Search

This collection is composed of personal papers, genealogy material and family photographs, gathered by Theodor R. and Helen V. Swem. Included are original documents, notes on the Swem, Gregg and Wright families, correspondence among family members regarding genealogy, articles, books, publications and diaries by or about the families, photographs of family members, including one of Dr. Earl Gregg Swem, Sr., Earl Gregg Swem, Jr., and Earl Gregg Swem, III, and material on Earl Gregg Swem's connection to the College of William and Mary. The collection also contains photographs, circa 1870s-1988, taken of and by members of the Swem family. Some of the 19th century photographs were taken by E.L. (Edward Lawrence) Swem, the father of Earl Gregg Swem, who was the owner of Swem & Newton Gallery in Belle Plaine, Iowa and later of Swem Cottage Gallery (or also Swems Studio) in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Most photographs are described and often dated on the reverse side.

Transcriptions of six Revolutionary War pension applications from the Mason County Order Book 1828-1833. Also contains genealogies from Mason County families, including the Somerville, Edwards, Lemaster, Lewis, Long, etc. Contains numerous obituaries from Mason County. Several articles and newspaper clippings written about Mason County topics including the Battle of Point Pleasant, Presbyterian Church (Point Pleasant), the Silver Bridge Disaster, etc.

Photos, letters, a diary, an account book, and an album belonging to members of the Wingfield-Britton family. The collection ranges from pre-civil war to the 1980s, with the bulk of the material dated around the early 1900s. The correspondence covers a number of topics including health and family life, farming, and travel in the north-western valley region of Virginia.

Genealogical information compiled by the donor and documents of the Zinn family of north central West Virginia. The family is traced back to George Zinn, a German immigrant from Darstadt and a Revolutionary War veteran who settled after the American Revolution in Monongalia County. There is mention of various of his descendents, mainly West Virginians, but most of the information is on the line of the Civil War veteran George Harrison Zinn and his son Frank Garfield Zinn. Most of the documents are the financial records of George D. Zinn and his business transactions in the vicinity of Morgantown. There are a few other items on Morgantown history and a letter from John Malcom to William and Jane Wilson about land in the frontier Mid-West.