{"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1896\u0026page=1493\u0026view=list","prev":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1896\u0026page=1492\u0026view=list","next":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1896\u0026page=1494\u0026view=list","last":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1896\u0026page=1497\u0026view=list"},"meta":{"pages":{"current_page":1493,"next_page":1494,"prev_page":1492,"total_pages":1497,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":14920,"total_count":14966,"first_page?":false,"last_page?":false}},"data":[{"id":"viu_viu00118_c03_c20","type":"Item","attributes":{"title":"Wythe County : Early Social\n Life","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00118_c03_c20#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00118_c03_c20","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00118_c03_c20"],"id":"viu_viu00118_c03_c20","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00118","_root_":"viu_viu00118","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00118_c03","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00118_c03","parent_ssim":["viu_viu00118","viu_viu00118_c03"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00118","viu_viu00118_c03"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)","Research Papers of Agnes Graham Sanders\n Riley"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)","Research Papers of Agnes Graham Sanders\n Riley"],"text":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)","Research Papers of Agnes Graham Sanders\n Riley","Wythe County : Early Social\n Life","Box Box 3"],"title_filing_ssi":"Wythe County : Early Social\n Life","title_ssm":["Wythe County : Early Social\n Life"],"title_tesim":["Wythe County : Early Social\n Life"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1870, 1977-1985"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1870/1985"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Wythe County : Early Social\n Life"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["Item"],"level_ssim":["Item"],"sort_isi":37,"date_range_isim":[1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984,1985],"containers_ssim":["Box Box 3"],"_nest_path_":"/components#2/components#19","timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:40:10.716Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00118","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00118","_root_":"viu_viu00118","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00118","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00118.xml","title_ssm":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)"],"title_tesim":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["9232-p"],"text":["9232-p","Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)","ca. 1,000 items","This collection consists of ca. 1,000 items, 1844\n (1920-1990), including correspondence, personal and\n professional papers, genealogy and local history research\n files, photographs, and printed material, pertaining to the \n Graham , \n Sanders , and \n Tate families, and \n Wythe County, Virginia . Among the\n correspondence are letters, 1955-1956, from \n Agnes Graham Sanders Riley while in \n South Africa , and letters from \n Andrew Trigg Sanders and \n Friel Tate Sanders while serving as \n U. S. Army officers during World War\n II.","Letters, 1955-1956, written by \n Agnes Graham Sanders Riley from \n South Africa reveal cultural customs,\n including labor, social, educational, and religious; life for\n the American family; and limited historical and political news\n (due to censorship). \n Edward Thompson Wailes , Ambassador to the\n Union of South Africa , is mentioned in\n letters of August 21 \u0026 25 and September 6, 1955 and\n February 9, 1956. \n Park Riley 's education and the school\n system are discussed in letters of September 2 \u0026 6 and\n October 31, 1955 and January 13, 18, \u0026 21, 1956. There is\n mention of the Eisenhowers and/or U. S. politics in letters of\n September 27, October 18, and November 23 \u0026 29, 1955.","Highlights of the letters from South Africa are as follows:\n 1955 Aug 1 \u0026 3 --Onboard R.M.S. \"Queen Mary\" and\n arrival in \n London, England 1955 Aug 16 --Near \n Capetown, Cape of Good Hope, South\n Africa , family news 1955 Aug 21 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , arrived and taken to\n meet the American Consul, invitation for dinner at the home\n of the American Ambassador who graduated in Herbert's class\n at \n Oak Ridge , legislature in session\n putting hardship on housing conditions 1955 Aug 25 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , dined with Ambassador\n Wailes, government in session 1955 Sep 2 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , son Park's school\n attire, school run by Christian Brothers 1955 Sep 6 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , to \n Margaret Faust , Ambassador and Mrs.\n Wailes, their own 20th wedding anniversary on August 25,\n British-Boer division, problems of school and housing,\n private school run by Christian Brothers, some customs and\n views in \n South Africa 1955 Sep 8 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , strict customs, a\n visit to a Presbyterian church, a school house in \n Pretoria in which Churchill was held\n prisoner during the British-Boer War 1955 Sep 21 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , attended a memorial\n for the Battle of \n Britain at the Cathedral, a meeting of\n the \n Prebyterian Church of the Province of South\n Africa 1955 Sep 27 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , concern for Eisenhower\n and his illness and burdens 1955 Oct 12 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , hotel life, being\n invited to so many social functions, Herbert being a public\n figure and probably being transferred to the \n University of Cape Town 1955 Oct 18 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , politics -- \n [William Averell] Harriman , weather,\n meeting people from \n Holland 1955 Oct 24 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , beauty of jacaranda\n trees, city celebrating its 100th anniversary,\n weather 1955 Oct 31 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , Park's school work,\n Herbert going to \n Rhodes University 1955 Oct-Nov -- \n Livingstone, North Rhodesia , visiting \n Victoria Falls , \n [David] Livingstone 's discovery of the\n falls in 1855, wild animals in the game reserve 1955 Nov 11 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , Herbert at \n Rhodes University in \n Grahamstown , English part of the\n Union 1955 Nov 17 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , centenary\n celebration--bazaars for charity 1955 Nov 23 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , moving to \n Cape Town soon, \n Mamie's [Eisenhower] troubles 1955 Nov 29 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , Anglican Church\n service for Americans, Eisenhower's recovery, voting age in\n Kentucky being lowered to 18 1955 Dec 4 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , life in \n South Africa --winter clothes being\n packed, Herbert's talk at the \n South African National Laboratory ,\n America-South Africa amateur baseball game 1955 Dec 11 -- \n Durban, S.A. , traveling to \n Cape Town , from \n Johannesburg to \n Durban was a 6,000 foot drop 1955 Dec 14-16 -- \n East London, S.A. , travelled through\n native reserve country; \n Port Elizabeth, S.A. , snake farm,\n pineapple and banana farms, visiting baseball team from\n America 1955 Dec 22 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , temporary living\n arrangements near the University 1955 Dec 29 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , Christmas celebration\n at home and church service 1955 Dec 31 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , concern for\n mother 1956 Jan 6 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , concern for mother,\n Park's new friends 1956 Jan 8 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , \n Nannie Graham 's birthday,\n congregational church service 1956 Jan 13 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , saw Governor General\n ride to open parliament, problems finding a school for Park\n due to overcrowded conditions 1956 Jan 18 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , mails, university\n president's wife got Park in a good school--Anglican 1956 Jan 2 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , Park's school, less\n American friends here than in \n Pretoria 1956 Jan 25 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , view from window of \n Table Mountain , the University, and\n Rhodes Memorial, invited to Parliament--beautiful\n buildings 1956 Feb 1 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , plans to return home,\n toured \n Cape Town , a beautiful city 1956 Feb 9 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , Ambassador and Mrs.\n Wailes in town and inviting them to dinner 1956 Feb 13 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , went onboard British\n luxury liner Coronia, had luncheon in the dining room of\n the Houses of Parliament (former student's uncle a member\n of Parliament) 1956 Feb 20 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , comparison of people\n in \n Pretoria and \n Cape Town , attended the celebration of\n the World Day of Prayer 1956 Feb 27 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , plans to leave for\n home, bought plants to send to \n Kentucky 1956 Mar 7 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , heard bad news about \n Charlie Graham , careful not to comment\n on South African politics 1957 --Typed manuscript: \"The Republic of \n South Africa \" by \n Agnes S. Riley . History accompanying\n Herbert's slide presentation.","During 1942-1947, \n Andrew Trigg Sanders (1910-) wrote about\n life in \n North Africa during World War II, general\n news about the war and conditions, and family and other news\n from home. On February 27, 1942, he wrote about camp life\n [probably in North Africa]. During October through December\n 1942, he was at \n Camp Pickett, Virginia , the location of\n new headquarters. During 1943, he wrote from North Africa.\n There are letters revealing his work in the supply section and\n with the Special Services branch, planning athletic and\n entertainment programs, and commenting on Arab lifestyles\n (March 16); mentioning news of a friend \"Jean,\" who had her\n picture taken with \n Walt Disney and that two Virginia medical\n units are nearby (April 24); discussing organizational changes\n and inquiring about rationing at home (May 17); referring to\n his teaching school, a class for 2nd lieutenants and enlisted\n men (July 9); remarking that recent developments make it\n harder to identify friend or enemy (October 3); and, relating\n news of the death of young Graham, son of Dave and Verna and\n the sale of the Graham farm (October 3, November 10). From\n November 1943 until October 30, 1945, he was in \n Italy . On November 27, 1943, he wrote,\n after arriving, that the people and the country were quite\n different than in \n North Africa , that fruits and nuts were\n plentiful but that there was a shortage of other foods, that\n the land was more fertile but that the destruction greater,\n and that the people were easier to talk to than the French. On\n May 29, 1944, he reported that he was doing special work away\n from his unit and having a chance to see more of the country.\n By June 23, 1944, he returned to his unit and found many\n changes, which he also mentioned in his letter of August 18,\n 1944. In his letter of September 19, 1944, he speculated as to\n when the war would be over and whether they would go to the \n Pacific ; mentioned casting his vote for\n Roosevelt; and being sent to \n Rome in charge of a group of men going\n there to rest, where he got the chance to tour certain points\n of interest. There are several letters following that discuss\n general news about the war and his family at home. On May 9,\n 1945, he was anxious to hear about the point system and\n expected to remain in \n Naples for six or eight months. And, on\n May 25, he wrote that service troops would be the last to\n return home. On July 12, 1945, he wrote that they are now\n preparing equipment for the East, that there were 3,000\n soldiers, civilians, and POWs in one shop, and that he was now\n executive officer. Through the end of 1945, his letters are\n filled with hopes of returning home. There is also a letter,\n January 31, 1947, concerning a training session re: crude\n petroleum.","Letters, 1926-1947, from \n Edwin Hanson Sanders (1871-1948), and\n related correspondence, discuss family and business matters.\n There is a letter, April 5, 1929, from \n Shipton Kincannon Curran Sanders (his\n mother) to \n William E. Fulton concerning family news.\n A letter of August 18, 1933, from Rev. \n H. G. Allen discusses the death of \n Shipton K. C. Sanders . \n Edwin Hanson Sanders wrote from the \n Department of Agriculture and Immigration,\n discussing breed of cattle and mentioning the effect of the\n war or prospects for war on farm products (November 10, 1939);\n and, giving a comparison of the business boom during the\n Spanish-American War, World War I, and the current one,\n mentioning the growing business activity at Radford with some\n eight thousand working, and commenting on low patriotism,\n partly due to salary conflicts.","Letters, 1924-1925, from \n Edwin Hanson Sanders, Jr. discuss life at \n Hampden-Sidney . Letters of March 1 and 22\n refer to his bid to an honorary fraternity [ \n The 13 Society ], which chose \"all round\n good men,\" who were then only known as members during their\n senior year.","Letters, 1939-1946, from \n Friel Tate Sanders (1915-1959) cover\n chiefly the period during World War II. During February 1943\n through April 1945, he was stationed in China. On March 20, he\n wrote that he arrived at his assigned post and was living in a\n private home and described life there. His letter of July 20,\n 1943 mentioned that the foods were similar, such as new\n potatoes, beans, tomatoes, corn, chicken, and watermelon. On\n July 31, 1944, he has heard good news and broadcasts about the\n Germans and Japanese. On November 28, 1944, he wrote that he\n has been moved to a new station; and, on March 20, 1945, he\n wrote that he is awaiting orders to go home. He wrote, from \n Miami Beach, Florida , on May 18, 1945,\n that the war was over, that he has finished processing and is\n awaiting a new assignment, that some materials are being\n released, such as tires, and that there is a possibility of an\n increase in gas allowance. During June through August 1945, he\n wrote from \n Stuttgart, Arkansas , concerning work and\n continuing studies under the G.I. Bill. Letters of October 31\n and December 19, 1946, are concerned with his marriage to \n Nelda Rose Hunter .","Other correspondents or topics of interest are: \" \n Hollins College \" folder -- \n E. Lee Trinkle (May 24, 1924); \n Eleanor \"Siddy\" Wilson (October 20, 1930);\n Bessie Carter Randolph , President of \n Hollins College (January 10 and March 5,\n 1938). \"Kentucky, University of\" folder -- \n John Canaday (January 30, 1964), \n Mills E. Godwin, Jr. (November 13, 1969).\n \"Personal Papers\" folders -- \n Leslie Hellerman re method of testing\n stability of diazomium compounds (February 7, 1935); wedding\n announcements and photographs (August 21, 1935); war ration\n book (1943); \n John A. Logan, Jr. , President of \n Hollins College (April 5, 1971 and June\n 26, 1974); \n W. R. Chitwood (December 2, 1974); \n Paula P. Brownlee , President of \n Hollins College (July 18, 1981, December\n 4, 1983, and May 5, 1986); and, an obituary/memorial to \n Herbert Parkes Riley (March 22, 1988).\n \"Southwest Virginia\" folder -- \n W. Edwin Hemphill (January 21, 1964); \n Ralph McGill (September 29, 1967); \n William H. Dumont (July 9, 1968); \n John Melville Jennings (January 14, 1970);\n W. R. Chitwood (March 2, 1971; November\n 24, 1975; June 20 \u0026 28, 1985); \n William M. E. Rachel (1971-1972); \n Harrison E. Salisbury (August 20, 1973);\n and \n Paul C. Nagel (September 23, 1985).","","University of Virginia. Library. Special\n Collections Dept.","U. S. Army","South Africa","Union of South Africa","Oak Ridge","Prebyterian Church of the Province of South\n Africa","University of Cape Town","Rhodes University","South African National Laboratory","Department of Agriculture","Hampden-Sidney","The 13 Society","Hollins College","Kentucky, University of","Graham","Sanders","Tate","Graham Family","Tate Family","Sanders Family","Trigg Family","Calhoun Family","Agnes Graham Sanders Riley","Andrew Trigg Sanders","Friel Tate Sanders","Edward Thompson Wailes","Park Riley","Margaret Faust","[William Averell] Harriman","[David] Livingstone","Mamie's [Eisenhower]","Nannie Graham","Charlie Graham","Agnes S. Riley","Walt Disney","Edwin Hanson Sanders","Shipton Kincannon Curran Sanders","William E. Fulton","H. G. Allen","Shipton K. C. Sanders","Edwin Hanson Sanders, Jr.","Nelda Rose Hunter","E. Lee Trinkle","Eleanor \"Siddy\" Wilson","Bessie Carter Randolph","John Canaday","Mills E. Godwin, Jr.","Leslie Hellerman","John A. Logan, Jr.","W. R. Chitwood","Paula P. Brownlee","Herbert Parkes Riley","W. Edwin Hemphill","Ralph McGill","William H. Dumont","John Melville Jennings","William M. E. Rachel","Harrison E. Salisbury","Paul C. Nagel","Nannie Montgomery\n Graham","William Tate Graham","Edwin Hanson Sanders,\n Jr.","Elizabeth Graham\n Sanders","William Campbell","Robert Graham","David Graham","David Peirce Graham","David Graham Sanders","Elizabeth Graham Sanders","John Thompson","Edith Bolling Wilson","John Montgomery","English"],"unitid_tesim":["9232-p"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)"],"collection_title_tesim":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)"],"collection_ssim":["Graham, Tate and related families\n Papers \n 1844\n (1920-1990)"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"creator_ssm":["Agnes Graham Sanders\n Riley"],"creator_ssim":["Agnes Graham Sanders\n Riley"],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was a gift to the Library from Mrs.\n Agnes Graham Sanders Riley of Lexington, Kentucky, on June\n 21, 1990."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["ca. 1,000 items"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This collection consists of ca. 1,000 items, 1844\n (1920-1990), including correspondence, personal and\n professional papers, genealogy and local history research\n files, photographs, and printed material, pertaining to the \n Graham , \n Sanders , and \n Tate families, and \n Wythe County, Virginia . Among the\n correspondence are letters, 1955-1956, from \n Agnes Graham Sanders Riley while in \n South Africa , and letters from \n Andrew Trigg Sanders and \n Friel Tate Sanders while serving as \n U. S. Army officers during World War\n II.","Letters, 1955-1956, written by \n Agnes Graham Sanders Riley from \n South Africa reveal cultural customs,\n including labor, social, educational, and religious; life for\n the American family; and limited historical and political news\n (due to censorship). \n Edward Thompson Wailes , Ambassador to the\n Union of South Africa , is mentioned in\n letters of August 21 \u0026 25 and September 6, 1955 and\n February 9, 1956. \n Park Riley 's education and the school\n system are discussed in letters of September 2 \u0026 6 and\n October 31, 1955 and January 13, 18, \u0026 21, 1956. There is\n mention of the Eisenhowers and/or U. S. politics in letters of\n September 27, October 18, and November 23 \u0026 29, 1955.","Highlights of the letters from South Africa are as follows:\n 1955 Aug 1 \u0026 3 --Onboard R.M.S. \"Queen Mary\" and\n arrival in \n London, England 1955 Aug 16 --Near \n Capetown, Cape of Good Hope, South\n Africa , family news 1955 Aug 21 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , arrived and taken to\n meet the American Consul, invitation for dinner at the home\n of the American Ambassador who graduated in Herbert's class\n at \n Oak Ridge , legislature in session\n putting hardship on housing conditions 1955 Aug 25 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , dined with Ambassador\n Wailes, government in session 1955 Sep 2 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , son Park's school\n attire, school run by Christian Brothers 1955 Sep 6 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , to \n Margaret Faust , Ambassador and Mrs.\n Wailes, their own 20th wedding anniversary on August 25,\n British-Boer division, problems of school and housing,\n private school run by Christian Brothers, some customs and\n views in \n South Africa 1955 Sep 8 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , strict customs, a\n visit to a Presbyterian church, a school house in \n Pretoria in which Churchill was held\n prisoner during the British-Boer War 1955 Sep 21 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , attended a memorial\n for the Battle of \n Britain at the Cathedral, a meeting of\n the \n Prebyterian Church of the Province of South\n Africa 1955 Sep 27 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , concern for Eisenhower\n and his illness and burdens 1955 Oct 12 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , hotel life, being\n invited to so many social functions, Herbert being a public\n figure and probably being transferred to the \n University of Cape Town 1955 Oct 18 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , politics -- \n [William Averell] Harriman , weather,\n meeting people from \n Holland 1955 Oct 24 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , beauty of jacaranda\n trees, city celebrating its 100th anniversary,\n weather 1955 Oct 31 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , Park's school work,\n Herbert going to \n Rhodes University 1955 Oct-Nov -- \n Livingstone, North Rhodesia , visiting \n Victoria Falls , \n [David] Livingstone 's discovery of the\n falls in 1855, wild animals in the game reserve 1955 Nov 11 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , Herbert at \n Rhodes University in \n Grahamstown , English part of the\n Union 1955 Nov 17 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , centenary\n celebration--bazaars for charity 1955 Nov 23 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , moving to \n Cape Town soon, \n Mamie's [Eisenhower] troubles 1955 Nov 29 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , Anglican Church\n service for Americans, Eisenhower's recovery, voting age in\n Kentucky being lowered to 18 1955 Dec 4 -- \n Pretoria, S.A. , life in \n South Africa --winter clothes being\n packed, Herbert's talk at the \n South African National Laboratory ,\n America-South Africa amateur baseball game 1955 Dec 11 -- \n Durban, S.A. , traveling to \n Cape Town , from \n Johannesburg to \n Durban was a 6,000 foot drop 1955 Dec 14-16 -- \n East London, S.A. , travelled through\n native reserve country; \n Port Elizabeth, S.A. , snake farm,\n pineapple and banana farms, visiting baseball team from\n America 1955 Dec 22 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , temporary living\n arrangements near the University 1955 Dec 29 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , Christmas celebration\n at home and church service 1955 Dec 31 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , concern for\n mother 1956 Jan 6 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , concern for mother,\n Park's new friends 1956 Jan 8 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , \n Nannie Graham 's birthday,\n congregational church service 1956 Jan 13 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , saw Governor General\n ride to open parliament, problems finding a school for Park\n due to overcrowded conditions 1956 Jan 18 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , mails, university\n president's wife got Park in a good school--Anglican 1956 Jan 2 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , Park's school, less\n American friends here than in \n Pretoria 1956 Jan 25 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , view from window of \n Table Mountain , the University, and\n Rhodes Memorial, invited to Parliament--beautiful\n buildings 1956 Feb 1 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , plans to return home,\n toured \n Cape Town , a beautiful city 1956 Feb 9 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , Ambassador and Mrs.\n Wailes in town and inviting them to dinner 1956 Feb 13 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , went onboard British\n luxury liner Coronia, had luncheon in the dining room of\n the Houses of Parliament (former student's uncle a member\n of Parliament) 1956 Feb 20 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , comparison of people\n in \n Pretoria and \n Cape Town , attended the celebration of\n the World Day of Prayer 1956 Feb 27 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , plans to leave for\n home, bought plants to send to \n Kentucky 1956 Mar 7 -- \n Cape Town, S.A. , heard bad news about \n Charlie Graham , careful not to comment\n on South African politics 1957 --Typed manuscript: \"The Republic of \n South Africa \" by \n Agnes S. Riley . History accompanying\n Herbert's slide presentation.","During 1942-1947, \n Andrew Trigg Sanders (1910-) wrote about\n life in \n North Africa during World War II, general\n news about the war and conditions, and family and other news\n from home. On February 27, 1942, he wrote about camp life\n [probably in North Africa]. During October through December\n 1942, he was at \n Camp Pickett, Virginia , the location of\n new headquarters. During 1943, he wrote from North Africa.\n There are letters revealing his work in the supply section and\n with the Special Services branch, planning athletic and\n entertainment programs, and commenting on Arab lifestyles\n (March 16); mentioning news of a friend \"Jean,\" who had her\n picture taken with \n Walt Disney and that two Virginia medical\n units are nearby (April 24); discussing organizational changes\n and inquiring about rationing at home (May 17); referring to\n his teaching school, a class for 2nd lieutenants and enlisted\n men (July 9); remarking that recent developments make it\n harder to identify friend or enemy (October 3); and, relating\n news of the death of young Graham, son of Dave and Verna and\n the sale of the Graham farm (October 3, November 10). From\n November 1943 until October 30, 1945, he was in \n Italy . On November 27, 1943, he wrote,\n after arriving, that the people and the country were quite\n different than in \n North Africa , that fruits and nuts were\n plentiful but that there was a shortage of other foods, that\n the land was more fertile but that the destruction greater,\n and that the people were easier to talk to than the French. On\n May 29, 1944, he reported that he was doing special work away\n from his unit and having a chance to see more of the country.\n By June 23, 1944, he returned to his unit and found many\n changes, which he also mentioned in his letter of August 18,\n 1944. In his letter of September 19, 1944, he speculated as to\n when the war would be over and whether they would go to the \n Pacific ; mentioned casting his vote for\n Roosevelt; and being sent to \n Rome in charge of a group of men going\n there to rest, where he got the chance to tour certain points\n of interest. There are several letters following that discuss\n general news about the war and his family at home. On May 9,\n 1945, he was anxious to hear about the point system and\n expected to remain in \n Naples for six or eight months. And, on\n May 25, he wrote that service troops would be the last to\n return home. On July 12, 1945, he wrote that they are now\n preparing equipment for the East, that there were 3,000\n soldiers, civilians, and POWs in one shop, and that he was now\n executive officer. Through the end of 1945, his letters are\n filled with hopes of returning home. There is also a letter,\n January 31, 1947, concerning a training session re: crude\n petroleum.","Letters, 1926-1947, from \n Edwin Hanson Sanders (1871-1948), and\n related correspondence, discuss family and business matters.\n There is a letter, April 5, 1929, from \n Shipton Kincannon Curran Sanders (his\n mother) to \n William E. Fulton concerning family news.\n A letter of August 18, 1933, from Rev. \n H. G. Allen discusses the death of \n Shipton K. C. Sanders . \n Edwin Hanson Sanders wrote from the \n Department of Agriculture and Immigration,\n discussing breed of cattle and mentioning the effect of the\n war or prospects for war on farm products (November 10, 1939);\n and, giving a comparison of the business boom during the\n Spanish-American War, World War I, and the current one,\n mentioning the growing business activity at Radford with some\n eight thousand working, and commenting on low patriotism,\n partly due to salary conflicts.","Letters, 1924-1925, from \n Edwin Hanson Sanders, Jr. discuss life at \n Hampden-Sidney . Letters of March 1 and 22\n refer to his bid to an honorary fraternity [ \n The 13 Society ], which chose \"all round\n good men,\" who were then only known as members during their\n senior year.","Letters, 1939-1946, from \n Friel Tate Sanders (1915-1959) cover\n chiefly the period during World War II. During February 1943\n through April 1945, he was stationed in China. On March 20, he\n wrote that he arrived at his assigned post and was living in a\n private home and described life there. His letter of July 20,\n 1943 mentioned that the foods were similar, such as new\n potatoes, beans, tomatoes, corn, chicken, and watermelon. On\n July 31, 1944, he has heard good news and broadcasts about the\n Germans and Japanese. On November 28, 1944, he wrote that he\n has been moved to a new station; and, on March 20, 1945, he\n wrote that he is awaiting orders to go home. He wrote, from \n Miami Beach, Florida , on May 18, 1945,\n that the war was over, that he has finished processing and is\n awaiting a new assignment, that some materials are being\n released, such as tires, and that there is a possibility of an\n increase in gas allowance. During June through August 1945, he\n wrote from \n Stuttgart, Arkansas , concerning work and\n continuing studies under the G.I. Bill. Letters of October 31\n and December 19, 1946, are concerned with his marriage to \n Nelda Rose Hunter .","Other correspondents or topics of interest are: \" \n Hollins College \" folder -- \n E. Lee Trinkle (May 24, 1924); \n Eleanor \"Siddy\" Wilson (October 20, 1930);\n Bessie Carter Randolph , President of \n Hollins College (January 10 and March 5,\n 1938). \"Kentucky, University of\" folder -- \n John Canaday (January 30, 1964), \n Mills E. Godwin, Jr. (November 13, 1969).\n \"Personal Papers\" folders -- \n Leslie Hellerman re method of testing\n stability of diazomium compounds (February 7, 1935); wedding\n announcements and photographs (August 21, 1935); war ration\n book (1943); \n John A. Logan, Jr. , President of \n Hollins College (April 5, 1971 and June\n 26, 1974); \n W. R. Chitwood (December 2, 1974); \n Paula P. Brownlee , President of \n Hollins College (July 18, 1981, December\n 4, 1983, and May 5, 1986); and, an obituary/memorial to \n Herbert Parkes Riley (March 22, 1988).\n \"Southwest Virginia\" folder -- \n W. Edwin Hemphill (January 21, 1964); \n Ralph McGill (September 29, 1967); \n William H. Dumont (July 9, 1968); \n John Melville Jennings (January 14, 1970);\n W. R. Chitwood (March 2, 1971; November\n 24, 1975; June 20 \u0026 28, 1985); \n William M. E. Rachel (1971-1972); \n Harrison E. Salisbury (August 20, 1973);\n and \n Paul C. Nagel (September 23, 1985)."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc/\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":[""],"names_ssim":["University of Virginia. Library. Special\n Collections Dept.","U. S. Army","South Africa","Union of South Africa","Oak Ridge","Prebyterian Church of the Province of South\n Africa","University of Cape Town","Rhodes University","South African National Laboratory","Department of Agriculture","Hampden-Sidney","The 13 Society","Hollins College","Kentucky, University of","Graham","Sanders","Tate","Graham Family","Tate Family","Sanders Family","Trigg Family","Calhoun Family","Agnes Graham Sanders Riley","Andrew Trigg Sanders","Friel Tate Sanders","Edward Thompson Wailes","Park Riley","Margaret Faust","[William Averell] Harriman","[David] Livingstone","Mamie's [Eisenhower]","Nannie Graham","Charlie Graham","Agnes S. Riley","Walt Disney","Edwin Hanson Sanders","Shipton Kincannon Curran Sanders","William E. Fulton","H. G. Allen","Shipton K. C. Sanders","Edwin Hanson Sanders, Jr.","Nelda Rose Hunter","E. Lee Trinkle","Eleanor \"Siddy\" Wilson","Bessie Carter Randolph","John Canaday","Mills E. Godwin, Jr.","Leslie Hellerman","John A. Logan, Jr.","W. R. Chitwood","Paula P. Brownlee","Herbert Parkes Riley","W. Edwin Hemphill","Ralph McGill","William H. Dumont","John Melville Jennings","William M. E. Rachel","Harrison E. Salisbury","Paul C. Nagel","Nannie Montgomery\n Graham","William Tate Graham","Edwin Hanson Sanders,\n Jr.","Elizabeth Graham\n Sanders","William Campbell","Robert Graham","David Graham","David Peirce Graham","David Graham Sanders","Elizabeth Graham Sanders","John Thompson","Edith Bolling Wilson","John Montgomery"],"corpname_ssim":["University of Virginia. Library. Special\n Collections Dept.","U. S. Army","South Africa","Union of South Africa","Oak Ridge","Prebyterian Church of the Province of South\n Africa","University of Cape Town","Rhodes University","South African National Laboratory","Department of Agriculture","Hampden-Sidney","The 13 Society","Hollins College","Kentucky, University of"],"famname_ssim":["Graham","Sanders","Tate","Graham Family","Tate Family","Sanders Family","Trigg Family","Calhoun Family"],"persname_ssim":["Agnes Graham Sanders Riley","Andrew Trigg Sanders","Friel Tate Sanders","Edward Thompson Wailes","Park Riley","Margaret Faust","[William Averell] Harriman","[David] Livingstone","Mamie's [Eisenhower]","Nannie Graham","Charlie Graham","Agnes S. Riley","Walt Disney","Edwin Hanson Sanders","Shipton Kincannon Curran Sanders","William E. Fulton","H. G. Allen","Shipton K. C. Sanders","Edwin Hanson Sanders, Jr.","Nelda Rose Hunter","E. Lee Trinkle","Eleanor \"Siddy\" Wilson","Bessie Carter Randolph","John Canaday","Mills E. Godwin, Jr.","Leslie Hellerman","John A. Logan, Jr.","W. R. Chitwood","Paula P. Brownlee","Herbert Parkes Riley","W. Edwin Hemphill","Ralph McGill","William H. Dumont","John Melville Jennings","William M. E. Rachel","Harrison E. Salisbury","Paul C. Nagel","Nannie Montgomery\n Graham","William Tate Graham","Edwin Hanson Sanders,\n Jr.","Elizabeth Graham\n Sanders","William Campbell","Robert Graham","David Graham","David Peirce Graham","David Graham Sanders","Elizabeth Graham Sanders","John Thompson","Edith Bolling Wilson","John Montgomery"],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":44,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-05-01T02:40:10.716Z","scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection consists of ca. 1,000 items, 1844\n (1920-1990), including correspondence, personal and\n professional papers, genealogy and local history research\n files, photographs, and printed material, pertaining to the \n \u003cfamname\u003eGraham\u003c/famname\u003e, \n \u003cfamname\u003eSanders\u003c/famname\u003e, and \n \u003cfamname\u003eTate\u003c/famname\u003efamilies, and \n \u003cgeogname\u003eWythe County, Virginia\u003c/geogname\u003e. Among the\n correspondence are letters, 1955-1956, from \n \u003cpersname\u003eAgnes Graham Sanders Riley\u003c/persname\u003ewhile in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eSouth Africa\u003c/geogname\u003e, and letters from \n \u003cpersname\u003eAndrew Trigg Sanders\u003c/persname\u003eand \n \u003cpersname\u003eFriel Tate Sanders\u003c/persname\u003ewhile serving as \n \u003ccorpname\u003eU. S. Army\u003c/corpname\u003eofficers during World War\n II.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLetters, 1955-1956, written by \n \u003cpersname\u003eAgnes Graham Sanders Riley\u003c/persname\u003efrom \n \u003ccorpname\u003eSouth Africa\u003c/corpname\u003ereveal cultural customs,\n including labor, social, educational, and religious; life for\n the American family; and limited historical and political news\n (due to censorship). \n \u003cpersname\u003eEdward Thompson Wailes\u003c/persname\u003e, Ambassador to the\n \u003ccorpname\u003eUnion of South Africa\u003c/corpname\u003e, is mentioned in\n letters of August 21 \u0026amp; 25 and September 6, 1955 and\n February 9, 1956. \n \u003cpersname\u003ePark Riley\u003c/persname\u003e's education and the school\n system are discussed in letters of September 2 \u0026amp; 6 and\n October 31, 1955 and January 13, 18, \u0026amp; 21, 1956. There is\n mention of the Eisenhowers and/or U. S. politics in letters of\n September 27, October 18, and November 23 \u0026amp; 29, 1955.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eHighlights of the letters from South Africa are as follows:\n \u003clist type=\"simple\"\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Aug 1 \u0026amp; 3 --Onboard R.M.S. \"Queen Mary\" and\n arrival in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eLondon, England\u003c/geogname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Aug 16 --Near \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCapetown, Cape of Good Hope, South\n Africa\u003c/geogname\u003e, family news\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Aug 21 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, arrived and taken to\n meet the American Consul, invitation for dinner at the home\n of the American Ambassador who graduated in Herbert's class\n at \n \u003ccorpname\u003eOak Ridge\u003c/corpname\u003e, legislature in session\n putting hardship on housing conditions\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Aug 25 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, dined with Ambassador\n Wailes, government in session\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Sep 2 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, son Park's school\n attire, school run by Christian Brothers\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Sep 6 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, to \n \u003cpersname\u003eMargaret Faust\u003c/persname\u003e, Ambassador and Mrs.\n Wailes, their own 20th wedding anniversary on August 25,\n British-Boer division, problems of school and housing,\n private school run by Christian Brothers, some customs and\n views in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eSouth Africa\u003c/geogname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Sep 8 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, strict customs, a\n visit to a Presbyterian church, a school house in \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria\u003c/geogname\u003ein which Churchill was held\n prisoner during the British-Boer War\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Sep 21 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, attended a memorial\n for the Battle of \n \u003cgeogname\u003eBritain\u003c/geogname\u003eat the Cathedral, a meeting of\n the \n \u003ccorpname\u003ePrebyterian Church of the Province of South\n Africa\u003c/corpname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Sep 27 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, concern for Eisenhower\n and his illness and burdens\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Oct 12 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, hotel life, being\n invited to so many social functions, Herbert being a public\n figure and probably being transferred to the \n \u003ccorpname\u003eUniversity of Cape Town\u003c/corpname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Oct 18 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, politics -- \n \u003cpersname\u003e[William Averell] Harriman\u003c/persname\u003e, weather,\n meeting people from \n \u003cgeogname\u003eHolland\u003c/geogname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Oct 24 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, beauty of jacaranda\n trees, city celebrating its 100th anniversary,\n weather\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Oct 31 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, Park's school work,\n Herbert going to \n \u003ccorpname\u003eRhodes University\u003c/corpname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Oct-Nov -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eLivingstone, North Rhodesia\u003c/geogname\u003e, visiting \n \u003cgeogname\u003eVictoria Falls\u003c/geogname\u003e, \n \u003cpersname\u003e[David] Livingstone\u003c/persname\u003e's discovery of the\n falls in 1855, wild animals in the game reserve\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Nov 11 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, Herbert at \n \u003ccorpname\u003eRhodes University\u003c/corpname\u003ein \n \u003cgeogname\u003eGrahamstown\u003c/geogname\u003e, English part of the\n Union\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Nov 17 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, centenary\n celebration--bazaars for charity\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Nov 23 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, moving to \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town\u003c/geogname\u003esoon, \n \u003cpersname\u003eMamie's [Eisenhower]\u003c/persname\u003etroubles\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Nov 29 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, Anglican Church\n service for Americans, Eisenhower's recovery, voting age in\n \u003cgeogname\u003eKentucky\u003c/geogname\u003ebeing lowered to 18\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Dec 4 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, life in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eSouth Africa\u003c/geogname\u003e--winter clothes being\n packed, Herbert's talk at the \n \u003ccorpname\u003eSouth African National Laboratory\u003c/corpname\u003e,\n America-South Africa amateur baseball game\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Dec 11 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eDurban, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, traveling to \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town\u003c/geogname\u003e, from \n \u003cgeogname\u003eJohannesburg\u003c/geogname\u003eto \n \u003cgeogname\u003eDurban\u003c/geogname\u003ewas a 6,000 foot drop\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Dec 14-16 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eEast London, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, travelled through\n native reserve country; \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePort Elizabeth, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, snake farm,\n pineapple and banana farms, visiting baseball team from\n America\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Dec 22 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, temporary living\n arrangements near the University\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Dec 29 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, Christmas celebration\n at home and church service\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1955 Dec 31 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, concern for\n mother\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Jan 6 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, concern for mother,\n Park's new friends\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Jan 8 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, \n \u003cpersname\u003eNannie Graham\u003c/persname\u003e's birthday,\n congregational church service\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Jan 13 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, saw Governor General\n ride to open parliament, problems finding a school for Park\n due to overcrowded conditions\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Jan 18 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, mails, university\n president's wife got Park in a good school--Anglican\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Jan 2 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, Park's school, less\n American friends here than in \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria\u003c/geogname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Jan 25 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, view from window of \n \u003cgeogname\u003eTable Mountain\u003c/geogname\u003e, the University, and\n Rhodes Memorial, invited to Parliament--beautiful\n buildings\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Feb 1 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, plans to return home,\n toured \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town\u003c/geogname\u003e, a beautiful city\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Feb 9 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, Ambassador and Mrs.\n Wailes in town and inviting them to dinner\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Feb 13 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, went onboard British\n luxury liner Coronia, had luncheon in the dining room of\n the Houses of Parliament (former student's uncle a member\n of Parliament)\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Feb 20 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, comparison of people\n in \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePretoria\u003c/geogname\u003eand \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town\u003c/geogname\u003e, attended the celebration of\n the World Day of Prayer\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Feb 27 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, plans to leave for\n home, bought plants to send to \n \u003cgeogname\u003eKentucky\u003c/geogname\u003e\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1956 Mar 7 -- \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCape Town, S.A.\u003c/geogname\u003e, heard bad news about \n \u003cpersname\u003eCharlie Graham\u003c/persname\u003e, careful not to comment\n on South African politics\u003c/item\u003e\u003citem\u003e1957 --Typed manuscript: \"The Republic of \n \u003cgeogname\u003eSouth Africa\u003c/geogname\u003e\" by \n \u003cpersname\u003eAgnes S. Riley\u003c/persname\u003e. History accompanying\n Herbert's slide presentation.\u003c/item\u003e\u003c/list\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDuring 1942-1947, \n \u003cpersname\u003eAndrew Trigg Sanders\u003c/persname\u003e(1910-) wrote about\n life in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eNorth Africa\u003c/geogname\u003eduring World War II, general\n news about the war and conditions, and family and other news\n from home. On February 27, 1942, he wrote about camp life\n [probably in North Africa]. During October through December\n 1942, he was at \n \u003cgeogname\u003eCamp Pickett, Virginia\u003c/geogname\u003e, the location of\n new headquarters. During 1943, he wrote from North Africa.\n There are letters revealing his work in the supply section and\n with the Special Services branch, planning athletic and\n entertainment programs, and commenting on Arab lifestyles\n (March 16); mentioning news of a friend \"Jean,\" who had her\n picture taken with \n \u003cpersname\u003eWalt Disney\u003c/persname\u003eand that two Virginia medical\n units are nearby (April 24); discussing organizational changes\n and inquiring about rationing at home (May 17); referring to\n his teaching school, a class for 2nd lieutenants and enlisted\n men (July 9); remarking that recent developments make it\n harder to identify friend or enemy (October 3); and, relating\n news of the death of young Graham, son of Dave and Verna and\n the sale of the Graham farm (October 3, November 10). From\n November 1943 until October 30, 1945, he was in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eItaly\u003c/geogname\u003e. On November 27, 1943, he wrote,\n after arriving, that the people and the country were quite\n different than in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eNorth Africa\u003c/geogname\u003e, that fruits and nuts were\n plentiful but that there was a shortage of other foods, that\n the land was more fertile but that the destruction greater,\n and that the people were easier to talk to than the French. On\n May 29, 1944, he reported that he was doing special work away\n from his unit and having a chance to see more of the country.\n By June 23, 1944, he returned to his unit and found many\n changes, which he also mentioned in his letter of August 18,\n 1944. In his letter of September 19, 1944, he speculated as to\n when the war would be over and whether they would go to the \n \u003cgeogname\u003ePacific\u003c/geogname\u003e; mentioned casting his vote for\n Roosevelt; and being sent to \n \u003cgeogname\u003eRome\u003c/geogname\u003ein charge of a group of men going\n there to rest, where he got the chance to tour certain points\n of interest. There are several letters following that discuss\n general news about the war and his family at home. On May 9,\n 1945, he was anxious to hear about the point system and\n expected to remain in \n \u003cgeogname\u003eNaples\u003c/geogname\u003efor six or eight months. And, on\n May 25, he wrote that service troops would be the last to\n return home. On July 12, 1945, he wrote that they are now\n preparing equipment for the East, that there were 3,000\n soldiers, civilians, and POWs in one shop, and that he was now\n executive officer. Through the end of 1945, his letters are\n filled with hopes of returning home. There is also a letter,\n January 31, 1947, concerning a training session re: crude\n petroleum.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLetters, 1926-1947, from \n \u003cpersname\u003eEdwin Hanson Sanders\u003c/persname\u003e(1871-1948), and\n related correspondence, discuss family and business matters.\n There is a letter, April 5, 1929, from \n \u003cpersname\u003eShipton Kincannon Curran Sanders\u003c/persname\u003e(his\n mother) to \n \u003cpersname\u003eWilliam E. Fulton\u003c/persname\u003econcerning family news.\n A letter of August 18, 1933, from Rev. \n \u003cpersname\u003eH. G. Allen\u003c/persname\u003ediscusses the death of \n \u003cpersname\u003eShipton K. C. Sanders\u003c/persname\u003e. \n \u003cpersname\u003eEdwin Hanson Sanders\u003c/persname\u003ewrote from the \n \u003ccorpname\u003eDepartment of Agriculture\u003c/corpname\u003eand Immigration,\n discussing breed of cattle and mentioning the effect of the\n war or prospects for war on farm products (November 10, 1939);\n and, giving a comparison of the business boom during the\n Spanish-American War, World War I, and the current one,\n mentioning the growing business activity at Radford with some\n eight thousand working, and commenting on low patriotism,\n partly due to salary conflicts.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLetters, 1924-1925, from \n \u003cpersname\u003eEdwin Hanson Sanders, Jr.\u003c/persname\u003ediscuss life at \n \u003ccorpname\u003eHampden-Sidney\u003c/corpname\u003e. Letters of March 1 and 22\n refer to his bid to an honorary fraternity [ \n \u003ccorpname\u003eThe 13 Society\u003c/corpname\u003e], which chose \"all round\n good men,\" who were then only known as members during their\n senior year.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eLetters, 1939-1946, from \n \u003cpersname\u003eFriel Tate Sanders\u003c/persname\u003e(1915-1959) cover\n chiefly the period during World War II. During February 1943\n through April 1945, he was stationed in China. On March 20, he\n wrote that he arrived at his assigned post and was living in a\n private home and described life there. His letter of July 20,\n 1943 mentioned that the foods were similar, such as new\n potatoes, beans, tomatoes, corn, chicken, and watermelon. On\n July 31, 1944, he has heard good news and broadcasts about the\n Germans and Japanese. On November 28, 1944, he wrote that he\n has been moved to a new station; and, on March 20, 1945, he\n wrote that he is awaiting orders to go home. He wrote, from \n \u003cgeogname\u003eMiami Beach, Florida\u003c/geogname\u003e, on May 18, 1945,\n that the war was over, that he has finished processing and is\n awaiting a new assignment, that some materials are being\n released, such as tires, and that there is a possibility of an\n increase in gas allowance. During June through August 1945, he\n wrote from \n \u003cgeogname\u003eStuttgart, Arkansas\u003c/geogname\u003e, concerning work and\n continuing studies under the G.I. Bill. Letters of October 31\n and December 19, 1946, are concerned with his marriage to \n \u003cpersname\u003eNelda Rose Hunter\u003c/persname\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eOther correspondents or topics of interest are: \" \n \u003ccorpname\u003eHollins College\u003c/corpname\u003e\" folder -- \n \u003cpersname\u003eE. Lee Trinkle\u003c/persname\u003e(May 24, 1924); \n \u003cpersname\u003eEleanor \"Siddy\" Wilson\u003c/persname\u003e(October 20, 1930);\n \u003cpersname\u003eBessie Carter Randolph\u003c/persname\u003e, President of \n \u003ccorpname\u003eHollins College\u003c/corpname\u003e(January 10 and March 5,\n 1938). \"Kentucky, University of\" folder -- \n \u003cpersname\u003eJohn Canaday\u003c/persname\u003e(January 30, 1964), \n \u003cpersname\u003eMills E. Godwin, Jr.\u003c/persname\u003e(November 13, 1969).\n \"Personal Papers\" folders -- \n \u003cpersname\u003eLeslie Hellerman\u003c/persname\u003ere method of testing\n stability of diazomium compounds (February 7, 1935); wedding\n announcements and photographs (August 21, 1935); war ration\n book (1943); \n \u003cpersname\u003eJohn A. Logan, Jr.\u003c/persname\u003e, President of \n \u003ccorpname\u003eHollins College\u003c/corpname\u003e(April 5, 1971 and June\n 26, 1974); \n \u003cpersname\u003eW. R. Chitwood\u003c/persname\u003e(December 2, 1974); \n \u003cpersname\u003ePaula P. Brownlee\u003c/persname\u003e, President of \n \u003ccorpname\u003eHollins College\u003c/corpname\u003e(July 18, 1981, December\n 4, 1983, and May 5, 1986); and, an obituary/memorial to \n \u003cpersname\u003eHerbert Parkes Riley\u003c/persname\u003e(March 22, 1988).\n \"Southwest Virginia\" folder -- \n \u003cpersname\u003eW. Edwin Hemphill\u003c/persname\u003e(January 21, 1964); \n \u003cpersname\u003eRalph McGill\u003c/persname\u003e(September 29, 1967); \n \u003cpersname\u003eWilliam H. Dumont\u003c/persname\u003e(July 9, 1968); \n \u003cpersname\u003eJohn Melville Jennings\u003c/persname\u003e(January 14, 1970);\n \u003cpersname\u003eW. R. Chitwood\u003c/persname\u003e(March 2, 1971; November\n 24, 1975; June 20 \u0026amp; 28, 1985); \n \u003cpersname\u003eWilliam M. E. Rachel\u003c/persname\u003e(1971-1972); \n \u003cpersname\u003eHarrison E. Salisbury\u003c/persname\u003e(August 20, 1973);\n and \n \u003cpersname\u003ePaul C. Nagel\u003c/persname\u003e(September 23, 1985).\u003c/p\u003e"]}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00118_c03_c20"}},{"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01_c54","type":"File","attributes":{"title":"W-Z","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://search.arvasarchive.org/catalog/wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01_c54#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01_c54","ref_ssm":["wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01_c54"],"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01_c54","ead_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_root_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_nest_parent_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01","parent_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01","parent_ssim":["wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01"],"parent_ids_ssim":["wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374_c01"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 1a. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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Coal Company Operations (boxes 34-48)"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 2. Coal Company Operations (boxes 34-48)"],"text":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 2. Coal Company Operations (boxes 34-48)","W-Z","Box 37","Folder 11"],"title_filing_ssi":"W-Z","title_ssm":["W-Z"],"title_tesim":["W-Z"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1874 September 22–1902 November 22"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1874/1902"],"normalized_title_ssm":["W-Z"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"collection_ssim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["File"],"level_ssim":["File"],"sort_isi":257,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["No special access restriction applies."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"date_range_isim":[1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902],"containers_ssim":["Box 37","Folder 11"],"_nest_path_":"/components#2/components#41","timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:13:20.196Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","ead_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_root_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_nest_parent_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WVU/repositories_2_resources_2374.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/ark:/99999/196440","title_ssm":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"title_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1799-1919"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1799-1919"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["A\u0026M 0013","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/2374"],"text":["A\u0026M 0013","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/2374","Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","United States -- Politics and government","Democratic Party","Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians","No special access restriction applies.","Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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Coal Company Operations (boxes 34-48)"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 2. Coal Company Operations (boxes 34-48)"],"text":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 2. Coal Company Operations (boxes 34-48)","W-Z","Box 40","Folder 14"],"title_filing_ssi":"W-Z","title_ssm":["W-Z"],"title_tesim":["W-Z"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1893 February 25–1896 January 31"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1893/1896"],"normalized_title_ssm":["W-Z"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"collection_ssim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["File"],"level_ssim":["File"],"sort_isi":282,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["No special access restriction applies."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"date_range_isim":[1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915],"containers_ssim":["Box 64","Folder 14"],"_nest_path_":"/components#4/components#30","timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:13:20.196Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","ead_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_root_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_nest_parent_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WVU/repositories_2_resources_2374.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/ark:/99999/196440","title_ssm":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"title_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1799-1919"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1799-1919"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["A\u0026M 0013","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/2374"],"text":["A\u0026M 0013","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/2374","Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","United States -- Politics and government","Democratic Party","Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians","No special access restriction applies.","Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts (boxes 66-82)"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts (boxes 66-82)"],"text":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts (boxes 66-82)","W-Z","Box 69","Folder 17"],"title_filing_ssi":"W-Z","title_ssm":["W-Z"],"title_tesim":["W-Z"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["July 1891–August 1910"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1891/1910"],"normalized_title_ssm":["W-Z"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"collection_ssim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["File"],"level_ssim":["File"],"sort_isi":576,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["No special access restriction applies."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"date_range_isim":[1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910],"containers_ssim":["Box 69","Folder 17"],"_nest_path_":"/components#5/components#33","timestamp":"2026-04-30T23:13:20.196Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","ead_ssi":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_root_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","_nest_parent_":"wvmturhc_repositories_2_resources_2374","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WVU/repositories_2_resources_2374.xml","aspace_url_ssi":"https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/ark:/99999/196440","title_ssm":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"title_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1799-1919"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1799-1919"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["A\u0026M 0013","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/2374"],"text":["A\u0026M 0013","Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","Previous Archival Resource Key","/repositories/2/resources/2374","Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","United States -- Politics and government","Democratic Party","Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians","No special access restriction applies.","Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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(Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897","Walsh, Thomas J.","Whitney, William C.","Windom, William."],"persname_ssim":["Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911","Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884","Faulkner, Charles J. (Charles James), 1847-1929","Garrett, John W.","Gibbons, James, 1834-1921","Gorman, Arthur P. (Arthur Pue), 1839-1906","Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901","Kenna, John E.","Lamont, Daniel Scott, 1851-1905","Lucas, Daniel B.","MacCorkle, William Alexander, 1857-1930","Mason, James M. II.","Voorhees, Daniel W. 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Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts (boxes 66-82)"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts (boxes 66-82)"],"text":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers","Series 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts (boxes 66-82)","W-Z","Box 70","Folder 15"],"title_filing_ssi":"W-Z","title_ssm":["W-Z"],"title_tesim":["W-Z"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1893 May 26–1910 August 10"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1893/1910"],"normalized_title_ssm":["W-Z"],"component_level_isim":[2],"repository_ssim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center"],"collection_ssim":["Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"level_ssm":["File"],"level_ssim":["File"],"sort_isi":592,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["No special access restriction applies."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711","13, 717, 1028","Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom","Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.","West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/","West Virginia and Regional History Center","Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916","Alderson, J. D. (John Duffy), 1854-1910","Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925","Bayard, Thomas F.","Belmont, August.","Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893","Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925","Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908","Carnegie, Andrew, 1835-1919","Dayton, Spencer","Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915","Elkins, Stephen B. 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For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Banks and banking","Coal mining.","Elk Garden Coal Field.","Lumber trade","Railroads - West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway.","Railroads","Lumber industry and timber.","Politics and government.","West Virginia - Politics and government.","Politicians -- United States","Politicians"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. 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He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHe was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026amp;O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026amp;O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026amp;C). The P\u0026amp;C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026amp;C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026amp;I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026amp;I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026amp;C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026amp;C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026amp;C, and C\u0026amp;I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026amp;C was absorbed by the B\u0026amp;O.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eEarly on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eReluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAlthough retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDavis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eDaughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHenry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSources:\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eClarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eHicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026amp; Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eLewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026amp; Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eRoss, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711\u003c/p\u003e"],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical / Historical"],"bioghist_tesim":["Henry Gassaway Davis","Henry Gassaway Davis (11/16/1823-03/11/1916) was a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.","He was born near Woodstock, Maryland on November 16, 1823, and was the second son of four children. He received a limited public-school education and left school at age 15 to support his family after his father's contracting business failed and left the family destitute. Davis first worked at a local quarry, as a water boy, and then as the caretaker of the Waverly Farm, the nearby farm owned by former Maryland Governor George Howard.","Davis began his railroading career in 1842 at age nineteen as a brakeman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, then still under construction. He eventually advanced to the position of freight conductor, and then passenger conductor. Reportedly at Davis's request, he was appointed station agent for the Piedmont Station at Piedmont, [West] Virginia, because he wanted to explore the timber and coal resources of the Upper Potomac River region. About this same time, Davis established a mercantile lumber and coal business with his younger brothers Thomas B. Davis and William R. Davis at Piedmont. This business was known as H.G. Davis and Company (later H.G. Davis and Brother). Davis left the B\u0026O in 1858 to focus on his business concerns. One of these concerns was the Piedmont Savings Bank, which he founded in 1858 and for which he served as president. Davis, like so many entrepreneurs, made extraordinary profits during the Civil War. Profits from the sale of horses to the federal government and timber and ties to the B\u0026O Railroad enabled H.G. Davis and Company to invest in several thousand acres of coal and timber lands in the Upper Potomac and Cheat rivers region, at a cost said to be as cheap as one dollar per acre.","Davis founded the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company to provide railroad access to his coal and timber lands. In 1866 the West Virginia State Legislature, by a special act, incorporated the Cumberland and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, granting the incorporators the right to mine coal, build factories and sawmills, buy and sell real estate, and build a railroad. It would be several years before Davis acted on the charter. Construction of the railroad finally began in 1880 at Bloomington, Maryland, and by 1881 the line had reached his mines at Elk Garden, West Virginia. Davis shipped the first Elk Garden coal to Baltimore in October 1881. A new railroad charter was granted in 1881 and Davis renamed the line the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway (WVC). By 1884 the line had reached present-day Davis, then Parsons in 1888, and Elkins (then Leadville) in 1889. Meanwhile in 1886, Davis created a subsidiary railroad, the Piedmont and Cumberland Railway Company (P\u0026C). The P\u0026C connected the WVC with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Cumberland. In 1902 Davis sold the WVC and P\u0026C to George J. Gould, a railroad magnate, who was purchasing and consolidating rail lines to create an intercontinental railroad.","Davis desired to expand his rail network and in 1899 decided to construct a rail line connecting the WVC at Elkins with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at Durbin, West Virginia. This line became the Coal and Iron Railway (C\u0026I) and was completed in 1902. Davis used the profits of the sale of the WVC to fund construction of the C\u0026I. Not finished yet with railroad construction, Davis incorporated the Coal and Coke Railway Company (C\u0026C) in 1902 to exploit his Roaring Creek coal properties located in Randolph County. This new line ran from Elkins to Charleston via the Elk River through some of West Virginia's most difficult terrain. The C\u0026C connected the Western Maryland at Elkins with the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad at Charleston, providing new markets for West Virginia coal. Construction commenced in 1903 and was completed in 1905, requiring twelve tunnels and thirty steel bridges. The town Gassaway, in Braxton County, was located at the mid-point of the rail line and became the divisional headquarters of the line. Ultimately, the WVC, P\u0026C, and C\u0026I were acquired by the Western Maryland Railroad and the C\u0026C was absorbed by the B\u0026O.","Early on in his career, Davis recognized that being in politics would further his business. Consequently, Davis ran for office on the democratic platform and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1865 representing Hampshire County. Davis was very influential in the creation of Mineral and Grant counties in 1866, an effort which advanced his business interests. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1868 and served in that capacity until 1871, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Davis served as a West Virginia Senator from 1871 to 1883.","Davis retired from politics in 1883 and returned to West Virginia to oversee his coal and banking interests. He then formed the Davis Coal and Coke Company with his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins in 1886. The company controlled 135,000 acres of coal and timber lands, employed 1600 workers, operated nine mines, and furnished coal to be coked in its more than 1000 coke ovens. By 1892 Davis Coal and Coke was one of the largest coal producers world-wide.","Reluctantly, Davis was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1904 presidential election with Alton B. Parker as his running mate and presidential candidate. They lost to the Roosevelt-Fairbanks ticket by a wide margin. In running for office at the age of 80 Davis had become, and remains, one of the oldest candidates to have ever run for vice president of the United States.","Although retired from public service, Davis was appointed to represent the United States at the Pan-American Conferences (1889-1902) and later was appointed permanent chairman of the Pan-American Railway Committee, which he served from 1901 to his death in 1916. (The Pan-American Railway was a failed intercontinental railroad scheme. Promoters wanted to connect the capitals and principle cities of South and Central America with North America by rail). Davis also served as Chairman of the West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission in 1913, the group tasked with planning the \"Golden Jubilee\" or 50th anniversary of West Virginia statehood.","Davis's philanthropic legacy was notable. His charitable activities included funding the Davis Children's Shelter in Charleston, West Virginia, a shelter for orphaned and neglected children (1896); the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church, a church built in memory of his wife Katherine Bantz Davis; and the Davis Memorial Hospital in Davis, also constructed as a memorial to his deceased wife. Perhaps most notably, he donated the land for Davis and Elkins College in 1904, a liberal arts college named in honor of H.G. Davis and Stephen B. Elkins.","Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz on 22 February 1853. The couple had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. The oldest child, Mary Louise \"Hallie\" Davis, married US Senator Stephen B. Elkins on 14 April 1875, linking the names Davis and Elkins forever.","Daughter Grace Thomas Davis became the namesake of Graceland, Davis's country mansion in Davis, West Virginia, and after his wife died she became his hostess for events held at the mansion. His older son Henry Gassaway Davis was something of a troubled soul, and was lost at sea in 1896. His youngest son John Thomas Davis worked closely with his father, was later associated with Davis and Elkins College, and became a coal operator and banker.","Henry Gassaway Davis passed in Washington D.C. on 11 March 1916 at the age of 93. He is interred at Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.","Sources:","Clarke, Alan. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburg: a Western Maryland Predecessor. Lynchburg: TLC Publishing. 2003.","Hicks, W. Raymond. \"The West Virginia Central \u0026 Pittsburgh Railway. The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518154","Lewis, Ronald L. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University off North Carolina Press, 1998.","Rice, Donald L. \"Coal \u0026 Coke Railway.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1337","Ross, Thomas Richard. \"Henry Gassaway Davis.\" The West Virginia Encyclopedia. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1711"],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026amp;M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e"],"prefercite_tesim":["[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers, A\u0026M 0013, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e13, 717, 1028\u003c/p\u003e"],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related A\u0026M Collections"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["13, 717, 1028"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCorrespondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eSeries include: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)\u003c/p\u003e\n","\u003cp\u003eAmong Davis's correspondents are: \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Correspondence and business papers of Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916), a successful businessman and politician from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. The collection largely documents his business and political career, although there are personal papers in the collection as well. His business interests were largely concerned with coal mining, timber, and railroads. Types of documents include letters, reports, account books, and maps, among other material. Much of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically. The scope and content note of each record series provides substantial detail regarding content.","Series include: \nSeries 1a. Business Papers, 1882-1909 (boxes 1-29) \nSeries 1b. Banking Records, 1886-1916 (boxes 30-33) \nSeries 2. Coal Company Operations, 1799-1915 (boxes 34-48) \nSeries 3. Miscellaneous Papers, 1855-1916 (boxes 49-62) \nSeries 4. Miscellaneous Letters, 1872-1915 (boxes 63-65) \nSeries 5. Miscellaneous Bills and Receipts, 1872-1918 (boxes 66-82) \nSeries 6. Miscellaneous, 1872-1916 (boxes 83-115) \nSeries 7. Alexander Shaw Lawsuit, 1880-1894 (boxes 116-118) \nSeries 8. Personal and Political Papers, 1870-1916 (boxes 119-145) \nSeries 9. Railroads, 1862-1916 (boxes 146-189) \nSeries 10. West Virginia Semi-Centennial Commission, 1911 August 9–1913 July 26 (box 190) \nSeries 11. T.B. Davis Papers, 1879-1915 (box 191) \nSeries 12. Davis Memorial Hospital and Church, 1898-1916 (boxes 192-193) \nSeries 13. H.G. Davis and Brother, 1868-1905 (boxes 194-197) \nSeries 14. Real Estate and Timber, 1869-1915 (boxes 198-202) \nSeries 15. H.G. Davis Letter Books, 1865-1916 (boxes 203-231) \nSeries 16. West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway Company Letter Books, 1880-1903 (boxes 232-240) \nSeries 17. Minute, Letter, and Other Books, 1881-1914 (boxes 241-247) \nSeries 18. Oversized Ledgers, 1884-1913 (boxes 248-260)","Among Davis's correspondents are: \nU.S. Representative John D. Alderson \nWest Virginia Governor George W. Atkinson \nU.S. Senator William Henry Barnum \nU.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Thomas F. Bayard \nU.S. Minister to the Netherlands August Belmont, Sr. \nU.S. Senator James G. Blaine \nU.S. Senator Calvin S. Brice \nU.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan \nU.S. Senator Johnson N. Camden \nindustrialist Andrew Carnegie \nPresident of Mexico General Porfirio Díaz \nU.S. Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins \nU.S. Minister to France Charles J. Faulkner, Sr. \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President John W. Garrett \nOlympian Robert S. Garrett \nJames Cardinal Gibbons (Cardinal, Archbishop of Baltimore) \nU.S. Senator Arthur Pue Gorman \nU.S. President Benjamin Harrison \nConfederate cartographer Jedidiah (Jed) Hotchkiss \nMaryland Governor Elihu Emory Jackson \nU.S. Senator John E. Kenna \nU.S. Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont \nU.S. Congressman Adam Brown Littlepage \nU.S. Representative James Tilghman Lloyd \nPresident of the WV Supreme Court of Appeals Daniel Bedinger Lucas \nConsul General of Wurttemberg Charles F. Mayer \nWest Virginia Governor William A. McCorkle \nU.S. Senator John R. McPherson \nU.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Joseph S. Miller \nBaltimore and Ohio Railroad President Oscar G. Murray \nPennsylvania Railroad President George Brooke Roberts \nSouthern Railway President Samuel Spencer \nU.S. Senator Thomas Taggart \nU.S. Senator Daniel W. Voorhees \nU.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh \nU.S. Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney \nMaryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte \nU.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom"],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the \u003ca href=\"https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/visit/permissions-and-copyright\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePermissions and Copyright page\u003c/a\u003e on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.\u003c/p\u003e"],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website."],"physloc_html_tesm":["\u003cphysloc id=\"aspace_bececc3958fd8321627340a6836c39d7\"\u003eWest Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/\u003c/physloc\u003e"],"physloc_tesim":["West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. 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