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West Virginia and Regional History Center
1549 University Ave.P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
Business Number: 304-293-3536
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Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Waitman T. Willey Papers, A&M 0003, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Biographical / Historical
Waitman Thomas Willey, West Virginia pioneer, lawyer, Methodist churchman, and United States Senator, was born October 18, 1811, at Buffalo Creek, Virginia (near Fairmont in Marion County, West Virginia), the son of William Willey, Jr., former Revolutionary War soldier under General Anthony Wayne, and Sarah Barnes, a member of a prominent family of northwestern Virginia.
Willey's first twelve years were spent at Buffalo Creek where his father's farm was a frontier homestead isolated from the few towns in the area. In 1823, the family (which now included stepmother, Mary McCormack Willey) moved to a farm on the Monongahela River in Monongalia County near present-day Rivesville. Here, Willey received a rudimentary formal education with readings from the classics and the Bible.
In 1827, Willey walked the forty miles from his home to Uniontown, Pennsylvania to attend Madison College (later Allegheny College) where he excelled in classical studies and mathematics. After three and one half years he received a B.A. degree, and then read law in the office of Philip Doddridge and John Campbell in Wellsburg, Brooke County, Virginia. He was admitted to the bar in 1833; in addition, he received an M.A. degree from Augusta College in Kentucky in 1834.
Willey settled in Morgantown, Monongalia County, Virginia, in 1832, with his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Patrick Ray, a prominent citizen of Morgantown who was Clerk of the Court and a founder of the Morgantown Female Academy (to which he gave his home). The Willey family subsequently included seven children: Mary Ellen, wife of Dr. M.L. Casselberry of Morgantown; Sarah Barnes, wife of J. Marshall Hagans, distinguished judge; William Patrick, professor of law at West Virginia University; Julia, wife of Major William McGrew, Union Army officer, West Virginia state senator, and Morgantown banker; Thomas Ray, United States government clerk in the Interior Department; Louisa, unmarried, who remained at home; and John Byrne, deputy clerk of Monongalia County.
Waitman T. Willey maintained a successful and lucrative law practice in Morgantown for 67 years. He served as Monongalia County Clerk and clerk of the Circuit Superior Court from 1841 to 1852, and was Morgantown's first Superintendent of Schools. Willey had an early interest in politics and was an active member of the conservative Whig Party: he served as an elector for the Harrison-Tyler election of 1840, was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for Congress in 1852, an unsuccessful Opposition (Whig Party) candidate for Lt. Governor of Virginia in 1859, and a delegate to the Constitutional Union Party convention which nominated Bell and Everett for President and Vice President in 1860. In 1850, Willey had been a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention where he championed western Virginia interests, white manhood suffrage, and governmental reforms. Again, in 1861, he was a delegate to the Virginia Convention that voted for secession (Willey voted against it). In the subsequent, Pro-Union, reorganized legislature (the "Restored Government of Virginia at Wheeling"), Willey was elected to Congress to complete the term of James M. Mason for two years. While in the Senate, Willey actively introduced legislation to admit West Virginia into the Union. The Reorganized Government proposed a new state Constitution that Willey supported in Congress in 1862. Following revision of the proposal to include emancipation of slaves and a favorable referendum by the West Virginia voters, statehood was achieved in 1863.
Willey returned to the Senate in 1863 and was elected to the full six-year term in 1865. During his tenure, he initially opposed Republican lawmakers over issues involving the war, confiscation of rebel property, and slavery. But because of his "ardent support" of the Union, Willey's political views evolved through the years to support Republican aims, including national emancipation of slaves and disenfranchisement of disloyal citizens. He considered the latter appropriate in order to keep "southern sympathizers" from gaining control of West Virginia and perhaps reuniting the state with Virginia. Although Willey was aligned with conservative Republicans in the Senate, he did vote for the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Reconstruction Acts, the removal of President Johnson, and the 14th and 15th Amendments. He opposed the Freedman's Bureau and the Enforcement Acts of 1870. Many in West Virginia opposed Republican Party policies, and in 1870 the party lost control of state government. Willey left the Senate in 1871 and returned to his Morgantown law practice and the County Clerkship (1882-1890).
Willey remained active in politics throughout his later life. He served in the 1872 State Constitutional Convention and supported Republican Party policies and candidates, and was chairman of the West Virginia delegation to the GOP National Convention in 1876. He also continued his active service in the Methodist Church where he was an advocate for lay participation in the national conference and served as delegate from West Virginia in 1880. Willey was much in demand as a public speaker throughout his life -- he was called, "old man eloquent" -- because of his commanding appearance, "thrilling" voice, evident sincerity, and knowledge. He spoke frequently on Temperance, Methodist beliefs, politics, the classics, and history. He collected a large library, wrote numerous articles and a biography of Philip Doddridge. He received several honorary degrees, including LLD from Allegheny College and West Virginia University. Willey's last public appearance was at the funeral of Governor Pierpont when he gave a "stirring" eulogy. He was 88 years of age.
Waitman T. Willey, "Grand Old Man of West Virginia," died May 2, 1900, at his home, Chancery Hill, in Morgantown. His funeral was the largest ever held in Morgantown to that time. He was interred in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Notes: 1. In June, 1861, Willey was not present at the second convention in Wheeling at which the Reorganized Government of Virginia was established in preparation for statehood. His father and stepmother were fatally ill at the time and he was at home.
2. Willey never wrote a history of the statehood deliberations, politics, or conventions. He felt he was too biased to do justice to the history. No history was ever written by the participants.
Bibliography: 1. Ambler, C.H.; Waitman Thomas Willey , 1954, Standard Printing and Publishing C., Huntington, W. Va.
2. Corson, L.D.; Legislative Career of Waitman T. Willey , 1942, master's thesis, West Virginia University.
3. Moore, J.T.; "Waitman T. Willey," in Dictionary of American Biography , p. 426.
4. Obituary , Morgantown Weekly Post , Thursday, May 10, 1900.
5. Ware, A.F.; A Study of the Rhetoric of Waitman T. Willey in the West Virginia Statehood Movement , 1952, master's thesis, West Virginia University.
6. White, L.C.; West Virginia and Her U.S. Senators in the Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson , 1928, master's thesis, West Virginia University.
7. Willey, Waitman T.; "Liberty and Union," 1854, Wheeling, J.E. Wharton, publisher. A speech.
8. Willey, Waitman T.; address delivered before the Constitutional Convention of West Virginia in the City of Wheeling, 12 February 1863.
9. Willey, Waitman T.; "Historical Address," Celebration of the Municipal Centennial of Morgantown, 1885.
10. Willey, William P.; The Formation of the State of West Virginia, 1901, The News Publishing Co., Wheeling, W. Va.
Prepared by Carole B. Boyd, M.D., 2000.
Scope and Contents
Papers of Waitman T. Willey (1811-1900), lawyer, senator, and founding father of West Virginia. A resident of Monongalia County, Willey was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850, the Secession Convention of 1861, the First Wheeling Convention of 1861, and the Constitutional Convention of 1871. He was U.S. Senator from the Restored Government of Virginia (1861-1863) and Senator from West Virginia (1863-1871). Includes several thousand pieces of incoming correspondence to Waitman T. Willey dating from 1833 to 1900 (bulk 1859-1869) concerning political, social, and economic affairs. There is much material on the temperance movement in Virginia (1845-1860), the Civil War, and the statehood movement in West Virginia. Also includes miscellaneous financial records (1837-1869) and legal papers (1820-1856); Willey's diary (entries from 1830-1899, posthumously added clippings through 1908); and other material.
Series include:
Series 1a. Incoming Correspondence -- Transcribed/Copied, 1840–1898, boxes 1-4 Series 1b. Incoming Correspondence -- Non-Transcribed/Not Copied, 1833–1900, boxes 4-16 Series 2. Financial Records, 1837–1869, boxes 17-18 Series 3. Legal Papers, 1820–1856, boxes 19-20 Series 4. W.T. Willey's Diary, 1830–1908, boxes 21-22 Series 5. Miscellaneous, 1827-1917, undated, box 22 and unboxed
Related Material
1361
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Battelle, Gordon.
- Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
- Camden, Gideon Draper, 1805-1891
- Campbell, Archibald W., 1833-1899.
- Carlile, John S. (John Snyder), 1817-1878
- Davis, John J. (John James), 1835-1916
- Dayton, Spencer
- Diaries
- Goff, Nathan, 1843-1920
- Hagans, John Marshall, 1838-1900
- Hall, Granville Davisson, 1837-1934
- Haymond, Alpheus F.
- Jackson, John J.
- Monongalia County (W. Va.)
- Pendleton, John L.
- Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814-1899
- Politicians -- United States
- Politics and government.
- Secession
- Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869
- Statehood politics -- West Virginia
- Summers, George W. (George William), 1804-1868
- Temperance
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- United States -- Politics and government
- United States. Congress. Senate
- Van Winkle, P. G. (Peter Godwin), 1808-1872
- Virginia (Reorganized government : 1861-1863)
- Virginia -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
- Wade, Alexander L. (Alexander Luark), 1832-1904
- Watson, James O.
- West Virginia - Politics and government - 1861-1865.
- West Virginia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- West Virginia -- Politics and government
- West Virginia. Constitutional Convention (1861-1863)
- West Virginia. Constitutional Convention (1872)
- Willey, Waitman T. (Waitman Thomas), 1811-1900
- Willey, William P. (William Patrick)
Significant Persons Associated With the Collection
- Battelle, Gordon.
- Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
- Camden, Gideon Draper, 1805-1891
- Campbell, Archibald W., 1833-1899.
- Carlile, John S. (John Snyder), 1817-1878
- Davis, John J. (John James), 1835-1916
- Dayton, Spencer
- Goff, Nathan, 1843-1920
- Hagans, John Marshall, 1838-1900
- Hall, Granville Davisson, 1837-1934
- Haymond, Alpheus F.
- Jackson, John J.
- Pendleton, John L.
- Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814-1899
- Stanton, Edwin M. (Edwin McMasters), 1814-1869
- Summers, George W. (George William), 1804-1868
- Van Winkle, P. G. (Peter Godwin), 1808-1872
- Wade, Alexander L. (Alexander Luark), 1832-1904
- Watson, James O.
- Willey, Waitman T. (Waitman Thomas), 1811-1900
- Willey, William P. (William Patrick)
Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- Monongalia County (W. Va.)
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- United States -- Politics and government
- Virginia -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865
- West Virginia - Politics and government - 1861-1865.
- West Virginia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- West Virginia -- Politics and government
Container List
This series includes letters written to Waitman T. Willey (WTW). The letters can be divided into four major categories: politics;
governmental service and the Civil War; family and church affairs; and law and business activities. Willey wrote the name
of the correspondent and the date on each letter.
The letters have been previously divided into "copied" (Series 1a.) and "not copied" (Series 1b.) categories; the former refers
to a select number of the letters for which transcripts were made, apparently in connection with research by Ambler for his
biography of Willey. These transcripts are filed in the Charles H. Ambler Collection (A&M 122, boxes 10-12). In general, the
"copied" letters are more pertinent to Willey's political career, especially his senate tenure during the Civil War, and his
Methodist Church activities. Although the "not copied" letters also include material regarding his political and church activities,
they are more concerned with his law and business interests, and family and friends.
"Copied" (transcribed) letters are found in boxes 1 through 4, are numbered 1 through 1181, and date from 1833 to 1898.
"Not copied" (not transcribed) letters are found in boxes 4 through 16, are numbered 1182 through 7008, and date from 1833
to 1900.
The incoming letters encompass a variety of topics:
Everyday life in rural United States in the 19th Century (e.g., West Virginia); life in newly developed urban centers (e.g.,
St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, D.C.); political life before the Civil War in Virginia and later in West Virginia; the
plight of citizens and communities resulting from war (e.g., battle casualties and damage, reparation requests, loyalty "disabilities");
new territories and foreign countries visited by Willey's correspondents (e.g., the Western Territories of the USA, China,
Japan, Central America, and Australia in the 1860s); the Methodist Church, temperance movement, school activities and needs
(e.g., those of his sons and of the early years of West Virginia University).
The letters represent the opinions, observations, requests, and activities of Willey's correspondents, and Willey himself
is seen only through their writings. Willey's thoughts and commentaries can be found in his two-volume diary (see Series 4,
W.T. Willey's Diary, boxes 21-22).
Selected correspondents include:
Robert Anderson;
W.W. Arnett;
James Barns (WTW's uncle);
Gordon Battelle;
Alfred Beckley;
Judge Berkshire;
Jacob Blair (Minister to Costa Rica);
Governor Arthur I. Boreman of West Virginia;
R.M. Brown (U.S. Navy);
Gideon D. Camden;
Archibald W. Campbell;
John S. Carlile;
Secretary of Treasury [Salmon P.?] Chase;
Schyler Colfax;
John J. Davis;
Spencer Dayton;
H.C. Dean;
M.M. Dent;
H. Dering;
T.J. Evans;
Harrison Hagans;
J. Marshall Hagans;
Granville D. Hall;
Alpheus F. Haymond;
T. and L. Haymond;
Richard Garrett;
Nathan Goff;
Ulysses S. Grant (autograph);
John J. Jackson;
Governor John Letcher of Virginia;
Alexander Martin (West Virginia University President);
John L. Pendleton;
Francis H. Pierpont (governor of loyal Virginia);
T.P. Ray;
General Winfield Scott (copy of letter);
F.W. Seward;
W.M. Shinn;
Edwin M. Stanton;
Governor William E. Stevenson of West Virginia;
David Hunter Strother;
George W. Summers;
Peter G. Van Winkle (U.S. Senator with Willey);
Alexander L. Wade;
James O. Watson;
William J. Willey (regarding Virginia legislature, 1830s);
Willey's sons (William, John, Ray), daughters, and wife.
The letters are generally in good condition and legible. Many letters have the original franking information and/or stamps; envelopes are few in number. Many letters have embossed watermarks or printed letterheads, and typewritten letters appear during the late 1800s.
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1
Item Nos. 1-201833–1836Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 3a, 4-4b, 6-8, 17-19 (from Richmond regarding Virginia House of Delegates, and from Washington, D.C. regarding Congress)
Family and Friends: Items 1-3, 5, 9, 11,14-16, 20 (from travelers to the West, temperance, church activities)
Law/Business: Items 10-13 (Monongalia County Court and Clerk concerns)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 2
Item Nos. 21-401836–1838Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 21, 24, 26-29, 39 (from Richmond regarding Virginia House of Delegates)
Family and Friends: Items 22, 30-36, 40, 41 (from travelers to the West, e.g. [35 Illinois in 1837 [36 New Orleans in 1838; church activities [40 and #41 regard "abolitionists" in the Methodist Church)
Law/Business: Items 23, 25, 28, 37-38 (post office routes, roads in Virginia, Monongahela River navigation)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 3
Item Nos. 41-601838–1840Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 50, 52-56, 58-60 (national election of 1840; Whig activities in elections; WTW to be elector for the Whig party in the state; rumors regarding Harrison and debtors; rallies for voters [items 56, 58])
Family and Friends: Items 46-49, 51, 57 (temperance movement; church activities; traveler in New Orleans)
Law/Business: Item 45 (WTW elected Director of Discount and Deposit of the Morgantown branch of Merchants and Mechanics Bank)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 4
Item Nos. 61-801840–1844Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 61-68b, 71, 73, 75, 77-78 (national election of 1840; convention of Whigs in Richmond; local politics; death of President Harrison; United States Presidential election of 1844, James K. Polk vs Henry Clay, e.g. item 68)
Family and Friends: Items 68a-68b (illness while traveling in 1841); 69 (F.H. Pierpont regarding Mississippi travels, church activities)
Law/Business: Item 74 (iron business in Monongalia County)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 5
Item Nos. 81-1001844–1848Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 81, 85, 88, 90, 92, 93, 95 (from Richmond regarding Virginia House of Delegates and legislation)
Family and Friends: Items 82, 84, 87, 94, 96, 99 (temperance and church activities; death of John H. Pleasants by duel [item 87]; secret writing and key, temperance [item 99])
Law/Business: Items 83, 86, 89, 91, 98 (Monongahela River improvements; county court activities; sale of property in Wheeling; woolen factory [item 86])
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 6
Item Nos. 101-1191848–1849Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Item 105 (election of Zachary Taylor)
Family and Friends: Items 101,102,104,106-112,114,116-119 (temperance activities, including passwords and cyphers)
Law/Business: Items 103, 113, 115 (letters from Baltimore about legal matters)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 7
Item Nos. 120-1391850–1851Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 121, 127, 129, 130, 132, 138, 139 (Virginia legislation; election of delegates to Virginia convention; defeat of WTW in local election; slavery in northwestern Virginia [item 139])
Family and Friends: Items 120, 122-126, 128, 131, 133-136 (Sons of Temperance convention)
Law/Business: Item 137 (suspension bridge for Morgantown by engineer who built Fairmont bridge and mill; Cheat River bridge to be built)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 8
Item Nos. 140-1601851–1852Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 141, 144-147, 150-160 (Virginia legislature and convention; slavery; splitting the state; Whig politics; Millard Fillmore; Winfield Scott; from Iowa, about Iowa politics [item 151])
Family and Friends: Items 140, 141, 143, 148-149 (news of Morgantown, the Morgantown Female Academy, Temperance)
Law/Business: Items 142 (J. Gould regarding a road to be built in Morgantown known as the Decker's Creek or Northern route)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 9
Item Nos. 161-1791852–1853Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 163-170 (WTW as candidate for Congress, Whig politics, legislative bill for railroad from Morgantown to Baltimore)
Family and Friends: Items 161-162, 171, 173-174, 176-179 (temperance, the Morgantown Female Academy, Methodist Church evangelical work in Wisconsin)
Law/Business: Items 172, 175 (Ray property in Wheeling and documents)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 10
Item Nos. 180-1991853–1854Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 183, 188 (requests for WTW to speak at Madison College and Charlottesville)
Family and Friends: Items 180-182, 184-187, 189-192, 197-199 (requests for speeches, temperance, Monongalia Literary Society, Iowa and Northwestern lands, train travel to Wheeling, household servants)
Law/Business: Item 193 (lawyer looking to settle in Morgantown)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 11
Item Nos. 200-2191855Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 201-203, 207, 212, 216, 219 (American Party convention wants WTW to speak, Henry Clay Dean elected Senate Chaplain over Henry Ward Beecher, WTW as elector in 1856, Buchanan politics)
Family and Friends: Items 200, 205-206, 208, 210-211, 213, 215, 218 (temperance, diseases of the day including cholera in Pittsburgh, Literary Society, Morgantown Female Academy)
Law/Business: Items 204, 209, 214, 217 (patent information for a seed spreader, burning of a newspaper thought to be abolitionist in Gilmer County, post office refuses to deliver newspaper in Glenville, man indicted over newspaper in Glenville)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 12
Item Nos. 220-2391856–1857Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 220-224, 226-227 (information regarding American Party, Congress)
Family and Friends: Items 225, 229-230, 232-233, 237 (property in Iowa and missions)
Law/Business: Items 231, 234-236, 238-239 (applications for the Morgantown Female Academy, one man refuses a job because he was told "Northern men not wanted in the state" [item 238])
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 13
Item Nos. 240-2591858–1859Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 248-250, 252-259 (Virginia election of 1859, WTW nominated for Lt. Governor of Virginia, Letcher for Governor wants taxes on enslaved persons)
Family and Friends: Items 242, 244, 246-247, 251 (son writes from Meadville College)
Law/Business: Items 240, 243, 245: (court in Harrison County, navigation on the Monongahela River, election to a literary society)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 14
Item Nos. 260-2801859–1860Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 260-267, 269, 279-280 (Virginia election of 1859; invitations to speak about the election; WTW's views on dividing Virginia with free state in the west [item 261]; invitation to Henry Clay birthday party in Alexandria [item 280])
Family and Friends: Items 268, 273, 275-277 (temperance; church; son's suspension from college [items 273, 275])
Law/Business: Items 270-272, 274, 278 (how to build a telegraph line, railroad land obtained by condemnation of land)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 15
Item Nos. 281-3001860Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 281, 286-288, 290, 292-298, 300 (invitations to speak for Bell and Everett, and their success in Virginia; newspapers in Virginia)
Family and Friends: Items 282, 299 (son and Francis H. Pierpont)
Law/Business: Items 283-285, 289, 291 (legal matters with clients)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 16
Item Nos. 301-3201861Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 302-303, 305, 307-312, 314-315, 317-318, 320 (the Virginia convention for secession in Richmond, [items 303, 307, 317a]; sentiment in Morgantown regarding Lincoln and the Union; WTW for the Union)
Family and Friends: Items 304, 306, 313, 316 (son in college writes about the war to come; Morgantown activities and gossip)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 17
Item Nos. 321-3411861Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 321-324, 326, 328-329, 331-334, 336-341 (Richmond convention for secession; Union sentiment in western Virginia; confusion in several areas; upcoming Wheeling convention)
Family and Friends: Items 325, 327, 330, 335 (son in Carlisle, PA, writes of Southern students expelled from Dickinson College, the activities of the Army, riots in Carlisle, and Union sentiments)
- Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 18
Item Nos. 342-3611861Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 342-347, 349, 351, 353, 356 (Wheeling convention, slavery and future of USA, slavery)
Government/War: Items 348, 350, 354-355, 357-361 (Union; battle at Manassas; capture of rebel equipment; Dakota Territory Union men; Camp Chase, Ohio prisoner from Beverley, Virginia [item 361])
Family and Friends: Items 352, 355 (Morgantown events; battle at Laurel Hill)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 1
Item Nos. 362-3811861Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 362-369, 371-379, 381 (lists of Union men from counties in western Virginia; state convention in Wheeling; politics in Illinois; a citizen objects to the Navy's ship purchases; slavery issues)
Family and Friends: Items 370, 380-381 (son in Camp Keys, Hampshire County; Morgantown events; thoughts regarding the South)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 2
Item Nos. 382-4011862Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 382, 384, 387, 389-400 (new state constitution, slavery issues, politics in Iowa)
Government/War: Items 390, 393, 394, 397 (Congressional action on a commission; destruction of property by rebels, David Hunter Strother [item 393]; pay for volunteers)
Family and Friends: Items 383, 401 (Farmington newspaper and copies of WTW speeches)
Law/Business: Items 385-386, 388 (licenses, arrest, government claims)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 3
Item Nos. 402-4201862Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 403-406, 408-410, 412-418, 420 (government appointments; new state, slavery, and constitution; Union supporter in Dakota Territory)
Government/War: Items 407, 419 (memorial for the Army, reparations for stolen property)
Family and Friends: Items 402, 408, 410 (smallpox epidemic at Dickinson College town, problems with war rumors in Morgantown)
Law/Business: Item 411 (Morgantown business)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 4
Item Nos. 421-4401862Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 421-422, 424-426, 428, 435-440 (new state and emancipation, speeches)
Government/War: Items 433-434 (reparations for stolen horses and harness)
Family and Friends: Items 423, 427, 429-432, 434, 439 (genealogy from a relative, speeches, war at home, Camp Chase prisoner, bills in Congress)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 5
Item Nos. 441-4601862Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 441-447, 449-457 (emancipation in the new state and Congressional bill, state boundaries, speech given by Carlisle)
Family and Friends: Items 448, 451, 456, 458-460 (son's graduation from Dickinson College, army concerns at home, speeches, death in Morgantown)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 6
Item Nos. 461-4841862–1863Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 461, 463-470, 472-475, 479-484 (new state, its announcement; the US government and war; a feud in the military)
Government/War: Items 462, 476-477, 481-482, 484 (death of a man on B&O train, Camp Chase prisoner, redress for loss of enslaved persons to US Army, "colored colonization" law, citizen prisoners)
Family and Friends: Items 471-472, 476a, 478 (church activities, Morgantown news)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 7
Item Nos. 485-4971863Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 485, 487-490, 492-494, 497 (WTW running for Senate again, state politics, exchange of prisoners, military arrest, prisoners in Camp Chase)
Government/War: Items 486, 491, 495-496 (money spent to raise troops, money for guards in Wheeling)
Family and Friends: Item 489 (news of Morgantown)
Law/Business: Items 485, 495 (US Mail in West Virginia, bill in Congress)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 8
Item Nos. 498-5171863Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 499, 501-513, 515 [item 514 is missing] (state convention, speeches by WTW, applications for jobs, slavery, property)
Government/War: Items 500, 507-508, 517 (Union Army in West Virginia, battles in Monongalia County)
Family and Friends: Items 502, 504, 506, 517 (Morgantown news and battles in Monongalia County, smallpox outbreak in Morgantown)
Law/Business: Item 516
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 9
Item Nos. 518-5411863Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 519-527, 529-530, 532-534, 536, 539, 541 (WTW elected to Senate, applications for government jobs)
Government/War: Items 528, 535, 540 (Governor Boreman on lack of government funds [528; plea for a soldier to be allowed to go home; court martial of a writer who was critical of a Union general)
Family and Friends: Items 518, 531, 537-538 (Jones Imboden raid on the Morgantown and Fairmont area [item 518]; relative in Ohio talks of the Copperheads; church matters)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 10
Item Nos. 542-5611864Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 544-547, 549, 552-553, 555 (political patronage; need for agricultural college in West Virginia; Secretary of the Treasury regarding the number of counties in West Virginia; petition for postmaster in Jimtown, West Virginia)
Government/War: Items 543, 550-551, 554, 558, 561 (Army chaplain dismissed from Army wants reinstatement [items 540, 543, 551]; prisoner in Libby Prison needs WTW's help for release; General Crooke in Kanawha County; exchange of prisoners from Richmond prison; story of a Camp Chase prisoner)
Family and Friends: Items 548, 557, 559, 560 (church matters, friend requests seeds from Patent Office, Morgantown news)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 11
Item Nos. 562-5811864Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 565-568, 570-572, 574, 576, 580-581 (Governor Pierpont regarding a Senate bill, application for job, local politics, appointment request, list of Union men from Point Pleasant)
Government/War: Items 564, 569, 573, 577, 579, 581 (raids by "rebels;" redress for loss of cattle and horses requested; General Kelley; Camp Chase prisoner's story; Fort Delaware prisoner's story; battle in Greenbrier County and drunkenness of an officer [items 577, 581])
Family and Friends: Items 562-563 (WTW elected to Literary Society at University of Illinois, Morgantown news)
Law/Business: Item 578 (white pine timber land in West Virginia for sale)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 12
Item Nos. 582-6011864Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 583-587, 590-592, 594-596, 598-601 (opening of lands in the West; state constitution to abolish slavery; list of "loyal" citizens in Hancock County; bill for new judicial district in West Virginia; local politics; Governor Pierpont writes of his glove business; list of mail recipients in Jackson County; praise for Congress; appointment request to West Point; appointment in the Army; WTW's slavery speech; influence needed to get a prisoner released; requests for money for a lost ship)
Family and Friends: Items 588-589, 593, 597 ("rebels" in Morgantown carry off a prisoner from the town jail, local politics, local farming)
Law/Business: Item 582 (new state laws)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 13
Item Nos. 602-6211864Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 602-612, 614-620 (government and slavery, appointment request, elections)
Government/War: Item 621 (request for exchange of a prisoner)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 14
Item Nos. 622-6421865Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 623-625, 627, 629-641 (oil craze in Morgantown, activities of legislature, legal position of Virginia)
Family and Friends: Item 622 (books sent)
Law/Business: Items 626, 628, 636 (sale of Dorsey estate in Morgantown, suit against Judge Berkshire, railroad in Iowa and land)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 15
Item Nos. 642-6611865Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 642-645, 647-650, 652-657, 661 (WTW elected to Senate; Congressional bills discussed; state legislature and election discussed; requests for jobs and money from government; Governor Boreman on loyalty and visit to the President regarding West Virginia; death of Lincoln reported by Van Winkle [item 656])
Government/War: Items 659-660 (widow requests pension from the government, list of officers petitioning for release from Fort Delaware)
Law/Business: Items 646, 651 (publication of Alexander Hamilton's papers by his son; a lawyer wants to locate to West Virginia)
- Mixed Materials Box: 2 Folder: 16
Item Nos. 662-6801865–1866Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 662-665, 668, 670, 678 (West Virginia banks and the government, West Virginia boundaries, losses in the Valley of Virginia, Van Winkle on war and Congress, job requests, a citizen in Virginia tells of conditions in the Valley)
Law/Business: Items 666, 669, 679 (a Virginia man wants help in combating extortion; business in post-war Morgantown; library wanted for Weston State Hospital)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 1
Item Nos. 681-7011866Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 681-684, 686, 689, 691-693, 695-701 (Iowa correspondent on politics, war, slavery; job requests; Frederick County, Virginia and the possibility of its joining West Virginia; West Virginia laws to prohibit former rebels from voting; loyalty oaths in Virginia; Pierpont on the Virginia Governor's office; Boreman on the need for Congress to pass bill regarding Jefferson and Berkeley Counties; Pierpont on President Johnson's oath of allegiance; a bill in Congress regarding steamboat inspections; an appointment to the Sandwich Islands wanted; Morgantown view of Johnson's Reconstruction plans; the Presidential veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill; appointment to Ecuador wanted; IRS office politics)
Family and Friends: Items 685, 687 (lost baggage, news of Morgantown)
Law/Business: Items 688, 690, 694 (letter from Alfred Beckley, Sr., founder of Raleigh County, about the County's resources; Boreman on business; Logan County resources)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 2
Item Nos. 702-7201866Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 702-705, 707-720 (Pierpont on President Johnson and freed enslaved persons; upcoming election; Civil Rights bill in Congress; inability of Winchester, Virginia to pay its taxes; Civil Rights bill veto by President Johnson; northern officeholders in Virginia; former rebels holding office in Virginia; Pierpont on news articles regarding WTW's voting against the Civil Rights bill; WTW's bill for reparations for loyal suppliers to the Army; Union men in Randolph County; Boreman on Copperheads)
Family and Friends: Item 706 (WTW told of the acquittal of his brother and his need for money)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 3
Item Nos. 721-7401866Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 722, 725-727, 731-732, 734-740 (Morgantown town meeting; Jefferson and Berkeley Counties and Congress; rebel activities in Richmond, Union men in Virginia; postmaster in Parkersburg opposes the President, Governor Boreman's brother is the postmaster in Parkersburg who is being removed from office; bankruptcy bill in Congress discussed)
Family and Friends: Item 724 (from WTW's son concerning law practice in Morgantown)
Law/Business: Items 723, 728-729, 733 (law practice in Morgantown, railroad routes in West Virginia, production of soda ash in West Virginia, land for sale in Grafton)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 4
Item Nos. 741-7631866Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 741-754, 756-763 (requests for speeches, bills in Congress and Constitutional Amendments, the question of whether or not medals for soldiers to be mailed free, opposition to the postmaster of Wheeling, Civil Rights bill in Congress, WTW elected to Senate)
Family and Friends: Item 755 (from son, William, on the future of West Virginia)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 5
Item Nos. 764-7831867Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 764, 766, 769-770, 772, 775-783 (regarding the tariff bill in Congress; state politics; lists of Union men and rebels from post offices; President Johnson and the Senate [item 775]; appointments wanted; slavery; oath of allegiance and constitution; invitation to dine in Richmond with the Pierponts)
Government/War: Items 765, 767-768, 779 (artificial limbs for soldiers and iron crosses for cemetery plots; soldiers accidently sent from West Virginia to Louisiana; letter from Richard Garrett requesting compensation for his barn burned by US soldiers to get John Wilkes Booth out of it, and the story of Booth and Herold at the barn [item 779])
Family and Friends: Item 783 (church activities)
Law/Business: Items 771, 773-774, 782 (government compensation for war damage, state public education, sale of armory at Harpers Ferry)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 6
Item Nos. 784-8031867Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 784-785, 787-799, 802 (bills in Congress, government of Virginia, West Virginia woman asks about pension for a family with ancestors in Revolution and War of 1812, complaints that government is treating all Southerners the same, West Virginia complaints about Congress and freed enslaved persons, WTW objects to calling Major Doddridge and his son "rebels")
Family and Friends: Items 786, 800, 803 (Morgantown news, the high price of horses)
Law/Business Item 801 (West Virginia coal)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 7
Item Nos. 804-8221867Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 808, 810-812, 814-819, 821 (rebels in Virginia; a bill to make all Confederacy governors declared rebels will destroy Pierpont who is pro-Union [item 810]; satirical letter by Mrs. Julia Robertson Pierpont regarding the oath; President Johnson activities; letter from Melbourne, Australia about the government and times [item 817]; activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs)
Family and Friends: Items 813, 820 (Montana Territory and its rebel population; report card for John Byrne Willey from West Virginia Agricultural College [item 820])
Law/Business: Items 804-807, 809, 822 (water and rail transportation in West Virginia and Morgantown; financing of West Virginia Agricultural College; Union Pacific Railroad seeking government money to complete line to the west coast)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 8
Item Nos. 823-8431867–1868Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 823-827, 829-832, 834-835, 837-843 (patent office activities; Naval Academy graduates as ensigns promoted; a suit for property in Harpers Ferry worth millions of dollars; exclusion of "Negroes" from governments in the South; whiskey tax; war damage compensation request; petition for the removal of "disabilities;" move of state capitol to Charleston [item 832]; request for money for the railroads; impeachment of President Johnson [items 839, 841-843]; possibility of getting money for state college from sale of Harpers Ferry property [item 840])
Family and Friends: Item 836 (streetcars should not run on Sunday in D.C.)
Law/Business: Items 828, 833 (WTW's land in Illinois, sale of Morgantown college property)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 9
Item Nos. 844-8641868Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 845-863 (impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in Congress and Copperheads in West Virginia; failure of the Freedman Bureau bill in Congress; President Johnson's impeachment and trial [items 849, 857-858, 862-863]; problems of Governor Pierpont in Virginia; West Virginia politics; opposition to statehood for Colorado [item 859])
Family and Friends: Items 844, 864 (request for seeds, request for money)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 10
Item Nos. 865-8841868Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 865-881, 883-884 (Mexico and religious freedom [items 865, 876]; the impeachment and trial of President Johnson [items 866-867, 869-871, 873]; tariffs on foreign sumac; local politics and West Virginia legislature; Virginia politics and the removal of Governor Pierpont [items 878, 881, 883])
Family and Friends: Item 882 (Methodist Church [may be Methodist Episcopal or Methodist Protestant] activities)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 11
Item Nos. 885-9021868Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 885-894, 897-898, 901-902 (requests for WTW to speak at rallies; disabilities; Pierpont on racism in judgeships in West Virginia; voting for Texas constitution)
Law/Business: Items 895-896, 899 (West Virginia court holidays; loss of the Doddridge library; Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad activities)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 12
Item Nos. 903-9221869Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 905-910, 913, 915-922 (requests for removal of "disabilities;" bills in Congress; government in Richmond; a glimpse of Costa Rica [item 913]; "WVU" used instead of "WV Agricultural College" by Professor Martin in a letter to WTW regarding using military as faculty; reparations and jobs; a request from a woman of a distinguished naval family, Perry and Rodgers, for money)
Law/Business: Items 903-904, 911-912, 914 (a company requests money from the government to build monitors; WTW thanked for making a pro-railroad speech)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 13
Item Nos. 923-9421869Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 923-933, 935-942 (Blair, Minister to Costa Rica, wants bill defeated that would group all Central American countries together with one minister, or else he wants the job since he has lucrative concessions for a railroad in Costa Rica [item 925]; Governor Boreman elected to Senate; President Grant to be inaugurated; military faculty at WVU; more about "disabilities")
Family and Friends: Item 929 (church activities)
Law/Business: Item 934 (grounds and buildings of Morgantown Female Collegiate Institute sold to Mrs. E. J. Moore for $5000)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 14
Item Nos. 943-9621869Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 943-945, 947-962 (racial problems in the government of Pennsylvania; request for job; local politics; more about "disabilities;" whiskey tax; slavery; Carlisle and the Republican Party; jobs and appointments)
Family and Friends: Item 946 (Van Winkle letter about his retirement)
- Mixed Materials Box: 3 Folder: 15
Item Nos. 963-9821869Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 963-972, 974, 976, 978-982 (requests for jobs, Grant appointees [item 965]; sale of Harpers Ferry property; taxes and bills in Congress; the Minister to Singapore has no money and wants WTW to help him to get some from the government--he is from Mississippi and has no senators to help him [item 974]; letter from a naval officer about Cuba; Marshall College thanks WTW for documents for its library [item 981])
Family and Friends: Item 973 (more on Van Winkle's retirement)
Law/Business: Items 975, 977 (use of coal and resources of West Virginia)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 1
Item Nos. 983-10021869–1870Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 987-992, 994-1002 (requests for jobs; more on "disabilities;" Republican Party platform; West Virginia Supreme Court; 1861 Harpers Ferry raid; Virginia state government)
Law/Business: Items 983-985, 993 ("disabilities;" and bill in Congress; publishing in West Virginia; reparations for war damage)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 2
Item Nos. 1003-10221870Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1004-1020 ("disabilities" and pardons [items 1004, 1008, 1017, 1005-1007], the latter letters are from David Hunter Strother about a Winchester man; franking privileges for Congress; money needed for cemetery in Harpers Ferry; politics in Texas; Reconstruction; a man in New York City requests information about land in West Virginia where a "colony of men" could be established [item 1018]; Australia and the US consul)
Family and Friends: Item 1021 (son, John, about home and family)
Law/Business: Item 1022 (the railroads need money from the government)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 3
Item Nos. 1023-10421870Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1023-1031, 1033-1037, 1039-1042 (about the 15th amendment and opposition in West Virginia; state politics; more "disabilities;" requests for WTW to speak; reparations for a destroyed church; job requests; steel companies want tariff bill or they will go out of business [item 1036]; the "coal fight;" and WTW [item 1040])
Family and Friends: Item 1038 (Elizabeth Ray Willey complains that WTW gives away money to "worthless people")
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 4
Item Nos. 1043-10621870–1871Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1043-1046, 1048, 1051-1058, 1061-1062 (Republican slate for election; jailing of election officials in southern West Virginia by "rebels" [item 1048]; Pierpont requests a position; more "disabilities;" a position as consul requested; a bank application for Mason County with list of stockholders; request for reparations for government service; Congress, and state politics)
Family and Friends: Items 1047, 1059-1060 (description of the Far East by a naval officer aboard the USS Alaska [item 1047]; Van Winkle illness; life after Congress [item 1060])
Law/Business: Items 1049, 1052 (railroads in West Virginia; WTW bank account)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 5
Item Nos. 1063-10821871–1873Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1063, 1065-1067, 1069-1075 (recommendations for a professor to receive LLD degree; invitation to speak; constitutional convention; need to change county seat of Ritchie County to attain access to railroad; trial for fraud against P.G. Van Winkle, now deceased [items 1070-1071]; Republican politics in West Virginia; a political colleague reminisces)
Family and Friends: Items 1068, 1076-1080, 1082 (church activities; WTW's son, William, moved to St. Louis and writes about life and the practice of law there)
Law/Business: Item 1081 (Southern Law Review)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 6
Item Nos. 1083-11021873–1876Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1084, 1088-1090, 1092, 1102 (West Virginia politics, WTW elected to convention, the Centennial celebration of 1876)
Family and Friends: Items 1083, 1085, 1087, 1091, 1094-1101 (son, William, writes regarding law practice, business, life in St. Louis, and move to Baltimore; whiskey as beneficial medicine for all ailments [item 1094]; temperance in Preston County; inquiry about the invention of the steam engine)
Law/Business: Items 1086, 1093 (investing in railroads)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 7
Item Nos. 1103-11221876–1877Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1105, 1107, 1109-1110, 1112-1113, 1115-1116, 1118, 1120-1122 (church position and convention held in Cincinnati; West Virginia politics; money for river locks and dams; location of state capitol)
Family and Friends: Items 1106, 1108, 1111, 1117, 1119 (WTW appointed to National Historical Convention; church convention; letter from a cousin)
Law/Business: Items 1104, 1114 (landowner's estate, Wall Street brokers and stock sales)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 8
Item Nos. 1123-11421878–1880Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1128-1129, 1132, 1139-1142 (Republican Party in the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia [items 1128-1129 from David Hunter Strother]; requests for speeches)
Family and Friends: Items 1123-1127, 1130, 1133, 1135-1138 (requests for speeches, genealogy of the family, request for WTW's book, church matters)
Law/Business: Items 1131, 1134 (railroad business; WTW became President of the Pittsburgh, Southern, and West Virginia Railroad in 1879, and the first train to reach Morgantown arrived in 1886; see "Waitman Thomas Willey" by Charles Ambler)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 9
Item Nos. 1143-11601880–1886Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1144, 1146-1147, 1149, 1151, 1153-1154 (invitation to a reception for Hon. A.N. Campbell and a painting of him; positions for F.H. Pierpont and Hagans; aid to the public schools; Virginia's debt and West Virginia's part of it; information requested about Lincoln signing the West Virginia state bill; a Prohibition bill in Congress)
Family and Friends: Items 1145, 1148, 1152, 1155-1160 (church matters and a convention in England; requests for WTW to speak at the Morgantown Centennial; a letter regards the history of West Virginia; WTW article about the schools)
Law/Business: Items 1143, 1150 (officers of a Morgantown bank, and money for railroads in Monongalia County)
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 10
Item Nos. 1161-11811887–1898Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics: Items 1165-1166, 1170, 1172, 1175, 1177 (letter regarding the Army and Stonewall Jackson [item 1165]; Prohibition; state health forms; Congressional compensation; request for a job as a judge)
Family and Friends: Items 1161-1164, 1168-1169, 1171, 1173-1174, 1176, 1178-1181 (church matter; history of West Virginia by Lewis; letters from son in Washington, D.C.; WTW biography in the newspaper; family in West Virginia; request for an article written by WTW)
Law/Business: Item 1167 (railroad finances)
This series includes letters written to Waitman T. Willey (WTW). The letters can be divided into four major categories: politics;
governmental service and the Civil War; family and church affairs; and law and business activities. Willey wrote the name
of the correspondent and the date on each letter.
The letters have been previously divided into "copied" (Series 1a.) and "not copied" (Series 1b.) categories; the former refers
to a select number of the letters for which transcripts were made, apparently in connection with research by Ambler for his
biography of Willey. These transcripts are filed in the Charles H. Ambler Collection (A&M 122, boxes 10-12). In general, the
"copied" letters are more pertinent to Willey's political career, especially his senate tenure during the Civil War, and his
Methodist Church activities. Although the "not copied" letters also include material regarding his political and church activities,
they are more concerned with his law and business interests, and family and friends.
"Copied" (transcribed) letters are found in boxes 1 through 4, are numbered 1 through 1181, and date from 1833 to 1898.
"Not copied" (not transcribed) letters are found in boxes 4 through 16, are numbered 1182 through 7008, and date from 1833
to 1900.
The incoming letters encompass a variety of topics:
Everyday life in rural United States in the 19th Century (e.g., West Virginia); life in newly developed urban centers (e.g.,
St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington, D.C.); political life before the Civil War in Virginia and later in West Virginia; the
plight of citizens and communities resulting from war (e.g., battle casualties and damage, reparation requests, loyalty "disabilities");
new territories and foreign countries visited by Willey's correspondents (e.g., the Western Territories of the USA, China,
Japan, Central America, and Australia in the 1860s); the Methodist Church, temperance movement, school activities and needs
(e.g., those of his sons and of the early years of West Virginia University).
The letters represent the opinions, observations, requests, and activities of Willey's correspondents, and Willey himself
is seen only through their writings. Willey's thoughts and commentaries can be found in his two-volume diary (see Series 4,
W.T. Willey's Diary, boxes 21-22).
Selected correspondents include:
Robert Anderson;
W.W. Arnett;
James Barns (WTW's uncle);
Gordon Battelle;
Alfred Beckley;
Judge Berkshire;
Jacob Blair (Minister to Costa Rica);
Governor Arthur I. Boreman of West Virginia;
R.M. Brown (U.S. Navy);
Gideon D. Camden;
Archibald W. Campbell;
John S. Carlile;
Secretary of Treasury [Salmon P.?] Chase;
Schyler Colfax;
John J. Davis;
Spencer Dayton;
H.C. Dean;
M.M. Dent;
H. Dering;
T.J. Evans;
Harrison Hagans;
J. Marshall Hagans;
Granville D. Hall;
Alpheus F. Haymond;
T. and L. Haymond;
Richard Garrett;
Nathan Goff;
Ulysses S. Grant (autograph);
John J. Jackson;
Governor John Letcher of Virginia;
Alexander Martin (West Virginia University President);
John L. Pendleton;
Francis H. Pierpont (governor of loyal Virginia);
T.P. Ray;
General Winfield Scott (copy of letter);
F.W. Seward;
W.M. Shinn;
Edwin M. Stanton;
Governor William E. Stevenson of West Virginia;
David Hunter Strother;
George W. Summers;
Peter G. Van Winkle (U.S. Senator with Willey);
Alexander L. Wade;
James O. Watson;
William J. Willey (regarding Virginia legislature, 1830s);
Willey's sons (William, John, Ray), daughters, and wife.
The letters are generally in good condition and legible. Many letters have the original franking information and/or stamps; envelopes are few in number. Many letters have embossed watermarks or printed letterheads, and typewritten letters appear during the late 1800s.
- Mixed Materials Box: 4 Folder: 11-12
Item Nos. 1182-12211833–1834Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Legal Matters
Friends (e.g. 1209)
(Note: during this time, WTW began his law practice in Morgantown)
- Mixed Materials Box: 5 Folder: 1-9
Item Nos. 1222-14061834–1840Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Legal Matters
Family and Friends (e.g. item 1230)
Religion (e.g. items 1251, 1258, 1280, 1291-1292, 1401)
Politics (e.g. items 1275, 1326, 1366)
(Note: during this time, WTW practiced law in Morgantown)
- Mixed Materials Box: 5 Folder: 10-16
Item Nos. 1407-15451840sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Primarily Legal Matters (e.g. property suits)
Some Political Matters (e.g. item 1447 -- WTW as elector for the Harrison/Tyler Presidential election)
Slavery (e.g. item 1512 -- "slave boy [sic], Thomas Jefferson" should be free)
Illness and Death in the Family (e.g. items 1497, 1499, 1502 -- death of Thomas P. Ray)
- Mixed Materials Box: 6 Folder: 1-12
Item Nos. 1546-17871840sScope and Contents
Items include:
Legal and Political Letters (e.g. item 1603 -- from Governor of Virginia regarding election errors in 1844)
Requests for Information (e.g. item 1668 -- How many physicians in the County?)
Other Material (e.g. item 1726 -- about Evan Morgan, who fought in the American Revolution and was a pioneer in Monongalia County; e.g. items 1728-1729 -- regarding temperance)
(Note: WTW is Clerk of Monongalia County)
- Mixed Materials Box: 6 Folder: 13-19
Item Nos. 1788-19291850sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Temperance
Legal Matters
Family Matters
Politics (e.g. item 1797 -- Washington, DC politics; e.g. item 1926 -- Whig voting in 1851 Virginia election)
(Note: WTW was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Richmond, Virginia in 1850)
- Mixed Materials Box: 7
Item Nos. 1930-24401850sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Temperance
Legal Matters
Family and Friends
School and Church Matters (e.g. items 2262-2300 -- applications for the Morgantown Female Academy)
Politics (e.g. items 2370 and 2376 -- election and WTW running for office in 1859)
- Mixed Materials Box: 8 Folder: 1-4
Item Nos. 2441-25201859–1860Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Family and Friends
Politics (e.g. 2442 -- son in college mentions John Brown raid in 1859; e.g. item 2510 -- election results [1859] and consequences; e.g. item 2520 -- 1860 election stationery of National Constitutional Union party featuring John Bell and Edward Everett)
- Mixed Materials Box: 8 Folder: 5-23
Item Nos. 2521-29031860–1862Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Family and Friends
Politics (e.g. item 2556 -- about WTW speech on rebellion; e.g. item 2587 -- circular from Dickinson College, where his son is studying, regarding war; e.g. item 2597 -- letter from General Scott regarding Colonel Emory, copy; e.g. item 2600 -- Brigadier General Robert Anderson to Dr. Crawford regarding Fort Sumter, copy; e.g. item 2723 -- regarding WTW speech in Senate)
(Note: WTW is in Richmond for the secession vote during this period)
- Mixed Materials Box: 9
Item Nos. 2904-33641862–1863Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Constituents
Family and Friends
Politics and War (e.g. item 2988 -- recommendation to President Lincoln regarding General Rosecrans; e.g. item 3052 -- WTW voted against emancipation; e.g. item 3239 -- Jenkins raid in West Virginia)
- Mixed Materials Box: 10
Item Nos. 3365-38241863–1864Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Family and Friends
Politics
Government
War
Other Topics (e.g. item 3696 -- list of IRS fees for legal services; e.g. item 3703 -- translation of a letter in French)
- Mixed Materials Box: 11
Item Nos. 3825-43241864–1865Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Family and Friends
Politics
Government
War
Other Topics (e.g. item 3641 -- advertising and testimonials by Professor Lacknow, "only liver and blood physician of the age;" e.g. item 4112 -- a prisoner in Camp Chase, Ohio, claims wrongful imprisonment)
- Mixed Materials Box: 12
Item Nos. 4325-48041865–1866Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Family and Friends
Politics
Government
War
Other Topics (e.g. items 4330a-4330b -- brief messages regarding fall of Richmond and fate of Lee's army; e.g. item 4421 -- letter from J. Evans, Governor of Colorado Territory, regarding "Sand Creek Affair")
- Mixed Materials Box: 13
Item Nos. 4805-53441866–1868Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Family and Friends
Politics
Other Topics (folder 3 -- President Andrew Johnson's appointments, and state jobs disputed between "loyal" citizens and "rebels;" folder 23 -- letter regarding enslaved persons and voting; folder 25 -- a person's claim for war work; folder 27 -- "impeachment trial" mentioned)
- Mixed Materials Box: 14 Folder: 1-21
Item Nos. 5345-57641868–1869Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics
Government
Family and Friends
Business (i.e. requests for jobs or appointments, complaints that "rebels" are getting jobs, claims for war damages, concerns about political "disabilities," and information about railroads and the West)
(folder 1 -- politics in Dakota Territory; reparations for damage to a church in Mannington, WV; compensation for soldiers of Revolution and War of 1812; the "impeachment trial;" folder 8 -- news article about WTW and Van Winkle votes in the impeachment trial of President Johnson, and signature of F.W. Seward [item 5489]; folder 10 -- patent office requests are found; folder 13 -- autograph of Ulysses S. Grant [item 5604]; folders 14-16 -- general communications as previously mentioned; folder 17 -- autographs of Governor Boreman [item 5668] and Governor Stevenson [item 5677]; folders 18-21 -- general communications as previously mentioned; folder 19 -- general communications as previously mentioned; request for help from a woman who lost two sons in the war, example of the times [item 5719])
- Mixed Materials Box: 14 Folder: 22-27
Item Nos. 5765-58841870sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics
Government
Family and Friends
Business (folder 22 -- letter charging US District Attorney, General Goff, with fraud [item 5776] and a letter lobbying to reject bill in Congress giving franking privileges to senators on the grounds it will force newspapers out of business [item 5784]; folder 23 -- letter from mayor of Lewisburg, WV, requesting job to get him away from the "rebels" in Greenbrier County [item 5786]; a letter lobbying for the government to do something for the railroads in WV since "all the bridges" were destroyed by the "rebels" [item 5788]; folders 24, 25, 27 -- similar subjects as above; folder 26 -- a letter requesting seeds and bulbs from the Agriculture Department [items 5849, 5851]; letters praising speech by WTW regarding Southern loyalists [items 5847, 5848] and a news article about fraud involving counterfeit money [item 5863])
- Mixed Materials Box: 15 Folder: 1-20
Item Nos. 5885-62851870sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Politics
Government
Family and Friends
Business (after 1871 the incoming letters concern matters of law, business, politics, friends, and family; they do not pertain to governmental activities)
(folder 1 -- letter regarding the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution [items 5885, 5904] and a letter from Elizabeth Ray Willey [WTW's wife] about home, crops, weather, and whether WTW wants another term in Senate [item 5902]; folder 2 -- an invitation for WTW to an excursion on the new Kansas-Pacific Railroad [item 5908] and more on the 15th Amendment [item 5909]; folder 10 -- contains the first postcard among the incoming letters; folder 19 -- letter detailing property values in Missouri and a letter from A.L. Purinton of Morgantown requesting job as agent for the "civilized tribes" in Bureau of Indian Affairs; folder 20 -- letter inviting WTW to lay cornerstone for a new building at Waynesburg College [July 1879])
- Mixed Materials Box: 15 Folder: 21-27
Item Nos. 6286-64251880sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Legal
Business
General Political Topics
Family and Friends
Temperance Activities
Recommendations for Jobs
Requests for Speeches (folder 23 -- letter regarding damage to a wall at Monticello in August 1880)
- Mixed Materials Box: 16 Folder: 1-13
Item Nos. 6426-66851880sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Legal
Business
General Political Topics
Family and Friends' Concerns (typescripts appear) (folder 12 -- letter from Virgil Ambler Lewis)
(Note: WTW has written "The Life of Philip Doddridge;" Grover Cleveland was President [1884-1887] but the Republicans returned to power in 1889.)
- Mixed Materials Box: 16 Folder: 14-28
Item Nos. 6686-69951890sScope and Contents
Topics include:
Legal
Business
Politics
Family and Friends (folder 16 -- letters from a company in Oil City, Pennsylvania; folder 17 -- mention of W.L. Mellon and J.M. King; folder 23 -- engraving of WTW for his recently published biography; flyer regarding a hospital in Wheeling [item 6880]; folder 25 -- regards 81st birthday of F.H. Pierpont (item 6911), a broadsheet regarding "loyal WV from 1861-1865" [item 6916], and a letter from son, Ray, about illness and a smallpox epidemic in Washington, D.C. [item 6917]; folder 28 -- letter regarding WTW's retirement at age 85 [item 6973])
- Mixed Materials Box: 16 Folder: 29
Item Nos. 6986-70081900Scope and Contents
Topics include:
Legal
Business
Politics
Family and Friends
(last letter dated 1900 April 23; WTW died 1900 May 3)
This series consists of Waitman T. Willey's financial records, including bills, checks, orders, and receipts.
- Mixed Materials Box: 17 Mixed Materials Box: 18
Financial Records1837–1869
This series includes Waitman T. Willey's legal papers, specifically uncategorized legal documents.
- Mixed Materials Box: 19 Mixed Materials Box: 20
Legal Papers1820–1856
This series includes two volumes of Waitman T. Willey's personal diary. Volume 1 covers the years 1830-1899. Volume 2 includes clippings added posthumously and covers the years 1899-1908.
- Mixed Materials Box: 21
Volume 11830–1899
- Mixed Materials Box: 22
Volume 2 (includes clippings added posthumously)1899–1908
This series includes a folder of miscellaneous material (1827-1917); and an account book for "Line Ferry," operator George Frankenberry, with entries for 1830-1856. The oversize folder includes an envelope, Willey's diploma from Madison College (1832), Willey's diploma from Augusta College (1834), and Willey's license to practice law (1832).
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): "Sophomore scheme," Dickinson College, William Willey, "2nd session, 1860"1860
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): List of battles of Arthur Palmer, Civil Warundated
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Report of Commission on Taxation1862
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Bills of rent of William Willey from Harvey Merrifield and James Heften1854
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Palsey vs. Haymond "amt of judgt" [amount of judgement]April 1845-July 1846
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): James McClellen vs. John Ambler plat of land1851
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Deputy Grand Worthy Patriarch's Commission, Sons of Temperance ("do not copy" is written on it)1847
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Votes for President and Vice President electors, 1840, Ohio County, Virginia (labeled Ohio Co. Commissioners)1840
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Wm Fairfax vs James Huggins plat of land; Wm Fairfax vs James Hggins [sic] plat of land (labeled on reverse as "Wm Fairfax vs John Ambler") (the papers are torn in half)undated
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Department of Agriculture list of seeds1867
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): IOU, Harvey Merryfield to William Wiley1857
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Piece of a document1841
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 1
Miscellaneous Material (1 of 2): Suit of John Merrill vs Henry Batton1827
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): List of names with "send to Alexandria, Va" written on itca. 1862
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): Two report cards for J.R. Willey at Monongalia Academy1862
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): IOU from Saterfield to William Willeyundated
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): A bill of debtca. 1835
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): Letter regarding distribution of sessions written to WTW in Washington, D.C.1854
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): A membership form for Independent Order of Odd Fellows1850s
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): 30 page speech manuscript in WTW writing delivered at cemetery in Grafton, Decoration Day1878
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): Petition to President Hayes for a consul (unfinished)ca. 1879
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): County clerk apportionment form in WTW's handwriting1887
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): Extract from revised statutes for the State of Indiana [1881] and suggested forms for certificate [1885] (3 pgs.)1881–1885
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): Subscription to Wheeling, West Virginia, paper1892
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 2
Miscellaneous Material (2 of 2): Bill for steel-plate portrait1893
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 3
Documents and Clipping (contains envelope, a memorial card, two pages of a manuscript regarding the Methodist Episcopal Church, a newspaper article about the South Side of Morgantown, and a typewritten copy of an invitation to dinner with the Lincolns)undated
- Mixed Materials Box: 22 Folder: 4
Louisa L. Willey Papers (contains an envelope, two documents, two newspaper clippings, and a letter concerning death and legacy of Miss Louisa L. Willey)1917, undated
- Mixed Materials Box: 22
Account Book for "Line Ferry," Operator George Frankenberry1830–1856
- Mixed Materials Unboxed
Oversize Material: Envelopeundated
- Mixed Materials Unboxed
Oversize Material: Willey's diploma from Madison College1832
- Mixed Materials Unboxed
Oversize Material: Willey's diploma from Augusta College1834
- Mixed Materials Unboxed
Oversize Material: Willey's license to practice law1832