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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Biography
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Restrictions
  • Digital Content

  • Descriptive Summary

    Languages: English
    Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
    9500 Gilman Drive
    La Jolla 92093-0175
    Title: William F. Vermilion Papers
    Creator: Vermilion, William, 1830-1894
    Creator: Vermilion (Family : Iowa)
    Creator: Vermilion, Mary, 1831-1883
    Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0417
    Physical Description: 5 Linear feet (9 archive boxes, 1 flat box, and 2 map case folders)
    Date (inclusive): 1853-1900
    Abstract: Papers of William F. Vermilion, physician, Civil War captain (1862-1865), Iowa state senator, and lawyer. The collection includes materials from Vermilion's military service in Company F of the 36th Infantry Regiment of Iowa Volunteers, such as wartime correspondence with his wife, company morning reports (May 1864-August 1865), administrative documents, and several diaries. The collection also contains business records, family memorabilia, and ephemera.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    Papers of William F. Vermilion, physician, Civil War captain (1862-1865), Iowa state senator, and lawyer. The collection includes materials from Vermilion's military service in Company F of the 36th Infantry Regiment of Iowa Volunteers, such as wartime correspondence with his wife, company morning reports (May 1864-August 1865), administrative documents, and several diaries. The collection also contains business records, family memorabilia, and ephemera.
    Notably absent from the collection is any documentation of Vermilion's activity as a physician, other than anecdotal references in his correspondence and newspaper accounts.
    Arranged in five series: 1) PERSONAL MATERIALS, 2) CIVIL WAR MATERIALS, 3) POLITICAL MATERIALS, 4) BUSINESS RECORDS, and 5) MICROFILM OF THE CIVIL WAR CORRESPONDENCE.

    Biography

    William F. Vermilion was born in Mercer County, Kentucky, in October 1830. His obituary article in The Daily Citizen stated that he studied medicine at Rush Medical College and built a large practice in Iconium, Iowa. In 1859, he married Mary A. C. Kemper.
    Vermilion served as a captain in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was commissioned on October 4, 1862 to command Company F of the 36th Infantry Regiment of Iowa Volunteers and continued that assignment until his discharge on August 24, 1865. Between December 12, 1863 and April 21, 1864 Vermilion was absent from his unit while recruiting soldiers in Centerville, Iowa. He was promoted to the rank of major on May 11, 1865, shortly before the end of the war.
    After the Civil War, Vermilion was elected state senator (1869-1872) from Appanoose County to the Thirteenth General Assembly of Iowa, which met in Des Moines.
    Vermilion's career in business and law began before the Civil War with his appointment as Appanoose County notary public in 1861. The Daily Citizen's account of his life relates that he read law and was admitted to the bar after the war and later formed a partnership with Captain Fee, a former member of his regiment. He was admitted to the U.S. Circuit Court, District of Iowa, on May 15, 1877. Vermilion formed the law practice of Vermilion and Harris (1871-1876) with Judge Amos Harris and, later, Vermilion and Haynes (1876-1880) with Col. E. C. Haynes. In 1880 Vermilion's brother, Reason R. Vermilion, joined the firm. Vermilion, Haynes and Vermilion became Vermilion and Vermilion in 1884 when Haynes left the firm. Later, Reason Vermilion moved to Wichita, Kansas, as a partner in Harris, Harris and Vermilion, while William F. Vermilion entered into practice with his son, Charles W. Vermilion. In 1894, Vermilion and Vermilion became Vermilion, Vermilion and Valentine.
    William F. Vermilion's law practice included matters of contracts, collections, estates, litigation and property transaction. During the 1870s and 1880s, he served as the local attorney for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in issues of right of way, contracts and litigation growing out of the building of railroads.
    Vermilion was actively involved in land acquisition and speculation and often secured titles through tax delinquency sales. In 1870, he became a partner in D. G. Campbell, a private banking business. During the 1880s, he invested in real estate in Wichita, Kansas, probably in association with his brother, Reason Vermilion, president of the Rock Island Town Company (1890). Although he primarily invested in land, Vermilion also speculated in the commodities market.
    Vermilion's wife, Mary, died on January 3, 1883. Their son, Charles W. "Willie" Vermilion, graduated from De Pauw University in 1885, studied law, joined his father's law practice, and held the position of Appanoose County Attorney in 1895. William F. Vermilion's second wife was Kate B. Day.
    William F. Vermilion died on December 28, 1894.

    Publication Rights

    Public domain. Digital copies of this material are intended to support research, teaching, and private study. This work may be used without prior permission. The original manuscripts for this collection are held by Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.

    Preferred Citation

    William F. Vermilion Papers. MSS 417. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired 1996.

    Restrictions

    Researchers are required to use the microfilm or digital surrogates of the Civil War correspondence.

    Digital Content

    Civil War correspondence and one diary from this collection have been microfilmed and digitized.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Iowa -- History
    Iowa -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
    Lawyers -- Iowa
    Legislators -- Iowa
    United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
    Vermilion, William, 1830-1894 -- Archives
    United States. Army -- Officers -- Correspondence
    Vermilion, Mary, 1831-1883 -- Correspondence
    United States. Army. Iowa Infantry Regiment, 36th (1862-1865)
    Vermilion (Family : Iowa) -- Correspondence
    Iowa. General Assembly. Senate