Isaac Zane Collection

642 WFCHS/THL

Inventory created by Archives Staff 12/1997. Last revised 02/2021.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: Collection is open to all researchers.

USE RESTRICTIONS: Restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a member of the archives staff for information concerning these restrictions. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright.

EXTENT: .21 linear feet

CREATOR: Zane, Isaac, 1743-1795

DATE: 1743-1795

SCOPE AND CONTENT: The Isaac Zane Collection contains materials concerning the life Isaac Zane. There are copies of correspondence, some of which is on microfilm (1761-1806), information about Zane’s iron works at Marlboro and his service as a Justice of the Peace in Frederick County and in the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1775. There are also copies of maps and estate settlement papers.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL: Zane was born into a devout Quaker family in Philadelphia in 1743. He moved to Frederick County in about 1756 and established the Marlboro Iron Works. The iron works produced stoves, pots, and bar iron which were shipped to Bristol, London, Glasgow, and Boston from the ports of Alexandria and Falmouth. During the Revolutionary War, Zane turned the iron works to the production of munitions. He was not paid for this work and Zane remained in debt for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, Zane’s will showed that he had substantial property holdings at the time of his death. Zane was active in Virginia politics and served in the House of Burgesses (1775), the Revolutionary Conventions of 1774 and 1776, and the Virginia House of Delegates (1778-1781).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Moss, Roger W. "Isaac Zane, Jr., a "Quaker for the Times"." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 77, no. 3 (1969): 291-306; Frederick County Superior Court Will Book No. 1, pp. 224-305 (Microfilm available in Archives); Gunderman, Mark P. “The Village that Time Forgot.” Royal Examiner. March 30, 2020.

CITE AS: Isaac Zane Collection, 642 THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA

ACQUISITION INFORMATION: Acquired as a gift.

ORGANIZATION:

BOX 1

Correspondence - Isaac Zane to Colonel William Booth, November 11, 1794, and enclosure on Marshall's opinion as to penalties under the Militia Law, 3 leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

Correspondence - Sarah Zane to cousin in the Wyandot tribe, 1796, 3 copies, 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy); explanation, 1 leaf, manuscript (photocopy); transcript, 1 leaf, typescript

Correspondence - Thomas Jefferson to Isaac Zane, June 17, 1783, 2 copies, 1 leaf, manuscript (photocopy)

Map of Isaac Zane land holdings, 4 leaves, manuscript (photocopy), 2^nd copy oversize

"Marlboro Iron-Works" - sale broadside, c. 1783, 2 copies, 1 leaf, typescript (photocopy)

Newspaper clippings (folder contains the following):
Gunderman, Mark P. “The Village that Time Forgot.” Royal Examiner. March 30, 2020, printed
Winchester Evening Star, July 28, 1976, 1 leaf, printed (photocopy)

Old Forge Farm—National Register of Historic Places—registration form prepared by Helen Lee Fletcher, Sept. 2003, 26 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

Sale of Estate of Issac Zane - broadside, no date, 1 leaf, manuscript (photocopy)

"Gentleman Ironmaster: Isaac Zane and Marlboro Furnace," by John Bivins, November 1970, 2 items, 44 leaves, typescript (photocopy)

"Isaac Zane, Jr., A Quaker for the Times," by Roger W. Moss, Jr., July 1969, article in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 18 leaves, printed (photocopy)

"Decorative Cast Iron on the Virginia Frontier," by John Bivins, Jr., article in Antiques Magazine, March 1972, 5 leaves, printed

Zane papers and other references, no date, 1 leaf, printed/manuscript, 2 pages, manuscript

MICROFILM

Zane Family correspondence - Coates-Reynell Papers, 1761-1806, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Isaac Zane - records, Memorandum book, 1780-1783 Receipt book, 1784-1785, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

OVERSIZE

MAPCASE 1, DRAWER 6

Settlement of Isaac Zane Estate records, 1812-1818 (incomplete), Historical Society of Pennsylvania, leaves, manuscript (photocopy)

PHOTOGRAPHS: Photographs and other images belonging to this collection may be accessed online through http://handley.pastperfectonline.com/