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Start Over Subjects Statehood politics -- West Virginia

Aten Family Civil War Letters 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Aten family
The Aten Family Civil War letters chronicle the Union Army service of James, John, and Henry Aten. James Aten returned to his native Hancock County from Illinois in February 1861 and enlisted in the First WV Volunteer Infantry for a three-month tour in May 1861. He reenlisted in the Twelfth WV Volunteer Infantry and saw service along the B & O Railroad, the Shenandoah Valley, along the James River and at one point he was a prisoner of war. John and Henry Aten served in the 85th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and served in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. John was hospitalized at one point. The letters give good military and political perspectives.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Charles H. Ambler (1876-1957) Papers 5 Linear Feet Summary: 5 ft. (12 document cases, 5 in. each)

Ambler, Charles Henry, 1876-1957

Collection includes original copies of correspondence relating to Virginia and West Virginia, as well as newspaper clippings, photographs, and research notes. Events pertaining to the Civil War and the formation of West Virginia are covered. Among the most important items are the private correspondence of Waitman T. Willey (1835-1861 and 1866-1868); data pertaining to education in Mason County, West Virginia (1861-1875); typescript copies of letters of Samuel Woods (see also A&M 1445); typescript copies of diary of Lieutenant Fabricius Augustus Cather (for originals, see A&M 3633); private correspondence (1939-1941); Mercer County records; Marion County records; McDowell County records; and Jackson, Mineral, Raleigh, Taylor, Pendleton, Pleasants, Greenbrier, and Wood County items. Also includes information relating to Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown, and Parkersburg. Other matters of interest are contained in letters written by John Brown, Wills DeHass, and Alexander Boetler, and references to Stonewall Jackson, James Rumsey, genealogy of the Robertson family, and battles of the Civil War.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Charles H. Ambler (1876-1957) Papers 13.25 Linear Feet Summary: 13 ft. 3 in. (27 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (7 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/2 in.)

Ambler, Charles Henry, 1876-1957

Personal and professional correspondence (1914-1956), typescripts, research notes, clippings, photographs, maps, drafts and manuscripts of published and unpublished historical studies. The correspondence includes a number of letters from historians in the 1920s and 1930s. Other subjects covered in the papers include the McNeill Rangers, the Civil War, Moravian Missionaries, floods in the South Branch Valley, and secondary education in West Virginia.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Davis Family Papers 0.4 Linear Feet Summary: 5 in. (1 document case)

Davis, John J. (John James), 1835-1916

One box of material including original and typescript copies of letters exchanged between Anna Kennedy and J.J. Davis for the period 1860-1862. Also included is material on the Chapin family, Davis and Steen family genealogy and Reed family Bible. Correspondents are J.J. Davis, Anna Kennedy, J.W. Davis, Phineas Chapin, Rev. Asa Brooks, and J. W. Wayland. John W. Davis' certificate of Admission to practice before the Supreme Court of West Virginia dated 1896. His sponsor was Melville Davisson Post and President of the Court was Homer Holt. Also, Davis' commission as a Notary Public dated 1898.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Francis Harrison Pierpont (1814-1899) Papers 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (1 folder)

Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814-1899
Correspondence, appointment, and notice. Correspondence includes a letter from Gideon D. Camden to Pierpont (1841); a letter from Frances Pierpont Pryor (F.H. Pierpont's granddaughter) to Professor Charles Ambler regarding documents of her grandfathers' which she is sending him and documents she will keep (1952); and a letter from Charles MacCarthy to W.H. Siviter, regarding Pierpont papers used by MacCarthy in writing his Lincoln's Plan of Reconstruction (1899). Also includes Francis H. Pierpont's appointment to the West Virginia University Board of Regents (1869) and a Society of the Army of West Virginia reunion notice (1884).
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Francis H. Pierpont, Civil War Correspondence 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814-1899
A letter from Peter G. Van Winkle (8 Nov. 1862) and another letter from Colonel T.M. Harris (4 Sept. 1862) to Francis H. Pierpont, Governor of Restored Virginia. Van Winkle's letter speaks of the poor prospects of the proposed new state's survival, particularly the guerrilla threat south of the Little Kanawha River. Colonel Harris conveys from a wounded Confederate officer a warning that General Loring is planning an offensive into western Virginia.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

George Ellis Moore Manuscript 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 small flat storage box, 3 in.)

Moore, George Ellis
Manuscript of BANNER IN THE HILLS by George Ellis Moore, presenting the story of secession and the Civil War in western Virginia and tracing the steps by which West Virginia was created.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

George Ellis Moore Manuscript 0.4 Linear Feet Summary: 5 in. (1 document case)

Moore, George Ellis
Manuscript of BANNER IN THE HILLS by George Ellis Moore, presenting the story of secession and the Civil War in western Virginia and tracing the steps by which West Virginia was created.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

George Robert Latham (1832-1917), Civil War and West Virginia Statehood Papers 0.2 Linear Feet Summary: 2 in. (3 folders)

Latham, George Robert, 1832-1917.
Correspondence, speeches and essays, and other papers pertaining to the military and diplomatic service of Colonel George R. Latham (1832-1917), who was a delegate to the Wheeling Convention in 1861, colonel of the 2nd West Virginia Infantry during the Civil War, a member of Congress from 1865 to 1867, and the United States consul in Australia from 1867 to 1870. Materials from the late 1860s and early 1870s relate to the consulate in Melbourne. These include shares of the Fiji Adventure of the Polynesia Company (1869) and papers regarding the Civil War soldier pension of Arthur Sharpley (1872), who appointed Latham as his attorney. Materials from 1914 to 1917 relate to Latham's pursuit of historical information about West Virginia statehood, the Civil War, and various Constitutional matters. It appears that Latham was gathering this information in preparation for writing his reminiscences. Also included are speeches and essays, most of which were probably written by Latham, on U.S. public lands, the constitutionality of West Virginia statehood, and Memorial Day and the Civil War.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Harrison Hagans (1796-1867) Papers 12 Linear Feet 12 ft. (22 document cases, 5 in. each); (6 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (4 small flat storage boxes, 5 in. each); (3 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each)

Hagans, Harrison (1796-1867)
Papers of the Hagans family of Preston County, West Virginia, including Harrison, Elisha, George M., Henry C., John Marshall, Zer Hagans, and others. There are letters, invoices, account books, advertisements, and other business records pertaining to family business enterprises including several general merchandise stores and outlets in western Pennsylvania and Maryland, and at Brandonville, Kingwood, Greenville, and Palatine, West Virginia. There are several postal records from Harrison Hagans' twenty years as postmaster, 1822-1841, at Brandonville, and magistrate papers and deeds, most regarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. There are also financial records documenting Hagans' tenure as president of the Greenville Mining and Manufacturing Company which produced iron in Preston County in the 1830s. Other information records Hagans' interests in: county roads, schools, churches, government and politics; the Preston Telegraph Company; a fulling mill, 1827; and a linseed oil mill, 1842. There are Hagan patents for a washing and wringing machine (1845), and working models of mowing and threshing machines. There is a volume of minutes of the quarterly conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1834-1859, and 1861 Wheeling Convention papers regarding a new state government, and Civil War letters from family and friends.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

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