Memoirs of James Cabell Dabney (1875-1961)

Dates: 1940-1941

Collection Number: MS 111

Physical Location: Archive Room File Cabinet

Extent: 1 folder.

Access Restrictions: Collection is open to research.

User Restrictions: No restrictions.

Preferred Citation: Memoirs of James Cabell Dabney (1875-1961), MS 111, Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information: Gift, William and Beverly Dabney, Charlottesville, Va., 14 October 1987.

Biographical/Historical Information: James Cabell Dabney (1875-1961) was a son of Dr. William Cecil Dabney and Jane Bell Minor of "Gale Hill" near Stoney Point in Albemarle County, Virginia. He attended the University of Virginia, graduating law school in 1897. He married Mary Beverley Whittle of Norfolk, Virginia in 1910. They lived in Norfolk where he practiced law.

Scope and Content:

This is a typed transcript of the childhood recollections, circa 1890, of James Cabell Dabney. Dabney wrote the memoirs in a leather-bound ledger book over a period of months between the early summer on 1940 and February 1941. Beverley and Bill Dabney, James’ children, transcribed their father’s memoir. It was published, along with footnotes, in The Magazine of Albemarle County History vol. 48.

Dabney’s recollections are centered on his family life in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, and include details of visits to neighborhood homes (Hotopp, Key West, Prospect Hill, Dunlora, etc.) and descriptions of downtown Charlottesville.

Subjects:

• 1. Autobiography.
• 2. Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia - Social Life and Customs.