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Letter from 1842 authored by Peter G. Van Winkle (1808-1872) regarding business and political matters. Van Winkle was a Parkersburg attorney, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, member of the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861-1862, legislator from Wood County in 1863, U.S. Senator from 1863-1869, and participant in West Virginia railroad and business enterprises. Contains original manuscript and typescript copy of a letter from Van Winkle, Parkersburg, to Charles P. Bailey, dated April 12, 1842, describing his opinions on imports and foreign debt, a tariff on foreign imports, a proposed national bank, internal improvements, and other subjects of political importance in the early forties.

Four page letter, and receipt for stock, of Peter G. Van Winkle (1808-1872), a Parkersburg attorney, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, member of the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861-1862, legislator from Wood County in 1863, U.S. Senator from 1863-1869, and participant in West Virginia railroad and business enterprises. The four page manuscript letter with envelope is from Van Winkle, Baltimore, Maryland, to George O. Welles and the committee of council in Parkersburg regarding the sale of railroad bonds in the town (12 October 1855). The receipt is for the purchase of stock in the Northwestern Virginia Railroad Company, signed by Van Winkle (15 September 1854).

Personal papers and scrapbooks of Peter G. Van Winkle (1808-1872), a Parkersburg attorney, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851, member of the Second Wheeling Convention of 1861, delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861-1862, legislator from Wood County in 1863, U.S. Senator from 1863-1869, and participant in West Virginia railroad and business enterprises. Includes manuscripts speeches, essays, correspondence, and three scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Highlights include a manuscript speech on the American Colonization Society, which helped found the colony of Liberia (undated); a letter to the president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company (March 18, 1836); a draft of "Address of the Delegates composing the New State Constitutional Convention to their Constituents" (1863). Other subjects of Van Winkle's writings include the U.S. Constitution, philosophical and religious writings (including the rights and nature of mankind), and Virginia and West Virginia politics. The scrapbooks are mostly full of clippings, with subjects including the Northwestern Turnpike, politics, and the development of Parkersburg (1827-1902, undated). One of the scrapbooks also includes journal entries (1834-1844).