Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Thomas Browse Papers, 1831-1906. Accession 43808. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Purchased.

Biographical Information

Thomas Browse was born in 1803, and came to the United States from Paington, Devonshire in 1830. He settled in Tyler (later Pleasants) County, (West) Virginia, where he served as county surveyor and justice of the peace. Browse was also active in land speculation and was a land agent. He died in Pleasants County, West Virginia in 1880.

Scope and Content

Papers, 1831-1906, of Thomas Browse (1803-1880) of Grape Island, Pleasants County, (West) Virginia. The bulk of the collection dates from 1845-1865, and details his work as a land agent and speculator in the western counties of Virginia. The majority of the papers relate to the claims and ownership of the lands of Gavin Hamilton (d. 1828) and Gavin Hamilton (d. 1830), by their descendants in Scotland, that were located in Marshall, Ritchie, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties. Includes agreements and leases, correspondence, deeds, legal opinions, lists of lands owned, plats and surveys, suit papers, tax tickets and receipts, and other items. The collection also contains information regarding Browse's land holdings in Miller County, Missouri.

The majority of the collection relates to the claims by Hamilton family heirs, who resided in Scotland, to lands lying in the western portion of Virginia. Following the death of Mary Starr in February 1828, large tracts of land passed to her infant daughter Susanna, who died a few months later in June 1828. The question of ownership was then decided in court over the course of many years amongst various individuals, including the Hamilton family descendants in Scotland, and Caleb Starr (1772-1851), who was the husband of Mary Starr and father of Susanna Starr. After Susanna Starr died, the lands passed to her Caleb, and 11,800 acres were sold for non-payment of taxes to William F. Peterson (1798-1866), a Wheeling lawyer and land agent, as well as an associate in other land dealings with Thomas Browse. Peterson held the lands in trust for Caleb Starr via an agreement with Josias M. Steed (b. ca. 1805), a Parkersburg attorney who represented James Marshall Hamilton of Philadelphia and New York, and the Hamilton heirs in Scotland.

There were numerous opinions issued by various courts concerning the ultimate ownership of the land holdings, hinging on the question of whether or not a father in Virginia could inherit lands from his deceased daughter which she had inherited from her mother. The lawsuits pitted Caleb Starr against the Hamilton heirs in Scotland. There was also a lawsuit filed in Tyler County for the partition of the "Hamilton lands," and a lawsuit filed in Ritchie County, whereby Steed sued Hamilton, claiming he did not compensate him for investigating and prosecuting the claims to land on behalf of the Hamilton heirs. Finally, there was also a question of whether the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia could also own lands in Virginia.