Collection Title: B. W. S. Huffaker Letter
Series Number: MS10-32
Processed and Cataloged by: Processed by Dieter C. Ullrich on June 11, 2010.
Date Listed: June 11, 2010
Date Span: 1865
Size of Collection: 0.10 linear feet.
Number of Boxes: 1 legal size file folder; 1 item.
Type of Material: Correspondence.
Condition of Material: Fair with some fading and foxing.
Arrangement: Chronological arrangement.
Biographical / Historical Information: B. W. S. Huffaker was a resident and business entrepreneur from Monticello, Kentucky. During the late 1860s, he drilled and struck oil along Otter Creek near Slickford, Kentucky. He served as Wayne County’s State Representative from 1865 to 1867 and State Senator from 1873 to 1877. In 1878, he relocated to Wakeeney, Kansas where he built the Grand Central Hotel. He later returned to Monticello where died in 1899.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of a photocopied transcript of a letter written by B. W. S. Huffaker of Wayne County, Kentucky to his brother-in-law A. C. E. Callen of Knox County, Tennessee on April 9, 1865. The letter mentions the fall of Richmond, Virginia and declares the Confederate Army was “whipped badly”. Huffaker also writes that Callen should lease land “where there is indication of Spring Oil”.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Callen, Andrew Charles Evans, 1823-1908
Huffaker, Barton William Stone, 1825-1899
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Personal narratives.
Petroleum – Kentucky – Wayne County.
