This letter was written by Rev. James Andrew Riddick (1810-1899), a Methodist minister who resided in District 1, Sussex County, Virginia. James was the son of Robert Moore Riddick (1766-1844) and Elizabeth Chauncey Meroney (1770-1857) of Gates county, North Carolina. Riddick’s diary covering his preaching missions on the Prince Edward Circuit in Virginia and on the Elizabeth City Circuit in North Carolina is housed in the Duke University Library. According to the book, The Gospel Working Up…” by Beth Barton Schweiger, “Riddick “bartered a modest education and a start as a mercantile clerk into a comfortable fortune in land and slaves by midlife.” By the time of the Civil War, Riddick had taken a supernumerary position in the Methodist Church and settled in Sussex county on the line of the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, preaching locally when called upon. Riddick was married to Judith Ann Gregory.
Riddick addressed the letter to William Gray, a prominent tobacco shipper and manufacturer associated with several firms in Manchester, Va. Born in Prince Edward County, Gray moved to Manchester (part of Chesterfield County incorporated into the city of Richmond in 1910), around 1810. In 1821, Gray became a partner in Gray & Pankey and, twelve years later, established his own firm, Willima Gray & Co. He directed the company’s operations until his death in 1863.
In the letter, Riddick refers to his slave “Tom” whom he hoped to get vaccinated for smallpox before sending him to Gray in Richmond where he was likely to be hired out in one of the Richmond tobacco factories.
TRANSCRIPTION
Stony Creek W. H., Sussex county, Virginia
January 5th 1863
My Dear Bro. Gray,
Yours of the 3rd with enclosure of check was duly received all right for which I am much obliged. I will send Tom to you in a few days to be hired out as you judge best. Dr. Finley, our preacher, expects to go to Richmond in a few days & will send the servant at the same time. I wish to vaccinate him before he leaves.
I will look around in this neighborhood for pork & think it likely can secure what you want. If it can be engaged, your best chance to get it to Richmond will be to arrange the matter with our Bro. Ben. Duval who is largely in the wood business about your city & has any number of wagons employed. He lives about 10 miles from here & his teams are frequently passing to Richmond. He is attending all the sales in this section of country & probably would buy the pork & deliver it. You can hear of him at his brother’s who keeps an Apothecary store in Richmond. ¹
If I meet with a lot to suit you, will let you know when the servant comes. I am a buyer myself & shall not put up as much as I want for the want of salt. Kindest regards to your family.
Yours truly, — Jas. A. Riddick
¹ Alexander Duval (1803-1868) was an important 19th-century Richmond, VA merchant and early pharmacist. Of French Huguenot descent, he was the grandson of Benjamin Duval (1765-1826), an early and influential pharmacist and merchant in late 18th and early 19th century Richmond, whose enterprise included stoneware production and distribution. Alexander Duval distinguished himself in business as well, focusing on pharmaceutical science as a specialty. His business ventures were successful, and his store was referred to in one period publication as the “leading retail house in the city”. Duval was also involved in the creation of the National Pharmaceutical Convention, which began in the early 1850’s and was held in Philadelphia. It is possible that Duval purchased the cabinet (or arranged for the purchase of a quantity of them) on one of his many trips to Philadelphia from a cabinetmaker such as Nathan Starkey and then brought them back to Richmond for retail in his establishment. Another identical cabinet in a private collection and several others published in an October 2005 “Magazine Antiques” article, several of which bear their original labels from Starkey, would support this claim. An old inscribed note inside the box indicates that the cabinet belonged to Thomas Bolling (1809-1889), an important planter from Goochland Co., VA whose family had extensive holdings in the area. The historic Bolling family home still stands in the county.
Spared & Shared 21 