Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Papers, photographs and maps of a wealthy Morgantown family with interests in real estate and coal mining. Most of the business papers are those of J. M. G. Brown, a West Virginia University law school alumnus, who was president of Scotts Run Fuel Corporation. Brown was also a housing developer whose company, Suburban Real Estate of Morgantown, was a competitive concern not only locally but throughout north central West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. There are papers indicating his attempts to open Morgantown to airline service. His sister, Mary Virginia Brown was a genealogist and local historian noted for A History of the Negroes of Monongalia County. Among her papers are genealogies of the Bannister, Brown, Bushey, Dorsey, Suter and Williams families. There are also original documents of Colonel William McCleary, an early settler of Morgantown. There is also a manuscript "List of Taxable Property for 1786, Monongalia County," including five pages listing residents and their "tithables," horses, and cattle.

This collection consists of a quarterly journal and copies of unrecorded Monongalia County, WV wills. The journal, Keyhole, a quarterly publication of the Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania, features two articles which discuss West Virginia residents: "Unrecorded Monongalia County, West Virginia wills," Ruth E. Renton and Raymond Martin Bell and "McCollock of Ohio County, West Virginia," Raymond Martin Bell. In "Unrecorded Monongalia County, West Virginia Wills" the authors provide information concerning unrecorded wills of persons living in Monongalia County (present day Washington County, Pennsylvania.) The four unrecorded wills are Moses Cooper of Roxburg, Morris County, New Jersey, 1777 April 1; Benjah Dunn of Monongalia County, 1778 February 19; Stephen Ulery of Ten Mile Creek, Monongalia County, 1778 March 10; and David Wright of Monongalia County, 1778 August 26. The article also lists Charles McRobbins (alias Roberts) as Larry had a will written 1775 October 6. Copies of the unrecorded wills are included with the collection. Although these copies are copies of copies they are in excellent condition. Bell's "McColloch of Ohio County, West Virginia" discusses the genealogy of the McColloch family of Ohio and Hampshire counties.

Correspondence of A.F. Haymond and A. Brooks Fleming, Fairmont attorneys. Correspondents include J.M. Bennett, G.D. Camden, J. Carlile, Henry Mathews, and F.H. Pierpont mentioning politics, separation from Virginia, the Arthurdale community development, and routine legal business. Included are land and legal papers, 1760-1797, from Hampshire, Monongalia, and Ohio counties, mentioning Patrick Henry and Henry Lee. Also in the collection are: a leather billfold; estate papers and marriage records; stock certificates of early West Virginia public utility and industrial firms; and miscellaneous personal papers of A. Brooks Fleming.

Bound typescripts of reminiscences and local history prepared by James R. Moreland, Morgantown, including "History of the Various Courts of the County of Monongalia...," and "Morgantown, West Virginia, Its Practical Jokes and Jokers...With Some Sketches Pertaining to Its History and Development." Indexed.

This microfilm version of the Thornton Tayloe Perry Collection held by the Virginia Historical Society contains historical material collected by Perry over a 30 year period. It concentrates upon western Virginia and West Virginia with particular emphasis upon the lower Shenandoah Valley and Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties of West Virginia. The microfilm was placed in the West Virginia Collection by the Virginia Historical Society under provisions of a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant.