EARLY STORE OWNERS

[Julia Munro. Last updated: 09/04/2019]

As the Hotelkeepers section shows, much of the early life of Jefferson's university is revealed to us through an understanding of the Academical Village. For students in particular, their life on campus involved not just classes, but living alongside their Professors in the buildings on the Range; these "Hotels" provided students with boarding, which included all meals, as well as laundry, firewood, and cleaning delivered room to room by the African-American servants of the Hotel.

Perhaps equally important to understanding the Early Life of the students, however, is a consideration of Charlottesville and the environs directly beyond the borders of the University. Students were not confined to the Academical Village, although rules were certainly in place to ensure their proper conduct as befits gentlemen scholars of the University. In fact, it is due to these rules - and the students' frequent transgressions - that we are given a detailed sense of time, place, and the developing character of the University. Frequent references, then, are made in the University records (Board of Visitor Minutes, Faculty Minutes, the Chairman of the Faculty's Journals, and so on) to the places at which students were (often) found breaking these rules - namely, the taverns, bookstores, and other shops wihout the precincts. Consider for instance the February 28, 1838 entry of the Chairman of the Faculty Gessner Harrison (P25515): "Gave Messrs Constable (P25525) and Battey (P27407) leave to pay a visit in the Country until tomorrow morning, at Mr. Bocock's (PL8596) -- They promise to violate none of the laws; especialy those prohibiting drinking vinous & spiritous liqours" (Chairman's Journal, Session 14).

What follows is a list of common stores and storeowners that were often named in discussions of student conduct and misconduct. 

Note Regarding Lists: The list below provides the Key, or unique identifier, for each person and place; use the key to search for references to that person/place in the primary records of the JUEL database (click on the keys below, or go directly to the Search page). The store name is provided, with any common variations in spelling or alternative names, as well as the owner and owners and the period in which they were active. Where possible, the location of the store is provided as well.