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West Virginia and Regional History Center
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[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Reverend C. Shirley Donnelly Collection, A&M 4590, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Gift of the West Virginia Baptist Historical Society via archivist Gary Higginbotham, 2023 April 4 and September 21.
Clarence Shirley Donnelly (1895-1982) was a Baptist minister who collected historical records relating to the history of West Virginia, especially Fayette County and the surrounding area. He was born in Rock Castle, Jackson County, West Virginia, but spent much of his life in Oak Hill and Beckley, where he served as minister to the Oak Hill Baptist Church and Crab Orchard Baptist Church, respectively. He also served as a chaplain during World War II and received the Bronze Star and other medals for his actions. He founded the Fayette County Historical Society and led other historical organizations and also wrote frequently for the Beckley Post-Herald on various historical and related topics.
Reverend C. Shirley Donnelly, a Baptist minister and local historian, collected these materials for his own research and interest in West Virginia history. The collection contains various materials pertaining to coal mining and West Virginia history, especially in the New River area and Fayette County. It includes correspondence, land grant and deed records, pamphlets, journals, local histories, records, photographs, and art relating to mining and life in the New River area. One set of correspondence includes recollections, a yearbook, and newspaper clippings by a World War II sailor from the USS West Virginia. Another series of correspondence includes the antebellum, wartime, and postwar letters and personal receipts of Charles Dequasie, a Confederate soldier from Fayette County, West Virginia, and Robert Edward Dequasie's personal and business correspondence. Other ephemera includes West Virginia and mining journals and certificates belonging to Donnelly and others. A scrapbook and notebook of newspaper clippings pertain to early court hangings and executions in West Virginia. Political posters include those for West Virginia Governor William C. Marland and West Virginia Senators Harley Kilgore and Robert Byrd.
Additional material from Rev. C. Shirley Donnelly pertaining to his work was retained by the West Virginia Baptist Historical Society.
Includes correspondence between Donnelly and others about coal mining and mining accidents primarily in Fayette County, West Virginia, in the early twentieth century. Other correspondence includes letters from a sailor recalling his experiences on the USS West Virginia and personal correspondence of Donnelly on various topics. Local histories include manuscripts about the Civil War battle of Carnifex Ferry and the following areas in West Virginia: Thurmond; Fayette County; and Clay County. Highlights of local records include a book of West Virginia land grants (1820s-1840s), 18th and 19th century land deeds, and a roster and history of the West Virginia National Guard (1929, 1950).
Contains the personal correspondence, receipts, and inventories of Charles A. Dequasie, a Confederate soldier from Fayette County, West Virginia. Includes antebellum, wartime, and postwar correspondence with his wife, Rachel, and other family members. Also includes the personal and business correspondence (circa 1890-1920s) of his son, Robert Edward Lee Dequasie. Receipts mainly include the tax receipts of Charles Dequasie. Also included are Dequasie's 1865 military parole given at the war's end, as well as an 1862 Confederate travel pass from Richmond, Virginia.
Photographs and art illustrate different scenes and activities in West Virginia, especially in the New River Gorge area, such as schools, churches, landscapes, and individual and group portraits. Morgantown, Lansing, Hinton, Oak Hill, and various Fayette County towns are depicted. Some photographs focus on Civil War history while others focus mainly on Fayette County history. It also features art prints of the West Virginia state capitol and the New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia.
Donnelly documented and saved newspaper clippings of the last public hangings and first executions by the electric chair in West Virginia, which is reflected in his scrapbook and his notebook of newspaper clippings on such events. It includes the original court reporter transcript of the circuit court in Fayette County and photographs relating to the murder case regarding the accused Lemuel Thomas Steed. Also includes Donnelly's ticket of admission to Steed's execution in 1948.
Political posters include original Democratic Party posters for West Virginia Governor William C. Marland and West Virginia Senators Harley Kilgore and Robert Byrd.