Farmer's Bank of Virginia Records

409 WFCHS/THL

Inventory created by Archives Staff 12/84. Last revised 01/2020.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: Collection is open to all researchers.

USE RESTRICTIONS: Restrictions may apply concerning the use, duplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a member of the archives staff for information concerning these restrictions. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright.

EXTENT: 0.75 linear feet.

DATE: 1846-1867

SCOPE AND CONTENT: The Farmers’ Bank of Virginia Records includes account books, bank journals, and a deposit journal. There are also bank notes and miscellaneous papers found loose in the account books. A history of the Bank taken from T. K. Cartmell’s work Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendents is included in the collection.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL: The Farmers’ Bank of Virginia was incorporated in Richmond, Virginia on February 13, 1812 shortly after the beginning of the War of 1812 and with the hope that the bank could help Virginia avoid the financial challenges faced during the Revolutionary War. A branch in Winchester, Virginia, was chartered in 1817 under the name of the Bank of the Valley in Virginia. It was located on the southwest corner of Loudoun and Boscawen Streets and run by Judge J. H. Sherrard (1802-1889), who lived with his family on the second floor of the bank. The bank was successful but after Federal troops repeatedly occupied and ransacked the building during the Civil War it closed shortly after the conflict ended.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cartmell, T. K. Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants. Berryville, VA: Chesapeake Book Company, 1963; Quarles, Garland R. Some Worthy Lives, Winchester, VA: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1988.

CITE AS: Farmers’ Bank of Virginia Records, 409 WFCHS/THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, Virginia.

ACQUISITION INFORMATION: Acquired as a gift.

ORGANIZATION:

BOX 1

Ledger -- Farmers' Bank, 1859-1862, 1 volume bound in leather (348 pages) ; 50cm

BOX 2

Account book - Farmers' Bank of Virginian, 1855-1858 (dated 1846 on spine), 1 volume bound in leather (unnumbered pages) ; 44 cm

Bank Notes – Farmers’ Bank of Virginia, unnumbered leaves, printed

History of the Farmers Bank, taken from Cartmell, T. K., Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendents, pgs.112; 298-9, 3 leaves, printed (photocopy)

Items found in Ledger and Account Books, unnumbered leaves, printed and manuscript (folder contains the following):           
Samples of Penmanship           
Samples of arithmetic             
B&O Train schedule, undated           
Pages from ornamental trees and plants           
Ad from Becker Washing Machine Company, 1881

BOX 3

State of Bank Journal - Farmers' Bank, November 1856 to March 1862, 1 volume bound in leather (unnumbered pages) ; 41 cm

Deposit Journal—(1856-March); 1 volume bound in leather (419 pages) ; 41 cm