Draper, Lyman Copeland, 1815-1891

Historian.

Draper, the noted historian, author, and collector of manuscripts and materials related to the American pioneer era, was serving as corresponding secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin when these letters were written. Reuben Thomas Durrett, the recipient of the letters, was a Louisvillian and the founder of the Filson Club.

Historian, librarian, and collector.

Lyman Copeland Draper (1815-1891) was born in New York. In 1840 he became the corresponding secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Draper spent most of his life researching Revolutionary War heroes from the South.

American historian, librarian and collector.

Lyman Copeland Draper was born in Lockport, New York on September 4, 1815. He attended Granville College in Ohio from 1834-1836 and became very interested in American history. In 1843 a relative began to fund Draper's historical and research travel in return for occasional domestic and business assistance. Draper made nine trips throughout the southeastern and middle states, conducting interviews, copying archival records, and collecting original manuscripts. After the death of his patron, Draper moved to Wisconsin, where in 1854 he was appointed corresponding secretary of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Over the next thirty-two years he devoted his time and energy to the Historical Society and his own research. Draper retired in 1886 but continued his work on his manuscripts. He died in Madison, Wisconsin on August 26, 1891.

Lyman Copeland Draper (1815-1891), American historian known for his studies of the history of trans-Allegheny West. From 1854 to 1886, he served as director of The State Historical Society of Wisconsin from 1854 to 1886.

Historian, collector.

On the Committee of the Regents of the State University (Wisconsin).

Historian, collector, and librarian.

From 1844 to 1852, Lyman Copeland Draper lived in the household of Peter Remsen at Rose Hill, near Baltimore. Supported by Remsen, Draper made numerous journeys to the west, recording narratives and gathering primary sources on that region's history from 1763 to the close of the War of 1812. His Oct. - Dec., 1845, trip took him through western Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Charles Campbell (1807-1876) was born on 1 May 1807, in Petersburg, Virginia, the firstborn child of parents John Wilson Campbell (d.1842), and Mildred Walker Moore Campbell. John, a bookstore owner, was also a historian. In 1831 he published the History of Virginia to 1781 . Later, he held the position of Federal Collector of Customs in Petersburg, Virginia. Mildred taught at the Petersburg Classical Academy in the 1840's. In addition to Charles, the couple also had two younger children, Alexander (Aleck) S. Campbell, and Elizabeth (Betty) Campbell Maben (d.1871).

Charles' mother, Mildred Walker Moore Campbell, was the granddaughter of Virginia lieutenant governor Alexander Spotswood (1676-1740). Mildred Walker Moore Campbell and her siblings Mary Fairfax Moore Keller, Dr. Alexander Spotswood Moore, Ann Evelina Moore Henley, William Agustin Moore, Eliza Moore McDonald, and Lavinia Moore McPheeters wrote and received numerous pieces of personal correspondence that are available in this collection.

Charles Campbell attended the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) from 1823-1825. Upon graduation he enrolled in Henry St. George Tucker's School of Law in Winchester, Virginia. However, he suffered from chronic headaches which caused him severe physical and mental exhaustion. By 1829, these health issues would force him to leave the law profession.

Following his departure from law, Campbell worked as an engineer of the Petersburg Railroad. Later he ran a private school for boys in Glencoe, Alabama. On 13 September 1836, he married Elvira N. Callaway (1819-1837) of Monroe County, Tennessee. In 1837, Elvira died shortly after the birth of a son, Callaway Campbell (b.1837). In his distress, Campbell left his son with Elivira's siblings, Thomas and Lucinda Callaway. Later, this would result in a court case to regain custody of his child.

Following the death of his wife, Campbell worked as a clerk in the office of the Collector of Custom in Petersburg, Virginia (a position he obtained from his father John Campbell). From 1840-1843, Campbell also owned, published, and edited a Petersburg newspaper, The American Statesman . He returned to teaching in 1842 by opening a classical school in Petersburg, becoming both teacher and administrator in the Anderson Seminary. He would hold these positions until the formation of free public schools in 1870.

Campbell remarried in 1850 to Miss Anna Birdsall of Rahway, New Jersey. They had four children, Mary Spotswood Campbell Robinson (b.1852), Nanny Campbell (b.1854), Charles Campbell (b.1856), and Fanny Campbell (1858-1860's).

Charles Campbell was committed to Western Lunatic Asylum at Staunton, Virginia, in 1873 where he remained until his death on July 11, 1876. He was buried at Blandford Church Cemetery, Petersburg.

Like his father, Campbell was a historian. He began contributing to journals in 1834. Some of the journals to which he frequently contributed included; The Southern Literary Messenger or The Southern and Western Literary Messenger and Review ; The Farmer's Register ; The New Yorker ; and the Petersburg Intelligencer . His most important work, however, was the History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia . This work built upon his father's book and concerned Virginia history from the colony's founding to the Revolutionary War.