JUEL ID/KEY: P47775

Milly (last name unknown), adult female. Milly was a slave of Board of Visitors member and Rector (1864-5) Thomas Lewis Preston (P43698). Her son was Humphrey (P49029), and her spouse was Armistead (P49028). The information we have of Milly is gleaned from letters from Preston to his wife Anna and a letter to an Aunt; most importantly, we know she is buried at the University of Virginia Cemetery (PL8510).

Letters from Preston to his wife Anna M. Preston, dated September 15 and 17, 1863, provide information about her death and burial: "I am just going down to make provision for Milly’s funeral & will have it performed properly. Our servants are human beings & deserve the rights of Christian sepulcher.” On the 17th, he continued, “. . . we buried Milly in the new cemetery. She was the first, & [I] selected a section for our servants when should they die here, they can be buried in families. The old grave yard is full. I also selected a section for us."

It is not known exactly where Milly is buried, and what Preston meant by "new cemetery" and "old grave yard." The original University of Virginia Cemetery (section A, in image below) was established in 1828 and certainly became crowded in the confines of its walled boundaries, such that by 1882 a new addition (section C) was completed. Prior to this, the only and first official expansion to the cemetery was an extension out of necessity for Confederate soldiers (mentioned July 1862), an approximately 200-foot by 228-foot square located west of the original burial grounds (section B). As written above, therefore, it would seem that Milly was buried in this new section, which at the time of Preston writing in 1863, was the only expansion. 

The letter, "[?] To Aunt [?] March 8, 1865" briefly mentions Milly and Humphrey. The letter details the Union Army’s occupation of Charlottesville, written by one of John B. Minor's (P22874) daughters (which one is to be determined) to an Aunt (which one also to be determined). The letter mentions several servants/ slaves, including "Milly's son":

At Edgehill (PL8939) they [the Yankees] carried off the horses, some provisions & servants, & forced cousin Mary to give them the rings on her finger. All the horses from Little Run are gone & two of the men. Armistead & Milly's son - Humphrey was taken but begged so hard to be allowed to come back to his "old miss" that they agreed & he arrived today. Henry was taken too & camped [before?] Carr's Hill (PL8512) with the officers. He has arrived since.

The letter also mentions a servant named Rachel and the servant Berkley (P49030), who is identified in the letter as the slave of Dr. Maupin (P43731).

PRIMARY SOURCE INFORMATION 

1. References to the Individual in the JUEL Digitized Transcripts

(Links below are to JUEL's full-text digital transcripts of primary sources that refer to the individual. If no links display, this indicates that either the JUEL digitized texts have not yet been tagged with the individual's ID/Key, or, that no reference is made to the individual in any JUEL digitized texts, or, that the primary source has not yet been digitized).   

"____ To Aunt ____March 8 1865" 

2. Library Call Numbers/Bibliographic Records

Davis-Preston-Saunders Papers [Manuscript], 1840-1930, University of Virginia Special Collections Library, MSS 4591

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