Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Papers of Judge Gideon D. Camden (1805-1891) of Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia. Camden was a lawyer, Democratic politician, member of the Virginia Convention of 1850-1851, circuit judge, and state senator (1872-1876). Includes correspondence, legal documents, photocopies of printed material, and land grants. Subjects of the correspondence include West Virginia politics; the elections of 1840, 1860, and 1861; Reconstruction; the Flick Amendment; Southern sentiment in Clarksburg; and the location of the capital. Other papers deal with Indian scouting between the West Fork and Buckhannon Rivers during the Revolution; land speculation in Harrison and nearby counties; New York merchants and the Civil War; public schools in Shepherdstown, 1850; the Meade Collegiate Institute; Mount de Chantal Academy; Wheeling Female Seminary; the Chicago, Parkersburg, and Norfolk Railroad; and the Virginia Debt Question. There are several items of correspondence of the Reverend John S. Martin which relate to Methodism in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., particularly camp meetings, parish life and the slave question. There are also original and photocopied land grants signed by James Monroe, Edmund Randolph, Patrick Henry, and Henry Lee (late 1700s to early 1800s). Correspondents include Judge John J. Allen, Robert M.T. Hunter, Alexander Campbell, Judge E. J. Pitts, James A. Hall, W.P. Cooper, George W. Thompson, Judge Hugh W. Shuffey, Thomas Maslin, William E. Arnold, J. M. Mason, and Samuel D. Tompkins.

Correspondence of A.F. Haymond and A. Brooks Fleming, Fairmont attorneys. Correspondents include J.M. Bennett, G.D. Camden, J. Carlile, Henry Mathews, and F.H. Pierpont mentioning politics, separation from Virginia, the Arthurdale community development, and routine legal business. Included are land and legal papers, 1760-1797, from Hampshire, Monongalia, and Ohio counties, mentioning Patrick Henry and Henry Lee. Also in the collection are: a leather billfold; estate papers and marriage records; stock certificates of early West Virginia public utility and industrial firms; and miscellaneous personal papers of A. Brooks Fleming.

Land grants, deeds, and a survey of the lands of Evan Morgan. Documents include: a 1791 grant for lands in Monongalia County, contracted by the Governor of Virginia, Henry Lee; an 1827 land indenture - deed regarding a transaction between Evan Morgan, James Johnson, and Benjamin Jacobs, referencing 50 acres along Booth's Creek in Monongalia County; an 1840 land deed recording the transfer of George McCall's land in Monongalia County to Thomas Morgan; a survey of land on Cobuns Creek in Monongalia County dated from 1781; and an 1876 land deed from Hiel J. Evans to Charles Morgan for transfer of land in St. Clair County, Missouri.

Land grant to Nathaniel Cochran, Monongalia County, West Virginia, for 150 acres dated 20 April 1784, signed by Governor Benjamin Harrison and a grant for 100 acres dated 15 April 1793, signed by Governor Henry Lee; appointment of Nathaniel Cochran as Captain of the First Battalion of the Seventh Regiment, Virginia militia, dated 8 May 1802 and signed by Governor James Monroe; note signed by Cochran et al. volunteering service to the Virginia Militia; and an undated list of men in Nathaniel Cochran's militia company.

ALS, Thomas Lewis, Point Pleasant, April 4, 1791, to Col. Henry "Light Horse" Lee, Washington. Describes Indian dangers on Ohio and Kanawha Rivers.

The papers of Colonel William McCleery of Morgantown, a Revolutionary War veteran, attorney, county clerk, prosecuting attorney, representative from Monongalia County to the Federal Constitutional Convention, founder of the Presbyterian Church in Morgantown, and landholder and purchasing agent. The papers include correspondence, typescripts, land records, and some printed materials. Much of the correspondence is between McCleery and his agent, Benjamin Oden of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, regarding a debt owed McCleery by General Henry Lee. Later letters to Matthew Gay concern the purchase, operation, and sale of the Monongalia Iron Works, and landholdings in Ohio and Indiana. The typescripts include sketches of McCleery, Isabelle Stockton McCleery, John Minor, and James Swan. Correspondents include William Shinn and James and John Swan. Other letters are by or mention Aaron Burr, William Haymond, Thomas Jefferson, Zackquill Morgan, and John Rutherford.