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Papers of David Goff (ca. 1804-1878) of Beverly, West Virginia, an attorney and land promoter for Harrison, Randolph, and Tucker Counties. Goff became prosecuting attorney in 1835, served as a Colonel in the Virginia militia in 1844, was superintendent of Randolph County schools in 1853, served as a member of the Virginia Assembly, and was a West Virginia State Senator from Randolph County (1875-1877). Includes letters, surveys, land grant, bonds, and receipts. The correspondence includes ALS (autograph letters signed) from Caleb Boggess, Samuel Price, Joseph Sprigg, John S. Carlile, J. M. Bennett, Thos. S. Haymond, J. H. Diss Debar, P. G. Van Winkle, Alex. H. H. Stuart, Adjutant General R. S. Garnett, A. I. Boreman, Geo. W. Munford, John J. Jacob, Charles J. Faulkner, and Henry M. Matthews. Subjects of correspondence include politics, state and national; Civil War; Randolph county schools; land; West Virginia constitutional convention of 1872; Washington and Ohio Railroad; establishment of mail routes; estates; and Goff family history.

Papers of David Goff (ca. 1804-1878) of Beverly, West Virginia, an attorney and land promoter for Harrison, Randolph, and Tucker Counties. Goff became prosecuting attorney in 1835, served as a Colonel in the Virginia militia in 1844, was superintendent of Randolph County schools in 1853, served as a member of the Virginia Assembly, and was a West Virginia State Senator from Randolph County (1875-1877). The papers include correspondence; land papers, particularly, for Randolph County; court case papers; receipts; bank statements; accounts; and miscellaneous papers concerning the affairs of various clients. Subjects of the correspondence include estate settlements; land sale and management; politics; movement to construct a turnpike and railroad through Canaan Valley; sale by heirs of 1,000 acres of land in Randolph County owned by Chief Justice John Marshall; several letters written during the Civil War and post-war period concerning conditions in Beverly; possibility of removal of family from territory held by Federal forces, by Truce Boat; post-war value of Virginia money; conditions in Missouri and opinions on the government and general condition of the country. Correspondents include Spencer Dayton, B. H. Shackelford, William MacCorkle, George C. McCall, Edwin Maxwell, W. P. Cooper, Maria W. D. Orme, Charles Newmann, Isaac A. Morris, L. Haymond, and H. O. Middleton.

Additional Deakins family papers, consisting of correspondence, bond of conveyance, deeds, surveys and plats. [ALS] to Colonel Francis Deakin from John Compton, 1793, relative to surveys made by John Compton in 1792; bond of conveyance for land in Randolph County owned by Deakins heirs, 1809; five deeds for land owned by the Deakins family in Randolph and Preston counties W. Va., 1808-1885; 1848 deed from Francis Deakins to Northwestern Turnpike Co.; seven surveys and plats for lands in Preston, Tucker, Harrison and Upshur counties, largely owned by the Deakins family, 1788-1881.

Papers of the Ladwig family. They document the professional and personal lives of medical and teaching professionals in West Virginia in the early twentieth century, includng Dr. Otto Ladwig (1875-1968), his wife Calora Hardway Ladwig (1882-1974), and Margaret and Gertrude Hardway, Calora's sisters. The Ladwigs lived in Harrison and Randolph counties and were active in itinerant logging communities such as Evenwood. There are correspondence, publications, deeds, certificates, and photos of the Ladwig and Hardway families.

West Virginia land records, including receipts for fees paid, surveys, certificates of survey, land patents, grants, correspondence and other material. Some of the records are copies rather than official documents. The records are sorted by the names of buyers and stored in envelopes. Recorded to the fronts of the envelopes is information relevant to their contents.