About this collection:

➤Thomas Milligan Darrah was born on November 12, 1838 in Belmont County, Ohio.  He died in Wheeling, West Virginia on January 2, 1914.  Darrah was a clerk for the City Court and an active fisherman.  He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling, West Virginia. The album contains 38 photographs, each approximately 7.5 x 9 inches, mounted on 11 x 14 inch cardboard pages, all except the last photograph which is pasted on the inside of the back cover.  With the exception of this last photo, each photograph has a typed label. Photographs are mainly of Ohio County, West Virginia and Belmont County, Ohio. There are also pictures from Hampshire, Grant and Hardy counties, West Virginia. It includes pictures of historic places, scenery, and pictures from fishing trips on Big Wheeling Creek and the South Branch of the Potomac.

Most notable in this collection is the photograph pasted on the inside of the rear cover of the album. The rare photograph shows a banner hanging over Market St. with a depiction Grover Cleveland’s likeness and the words, “GOD BLESS OUR PRESIDENT COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMY AND NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES.” During a parade at the 11th annual reunion of the G.A.R. in Wheeling, August 26, 1887, marching civil war veterans, in protest, began leaving the street, parting the crowd to march on the sidewalk in order to avoid walking beneath the Cleveland banner. The incident created a national stir and was covered in September 1887 edition of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated.  Read more about this incident.

Note:The album binding is broken and the cardboard pages are badly warped from water damage. Several of the pages have come loose from the binding.

➤View photographs from this collection on the Ohio County Public Library's Flickr site

➤ Interested in this material? Please use our "Ask an Archivist Form" or call 304-232-0244.

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