As early as 1843 Draper began to collect and sift biographical data on these men and on many of their relatives and military associates as well. By 1851 a book on the adventures of Brady, “the General Francis Marion of the Pittsburg [sic] region,” and one on the adventures of the Wetzels to “be small, but full of wild incident” ranked in priority only below the planned biography of George Rogers Clark in Draper's master plan for his proposed book publications. Neither book was ever completed. Most materials composing this series were collected between 1843 and 1868, although Draper retained his interest in these men as long as he lived.
The collection includes accounts, muster rolls, receipts, bonds, and other financial, legal, and military records; maps of portions of Pennsylvania and Ohio; sketches of the Delaware chiefs Shingas (also known as Bog Meadow) and Tamaqua (or Tamaque, also known as Beaver or King Beaver), and the Seneca chief Tanacharison (known as Half-King); newspaper clippings, including “Incidents in the early history of the West” from the Beaver (Pennsylvania) Argus, 1855; and articles by S.J. Rea on Brady.
Subjects include defense against the Indians; Indian captivities and attacks, including the Battle of Paoli, Pennsylvania (1777) and attack on Rice's Fort (Pennsylvania) (1782); Seneca and Ojibwa customs, 1800-1810; and frontier biography and genealogy of early Kentucky families, including the Van Swearingen family. Also includes a printed copy of Albigence Waldo's diary, 1777-1778, kept at Valley Forge; directions for boring and joining wooden pipes for use in salt works, by J.B. Boone; a prospectus for “General Wayne's military guide,” by William Faulkner, Chillicothe, Ohio; letters of James W. Biddle to collector Lyman Draper concerning the collection; and Draper's memoranda books, 1858, 1860, including his travel expenditures and arrangements.
NOTE: Descriptions of the volumes in contents list are copied from the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts by Josephine Harper.
