Capt. William Sommerville (1756-1826) Papers , A&M 1750

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Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Capt. William Sommerville (1756-1826) Papers, A&M 1750, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence and genealogical materials related to the William B. Edwards family of King George County, Virginia, and the Capt. William Sommerville family of Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These families were joined when Elizabeth Sommerville (1812-1886), daughter of the Revolutionary War veteran, married William B. Edwards (1810-1888), a Methodist clergyman from a planter family, in 1833.

Collection includes: correspondence between William and Elizabeth Edwards from 1832 to 1888 (chiefly from the 1830s and 1840s about their relationship, family, and his work with the Baltimore Conference); genealogical notes and narrative family histories of the Sommerville, Edwards, and the related William Brown, Laurence Balthrop, and John Sommerville families; and miscellaneous materials related to Captain William Sommerville.

The latter include: am original calendar of letter abstracts for the correspondence of William Sommerville, 1810-1811; an original copy of the diary of William Sommerville, 1810-1812; a typescript of his 1794 diary; and a family register that contains a handwritten copy of Sommerville's brief account of his Revolutionary War service with the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment and his life after the war, as well as copied extracts of his diary from 1810 to 1812.

Topics of the diary include politics and relations between Britain and the United States; weather; news of family and friends; and the War of 1812.

Container List

Calendar of Correspondence (box 1, folders 1a-1b)

1810-1811

Scope and Contents

The calendar of correspondence, titled "minute of letters" by its creator William Sommerville, consists of letter abstracts in seven sections.

1. "minute of letters received"; march 9 to december 28, 1811; pages 4-28
2. "minute of letters wrote"; february 3 to december 14, 1811; pages 1-24
3. "minute of letters wrote"; january 10 to december 29, 1810; pages 1-16
4. "minute of letters wrote"; january 5 to february 2, 1811; pages 1-3
5. "minute of letters received"; january 3 to september 19, 1810; pages 1-12
6. "minute of letters [received]"; september 29 to december 29, 1810; pages 13-18
7. "minute of letters received"; january 12-26, 1811; page 19

Correspondents and persons recorded in the calendar of correspondence include:
men in public office on the national and local levels,
local residents,
members of the Sommerville family,
Revolutionary War veterans,
newspaper editors,
and Post Office clients and officials.
See the name index in box 3 for an alphabetical listing.

Subjects of the correspondence include:
estates,
lottery - Susquehanna Canal,
lottery - Union College,
lottery - Wilmington College,
lottery - smallpox vaccine institute,
politics,
deaths,
mail schedules,
business affairs,
elections,
apprentice,
and vaccine legislation.

Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1a
calendar of correspondence: letters received, March 9 to December 28, 1811 (pages 4-28)
1811
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1a
calendar of correspondence: letters written, February 3 to December 14, 1811 (pages 1-24)
1811
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1b
calendar of correspondence: letters written, January 10 to December 29, 1810 (pages 1-16)
1810
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1b
calendar of correspondence: letters written, January 5 to February 2, 1811 (pages 1-3)
1811
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1b
calendar of correspondence: letters received, January 3 to September 19, 1810 (pages 1-12)
1810
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1b
calendar of correspondence: letters received, September 29 to December 29, 1810 (pages 13-18)
1810
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1b
calendar of correspondence: letters received, January 12 to January 26, 1811 (page 19)
1811

Diary of William Sommerville (box 1, folders 1b-1h)

1810-1812

Scope and Contents

The diary of William Sommerville is in three parts, each representing a calendar year.

1. january 1 to december 24, 1810; pages 1-209
missing pages: 23-30, 55-76, 83-84, (page 84 occurs twice, numbered second time), 92-93, 96-97, (page 107 occurs twice), 110-115, 120-125, 127-130, 140-143, 158-161, 164-173, 180-187, 190-200, 207-208)

2. january 1 to december 31, 1811; pages 1-205
missing pages: 7-8, 11-14, 31-36, 47-48, 51-54, 61-62, 67-68, (page 70 not numbered), 108-119, 124-129, 136-137, 142-143, 160-161, 164-173, 180-181, 190-199, 202-203

3. january 1 to december 26, 1812; pages 1-195
missing pages: 34-39, 58-59, 74-79, 88-89, 133-134, 140-145, 154-155, 164-167, 176-179

People mentioned or commented on in the Diary include:
persons in politics and government on the national and local levels;
local residents;
members of the Sommerville family;
post office clients and officials;
military personnel;
Revolutionary War veterans;
New York, Baltimore, and local newspaper editors;
local doctors and doctors associated with the smallpox Vaccine Institution;
ministers of various church denominations;
and government officials in France and England.

Subjects mentioned or commented on in the Diary include:
post office business;
family affairs;
births;
marriages;
deaths;
apprentice[s];
slaves;
agricultural products;
methods, prices, and labor;
elections;
general store;
weather (daily);
Martinsburg and its residents (frequently);
mills;
taverns;
european affairs;
patriotism and Americanism;
churches;
schools;
reminiscences about the Revolutionary War;
opinions on ministers and religion;
lotteries -- Vaccine;
lotteries -- Delaware;
lotteries -- Susquehanna Canal;
lotteries -- Washington Monument;
lotteries -- Union College;
lotteries -- Wilmington College;
travel;
militia muster and draft;
War of 1812 -- cause;
War of 1812 -- local and national reaction;
War of 1812 -- battles;
and government policy.

Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1b
Diary
1810
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1c
Diary
1810-1811
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1d
Diary (1 leaf)
1811
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1e
Diary
1811-1812
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1f
Diary (3 leaves)
1812
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1g
Diary
1812
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 1h
Diary
1812

Correspondence (box 1, folders 2a-2c)

1799-18881832-1888

Scope and Contents

Includes letter (1799) from Sarah Brown to William Sommerville;
and letters (1832-1888) between William Sommerville's daughter Elizabeth Sommerville (Edwards) and William B. Edwards, including their daughter and others. William B. Edwards was a Methodist circuit rider.

Subjects include personal and family affairs, churches and the ministry, Martinsburg, and slavery, among other topics.

Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 2a
Correspondence (9 items)
1799-18361832-1836
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 2b
Correspondence (7 items)
1837-1845
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 2c
Correspondence (5 items)
1865-1888

Miscellaneous Material (boxes 1-2)

ca. 1870-1990

Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 3
Miscellaneous Manuscripts
undated
Scope and Contents
Includes transcribed extract from William Sommerville's diary dated March 1811 (undated); genealogy notes regarding members of the Sommerville family from the 17th century (undated); and Civil War poetry in manuscript, including "Stonewall Jackson's Way" (undated).
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 4
Family Register
ca. 1870-1900
Scope and Contents
Manuscript compilation of facts and clippings regarding the Brown, Sommerville, and other families. Family documented include predominantly Brown, Edwards (from Virginia), and Somerville (from Ireland). This compilation seems to have been created in the late 19th century.

pages a-j: estates, including Merida Edwards (1812), William Edwards (1755), and George Edwards (1780).

pages 1-20: family register, including James Edwards (ca.1750-1851), John Arnold Edwards (1777-1855), William Ballthrop Edwards (1809-1888), John Sommerville (1710-?), and William Sommerville (1756-1826). The section on William Sommerville includes extensive biographical information, including a narrative about his Revolutionary War service, and four pages of extracts from his journal (diary) (1794, 1810-1812); the entry for 15 July 1811 mentions Lawrence A. Washington, who was to settle for some time near Charleston, (West) Virginia on the Kanawha River. The family register also includes entries for William Brown (1765-1806), Reverend John McClelland (?-1798), and for later Sommerville family members.

page 21: "Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, Minute of Service in the Revolutionary War" (brief narrative by William Sommerville)

pages 22-23: marriage certificates for William Brown and William Sommerville

pages 23-40: miscellaneous genealogical information, including manuscript signatures, Scottish ancestry, and family crests (coat of arms)

page 41: Confederate service by family members

pages 42-43: obituaries for William Edwards (1809-1888)

pages 45, 47: obituary for Elizabeth Edwards (1812-?)
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 5
Genealogy Notes (Small notebook (photocopy) of 185 pages of genealogy notes regarding primarily the Clayton, Edwards, Ridgely, Sommerville, and Alexander families in period ca. 1700-1900.)
undated
Mixed Materials Box: 1 Folder: 6
Addendum of 1991/04/08, Family and Personal Memorandum (Transcription of "Family and Personal Memoranda" (1852) by Robert A. Sommerville, son of William A. Sommerville. Pages 1-5 include a brief family history, and pages 6-22 include extracts from his father's diary dating from 1794.)
1990
Mixed Materials Box: 2
Alphabetical Name Index (Two boxes of 3 in. by 5 in. index cards of names and their locations on documents in this collection.)
undated