Harkins Family papers
Abstract
Walter S. Harkins, Sr. (1857-1920) was a lawyer and entrepreneur active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Floyd County, Kentucky. By the 1920s his sons, Walter S. Harkins, Jr. (1898-1936) and Joseph Davidson Harkins were practicing in the Harkins law firm and also participating in the development of coal and gas in eastern Kentucky. Materials primarily include business papers, including a large amount of the correspondence and case files relating to legal cases handled by the Harkins and Harkins law firm.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Harkins Family papers
- Extent
- 14 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Mineral rights -- Kentucky -- Floyd County -- History.
- Law reports, digests, etc. -- Kentucky.
- Mining leases -- Kentucky -- Floyd County -- History.
- Practice of law -- Kentucky.
- Bankers -- Kentucky.
- Banks and banking -- Kentucky -- Prestonsburg.
- Coal trade -- Kentucky -- Floyd County -- History.
- Lawyers -- Kentucky.
- Arrangement
- Organized into the following series: Personal (1876-1953, undated), Business (1860-1954, undated), Topical Files, Legal Cases, and Photographs.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], Harkins Family papers, 1860-1954, 63M46, Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Walter S. Harkins, Sr. (1857-1920) was a lawyer and entrepreneur from Floyd County, Kentucky. Harkins was married to Josephine Davidson and inherited significant portions of land through the estate of her father, Joseph M. Davidson, an influential member of eastern Kentucky society. Prior to 1889, Harkins' law business was primarily devoted to the recovery of debts on the behalf of wholesalers and collection agencies based out of regional cities such as Cincinnati and Portsmouth, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland. Harkins worked to recover these debts from merchants and private citizens in eastern Kentucky and ultimately used the information gained from this business to acquire land and mineral rights in the region and to promote eastern Kentucky as a location for investment to industrialists, real estate agents, and fellow entrepreneurs throughout the United States and Europe. With the extension of railroads into eastern Kentucky during the 1890s and early twentieth century, Harkins' legal practice shifted toward the representation of companies devoted to the development and extraction of eastern Kentucky's natural resources (coal, oil, natural gas, and timber). Harkins did much to facilitate the economic and social transformation in the region by consolidating landholdings for the purpose of attracting investors and by representing outside companies in numerous legal disputes with eastern Kentuckians over who would control development in the region and how it would occur.
- By the 1920s his sons, Walter S. Harkins, Jr. (1898-1936) and Joseph Davidson Harkins (1884-1954) were practicing in the Harkins law firm and also participating in the development of coal and gas in eastern Kentucky. Walter Jr. died in 1936 at age 38, but Joseph's sons Walter S. (Scott) III and Joseph D. Jr. were still practicing law at the time of their father's death in 1954.
- Scope and Content
- These are primarily the business papers of the Harkins family of eastern Kentucky, though some personal papers are also included. Much of the correspondence relates to legal cases handled by the Harkins and Harkins law firm, as well as a substantial number of case files containing letters and carbons of transcripts and other court documents. There are also letters dealing with the family's other business interests, including the development of the Big Sandy River Valley. Personal papers include family correspondence, clippings, certificates, and photographs.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- Conditions Governing Access Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
- Copyright has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky.
Contents of the Collection
PERSONAL
BIOGRAPHICAL
Walter S. Harkins
Certificates of appointment to Notary Public and Delegate in Kentucky, 1884-1889
Estate Papers, 1919-1928
- Box 1, folder 2
Josephine D. Harkins
Dedications to Josephine D. Harkins, 1941-1946
- Box 1, folder 3