A GUIDE TO THE
Rives - Barclay Family Papers, 1698-1941 (bulk 1790-1880)

The Library of Virginia
800 E. Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
http://www.lva.virginia.gov/

Processed by: Jim Greve
Date completed: 4 December 2000

Personal Papers Collection, Acc# 37776
Extent: 7.5 cubic feet

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance:
Purchased from Gerber Publishing Co., Inc., P.O. Box 448, Glenbrook, Nevada 89413, 22 June 2000.

Restrictions:
None.

Preferred citation:
Rives - Barclay Family Papers, 1698-1941 (bulk 1790-1880). Accession 37776. Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Separations:
None

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Col. Thomas Barclay was born on 12 October 1753 in New York City. He was the son of Henry Barclay and Mary Rutgers. He was educated at Columbia College, and married Susan DeLancey on 2 October 1775. He commanded Loyalist forces in New York in 1776, and fled to Nova Scotia at the end of the American Revolution. While residing there he was a practicing lawyer, and was elected a member of the General Assembly, becoming Speaker in 1793. He was also appointed a commissioner to carry out terms of the Jay Treaty in 1795, and served as British Consul-General at New York from 1799 to 1812, and a commissioner under the fourth and fifth articles of the Treaty of Ghent. He died in New York City on 21 April 1830.

His son George Barclay was born at Annapolis, Nova Scotia on 4 July 1790. He married Louisa Anna Matilda Aufrere (1792-1868), the daughter of Anthony Aufrere (1757-1834) and Matilda Lockhart (1774-1850) on 8 December 1818. George Barclay died at New Hamburgh, New York on 28 July 1869.

Their daughter Matilda Antonia Barclay was born in New York City on 7 December 1824. She married Francis Robert Rives (1822-1891), the son of William Cabell Rives (1793-1868) on 16 May 1848. She died in New York on 25 January 1888.

Their son George Lockhart Rives was born in New York City on 1 May 1849. He attended Columbia College and Trinity College in Cambridge. His father Francis Robert Rives was secretary of legation in London under Edward Everett when the latter was U.S. minister there. George L. Rives received his law degree from Columbia in 1873, and practiced law in New York City. He was Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs from 1887 to 1889. He married (1) Caroline Morris Kean, and (2) Sara Whiting Belmont. He died in Newport, Rhode Island on 18 August 1917.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

Papers, 1698-1941, of the Rives and Barclay families of Albemarle and Nelson Counties, Virginia, and Canada and New York. The bulk of the collection covers the years 1790 to 1880. Includes correspondence, subject files, addresses, articles, booklets, essays, pamphlets, ledgers, letterbooks, prints, and photographs.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

Series I. Correspondence.

The majority of the collection is the correspondence series. The letters of Thomas Barclay (1753-1830) concern politics, legal matters, family news, business and financial matters, observations on life in America and its citizens after Barclay relocated there from Canada, the escheating of his lands in Nova Scotia after his removal to New York City, and his service as a commissioner appointed to settle the disputed boundary between the United States and Canada. There is also a substantial amount of correspondence concerning the receipt of his pension from the British government. The letters of his son George Barclay (1790-1869) concern family news and health, financial matters, the estate of his mother-in-law Matilda Lockhart Aufrere (1774-1850), and the sale of family lands in Nova Scotia. There is also correspondence of his brother Henry Barclay (1778-1851) containing family news and information on financial matters. Also included in this series is correspondence of William Cabell Rives (1793-1868) while he was serving as United States Senator from Virginia. The letters are written to his wife Judith Page Walker Rives (1802-1882) and his son Francis Robert Rives (1822-1891). Topics covered include the tariff, appropriations, the Webster Treaty, the presidential election of 1842, Virginia politics, Edward Everett's political career, his own speeches in the Senate, the resignation of Daniel Webster as Secretary of State, reorganization of President Tyler's cabinet, Democratic Party politics, his son's future plans, the annexation of Texas, his opinion of James K. Polk, the appointment of James Buchanan as Secretary of State, and the death of his father Robert Rives (1764-1845). The bulk of this series, however, is the correspondence between Francis R. Rives and his wife Matilda Antonia Barclay Rives (1824-1888) and their son George Lockhart Rives (1849-1917) while the latter was a student at Trinity College in Cambridge, England between the years 1868 and 1871. Included are descriptions of his school, his classmates, and the city of London, his social and recreational activities, most notably sailing, his trips to the Continent, his finances and school expenses, the weather, family news, and his parents' trips to Europe. There are also letters written to him by Hamilton Fish (1849-1936) while the latter was serving as private secretary to his father who was United States Secretary of State.

Series II. Subject Files.

The subject files contain a variety of material on the Aufrere, Barclay, DeLancey, Lockhart, and Rives families. Included are calling cards and invitations, information on the dower claim of Margaret DeLancey who was the widow of James DeLancey, estate papers, genealogical notes, military service records, the pension claim of Susan Barclay who was the widow of Thomas Barclay, speeches, and the wills of Matilda Lockhart Aufrere and Thomas Barclay.

Series III. Address, Articles, Booklets, Essays, and Pamphlets.

Most of these items relate to the work of George L. Rives. Included is the manuscript copy of his valedictory address at Columbia College (1869), articles on the United States and Mexico relations, which he wrote a book on, essays he wrote while at Cambridge, and various pamphlets containing speeches by members of the U.S. House of Representative and Senate, including his grandfather, William Cabell Rives. Many of these concern the annexation of Texas.

Series IV. Ledgers and Letterbooks.

The ledgers and letterbooks were kept by Anthony and Matilda Aufrere, Thomas Barclay, George Barclay, and George L. Rives. Those belonging to Anthony and Matilda Aufrere contain various pieces of verse and prose. The letterbooks of Thomas Barclay contain his official correspondence while he was stationed in New York serving as British Consul-General for the Eastern States of America. There are 13 volumes. The last volume also contains letters written while he was serving as a commissioner under the fourth and fifth articles of the Treaty of Ghent to settle the ongoing dispute over the Canadian-U.S. boundary. Portions of these letterbooks were published in Selections from the Correspondence of Thomas Barclay - Formerly British Consul-General at New York by George Lockhart Rives (New York: Harper & Bros., 1894). Also included in this series are three letterbooks of George Barclay covering the years 1850-1856 and 1861-1868 while he was a merchant in New York. There is also a ledger of George L. Rives containing official correspondence, proceedings, and regulations while he was serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs from 1887 to 1889.

Series V. Prints and Photographs.

The prints contained in the collection deal with the Mexican War. There are also family photographs and photographs taken on a trip to Mexico, as well as a family photgraph album, and a photograph album of various New York officials, circa 1904.

Series VI. Oversize.

The oversize items include deeds, estate papers, newspapers, passports of George L. Rives, promissory notes, a family register of the Whiting family, the wills of George Anthony Aufrere, Susan Barclay, Oliver DeLancey, Mary Huguetan de Gastine, and John Norris, and miscellaneous items.

CONTAINER LIST

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