We dined on “steak and whiskey” An Overview of the Shane Manuscripts by Trevia Wooster Beverly,1 August 1997 At the end of the American Revolution, the “West” was defined as the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. By 1828, however, westward expansion had reached the Mississippi River and, in the Missouri region, had pushed the frontier far beyond. Underlying the history of this expansion are the stories of thousands of pioneer families, many of whose lives can now only be glimpsed through the written record. If you are researching individuals or families who were part of the westward expansion during the years from about 1780 to 1860, you will find two special collections, the Draper Manuscripts and the Shane Manuscripts, both available at Clayton Library, to be of particular value in this area. Our primary focus here will be on the Shane Manuscripts. “We dined on steak and whiskey.” This quote, from a diary found in the Shane Manuscripts, describes a favorite meal of one pioneer. Later, in an entry for 1825, we learn of another meal consisting of turkey, oysters, potatoes, turnips, beef, and Parmesan cheese. Although hardly the stuff of which history is made, such details are the life blood and valued treasure of the family historian. And thanks to the near obsessive drive of John Dabney Shane—for whom the Shane Manuscripts are named—much of this kind of material has been preserved. Shane, born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1812 to Henry and Nancy (Williams) Shane,2 was educated at college and seminary in Virginia and returned to Ohio and Kentucky as a Presbyterian minister. Licensed by the Cincinnati Presbytery on May 31, 1842, he was shortly thereafter ordained by the West Lexington Presbytery and performed his pastoral duties at North Middleton, Kentucky until 1855. Following two years of service with several other churches in that region, he returned to Cincinnati in 1857, where he continued to work as the occasion presented itself within the bounds of the Cincinnati Presbytery. From his earliest years, he had a passion for collecting and hoarding everything that had any bearing upon the history of the Presbyterian Church in the Ohio River Valley. Possessing a remarkable zeal for his project, Rev. Shane declined pastoral office and set aside any intentions he may have had concerning the establishment of a family so that he could roam the land in his quest. He did, however, preach to many congregations as he visited among the people. He was to dedicate more than twenty years to historical research, using the oral history technique similar to his contemporary, Lyman Copeland Draper. Shane purposefully sought out those of age and experience to interview, writing down their reminiscences. He copied from family, church, and government records and clipped from newspapers and magazines. While Draper had a deep interest in the military (personal papers in his original collection are rare), Shane was just as interested in the domestic, business, educational, religious, and literary aspects of the time. His inquiries concerning old barrels, trunks, and chests—which he carefully searched—brought him many family letters, records, and other items. Shane was a frail man, with a very small and close handwriting, and no doubt his extensive traveling, sometimes under less than favorable circumstances, resulted in many periods of ill health. He died of what was then called “inflammation of the lungs.” As evidenced by his name always appearing in annual reports, Rev. Shane was apparently held in high esteem as a faithful minister and “a man of God.” Yet, only a small notice of his death appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial of February 8, 1864: “On Sabbath evening, February 7, at 9 o’clock, Rev. J. Dabney Shane, aged 52 years. Funeral services at the residence of his sister Mrs. A. J. Mulford, 359 John Street, between Clark and Chestnut, Tuesday afternoon, at 2 o’clock.” As genealogists hone their research techniques and become familiar with library resources, they will eventually discover the “special collections” and the wealth of information that can be found in them. The Shane Manuscripts is one such hidden treasure. We are extremely fortunate to have, at Clayton Library, both the 32 reels of microfilm of these papers and the accompanying Genealogical Guide.3 Shane was quite the collector. No matter how insignificant, items that came into his hands were treasured and carefully attended to. And he would not part with any of them! As a result, the Shane Manuscripts are a fascinating source of genealogical information. After seeing Shane’s collection, the Rev. Joseph M. Wilson made the following comment: “They [the papers in the collection] were on the upper floor of Moore, Wilstach & Co.’s large building on Fourth Street [Cincinnati], and an interesting place it was; the rooms, three in number, were shelved all around from floor to ceiling, divided and subdivided by partitions, pamphlets arranged by subjects and then by years, newspaper clippings carefully rolled up with a memorandum to each stating the name and date of paper and place of publication, magazines, reviews, and periodicals of all kinds having any reference to Presbyterianism, especially in the West; scrapbooks in which were collected what are known as ‘broadsides,’ being circulars, prospectuses, &c., printed on one side only. Being attracted by piles of papers and pamphlets in the middle of the floor, they, he said, were his unarranged material.” Those familiar with the more famous Draper Manuscripts,4 and who recognize the name of Shane within them, may be surprised to find that not all of Shane’s material is contained within that collection. In fact, fully half of Shane’s material found its way into the possession of the Presbyterian Historical Society,5 collected and placed there by Philidelphian Samuel Agnew, Esquire. And it is this portion of Shane’s original collection that one will find on the 32 reels of microfilm owned by Clayton Library. After Shane’s death, his collection was sold at auction for about $3,000 total for books, notes, and manuscripts. Lyman Draper purchased most of the manuscript portion at a cost of approximately $300, and a portion of that was resold to the Presbyterian Historical Society for $30. Draper began in early manhood to gather material on all phases of pioneer history in the middle West, specializing in personal sketches of Boone, Clark, Kenton, and other well-known Western men. In 1853 he became associated with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and thus acquired part of Shane’s collection. In a letter that Draper wrote from Madison, Wisconsin on February 5, 1865, he credits his purchase of the Shane papers for the increase in his own collection. “I secured in Sept. at Cincinnati - that of the late Rev. John D. Shane, who was some 30 years collecting - has a good deal new Boone material obtained from old Kentucky pioneers whom I did not happen to come across. -- As large as my MS. collection was when you [John A. Remsen, Draper’s kinsman] saw it in 1852, I think I have quite doubled it since.” In 1865, Draper, in the Society’s 11th Annual Report, referred to Shane as “a singularly industrious collector of matters pertaining to Western history.” Hall, in the preface to his Genealogical Guide, points out that the documents on the 32 reels of film are mostly handwritten and sometimes illegible. Many of the church subscribers names appear as original signatures and are very difficult to read. There is an index in the Guide; however, this is an index only to the Guide itself, not to the collection. This should not deter the serious researcher, however, as the Guide certainly helps. In fact, it makes for interesting and informative reading on its own! It is desirable—perhaps imperative—that both the Shane Manuscripts and the Draper Manuscripts be used together for any research project involving the scope of either. Most, but not all, of the interviews Rev. Shane had with old pioneers are included in the Draper Manuscripts, while the Philadelphia collection consists mostly of old letters, records, and other materials that were given to him—plus a few interviews. Shane’s collection includes numerous documents with references to individual families throughout the then-West, including family papers, church minutes and membership lists, and newspaper abstracts (1794-1849) containing obituaries and other notices concerning prominent Kentucky and Tennessee pioneers. It is poignant to read the letter of a boy away at boarding school who wrote in 1826, “I hope, dear mother, when I come home[,] you won’t make me come back to this place.” Or those of 1812 between wife Judith and “My Dear Dr. [William H.] Richardson,” who was away in the Army; Surgeon, 1st Regt., Payne’s Brigade, K.V.M., under General Harrison. Among the Shane Manuscripts, one will find a memorial sermon given by the Rev. Robert Marshall on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Bethel Church, Fayette County, which had been organized in 1789. The Rev. Marshall noted that “there is no section of the Presbyterian Church on the American continent whose history has been more interesting or more eventful than that was planned in Kentucky by the early pioneers. Their elevated and indomitable spirit, their love of liberty, both civil and religious, is traced back through Pennsylvania and the Valley of Virginia, across the broad ocean to the North of Ireland and to the heath clad hills of Scotland, where the heroic few stood up against fearful odds and maintained with unflinching courage Christ’s Crown and Covenant.” While his message also included a word to the unconverted, it was a fitting sermon of encouragement to the early Presbyterians. The sermons and other related materials provide the researcher with not only historical perspective but many names, relationships, and personal data. This is a fertile field of research for those who had ancestors in this area. Those portions of Shane’s collection that are part of the Draper Manuscripts were abstracted in the section called “Kentucky Papers” (volumes 11-19 of series CC). The abstracts appear on pages 470-539 of the Calendar of The Kentucky Papers of the Draper Collection of Manuscripts.6 Items that remained in “the Shane Collection” include births, marriages, and deaths of a number of families, giving much-sought-after genealogical information. In the papers, for instance, those of Robert Marshall of Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky (1790-1808), one will find a list of 1810 scholars. And in the papers of Col. Robert Patterson, one will find a hand drawn map, undated, of Bourbon County, Kentucky, as well as land entries and surveys of Evan Shelby of Fincastle County, Virginia, 1775-1783. Examples of papers containing excellent genealogical accounts include those of the Cameron family of Scotland, Ireland, and America and the papers of Andrew Steele, who came from Ireland to Kentucky with two children, Robin and William. The latter set of papers is sprinkled with letters, petitions, and lists, several of which make mention of the Elkhorn area and to the Elkhorn Church. Those with an interest in this area now have valuable material to supplement that contained in the well-known work by Ermina Jett Darnell, Forks of Elkhorn Church With Genealogies of Early Members.7 Another example of items in the Shane Collection is the journal and marriage register (about 30 pages) kept by the Rev. Mr. Joseph P. Howe, minister in South Carolina and Clark County, Kentucky, from October 14, 1798, to April 7, 1816. And what a delight to find that, from the Library Company of Philadelphia, Rev. Shane saved the account book kept by John Todd, Jr., librarian, 1784-1785. A young lawyer, Todd died of yellow fever in 1793. His widow, Dolly, was to later marry James Madison, who became President of the United States. Dealing mostly with financial concerns, Todd’s account book lists the names of those owing fines and includes a list of purchases: “1/2 gallon Madeira, 1 bushel oysters, 4 Loafs of bread, Limes,” etc. While neither Shane nor Draper could have foreseen the great interest of genealogists yet to come, together these two pioneers in oral history have given us treasures of cultural history. From the Shane Manuscripts we find the price of Madeira wine was $2.00 a gallon in Paducah, Kentucky; butter was 18 cents a pound in Paris, Kentucky; and a slave, described as “a fine cook and a good boy,” was priced at $1500. Christians, who on occasion tipped a glass or two, are recorded for censure. In one portion of the collection are found the names of Agnes Glaze, Osburn Tucker and wife, Nat’l Collins and wife, Walter Tucker and wife, and some 35 others who had been removed from the church roll. Researchers going through the Shane Manuscripts will find details of daily life and customs that really put “meat on the bones” of their ancestors. The material, like a good book, is hard to put down! Considering the sheer magnitude of Shane’s collection, we can only imagine the awe with which Draper, himself a pioneer in oral history, must have approached the possibility of acquiring it. Shane’s keen interest in the entire Ohio River Valley has left us not only a valuable history of frontier Presbyterianism but a cultural history of the first American West. Get out that map, and if your family was ever in the area where the Rev. Shane traveled, be sure to access his important collection. NOTES: A charter member of the Clayton Library Friends, Trevia Beverly is a professional genealogist who conducts genealogy classes and publishes The Tejas Gazette under her firm, Tejas Publications & Research. Otto A. Rothert, “Shane, The Western Collector,” The Filson Club Quarterly 4:1:1930. William K. Hall, The Shane Manuscript Collection, A Genealogical Guide to the Kentucky and Ohio Papers (Galveston, Texas: The Frontier Press, 1990). GEN 972 H181 USA. See Josephine L. Harper, Guide to the Draper Manuscripts (Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1983). GEN 973 H294 USA. Address of the Presbyterian Historical Society is 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Telephone (215) 627-1852. Madison Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1925. GEN 976.9 S797 KY. Louisville, Kentucky: Standard Printing Co., [c1946]. GEN 976.9 D223 KY. END