Administrative Information

Access

There are no restrictions.

Publication Rights/ Restrictions on Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Librarian/ Associate Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the holder of the copyright, if not the Rockefeller Library at Colonial Williamsburg.

Preferred Citation

Alexander Spotswood Papers, Manuscript MS 48.2, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 1948.

Alternative Form

Also available on microfilm M-1555 and in transcription TR/79.

Biographical/Historical Information

Alexander Spotswood (1676-1740) was a lieutenant in the British Army, and later lieutenant governor of Virginia, 1710-1722.

Scope and Content Information

Personal correspondence of Alexander Spotswood. The bulk of the correspondence is between Spotswood and his cousin, John Spotswood (1666-1728) of Edinburgh, concerning the Spotswood family, the lieutenant governor's character, his career in the British army and ambitions before becoming lieutenant governor, and political and social conditions in Virginia. These letters are practically the only source of information on Spotswood's early life.

Included in the correspondence is a copy of a letter, 1646, from Sir Robert Spotswood (1596-1646) to his children stating their names and dates of birth; also, a letter, January 4, 1646, from Sir Robert Spotswood to the Laird of Bogir and Mr. Robert Berrsay; a letter, 1744, from the Rev. Robert Rose, a close friend of the governor's and later one of his executors, to Andrew Anderson containing a biographical sketch of Spotswood; a rough draft of a letter, 1746, from John Spotswood, Jr., to Rose, with a genealogy of the Spotswood family; and a British army commission to Maj. George Spotswood, 1830.

Arrangement

Chronologically arranged.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Blair, Archibald, 1685-1734.
• Browne, John, d. 1726.
• Campbell, Archibald, ca. 1730-ca. 1802.
• Cocke, William, 1672-1720.
• Gooch, William, Sir, 1681-1751.
• Kerr, Alexander, d. 1737.
• Robertson, William, d. 1739.
• Rose, Robert, 1704-1751.
• Spotiswood, John, 1667-1728.
• Spotswood, Alexander, 1676-1740.
• Spotswood, George.
• Spotswood, John, b. 1711.
• Spotswood, Robert, Sir, 1596- 1646.
• Thompson, Andrew, 1674-1719.
• Wythe, George, 1726- 1806.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Military commissions--Great Britain--1830.

Additional Descriptive Data

Bibliography