Finding aid to the Hancock and Adams Account Books

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
HANCOCK AND ADAMS ACCOUNT BOOKS
The collection includes account books of HANCOCK and Company (1822) and of
HANCOCK and ADAMS (1837-1838). Also included are copies of business letters of
HANCOCK and ADAMS. Ammon HANCOCK (1788-1847) and Isaac ADAMS
(ca.1803/1806-1857) were merchants of Lynchburg, Virginia.
BOX 1

1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-7

Letter Book (1821-1823)
Account Book (1822)
Account Book (1834-1839)
Account Book (1837-1838)
Account Book (1842)
Loading Book (1836-1837)
Loading Book (1839)

MS1058

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(804) 846-0501
AMMON HANCOCK (1788-1847)
Ammon HANCOCK, son of Samuel HANCOCK and Ann Ammon MOON, was born
in 1788 in Bedford County, Virginia. He served as a private in the Lynchburg Rifles in
1814, under Captain Samuel J. WIATT. He became Captain of a Rifle company in the
Second Battalion, 53rd Regiment, in 1816.
In 1825, Ammon HANCOCK was appointed to the Water Committee for the City of
Lynchburg, with A. G. MURRELL, John EARLY, and John THURMAN. He served as
Mayor of Lynchburg in 1829 and again in 1837.
On 22 November 1832, Ammon HANCOCK married Sarah Virginia GREEN,
daughter of Joseph Kirkland GREEN and Mildred Meriwether CABELL. Sarah Virginia
(GREEN) HANCOCK died in 1839.
Ammon HANCOCK entered into a partnership ca. 1817 with Henry BROWN, Jr., as
merchants under the name of HANCOCK and BROWN. Later he was partner with Isaac
ADAMS in the firm of HANCOCK and ADAMS.
Ammon HANCOCK died 17 May 1847 in Lynchburg.
[June Evelyn Goode, "Footprints in Early Lynchburg," Mss., FF1696, Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg,
VA; "Marriage of Ammon Hancock and Sarah Virginia Green," Lynchburg Virginian, 26 November 1832,
p. 3 col. 4; "Obituary of Sarah Virginia Hancock," Lynchburg Virginian, 9 September 1839, p. 3 col. 3;
"Obituary of Ammon Hancock," Lynchburg Virginian, 20 May 1847, p. 3 col. 3, and Lynchburg Virginian,
24 May 1847, p. 3 col. 3.]

MS1058

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 MEMORIAL AVENUE
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24501
(434) 846-0501
ISAAC ADAMS (ca.1803/1806-1857)
Isaac ADAMS, son of Samuel ADAMS and Martha WADE, was born ca. 1803/1806
in Bedford County, Virginia. At an early age, he moved to Lynchburg, where he became
a merchant in partnership with Ammon HANCOCK in the firm of HANCOCK and
ADAMS. He married 12 June 1832 Sarah Elizabeth DuVAL, daughter of William
DuVAL and Susan Brown CHRISTIAN.
At the death of Ammon HANCOCK in 1847, his heirs brought suit against Isaac
ADAMS for a share of the business partnership. The settlement required that ADAMS
pay the heirs $23,000.
Sometime before April 1844, Isaac ADAMS and his family moved to Buckingham
County and settled on his tract, known as Poplar Spring. The tract was located near the
DuVAL home known as Mt. Comfort. On 25 April 1844, ADAMS cast his vote for the
creation of the new county [Appomattox] at a poll taken at New Store, Buckingham
County. When Appomattox County was formed in 1845, he was appointed Assistant
Marshall.
Isaac ADAMS was elected a delegate to the Whig Convention, held 19 January 1847,
in Farmville, Virginia. He was again elected a delegate to the Whig Convention, held 27
September 1848, in Lexington, Virginia.
In 1850, Isaac ADAMS was appointed census enumerator for his district. In 1851, he
became Commissioner of the Revenue for Appomattox County. He died 10 November
1857 and was buried at Mt. Comfort plantation.
[Phillip Wayne Rhodes, "The Adams Family of Lynchburg, Virginia: Descendants of Isaac and Sarah
Elizabeth DuVal Adams," (Lynchburg: n.pub., 1989), n.pag., Mss., FF1985, Jones Memorial Library,
Lynchburg, VA; Stuart McDearmon Farrar, Comp., Historical Notes of Appomattox County, Virginia
(Pamplin, VA: Compiler, 1989), pp. 19, 52, 66.]

MS1058