Search

Correspondence and genealogical materials related to the William B. Edwards family of King George County, Virginia, and the Capt. William Sommerville family of Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These families were joined when Elizabeth Sommerville (1812-1886), daughter of the Revolutionary War veteran, married William B. Edwards (1810-1888), a Methodist clergyman from a planter family, in 1833.

Facsimiles of historical documents.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

Collection includes family correspondence of the Bowman, Veach, and Leeper families. Manuscripts include a recounting of the Civil War event known as "Jones' Raid." In another document Nathaniel Cochrane, an ancestor of Thomas Leeper, recounts his capture and imprisonment by indigenous people, along with a biography of Cochrane. Daily life for that time is captured in "Home Life of the Leeper Family." Other typescript histories include "Monongah," Thomas Leeper's diary regarding heavy rains and high waters of 1888, a history of West Monongah High School, and "History of the Leeper Family."

Additional papers of Ira E. Robinson, including ts. and photostat copies of papers concerning the Revolutionary War service of Col. John Gibson and Col. Archibald Lochry; a tls. From J. Wm. DeGrange with accompanying articles on army activities in the vicinity of Philippi, W. Va. during the Civil War; and a clipping and reprint of articles by I. E. Robinson. There are, also, facsimilies of ms. letters and poems by James Whitcomb Riley; tls written by Edmond Eitel for Mrs. Riley to Mr. Robinson; a diploma from Fairmont Normal, and several certificates of appointment signed by Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge, and [Wm.] M. O. Dawson; and autographed photographs of Herbert Hoover and Davis Elkins.

Copies of statements made by Revolutionary War soldiers to prove services in the war. Taken from county court records of Monongalia County.

Genealogical records compiled and collected by Mrs. Cox include correspondence, Revolutionary War records of Monongalia County veterans, Bible records of various West Virginia families, and the records of the Thomas Cox, James Curtis, George Dement, John Devore, Lewis Frankenberry, Dennis Springer, Joseph Bennett, John Burrough, Ulwrick Hostetter, Samuel Hyman, James Coburn (Cobun), Daniel Vanata, David Wherry, Whitham, and Jacob Wolfe families. The collection also includes the diary of J.H. Wherry, 1859, and the papers of Comrade Lawrence M. Cox, commander of the Colonel C.W. Cramer Camp, United States Spanish-American War Veterans, Morgantown, 1937-1939.

The Revolutionary war pension application records for Joseph Parsons, Samuel Bonnifield, and David Minear. These records consist of affidavits, letters, petitions, and applications.

Gift of the brothers and sisters of Thomas Ray Dille, lawyer, historian, and genealogist of Morgantown W.Va. This collection contains the family histories of the Dille, David Evans, and John Evans families, as well as the Ray, Stewart, McFarland, and Tennant families.