Morven
From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia
'Timeline for Thomas Jefferson and Morven'
1795-1796: Thomas Jefferson buys Indian Camp as an investment for William Short and begins to manage the property for his absent friend. Jefferson wrote to Short on May 25, 1795, "An opportunity also lately occurred of making an advantageous purchase of lands for you." In this letter he describes the lands and the tenants on them. "I bought the Indian camp for you because you have expressed some partiality for our neighborhood and climate, because there are no lands in this state of equal fertility and equal advantages as lands in this state of equal fertility and equal advantages as cheap as ours... There is not a gulley in the whole tract."
December 8, 1796, Albemarle County Deed Book, 18: W. Champe and Maria Carter sell to William Short 1,334 "The Indian Camp".
After the purchase Jefferson collected the rents from the various tenants (Charles Lively, William Cronelius, Joseph Price, George Haden, Robert Terrell, Richard Shackleford), paid Short's taxes on the land, and gave advice on crop rotation and proper farming methods. In connection with a hope for an advantageous clearing schedule, he personally accompanied a surveyor to lay off fields. Various letters to Short detail Jefferson's activity in managing the property.
1813: In a three-way transaction Jefferson sells Indian Camp for Short to Milton merchant David Higginbotham (1775-1853), who renames the property "Morven".
Memorandum Book, February 10, 1813, details the three-way transaction by which Indian Camp was sold to David Higginbotham for over $10,000 and Jefferson transferred his debt to Higginbotham to Short.
Jefferson first began dealing with David Higginbotham (1775-1853) in 1798, when Higginbotham was a factor for the store of Robert Rives & Co. in Milton. Higginbotham soon built up a flourishing mercantile business from which Jefferson bought plantation supplies on credit. This, of course, led to the inexorable accumulation of debt and, by 1813, Jefferson owed Higginbotham over $10,000. Further financial dealings between the two include Higginbotham's purchase in 1811 of Jefferson's lot in Richmond and Higginbotham's rental in 1812 of a house on Jefferson's Milton lands.
Unknown Date: Jefferson prepares for the Higginbothams a design for a house that resembles Edgemont. The house built at Morven bears no resemblance to Jefferson's design.
Two Jefferson drawings were prepared for the Higginbothams, perhaps after their purchase of Indian Camp, which they renamed Morven. Mr. Nichols and his assistants prepared a report on these drawings which states that they cannot be precisely dated, that they are for a house very similar to Edgemont but with masonry walls, and that "there is no evidence that this plan was ever built." According to this report, Higginbothams built at Morven in 1820 a brick house in the Federal style "which has no relation to Jefferson's plan."
Unknown Date: In 1824 Jefferson ordered from Italy plain slabs of marble for the architraves of eight fireplaces at Monticello. His agent was Thomas Appleton in Livorno. It is possible that Jefferson suggested that Higginbotham contact Appleton to provide the mantelpieces for Morven.
