Steel, William A. (William Alexander), 1836-1879. Letterbooks of William A. Steel, 1862, Aug. 28 -- 1877, Oct. 22.
Title:
Letterbooks of William A. Steel, 1862, Aug. 28 -- 1877, Oct. 22.
Seven letterpress books of Steel's business and private outgoing business and personal correspondence: 1) 1862, Aug. 28 -- 1864, Feb. 29 (HM 76186); 2) 1864, Feb. 29 -- 1864, Dec. 21 (HM 76187); 3) 1864, Dec. 21 -- 1865, Dec. 18 (HM 76188); 4) 1865, Oct. 13 - 1867, June 15 (HM 76189); 5) 1867, June 15 -- 1869, Apr. 7 (HM 76190); 1870, Nov. 12 -- 1873, Jan. 14 (HM 76191); 7) 1875, Jan. 1 -- 1877, Oct. 22 (HM 76192). The professional correspondence covers Steel's many business ventures, including his Civil War contracts with the United States Army and Navy; construction of the gunboats Tuscumbia, Indianola, Chillicothe, Etlah, and Shiloh; claims with the government; the Joliet and Alton Prisons; railroads; canals and river transportation; coal mines, including conflicts with miners' unions; limestone quarries; real property in Missouri and Illinois, etc. Also included are copies of contracts, agreements, accounts and other documents. Correspondents include George C. Bestor (1811-1872); Joseph Brown (1823-1899); Samuel K. Casey (1817-1871); Charles W. McCord (b. 1842); W. H. Odell; John Pope (1822-1892); Charles Ridgley (1836-1910), Benjamin Franklin Ruff (1835-1887), Lorenzo P. Sanger, W A. Sparks (b. 1828); James B. Speer, John G. Wallace, and others. Private letters to friends and family in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio discuss the family affairs, the Irish ancestry; Stewart Steel's estate; the history of the Steel and Sanger families; Democratic politics in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio; slavery, abolition, states' rights, policies of the Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant administrations. Correspondents include Steel's brothers Stewart Steel ( 838-1873), a banker in St. Louis, Mo. and James Irwin Steel (1840-1904), a newspaper publisher of Ashland, Pa.
ArchivalResource:
7 letterpress books.
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