Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Primary Collecting Areas:
West Virginia and Appalachia History and Culture
Description:
The West Virginia & Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document the history and culture of the state and the central Appalachian region. The Center is part of West Virginia University Libraries.
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Start Over Repository West Virginia and Regional History Center Places Ohio River

Cleaver Family Papers, 1777/1969 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Cleaver family

Facsimiles of historical documents. Land grant to William Cleaver and others for 1,000 acres on the Monongahela River, 1782; certificate for money due B. Cleaver for service in the Virginia Militia, 1783; affidavits concerning the military service of William and Benjamin Cleaver, 1774-1782, in Dunmore's War, at the Falls of the Ohio, and on General George Rogers Clark's expedition against the Indians, including the Shawnee. There is also a petition, 1777, by residents of the Tygart Valley, West Fork of the Monongahela, and Buckhannon Creek settlements requesting the formation of a new county. There are four typed pages dated January 1-9, 1969, with information about the Cleaver Family - William and Hannah; William, Jr.; Benjamin; and Stephen.

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C.R. Rector, Compiler, Papers 0 Linear Feet Summary: 1 item (19 pages)

Rector, C. R., Compiler
This is a history, "Westward Down the Ohio," relating highlights of Ohio River history, ca.1750-1880, in West Virginia. Subjects include early exploration, settlement, and transportation, especially the steamboat era. Mention is often made of events occurring in Parkersburg and its vicinity as being typical examples of the history of the Ohio Valley.
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Fleming Family Papers, 1810/1943 5.8 Linear Feet Summary: 6 ft. 2 1/2 in. (14 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 4 1/2 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1 item)

Fleming family

Business and personal papers, pamphlets, clippings, and photographs of Benjamin Fleming (1806-1891), and his son Thurston Worth (b.1846), relating to various business enterprises carried on by the family in Fairmont. These included a large trade in manufacturing, importing and selling hats and furs, general merchandising, fertilizer and hardwood sales.

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Hiram Carpenter, Records of a Pleasants County Businessman, 1914/1980, bulk 1918/1966 150 Linear Feet 149 ft. 11 1/2 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (117 records cartons, 15 in. each); (1 records carton, 17 in.); (7 unboxed ledgers, 20 in.)

Records of Pleasants County businessman Hiram Carpenter, based in St. Marys, West Virginia. Includes correspondence, financial and legal records, and other material. Hiram A. Carpenter, a native of Pleasants County, West Virginia, was a well-known riverman who began his career ferrying mail between Raven Rock and Leith, Ohio, when he was 13 years old. A successful businessman, his many enterprises included a sand and gravel business and farming on 13 of the Ohio River islands, which he owned at one time. Cultivation of apples and potatoes, road construction, transportation, and his greatest undertaking, building the Short Route Bridge across the Ohio River in 1928, were among his many endeavors, spanning a lifetime of almost 90 years.
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Joseph McKay Papers, 1897/1905 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 small flat storage box)

McKay, Joseph
Correspondence, bills, receipts, and other business papers of a Sistersville, West Virginia, oil developer and stockman pertaining to the development of the Sistersville oil fields, steamboat freighting on the Ohio River, and business activity in Sistersville.
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J.P. Carney, Civil War Era Diary, 1864 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 3/4 in. (1 folder)

Carney, J.P.
Diary of John P. Carney of Moundsville and Benwood, West Virginia, from January to October 1864, chiefly documenting Carney's daily activities, the weather, and movement on the Ohio River and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). Carney initially writes from Moundsville, where he appears to be a student, and then from Benwood, where he begins work at the B&O Railroad depot in May 1864. Almost daily entries record the weather and its effects on the Ohio River, including the amount of ice in the river and how it rises and falls. Comments about the Civil War are scattered throughout the diary and are mostly reports of what Carney reads in the newspaper. Carney briefly mentions troop movements; Confederate prisoners and black Union soldiers passing through the area; the death of Colonel James Mulligan; General George B. McClellan's presidential campaign; General Jubal Early's raid on Washington, D.C., and the B&O Railroad in July and August. He appears mostly concerned with the status of the railroad during Early's raid. Restoration of telegraph lines to Baltimore is indicated for September 13. Several pages are faded and illegible, and there are no entries for the month of April.
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Lyman Stedman, Farmer and Politician, Diary, 1880/1885 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Stedman, Lyman
Diary of Lyman Stedman (1824-1916), a farmer and former member of the House of Delegates, 1877, from Brown's Island, Hancock County. Entries concern farm operation, Republican political activities on the district and county level, comments on state and national organizations, floods on the Ohio River, steamboat and barge traffic, Hopedale School, Methodist Episcopal Church, railroad travel, circuses and fairs, taxes and land valuations, and Memorial Day.
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Maria Schwald, Diary Regarding Cruise Along the Ohio River, 1935/1952 .01 Linear Feet 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Schwald, Maria

Typescript of a diary kept by Maria Schwald chronicling her cruise on the Ohio River aboard the steamboat Gordon C. Greene, including her visits to Huntington, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati along the way. Schwald went on her trip in late July and travelled with "Two Pfisters, an Arnold, and two Schwalds", her relatives and close companions who were collectively nicknamed the "quintuplets". Typescript is bound with ribbon; a postcard depicting the Gordon C. Greene is pasted onto the second-to-last page.

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McNeill Family Papers, 1770/1929 0.8 Linear Feet Summary: 10 in. (2 document cases, 5 in. each)

McNeill family

Papers, mainly of Daniel and Daniel R. McNeill, stock dealers and mill owners of Hardy County. The early correspondence relates to the purchase and sale of livestock and the driving of herds to markets in the east. There is correspondence from members of the family in the vicinity of Chillicothe, Ohio, relating to farm and market conditions and commenting on travel from Hardy County to Ohio. There are also references to river traffic on the Scioto and Ohio rivers and to the quantity of merchandise being shipped to the New Orleans market. There are account statements for school fees, books, and general school expenses for several years in the period, 1809-1822, and 1870; a herd pedigree book, 1851-1861; and poultry and cattle records and accounts, 1913-1929.

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