Central College Subscription List, [ca. 7 May 1817], document 4 in a group of documents on The Founding of the University of Virginia: Central College, 1816–1819, 5 May 1817
IV. Central College Subscription List
[ca. 7 May 1817]
CENTRAL COLLEGE.
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Considering the right of self-government among the greatest political blessings, that this cannot be maintained but by an intelligent and instructed people, that to disseminate instruction, institutions for the purpose must be multiplied and made convenient, that the College proposed to be established near Charlottesville, under the name of the Central College, will facilitate the means of education to a considerable extent of country round about it, and that the salubrity of its climate and other local advantages will present it favourably to the notice of parents and guardians:
We, the subscribers, do hereby promise to pay to the visitors of the said Central College, or their authorised officer or agent, in trust, for the purposes of the said College, the sums severally and respectively herein affixed to our several names; that is to say, all single sums in gross annexed to our names to be paid on the first day of April 1818, and all sums noted to be annual for the term of four years to be paid annually on the first day of April 1818, and of the three following years.
| Subscribers Names1 | Residence2 | Sum subscribed. | Terms subscripturd3 | Total $s |
| Thomas Jefferson | Albemarle. | one thousand dollars | 4 annual Instalts | $1000.00 |
| George Divers | 〃 | one thousand dollars | ditto | 1000. |
| John H Cocke | Fluvanna | one thousand dollars | ditto | 1000. |
| Joseph C Cabell | Nelson | one thousand dollars | ditto | 10004 |
| Nimrod Bramham | Albemarle | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| James Leitch | Charlottesville | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| Alex Garrett | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| David Isaacs | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Thomas Wells | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| John Pollock | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Joseph Bishop | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Samuel Carr | Albemarle | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| Thomas J Randolph | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| John C Ragland | Charlottesville | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Robert Gentry | Albemarle | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Ira Garrett | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Jesse W Garth | Charlottesville | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| John M Perry | Albemarle | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Benjamin Austin | Charlottesville | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Allen Dawson | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Hugh Chisholm5 | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| William Watson | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 1006 |
| William Dunkum | Albemarle | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Clifton Harris | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| John Winn | Charlottesville | three hundred dollars | ditto | 300 |
| William H Merewether | Albemarle | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| John Scott jr | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| Cash7 | 〃 | twenty dollars | ditto | 20 |
| Daniel Mayo Railey | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Nicholas H Lewis | 〃 | three hundred dollars | ditto | 300. |
| Jesse Garth | 〃 | One hundred & fifty dollars | ditto | 150 |
| Micajah Woods | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Tucker Coles | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| Isaac A Coles | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Walter Coles | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| John Coles | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| Mann Page | 〃 | Four hundred dollars | ditto | 400 |
| Charles Cocke | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 5008 |
| John Patterson | 〃 | One thousand dollars | ditto | 1000 |
| Wilson C Nicholas | 〃 | one thousand dollars | ditto | 10009 |
| James Minor | Albemarle | three hundred dollars | ditto | 300 |
| Drury Wood | Albemarle | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| James H Terrel | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Dabney Minor | 〃 | four hundred dollars | ditto | 400 |
| Frank Carr | 〃 | four hundred dollars | ditto | 400 |
| Martin Thacker | 〃 | Sixty dollars | ditto | 60 |
| Charles Brown | Charlottesville | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Jeremiah A Goodman10 | 〃 | fifty dollars | ditto | 50 |
| John Dunkum | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| James Lindsay | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Ira Harris | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Opie Norris | Charlottesville | three hundred dollars | ditto | 300 |
| William Leitch | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 | |
| William Garth | Albemarle | One hundred & fifty dollars | ditto | 150 |
| John H Craven | 〃 | Five hundred dollars | ditto | 500 |
| Henry Chiles | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| John Fagg | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Wm F Gordon | 〃 | four hundred dollars | ditto | 400 |
| Reuben Maury | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| John H. Marks11 | 〃 | one hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| Garland Garth | 〃 | three hundred dollars | ditto | 300 |
| James W Saunders | Charlottesville | Fifty dollars | ditto | 50 |
| Willis D Garth | Albemarle | Eighty dollars | ditto | 80 |
| Thomas Draffen | 〃 | Sixty dollars | ditto | 60 |
| Benjamin Harden | 〃 | One hundred dollars | ditto | 100 |
| John Slaughter | 〃 | Fifty dollars | ditto | 50 |
| Charles Harper | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| Daniel F Carr | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| John Minor | 〃 | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200 |
| James Garnett | 〃 | Fifty dollars | ditto | 50. |
| [Signatures on ViU: JHC MS:] | ||||
| Charles A Scott | five hundred dollars | ditto12 | 500 | |
| Wilson J. Cary | two hundred dollars | ditto | 200. | |
| Horatio Wills | forty Dollar | ditto | 40 | |
| John R Perkins | Forty Dollars | 〃 | 40 | |
| Wm B. Johnson | one hundred | ditto | 100 | |
| Josa Key | Forty Dollars | ditto | 40 | |
| Miles Cary | one hundred dollars | do | 100 | |
| William Pasteur | Eighty dolls | do | 80 | |
| John Fuqua | Forty dollars | 4 Annual Instalmts | $40 | |
| John Winn jr | Fifty dollars | ditto | 50 | |
| George Holeman | two hundred | Do | 200 | |
| Jacob Myers | one hundred | Do | 100 | |
| [Entries specific to CSmH MS:] | ||||
| Norborne K. Thomas | 〃13 | One Hund & Seventy five | 〃14 | 175 |
| Howel Lewis | 〃 | Two Hundred dollars | 〃 | 200 |
| J. L. Thomas | 〃 | One Hundred dollars | 〃 | 100 |
| John Thomas | 〃 | Forty dollars | 〃 | 40 |
| Edmund Anderson | Richmond | Two hundred dollars | 〃 | 200 |
| Peter Minor | Albemarle | Five Hundred dollars | 〃 | 500 |
| Charles Day | Charlottesville | Fifty dollars | 〃 | 50 |
| Dixon Dedman | Albemarle | Fifty dollars | 〃 | 50 |
| Zachariah Shackleford | 〃 | Two Hundred dollars | 〃 | 200 |
| John Watson L.M. | 〃 | One Hundred & fifty dls | 〃 | 150 |
| Nelson Barksdale | 〃 | Two Hundred dollars | 〃 | 200 |
| John Fretwell | 〃 | One Hundred dollars | 〃 | 100 |
| William Brown | 〃 | Twenty dollars | 〃 | 20 |
| William J. Robertson | 〃 | One Hundred dollars | 〃 | 100 |
| Nathaniel Anderson | 〃 | One Hundred dollars | 〃 | 100 |
| Nelson T. Shelton | 〃 | One Hundred dollars | 〃 | 100 |
| Robert L. Coleman | 〃 | One Hundred dollars | 〃 | 100 |
| William A. Shelton | 〃 | One Hundred dolls | 〃 | 100 |
| William Morris | 〃 | Twenty dollars | 〃 | 20 |
| $22325 | ||||
| Elijah Brown | 〃 | One hundred dollars | 100 | |
MS (ViU: JHC); printed form, with bulk of entries in a clerk’s hand, but ending with twelve entries in the hands of Fluvanna County subscribers that are specific to this text; undated; lacking column headings and column of subscribers’ residences. MS (CSmH: Robert Alonzo Brock Collection); printed form, with all entries in a clerk’s hand; following the order of names in preceding text except as noted, but ending with twenty entries listing subscribers from Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and Richmond, in the same clerk’s hand, which are specific to this text; undated. Tr (ViU); typescript; largely following the order of names in preceding texts; lacking column headings and column of subscribers’ residences; undated; at head of text: “a copy Taken from a copy of John Coles, Esq., donated by the Rev. Isaac Coles for copying, May 20, 1929”; with 21 May 1929 certification that it is “A true copy” signed by Luther Greene and Wesley Greene.
Although no manuscript version of the introductory text at the head of the subscription list survives in TJ’s hand, he probably drafted it. In his diary entry for 7 May 1817, John H. Cocke wrote that he “Returned to Charlottesville about mid day Accompanied Mr Garret, the Proctor, & Southall the Secretary to Monticello to dinner to get the subscription papers which Mr J— had been preparing for promoting the college & that I might have an opportunity to subscribe before I left the County—Mr Jefferson head[s] the list of subscribers with a thousand dollars—followed his Example to the same amot for myself & also for my friend Jos: C. Cabell who had authorized me to subscribe for him what the other visitors did—Mr Madison had left Monticello & the President had proceed’d also to Washington— Was detained all night by rain at Monticello” (MS in ViU: JHC; in Cocke’s hand; one word editorially corrected).
TJ enclosed blank subscription forms to Craven Peyton on 28 June 1817 and to William A. Burwell, John Wayles Eppes, William B. Giles, Randolph Harrison, Thomas Newton, James Pleasants, and Archibald Thweatt on 4 Aug. 1817.
The name of john minor, of Albemarle County, is not on the Master List of Subscribers to Central College printed immediately below. l.m.: Little Mountain.
1. Column headings supplied from CSmH MS.
2. Column for place of residence supplied from CSmH MS.
3. Order of final two columns reversed in CSmH MS.
4. Order of preceding three names given in ViU Tr as Cocke, Cabell, and Divers.
5. ViU MS: “Chisholmn.” Both other texts: “Chisholm.”
6. Entry for Watson not in ViU Tr.
7. CSmH MS here adds “recd by J.L.” and leaves column for term of subscription blank.
8. ViU Tr here adds “a Copy” and indicates that at this point the intermediate sum of $12,670 was added in pencil.
9. ViU Tr ends here, with entries for Patterson and Nicholas reversed, followed by “a Copy.”
10. Preceding seven names in a different order in CSmH MS (Minor, Carr, Thacker, Brown, Wood, Terrell, and Goodman), with ditto marks following Goodman’s name correctly indicating that his place of residence was Albemarle County rather than Charlottesville.
11. Middle initial supplied from CSmH MS.
12. That is, four annual installments, here and below.
13. That is, Albemarle County, here and below.
14. That is, four annual installments, here and below.
Index Entries
- Anderson, Edmund; and Central College subscription search
- Anderson, Nathaniel; and Central College subscription search
- Austin, Benjamin (of Charlottesville); and Central College subscription search
- Barksdale, Nelson; and Central College subscription search
- Bishop, Joseph; and Central College subscription search
- Bramham, Nimrod; and Central College subscription search
- Brown, Charles (of Albemarle Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Brown, Elijah; and Central College subscription search
- Brown, William (first listed, of Albemarle Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Burwell, William Armistead; and Central College subscription search
- Cabell, Joseph Carrington; and Central College subscription search
- Carr, Daniel Ferrell; and Central College subscription search
- Carr, Frank; and Central College subscription search
- Carr, Samuel (TJ’s nephew); and Central College subscription search
- Cary, Miles; and Central College subscription search
- Cary, Wilson Jefferson; and Central College subscription search
- Central College, Board of Visitors; and subscription search
- Central College; Central College Subscription List search
- Chiles, Henry; and Central College subscription search
- Chisholm, Hugh; and Central College subscription search
- Cocke, Charles; and Central College subscription search
- Cocke, John Hartwell; and Central College subscription search
- Cocke, John Hartwell; visits Monticello search
- Coleman, Robert L.; and Central College subscription search
- Coles, Isaac A.; and Central College subscription search
- Coles, John; and Central College subscription search
- Coles, Tucker; and Central College subscription search
- Coles, Walter; and Central College subscription search
- Craven, John H.; and Central College subscription search
- Dawson, Allen; and Central College subscription search
- Day, Charles; and Central College subscription search
- Dedman, Dixon; and Central College subscription search
- Divers, George; and Central College subscription search
- Draffen, Thomas; and Central College subscription search
- Dunkum, John; and Central College subscription search
- Dunkum, William; and Central College subscription search
- Eppes, John Wayles (TJ’s son-in-law); and Central College subscription search
- Fagg, John; and Central College subscription search
- Fretwell, John; and Central College subscription search
- Fuqua, John; and Central College subscription search
- Garnett, James; and Central College subscription search
- Garrett, Alexander; and Central College subscription search
- Garrett, Alexander; as Central College proctor search
- Garrett, Alexander; visits Monticello search
- Garrett, Ira; and Central College subscription search
- Garth, Garland; and Central College subscription search
- Garth, Jesse; and Central College subscription search
- Garth, Jesse Winston; and Central College subscription search
- Garth, William; and Central College subscription search
- Garth, Willis Dabney; and Central College subscription search
- Gentry, Robert; and Central College subscription search
- Giles, William Branch; and Central College subscription search
- Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; and Central College subscription search
- Gordon, William Fitzhugh; and Central College subscription search
- Harden, Benjamin; and Central College subscription search
- Harper, Charles; and Central College subscription search
- Harris, Clifton; and Central College subscription search
- Harris, Ira; and Central College subscription search
- Harrison, Randolph; and Central College subscription search
- Holeman, George; and Central College subscription search
- Isaacs, David; and Central College subscription search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Public Service; and Central College subscription search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Writings; Central College Subscription List search
- Johnson, William B.; and Central College subscription search
- Key, Joshua; and Central College subscription search
- Leitch, James; and Central College search
- Leitch, William; and Central College subscription search
- Lewis, Howell; and Central College subscription search
- Lewis, Nicholas Hunter; and Central College subscription search
- Lindsay, James; and Central College subscription search
- Madison, James (1751–1836); and Central College subscription search
- Madison, James (1751–1836); visits Monticello search
- Marks, John Hastings; and Central College subscription search
- Maury, Reuben; and Central College subscription search
- Merewether, William H.; and Central College subscription search
- Minor, Dabney; and Central College subscription search
- Minor, James (of Albemarle Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Minor, John (of Albemarle Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Minor, Peter; and Central College subscription search
- Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); Visitors to; Cocke, John H. search
- Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); Visitors to; Garrett, Alexander search
- Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); Visitors to; Madison, Dolley and James search
- Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); Visitors to; Southall, Valentine W. search
- Morris, William (of Albemarle Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Myers, Jacob; and Central College subscription search
- Newton, Thomas; and Central College subscription search
- Nicholas, Wilson Cary (1761–1820); and Central College subscription search
- Norris, Opie; and Central College subscription search
- Page, Mann (1791–1850); and Central College subscription search
- Pasteur, William (1768–1823); and Central College subscription search
- Patterson, John; and Central College subscription search
- Perkins, John R.; and Central College subscription search
- Perry, John M.; and Central College subscription search
- Peyton, Craven; and Central College subscription search
- Pleasants, James; and Central College subscription search
- Pollock, John; and Central College subscription search
- Ragland, John C.; and Central College subscription search
- Railey, Daniel Mayo; and Central College subscription search
- Randolph, Thomas Jefferson (TJ’s grandson; Jane Hollins Nicholas Randolph’s husband); and Central College subscription search
- Robertson, William J.; and Central College subscription search
- Saunders, James W.; and Central College subscription search
- Scott, Charles A.; and Central College subscription search
- Scott, John (of Albemarle Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Shackleford, Zachariah; and Central College subscription search
- Shelton, Nelson T.; and Central College subscription search
- Shelton, William A.; and Central College subscription search
- Slaughter, John; and Central College subscription search
- Southall, Valentine Wood; visits Monticello search
- Terrell, James H.; and Central College subscription search
- Thacker, Martin; and Central College subscription search
- Thomas, John; and Central College subscription search
- Thomas, John L.; and Central College subscription search
- Thomas, Norborne K.; and Central College subscription search
- Thweatt, Archibald; and Central College subscription search
- Watson, John (of Little Mountain); and Central College subscription search
- Watson, William; and Central College subscription search
- Wells, Thomas; and Central College subscription search
- Wills, Horatio; and Central College subscription search
- Winn, John (d.1837); and Central College subscription search
- Winn, John (of Fluvanna Co.); and Central College subscription search
- Wood, Drury; and Central College subscription search
- Woods, Micajah; and Central College subscription search