Finding aid to the Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum Papers

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501

LYNCHBURG FEMALE ORPHAN ASYLUM PAPERS
The collection includes deeds, surveys, contracts, and building plans for the
Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum, later known as the Miller Home, in Lynchburg,
Virginia. Also included are a printed copy of the will of Samuel MILLER (1792-1869)
and a memorial address (1880) by John Henson FLOOD, President of the institution.
BOX 1

[BOX 2]

1-1 Samuel MILLER (1792-1869), Will/Memorial
Address
1-2 Accounts/Receipts
1-3 Agreements/Reports/Contracts (1870)
1-4 Deeds, Surveys (1854-1871)
1-5 Correspondence (1870-1871)
1-6 Specificiations/Proposals (1870)
1-7 Miscellaneous Correspondence (n.d.)
1-8 Plat - Westerly Acres (1957)
Topographic Map - Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum (1910)
Floor Plans - Miller Orphanage (1946)

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JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
LYNCHBURG FEMALE ORPHAN ASYLUM
The Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum (later the Miller Home), Lynchburg, Virginia,
was established as a corporation by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia in 1849.
Samuel MILLER conveyed to the Orphan Asylum a tract of 11 acres in 1854 and a larger
tract of 46 acres in 1868. The Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum was chartered 11 June
1868 by the Circuit Court of Lynchburg "for education and support of destitute white
female orphans."
In his will, Samuel MILLER endowed the Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum and the
corporation continued to operate for a number of years from the proceeds of that
endowment. The main building of the Asylum, designed by Gen. John ELLICOTT of
Baltimore and constructed by Robert C. BURKHOLDER of Lynchburg, was completed
in 1872, with other outbuildings erected for the operation of the home.
In 1959, the Miller Home was moved to its current location on Westerley Drive, with
the properties on Memorial Avenue being developed for commercial use. The corporate
name was changed from Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum to Miller Home of
Lynchburg, Virginia, Incorporated, on 13 March 1975, although the name, "Miller
Home," had been used before that date.
In ca. 1948, a brochure for the orphanage stated, "for almost eighty years the
Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum, better known as the Miller Home, has provided
refuge for hundreds of dependent and destitute girls from Lynchburg and vicinity."

[Samuel H. Williams, A Brief History of Miller Home, Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum, Lynchburg,
Virginia (Lynchburg: J.P. Bell, 1964); Lynchburg Daily Virginian, 12 September 1872, p. 3 col. 1;
Kathryn Uotinen, Director of Miller Home, Lynchburg, VA, Interview, 6 July 1999; "Miller Home, Past –
Present – Future," Brochure (Lynchburg: Lynchburg Female Orphan Asylum, c.1948?), p. 1.]

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JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
JOHN HENSON FLOOD (1830-1899)
John Henson FLOOD, son of Thomas H. and Dorothy FLOOD, was born 15 May
1830 in that section of Buckingham County that became a part of Appomattox County,
Virginia. As a young man, he came to Lynchburg, studied law and was admitted to the
bar. He gave up his law practice due to his failing eyesight and entered into the tobacco
business. He also served as a director of the People's National Bank and as a member of
the City Council.
John H. FLOOD married (1) Mary Nellie CAFFEE of Gloucester County, Virginia.
After the death of his first wife on 1875, he married (2) Margaret (KIRKPATRICK)
HOBSON, widow of George HOBSON, on 15 June 1876 in Lynchburg.
President and member of the board of directors for the Lynchburg Female Orphan
Asylum from 1872 until 1898, John Henson FLOOD died 13 June 1899 at Buffalo Ridge
Springs and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg.
[Obituary, Lynchburg News, 15 June 1899, p. 8 col. 4; Burial record, Diuguid Funeral Home, Lynchburg,
VA, Book 12, p. 168; Samuel H. Williams, A Brief History of Miller Home, Lynchburg Female Orphan
Asylum, Lynchburg, Virginia (Lynchburg: J.P. Bell, 1964), p. 68; R.A. Brock, Virginia and Virginians,
Vol. II (Richmond: H.H. Hardesty, 1888), p. 567.]

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