From the Richmond Times, 10/14/1900, p. 5, c. 2
THE VAN LEW HOME.
It Will Not Be Sold for a Month or Two.
It will be sometime before the Van Lew home on Church Hill can be sold.
On account of certain complications, it will be necessary to institute a friendly suit and have the property sold by order of the court. This suit will be instituted in a few days by Mr. J. R. V. Daniel, counsel for the estate.
The court will probably appoint commissioners to sell the real estate, and they can dispose of it publicly or privately, but the sale will have to be confirmed by the court.
Three or four very good offers have been made for the property as a whole, but those in a position to know, refuse to state for what purpose the would-be purchasers desire to buy the Van Lew home.
Such of Miss Van Lew’s personal property as it may be decided to sell in Richmond will probably be disposed of at public auction some day this week.
Miss Van Lew’s lady relatives, who came here shortly before her death, are still at the Van Lew home, and they are anxious to return to the North. These ladies have been busily engaged examining many thousands of letters written to Miss Van Lew. Such as, in their judgment, should be preserved, are carefully stored away and the rest are destroyed.
There were several hand-boxes filled with private letters stored away in the garret.