Series VII. Virginia L. Woodbury Fox papers (1850-1896)
Scope and Contents note
The series includes letters sent (both originals and drafts) and received by Virginia Woodbury Fox, with recipients including her husband and other family members, as well as officials of St. John's Church in Washington, DC. After her husband's death, she donated land on which the Church erected an orphanage, with a plaque commemorating Gustavus Vasa Fox. Notes in her hand indicate that she destroyed much of her correspondence to her husband. Among those letters saved, and specifically marked, is that of July 20, 1863, describing the Draft Riots in New York City. Other highlights include a note (c. 1862) from Mary Lincoln and a separated envelope from President Abraham Lincoln.
Biographical Note
Virginia Lafayette Woodbury (1821-1908) was the daughter of Levi and Elizabeth Clapp Woodbury. She married Gustavus Vasa Fox in 1855; they had no children. Her sister, Mary Elizabeth, married Montgomery Blair and their children included Montgomery Blair, who was the Foxes' heir.
Arrangement
Some of Virginia Woodbury Fox's letters to her husband are filed with his letters received in Series I. Correspondence. Others are included here with her family's papers: she appears to have retrieved them from her husband's papers and specifically organized them here herself.