The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Harrison Hagans Account Books, Ms1988-057, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Harrison Hagans Account Books were purchased by Special Collections in 1988.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Harrison Hagans Account Books commenced and was completed in May 2013.
Harrison Hagans, son of George and Persis Eggleston Hagans, was born Vergennes, Vermont, on June 17, 1796. Around 1815, the Hagans family moved to what is now Preston County, West Virginia, settling permanently near what is now the community of Brandonville in 1818. Harrison Hagans married Jane McCollum (1796-1874), and the couple had eight children. Hagans became proprietor of a general store and served as president of the Greenville Mining and Manufacturing Company in 1836/1837. Around 1852, he built Virginia Furnace (also known as Muddy Creek Furnace and Josephine Furnace). He served as Brandonville's first postmaster, as a justice of the peace, and on several boards appointed to oversee local road construction projects. He was a member of the 1861 Wheeling convention, which led to the formation of the state of West Virginia, and of West Virginia state legislature in 1866/1867. Harrison Hagans died in Preston County on May 7, 1867, and was buried in Brandonville Cemetery.
This collection contains business ledgers attributed to Harrison Hagans, a general store proprietor and iron furnace operator in Preston County, (West) Virginia during the 19th century. The collection includes a time book said to have been maintained at Hagans' Muddy Creek Furnace (also known as Virginia Furnace and Josephine Furnace). The ledger provides names of workers and shows the number of days worked by each per month. The collection also includes daybooks maintained at Hagans' general store. The ledgers include dates of transactions, customer names, goods purchased, and prices paid.
The collection is arranged by ledger type, then chronologically.
The ledgers do not themselves identify Hagans as their owner/creator. One of the daybooks bears a cover that identifies Hagans' store as the source, but the cover appears to have been sewn on several decades after the transactions within were recorded. A check of census records, however, seems to confirm that the ledgers do originate from the time and place claimed. That the time book originated from Muddy Creek Furnace is derived from information provided by the seller of the collection. Secondary sources note that Harris opened the Muddy Creek Furnace (also known as the Virginia Furnace) 10-12 years after the creation of the ledger, but he was involved in similar concerns as early as 1836, and a few notations in the ledger hint that it was used by an iron furnace.
The guide to the Harrison Hagans Account Books by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).