Search

Miscellaneous manuscripts all of which pertain to Brooke County: an 1848 deed; an agreement between the Wellsburg and Washington Turnpike Company and Arthur and John Henderson and J. Scott for construction of a portion of the turnpike, 1833; records of the firms of Lewis and Hedge and William B. Lewis and Company, Wellsburg, 1892-1894; and four unidentified account books for general merchandise, flour, feed, farming, and mill repair accounts, 1787-1789, 1880-1890.

Typescripts compiled by a Wellsburg local historian, on the history of Holliday's Cove and the Hancock-Brooke County area. Subjects include prominent settlers, churches, schools, post office, toll roads, oil and gas wells, floods, gristmills, manufacture of gunpowder, iron and brick industries, newspapers, Indians, and the James Campbell and Alexander Morrow family genealogy.

Papers of a Preston County farmer, merchant, and licensed exhorter of the Methodist Episcopal Church who served in the state legislature in the years 1870-1876. There are letters of H. Davis and William Ewin regarding land and coal properties in Preston County. Also included are minutes of the incorporators' meeting of the Iron Valley and Pennsylvania Railroad, 1873, as well as scattered items relating to the Methodist Episcopal Church, Kingwood; the Northwestern Turnpike at St. George; the Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad Company; Civil War bounty claims; the Rowlesburg Lumber and Iron Company; stave making; the Wheeling Female College; political and religious speeches; and the Morgantown District Camp Meeting Association, 1877.

Clippings, letters, broadsides, and articles written or collected by E.E. Meredith, author of the newspaper column, "Do You Remember," which appeared in the Fairmont TIMES-WEST VIRGINIAN. There are: copies of theatre programs, 1917-1919; electoral tickets, 1860, 1864; a proclamation by George B. McClellan, commanding the Department of the Ohio, 1861; and an open letter, "Monongahela River Bridge Underwriting Syndicate Managers," concerning the construction of the million-dollar bridge in Fairmont. Subjects include: Marion County, West Virginia; Augusta County, Virginia; farming account books, ca.1853, 1888; Barnsville; Barrackville Covered Bridge; banks and banking in Marion County, 1842-1892; blacksmith shops; buffalo; Marion County Historical Society; coal industry in the Fairmont region; a West Virginia Gold Mining and Milling Company certificate; Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad Company stock certificate; stock of Weston and Fairmont Turnpike Company; school teaching, 1819, 1824, 1850, and 1858. Correspondents or persons mentioned include Charles H. Ambler, Edgar B. Sims, Lemuel Chenoweth, Eli Chenoweth, Paul M. Angle, J.M. Callahan, Ken McClain, William Haymond, Francis H. Pierpont, Ira E. Robinson, and Clem Shaver.

The papers of George W. Smith (1814-1860), a merchant, justice of the peace, land agent, and presidential elector in the town of Ripley, Jackson County, West Virginia. There are also papers regarding other family members. The collection serves as a narrative and record of business, local politics, and social conditions in West Virginia before and after statehood. It includes business and personal correspondence, financial and legal papers, business and political ledgers, and ephemera. The majority of the business and personal correspondence in this collection consists of incoming letters to George W. Smith from his family and business associates. There are a few letters from Nehemiah Smith, a delegate in the Virginia Assembly, some of which discuss efforts to route a proposed turnpike from Staunton to Ripley (ca. 1833-1842); and letters from Confederate prisoners of war, six from Point Lookout prison in Maryland (1864-1865), and one from Elmira, New York (1864). See scope and content note for additional details.

Papers pertaining to Tyler County and Sistersville include genealogical data on the Wells family; a stock certificate of the Sistersville and Salem Turnpike Company; newspaper clippings on local affairs; and a manuscript list of Civil War volunteers from Tyler County.

Papers of John J. Davis, a lawyer and politician from Clarksburg, West Virginia. This collection contains correspondence, account books, photographs, essays, speeches, and other material. Also included in this collection are writings of Davis' granddaughter, Julia McDonald Davis. There are also artifacts, including a school slate and three leather billfolds. Please see "Scope and Contents" for further detail.

County and circuit clerks records, arranged chronologically. Records for the years 1835-1857, include bonds of ministers, tavern operators, ordinaries, ferries, and county officials; estate settlements; records pertaining to road, bridge, and public building; records of the overseer of the poor; school commissioners' and surveyors' appointments; and lists of county officials. Records for 1863-1874 include county supervisors' records; records of the Fairmont and Wheeling Turnpike; and muster certificates and reenlistment and bounty lists for the First, Second, Sixth, Seventh, Tenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiments, the First, Third, Fifth, Sixth West Virginia Cavalry, the First Light Artillery Regiment, and the Forty-fifth Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Papers for 1867-1907 include justice of the peace records, United States Admiralty Court records, and road surveyors' statements.

Business correspondence and papers, including land grants and deeds, 1761-1881, surveys, wills, and account books of William McCoy, Sr. and Jr., of Pendleton County. There are papers on the administration of estates; management of property in Mercer, Pendleton, and Randolph counties, and in Augusta and Highland counties, Virginia, for absentee owners; and on farm operations. There is material on the Central Bank of Virginia at Staunton; the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike Company; and on military units in the eastern parts of West Virginia during the Civil War, including letters, orders, and requisitions. Also includes record of land transaction between Levi Hollingsworth and Robert McCulloh regarding 11,435 acres in Pendleton County (1803).