Collections

The papers consist largely of land, property, and goods transaction receipts and documents of each of the four generations of the Dickson Family, who originally settled in what is now Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in the 1770s. Certificates, oaths, correspondence, deeds, and a diary are included in Joseph Dickson's papers, along with several sale documents for enslaved people from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Much of the land and goods and many of the enslaved people were exchanged with neighbors and others in the area.

Miscellaneous nineteenth-century financial, legal, and military materials chiefly related to the Dille, Dawson, and Evans families of Morgantown, Virginia (now West Virginia). Papers chiefly contain surveys of and land grants for Monongalia County, Virginia, from 1792 to 1875 (many of these are oversize), including plats sold to O.H. Dille in 1839 and 1875. There is also an oversized plan of Morgantown, Virginia, 1785-1824, showing deeds along the Monongahela River and Decker's Creek. Military materials consist of an 1819 pension for John Fairchild, killed during the War of 1812; declarations about military service during the Revolutionary War written in 1832; and a May 1864 letter from R. W. Dawson regarding the Union 10th Army Corps at Bermuda Hundred during the Civil War. Miscellaneous items include checks from Morgantown banks, 1873-1874; receipts, 1816-1874; scattered Dille genealogical information, undated; materials from the Morgantown Presbyterian Church, 1896-1897; and undated photographs.

The Don C. Miller Collection of Pine Forge Ledger, 1785-1799, consists of one CD-ROM containing 230 digital images of one bound ledger, 12 inches tall by 7.5 inches wide, from the Pine Forge iron forge near New Market, Va.

Research papers of Donovan Bond, a professor of Journalism at West Virginia University, regarding the 1772 proposal for a Colony of Vandalia in western Virginia territory, and histories of frontier forts (ca. 1749-1794) in western Virginia. Also includes photocopies of original 18th century documents. Material covers the years 1754-2002.

Correspondence of the Varner and Darrah families. Folder 1 includes original manuscript letters to and from members of the two families (1870-1884). Folder 2 includes manuscript genealogical information from the Varner family bible, and typed transcripts of the papers of the Varner family of Monongalia County, West Virginia, dating from 1775 to 1918, which includes correspondence with the Darrahs. The two families were related. For additional materials related to the Varner family, please see A&M 3543.

Records relating to the Varner (Warner, Worner) and Patterson families of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The Varner records include copies of original deeds, surveys, warrants, and patents, and focus on the lands and movements of John, Jospeh, and Abraham Varner in Fayette, Washington, and Greene Counties in Pennsylvania, and Monongalia County, West Virginia, in the late 18th and 19th centuries. There is also a typescript timeline (1777-1830) for records regarding John Varner, manuscript genealogy notes, and three original registered letter receipts to and from Joseph Varner in Statler Run, West Virginia. Also includes court and land records regarding an 1870s land dispute between Abraham Varner and Jospeh Varner, a typed note about the Varner family cemetery in Rudolph's Run in Monongalia County, and a manuscript poem by M.S. Stockdale to one of the Varners. The Patterson records consist of copies of a survey, warrant, and patent; there is also a map of Fayette County homesteads relating to John Patterson's land, called Pattersonia, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania in the late 18th century. The collection also includes Doris V. Welsh's notes derived from researching 'History of Fayette County Pennsylvania' by F. Elli., and one unidentified photograph of an oil derrick, presumably in western Pennsylvania or northern West Virginia. For additional materials related to the Varner family, please see A&M 3899.