Collections

Copies of letters and documents, mostly from Wood County, relating to Blennerhassett's activities. Correspondents include Blennerhassett and James H. Neal of Parkersburg and James Wilson of Wood County. There are several petitions of Wood County citizens urging the organization of troops to protect the constitution and government from "ambitious and disorganizing Demagogues...."

This diary shows the daily activities of a farm family in Short Run, Maryland. The entries are continuous from 1 January 1915 to 21 July 1915 and intermittent from 22 July until the final entry on 2 October. In the diary Wilson discusses weather conditions, farm work performed by himself and his siblings, trips to neighboring towns and to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, illnesses and death, and social occasions.

Typescript history of the Ward family of Ohio with a concentration on its association with Harman Blennerhassett, whose secretary was Sylvester Ward. Included is some information on the Blennerhassetts, Aaron Burr, Dudley Woodbridge, Elijah Backus and Aaron Waldo Putnam. Much mention is made of neighboring allied families to the Wards, particularly Hendersons and Putnams in the adjoining counties of Wood Co., VA and Washington Co., OH. There is a detailed transcription of an October 8, 1805 letter by William Howe Cuyler to John G. Henderson describing a disagreement and a duel between his brother, Alexander Henderson and Stephen R. Wilson. Also mentioned in this account about the duel are: Samuel Hempstead, James Henderson, Daniel Kinchelow, Robert Kinchelow, John Melrose, Hugh Phelps, Dr. Joseph Spencer, John Stephenson, Thomas Tavenner, Sylvester Ward, and James Wilson. Research on the lives and backgrounds of the participants and those connected with the duel is also included separately from the transcribed letter.

Correspondence, clippings, land papers, and other records of James Wilson, an attorney in Wood County, ca.1800-1820; Robert M. Stribling and other members of the Stribling family in Mason County, 1821-ca.1909; and James A. and Otis Young, ca.1900-1934, in Mason County. A pocket diary of James Wilson gives information on his law practice in Kanawha, Monongalia, and Wood counties in 1804.