Author

Processed by: Jason Flahardy; machine-readable finding aid created by: Christian Trombetta

Title

Guide to the Jeffrey Family Photographic Collection

Date

1840-1900

Repository

University of Kentucky Special Collections

Lexington, Kentucky 40506

Conditions Governing Access note

Collection is available to researchers by appointment.

Preferred Citation Note

[Identification of item], Guide to the Jeffrey Family Photographic Collection, PA46M137, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.

Extent

.5 cu. ft. (2 boxes): 76 items

Biography/History

The Jeffrey Family of Rochester and Canandaigua, New York, and later of Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky were natives of Scotland who immigrated to America in the 1850s. John Jeffrey (1817-1881) owned and operated John Jeffrey and Co., which built and managed coal gas companies in many southern and midwestern cities and two in Cuba. John Jeffrey eventually settled in Louisville, KY and married Georgiana Augusta Wylie Keats (1798-1879), the widow of George Keats (1797-1841) and the brother of the famed English poet, John Keats (1795-1821).

Working with John was his brother, Alexander Jeffrey (1815-1899), who served as president of the Lexington (Ky.) Gas Company during the latter half of the 19th century. Alexander's first wife, Delia Granger, bore him at least two daughters, Julia G. Jeffrey (1839-?) (married to Albert Augustus Porter (1837-1888)) and Charlotte Ross Jeffrey (1841-1904) (married to Charles Pierson). Both daughters continued to live in Rochester and Canandaigua, New York, as did John and Alexander's brother William Jeffrey (1812-1867) and his children.

Widowed sometime in the 1850s, Alexander met his 2nd wife, Rosa Griffith Vertner (1828-1894), poetess, novelist, and widow of Claudius M. Johnson (?-1861), whom he married in 1862. At the time of their marriage, Rosa had four living children: Dan Vertner Johnson (1848-?), Henry Johnson (1850-?), Rosa Vertner Johnson (1854-), and Claudius M. Johnson Jr. (1852-1919), who served as Lexington mayor from 1880-1889. Claudius Jr. married Anne America Morgan (1865-1915), 2nd cousin of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan.

Rosa and Alexander went on to have at least three children of their own: Alexander Jeffrey Jr. (?-1902), Dunbar Jeffrey (1866-1892) and Virginia Abercrombie Jeffrey (1867-1934). Also living in Lexington with Alexander Sr. at this time was his maternal aunt Jane Charlotte McConnell Ross (?-1869). Alexander Jr. married Martha Allen, daughter of T.N. Allen, who was a friend of Alexander Sr. friend from Olympia, Washington. Virginia Abercrombie married John Hunt Morgan II (1870-1940), nephew of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan.

Scope and Content

The Jeffrey Family Photographic Collection, 1840-1900 consists of tintypes, albumen cartes de visite, and gelatin silver prints of the Jeffrey Family of Scotland, Rochester, New York, Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky and a few personal photographs by John Hunt Morgan II (1870-1940), husband of Virginia Abercrombie Jeffrey (1876-1934).

Subjects

• Allen, Martha
• Confederate States of America. Army. Morgan's Cavalry Division
• Hecker, Guy, 1856-1938
• Hunt-Morgan Family
• Jeffrey Family
• Jeffrey, Alexander, 1815-1899
• Jeffrey, Alexander Jr., ?-1902
• Jeffrey, Charlotte Ross, 1841-1904
• Jeffrey, Clarissa Greig, 1854-1892
• Jeffrey, John, 1817-1881
• Jeffrey, Julia G., 1839-?
• Jeffrey, Mary Higham, 1858-1935
• Jeffrey, Virginia Abercrombie, 1867-1934
• Jeffrey, William, 1812-1867
• Lexington Gas Company (Ky.)
• Morgan Calvin Cogswell III, 1873-1908
• Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864
• Morgan, John Hunt, 1870-1940
• Parrish, Henry S.
• Pierson, Charles
• Porter, Albert Augustus, 1830-1888
• Preston, William, 1816-1887
• Ross, Jane Charlotte McConnell, ?-1869
• Speed, Alice Keats
• Vertner, Rosa Griffith (Johnson)(Jeffrey), 1828-1894

Related Material

The consists of tintypes, albumen carte-de-visite, and gelatin silver prints of the Jeffrey Family of Scotland, Rochester, New York, and Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky and a few personal photographs by John Hunt Morgan (II) (1870-1940), husband of Virginia Abercrombie Jeffrey (1876-1934).

Items #45-76 were distributed loose in the (46M137). Series consists of photographs of Alexander Jeffrey (1815-1899) and other members of the Jeffrey family. The series appears to have been assembled or produced by Virginia Abercrombie Jeffrey (1876-1934) and her husband John Hunt Morgan (II) (1870-1940). Items #67-71 appear to have typed notations on the back by John Hunt Morgan (II).

Stanton, Charles P. . Brooklyn, NY: C.P. Stanton, 1996.

, 46M137, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

, MSC 23, Special Collections, Transylvania University, Lexington.

, Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

, Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

, Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

, Special Collections, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

Collection Inventory