Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis papers

Abstract

The Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis papers (dated 1678-1981, undated; 1.18 cubic feet, 8 boxes) comprise incoming and outgoing correspondence, real estate and financial documents, genealogies, business documents, letters, newspaper clippings and newsletters, photographs, and ephemera documenting the personal lives and business activities of members of these families.

Descriptive Summary

Title
Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis papers
Date
1678-1981, undated (inclusive)
1870-1967 (bulk)
Extent
1.18 Cubic Feet
Subjects
Letters.
Genealogy -- Appalachian Region
Tax assessment
Invoices
Domestic Life -- United States
Confederate States of America. -- Army.
Deeds.
Artifacts
Small business -- Kentucky.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged into seven series by family or format.
Finding Aid Author
Lauren Farmer and Kristen Thornsberry
Preferred Citation
1997ms142 : [identification of item], Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis papers, 1678-1981, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Repository
University of Kentucky

Collection Overview

Biography / History
The Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis families were socially and politically prominent in their communities during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries as business and land owners. The families were based in the southeastern United States, primarily in Kentucky, although the Johnstone family also lived in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Louisiana. Joseph Faulconer (1757-1833) served in the Revolutionary War. Family members include Governor Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), who served as Kentucky's first governor and was also part of state Legislatures in Virginia and North Carolina; Isaac Shelby Tevis (1850-1919), farmer in Lincoln County, Ky. and great-grandson of Governor Shelby who inherited the family estate "Traveller's Rest," a historically significant tract of land in Stanford, Ky., given to Gov. Shelby from Thomas Jefferson in 1779; Elijah Potter Faulconer, Jr. (b. 1889), who was a physics teacher at Lafayette College in Eaton, Pa., and his wife Eleanor Johnstone Tevis Faulconer (b. 1894), who was a descendant of Gov. Shelby; and William Clarkson Johnstone (b. 1896), who graduated from the University of Kentucky and later worked for the Kentucky Bankers Association as an agricultural representative.
Grissom, Kim E., "Genealogy Report: Descendants of Benjamin Simons", genalogy.com, accessed April 20, 2015.
Johnson, E. Polk, A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry, and Modern Activities, Vol. 3. (Kentucky: Lewis Publishing Company, 1912), 1332.
United States Census Bureau, "Sally Johnstone," United States Census 880, accessed April 20, 2015. https://familysearch.org/pal:MM9.1.1/MDXK-HB4
Scope and Content
The Faulconer, Johnstone, Shelby, and Tevis papers (dated 1678-1981, undated; 1.18 cubic feet, 8 boxes) comprise incoming and outgoing correspondence, real estate and financial documents, genealogies, business documents, letters, newspaper clippings, family newsletters, and articles, photographs, and ephemera documenting the personal lives and business activities of members of these families. The correspondence is primarily incoming and personal, addressed to a variety of family members. The letters detail domestic life, social relationships, travel, and job inquiries, and are mostly written by men. Some topics mentioned are the aftermath of the Civil War, slavery, and the work of American explorer and diplomat John Lloyd Stephens. The real estate and financial documents include items such as invoices, pension records, deeds, or real estate documents, catalogs, and personal expense ledgers. There are Revolutionary War pension letters in the Faulconer series. Two financial documents specifically reference ownership of slaves as property or inheritances. The genealogical information includes hand-drawn family trees and family reunion programs. Photographs include ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, and albumen prints in addition to snapshots depicting family members and their homes. Two photographs show an African-American woman referred to as "Mammy Francis", with her family. Ephemera includes a sewing kit, a music box, a scrapbook, a family crest, and a picture frame for the Isaac Shelby 1804 tax record. The latter may predate the 1800s. General materials unrelated to any specific family include Confederate war bonds, letters to and from from Kentucky Senator Ollie James regarding Thomas Chenault McCowan, and a Sons of the American Revolution banquet program. Family members prominently mentioned throughout the collection include Kentucky's first governor, Isaac Shelby, his great-grandson Isaac Shelby Tevis, Elijah Potter Faulconer, Jr., Eleanor Johnstone Tevis Faulconer, and William Clarkson Johnstone. Correspondence is frequently directed at these family members, and many of the business records are related to them as owners or managers. There are no complete records for any family found in this collection.

Restrictions on Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
Use Restrictions
The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.

Contents of the Collection

Faulconer family, 1822, 1943-1971, undated

Scope and Contents

Series contains pension records from the Revolutionary War, letters, articles written about the family, and two miscellaneous items: a blood bank registration card and a card referencing the E.P. Faulconer and Forrest S. Fitzgerald Fitzgerald Dry Cleaning Company. Arranged by format.

Joseph Faulconer pension records, 1822

  • Box 1, folder 1
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Correspondence to and from the Faulconer family, 1958-1971

  • Box 1, folder 2
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Cards: blood bank registration, dry cleaning card for E.P. Faulconer and Forrest S. Fitzgerald's Fitzgerald Dry Cleaning Company, Danville, Kentucky, 1943, undated

  • Box 1, folder 3
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Articles, undated

  • Box 1, folder 4
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Johnstone family, 1814-1972, undated

Scope and Contents

Series contains genealogical information, such as a full family tree, and family reunion newsletters and programs. Also comprises a slave deed of gift, a letter from Francis W. Johnstone to his children with end-of-life post Confederacy financial instructions and a Mardi Gras ball invitation, Confederate war bonds and a handwritten notebook including genealogical information, quotations and two photographs. The slave deed of gift gives names: Edwards and Hester, who are said to be two of "Peggy's children", and Danl and Sabina, who are "two of Charley and Rose's children.". The deed says that any offspring of the four are to also be considered the son's property. Arranged by format.

Slave deed of gift to Francis Withers Johnstone from William Johnstone for Edwards, Hester, Danl and Sabina, 1814

  • Box 1, folder 5
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Confederate war bonds, 1863

  • Box 1, folder 6
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Genealogy/quotation notebook, unidentified owner (includes two photographs accompanying quotes), 1873-1887

  • Box 1, folder 7
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Letter to children from Francis W. Johnstone and Mardi Gras ball invitation, late 1860s-1885

  • Box 1, folder 8
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Family reunion program, 1958

  • Box 1, folder 9
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"Flying Spurs" Johnstone family newsletter, 1958-1972

  • Box 1, folder 10
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Johnstone genealogy, 1969

  • Box 1, folder 11
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Johnstone family-related articles, 1971

  • Box 1, folder 12
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Shelby family, 1804-1981

Scope and Contents

Series contains personal and business correspondence, primarily related to Isaac Shelby, genealogical information, and financial records. The letters are mostly written to his family in Lexington, Ky., including a letter between Isaac Shelby and Maria Tevis. The financial records document real estate payments made by Maria Burk (a Shelby relative), and a tax list that lists 19 slaves over the age of 16 among Governor Isaac Shelby’s holdings in 1804. The frame holding the tax list was removed and placed in the Ephemera series. There is no political-related content in the series. Arranged by format.

Isaac Shelby taxable property, 1804

  • Box 1, folder 13
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Correspondence to and from the Shelby family, 1843-1876

  • Box 1, folder 14
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Maria Burk real estate payments, 1877-1880

  • Box 1, folder 15
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Isaac Shelby family tree, 1981

  • Box 1, folder 16
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Tevis family, 1817-1920, undated

Scope and Contents

Series contains letters to and from Tevis family members on domestic and financial topics, survey maps, and deeds. Also contains a large amount of miscellaneous financial records that includes invoices, tax receipts, promissory notes, stock certificates, ledgers, and a stock catalog of sale for a mule named Jack Fine. Arranged by format.

General correspondence to and from Tevis family, 1817-1919

  • Box 1, folder 17
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Invoices, 1870-1894

  • Box 1, folder 18
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Promissory notes, 1871-1890

  • Box 1, folder 19
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Tax receipts, 1875-1880, 1924

  • Box 1, folder 20
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Stock certificates, 1900, 1902

  • Box 1, folder 21
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Fine Jack Stock catalog, 1906

  • Box 1, folder 22
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Isaac Shelby Tevis ledger, 1909

  • Box 1, folder 23
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Business ledger, 1919

  • Box 1, folder 24
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Deeds, guardian bond release, 1888-1919

  • Box 1, folder 25
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Survey maps, 1919-1920, undated

  • Box 1, folder 26
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General, 1864-1974, undated

Scope and Contents

Series contains items not linked specifically to any of the families named in the collection. These items include Confederate war bonds, a Sons of the American Revolution banquet program, news clippings, letters to and from Kentucky Sen. Ollie James (1871-1918) regarding military admittance for Thomas Chenault McCowan (1896-1960) from his father, Albert K. McCown, and Thomas McCown's elementary schoolwork from the early 20th century. Arranged by format.

Confederate war bonds, 1864

  • Box 1, folder 27
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Bookmark and funeral notices removed from family Bible, 1871-1932

  • Box 1, folder 28
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Kentucky map, 1882

  • Box 1, folder 29
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Family-related newspaper clippings, 1891-1974, undated

  • Box 1, folder 30
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Sons of American Revolution banquet program, 1911

  • Box 1, folder 31
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Correspondence to Sen. Ollie James regarding Thomas Chenault McCowan, 1917-1929

  • Box 1, folder 32
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Robert Darbishire poem transcribed for "cousin"Mary Shelby Burke, undated

  • Box 1, folder 33
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Thomas McCown schoolwork, early 1900s

  • Box 1, folder 34
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Photographs, 1678-1967, undated

Scope and Contents

Series contains paper-printed photographs, ambrotypes, daguerreotypes and albumen prints, dating from the 1840s through the 1960s. Members of the Faulconer, Johnstone, Potter, Shelby and Tevis families are pictured. Also shown are people close to the families and locations of significance to the families, such as Stanford, Ky., where Isaac Shelby home "Traveller's Rest" is located, and Manatee, Fla. Arranged at item level by subject and thereunder by date.

Individuals, 1678-1967, undated

Sir Patrick Hume, painting (1678), albumen print and back of frame, 1678

  • Box 2, folder 1
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E.P.F., 1864

  • Box 3, item 1
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E.P. Jr. and Tom Pearl, 1892

  • Box 3, item 2
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Thomas D. Chenault, 1906

  • Box 2, item 1
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Stanley Trent, Walter Hopkins, 1906-1910

  • Box 3, item 3
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E.P. Jr., 1908

  • Box 3, item 4
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Carpenter Girls, E.P. Jr., Procter Duncan, 1908

  • Box 3, item 5
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Mammy Frances and family, 1910

  • Box 3, item 6
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P.J. Potter Sr., 1913 April 7

  • Box 3, item 7
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Presidents of Centre College Alumni association, 1960

  • Box 2, item 2
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unidentified woman, 1967

  • Box 3, item 8
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Pearl at RR sign for Faulconer Station, undated

  • Box 3, item 9
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E.P.F. Sr., age 30, undated

  • Box 3, item 10
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Pleasant Faulconer, undated

  • Box 3, item 11
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unidentified male, ambrotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 12
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Eleanor Simons Johnstone coffin ambrotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 13
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unidentified female, ambrotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 14
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Col. Tevis Simons albumen print (front and back), undated

  • Box 2, folder 2
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John Hume portrait, undated

  • Box 2, folder 3
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"Mammy Francis", undated

  • Box 3, item 15
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Henry Lloyd Tevis, daguerreotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 16
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Isaac Shelby II, daguerreotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 17
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Henry Lloyd Tevis, daguerreotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 18
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Maria Boswell Warren (Isaac Shelby II's wife), daguerreotype, undated

  • Box 3, item 19
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Locations, 1908-1950, undated

Miles South, Bowling Green, Ky., 1908 November 17

  • Box 3, item 20
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Home of Mr. and Mrs. E.P. Faulconer, 1914

  • Box 3, item 21
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Postcard, 1915

  • Box 3, item 22
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Postcard, Main Street, Manatee, Fla., 1916

  • Box 3, item 23
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Snow at Stanford, 1917

  • Box 3, item 24
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Snow at Stanford, 1917

  • Box 3, item 25
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Snow 20 inches deep, undated

  • Box 3, item 26
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Postcard, Main Street, Manatee, Fla., 1921

  • Box 3, item 27
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Walnut Street filling station, 1950

  • Box 3, item 28
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"Chief" Templin’s Trailer Park, undated

  • Box 3, item 29
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Johnstone, Potter, and Faulconer families, reproductions of original portraits (1840-1918), 1980s-1990s

  • Box 2, folder 4
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Ephemera, 1840-1970, undated

Scope and Contents

Series contains a Faulconer family scrapbook with genealogical history, photographs and news clippings; the Johnstone family crest; a music box belonging to Mary Shelby Tevis; a sewing kit; and a picture frame for the Isaac Shelby tax record. Arranged at item level by date.

Faulconer family genealogical scrapbook, 1840-1968

  • Box 4
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Johnson family crest, 1970

  • Box 5
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Mary Shelby Tevis music box, undated

  • Box 6
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Henry Lloyd Tevis hair, undated

  • Box 7, item 1
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Sewing kit, undated

  • Box 7, item 2
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Frame for Isaac Shelby tax record, undated

  • Box 8
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UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.

Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.

Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.

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You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.

If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.