Series 1. Hays Family Papers, 1836-1884, 1952-1962, undated (includes facsimiles)

This series includes correspondence, business papers, and biographical notes of Samuel L. Hays, his son Peregrine, and the Hays family of Gilmer County. Subjects include: the formation of Gilmer, Calhoun, Roane, and Upshur Counties; the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850; "Stonewall" Jackson's boyhood; early frontier conditions in the Wisconsin Territory; immigration, farming, milling, and land speculation in Minnesota, 1857-1870; Charleston and Braxton turnpike; slave sales; Early's Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864; conditions in Richmond during the Civil War pertaining to livestock, tobacco, and cotton trade; the West Virginia Capitol question, 1877; and the Senatorial contest, 1876. Correspondents include J.M. Bennett, Louis Bennett, John Brannon, Gideon Camden, J.N. Camden, William P. Cooper, H. G. Davis, John J. Davis, Spencer Dayton, John S. Hoffman, William L. Jackson, John E. Kenna, Theodore Lang, and George W. Silcott. [note: not all of the subjects and personal names listed for series 1 were verified during reprocessing]