Search

Start Over Date range 1877 Subjects Railroads

Great Kanawha Coal, Oil, & Metallurgic Company Records 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Great Kanawha Coal, Oil and Metallurgic Company
The collection consists of correspondence and legal papers concerning 9,580 acres in Kanawha County, West Virginia, on Cabin and Slaughter creeks, mentioning coal and railroad possibilities, interest rates, livestock breeding and costs, and organization of the company.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Harvey W. Harmer (1865-1961) Papers 1.7 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each)

Harmer, Harvey W. (Harvey Walker), 1865-1961

Correspondence, speeches, essays, clippings, and account books of a Clarksburg lawyer, Republican state senator, and Harrison County local historian. Subjects include the history of Clarksburg and Shinnston; the Progressive Movement, women's suffrage, and prohibition in West Virginia; West Virginia Wesleyan College; West Virginia Historical Society; Methodism in Harrison County and the state; Methodist missions in Korea, China, India, the Philippines, and the United States; gristmills and covered bridges in West Virginia; America First Day [1922]; Edward Grandison Smith; Parkersburg Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; family and personal history; history of the Mason-Dixon Line; the (Clarksburg) 50-Year Club; Nutter Fort Methodist Church; and the Harrison County Fair. Also, tape recordings of an interview relating to Mr. Harmer's career as an attorney in Clarksburg.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Henri Jean Mugler Diary and Memoir 0.44 Linear Feet Summary: 5 1/4 in. (3 reels of microfilm (38 vols), 1.75 in. each)

Mugler, Henri Jean
Diary and memoir of a Confederate soldier, railroad laborer, and shop owner from Grafton. The memoir begins with Mugler's birth in Alsace-Lorraine in 1838, and covers his immigration to the United States; enlistment in the United States Army in 1851; military duty in New York, Boston, Rhode Island, Texas, California, and the Washington Territory where he participated in the expedition against the Yakima Indians as a member of Company B, Third Regiment, United States Artillery, under Phil Sheridan; and his return to Orange County, Virginia, where following the passage of the Secession Ordinance he enlisted in the Thirteenth Virginia Infantry serving as chief musician. The memoir concludes with Mugler's military career during 1861-1862. The diary covers the remainder of his military service, 1862-1864, and his confinement as a war prisoner at Elmira, New York, 1864-1865. Following the war, Mugler returned to Washington, D.C., and eventually gained employment with the National Cemetery Corps, working at various Virginia battlefields. While in Virginia he served as a delegate to the Virginia Republican Convention of 1867. He worked at the National Cemetery at Grafton and for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, eventually becoming superintendent of painters on the Road Division in West Virginia. After 1874 he worked briefly as a self-employed painter, and then opened a paint and hardware store in Grafton which he managed until the end of his life. Subjects include the Battle of Mine Run, the retreat from Antietam, the Battle of the Wilderness, prison life at Elmira, New York; reconstruction in Virginia; railroading and the railroad towns of Keyser, Oakland (Maryland), Parkersburg, Fairmont, and Wheeling; the strikes of 1877; interviews with Generals Ord and Sheridan; the Murphy Temperance Movement and W.C.T.U. activities; the Liberal Republican movement of 1872; the Greenback Party; the Chicago World's Fair of 1893; political figures such as John S. Carlile, John G. Carlisle, John T. McGraw, John W. Mason, Frank Hereford, John E. Kenna, John A. Logan, James G. Blaine, and "Sockless" Jerry Simpson.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Henry Brannon, Lawyer, Papers 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Brannon, Henry, 1837-1914
Letters and tax papers deal with lawyer-client matters between Weston attorney Henry Brannon and Boston capitalist, Robert H. Waters. Subjects include Waters' suit against Equitable Oil and Mining Co. and purchase of 1,500 acres on Three Lick Run of Oil Creek in Lewis County, taxation of the property, redemption of the property from its sale for delinquent taxes, tenant relations, the sale of timber, illegal cutting of timber, and efforts to sell the land. Brannon also addresses his 1881 election as circuit court judge and solicits capital investment from Bostonians in support of railroad projects in central West Virginia. Other correspondents are the law firm Angell & Jamison, Festus Williams, and J. G. Vandervort.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Henry Gassaway Davis (1823-1916) Papers 105.9 Linear Feet 105 ft. 11 in. (249 document cases, 5 in. each); (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (14 ledgers, 18 in.); (6 oversize folders, 1/2 in.)

Davis, Henry Gassaway, 1823-1916

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.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Jacob Williamson Marshall (b.1830) Papers 1.6 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 6 1/2 in. (3 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 flat storage box, 3 1/2 in.)

Marshall, Jacob Williamson
Papers of a livestock broker, farmer, and merchant of Mingo Flats, Randolph County, who was associated with John T. McGraw in the development of Marlinton and the purchase and sale of land, coal, and timber in neighboring Pocahontas County. There are some items of Civil War interest, while the bulk of the correspondence relates to the marketing of ginseng, beeswax, wool, venison, animal pelts, and farm machinery. There is significant correspondence relating to state politics and railroads. Correspondents include J.M. Bennett, J.N. Camden, David Goff, John J. Jackson, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, John T. McGraw, and The Pocahontas Development Company. Also includes some material of G.E. Jarvis, father of Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

J.B. Ford Legal Papers 0 Linear Feet Summary: 2 folders

Ford, J. B.
Suit papers and correspondence in the case of the BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD VS. J.B. FORD, general agent of the railroad at Cumberland and Wheeling. The papers include copies of documents relative to the building of the railroad from Cumberland westward to Parkersburg and Wheeling and the activities of Ford as general agent at Cumberland and Wheeling, 1852-1874. Most of Ford's evidence deals with the role of the railroad during the Civil War and its relations with the state of West Virginia. There are copies of letters from John S. Carlile, J.W. Garrett, George B. McClellan, Francis H. Pierpont, and Edwin M. Stanton. The correspondence is with Ford's attorney, William P. Preston of Baltimore.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

John Jacob Cornwell (1867-1953), Governor, Papers and Records 78.2 Linear Feet Summary: 78 ft. 2 1/4 in. (184 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (2 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 wrapped package, 5 1/2 in.); (2 oversize folders, 1/4 in.); (1 rolled storage tube, 4 in.)

Cornwell, John J. (John Jacob), 1867-1953

Papers of the fifteenth governor of West Virginia who was a newspaper publisher in Romney, an orchardman, lawyer, and counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. There are a few papers of W.B. Cornwell. The collection includes: personal and business correspondence, 1896-1953; correspondence as governor, 1916-1922; legal papers, ca.1843-1916; and material relating to "Cornwell Day," 1931; Baltimore and Ohio and other railroads; Romney Orchard Company, ca. 1916-1919; South Branch Development Company, ca.1913-1926; newspaper publishing; and other subjects. Box 100 includes papers regarding women's suffrage, including a proclamation by Governor Cornwell to extend the legislative session of 1920 in order to address the suffrage amendment, among other legislative concerns.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Johnson Newlon Camden (1828-1908) Papers 52.6 Linear Feet Summary: 52 ft. 7 in. (95 document cases, 5 in. each); (48 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (4 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each)

Camden, J. N. (Johnson Newlon), 1828-1908
Correspondence, maps, business records and other papers of a U.S. Senator, Democratic politician, and promoter of the oil industry, railroads, and coal and timber resources of West Virginia. The papers regard Camden's purchase of land in the 1850s; his activities in oil production and refining, 1860-1875; his presidency of the Camden Consolidated Oil Company and the Baltimore United Oil Company; the affairs of the Stewart Brick Company of Parkersburg; the Virginia debt controversy; and his development of railroads, including the Ohio River Railroad, the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad, and Monongahela River Railroad, 1879-1892. See the "Scope and Content Note" for more information.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

John Thomas McGraw (1856-1920) Papers 3.75 Linear Feet Summary: 3 ft. 9 in. (9 document cases, 5 in. each)

McGraw, John Thomas, 1856-1920

Papers of a Grafton attorney who was a lawyer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and prosecuting attorney of Taylor County, West Virginia, assistant to Governor J.B. Jackson, collector of internal revenue for West Virginia, and a member of the Democratic National Committee. There are case papers and letters pertaining to McGraw's law practice; records relating to the purchase, sale, and development of timber, coal, and oil lands; and records of his directorships in the Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad, and the Iron Valley and Morgantown Railroad companies. The papers reflect many aspects of activities of the Democratic Party in West Virginia, ca. 1880-1899. There is a scrapbook of Rose McGraw relating largely to Mount de Chantal Academy at Wheeling. There is also a Yale Law School Senior Examination for 1876. Correspondents include J.N. Camden, John J. Cornwell, H.G. Davis, Alston G. Dayton, C.J. Faulkner, A.B. Fleming, John B. Floyd, Alvaro F. Gibbens, Septimus/Septimius Hall, J.J. Jackson, John J. Jacob, Virgil A. Lewis, Earl W. Oglebay, William A. Ohley, George C. Sturgiss, A.B. White, Israel C. White, W.P. Willey, and William Wilson.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Content Warning

ARVAS is an aggregator of archival resources. ARVAS does not have control of the descriptive language used in our members’ finding aids.

Finding aids may contain historical terms and phrases, reflecting the shared attitudes and values of the community from which they were collected, but are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical or mental ability; religion; sex; and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Many institutions and organizations are in the process of reviewing and revising their descriptive language, with the intent to describe materials in more humanizing, inclusive, and harm-reductive ways. As members revise their descriptive language, their changes will eventually be reflected in their ARVAS finding aids.

Limit your search

more »

more »

more »

more »

more »