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Collectors of the UNC Herbarium
Juliet Fauntleroy
(1871 - October 11, 1955)
Information compiled in November 2005 by
Carol Ann McCormick, Assistant Curator of the University of North Carolina
Herbarium,
and Nancy McAndrew, Education Coordinator of the Avoca Museum.
The University of North Carolina Herbarium
has found about a dozen botanical specimens collected by Miss Juliet
Fauntleroy of Altavista, Virginia. Most specimens were collected 1918-1919
from localities in Campbell County, within a few miles of her home.
Juliet Fauntleroy was born at “Oakley” in Gloucester County, Virginia, and
educated at Powell School, a Richmond school for young ladies. The 1910 US
census shows the extended Fauntleroy family all living together: Thomas FauntLeRoy (age 72, head of
household, occupation “farmer); Mary
A. (age 67, wife); James D. (age 40,
son, civil engineer for government);
Juliet (age 38, daughter, teacher at public school); Mary B. (age 36,
daughter, no occupation); Ethel C. (age 34, daughter, no occupation);
Walter (age 32, son, farm manager); Gladys D. (age 24, daughter, no
occupation); Fannie H. (age 36, daughter-in-law – wife of James D., no
occupation); Mary H. (age 5, granddaughter, born in Philippines Territory,
presumably to Fannie & James); Frances D. (age 4, granddaughter, born
in Philippines Territory, presumably to Fannie & James); and Martha L.
(age 11 months, granddaughter, born in Washington, presumably to Fannie
& James). By the 1920 US census
the household had reduced in size to Walter (now head of household, age 46,
farmer & postmaster), his wife, Eva (age 27), their daughter, Margaret
(age 1), and sisters Juliet (age 48, high school teacher), Ethel (age 44,
no occupation), and Gladys (age 33, grade school teacher). By the 1930 US census, Juliet Fauntleroy
is listed as age 58, head of household, and no occupation, and the only
other people in the household are sister Ethel and servant Kate Douglas.
Juliet Fauntleroy taught Latin at the
Altavista High School, but is best known as a folklorist. She was a
contributor to scholarly journals on topics of geneology and history, as
well as a major contributor to collections of ballads and folk music. As a
founding member of the Virginia Folklore Society, Ms. Fauntleroy was a
major contributor to their seminal work, Traditional Ballads of Virginia
(Harvard Press, 1929).
(More
information about Ms. Fauntleroy’s collaboration with Drs. Arthur Kyle
Davis, Jr. and Alphonso Smith.)
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Portrait
of Juliet Fauntleroy
provided by Nancy McAndrew, Avoca Museum
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Ms. Fauntleroy lived in “Avoca,” an American
Queen Anne-style house built in 1901 that is now a Virginia Historic Landmark
and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It currently houses
the Avoca Museum, whose mission is “to
promote awareness and facilitate understanding of American history,
especially as it relates to local and Virginia natural and cultural history.
It maintains a collection of Native American artifacts and Confederate
memorabilia.”
One item in the Avoca Museum’s collection is
a letter by poet John Keats. This letter was found in Ms. Fauntleroy’s
bedroom when Avoca became a museum. For a discussion of the letter, see
“A John Keats
Letter Rediscovered” by Dearing Lewis, a nephew of Ms. Fauntleroy’s.
Miss Fauntleroy was intensely interesting in the natural world
and spent a portion of each day walking in woods surrounding her home. Her
nephew remembers that she never returned with out a basket of berries or nuts
or an arrowhead, “she always came back with something, didn’t matter what the
season. She knew where to look.”
Publications:
Julia [sic] Fauntleroy (1908) Some notes regarding the Chiles family. The
William & Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine. 16(4): 285-288.
Juliet Fauntleroy (1909) Some notes on the Chiles family. William & Mary
College Quarterly Historical Magazine 18(2): 106-108.
Juliet Fauntleroy (1936) Bushrod. The William & Mary College Quarterly
Historical Magazine, 2nd series. 16(2): 319-321.
Mary Hope West and Juliet Fauntleroy (1936) Sturman family notes. William
& Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, 2nd series. 16(4): 635-649.
Mary Hope West and Juliet Fauntleroy (1937) Sturman family notes. William
& Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, 2nd series. 17(1): 99-115.
The UNC Herbarium would appreciate
receiving more information about Juliet Fauntleroy. Please contact Carol Ann
McCormick, Assistant Curator, by email mccormickATSIGNunc.edu or by phone at
(919) 962-6931.
   Curriculum North Carolina UNC
In Ecology Botanical Garden Biology Department
University of North Carolina
Herbarium
CB# 3280, Coker Hall
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280
phone: (919) 962-6931
fax: (919) 962-6930
email: mccormickATSIGNunc.edu
Last Updated: 6 May 2011
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