The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Octavius Hileman Papers, Ms2008-085, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Octavius Hileman Papers were purchased by Special Collections.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Octavius Hileman Papers commenced and was completed in October 2008.
Octavius Hileman, the son of Joseph B. and Anne R. Hileman, was born in Pennsylvania in 1853. He lived with his family in Altoona and attended Gettysburg College from 1870 to 1871. After working in the lumber business in Michigan during the 1870s, Hileman moved to Virginia, where he engaged in the mining and shipping of iron ore, under the company name Hileman & Waring (later, the West Iron Gate Land Company). During the 1890s, Hileman served as the secretary/treasurer of the Luster Manufacturing Company. He retired to Athens, Georgia in 1931 and died there in 1943. In 1874, he had married Sarah A. Kimberley; the couple had three children: Marjorie, Joseph, and Grace.
This collection contains papers of Octavius Hileman, secretary/treasurer of the Luster Manufacturing Company. Written primarily by J. O. Luster, a manufacturer and dealer in tin and sheet iron ware in Fincastle, Virginia and president of Luster Manufacturing, the letters relate mostly to the company's business. He mentions the dissolution of the company and the unsettled accounts of stockholders. Luster writes that Hileman has not paid his salary and that he is prepared to take legal steps. The last letter relates to the sale of the company's machinery and Hileman's approval of the transaction.
The collection also contains letters from Alleghany County Treasurer Joseph T. Fudge, relating to Fudge's campaign for re-election and his party's slate of candidates. Fudge mentions his opponent's campaign, particularly among African American voters, and the people who are trying to defame him by publishing untrue allegations. Fudge ends with his capabilities and the reasons why people will vote for him.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
See the West Iron Gate Land Company Ledgers, Ms1989-012, also Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech.
The guide to the Octavius Hileman Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).