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Papers of the Brown, Parsons, and other West Virginia families and residents. Includes correspondence sent to J. Slidell Brown, a Democratic state senator from Elkins (1916-1935); announcements and programs for reunions of the Brown family of Preston County (1913-1930); a deed and copies of maps of land in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania (1846-1893, undated); financial documents, mainly tax receipts, of the Lilley family of Mercer County (1873-1910); correspondence sent to members of the Reckart family of Preston County (1910-1928); financial documents of W. G. Cambric of Harrison County (1895-1921); wedding announcements and other event invitations (ca. 1890-1920); holiday cards (ca. 1900); and other material.

Military records, business papers, and correspondence of a brigadier general, Kingwood attorney, state legislator, secretary of the West Virginia Horticultural Society, state adjutant general, and state Selective Service director. Other papers include a letter book, West Virginia National Guard, 1903-1907; state Selective Service memoranda, 1940-1947; and a "Historical Record of Selective Service in West Virginia." Other subjects include the Morgantown and Kingwood Railroad, Pierce's coal mining, public utilities, oil, timber, gas, fruit growing, and other business activities. Correspondents include William G. Conley, William M.O. Dawson, Davis Elkins, William E. Glasscock, Walter S. Hallanan, Lewis B. Hershey, Homer A. Holt, Harley M. Kilgore, J. Howard McGrath, Edward Martin, Clarence W. Meadows, E.F. Morgan, Matthew M. Neely, Okey L. Patteson, Chapman Revercomb, and Howard Sutherland. This collection also includes the business and legal papers, ca.1840-1890, of James H. Carroll, Kingwood attorney and editor of the PRESTON COUNTY HERALD.? Subjects include the presidential elections of 1856 and 1884 in West Virginia.? Other papers relate to Kingwood and area mercantile firms, and the operation of the PRESTON COUNTY JOURNAL, 1891-1894; and a circulation record of Preston County newspapers, 1889-1897. Correspondents include Gideon D. Camden and Henry G. Davis.

Papers of a Preston County farmer, merchant, and licensed exhorter of the Methodist Episcopal Church who served in the state legislature in the years 1870-1876. There are letters of H. Davis and William Ewin regarding land and coal properties in Preston County. Also included are minutes of the incorporators' meeting of the Iron Valley and Pennsylvania Railroad, 1873, as well as scattered items relating to the Methodist Episcopal Church, Kingwood; the Northwestern Turnpike at St. George; the Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad Company; Civil War bounty claims; the Rowlesburg Lumber and Iron Company; stave making; the Wheeling Female College; political and religious speeches; and the Morgantown District Camp Meeting Association, 1877.

Documents regarding the Hibbs family of Preston County, (West) Virginia and Union soldier Benjamin Hughes, who was a friend of the family. Civil War material includes a document granting furlough to Hughes, and a letter from him to L.W. Hibbs. There are also financial and legal documents, including land documents, tax records, and promissory notes, of transactions involving William Hibbs and Laban W. Hibbs; and a group photograph of William Hibbs and family. Please see "Scope and Content Note" for further information.

Includes records from several generations of the Deakins family of Montgomery County, Maryland and north central West Virginia. William (1742-1798) and Francis (1739-1804) Deakins, among the first generation, were active as land speculators after the American Revolution, applying their skills as surveyors to leverage acquisition of western lands. From 1778 their activities are documented through deeds, agreements, surveys, plats, surveyors' field books, court papers, and letters related to land purchased in Harrison, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Tucker, and Upshur counties. Other papers concern Leonard M. Deakins (1747-1824) and his descendants. Of special significance in the collection is the compass used by Francis Deakins to survey the "Deakins Line" in 1787-1788, a north-south line separating western Maryland from (West) Virginia.

Diaries written by Rogers for the years 1870-1871, 1874, 1876-1878, 1890-1902 which describe weather conditions, farm operations, his ministerial duties, and purchases for the farm and household. Ordained to preach by the Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1859, he served this as well as fourteen other churches in Preston, West Virginia, and adjoining counties. Included is a book of sermons with notes on biblical passages.

Papers of the Fairfax and Warman families of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Morgantown, and Kingwood. There are letters (1811-1874) to Elizabeth Fairfax from family members and friends; papers (1840-1851) of William Warman; papers on the settlement of the John Fairfax estate; a manuscript census book of Preston County for 1830; and an account book (1857-1872) of F.B.F. Fairfax. A few advertising circulars, 1866-1931, are included, as well as clippings on Morgantown and Monongalia County, 1868-1933.