Search

Start Over Date range 1836 Places Berkeley County (W. Va.)

Arthur I. Boreman Papers 17.75 Linear Feet Summary: 17 ft. 8 1/2 in. (42 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.)

Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
Personal and business papers of Arthur I. Boreman (1823-1896), lawyer, U.S. senator, circuit court judge, and first governor of West Virginia. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to his judgeship and to the law firm of Boreman and Bullocks, Parkersburg, WV. Series include correspondence, notes on cases tried before Judge Boreman, envelope cases of material regarding legal cases in which Boreman was involved, financial material, and political and judicial printed material. Correspondence includes letters to Boreman from Francis H. Pierpont (1866-1867), which concern politics in West Virginia, the admission of Berkeley and Jefferson counties into the state, the Virginia debt, and Reconstruction in Virginia. There is little other material relating to the governorship or political activities. Additional correspondents include J.W. Davis, John J. Davis, D.D.T. Farnsworth, D.H. Strother, J.G. Jackson, Charles J. Faulkner, and E.W. Wilson. Also includes manuscripts of speeches; muster rolls; household accounts; civil and court case papers concerning oil well drilling and sales; railroad property inventories and operation; coal prices, shipping data, and strikes; liquid fuel transportation; and steam and tow boat cargoes, navigation data, and names of boats in service on the Ohio River. There is also genealogical information on P.G. Van Winkle and Ebenezer Zane, and a letter and deposition by J.H. Diss Debar. For more details and box-level contents list, see Scope and Content Note. For more information on Arthur I. Boreman, see Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Berkeley County Papers 1.04 Linear Feet 2 document cases, 5 in. each; 1 document case, 2.5 in.; 1 oversize folder

Berkeley County (W.Va.)
The papers and receipts of Sheriff Daniel Lefevre that reflect county business and his legal practice, with similar papers of other nearby residents. Also includes letters, documents, and news clippings about the socioeconomic, antebellum, and Civil War history of Berkeley County, [West] Virginia and Maryland. There are slave inventories containing descriptions and prices, and letters about the treatment of slaves and their conduct. Specific reference is made to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Campbell Family Papers 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Campbell family

Financial and farm records of James Campbell who owned a plantation near Arden, Berkeley County on which he also operated a store. The collection also includes a ledger and some loose financial papers of James L. Campbell who ran the family homestead.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Charles James Faulkner, Attorney and Politician, Facsimiles of Printed Material 0.17 Linear Feet Summary: 2 in. (1 folder, 1/4 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Faulkner, Charles James, 1806-1884
Facsimiles of printed material of Charles J. Faulkner (1806-1884), who was a Martinsburg attorney, Virginia legislator, member of Congress, and ambassador to France during the James Buchanan administration. Also includes some facsimiles of manuscript material. Materials relate to Faulkner and the eastern Panhandle. Topics include Virginia-West Virginia politics; the Strother Hotel in Berkeley Springs, (West) Virginia; Berkeley County Court of Appeals; Berkeley and Jefferson County Whig mass meetings; and the Martinsburg Savings Association. Authors include Charles J. Faulkner; John Strother, and various Whig Party members. The originals are in the collections of T.T. Perry, Jr.; Boyd Stutler; and Oglebay Institute. See inventory in control folder. For more information about Faulkner, see the Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Fred T. Newbraugh, Collector, Papers regarding Berkeley Springs 0.08 Linear Feet 2 folders, 1 in. total

Newbraugh, Fred T.

Material includes signed letter from David H. Strother to Perley Poore, Berkley Springs, March 25, 1858; lottery ticket for town lot in Bath, 1814; Porte Crayon autograph, and a slave list, Berkley County. Photostats of material in the Library of Congress include an signed letter from William Wirt to his daughter, August 31 1823 on Berkeley Springs; Thomas Jefferson to Mr. Rodney Washington, December 8, 1808 in regard to gambler Thomas Bailey's assault on Jefferson's secretary; portion of a Journal of President James K. Polk describing a visit to Bath in 1848; and a section of the journal of Samuel Vaughan noting a visit to Bath in 1787. The collection also includes a section of "Uria Brown's Journal" from the "Maryland Historical Magazine," volumes 11 and 12 (1915, 1916), detailing a visit to the springs at Bath.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

George Couchman Family Papers 0.40 Linear Feet Summary: 4 3/4 in. (1 flat document case); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Couchman, George
Papers of a Berkeley County, West Virginia, farmer and his descendants. Included are the estate papers of Nicholas Stroyer and business and legal papers of George, Henry J., Benjamin S. and Harman L. Couchman. There is the correspondence of Adrian W. Lamon, John W. Marshall, J. Marshall Neel, the Reverend A.A.P Neel of Shepherdstown (colportage agent of the Baltimore Conference M.E. Church South), Professor J. Wilbur Neel of Romney, and various members of the Couchman and Neel families. The collection includes the subscription list for the Reverend C.P. Heathe, 1823; quarterly reports and manuscript minutes of the Cherry Grove Grange, No.13, Patrons of Husbandry of West Virginia, Berkeley County, 1892, 1893; materials on Methodism in the Berkeley County area; pocket diaries; and family photographs.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Henshaw Family Correspondence 0.1 Linear Feet Summary: 1 in. (1 folder)

Henshaw family

Personal correspondence written to members of the Hiram and Mary Henshaw family of Mill Creek, Berkeley County, West Virginia, from their relatives between 1825 and 1876. Letters from the 1820s to 1840s are chiefly written from Sarah McConnell and William McConnell in Washington County, Virginia, to their sister, Mary Henshaw, and her children, Martha Henshaw Silver and James Henshaw. Topics include news about family activities, health issues, finances, education, gardening, and other household chores. Several letters from the late 1840s and early 1850s are from David Miller to his sister, Nancy Henshaw, and contain news about family relationships, deaths and family estates, and moving to California. Three letters from James McConnell to Martha Henshaw Silver in 1861 discuss the beginning of the Civil War and concern for family in the northern part of what will become West Virginia. Several letters from the late 1860s and 1876 are from Sarah McConnell, Rebecca Park, and Peter and Ellen Black. Topics chiefly include health, financial issues, household arrangements, and news of family and friends. Other correspondents include Isabella Henshaw, Sarah McKown, and D.C. McConnell. Collection also includes undated and unsigned letters; a 1786 land patent for Samuel Beall and an 1826 executor's account of an estate settlement.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Jim Comstock, Newspaper Editor and Collector, Papers 65.25 Linear Feet Summary: 65 ft. 3 1/4 in. (102 document cases, 5 in. each); (7 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (5 record cartons, 15 in. each); (2 record cartons, 17 in. each); (6 large flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); (2 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (8 large flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (8 flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (11 medium flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (10 large flat storage boxes, 3 1/2 in. each); (1 large flat storage box, 5 in.); (6 oversize folders, 1 1/4 in. total)

Comstock, Jim (James Franklin), 1911-1996
Papers of James ("Jim") Franklin Comstock of Richwood, West Virginia, whose position as editor of the West Virginia Hillbilly and avocation as collector and advocate of all things West Virginia led to the preservation of much of the state's physical, visual, and textual history. The collection includes materials Comstock collected about West Virginia history as well as his own personal and professional papers. Materials include: general series of historical documents such as letters, deeds, and county court cases pertaining to a diverse range of subjects (1717, 1754-1988, undated [includes facsimiles]); letters of Lucy Prichard, former instructor at Marshall College (now Marshall University) (1925-1927, undated); clippings and typescripts of Wirt County resident and Atlantic Monthly writer Louis Eckert Reed (ca. 1960-1975, undated); account books concerning economic development and commercial activities in the northern part of the state in the 19th and early 20th centuries (1830-1938); printed material about West Virginia schools, businesses, and events as well as non-West Virginia books and pamphlets (1829-1995, undated); Comstock's personal and professional correspondence (1882-1995, undated); a wide variety of photographs, including images of West Virginia cities and towns, among many others (ca. 1850s-1995, undated); microfilmed records of the Civil War and Dunmore's War (undated); glass lantern slides, which include views of scenery and buildings in Wheeling and various other locations in Ohio County, WV (1871-1897, undated); Grand Army of the Republic and U.S. military history scrapbooks (1883-1918); broadsides, including advertisements for a circus in Moundsville (ca. 1827-1960 [includes facsimiles]); and maps and atlases of pre- and post-statehood West Virginia, counties, colonial North America, and other topics (1730-1976, undated [includes facsimiles]). An addendum of 2013/05 includes additional personal and professional correspondence, publications, newspaper morgue files, photographs, audio-visual material, artifacts, scrapbooks, account books, and maps. For more information on Jim Comstock, see the Historical Note.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Martinsburg and Berkeley County Papers 0.15 Linear Feet Summary: 1 3/4 in. (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Martinsburg and Berkeley County
Newspaper clippings, manuscripts, pamphlets, typescripts, correspondence, and photographs relating to the history of Martinsburg and Berkeley County.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

William Seibert, Resident of Berkeley County, Virginia, Financial and Legal Papers 0.01 Linear Feet Summary: 1/4 in. (6 items in 1 folder)

Financial and legal papers of William Seibert of Berkeley County, Virginia. Contains three bills owed by Seibert, one for food, drink, horse feed, etc. that appears to be from an inn (1842; Philip Carper was the vendor), another bill for two years subscription to the German grave yard fence (1844), and another for a large water bucket (1846). Also contains one survey of land owned by Seibert (1819; ), articles of agreement between Samuel Seibert and George Newkirk concerning the sale of land in Berkeley County (1818; William S. Porterfield was the executor of the Newkirk estate), and an indenture between the same parties also concerning land in Berkeley County (1819). Seibert is also spelled Sibert and Seybert in the documents in this collection.
  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.