Scope and Content Notes

This series contains the papers created by Taylor and MacKey in the legal offices of Taylor, Gilfillan & MacKey in the 1860s, and, later, Taylor & MacKey. These chronologically arranged "legal documents" include: drafts of real estate agreements, notes for cases (some of which identify the client), ledgers of client payments, attorney fee forms and checks, subpoenas, witness depositions, and ephemera. This series also contains limited correspondence that relates the Taylor & MacKey firm. The materials reflect the breadth of their practice, including their work for clients in their town of Oil City, Venango County. The firm also represented clients from Altoona, Meadville, Erie, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, as well as towns in upstate New York. These papers refer to property loss cases, such as Ellis Harris vs. Imperial Fire Co. and estate and real estate cases heard in the Court of Common pleas of Venango County. Also present are drafts of land agreements presumably created by Taylor & MacKey. Many of the papers relate to clients in the oil, mining and railroad businesses, including the Tank Oil Company, the Atlantic Petroleum Company, the Pithole Creek Petroleum Company, the Osceola Oil Company, the Island Oil Company, the Fountain Oil Company, Ritchie Oil Company, and the Oil Well Supply Company. The firm also practiced criminal law, including two murder cases in 1863, and cases argued before the Orphan's Court. The majority of these papers are arranged chronologically. However, depositions and court transcripts from cases of note are located in Box 8, including a worksite bludgeoning murder between log rollers, an 1863 stabbing death, two undated shooting deaths, and the trial of a man accused of raping an eleven-year-old neighbor in the woods near her home.

Scope and Content Notes

This series contains correspondence from the clients and business contacts of Taylor & MacKey. The correspondence, receipts, and ledgers in this series are split into two subseries; the first is arranged alphabetically, and the second chronologically. These materials reflect Taylor & MacKey's work for mining and oil interests, such as the Iron City Oil Works of Pittsburgh, the Standard Lubricating Oil Works of Parkersburg, West Virginia, the Walnut Hill Coal Company, and private clients. Their communications with other attorneys, such as C. S. Poor, of Shamburgh, Pennsylvania demonstrate their broader involvement in the legal field. Related to their work, a map of "Oil Creek Lands" dated 1860 depicts numbered plots owned by Hussey, McBride, Haldeman and Farmer along Oil Creek in Cherrytree and Cornplanter Townships, Venango County, Pennsylvania. An additional, though undated, map shows the Island Well on Ball Farm near Pithole Creek and its confluence with an unnamed tributary. Client papers of the the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company include suits filed against the company for damage and injury caused by accidents. Many of the client papers relate to civilian property damage claims.

Scope and Content Notes

This series includes reciepts and bills for purchases made by Charles MacKey. Most of these materials document the purchase of items for personal use, including various dried goods, coal, food, liquor, newspaper and legal journal subscriptions, milled grains, and ammunition. The only business-related purchases are for stationary and other paper goods, and tax reciepts are also present.

Scope and Content Notes

The series includes personal correspondence, an insurance policy, and papers related to local politics. Because the personal letters are written to Charles or Charlie, and no envelopes are present, it is presently unclear if these materials belong to Taylor or Mackey. Much of the personal correspondence is from Thomas and Catherine Kane of Philadelphia. Both MacKey and Taylor received letters from Masons in Pennsylvania, and each are addressed as "brother." Masonic materials include a form letter notifying Taylor about train reservations made for him on the Pennsylvania Railroad, a letter regarding a three-sided brass lamp MacKey had ordered, and an announcement for a meeting at the Myrtle Lodge. A letter frrom Charles M.S. Powell of the Knights Templar, Pennsylvania, can also be found among the Masonic correspondence. Additional personal correspondence are alphabatized by the last name of the author; within the alphabatized correspondence, there is a letter from G.A. Allen regarding Taylor's son, Johnny, who was taken out of school and employed at a tannery.

In addition to correspondence, this series contains materials relating to local politics, including the contested election of R. D. McCready to the general assembly, and materials relating to a board of elections inquiry into Democrats buying votes with whiskey. It is unclear whether these materials relate to Taylor or MacKey's professional or civic lives.