Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Miscellaneous county records.

The record group has been arranged into the following series: School records; Elections; Taxation, assessments, etc.; Census reports; and Miscellaneous. Items of interest include school reports, 1835-1883 and school census, 1914 and 1920; election registrations, poll lists and election returns, 1820-1888; highway assessment and tax records, 1819-1943; assessment roll of Milan township, Michigan, 1902, lists and abstracts of sales of state lands, 1860-1899; tavern permits, 1836-1838; abstracts of permits, occupations and new establishments, 1830-1840; bonds, 1822 and 1841-1892; drain survey, 1861; certificates of sales of swamp lands, 1867; census reports of Port Lawrence township (later part of Ohio), 1827, and Ida township, 1837; military lists,1869-1886; and contracts of Monroe County Detecting Society (vigilance committee) for 1848 and 1853.

Ann Arbor, Michigan family. Ledger, of Elijah W. Morgan, attorney and businessman, compiled in the 1840's containing his comments and evaluations of business and professional abilities of early businessmen of Washtenaw County, Michigan; correspondence, autobiography, and other miscellaneous business papers and deeds; also correspondence, drawings, and writings of his wife Lucy Stow Morgan, including letter describing life and customs in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1831; and other papers of Elijah's parents, including autobiographies of Elisha Morgan and Polly Babcock Morgan.

The Morgan family collection consists primarily of the personal and business papers of Elijah W. Morgan, one of Ann Arbor's pioneer citizens who had a distinguished career as an attorney and banker; letters and other materials of his wife Lucy Stow Morgan; and autobiographies and scattered papers of Elijah's parents, Elisha and Polly Babcock Morgan of Watertown, New York.

The bulk of the collection consists of the personal and business papers of Elijah W. Morgan. This includes correspondence (1821-1889), autobiographical material, essays on religion and temperance, and a large section of business and financial papers generated as a result of his law practice or his various business dealings.

Williamston, Ingham County, Michigan, family. Financial records, clippings, and correspondence relating to Mullett Farm and John Mullett, surveyor; extract, 1864, from Meridian Township Register Book; letterpress book, journal, and correspondence, 1852-1893, of John H. Forster, surveyor, agent for Pewabic Mining Company, Hancock, Mich., and later owner of Springbrook Farm, Ingham County, Michigan; diary, 1840-1841, of Catherine Hall; and map, 1859, of Mullett Farm; and photographs.

The Mullett family collection contains many useful descriptions of the state, and is a good source of information for some of the state's economic and topographic conditions during the 19th century. The papers, 1825-1936, are broken down into four series.

Family of Baptist ministers from New York state and southwestern Michigan; papers of Harvey Munger, his son William L. Munger, William's wife Octavia and other members of the Munger, Griffin, and Brown family.

The collection is organized by family member. The papers of Harvey Munger include correspondence and a journal/account book (1835-1847). The papers of William L. Munger include letters received from Walter Rauschenbusch (1886-1918), sermons, writings and articles, and other papers relating to his activities with the Michigan Anti- Saloon League. The Octavia Griffin Munger papers include correspondence with family members and friends, writings, and papers relating to her work with the Woman's Baptist Home and Missionary Society of Michigan. There are also small files of materials from other members of the Munger family that primarily contain correspondence. Of note are papers of Solomon Brown dating back to the eighteenth century and a letter received by Nancy Brown in 1841 from Sault Ste. Marie missionary, Abel Bingham, 1841. The collection also includes a copy of a letter written by Angie Bingham Gilbert describing events surrounding the murder of James Schoolcraft by John Tanner. Tanner had formerly been a captive of the Indians in the 1840s in the Sault Ste. Marie area of Michigan.

Kalamazoo, Michigan, educator, Democratic state senator. Correspondence, legal papers, genealogical data, diaries and account books; and compositions concerning Kalamazoo College, Middlebury College, Zebulon Pike, James W. Ransom, temperance, the Presbyterian church of Kalamazoo, and Marshall Academy.

The collection includes family letters of the Balch and Dungan families, with one letter (1813) reporting on the death and burial of General Zebulon Pike. There are some legal and business papers, some private and some connected with Kalamazoo College. The diaries are incomplete with brief entries. The volumes were also used for legal notes and business accounts. Other papers include manuscripts (1834-35) during Balch's stay at Middlebury College; addresses on temperance, education, and other subjects; and miscellaneous post office and county records. There are some papers of Balch's son while a student at The University of Michigan (1865-66).

Quaker abolitionist and physician in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio, and Schoolcraft, Michigan. Correspondence of Thomas, his wife Pamela S. Brown Thomas, and their children; addresses, autobiography, financial ledgers, and files relating to business activities, medical practice, and anti-slavery activities.

The collection is divided into two series: Correspondence and Other papers: anti-slavery, medical practice, and family.

The correspondence is of Thomas, his wife Pamela S. Brown Thomas, their children Ella, Malcolm, and Stanton, and relatives, friends, public leaders, abolitionists, and publishers. These letters deal largely with family affairs, land transactions, medical discoveries, woman suffrage, the Liberty Party, and Thomas's anti-slavery activities. There are also letters of Stanton B. Thomas while a student at the University of Michigan (1859-1864) and Civil War letters of S. B. Thayer, medical director of the Merrill Horse Regiment. Other Thomas papers include manuscript addresses, essays and other papers; a manuscript autobiography of Thomas; three account books, 1832-1879, pertaining mainly to his medical practice and other business affairs. Of interest is a prospectus for a newspaper, the American Freeman, which lists Schoolcraft area subscribers.

Norris family of Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Papers of Mark Norris, Ypsilanti businessman and postmaster; papers of his wife, Roccena Vaill Norris, local teacher and woman's rights advocate; papers of their son, Lyman, attorney and regent of the University of Michigan, 1883-1884; papers of Lyman's son, Mark Norris, Grand Rapids attorney and Grand Master of the Knights Templar in the United States; papers of Lyman's daughter Maria Norris, Grand Rapids physician; papers of Mark's son, Abbott Norris; and related papers of other family members, notably the Whittelsey family of Connecticut.

The Norris family papers consists of three linear feet of correspondence, business papers, and scrapbooks. The bulk of the papers are letters among various family members which contain a wealth of information about 19th century daily life, social conditions, business affairs, and local and state politics. This collection is especially useful in researching: women's history; Norris family and kinship interrelationships; early area settlement and local history; university student life at the University of Michigan and elsewhere; 19th century economic conditions and political issues; and 20th century Freemasonry.

Upper-class Michigan family in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with various business interests including lumbering, mining, and land transactions in Montana, Michigan, California, West Virginia, and British Columbia. The family was also active in the development of the Orchard lake area, especially during in the 1920s through the 1940s. The collection contains both business and personal materials including correspondence, subject files, legal records, maps, blueprints, and photographs.

The Palmer Family papers document the activities of an upper-class family in nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Michigan. The strength of the collection is its documentation of the growth of early business in Michigan. The Charles Henry Palmer (Senior) series contains the bulk of this information, with papers documenting his activities as an investor in mining and railroads in Michigan's Upper Peninsula from the 1850s through the 1880s. The balance of the collection contains both business and personal materials documenting the lives of various Palmer family members. Materials include correspondence, legal materials, business records, photographs, diaries and journals, and newspaper clippings.

Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan families; correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other family documents.

Although titled the Pattengill family papers, this accumulation is also the records of the Foster, Sharpsteen, and Woodward families. The historian of the family was undoubtedly Theodore G. Foster and his wife Margaret Foster (née Pattengill). Through these donors, the library received different family collections that have been separately cataloged, although they obviously contain inter-related materials. These other collections, also housed at the Bentley Historical Library are Theodore Foster papers (1835-1862); Henry R. Pattengill papers (1861-1939); and the Margaret Pattengill Foster papers (1903-1961).

This grouping of family materials is actually more about the Foster line of the family than Pattengill or Sharpsteen. The papers have been arranged by name of family: Foster, Pattengill, and Sharpsteen, with an additional series of various family members and miscellaneous. Within each family, the materials have been maintained as arranged by the donor into separate files for individual family members. Of particular interest are the papers of Seymour Foster who was postmaster of Lansing and active in preserving the memory of his brother Charles T. Foster who was killed during the Civil War. The Grand Army of the Republic named one of its veterans post in Charles T. Foster's name. Also included is a volume of transcribed correspondence of Theodore Pattengill Foster, describing his time as a soldier during World War II.

The collection is also of value for the genealogical research materials accumulated on the Foster, Pattengill, Springsteen, and Woodward families.

Paul Cutler Showers was a journalist and freelance writer. His writing and editing days began through involvement with The Gargoyle and The Michigan Daily while attending the University of Michigan. Showers's papers document his lengthy journalism career through his writings, recollections, and correspondence regarding the Detroit Free Press, the U.S. Army's Yank Magazine, and the Sunday New York Times. Family history played an important role in his life and can be seen through his collection of family photographs, recollections, and stories. In his later years, Showers became a prominent children's author known internationally for his work with the "Read and Find Out" series of science books for beginning readers.

The Paul Cutler Showers Papers document the life of a writer and editor, a University of Michigan alumni, an avid genealogist, a World War II veteran, and a prominent children's author.

The arrangement of the papers maintains their original order of four series including Correspondence, Family History, Personal and Professional Papers, and Visual Materials. These are in alphabetical order except for the Personal and Professional Papers series, which follows its original chronological organization according to Paul Showers's career. The papers contain very little information about his work as a children's non-fiction author. This portion of his papers are within the Kerlan Collection, which is part of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota.