Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Wirt span the years 1802 to 1858, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1802 to 1834. The collection consists of family and personal letters, professional or business correspondence, and the manuscript of Wirt’s biography of Patrick Henry. Scattered throughout the papers are clippings, reminiscences, transcribed writings and poetry, and children’s essays. One set of correspondence covering the years 1831-1832 focuses solely on Wirt’s decision to run for president on the Anti-Masonic party ticket against Andrew Jackson. An assortment of material also postdates Wirt’s death in 1834, including papers from survivors and descendants consisting mostly of letters of condolence and other family matters.
The main part of the correspondence treats the relationship between Wirt and his children. He had twelve by his second wife, Elizabeth Gamble, nine of whom survived to adolescence or adulthood. Their letters reflect the values of a Southern family that enslaved people during a period of rapid social and political change and includes references to childhood rituals of amusement and learning and elaborate descriptions of Wirt family Christmases. Other subjects include Christian piety, social life in Richmond, Virginia, Washington, D. C., and Baltimore, and the Wirt family’s near continual grappling with illness and death.
Besides immediate family members, the most frequent correspondent in these papers is Peachy Gilmer of Henry County, Virginia. A relative through Wirt’s first wife, Mildred Gilmer of "Pen Park," Peachy Gilmer was a lifelong friend whose letters from Wirt show the latter’s developing views over three decades. The correspondence is personal and family oriented and rather candid. A July 1807 letter from Richmond includes Wirt’s observations of the Aaron Burr trial in which he was counsel for the prosecution. Wirt and Gilmer also discussed their private financial affairs, especially in their earlier correspondence when both expressed interest in moving to Kentucky. In the 1830s after his retirement as attorney general of the United States, Wirt organized a plan to settle German farmers on an agricultural tract near Monticello, Florida. His partner and agent was Louis M. Goldsborough, a son-in-law and naval officer whose communications from the scene document the unfolding and eventual failure of the colonization effort.
Other important topics include Wirt’s The Letters of the British Spy published in1803, reactions of advance readers to the manuscript of his biography of Patrick Henry, and legal work conducted by Wirt while United States attorney for the District of Richmond in 1816 and later, from 1817 to 1829, while attorney general.
Correspondents in addition to those already mentioned include Nicholas Biddle, William H. Cabell, John C. Calhoun, Dabney Carr, Robert Gamble, Abner Phelps, Richard Rush, James Wallace, James Webster, and Lewis Williams. There are also copies of letters to presidents John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe.