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Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor, 1889, Ms2024-052, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in April 2019.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor was completed in May 2024.

Biographical Note - F. P. Miles

Fielding Peery Miles was born to George W. and Rebecca A. Miles on October 27, 1860. He was a resident of Sullivan, Tennessee; Glade Spring, Virginia; and Blacksburg. He married Eleanor Annabel Smith (1855-1941) on December 23, 1886, at the Univeristy of Virginia Chapel. He graduated from the University of Virginia was a professor of chemistry and geology at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech) from 1886 to until his death of typhoid fever on May 3, 1890.

External Sources:

U.S. Federal Census, 1870-1880.

University Catalogs, 1886-1890.

"Fielding Perry Miles", FindAGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83128422/fielding-peery-miles , accessed April 30. 2024.

"Eleanor Annbel Smith Kent", FindAGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83054790/eleanor_annabel_kent , accessed April 30, 2024.

"Fielding P Miles" in the Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/1111:62154 , accessed April 30, 2024.

"Blacksburg College. Professors Chosen to Fill the Chairs of the Institution." The News and Advance (Lynchburg, Virginia), May 29, 1886, p. 3, available online from Newspapers.com, https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/1015016113/?match=1&terms=fielding%20p.%20miles&pqsid=ptARU2unn684rRbLqre7EA%3A22923%3A15909612 , accessed May 16, 2024.

"Marriages", Staunton spectator (Staunton, Va.), January 5, 1887, p. 3, available online at the Library of Congress's Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024718/1887-01-05/ed-1/seq-3/ , accessed May 16, 2024.

"Local and General News Briefs." Clinch Valley news (Jeffersonville, Va.), May 9, 2890, p. 4, available online at the Library of Congress's Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85034357/1890-05-09/ed-1/seq-4/ , accessed May 16, 2024.

Biographical Note - Henry C. Wysor

Henry C. Wysor was born to George Washington and Margaret Ann Wysor in October 21, 1847, in Washington County, Virginia. During the American Civil War, Henry enlisted with the Confederacy at the age of 16 in 1864 with the 45th Infantry and later transferred to Company F of the 54th Infantry. He married Mary Elizabeth Shipp (1846-1922) in 1873, and the couple had six children, Mary S., William W., Henry, Cora R., Rufus J., and Davidson C.

Wysor primarily worked as a Life Insurance Agent who ran his own branch of the New-York Life Insurance Company in southwestern Virginia. He also owned an apple orchard and sold apples to people throughout southwestern Virginia and West Virginia. He died on August 7, 1927, in Dublin, Pulaski County, Virginia.

External Sources:

U.S. Federal Census, 1880, 1900-1920.

"Henry Crockett Wysor", FindAGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38066024/henry-crockett-wysor , accessed April 26, 2024.

"Mary Elizabeth Shipp Wysor", FindAGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38064279/mary_elizabeth_wysor , accessed April 26, 2026.

"Henry C Wysor" in the U.S., Civil War Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/676433:1555 , accessed April 26, 2024.

Scope and Content

The F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor was a letter written by Miles in Blacksburg, Virginia, on July 18, 1889, to Wysor, in Dublin, Virginia. The letter details an insurance payment to Wysor and is written on Virginia Agriculture and Mechanical College letterhead.

Related Material

Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives maintains several related Wysor family papers:

Rufus J. Wysor Papers, Ms1968-008

James M. Wysor Letter, Ms2013-035

Henry Wysor Family Papers, Ms2015-026

Henry C. Wysor Family Papers, Ms2023-012

Samuel D. Jones Letter to Henry C. Wysor, Ms2024-051

John C. Wysor Letter, Ms2024-056

Robert E. Wysor Account Book, Ms2024-057

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Faculty and staff
• Local/Regional History and Appalachian South
• University History
• Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)
• Wysor, Henry C., 1847-1927

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the F. P. Miles Letter to Henry C. Wysor by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).