Series: 1 ZZ (Volume 1)
Scope and Content Note

Papers, 1776-1869, by or relating to Joseph Doddridge and his family, which were acquired by Draper from Narcissa Doddridge, some in original form, some as copies if she chose to retain the original.

A biography of Joseph Doddridge (1769-1826) detailing his ancestry, education, contributions as a Methodist and Episcopal clergyman, and his personal and family interests was rewritten by Draper from a “Memoir” by Narcissa. Original manuscripts by Doddridge include: a brief account of the Indian attack on John Bingeman and his wife in 1763; a portion of John Stuart's “Narrative of Indian Wars and Settlements” (of which additional parts or versions appear in 6 NN and 2 ZZ); an unfinished draft of a novel entitled “Tutela,” expressing Doddridge's view of Indian life and character; and elegies on the deaths of two of his children. Copies of his papers include a letter to his brother Philip (1820), several letters to his wife (1824), and letters of “Russian Spy” (believed to be his pseudonym) published in the Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette (1825-1826). Several original letters of scattered dates, 1796-1828, and financial memoranda were written by his brother Philip (1773-1832), Virginia attorney and congressman, and pertain to legal cases and land business.

Also found in the volume are notes from a newspaper article (1776) on George Morgan and his proposed colony of “Indiana,” and an account by Narcissa Doddridge describing the Wyandot attack (1778) on the family of Joseph's uncle, an elder Philip Doddridge, and the captivity of three of his daughters. Correspondence, 1866-1869, between Narcissa and Draper discuss not only mutual historical interests but also the troubled course of the business arrangements for the new edition of the Notes to be prepared by Draper and his research assistant, William A. Croffut.

Series: 2 ZZ (Volume 2)
Scope and Content Note

Principally original manuscripts, 1774-1781. Many pertain to Dunmore's War and its culmination in the battle of Point Pleasant (October 10, 1774). Among these papers are returns for troops commanded by colonels William Fleming (1729-1793) and Andrew Lewis; muster rolls for companies headed by several captains, Thomas Buford, William Hall, Charles Lewis, John Lewis (of Botetourt County, Virginia), Philip Love, Robert McClanahan, John Murray, William Nalle, Henry Pauling, Evan Shelby, and John Stuart; lists of men killed and wounded; six letters of Fleming to his wife Anne (“Nancy”) Christian Fleming and a few other letters by William Christian (Mrs. Fleming's brother), John Madison, and Fleming; Fleming's orderly book and journal, with an index by Draper; and a later reminiscent commentary (1798) about the battle by John Stuart. (See also 1 ZZ and 6 NN for other Stuart narratives.)

Also in this volume are two journals kept by Fleming while he was a commissioner of Virginia to investigate claims in Kentucky, particularly those of George Rogers Clark and the Illinois Regiment. One journal covers Fleming's journey in the winter of 1779-1780 when he visited such settlements as Boonesborough, Bryan's Station, and Harrodsburg; the other was written in the January-April, 1783, period when he traveled to Louisville as well as to numerous other Kentucky stations. Both journals contain his observations on settlements, Indian raids, climate, topography, trees and plants, and wild game animals. In the earlier one he also recorded prices for food, supplies, and services. Other memoranda include notes on Clark's route in 1782 and lists of settlements and mileages from Fort Pitt to the mouth of the Mississippi River and from Richmond to the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville). Both journals are prefaced by indexes by Draper.

Among other manuscripts in this volume are a letter (1776) by William Russell about the battle of Long Island on the Holston River; one (1776) by Matthew Arbuckle about Cornstalk's negotiations with the British and about the capture of the Boone and Callaway girls. Two letters refer to the murder of Cornstalk (1777), and there is a draft by Fleming and William Preston for a message to the Shawnee nation proposing reparations for Cornstalk's death. (A second later draft is in Volume 7 ZZ.) Other letters, 1777-1781, by Christian, Fleming, Patrick Henry, and Preston concern additional problems of frontier defense against Tories and Indians. One letter, 1795, to introduce William Claiborne was signed by William Fleming (1736-1824), judge of the Virginia supreme court of appeals and former delegate to the Continental Congress. A few nineteenth-century letters and clippings relate either to the Point Pleasant battle or to Cornstalk's death.

Series: 3 ZZ (Volume 3)
Scope and Content Note

A volume composed of four groups of manuscripts primarily of eighteenth-century dates:

1) Correspondence, 1776-1780, on defense of the Greenbrier country. Included are eight letters by John Stuart (Stewart), ten by William Preston, two by William Fleming, and one each by John Cook, James Henderson, and John Van Bibber.

2) One letter, 1776, by William McClanahan, accompanied by correspondence received by Draper and a few pension papers collected by him, all of which pertain to the battle with the Cherokee at Long Island of the Holston (1776). Some references are made to the earlier (1761) fort at that location and to the military services of the brothers Robert and William Edmondson (Edmiston).

3) Robert Dinwiddie papers. Included are one letter (1757) signed by him as royal governor of Virginia; copies of proclamations (1754, 1763) about bounty lands to be granted for military enlistments; a list of men killed, wounded, and missing at James Grant's defeat near Fort Duquesne (1758); an original order issued by William Fleming on the Cherokee expedition of 1761; and a draft of a letter (1763) sent by Fleming probably to Francis Fauquier.

4) Samuel L. Campbell's undated manuscript for his “Memoir” on Indian wars in the West, 1754-1779 (printed in 1847 in Charles Campbell, Introduction to the History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia).

Series: 4 ZZ (Volume 4)
Scope and Content Note

A volume composed of three unrelated groups of papers:

1) Papers pertaining to the Indian skirmish in the Valley of Virginia in 1742, the earliest hostility recorded in that region. These include: a deposition [circa 1803] by Samuel McDowell, son of John McDowell who was killed in the fight; a letter (1808) about the skirmish sent to Arthur Campbell by Samuel McDowell; one from Campbell (1809) giving his account of the event based on his knowledge of the area and information from the survivors; and notes from newspapers and secondary sources copied by or for Draper. McDowell's deposition used in a lawsuit contains a history of the settlement of the land grants to Benjamin Borden (Bordin) beginning in 1737 and also details the genealogical relationships of the Borden, Bowyer, Harvey, and McDowell families in the region.

2) Papers concerning the attacks on Wheeling in 1777 and 1782, with emphasis on the earlier one. Original manuscripts of interest are dated in 1777-1778: a letter of James Booth describing the Indian attack on the Charles Grigsby family; letters of David Shepherd and James Henderson from Fort Henry; and a speech by the Shawnee Indians. Draper's correspondence, notes, and clipped periodical articles relate also to Simon Girty, the Zane family but especially Elizabeth, William Foreman's defeat (1777), and the attack on Wheeling in 1782.

3) Papers, 1758-1761, 1772, of William Byrd III (1728-1777). These fill the latter half of the volume and pertain primarily to Byrd's actions as commander of Virginia troops on the frontier and his plans for the Cherokee expedition of 1761. Nine letters from Governor Francis Fauquier; more than a dozen from Jeffrey Amherst; an affidavit by Little Carpenter and other Cherokee leaders concerning George Turner's recruitment efforts in 1758; a list of men recruited by Byrd in 1759; and single letters by John Blair, William Bull, and Turner comprise most of this section. Fauquier in his letter of January 23, 1759, appointing Byrd to the command of Virginia military forces also mentioned the resignation of George Washington from this post and his marriage to “his agreeable widow.” A letter by Byrd in 1772 concerns a survey of bounty lands.

Series: 5 ZZ (Volume 5)
Scope and Content Note

Mainly original manuscripts, 1772-1797, of Thomas Madison, purveyor and paymaster for the Cherokee expedition of 1776 and longtime surveyor of Botetourt County, Virginia. Several letters of scattered dates from 1780 to 1797 were written by his brothers: John, Jr., surveyor of Monongalia County; James, president of the College of William and Mary and first Episcopal bishop of Virginia; Gabriel; and George. Other correspondents were John Brown, Jr., Charles Cameron, Arthur Campbell, S[ally] B. Campbell, William Christian and his wife Anne, William Fleming, Francis Preston, R. Rutherford, and Caleb Wallace. Topics discussed include land affairs and settlement in Kentucky, use and treatment of blacks, legislation in the Virginia assembly and in Congress, and the new federal constitution. In a letter of 1788 Arthur Campbell referred to The Federalist and to the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Commentaries on the Constitution occur in letters of James Madison (1787), William Fleming (1788), and Francis Preston (1796). The bulk of Thomas Madison's papers, however, consist of records, 1776-1777, relating to the Cherokee expedition, including financial accounts, receipt books to settle militia claims kept by Madison and by Hugh Barclay, and John South's notebook listing packhorses and packmen. Also found in the Madison papers are a sheet listing sheriff's fees for Botetourt County, May-December, 1772; a surveyor's notebook, 1777, by an unidentified surveyor; and a few pages of an account book, 1780-1781, kept by William Madison for troops commanded by George Rogers Clark.

Closing this volume is a series of printed articles from the Fincastle Herald (1873), which were written by Frederick Johnston about the following Botetourt County persons: William Anderson, and his wife Ann, Henry Bowyer, James Breckinridge, Martha (Mrs. Nathaniel) Burwell, Martha (Mrs. James) Dezell, Matthew Harvey, Charles Johnston, Hazlett and Robert Kyle, Andrew Lewis, Robert Logan, Liley (Mrs. Joseph) Reid, Mrs. Eve Teney, Grace (Mrs. Frank) Thomas, James S. Walrond, Edward Watts, and the Christian, McAfee, and McClanahan families.

Series: 6 ZZ (Volume 6)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly copies of pension applications from Revolutionary veterans who had served in western Virginia, although some described service at Valley Forge and elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Interspersed are a few incoming letters to Draper, newspaper clippings relating to Samuel McCulloch, the Zane family and Fort Henry at Wheeling, and a few original eighteenth-century pieces. The latter include a contemporary copy of Thomas Buford's will (1774); a letter (September, 1777) by David Zeisberger to Edward Hand discussing the Indian situation from Detroit to Kentucky, accompanied by a copy of a message by the Delaware chief, Captain White Eyes; letters (also September, 1777) by Daniel McFarland, David Shepherd, and John Van Meter about the defeat of William Foreman's scouting-party; and John Bowman's account (1782-1783) with William Fleming for medicines.

Series: 7 ZZ (Volume 7)
Scope and Content Note

Original manuscripts, 1774-1812, most of which were arranged chronologically. A substantial number of Daniel Smith's papers are included: a North Carolina land agreement (1787); letters, 1787-1793; and two maps. His correspondence pertains primarily to Indian depredations in Tennessee, including the death of Isaac Bledsoe. Writers were Anthony Bledsoe, Catherine (Mrs. Isaac) Bledsoe, Henry Bradford, John Dickson, Edward Douglass, Francis Walker, David Wilson, and Joseph Winchester. Smith also retained a draft of his letter of condolence and advice to Mrs. Bledsoe.

Other manuscripts are more miscellaneous in content and may have come from a variety of sources. They include: an early but undated narrative about the adventures of Andrew Lewis's son Thomas with his Negro servant Pompey and the Ohio Indian known as John Hollis; a letter (1774) by Isaac Shelby to his uncle John Shelby and a letter (1774) of William Bowyer to his sister Mrs. William Fleming both describing the battle of Point Pleasant; a Fincastle County notice for election of delegates to the Virginia Convention (1775); a proposal (1776) by the Presbytery of Hanover for the establishment of an educational academy in Augusta County; Francis Duke's commissary accounts (1777) for Virginia militia near Fort Henry; a Virginia bond (1779) signed by Isaac Lebo charged with being a Tory; a list of Virginia counties in 1779; and a judicial order (1779) to the sheriff of Washington County, North Carolina. Also included are a letter concerning Kentucky land affairs from John May to William Fleming; a few Kentucky land agreements (1784, 1789, 1802, undated) by Lewis Craig and James Power; a second or later draft [1778] of a letter to the Shawnee chiefs on the death of Cornstalk in the handwriting of William Fleming with annotations by William Preston (See an earlier draft in Volume 2 ZZ.); rules established in the Kentucky court of appeals in 1793-1794; a letter (1794) concerning a legal case written by John Caldwell to Isaac Shelby; an Ohio justice of the peace warrant (1796) signed by Aaron Cadwell to authorize a seizure for debt incurred for delinquent house rent in Cincinnati; a land survey book (1800) by Walter Evans in Powell's Valley, Virginia; a letter (1802) on a legal matter by James Trotter to William Croghan.

Two printed broadsides are found: a proposal (1788) to form a company to enable James Rumsey to build steamboats and improved milling machinery; and a proclamation (1794) providing for prosecution of persons involved in the Whiskey Rebellion, issued by Governor Henry Lee.

A few of the pieces were bound out of sequence: the 17,74 Bowyer letter was erroneously filled under 1794; the draft of the message to the Shawnee was classified as undated; and the Rumsey broadside follows the undated items.

Series: 8 ZZ (Volume 8)
Scope and Content Note

Papers, 1776, 1840-1890, mainly letters received by Draper from descendants of the western Virginia pioneers. Most are dated from 1840 to 1852. Although the majority of letters are biographical and genealogical in content, several (1845-1846) concern Draper's efforts to locate and obtain the papers of William Preston (Series QQ) from members of the Preston family. Persons prominently mentioned in the correspondence include not only Preston but also Matthew Arbuckle, the Delaware Indian Bald Eagle, Daniel Boone, Robert Breckinridge, William Christian, Alexander Spotswood Dandridge, Stephen Dandridge, William Dark, Samuel Estill, William Fleming, William Foote, John and William Hacker, Benjamin Harrison (b. 1741), John Hollis, Andrew Lewis, Thomas Lewis, Patrick Lockhart, William McClanahan, John McDowell, Alexander McNutt, Joseph Martin, George Matthews, George Moffett (Moffit), Audley Paul, John Peter Salling, Adam Stephen, John Stuart, Jacob Warwick, William White and his brother David.

Other family surnames for which there are substantial references are Alexander, Henry, Inglis angles) (Virginia and Kentucky), Madison, Shelby, Taylor, and Trimble. Found in this correspondence are words of a song on the battle of Point Pleasant from the Lewis family and a long narrative by Charles Stuart based upon recollections of Margaret Handley Erskine (Mrs. Michael Erskine), who with her first husband John Pawley had been attacked by Indians and had spent several years (1779-1784) in captivity.

From Joseph Martin's papers came the sole Revolutionary manuscript in the volume, an orderly book used by Martin while captain during the Cherokee expedition of 1776; a brief index and annotations by Draper accompany the orderly book.

Series: 9 ZZ (Volume 9)
Scope and Content Note: Draper's handwritten copies, made in February, 1868, of notes which Narcissa Doddridge intended for use in the second edition of her father's book. Sorne of the material had been given to her by Thomas Scott of Chillicothe, Ohio. Most of the anecdotes and traditions recorded pertain to Indian-white conflicts, but specific topics discussed include: the capture of the family of Thomas Bendeaux; an adventure of John Bingeman (Bingamin) in 1763; Oliver Brown's military service; John Bukey and his family; William Chenoweth and the Cox family; Thomas Cresap and the naming of Savage Mountain and Negro Mountain; the Philip Doddridge family; a skirmish at Hanging Rock and the origin of its name; John McColloch's scouting expedition (1793); Samuel McColloch and the McColloch family; Charles Prather; David Rogers's defeat and the wounding of Basil Brown and Robert Benham (1779); Van Meter's Fort and the massacre of the family of John Van Meter; and other incidents near Wellsburg, Virginia.

Series: 10 ZZ (Volume 10)
Scope and Content Note: A manuscript draft for his Notes written by Joseph Doddridge and given to Draper by his daughter. Although the subject matter is similar to the published version, the text of the draft is arranged in different order than the final printed copy. This manuscript also contains a portion of an original play, here titled “The Tragedy of Logan” but printed as Logan: The Last of the race of Shikellemus Chief of the Cayuga Nation, an attempt by Doddridge to commemorate the bravery and misfortune of this Shawnee chief. Accompanying the play is a letter (1823) of literary criticism of it by J. Lewin.

Series: 11 ZZ (Volume 11)
Scope and Content Note

Copies of two journals:

1) Orderly book and journal kept by James Newell on the Point Pleasant campaign, 1774. This copy, sent to Draper by Ben Rush Floyd, is accompanied by an index by Draper.

2) “Journal... from Fort Patrick Henry on Holston river, to the French Salt Springs [French Lick] on Cumberland river,” written by John Donelson, 1777-1780. This copy, in Draper's handwriting, bears no annotation on its source, but Draper may have copied it from the printed version in A.W. Putnam, History of Middle Tennessee (Nashville, 1859).

Series: 12 ZZ (Volume 12)
Scope and Content Note

Papers of John Evans Finley (1753-1818), consisting of two notebooks bound together, which Draper obtained from a son of Finley in Ohio. Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Finley became a Presbyterian minister; he moved to Kentucky in 1794, and in 1798 traveled through the Ohio and lower Mississippi river valleys.

In Finley's larger notebook there is a fascinating array of disordered entries. Many are copies of papers of his father-in-law Job Ruston (d. 1785) - wills, land records, household property inventory (1770), appraisal of his Negroes, and a few letters-for Finley was involved in litigation in the settlement of Ruston's estate. Observations on persons, places, and physical features Finley recorded on his trip down the Mississippi to Natchez, Mississippi, and Natchitoches, Louisiana. During his trip he also copied records of land grants (1768-1769) to John Boynton, Joseph Galloway, George Morgan, James Rumsey, and Samuel Wharton in the vicinity of Fort Chartres, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, Illinois, and a list of concessions surveyed near Kaskaskia (1783); and noted Patrick Kennedy's trip from Kaskaskia to Michilimackinac via the Illinois River in 1773. Other entries directly related to Finley's life include a family record of births, deaths, and marriages, contracts (1790) for his service as minister to the Presbyterian congregation of Faggs Manor, Pennsylvania, a proposal (1791) for a school of psalmody, a few notes on sermons and an address on “History,” copies of a few records concerning his black servant Jane Worley, and notations from Jonathan Carver's Travels and other reading. Kentucky land survey records mention not only Finley himself but many other names also. Among the many miscellaneous entries are forms for legal documents; numerous medical prescriptions; notes on the cultivation of vineyards and other agricultural problems; recipes for peach preserves, colored dyes, and the distilling of wines. Also included are information on mining gold and silver, on tanning, and on cotton factories; mathematical instructions and tables of weights and of foreign coins; geographical notations on the eastern and southern United States, with tables of distances from such cities as Buffalo, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. Some scattered entries were made by unidentified writers after Finley's death.

The second notebook, much slimmer in size, contains Finley's personal financial accounts, mainly in the 1781-1785 years, including itemized lists of money and goods he received from his congregation. In this notebook are also lists of marriages he performed from 1783 to 1790.

Series: 13 ZZ (Volume 13)
Scope and Content Note

Primarily three small notebooks bound together, including:

1) A notebook containing data on Dr. Thomas Walker (1715-1794), written by his great grandson Franklin Minor during and following interviews he had with Walker's grandchildren in 1853. A few annotations by Draper and letters he received from Minor in 1852-1853 accompany this notebook.

2) and 3) Two memoranda books containing Draper's rough indexes to references to Indian affairs in Virginia and Pennsylvania and to Tennessee and the Cherokee which he found in American State Papers.

Series: 14 ZZ (Volume 14)
Scope and Content Note: A manuscript copy by Draper of The Discoveries of John Lederer..., transcribed in 1849 from the edition published in London in 1672.

Series: 15 ZZ (Volume 15)
Scope and Content Note: A small group of original manuscripts, 1765-1801. Fifteen pieces, 1765-1791, were written and/or signed by Patrick Henry. The majority are letters to William Fleming and Joseph Martin, with two to Edward Hand and one to John Fontaine. In topic they pertain to a scheme for land settlement near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers (1767), to frontier defense (1777-1778) - Hand's expedition, injustices against the Indians, approval of the letter to the Shawnee by Fleming and William Preston-to the care of William Christian's children and Negroes after the death of Mrs. Christian, Henry's sister (1790), and to a land matter (1791). A printed circular (1777) calling attention to a resolution of the general assembly on the clothing of Virginia soldiers was issued and signed by Governor Henry. Also found in the volume are one letter (1765) written by William Christian discussing Indian affairs and counterfeiters, and one (1801) by James Monroe concerning the determination of the Virginia-Tennessee boundary line.

Series: 16 ZZ (Volume 16)
Scope and Content Note: A manuscript copy, but not in Draper's handwriting, of Edward Bland, The Discovery of New Brittaine...1650 (London, 1651).