cleveland Papers (Library of Congress).

ORGANIZATION
Box 1
Series I: O'Ferrall Letters. Letters & postcards related to O'Ferrall's legal business and personal matters.
Folder 1: Letters 1870-1878 (ca. 62 items)
     23 March 1875        From E.I. Armstrong
     14 March 1876        From E.I. Armstrong
       1 August 1876       From J.W.(?) Bassore
       8 August 1876       From Benjamin Milnes
     15 April 1877           From Mrs. Charles O'Ferrall
     25 July 1877            From Charles O'Ferrall to Fred W.M. Holliday
     24 Sept. 1877          From James McDonald (Secretary of the Commonwealth)
     29 Oct. 1877           From Gilmore and Company with advertisement enclosed

Folder 2: Letters 1879 (ca. 48 items)
    May-June 1879     Sympathy letters on death of O'Ferrall's wife 
    13 Sept. 1879       From Chairman of Rooms State Executive Committee
    Sept. 1879            Letter from Dr. D.A. Bucher
    6,9 Oct. 1879       From Sec. of Rooms State Executive Committee

Folder 3: Letters 1880-1893 (ca. 34 items)
    25 June 1881      From Sec.of Rooms State Executive Committee
    8 July 1881         From F.L. Brocket

Folder 4: Post Cards to Charles O'Ferrall 1876-1881 (ca. 32 items)

Folder 5: Letters (3) and cards (2) to Charles O'Ferrall--Undated (5 items)

Series II: Legal, Financial, and Personal Documents (ca. 48 items)
Folder 6: Legal Documents
    1873-1874           Bankruptcy notices
    1876-1877           Deed, will
    undated             Will of Mary Parot

Folder 7: Financial Documents
    1839-1868           Receipts of payment 
    15 May 1877       Life insurance assessment for Charles O'Ferrall 
    1878-1879           Credits issued, receipts of payment, tax records 
    1880-1893           Requests to pay

Folder 8: Miscellaneous Documents
     March 1879 Report Card of Charles O'Ferrall (C.T. O'Ferrall's son)
     13 Oct. 1879 Announcement of Dr. Moffett's talk Series III. Newspaper Articles

Folder 9: 1877 Staunton Spectator; undated Washington D.C. paper.

Series IV:  Oversize.
FLAT Box 1
Folder 1: 1874 Broadside by O'Ferrall announcing candidacy for Congress.