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A Guide to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company Records, 1833–1909

Collection Number Mss3 R4152 a
A Collection in the Virginia Historical Society

Contact Information:
Virginia Historical Society
P.O. Box 7311
Richmond, Virginia 23221-0311
USA
Phone: (804) 342-9677
Fax: (804) 355-2399
Email: reference@vahistorical.org
URL: http://www.vahistorical.org

Processed by: Andrea Gray, Tamia Taylor, and Laura Stoner
© 2010 By Virginia Historical Society. All rights reserved.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Access
Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company Records, 1833–1909 (Mss3 R4152 a), Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information
Deposited by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company, 25 August 1971. Converted to gift by the CSX Corporation in 2003 July 22.

Descriptive Summary       [back to top of page]

Repository: Virginia Historical Society.

Collection number: Mss3 R4152 a

Collection name: Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company Records, 1833–1909.

Size: 173 linear feet

Language: English

Abstract: Documents recording daily expenditures of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company, chiefly vouchers but including bills and invoices, bonds, checks, claims, contracts and warrants, dividend payments, payrolls, and receipts. Also includes administrative materials of the Board of Directors and Board of Stockholders, and administrative and financial records of the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway Company.

Scope and Content Information       [back to top of page]

The bulk of the collection (boxes 1 through 170) contains financial records that document the daily expenditures of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company. The majority of the items are vouchers, but other items include bills and invoices, bonds, checks, claims, contracts and warrants, dividend payments, payrolls, and receipts, as well as scattered correspondence regarding expenditures. The expenses represented in the collection are numerous and widespread, but frequent disbursements include payments for advertising and printing costs, bond, dividend and interest payments, claims for damaged property, claims for injury or death, claims for injured or killed animals, claims for lost baggage or freight, commissions on ticket sales, construction expenses, insurance policies, land purchases and land damages, legal fees, medical services, mileage used on other companies’ cars, print subscriptions, shipping and freight costs, supplies and services, travel expenses, utilities, wages and salaries, wood and coal, etc.

Until the end of the Civil War in April 1865, the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad both owned and hired African American slaves to work for the railroad. Slave contracts or bonds are located throughout the collection between January 1837 until a few months after the war ended when former owners continued to request payments owed to them from before the end of slavery, and are generally located in folders labeled January. Some antebellum payrolls or "rosters" also include a list of "colored hands" (see folder 45, for example). Other African American items include a news clipping for a reward for a runaway slave (folder 296), a life insurance policy for a slave (folder 366), a voucher for a payment for arresting a runaway slave (folder 418) or for arresting slaves breaking curfew (folder 422a), and news clippings advertising the hire of black hands (folder 457).

During periods of heavy construction, items often include vouchers for estimates on construction, land damages, legal fees, supplies, etc. Large projects include construction of a new depot at Elba (in Richmond, Va.) in 1879, construction of the Byrd Street Station in Richmond, Va., from 1885 to 1887, construction of the James River Branch from 1889 to 1890, and doubling of the rail lines between Richmond and Washington, D.C., in 1902.

Payrolls in the collection before July 1898 list individual employees, and often each employee had to sign the payroll with a signature or his mark. Abstracts of payrolls begin in January 1888 and continue in the first folder for each month until the end of June 1890. In July 1898 summary payrolls begin; however, they do not list individuals and they are scattered throughout the folders.

Vouchers are all handwritten until July 1860, when the RF&P began using a printed form with handwritten insertions. Many vouchers are attached to their corresponding bill or invoice before 1882, but afterwards the vouchers are usually alone.

Electoral tickets from the Confederate States 1862 election for President and Vice-President are included in the collection as the backs were used as receipts (folder 452). The company’s notes or currency from 1862 is documented in five and ten cent examples (folder 454).

Most of the railroad’s presidents’ signatures are documented in the collection. Of note are items written by Conway Robinson which include Director’s reports and resolutions (folders 2799–2800). Edmund T. D. Meyers figures prominently in the collection since he served as general superintendent (1870–1901) and president of the company (1889–1905).

Section Two contains administrative records for the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company, which include: Board of Director files, Board of Stockholders files, Monthly balance sheets, and garnishee summons. Section Three holds records regarding the operation of the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway Company.

Organization       [back to top of page]

The records are arranged into three sections. Section One, the bulk of the collection, contains financial records of the company. Section Two contains administrative records. Section Three contains records of the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway Company, which came under the operation of the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company in 1901.

Section One has generally been kept in its original, roughly chronological order according to the date monies were dispersed. Letter-style boxes contained financial records that corresponded to journals (the journals are not in the Virginia Historical Society’s collection), so folders covering the years 1833 to 1908 are labeled with their original journal letter (A through U), the month, and year. The corresponding journals can be located at the Library of Virginia.

Biographical/Historical Information       [back to top of page]

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company was chartered in 1834. Among the provisions of the charter was one granting the company a virtual monopoly to build and operate track between Richmond and the nation’s capital. Major stockholders included members of the Robinson family of Richmond and Philadelphia, other wealthy Pennsylvanians, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Construction along the route began immediately. By February 1836 the first train service was offered, departing Richmond and traveling over twenty miles to the South Anna River. The road was extended to Fredericksburg by 1837, and continued its steady northward progression. At the end of constructed rail, passengers were transferred to stagecoaches and transported to a landing first on Potomac Creek and later on Aquia Creek, where steamboats would provide the connection to Washington. With the completion of the line to Aquia Creek in 1842, the stagecoach connection was discontinued. Early on, the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac acquired stock in the Washington and Fredericksburg Steamboat Company, later named the Potomac Steamboat Company, in order to ensure the vital and profitable link to Washington.

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac played an active part in the Civil War, with lines and equipment north of Fredericksburg falling into Union Army hands, and lines south of Fredericksburg serving the Confederacy. At the end of the hostilities, the company was faced with massive debts and extensive losses of track and equipment. However, due largely to the support of its northern investors, repairs were quickly undertaken and the company was soon operational.

The medical care of the employees, black and white, is documented through vouchers for doctors’ fees. The more frequent doctors to bill the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company were Dr. J. Metauer Winfree, Dr. C. W. P. Brock and Dr. A. C. Doggett. There are mentions of the company providing artificial limbs because of accidents in folders 1802, 1905, 1964, 2062, and 2330.

The last quarter of the nineteenth century and dawn of the twentieth century saw a series of mergers and agreements with other railroad lines, the replacement of aging road with double tracking, the construction of passenger and freight stations at Richmond and Washington, and the discontinuance of the steamboat link as a bridge line was erected over the Potomac. While other small lines were consolidated into systems such as the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac retained its individuality, and its control over 113 miles of track linking Richmond and Washington.

The Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad began to diversify holdings in the second quarter of the twentieth century, divesting itself of its passenger service, to Amtrak, in 1971 and its freight service, to CSX, in 1991, to become a real estate holding and investment company.

For further information on the history of the RF&P, researchers may want to consult William E. Griffin’s One Hundred and Fifty Years of History Along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (Richmond, Va., 1984) and Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad: The Capital Cities Route (Lynchburg, Va., 1994), and John B. Mordecai’s A Brief History of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (Norfolk, Va., 1940).

Related Collections       [back to top of page]

Records, 1839–1983, of the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. ca. 9,000 items. Include correspondence, financial and legal materials, diagrams and equipment registers, track maps, historical materials, etc., of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, documenting daily affairs of the company's different divisions, including administrative, financial, personnel, and operations. Also, include materials of related organizations and companies, many of whom were owned or operated by the RF&P, including the Potomac Steam Boat Company, the Richmond Terminal Company, and the Washington Southern Railway Company. (Mss3 R4152 b FA2)

Records, 1887–1954, of the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. 500 items (including 18 v.). Miscellaneous records, including daybooks and journals, 1887–1909, and loose materials relating to claims for lost or damaged freight, and correspondence, 1945 July 16–23, concerning travel arrangements for military personnel and equipment. (Mss3 R4152 c) Dispatchers' record books, 1905–1981, of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. 25 v. Include records of weather, number of cars per train, tonnage, crew, and the times trains passed reporting stations. (Mss3 R4152 d)

Index Terms       [back to top of page]

Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad Company -- Records and correspondence.
Robinson, Conway, 1805-1884.
Construction industry -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century.
Myers, Edmund Trewbridge Dana, 1830-1905.
Railroads -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century.
Railroads -- Virginia -- History -- 20th century.
Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad -- Officials and employees.
Slaves -- Employment -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century.
Virginia -- Economic conditions -- 20th century.
Transportation -- Virginia -- History.
Wages – Railroads.

Guide

Section 1. Expenditures, 1833–1909.       [back to top of page]

This section focuses on financial records that detail the day by day money spent by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company. The greater part of the items are vouchers, but other items include bills and invoices, checks, receipts, payrolls, bonds, dividend payments, claims, contracts and warrants, and correspondence regarding expenses. The expenditures present in the collection are voluminous and varied, but recurrent disbursements include payments for supplies and services, wages and salaries, construction expenses, claims for lost baggage or freight, claims for injury or death, claims for injured or killed animals, claims for damaged property, shipping and freight costs, legal fees, bonds, dividend and interest payments, insurance policies, travel expenses, advertising and printing costs, real estate purchases and real estate repair, commissions on ticket sales, medical services, utilities, mileage used on other companies’ cars, print subscriptions, wood and coal, etc.

The collection has generally been kept in its original, roughly chronological order according to the date monies were dispersed. When received, letter-style boxes contained financial records that corresponded to journals, which are not in the Virginia Historical Society’s collection, so folders covering the years 1833 to 1908 are labeled with their original journal letter (A through U), the month, and year.

Also included are documents found in journal boxes labeled "Other than cash vouchers," these items have been left in their original order. Materials are similar to if not the same as those found in the previous sections of vouchers and financial documents. The majority of the items relate to dividend and interest payments, real estate, and abstracts of vouchers and payrolls. Also included are bills, vouchers, and receipts for supplies and services, passenger and mileage accounts for through trains and connection railroads, etc. Vouchers from the year 1870 (folders 2734 and 2735) are mostly freight vouchers of other railroad and steamboat companies.

Also included are Vouchers Not Located. The journal boxes these items were received in were labeled "Unlocated Vouchers," presumably meaning they could not be found in corresponding account books. While some Vouchers Not Located documents had to be separated into folders for their correct years, items have generally been kept in their original order. This section includes receipts, dividend requests and receipts, and other documents similar to those found throughout the previous sections of the collection.

Box 1

Box 2

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Box 170

Section 2. Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company Administrative Records, 1834–1899.       [back to top of page]

While some documents had to be separated into folders for their correct years, items have generally been kept in their original order and are arranged chronologically by year.

Board of Directors files (folders 2799–2800) only cover the first few years of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company, 1834 through 1836. Most of the items are handwritten copies of resolutions passed by the board, though some correspondence and reports are included as well. The resolutions deal generally with expenses, real estate purchases, land surveys, laborers, subscribers, etc.

Board of Stockholders files (folders 2801–2818) include annual reports, lists of stockholders, lists of stockholders' proxies for voting, meeting minutes, reports of income, and resolutions. The bulk of the documents are from the 1880s and 1890s. Within each folder items have been kept in their original order, which is roughly reverse chronological.

Monthly balance sheets (folders 2819–2820) include long lists of all accounts, such as dividends, payrolls, banks, companies, railroads, and supplies.

The folder labeled Garnishee Summons (folder 2821) includes copies of court documents, legal summons, paymaster's lists from The Travelers Insurance Company, payment slips for insurance premiums to The American Employers' Liability Insurance Company, and receipts.

Box 171

Section 3. Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company, 1866–1901.       [back to top of page]

The Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company was chartered in 1864 and opened in 1872. The folder labeled "Proposals for Construction, 1870" (folder 2841) contains several standard forms titled "Proposals for Grading and Masonry of the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway" as completed by potential builders of the original line. Contracts for construction and supplies are included in folders labeled "Contracts" (folders 2824–2827). The folder labeled "Insurance Policies, 1871" (folder 2828) contains several cargo insurance policies from the Office of the National Lloyds for iron rails sent from Baltimore, Md., to Alexandria, Va., or to Quantico Creek, Va.

Folders 2829–2845 are arranged chronologically and include accounts, correspondence, receipts, and other documents primarily relating to the finances of the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company. Correspondents include the Auditor’s Office, Superintendent’s Office, the Treasurer, other railroad companies, and banks. The folder labeled 1870–1875 (folder 2830) includes correspondence regarding potential construction of the new rail line between Alexandria and Fredericksburg, Va.

In 1887 the Alexandria & Washington Railroad Company, which was later incorporated into the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company, went bankrupt. It was sold and emerged from reorganization as the Alexandria & Washington Railway Company. The folder labeled 1887 (folder 2835) contains the notarized statement of Francis L. Smith regarding his purchase of the Alexandria & Washington Railroad Company and the sale of its shares to stockholders in the new Alexandria & Washington Railway Company. Also included is a copy of the preamble and resolution of the Board of the Alexandria & Washington Railway Company in which an arrangement was made for the company to be operated and maintained by the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company. In 1890 the Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company merged into the Washington Southern Railway. A statement dated 1890 April 28 regarding the merge is in the folder labeled 1890 (folder 2838).

The folder labeled "Board of Directors, Alexandria & Fredericksburg Railway Company," contains invitations sent to J. S. Leib between 1873 and 1887 to attend board meetings of the Alexandria & Washington Railroad Company (folder 2840).

The "Board of Stockholders, Washington Southern Railway" folders (folders 2847–2848) include annual reports, lists of stockholders, lists of stockholders’ proxies for voting, meeting minutes, reports of income, and resolutions from the years 1890 to 1901.

In 1901 the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company took over the operation of the Washington Southern Railway under the "Richmond–Washington Line."

Box 172

Box 173

Related Resources:

• A Guide to the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company Records, 1837–1983 (Mss3 R4152 b FA2)

• Crews, Edward R., Compiler. Records, 1988–1991, relating to the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. 9 items (Mss1 C8673 a)

• Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Records, 1887–1954. 500 (ca.) items. (Mss3 R4152 c)

• Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Dispatchers’ record books, 1905–1981. 25 v. (Mss3 R4152 d)

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