Research

The DuVals of Virginia: A Bibliography Compiled by Joel Stanford Hays

About the DuVals

The DuVal Family of Virginia, 1701: Descendants of Daniel DuVal, Huguenot, and Allied Families by Bessie Berry Grabowski published in 1931.

The DuVals of Kentucky from Virginia, 1794-1935: Descendants and Allied Families by Margaret Gwin Buchanan published in 1938.

Civilizers: The DuVals of Texas, from Virginia through Kentucky and Florida by Roy L. Swift published in 1992 is available from online booksellers.

Florida Founder William P. DuVal: Frontier Bon Vivant by James M. Denham published in 2015 is available from The University of South Carolina Press and Amazon. Dr. Denham has written a biography of William Pope Duval. He gave a talk to the Association at the Holiday Inn, Tallahassee, Florida, in 2017, available here.

Mt. Comfort Plantation: A History and Description of an Authentic Colonial Virginia Home by Richard L. Guild, a “pamphlet” type publication, was privately printed in 1983. Mr. Guild’s Mt. Comfort should not be confused with Mt. Comfort, the Richmond home of Samuel DuVal. The Mt. Comfort of Appomattox was named by Samuel DuVal’s son in honor of his parent’s home, possibly after the original Mt. Comfort was destroyed by fire. Mr. Guild advised the Association that Mt. Comfort was struck by lightening several years ago and destroyed by fire. All of the contents were lost, including extra copies of his book. A few copies may be available from online booksellers.

The DuVal Family in Richmond: The First One Hundred Years (1750-1850) by Joseph Stephen Hays. Mr. Hays presented this PowerPoint to the Association at the Omni Hotel, Richmond, Virginia, in 2003, revised 2005, available here in PDF.

“Lilium Inter Spinas”: The DuVal Family Heirloom and Coat of Arms by Joseph Stephen Hays. Mr. Hays writes on the history of the DuVal heirloom, described as a tureen, and the DuVal coat of arms, available here in PDF.

A Family History 1559-1979: Jennings, Cornelius, DuVal, Harris, Martin by Mildred King Whitten published in 1980.

A Record of the Descendants of Robert Cammack Duval & Wife, Judith Dabney Billingsley, for Fifty Years, 1932-1982: To Supplement the DuVal Family of Virginia, 1701 by Bessie Berry Grabowski by Addison M. DuVal published in 1982.

Articles

DuVals in Virginia

“Examinations of George Wythe Swinney for Forgery and Murder: A Documentary Essay,” W. Edwin Hemphill, in William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 12 (1955), pp. 543-574. Thomas Jefferson exchanged a series of letters with William DuVal of Richmond, Virginia, on the Wythe case.

“Virginia’s Unknown Novelist: The Career of J. S. French, a Southern Colonel of Parts,” by Curtis Carroll Davis, in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 60 (1952), pp. 551-581. James Strange French was a novelist and lawyer. He was the the son of William French and Maria Brooke DuVal.

Benjamin DuVal Pottery

“‘B. DuVal & Co/Richmond’: A Newly Discovered Pottery,” by Bradford L. Rauschenberg, in Journal of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, vol. 4 (1978), pp. 45-75.

“The Destruction of the Benjamin DuVal Stoneware Manufactory, Richmond, Virginia,” by Robert Hunter and Marshall Goodman, in Ceramics in America, vol. 5 (2005), pp. 37-60.

“The Remarkable 19th-Century Stoneware of Virginia’s Lower James River Valley,” by Kurt C. Russ, Robert Hunter, Oliver Mueller-Heubach, and Marshall Goodman, in Ceramics in America, vol. 12 (2013), pp. 200-58.

“Dueling Potters” by Chris Kolbe [Blog Post], Out of the Box: Notes from the Archives at the Library of Virginia, 17 October 2012.

Lucy (Pope) DuVal

“The Tangled Trail of Two John Popes: Colonel John Pope of Amherst County, Virginia and John Pope of Prince William County, Virginia and Wilkes County, Georgia,” by F. Claiborne Johnston Jr., in Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, vol. 50 (2012), pp. 45-64. John Pope married Lucy DuVal, a daughter of Samuel and Lucy (Claiborne) DuVal of Henrico Co., Va. They are said to have moved to Georgia. This article shows that to be incorrect. John Pope has often been confused with his cousin, also named John Pope, who did move to Georgia. John Pope who married Lucy DuVal was a travel writer and author of the book: A Tour Through the Southern and Western Territories of the United States of North-America; the Spanish Dominions on the River Mississippi, and the Floridas; the countries of the Creek Nations; and Many uninhabited parts published in 1792.

DuVals in Texas and Florida

“Kentuckians in Texas: Captain Burr H. DuVal’s Company at Goliad,” by John B. Thomas, in Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 81 (1983), pp. 237-54.

“The Diary of Thomas H. DuVal: The Civil War in Austin, Texas, February 26 to October 9, 1863,” ed. by James Marten, in Southwestern Historical Quarterly, vol. 94 (1991), pp. 434-457.

“John C. Duval. First Texas Man of Letters,” by J. Frank Dobie, in Southwest Review, vol. 24 (1939), pp. 257-81.

“John Crittenden Duval: The Last Survivor of the Goliad Massacre,” by William Corner, in Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, vol. 1 (1897), pp. 47-67.

“William Pope DuVal: An Extraordinary Folklorist,” by Frank L. Snyder, in Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 69 (1990), pp. 195-212.

“Nancy Hynes DuVal: Florida’s First Lady, 1822-1834,” by Frank L. Snyder, in Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 17 (1993), pp. 19-34.

“William Pope DuVal: Pioneer and State Builder,” by James Owens Knauss, in Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 11 (1933), pp. 95-139.

“William Pope DuVal,” by W. T. Cash, in Tallahassee Historical Society, vol. 1 (1934), pp. 10-13.

“The First Message of Gov. William P. Duval,” by William P. Duval, in Publications of the Florida Historical Society, vol. 1 (1908), pp. 13-17.

“Lizzie Brown’s Tallahassee,” by Bertram H. Groene, in Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 48 (1969), pp. 155-175.

The Handbook of Texas Online, an encyclopedia published by the Texas State Historical Association, has separate articles on William Pope Duval, Burr H. DuVal, Thomas Howard DuVal, John Crittenden DuVal, DuVal West, and DuVal County (named for Burr H. DuVal).

DuVals in Louisiana and Mississippi

The Issaquena Genealogy and History Project online has articles on Alexander de la Plaunche DuVal and the Gwin family, who lived in Issaquena County, Mississippi.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana published in two volumes in 1892.

The Story of Louisiana by Edwin Adams Davis published in three volumes in 1960.

More on the DuVals

William Pope DuVal was the inspiration for “The Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood” in Washington Irving’s Wolfert’s Roost published in 1855, which first appeared in “The Knickerbocker; or New York Monthly Magazine” in 1840. DuVal was also likely the model for James Kirke Paulding’s character “Nimrod Wildfire.”

Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure by Marie-Jaqueline Lancaster published with new introduction (discussing the DuVals) in 2005. William Pope Duval’s great-great-grandson, Brian Howard, was a poet and writer in the 1920s, and the inspiration for characters in Evelyn Waugh’s novels.

Florence DuVal West in The Poets and Poetry of Texas by Sam H. Dixon published in 1885. Florence DuVal, a granddaughter of William Pope DuVal, wrote poetry, such as The Marble Lilly and Other Poems published in 1878.

The Red Hills of Florida, 1528-1865 by Clifton Paisley published in 1989. Paisley discusses William Pope DuVal’s political career in Florida.

The Adventures of Bigfoot Wallace, the Texas Ranger and Hunter by John Crittenden DuVal published in 1870.

Early Times in Texas: or, The Adventures of Jack Dobell by John Crittenden DuVal published in 1892.

John C. Duval: First Texas Man of Letters by Frank J. Dobie published in 1939.

My Beloved South by Mrs. T. P. [Betty Paschal] O’Connor published in 1914.

I, Myself by Mrs. T. P. [Betty Paschal] O’Connor published in 1910.

Documents Relating to the Huguenot Emigration to Virginia by Robert Alonzo Brock published in 1886.

National Huguenot Society Bible Records: Abstracted From the Files of the Society by Arthur Louis Finnell published in 1996.

Memoir and Sermons of the Rev. William Duval, City Missionary, Richmond by Cornelius Walker published in 1854.

The Vestry Book of Petsworth Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia, 1677-1793 by C. G. Chamberlayne published in 1933.

The World of Ware Parish in Gloucester County, Virginia by Spotswood Hunnicutt Jones published in 1991.

Old Kentucky Entries and Deeds, and The Kentucky Land Grants, by Willard Rouse Jillson published in 1925.

Documents Online

DuVals in the Presidential Papers

Twenty DuVal letters have been published in the presidential papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. They are now available from the National Archives at Founders Online. Three examples of these DuVal letters are linked below:

“To George Washington from William DuVal, 6 January 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-15-02-0023. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 15, 1 January–30 April 1794, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, pp. 31–32.]

“Thomas Jefferson to William DuVal, 20 April 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0074. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 6, 11 March to 27 November 1813, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 75–76.]

“William P. DuVal to Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified March 30, 2017, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-06-02-0370. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 6, 11 March to 27 November 1813, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 460.]

Revolutionary War Pension Applications

William DuVal Revolutionary War Pension Application, 1832, transcribed by C. Leon Harris, Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements and Rosters, www.http/southerncampaign.org

Daniel DuVal Revolutionary War Pension Application, 1837, transcribed by C. Leon Harris, Southern Campaign American Revolution Pension Statements and Rosters, www.http/southerncampaign.org