Chancellor's

Chancellor's. Spotsylvania Court House National Historic District. , On December 31, 1855, Joseph Sanford and his wife Agnes sold the tract of land across from the Courthouse and the Spotswood Inn (also owned by Sanford) to Dr. J. Edgar Chancellor. The deed had restrictions; Sanford was to have the use and enjoyment of the two buildings upon said tract of land, one formerly occupied by L. McClarke as a shoemaker's shop, and the other for use as a corn house. Also, the deed did not allow Chancellor to erect any "Ordinary or house of public entertainment during the continuance of the "House of Entertainment" now occupied by Joseph Sanford." In other words, Sanford did not want any competition to The Spotswood Inn., James Edgar Chancellor was born in 1826 in Spotsylvania County. He was the son of George Chancellor and Ann Lyon Pound. He studied at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and at the University of Virginia. He operated a successful store and medical practice at this site from 1855 until 1862. After the death of his wife (Dorry J.), he placed his 235 acre tract up for public sale and took his four children, Eustathius, Clarendon, Sebastian, and Samuel to Charlottesville. He continued his medical practice at the Confederate States Army Hospital and served as surgeon of the 55th Virginia Infantry. After the war, he was "Demonstrator of Anatomy" at the University of Virginia from 1865 to 1872. He married his second wife Gabriella Garth in 1867. Dr. Chancellor died in 1896., Economically devastated by the war, ownership of the store changed hands between 1862 and 1964., [Captions:] , Dr. James Edgar Chancellor , Circa 1865, Chancellor practiced his trade at the "Rotunda" at the University of Virginia. The famous structure served as a hospital during the Civil War., Payment from the Confederate States of America to Dr. Chancellor in the amount of $529.00 for his service as a Surgeon., 1866 photo of Chancellor's Store and home. Note the whitewashed repairs from artillery fire during the battles for Spotsylvania Courthouse in 1864. It was not called Cash Corner until 1898., Chancellor's ad for public sale of the property. Note the large number of bricks for sale. Chancellor also had two brick kilns in operation on the property.