Collections

A framed lithograph of the James Barns residence in Cumberland Township, near Carmichaels, PA with an insert consisting of a drawing of the first successfully operating engine in Greene Co., ca. 1833, located in the Barns woolen factory on Muddy Creek, near Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. Included is an account by the donor about the Barns family of north central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. Mention is made of abolitionism, agricultural trends, James Barns, William Shinn Barns, George Brown, Madison College, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Protestant Church, Asa Shinn, Uniontown, PA, Waitman T. Willey, and the woolen industry.

Papers, photographs and maps of a wealthy Morgantown family with interests in real estate and coal mining. Most of the business papers are those of J. M. G. Brown, a West Virginia University law school alumnus, who was president of Scotts Run Fuel Corporation. Brown was also a housing developer whose company, Suburban Real Estate of Morgantown, was a competitive concern not only locally but throughout north central West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. There are papers indicating his attempts to open Morgantown to airline service. His sister, Mary Virginia Brown was a genealogist and local historian noted for A History of the Negroes of Monongalia County. Among her papers are genealogies of the Bannister, Brown, Bushey, Dorsey, Suter and Williams families. There are also original documents of Colonel William McCleary, an early settler of Morgantown. There is also a manuscript "List of Taxable Property for 1786, Monongalia County," including five pages listing residents and their "tithables," horses, and cattle.

Scrapbooks, mainly of newspaper clippings, maintained by a mining engineer, geologist, and businessman from Charleston. The scrapbooks contain clippings, announcements, and a few letters relating to Krebs' business, Charleston civic affairs, and professional engineering organizations. Topics covered include: the oil boom at Blue Creek in 1912; oil field development in Kanawha and Clay counties; oil and coal shipments on the C.&O.; coal, oil, gas, and coke production figures; report on the coal strike of 1922; surveys of West Virginia's coal, oil, and gas resources; machinery used in coal production; disputed land claims of the Colonial Timber and Coal Corporation, 1923; the New River Coal field; drainage areas and water power in West Virginia; Hinton Dam; Pennsylvania bituminous districts; rate hearings of the United Fuel Gas Company; early coal and gas operations in West Virginia; Norfolk and Western Railway affairs; silicosis cases resulting from the Hawks Nest tunnel construction, 1933; and bituminous coal prices in West Virginia and the U.S., 1906-1925.

Papers of Fletcher Brock, a Pennsylvania legislator from Blacksville, and of his family. Mainly correspondence between Fletcher and his son H.W. about medical schools, health problems, and family news. There are also letters to and from Fletcher Brock about local and national political issues such as temperance, slavery, roads, and elections.

This collection consists of a quarterly journal and copies of unrecorded Monongalia County, WV wills. The journal, Keyhole, a quarterly publication of the Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania, features two articles which discuss West Virginia residents: "Unrecorded Monongalia County, West Virginia wills," Ruth E. Renton and Raymond Martin Bell and "McCollock of Ohio County, West Virginia," Raymond Martin Bell. In "Unrecorded Monongalia County, West Virginia Wills" the authors provide information concerning unrecorded wills of persons living in Monongalia County (present day Washington County, Pennsylvania.) The four unrecorded wills are Moses Cooper of Roxburg, Morris County, New Jersey, 1777 April 1; Benjah Dunn of Monongalia County, 1778 February 19; Stephen Ulery of Ten Mile Creek, Monongalia County, 1778 March 10; and David Wright of Monongalia County, 1778 August 26. The article also lists Charles McRobbins (alias Roberts) as Larry had a will written 1775 October 6. Copies of the unrecorded wills are included with the collection. Although these copies are copies of copies they are in excellent condition. Bell's "McColloch of Ohio County, West Virginia" discusses the genealogy of the McColloch family of Ohio and Hampshire counties.

Papers of Judge Gideon D. Camden (1805-1891) of Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia, and papers of his grandson Wilson Lee Camden (1870-1958). Gideon D. Camden was a lawyer, Democratic politician, member of the Virginia Convention of 1850-1851, circuit judge, and state senator (1872-1876). His papers include correspondence, legal and business papers, surveys and plats, and printed material. Subjects include Virginia, West Virginia, and national politics; the railroad, oil, timber, and coal industries; and Camden's law practice. Wilson Lee Camden papers include correspondence, legal papers, surveys and plats, printed material, business manuscripts, photographs, map, and ledgers. Subjects include the settlement of his grandfather's estate, and extensive coal, timber, land, railroad, and oil interests in West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. See Scope and Content Note for more information.

A card file of the Greene County Historical Society, Pennsylvania, containing genealogical notes and index entries for genealogical sources relating to Greene County, PA and the surrounding region for the period ca. 1740-1980. The cards are alphabetized by name.

An account book, payroll ledgers, bills and invoices of Isaac and Josiah Williams, Uniontown, PA brick manufacturers. Included is a separate account, written by the donor about the Williams family and their importance in the local history of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

The ledgers highlight the business activities of iron furnaces and stores owned by Isaac Meason, a pioneer iron producer in Fayette County, Pennsylvania (arguably the first west of the Allegheny Mountains). The volumes include records of Union Furnace, Union Iron Works, Mt. Vernon Furnace, Centre Furnace, and a record of teamster work. A small portion of one volume includes a common pleas court docket for Fayette County, PA in the 1830s.