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Daniel A. Landes Archive
In July, 2019, it was discovered that a great-great-granddaughter of Daniel. A. Landes had retrieved a large cache of personal papers of D. A. Landes from her father's estate in Colville, WA. You can see the obituary of her father, Richard Dale Landes, here.
Among the archive were 25 hand-written diaries of D. A. Landes from a period spanning from 1877 - 1930. Other papers include deeds, plot surveys, receipts, ledgers, and personal letters. Also included are loose photographs, a larte photo album, 2 diaries by Zella Landes (D. A's daughter) and 1 diary by Edward Landes (D. A.'s grandson). One of the deeds is dated 1810. Here are some photos of the archive:
It is my intention over the next year to scan and transcribe the diaries and make that material available here in a variety of formats, eventually including a searchable database of names, locations, activities, etc. For now, you can review individual items from the achive here:
Daniel Andrew Landes (known in the family simply as D. A.) was the oldest child of Jesse and Christina Landes of Brushy Run, WV.
D. A. Landes was born in 1851 at Brushy Run and died in 1934 at his home in the Dolly Hills near Riverton, WV. This is a section of Germany Valley that was originally settled by John Dolly around 1780. A descendant of John Dolly was Job Dolly, the father of D. A.'s wife, America Rebecca Dolly. Job Dolly died in 1905 and consequently Rebecca inherited a portion of his estate. Sometime before 1905 (probably around 1900) Rebecca and D. A. moved to that location in the Dolly Hills. When Job Dolly died in 1905, Daniel became the executor of his estate, settling debts and facilitating the complicated process of dividing up Job Dolly's lands and personal property among his heirs.
Both D. A. and his wife, America Rebecca Dolly Landes are buried in the Landes-Dolly cemetery located on a hill overlooking the original homeplace.
D. A. was a farmer and a surveyor, having been elected Pendleton County Surveyor on several occasions. He also was the postmaster of Box, WV -- which evidently was a commuity with a postoffice somewhere in the immediate area of the Bland Hills or the Dolly Ridge (Dolly Hills). Bland Hills Road intersects US Rt. 33 at a small community locally known as "Monkeytown." I remember when I was a child a store was located there.
The 1918 West Virginia Gazetteer lists Box, WV as "Population 250", which seems remarkable, knowing the local geography. In the Gazetteer, Box is listed in Pendleton County, 13 miles northwest of Franklin, the county seat..." Riverton, which is the closest real town to the Dolly Hills is listed in the same publiciation as "Population 100. In Pendleton County, 18 miles northwest of Franklin, the county seat..." Box, WV was probably not the same location known as 'Monkeytown' today, but was probably the general area and community located around the Daniel and Rebecca Landes farm, and running down the Bland Hills Road and other side roads toward Riverton.
