Percy B. Tripp Letters
After Percy B. Tripp graduated from Columbia University in 1906, he returned to his home in Falls Church. By August, 1907 he had trained and was ordained a Minister by the Falls Church Baptist Church and ready to set sail for Tientsin, China as a teacher and missionary.
Percy was in China when his mother died in March, 1911 in Falls Church. Percy did return to the U.S. that September on a speaking tour in his ministerial and missionary capacity, and then returned to China.
Mrs. Tripp must have held the family purse strings because in her will she had left "Oakmont" and the bulk of the real estate to Percy with minimal say in these affairs by her still living husband, Silas. Even though his father had died in 1915, Percy did not return to the U.S. until 1918. Percy ran his U.S. business affairs through an administrator, and it is through his letters such that we read his story. By 1924 it is clear that Percy had mortgaged his properties too many times and will lose the quarry, Oakmont and the farm, and his other assets on the auction block to the highest bidder, for cash.
These letters are located in two library collections. Some are in the Mary Riley Styles Library History Room, hanging file "Tripp, Percy B." and the others in Special collections, UVA library, "Papers of Merton Elbridge Church, 1866-1959."
March 7, 1918 from Tientsin, China (Percy to George Mankin)
April 20, 1918 from Tientsin, China (Percy to Merton E. Church)
April 25, 1918 from Falls Church to Tienstin, China (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
June 14, 1918 from Falls Church to Tienstin, China (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
July 18, 1918 from Tientsin, China (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
September 27, 1918 from New York City, N.Y. (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
September 30, 1918 from Falls Church (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
October 1, 1918 from New York City, N.Y. (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
November 12, 1918 from Salt Point, Dutchess County, N.Y (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
attachment: Indenture (mortgage) papers for Falls Church Bank loan
May 29, 1922 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
July 31, 1922 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
July 12, 1923 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
July 16, 1923 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
August 25, 1923 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
January 19, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
January 21, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
June 2, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
June 5, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
June 10, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
July 10, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
August 1, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
August 8, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
August 11, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
August 18, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M.E. Church) (hand drawn map)
August 22, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
September 4, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
September 16, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
October 23, 1924 (M. E. Church to John W. Rust re: quarry)
October 25, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp (now back in China)
October 28, 1924 (M.E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
November 1, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
December 6, 1924 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
December 11, 1924 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
January 22, 1925 (M.E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
March 5, 1925 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
March 16, 1925 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
April 9, 1925 ($25,000 offer on farm turned down)
April 13, 1925 (Percy B. Tripp to M.E. Church re:bank foreclosure)
April 29, 1925 (Fall Church Bank to M.E. Church re: bank foreclosure)
May 6, 1925 (Telegram from M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
May 11, 1925 (M.E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
May 19, 1925 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
May 25, 1925 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church)
June 4, 1925 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
June 13, 1925 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church re: events in China)
July 18, 1925 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church re:foreclosure)
August 14, 1925 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp)
October 3, 1925 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp re: quarry)
October 23, 1925 (M. E. Church to W. S. Hoge re: sale of Tripp property to Elinor Billup)
September 14, 1926 (M. E. Church to Percy B. Tripp re: Mr. Hester)
August 26, 1927 (Percy B. Tripp to M. E. Church re: Emma Read & debt to W. S. Hoge)