The papers consist of correspondence, military accounts (returns on personnel and equipment kept by both McKelvy’s), certificates of appointments, newspaper clippings, reminiscence, and miscellaneous items, all arranged chronologically.
The undated papers have information on the Democratic ticket for Congress and other offices; James M. McKelvy’s membership in the Masonic Order-North Star Lodge No. 23, St. Cloud; his membership in the Ancient Order of Prevaricators; railroad passes; instructions to officers in the United States Army from the Treasury Department re: settling their property accounts; the Seventh Minnesota Regiment; Stearns County citizens (a list) who have undertaken to support the constitution, obey the commands of the President, and those of their superior officers in the United States Army; reminiscences of James E. McKelvy and other data concerning his service in the Spanish-American War, as a member of the Thirteenth Minnesota Regiment; and the closing exercises of Shattuck School.
The papers for the 1857-1861 period include an indenture between Henry Swisshelm, St. Cloud, and Thomas A. Fernley, Philadelphia; assignment of property; appointments of James M. McKelvy as notary public; and a certificate of his election as Stearns County Attorney.
Those for 1862-1865 deal largely with McKelvy’s service in the Civil War. There are forms filled out by men enlisting in the Seventh Regiment at St. Cloud, containing vital statistics and physical descriptions’ authorizations by parents for the enlistment of minors; a list of men of the Seventh owing sums to B.C. Spencer, settler at Fort Ripley; records on the Seventh kept by McKelvy; a circular from the Chief of Ordnance, War Department, regarding regulations on resignations of officers in the volunteer service; McKelvy’s appointment as notary public; a certificate admitting McKelvy to North Star Lodge No. 23 (Masons); a certificate attesting to the marriage of McKelvy and Margaret Garlington; and a license to carry on the business of claim and real estate agent.
The papers from 1866 to 1883 relate largely to McKelvy’s professional and business activities and to his family. They include articles of co-partnership between John H. Raymond and John H. Owen, doing business as Raymond and Owen in St. Cloud, and William Dickinson of St. Cloud, forming the firm J.H. Owen and Company to manufacture sashes, door and blinds (McKelvy witnessed the signing of the instrument); appointment of McKelvy as an agent for the Phoenix Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut; appointment of McKelvy as a judge in the Seventh Judicial District; a power of attorney granted to McKelvy by Moses R. Brown and Abby A. Brown of Fall River, Massachusetts; letters and other papers regarding McKelvy’s application for a pension for the government because of a wound received at Nashville; letter written by James Lawrence and Edwin Garlington from Helena City, Mountain Home, and Centerville, Montana (These communications have data on gold prospecting, livestock farming, and the formation of the Star of the West Grange—according to James Garlington, the first to be organized in Montana); family news; a statement by Stephen Miller of Windom that the Henry Swisshelm mortgage assigned to Miller by Gile J. Wilson has been paid; articles of incorporation of the Bank of St. Cloud (McKelvy is one of the incorporators; receipts for a contribution made by McKelvy to the Concordia Singing Society in St. Cloud for the construction of a public hall; the will of James McKelvy of Wilkins, Pennsylvania, the father of James M. McKelvy; a ruling by McKelvy as judge on the petition of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company for a right of way in building a branch from a point near Carlisle, Minnesota, to Pelican Rapids.
Most of the papers dating form 1884 to 1892 deal with the estate of McKelvy, who died in 1884. There are in addition a certificate issued by the Commercial School, St. Cloud, to J.G. McKelvy; the marksmanship record of James E. McKelvy; and a furlough granted by James M. McKelvy, who enlisted in Troop L, First Regiment of Cavalry, at Fort Maginnis, Montana Territory, in 1888.
The file for the rest of the period (1893-1963) is slight and miscellaneous. The most substantial unit is for the years 1898-1899, when James E. McKelvy was serving as captain in the Thirteenth Minnesota Regiment. The papers are made up of his military accounts, for the most part. Other papers for the 1893-1963 period include a list of members of a local board at St. Cloud of the United States Savings and Loan Company, St. Paul; J.G. McKelvy’s certificate of stock ownership in the company; a clipping from the St. Cloud Daily Journal-Press (January 2, 1894) containing an address by Judge D.B. Searle of the Stearns County bench and bar, paying tribute to Judge James M. McKelvy, among others; a certificates regarding James E. McKelvy’s nomination for the position of sheriff of Stearns County; forms concerning James M. McKelvy’s pension; a letter describing Eva McKelvy’s work in the City and County Hospital, St. Paul (Dr. Arthur B. Ancker is the superintendent); additional documents on the McKelvy estate; letters from “Pim” Wilbur written to his mother from Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota; letters by Percy Baily, secretary of the Pathfinder, concerning his marriage to Margaret May McKelvy (data on the Pathfinder is also included in these letters); a letter from Jesse McKelvy to his mother regarding the Charleston, West Virginia strike of the coal miners there, small pox in Pittsburgh, and labor importations from the “old country”; letters, newspaper clippings, and other items regarding the McKelvy house, built by Henry C. Burbank, sold to James M. McKelvy by Burbank in 1874, razed in 1955 to make way for a highway. Included in the information about the house is a letter from Glanville Smith to Miss Mary McKelvy.
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