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Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Thomas Browse Family Papers, A&M 3532, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas and Eliza Browse were young newlyweds in 1830 when they left their home in Paington, Devonshire, England and ventured across the Atlantic to settle in America. Financially secure already, Thomas Browse held tight to his plans of settling and farming in the Ohio River valley, searching carefully for the ideal plat.

A year later he bought 437 acres in Tyler County, Virginia (Later Pleasants County, West Virginia) along the Ohio River. Through hard work, wise investments, and partnerships, Thomas Browse became one of the most successful and wealthiest men in the area. He was appointed county surveyor and a magistrate of Tyler County and was involved in forming the new county in 1848, called Pleasants County. Browse was appointed by Governor Floyd to serve as a county justice and was again made county surveyor. He was hired by Alexander Creel to survey and lay out lots for a new town, named St. Mary's, which became the county seat of Pleasants County. Thomas and Eliza Browse raised three children, Robert Henry, Eliza Jane, and Mary Elizabeth. Thomas Browse died in 1880 while serving as president of the county court.

Robert Henry Browse and his sole surviving sister, Mary, inherited most of the Thomas Browse estate. Mary married Edmund Holdren, had one child, and remained on Grape Island. Robert, like his father was active in investing, farming, and public affairs, serving as a delegate in the state legislature, a major in the county militia, and as editor and owner of a newspaper. He installed the county's first telephone line in Mary's house and was the first president of the McKim Telephone Company. Robert also served on the boards of banks. During the 1880s gas and oil boom in Pleasants County he bought land in Parkerville, laid out town lots, and changed the town name to Belmont. Robert and his wife Sarah raised six children, among them a son, Henry N. Browse.

When Robert died in 1909 his son Henry was named executor of Robert's estate. Instead of farming Henry chose medicine as his life's work. He still helped his mother, Sarah, manage his father's financial holdings, but he didn't pursue investing with same energy as his father and grandfather before him. Dr. Browse later moved to New Martinsville, Wetzel County, West Virginia, with his wife Katherine and three children, where he practiced medicine for several years. Dr. Henry N. Browse died in 1954.

Scope and Contents

Papers of the Thomas Browse family documenting immigration from England to the Ohio River region in the vicinity of Ohio, western Virginia, and Kentucky (1830); farming in Pleasants County, West Virginia in the vicinity of St. Marys on the Ohio River (ca. 1830s-1900); and the acquisition of and royalties from oil lands in Pleasant County from the region of "Fish Pot" (ca. 1880s-1910). Includes diaries of Thomas Browse (1830-1878) and diaries of his daughter Mary E. Browse (1855-1910, incomplete). Also includes family papers of descendants Robert H. Browse and Henry Nicholas Browse (grandson) documenting services purchased and businesses transactions conducted along the Ohio River in the region of the towns of St. Marys, New Martinsville, and Wheeling (ca. 1880-1930).

The diaries of Thomas Browse consist of daily entries documenting in vivid detail his experiences in immigrating to America from England and running a farm in Pleasants County in western Virginia. Upon his reaching the Ohio River the diaries record his land speculation where the Ohio traverses the states of Ohio, western Virginia, and Kentucky, including listings of land values, buildings, and people. Steamboats are recorded with their names. After his farm is established there is a record of goods produced (such as corn, apples, wool, etc.), listings of sales (including goods sold and their values), and records of land transactions. Personal and recreational events are recorded as well.

Except for the arrest of Thomas Browse, the Civil War apparently did not have a substantial effect on life in St. Marys on evidence of the few Civil War related entries in his diary. Thomas Browse records in his diary and in separately foldered journal pages (see box 17, folder 12) his arrest by Federal authorities in April 1862 on suspicion of being a Confederate spy. This occurred on the eve of the election to decide ratification of the new state constitution. He was held in Wheeling for three days and then released after the election. There is also mention in the entry of 23 July 1863 of the posting of men of the 88th Ohio Regiment under Lieutenant Howe in St. Marys in order to intercept Morgan's Cavalry during his famous raid north. About 20 of these men were fed by the Browse household.

The diaries of Mary E. Browse record life on the Browse estate including documentation of farm work and business, but also including references to household activities and chores. Her diary of 1855 vividly records a sea voyage from New York to Liverpool in order to visit relatives in England. She also expresses her stand against slavery in her diary, and her prediction of disunion of the United States as a result of the bitter division in the country.

The papers of Robert H. Browse include extensive documentation of oil land acquisition in Pleasants County, including oil deeds, leases, plats, and royalty documents from ca. 1880-1910.

There are several hand drawn survey maps of West Virginia lands in the Grape Island and Middle Island Creek area bordering the Ohio River, and plats of lands along Fish Pot Creek, Raven Rock, and Willow Island Creek in Pleasants and Tyler Counties pertaining to land acquisitions, contracts, and partnerships involving the Browse Family (ca. 1830-1910). There are also maps marking oil fields in Pleasants County (ca. 1900-1920), and maps of the city of Hutchinson, Kansas (1886), and the city of Chicago and the World's Fair (1893).

Series include:
1) Diaries;
2) Business Correspondence of the Browse Family;
3) Clippings;
4) Deeds and Land Surveys;
5) Financial Records of Browse Family;
6) Oil Records;
7) Patents (land records);
8) Subjects; and
9) Oversized Separations.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Browse family
• Browse, Mary E., 1855-1910.
• Browse, Thomas, 1830-1878.
• Ohio River
• Oil fields -- West Virginia
• Pleasants County (W. Va.)
• Saint Marys (W. Va.)
• Tyler County (W. Va.)