This collection consists of manuscripts and bound volumes, ca. 1808-1945, ca. 2,125 items (9 Hollinger boxes, ca. 4 linear feet) pertaining to five major different residents or families of Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia), including sermons, ledgers, personal and business correspondence, accounts, receipts, and diaries, of merchant James Markell (d. 1872), the Reverend John T. Hargrave, Presbyterian circuit rider, the Swearingen family, and the medical practice of Dr. John Briscoe (died 1835) and Dr. John Quigley (born 1802). Briscoe treated many of the area slaves as his ledgers contain numerous references to them; his practice was taken over by Dr. John Quigley in 1835.

The material is grouped alphabetically by the name of the person it chiefly concerns except for the bound volumes which are all placed at the end of the collection in Boxes 7-9. The first group of papers is the nine letters, 1834-1838, of Milton J. Brown, Constable at Shepherdstown, which discuss the advantages and attractions of the West (1834 Dec 16) and the collection of debts for others.

A large group of material consisting of correspondence, accounts and receipts, and sermons, pertains to the Reverend John T. Hargrave, a Presbyterian circuit rider, Shepherdstown, Jefferson County. Accounts and receipts concerning slavery or African-Americans include: tax receipts for 1836, 1837, 1839 & 1841; a mention of a "colored woman Peggy" (1849 Nov 28); and the hire of Ben (1839). Other accounts or receipts concerning education include: teacher's fee (1849 Jul 11) and Newark Academy fees for his sons, John & William (1850 Jan 16).

Topics in Hargrave's correspondence include the following: a description of a religious revival in New Haven [Connecticut ?] (1820 Sep 7); the attempts of Hargrave, the executor for the estate of the Rev. W.C. Walton, to help L.M. Walton, hire out the slaves, George and Ben (1837 Feb 10); the work of Hargrave and the condition of the churches at Middleburg, Loudoun County, and at Shepherdstown (1853 Jan 20; Apr 18, Jul 18; and n.d.); the loss of the vessel (1854 Oct 13); questions concerning the Revolutionary War service of Captain Alexander Rose (1856 Sep 9); and the move of his son, William Hargrave, to Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas, [ca. 1855 ?] to practice law, and the attractiveness of raising cattle there (1855 Jan 24, Mar 12, & n.d.).

The sermons of John T. Hargrave, 1829-1856, and undated, usually have the dates and places of delivery on the reverse, and are filed chronologically by the earliest year in which they were delivered. Undated sermons are grouped by whether they are topical or consist of scriptural exposition. Hargrave's circuit included Middleburg, Aldie, Lynchburg, and the Shenandoah Valley.

Another large group of material pertains to James Markell, a merchant of Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Virginia, whose earliest correspondence, ca. 1826-1833, from family and friends dates from his stay in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with merchant John Newton Lane, learning the mercantile trade. Family members include sisters Betsy and Lydia A. Markell, and his brothers, John and Daniel. From 1835-1836, Markell worked in Shepherdstown for Messrs. John N. Lane and Willoughby L. Webb, who later became a partner in business with Markell under the name Webb & Markell, ca. 1840-1848, until they dissolved their partnership late in 1848. He apparently went into business with Mr. [L.C. Heskitt ?] in 1851. Most of the correspondence after 1840 concerns business and financial matters.

Correspondence of Markell pertaining to slavery includes: hiring of slaves (1846 Nov 13; 1853 Mar 1, May 10, & Dec 26; 1855 Sep 13; 1857 Feb 19; 1861 Mar 16; and several undated); the possible purchase of a Negro woman from Hagerstown (1840 Apr 9); the sale of a woman and her children belonging to Markell (1855 Jan 3; 1857 Jan 24, Dec 23); the purchase of a slave (1841 [?] 29; 1842 Mar 8); and the sale or hire of estate slaves by R. B. Semple (1846 Nov 13; 1852 Dec 24; 1853 Feb 28; 1854 May 3; and undated).

Other topics in Markell's correspondence include: the election of Andrew Jackson as President (1828 Dec 11); a planned trip to Washington to see Jackson's inauguration (1829 Feb 25); local excitement in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, including a runaway stage, the burning in effigy of the anti-Masonic candidate for Congress, and the killing of a panther within three miles of town (1830 Nov 22); the death of Joseph Van Swearingen on January 20, 1831, Dr. Quigley in Kentucky, snow from Maine to Georgia, and the destruction of shipping along the coast (1831 Feb 5); the outbreak of disease at Shepherdstown (1833 Aug 14); a description of a robbery attempt at a store in Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania, and the dissatisfaction towards General Jackson in this part of Pennsylvania (1834 Jan 17); the marriage of James Markell to Elizabeth S. (1839 Nov 9); H.J. Foster, teacher at the Academy, New London, Campbell County, Virginia, his health and the school (1847 Sep 25, Nov 9; 1848 Jan 24; for additional Foster correspondence see the folder with Kate Van Doren correspondence in Box 6); and the insurance and arrangements for the "[Woolen ?] Factory" of Webb & Markell at Shepherdstown (1847 Oct; 1848 Sep 12; 1849 Mar 5, Apr 17; 1852 Jan 12, Mar 3; 1853 Mar 18).

Other topics include: the uproar in the congregation of the Presbyterian Church in New London, Campbell County, Virginia, over the marriage of their minister to an older woman (1848 Jan 24); the termination of the partnership between Webb and Markell (1848 Nov 1, 22, & 28); the financial affairs of artist Alexander Robinson Boteler (1815-1892), who was also an United States and Confederate congressman (1849 Apr 17; 1852 Apr 21; 1853 Oct 25, Nov 1, 21; 1854 Apr 18, Jul 3, Nov 10; 1856 Jan 9; [1867?]; and undated); a severe snow storm at Warrenton, Virginia (1857 Jan 24); the potential of a tobacco business at Lynchburg, Virginia (1850 Sep 4, Dec 31); permission for Markell to use the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal's slip of land near Shepherdstown for a coal and lumberyard (1851 Apr 12); women rejoice in their financial control of a sinking fund at their church in Frederick, Maryland (1852 Dec 31); the decision of A.C. Heaton to leave the Presbyterian Church at Shepherdstown (1854 Sep 20, Nov [?]); various ideas for business ventures at Alexandria, Virginia (1855 Feb 5); and references to the death of Daniel Markell, brother of James Markell (1856 Jul 2; 1857 Mar 22).

Additional subjects in Markell's correspondence include: letters from Markell's servant, Lydia Baker [slave hire ?] (1856 Dec 27; 1857 Dec 30); the death of Mary [Mason ?] (1858 Mar 1); advice from Willoughby L. Webb to Markell on re-entering the mercantile business (1860 Mar 22); the effect of the threat of secession by the South on business, "Whether they will carry out their hastily made up resolutions, and secede or not, one thing the fuss they have made and are making is playing the mischief with money matters and of consequence a stagnation in trade. And if continued will break up a number of merchants who would get along if it were not for this excitement. I do not pretend to know much about what effect, a dissolution of the Union would have on us here on the line, as it were between the two belligerents, one thing I , however, that neither the or the will be benefitted." (1860 Nov 13) and "I know very well, however, that for Maryland and Virginia to be connected with South Carolina and other cotton states in a Southern Confederacy would result very disastrous to the agricultural portion of the commissions, or in other words interest." (1861 Feb 7).

Other topics include: a reference to a recommendation supporting Markell's application for a job with the Post Office which stressed that Markell had no sympathy with the doctrine of secession and mentions the postponement of the Peace Institute due to the impending conflict (1861 Jan 22); the wheat market (1861 Feb 21; Mar 12 & 13); thankfulness for President Andrew Johnson concerning the prospects of the South and advice not to send Markell's girls to school north of the Potomac (1866 Sep 4); mention of Markell's daughters, Sally Morgan and Almira (1866 Sep 4); the statement of Markell that he had not had control of his farm since the Civil War began and now he must sell to pay his debts (1866 Oct 3); an inquiry about a missing soldier wounded in the Valley, Lt. Thomas B. Davis, 2nd Virginia Cavalry, Fitz Lee's Division, possibly at "Sheridan's Hospital" (1864 Dec 6); and the request by Almira Markell to her father to allow her to give up her geography class because she felt harassed for being a Southerner (1868 Jan 27).

Markell family accounts and receipts pertaining to slavery or African-Americans include: slave sales (1838 Nov 8; 1840 Oct 13; 1849 Feb 1); expenses incurred in transporting the Negroes of James H. Swearingen from Shepherdstown to Fort Osage, Missouri (1843 Apr 29); the purchase of Gabriel (1843 Apr 10; Aug 4, 9); tax bills (1833, 1845); slave hires of an unnamed slave (1851 Dec 27), of James (1857 Dec 21, 25) and George (1857 May 16); [slave ?] servant Lydia (1865 Apr 17); and an account of "Thornton Smith (Black Man)" (1851 May 19).

Markell family accounts and receipts include the following subjects: work done for the windmill of Daniel Markell, Sr. (1828); William Markell's militia fine, 55th Regiment (1830); receipt from Hand's Canal Line, Philadelphia (1834); trader's license, Tapscott & Rutherford, Washington County, Virginia (1835); work done on the Webb & Markell factory (1845 Mar 4, Sep 20, Dec); wheat receipts of A.R. Boteler (1846); the dissolution of Webb & Markell partnership (1848 Oct 14 & 23); the will of Daniel Markell written before setting off for California (1849 Oct 11); the beginning of the business of Kennedy, Markell & Company (1850 May 13); controversy with Price over the financial affairs of the factory (several pieces 1852 & 1853); and payments to agricultural workers (1853 Jun).

Subjects mentioned in the Markell family correspondence include: politics at a girl's school, "Linden Hall" Lititz, Pennsylvania (1868 Oct 15); death of James Markell (1872 Jan 9, see also William Morgan's correspondence, March 23, 1872); the loss of most of the property during the Civil War (1873 Dec 21); the schooling of the youngest daughter, born on January 18, 1858 (1876 Jan 18); a detailed description of a trip to Governor's Island, New York, and other nearby places (1880 Jul 27); Almira Markell at Aberdeen, Dakota, with C.A. Bliss, General Merchandise (1884 Apr 8); various church groups for women (1889 Apr 9); a request that the story of a Washington County sheriff hanged for the murder of his wife not be told in a proposed county history (1906 Jun 17 & 26); and an attempt to reclaim land in Missouri willed to Daniel Markell's children and nieces following the Civil War (1908 Oct 15).

Other families with correspondence or financial papers in this collection include: the Owen family, Dr. John Quigley, Mrs. Henry Baylor Reinhart, R.C. Ringgold and family, Kate H. Van Doren, and the estate papers of the Reverend William C. Walton, with the Rev. John T. Hargrave as the executor. There are several accounts or receipts pertaining to slavery filed at the beginning of the Walton estate file.

There are sixteen bound volumes boxed at the end of the collection or stored with the 2M Ledgers, with the location of each indicated in the box listing. These include volumes pertaining to the medical practices of Dr. John Briscoe and Dr. John Quigley; a journal and notebook belonging to the Rev. John T. Hargrave; The Journal and Minutes of the Shepherdstown Temperance Society; and Notebooks and Account books pertaining to the Swearingen family.