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Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Mead (1795-1847) was a county surveyor in Bedford County, Virginia. He was married to Martha (nee Carper) Mead and his son, Henry, owned the Warrenton Journal of Fauquier County. Frederick Carper (1799-1846) was a farmer, magistrate, and road commisioner in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Thomas Mead, of Lynchburg, Virginia, writes to his brother-in-law Frederick Carper, of Fairfax City, Virginia. The letter mentions their political differences and discusses laborers from Pennsylvania coming to work on the James River Canal (which was never completed). Mead describes these white laborers as a "motley crew" and mentions "Lynches law" as a method to deal with them. Enslaved "hands" were hired from $100 to $150 per year to work on the project. Mead mentions prices for enslaved persons, a decrease in land cost, western migration, market prices for wheat, and shares personal news.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Canals--Virginia
• Extrajudicial executions
• Lynching--United States--History
• Merchants--Virginia--Lynchburg
• Slave bills of sale
• Slave labor