180 Manuscript estate planning

What about your papers?

A few blogs ago, I talked about estate planning but the frustrations I have encountered in my research about Judge Richard Parker, the judge who sentenced John Brown to hang in 1850, made me realize that I had overlooked an important topic.

Judge Parker's will made me wonder what kind of a lawyer he was! His will is dated July 24, 1888. Parker died five years later in 1893 so perhaps he was not at his sharpest when he wrote the will although he does follow the legal niceties well (from my limited knowledge, that is).

He does allocate certain items such as family china, silver, Bible and prayer books, and photographs to specific relatives. He had no children and his wife had died in 1887. He states in the will, "The residue of my property is of such small worth that it would be of but little help to any." So he divided it among his sisters' children and the children of his wife's sister. "Share and share alike," said Parker in his will. With so many heirs, all they could do was to sell everything and divide the proceeds.

But, Richard Parker, what about your correspondence, your journals and diaries, your ledgers, your business records, your books? Gone, all gone!

I have been tracking down his papers. Fortunately, one man made it his mission to collect everything related to John Brown, including Judge Parker. Boyd B. Stutler, 1889-1970,

created one of the most important John Brown collections in existence, and the West Virginia Archives acquired the collection in 1977. They received a grant from the federal government to digitize over 20,000 pages of the collection and make the digitized documents available to the public. 

Stutler also published an article on Parker in the Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society in 1953. Unfortunately, he provided no footnotes or bibliography in the article, but I was able to locate most of his sources in the West Virginia John Brown/Boyd B. Stutler collection.

The Handley Archives has a copy of a manuscript Civil War diary by Parker that is owned by the Library of Congress that purchased it in 1984. 

The University of Virginia owns the twelve-page catalog of Parker's books, so about 280 of his books were sold at auction. But having the list is a bonus! 

There is also a large collection of Richard Parker materials at the Chicago History Museum. Other items that I have not yet seen are at the University of Maryland and Stanford University. I am still searching to find more manuscript materials!

Maybe our personal papers would not be as valuable as those of Judge Parker, but I bet all of us have something that might be useful to future historians. Even If your children and grandchildren are getting all your photographs--can they identify all the relatives and friends pictured in them? Local archives might also like one or two of you and all your ancestors--of course, everyone should be identified. 

Diaries, journals, and business ledgers are often useful to historians. Letters describing war experiences and other important events are another item. Even if you don't want to give local archives originals of these materials, they would be happy with good copies.

I realize too that we did not specify in our will who gets our research materials about Civil War relics, Frederick County Courthouse history, and Judge Parker materials. More estate planning--and photo labeling to do!

So what about your papers? Don't forget to get them in order, labeled, and mentioned in your will!

Trish