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Start Over Date range 1800 Subjects Slaves and slavery.

Allen Family Papers, 1766/1933 31 Linear Feet 31 ft. (72 document cases, 5 in. each); (8 unboxed ledgers, 12 in.)

Allen family
Personal and business correspondence, legal papers, ledgers, family records, and other papers of the Allen family of Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia. Also includes papers of members of the Barr, Weibley, Taylor, and Gamble families. The majority of the collection includes personal and business correspondence, legal papers, and financial records of Judge James W.F. Allen (1813/12/03 - 1875/07/16), a Hardy County lawyer, Jacksonian Democrat, and Circuit Court Judge in Hardy and Grant Counties (active ca. 1852-1865, 1872-1875). Also includes the papers of Allen's second wife, Caroline Williams Allen (d. 1907), several of Allen's children, and other related people, and a large group of 19th century advertising memorabilia. See Scope and Content Note for more information.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Bradford Laidley Papers, 1755/1991 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 small flat storage box)

Laidley, Bradford
Papers and volumes collected by Bradford Laidley pertaining to him and his family. Includes records of the Morgantown Presbyterian and Protestant Episcopal Church, genealogical information on the Rogers and Laidleys, a pioneer school book of Anne McKinnon, and a personal letter book of L. Wilcox of Kanawha Salines. Also includes three receipts for slaves purchased in Richmond, Virginia by Major W.A. Bradford(e).
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Capt. William Sommerville (1756-1826) Papers, 1799/1888 1.3 Linear Feet 1 ft. 3 1/2 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 index card box, 10 1/2 in.)

Sommerville, William.

Correspondence and genealogical materials related to the William B. Edwards family of King George County, Virginia, and the Capt. William Sommerville family of Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These families were joined when Elizabeth Sommerville (1812-1886), daughter of the Revolutionary War veteran, married William B. Edwards (1810-1888), a Methodist clergyman from a planter family, in 1833.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Charles James Faulkner (1806-1884) Papers, 1786/1878 0.8 Linear Feet 10 in. (2 document cases, 5 in. each)

Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884
Correspondence of Charles J. Faulkner (1806-1884), who was a Martinsburg attorney, Virginia legislator, member of Congress, and ambassador to France during the James Buchanan administration. Subjects include national and Virginia-West Virginia politics, 1827-1876, and foreign affairs, 1868-1876. Other subjects include the French Colonization Society, the slave controversy, Maryland-Virginia boundary dispute, Virginia Revolutionary debt claims, disposal of the Harpers Ferry Armory, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, numerous internal improvement schemes in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and local history of the Martinsburg and Shenandoah Valley area. Correspondents include Sherrard Clemens; Lyman C. Draper; John J. Jackson, Jr.; Daniel Lamb; Alexander Martin; Samuel Price; George W. Summers; Henry A. Wise; and Waitman T. Willey. For a more complete list of subjects and correspondents, see Scope and Content Note. For a partial list of contents, see the control folder. For more information about Faulkner, see the Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Felix G. Hansford Papers, 1790/1862 0.1 Linear Feet 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Hansford, Felix G.

Correspondence, business and legal papers, and Justice of the Peace documents of Felix G. Hansford, Kanawha County J.P., entrepreneur, and President of the Giles, Fayette, and Kanawha Turnpike.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Fox Family Papers, 1788/1892 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in. (2 folders)

Fox family

Letters and business papers of the Fox family, centered on William and Vause Fox; there are accounts showing prices for goods and services in the first decades of the nineteenth century, including hides and leather, surveying, field labor, and weaving; items on Negroes and slavery, the Literary Society of Romney; and letters from Virginians who had taken up western lands.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Fox Family Papers, 1799/1895 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1/2 in. (1 folder)

Fox family

Papers centering upon Williams and Vause Fox, Hampshire County; including indentures, patents a slave deed, return of supplies and regimental orders of the 77th Regiment of Virginia Militia, accounts for farm implements and household supplies; names mentioned include Johnson Barkelow, and William and George Calmes; the land papers bear the signatures of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Wood, and Thomas Randolph.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Frances Packette Todd Papers, 1800/1985 20.67 Linear Feet Summary: 20 ft. 8 in. (44 document cases, 5 in. each); (4 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.); (3 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 large box, 6 in.)

Todd, Frances Packette, 1901-1987
Correspondence, photographs, post cards, newspapers, pamphlets (regarding typical antebellum and postbellum topics such as slavery, states rights, etc.), official records including the 1793 marriage license for Lund Washington (George Washington's cousin) and Susanna Grayson, a 1732 shipping order for items, including gold and silver, to be transported from Delaware to London, a 1837 document authorizing payment of a navy pension to the children of Lt. John Packette, and memorabilia of a prominent Jefferson County family, the Davenport-Gibson-Packette-Todds. The bulk of the correspondence is that of Mrs. Frances Packette Todd, Braxton Davenport (Port) Gibson, Susan G. (Zan) Gibson and Mrs. Anne Gibson Packette. Mrs. Todd was an heiress who travelled much in her youth and she was married to a distant cousin, Augustine J. Todd, who, like her, also claimed descent from George Washington's family. Her aunt, Zan Gibson, was an active local historian and genealogist. Her uncle B. D. (Port) Gibson was a lawyer who was a state legislator at the turn of the century. There are letters and artifacts of his days as a student at the University of Virginia where he was quite popular and an esteemed member of the rowing team. There are also several letters of his sisters, Anne and Zan, from a private French school in Canada. There is a shell jacket of a Confederate uniform belonging to Mrs. Todd's grandfather, John Thomas Gibson. He was a non-commissioned officer serving in an engineering unit of the CSA Army which was stationed around Richmond near the end of the Civil War. Gibson also commanded militia units during John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. There are letters of his concerning the hiring out of slaves before and during the war. After the war he once again became successful in business and built a mansion in Charles Town upon the site where John Brown was executed. One other prominent family member was Capt. James Gibson who served in a Virginia infantry regiment stationed at Norfolk during the War of 1812. Subjects covered include family matters, politics, land, slavery, education and warfare.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Fred T. Newbraugh, Collector, Papers regarding Berkeley Springs, 1787/1916 0.08 Linear Feet 2 folders, 1 in. total

Newbraugh, Fred T.

Material includes signed letter from David H. Strother to Perley Poore, Berkley Springs, March 25, 1858; lottery ticket for town lot in Bath, 1814; Porte Crayon autograph, and a slave list, Berkley County. Photostats of material in the Library of Congress include an signed letter from William Wirt to his daughter, August 31 1823 on Berkeley Springs; Thomas Jefferson to Mr. Rodney Washington, December 8, 1808 in regard to gambler Thomas Bailey's assault on Jefferson's secretary; portion of a Journal of President James K. Polk describing a visit to Bath in 1848; and a section of the journal of Samuel Vaughan noting a visit to Bath in 1787. The collection also includes a section of "Uria Brown's Journal" from the "Maryland Historical Magazine," volumes 11 and 12 (1915, 1916), detailing a visit to the springs at Bath.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Kanawha County (W. Va.) Court Records and Miscellaneous Papers, 1773/1933 274.85 Linear Feet Summary: 274 ft. 10 in. (541 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 records carton, 15 in.); (2 ledgers, 1.5 in.); (2 oversize folders, 4 items); (2 folders, .5 in.); (290 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each); (83 reels of microfilm, .75 in. each); (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.); (1 record storage box, 3.5 in.)

Kanawha County Court (Kanawha County, W. Va.)
County court records consisting primarily of court case papers, related court record books (dockets, execution books, fee books, witness books, etc.), and public records concerning a variety of topics including land records, schools, and marriages. There are also a few private account books relating to various local industries, including salt, mining, sawmills, steamboats, and general stores.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

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