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Correspondence, deeds, financial and military records, newspaper clippings, and photographs of a Democratic politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1933-1942, newspaper editor, and businessman from Weston, Lewis County. Subjects covered include the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the coal and glass industries. Correspondents include David Goff, Charles E. Hodges, Charles Lively, Alfred E. Smith, Harold L. Ickes, Joe L. Smith, Jennings Randolph, Clarence W. Meadows, James A. Farley, William E. Chilton, Arthur B. Koontz, and Harley M. Kilgore.

Photographs and other material of the Butcher family of Lewis County, West Virginia. Includes portrait and candid photos, William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1911), a statement from Weston City Hospital for the birth of a child (1948), a radio program (1969), a Weston High School class ring (1933), and Weston High School commencement materials (1966). The photos depict Wilda Juanita Turner Butcher (1915-1999), Weston High School class of 1933 and owner of the ring; her husband, Robert Hugh Butcher (1912-1996); her mother, Laura "Dolly" Kemper Turner (1869-1959); her father, Claude Turner (1891-1968); and her children, Elizabeth and James. The radio program is the "Brotherhood" segment of the Campus Lines radio program produced by Fairmont State College (now Fairmont State University), with interviews and music selection by James Butcher. The Weston High School commencement materials, including an announcement, "Annual Sermon to the Seniors," and commencement program, document the last class of the school prior to consolidation into Lewis County High School for the 1966-1967 school year.

Collection of Lewis County local history material collected by Dick Ralston of Buckhannon. Includes genealogy and history, and photographs of the Ralston family. Also includes Gray and Sons maps of Wheeling, Morgantown, Clarksburg, and Fairmont. See Scope and Content for details.

Two original commissions belonging to General J.A.J. Lightburn (1824-1901); the first commissioning him a Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the Virginia Volunteers, signed by F. H. Pierpont, Governor of the restored government of Virginia (August 14, 1861), and the second commissioning him a Brigadier General of Volunteers, signed by Abraham Lincoln (March 16, 1863). Also includes typescript copy of a newspaper article regarding a Fourth of July celebration honoring General Lightburn, held at Weston, West Virginia, in 1865, which includes a transcription of a speech delivered by him.

Indenture between sellers Daniel Stringer, Millie Stringer, Lewis Maxwell and buyer Robert W. Collins for the sale of land in the town of Preston, Lewis County, (West) Virginia, dated December 1818. This copy of the indenture may have been a draft or unofficial copy; it does not record the full date or the names of witnesses. The town of Preston changed its name to Weston in 1819.

Papers of Lewis Maxwell, an attorney at Weston including primarily letters from clients concerning land in West Virginia, 1840-1859. Correspondents include J.H. Diss Debar, John S. Carlile, Matthew Edmiston, J.M. Bennett, and Benjamin H. Latrobe. Other subjects covered include railroad legislation and construction and the surfacing of the Weston-Clarksburg road.

The business papers and legal correspondence of Louis Bennett (1849-1918) of Weston, a wealthy landowner and lawyer. Also included are papers of his father Jonathan M. Bennett and the latter's associate Gideon D. Camden.

Includes photocopies of newspaper clippings and two photographs of the Richard Hoffman Harrison home (ca. 1900-1910) on Center Avenue in Weston, Lewis County, West Virginia. Photocopied newspaper clippings consist of an article about the wedding of Dr. George I. Keener and Rowena Isabella Beattie (1898), two biographical articles about Richard H. Harrison on occasion of his 80th birthday (1939), and on occasion of his 52 years of service to St. Paul's Church in Weston (1940), and obituaries of Mrs. G. I. Keener (Rowena Isabella Beattie) (n.d.), Mrs. Flora Beattie (1919), Kathleen Beattie Harrison (1946), and Richard Hoffman Harrison (1950).

Materials collected by Roy Bird Cook regarding General Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn. Includes letters sent to Dr. Bird regarding General Lightburn and the Lightburn family, newspaper clippings regarding Lightburn and the Civil War in West Virginia, two maps, a pamphlet, and other material. See the "Historical Note" for further information about General Lightburn.

Papers of Thomas Tavenner and the Tavenner family of western Virginia, including correspondence; memoirs; journals; financial and legal documents; pamphlets; newspapers; and other material. Much of the material in this collection regards the Civil War. The Tavenner family were Confederate sympathizers.