Sweet Briar College: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

The college is named after the former plantation of [[Elijah Fletcher]] and his descendants. Fletcher was a 19th-century teacher, businessman~~, slaveowner,~~ and mayor of [[Lynchburg, Virginia]], who enslaved people in his household and on his plantations. He married Maria Antoinette Crawford in 1813, and purchased the Sweet Briar plantation property from her aunt and uncle. The plantation was initially known as Locust Ridge; Crawford supposedly renamed it "Sweet Briar" after the roses which grew on the land. Their daughter, Indiana Fletcher, was born in 1828 in Lynchburg.

Indiana attended the [[Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School]], [[Doane Academy]], and later toured Europe with her brother and sister. She met [[J. Henry Williams|James Henry Williams]], a student at [[Union Theological Seminary (New York City)|Union Theological Seminary]] in 1858, and after reuniting in Virginia following the American Civil War, they were married in 1865. Their daughter, Maria Georgiana "Daisy" Williams, was born in 1867. At Elijah Fletcher's death, Indiana inherited the plantation. James Williams gave up his initial career as a clergyman to maintain the property. Daisy Williams died at the age of 16 in 1884. Both James and Indiana Fletcher-Williams were devastated at her death, and James expressed a wish in his own will that a school might be established in honor of Daisy. William died in 1889, leaving his entire estate to his wife, and Indiana's brother Sidney also gave her additional property upon his death in 1898. When Indiana died in 1900, she bequeathed Sweet Briar plantation to become a school for young women.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stohlman|first1=Martha Lou Lemmon|title=The story of Sweet Briar College.|date=1956|publisher=Alumnae Association of Sweet Briar College}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Fletcher-Williams Family|url=http://sbc.edu/museum/fletcher-williams-family|website=Sweet Briar College|publisher=Sweet Briar College museum|access-date=31 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910102059/http://sbc.edu/museum/fletcher-williams-family|archive-date=10 September 2015}}</ref>