Preston Family Papers: Davie Collection, 1658-1896 

Held by The Filson Historical Society 

Creator:  Preston Family  

Title:  Papers Davie Collection, 1658-1896  

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department. 

Size of Collection:  2 cubic feet  

Location Number:  Mss. A P937d 

Scope and Content Note 

Papers of the Preston family, primarily of General William Preston, C.S.A., his sister, Susan Preston Christy Hepburn (1819-1897), and other family members.  Folders 39 and 52 of this collection have been digitized. To view PDF scans, click on the links provided in the folder list below.

Papers include correspondence, 1658-1896, concerning family, business, political, military, and legal matters; land papers, 1789-1873; wills of James Patton, 1750, and Colonel William Preston, 1777; genealogical notes; James Patton’s Woods River Entry Book, 1746-1749, 1781; map of the Big Sandy and Tug River area of Ky.; copy of the Journal of the Sandy Creek Expedition, 1756; copy of the diary of Mrs. William Campbell Preston, ca. 1834-1838; broadsides about General Albert Sidney Johnston and General William Preston; poems of Margaret Junkin Preston; map of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va.; newspaper clippings about Robert E. Lee; and miscellaneous photostats, clippings and other material.  

Correspondents include P. G. T. Beauregard, Judah Philip Benjamin, Alexander Breckinridge, General James Breckinridge, Robert Breckinridge, John Brown, Jefferson Davis, Reuben Thomas Durrett, John Walker Fearn, Robert T. Ford, Horatio Gates, William McKendree Gwin, Colonel George Hancock, James Harrison, Colonel Charles John Helm, Patrick Henry, Robert William Hughes, Henry Inman, Edward Johnson, William Preston Johnston, General Thomas Jordan, General Edmund Kirby-Smith, James Madison, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, Donn Piatt, Mrs. Caroline Hancock Preston, Francis Preston, James Patton Preston, John Preston, John Smith Preston, Mrs. William Campbell Preston, Mrs. Margaret Wickliffe Preston, Mrs. Mary Owen Preston Brown, Robert Preston of “Walnut Grove,” Robert Wickliffe Preston, Mrs. Sarah Buchanan Preston, Susan Marshall Preston Christy Hepburn, Colonel Thomas Lewis Preston, Colonel William Preston, Major William Preston, General William Preston, William Ballard Preston, William Campbell Preston, John Slidell, Waddy Thompson, Joseph A. Waddell, and Charles Anderson Wickliffe.  

Biographical Note 

William Preston  

1816 Born near Louisville, Ky.  

1835 Graduated from Yale.  

1838 Received a law degree from Harvard.  

1840 Married Margaret Wickliffe of Lexington.  

1846-1848 Fought in the Mexican War.  

1849 Delegate to the Ky. constitutional convention.  

1851-1852 Served in the Ky. legislature.  

1852 Elected to fill Humphrey Marshall’s vacant Congressional seat.  

1858 Made U.S. minister to Spain. 

1861 Joined the C.S.A. and rose to the rank of Major General.  

1864 Appointed C.S.A. minister to Mexico.  

1866 Received a federal pardon and returned to the United States from exile in Canada.  

1887 Died in Lexington and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. 

Folder List 

Box 1  

fl.  1 Correspondence, 1658-1668.  

fl.  2 Correspondence, 1731-1742.  

fl.  3 Correspondence, 1769.  

fl.  4 Correspondence, 1771-1775.  

fl.  5 Correspondence, 1776.  

fl.  6 Correspondence, 1777.  

fl.  7 Correspondence, 1778-1779.  

fl.  8 Correspondence, 1780-1781.  

fl.  9 Correspondence, 1783-1788.  

fl.  10 Correspondence, 1791-1795.  

fl.  11 Correspondence, 1796-1799.  

fl.  12 Correspondence, 1801-1806.  

fl.  13 Correspondence, 1807-1809.  

fl.  14 Correspondence, 1810-1812.  

fl.  15 Correspondence, 1813-1815.  

fl.  16 Correspondence, 1816-1819.  

fl.  17 Correspondence, 1820-1823.  

fl.  18 Correspondence, 1824-1828.  

  

Box 2  

fl.  19 Correspondence, 1830-1833.  

fl.  20 Correspondence, 1834.  

fl.  21 Correspondence, 1835-1836.  

fl.  22 Correspondence, 1837.  

fl.  23 Correspondence, 1838-1839.  

fl.  24 Correspondence, 1840-1842.  

fl.  25 Correspondence, 1843.  

fl.  26 Correspondence, 1844.  

fl.  27 Correspondence, 1845 Jan.-Mar.  

fl.  28 Correspondence, 1845 May-July.  

fl.  29 Correspondence, 1847-1849.  

fl.  30 Correspondence, 1850-1851.  

fl.  31 Correspondence, 1852-1854.  

fl.  32 Correspondence, 1855.  

fl.  33 Correspondence, 1856-1859.  

 

Box 3  

fl.  34 Correspondence, 1860.  

fl.  35 Correspondence, 1861-1862.  

fl.  36 Correspondence, 1863-1864.  

fl.  37 Correspondence, 1865.  

38 Letterbook of William Preston as C.S.A. minister to Mexico, 1864-1865.  

39 Letterbook of William Preston, 1864-1865.  (click to access PDF)

fl.  40 Correspondence, 1864-1865.  

fl.  41 Correspondence, 1866-1868.  

  

Box 4  

fl.  42 Correspondence, 1870-1876.  

fl.  43 Correspondence, 1878-1879.  

fl.  44 Correspondence, 1881-1889.  

fl.  45 Correspondence, 1896.  

fl.  46 Correspondence, William Campbell Preston to General Waddy Thompson, 1823-  

1860.  

fl.  47 Correspondence, handwritten copies of letters, 1777-1789.  

fl.  48 Correspondence, n.d.  

  

Box 5  

fl.  49 Land papers, 1789-1873.  

fl.  49a Promissory note from Michael Shanlety to Daniel Boone, 1789 Jan. 8.  

fl.  50 Wills of James Patton and Colonel William Preston.  

fl.  51 Genealogical notes on the Preston family.  

fl.  52 James Patton’s Woods River Entry Book, 1746-1781.  CLICK TO ACCESS PDF

fl.  53 Manuscript map of the Big Sandy and Tug River area of Eastern Ky.  

fl.  54 Journal of the Sandy Creek Expedition, 1756. Positive photostat.  

fl.  55 Journal of the Sandy Creek Expedition, 1756. Typescript.  

fl.  56 Warrant authorizing payment of troops serving under Lt. Gen. George Preston,   

1784 Sept. 10.  

fl.  57 Material on William Beverly of “Blandfield,” 1698-1756.  

fl.  58 Material concerning Colonel James Patton of Va.  

fl.  59 Diary of Mrs. William Campbell Preston, ca. 1834-1838. Typescript.  

  

Box 6  

fl.  60 Broadsides: In Memoriam, Albert Sidney Johnston (1861-1885).  In Memoriam, General William Preston.  In Memoriam, Albert Sidney Johnston (1803-1862).  

fl.  61 Speech of Hugh Blair Grigsby on Colonel William Preston, 1870.  

fl.  62 Margaret Junkin Preston poems.  

fl.  63 Miscellaneous material.  

fl.  64 Copy of Charles Wickliffe’s Revolutionary War pension application.  

Excerpt from Letitia Burwell’s Girl’s Life in Virginia Before the Civil War.  

Copy of document signed by Francis and William Preston, 1805.  

fl.  65 Map of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va.  

fl.  66 Newspaper clippings.  

fl.  67 Photostats of two letters relating to James Patton, 1731 Jan. 17 and n.d.  

fl.  68 Appointment of William Preston as Captain of a Company of Rangers in Augusta  

County, Va., 1755 July 29.  

fl.  69 Appointment of William Preston as Major of Augusta County, Va. militia, 1758   

Sept. 30.  

fl.  70 Appointment of Nathaniel Hart as Captain, Orange Regiment, Militia of N.C.,   

1771 Dec. 5.  

fl.  71 Appointment of Thomas Jefferson as a Visitor of the University of Virginia, 1819  

Feb. 13 (photograph).  

fl.  72 Appointment of Thomas Jefferson as a Visitor of the University of Virginia, 1819  

Feb. 13 (photostat).  

fl.  73 Letter of Thomas Jefferson to Governor James P. Preston of Va., accepting   

appointment as a Visitor of the University of Virginia, 1819 Mar. 11 (photostat).  

fl.  74 Death notice of Colonel James Patton of Va. in the Gentleman’s Magazine,  

1775.  

fl.  75 Map of Louisville by Edward Dorsey Hobbs, 1832 (photostat).  

fl.  76 Newspaper clippings about Robert E. Lee.