Collections

Listings of delinquent lands issued by James E. Heath, Auditor of Virginia. Contains printed documents pertaining to Kenawha County [Kanawha County] (1832), Greenbrier County (1833), Nicholas County (1833), Ohio County (1833), Pocahontas County (1833), and Preston County (1833).

Research papers compiled by history professor Kenneth Fones-Wolf regarding his study of people who supported the Confederacy in Wheeling, (West) Virginia in 1861. Includes manuscript research notes and facsimiles of documents regarding prisoners of war; traitors; legislative petitions (topics include transportation, education, banking, temperance, and property); military service (including the Shriver Grays, a Confederate unit organized in Wheeling in 1861); religion; black newspapers and history; labor and socialism; and court records (includes marriages and naturalizations). Also includes material related to a class Dr. Fones-Wolf taught on these subjects.

Biographical and genealogical information relating to Lewis Johnson of West Liberty, Ohio County, WV, (1776 July 19-1820 ca) and his descendants. The information was supplied and compiled by Thomas A. McCammon, a descendant of Johnson, and Audra Wayne of Wheeling, WV. Wayne provided McCammon with a photocopy of a contract between M.D. Lewis and the English Day School in West Liberty State College, West Liberty, WV. Included among these works, "The Demise of Lewis Johnson" by James Armstrong Johnson as told to his grandson, Thomas A. McCammon. This work discusses events that may have contributed to the death of Lewis Johnson. Material covers the years 1776-1902.

A ledger and financial records of Logan Osborne (1836-39) also containing the will of Balamm Osborne. The ledger contains accounts of an assortment of general store goods from perishables such as food and candles to durable goods such as tools and carriages. There are Osborne family deeds, land contracts and letters about family matters and debt (1808-89). There are early nineteenth century state bank script from Louisiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. There are land indentures and legal papers from eighteenth century Virginia, mainly of Matthew Rankin and Thomas Rutherford who contended for property in Ohio County. There is the thirty-eight page diary of Cleon Moore, a Confederate soldier from Charles Town. As a volunteer regiment member he was eyewitness and participant in the siege and capture of John Brown at Harpers Ferry. His unit was again called out prior to Virginia's secession resolution. He recounts their early maneuvering, stationing and being consolidated in the Virginia Second Cavalry which served at the First Battle of Bull Run. The account ends with the early 1862 campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley of General "Stonewall" Jackson. There is Civil War related material of Logan Osborne including records of loans to the Confederate government, letters to family and friends recounting and justifying the events and cause of the Confederacy and an 1861 January 28 broadside, entitled: "To The People of Jefferson County...", of Logan Osborne as a Unionist candidate to the Virginia Secession Convention. Also there are early West Virginia political papers pertaining to Jefferson County such as an attempt to move the county seat to Sheperdstown. Also included are George Shutt business letters and certificates as a geologist; certificates from the United Daughters of the Confederacy to Mary M. Shutt; and Osborne family history, genealogy and obituaries of descendents.

Petitions from northwestern counties to the Virginia State legislature for internal improvements, namely turnpikes, railroads and river navigation claims. Mention is made of the Ohio River, Little Kanawha River, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Northwestern Turnpike.

Copies of the original surveyor readings of the portion of the National Road traversing West Virginia through Ohio County. The readings are surveyor calculations of area and meridian locations. There are also side notes mentioning special features such as watercourses like Wheeling Creek. Also includes a typed copy of a letter from Richard D. Delafield, a chief engineer of the survey, to James G. Totten stating changes in the course of the National Road survey east of the Ohio River.

Deed of 500 acres on Wheeling Creek, Ohio County from Martin and Mary Whetzel of Ohio County, Virginia to Jacob Crow of Greene County, Pennsylvania.

County court and public records consisting primarily of court dockets and records relating to these court proceedings, including order, execution, minute, and fee books. There are also various public records, including land records, birth, marriage, and death, estate settlement, and naturalizations. There are a small number of private papers of businesses involved in court cases.

Ledger containing financial statements and reports of the company's operations in Morgantown and Follansbee, and records of a subsidiary, the Cecil Lumber and Hardware Company of Elm Grove, in Ohio County, West Virginia.