Ramsey family papers, 1786-1935 (majority within 1827-1935)

Summary

Creator:

Ramsey family

Abstract:

This collection is comprised of correspondence, diaries, documents, financial papers, and other materials of the family of stonecutter and marble worker John M. Ramsey, his wife Cyanea, and their children. The family lived in Greenfield, New Hampshire; Milwaukee and Port Washington, Wisconsin; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around 60 Civil War letters and one diary of the Ramseys' son Henry, who served in the 16th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and around 10 letters of a cousin Ridgeway P. Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included. Particularly notable are 96 daily diaries of the Ramsey daughters Emily S. and Cyanea H., kept largely while they lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1870s-1920s.

Extent:

7 linear feet

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Cheney J. Schopieray, October 2019

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection is comprised of 1,182 letters; 98 diaries; 210 documents; 468 receipts, checks, and account books; seven school papers and writings; three photographs; 34 printed and ephemeral items; and other materials of the family of stonecutter and marbleworker John M. Ramsey, his wife Cyanea, and their children. The family lived in Greenfield, New Hampshire; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around 60 Civil War letters and one diary of the Ramseys' son Henry, who served in the 16th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and around 10 letters of a cousin Ridgeway P. Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included. Particularly notable are 96 daily diaries of the Ramsey daughters Emily S. and Cyanea H., kept largely while they lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1870s-1920s.

The Correspondence series includes 1,182 items and opens with the 1827-1830s letters of Caroline and Hannah Ramsey of Greenfield, New Hampshire, and a sister, Sarah Marshall, of Augusta, Maine. A group of letters pertain to the courtship and marriage of John M. Ramsey and Cyanea Stevens--including a letter from Cyanea's parents Lemuel and Reliance about Cyanea's request for their approval of the wedding (August 5, 1836). Letters of the 1850s include correspondence of Collins Hinckley Stevens, regarding the death of Cyanea's mother Reliance in 1858, and incoming letters to Emily Ramsey from her schoolmates. A selection of letters to Emily from E. H. Langdon, a schoolteacher in Milwaukee, are present.

In the 1860s, sisters Emily, Frances "Fannie", and Cyanea carried on correspondence with each other and with friends and family, including:

• "Hannah" from the Baraboo Female Seminary (Sauk County, Wisconsin) in 1863
• Fannie to Emily while visiting Stoughton in 1863; Fannie's correspondence while attending the Ripley Female College, 1865-1866; her letters while staying with family in Greenfield, New Hampshire; and correspondence while in Chicago for medical reasons
• Ora Stevens in Nashville and Louis H. Stevens of Manchester, Vermont
• Friend "Louise" in Hartford, Connecticut (who moved to Bay City, Michigan, and married Edwin Wood)
• John M. Ramsey's nephew David Butler Ramsey (1829-1899), from Chicago and Milwaukee, many written while working in the law offices of Palmer, Hooker & Pitkin, later Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
• Female friends and family to Emily and Fannie, written from Evanston, Illinois; Milwaukee and Ozaukee, Wisconsin; and Poultney, Vermont

The Ramsey family correspondence includes around 60 Civil War letters of Corporal Henry C. Ramsey of the 16th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry. He wrote from Camp Randall, the steamship Planet, Camp Sabin, Camp near Grand Junction, Camp near Memphis, Camp near Lake Providence, Louisiana, Camp Randall, and Vicksburg. In the mid-1870s, Henry was admitted to the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the family received letters from Dr. E. H. VanDensen about his progress, especially around 1876. Around 10 letters of a cousin Paul Ridgeway Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included.

Cyanea's and Emily's other correspondents from the 1870s to the 1930s include but are not limited to:

• Friends, cousins, and other relatives, including the Stevenses in Vermont; Persis Moore of Niles, Michigan; "Augusta" of Allegan and Otsego, Michigan; Almira Marshall in Owasso, Michigan; Frederick Marshall of Saginaw, Michigan; "Lizzie" in Woburn, Boston, and Framingham; Elvira Elizabeth Ramsey in Greenfield, New Hampshire; "David" in Greenfield; Murray J. Hoppock of Fremont, Michigan; and many others
• William H. Ramsey, Jr., a cousin, employed at the Ozaukee County Malting Company at Port Washington, Wisconsin, in the late 1880s; and as Secretary and Treasurer of the Wisconsin Chair Company in the 1890s
• Grand Rapids attorneys More & Wilson and bankers Edward M. Deane and Company, following the death of their father in 1897
• Gertrude P. Newton (Mrs. E. B. Newton) from Newton's Ranch, Colusa, Kansas, early 1900s
• Cousins James and Sarah (Saidee) Baker, from Ancón, Canal Zone, Panama, 1921-1935

The Diaries series includes 98 daily diaries, 96 of which were kept by sisters Cyanea H. and Emily S. Ramsey between 1873 and 1935, while the two lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The remaining two diaries include Henry C. Ramsey's Civil War diary for the year 1864 and a partial 1921 diary kept by [Howard Stevens?] in a pre-printed 1894 pocket journal. Henry Ramsey's 1864 pocket diary includes entries covering the 16th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry's movements from Vicksburg to Tennessee, to Georgia, with accounts of Kennesaw Mountain and the battle of Atlanta. The diary also covers his experiences as part of Sherman's march to the sea.

The Documents series is made up of 210 legal and financial documents pertinent largely to land and property in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Michigan, between 1786 and 1919 (bulk 1825-1911). Additional items include tax documents, stock-related items, and other materials.

The Financial and Business Papers includes 300 receipts, around 160 bank checks, and eight account books. The receipts date between 1831 and 1928, pertaining largely to John M. Ramsey's marble and stonecutting business. Additional receipts relate to personal property and tax payments. The 160 checks are drawn largely from Grand Rapids, Michigan, banks between December 1869 and October 1880. The account books include:

• [John M. Ramsey?] Account Book, 1830-1836. Comprised largely of accounts related to farm labor (haying, plowing, tending stock, etc.) in Greenfield, New Hampshire.
• John M. Ramsey Ledgers and Account Books, 1854-1886 (7 vols.). Consisting of the accounts of John M. Ramsey's marble and stonecutting businesses. One undated, illustrated manuscript book of monuments designed by N. Merritt for J. M. Ramsey, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is included with the account books.

The collection's School Papers and Writings (7 items) include John M. Ramsey's teacher's book, November 1830-February 1831; a fragment of mathematical rules by J. M. Ramsey; a chronological table by Emily Ramsey, 1851; a reward of merit for Mary Ramsey; two penmanship exercises; and a manuscript issue of The Literary Chip Basket (vol. 111, no. 11), Port Washington, 1861, with list of contributors including Fanny Oatman and Emily Ramsey.

The Photographs series includes one carte-de-visite of Henry C. Ramsey of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry; and one carte-de-visite and one cabinet card of unidentified individuals.

The Ephemera and Printed Items series is made up of invitations, Nashua Manufacturing Company employee regulations (August 31, 1837), advertisements for marble and other products, and torn pages from the History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, ed. Hurd, 1885.

The collection also contains items pertinent to Genealogy (6 items) and an Address Book, Fragments, and Envelopes.

Biographical / Historical:

John Milton Ramsey was born on November 27, 1809, to parents David and Hannah Ramsey of Greenfield, New Hampshire. As a young adult, John apparently tried his hand at teaching and farm work. He boarded with the family of Lemuel and Reliance Stevens of Barnard, Vermont, and, in 1836, he married their daughter Cyanea. The two had at least four children, including Emily S. (1837-1935), Henry C. (1840-1917), Frances A. (b. ca. 1848), and Cyanea H. (1851-1920).

The Ramseys moved to Wisconsin, where John M. Ramsey became one of the pioneering marble dealers of Milwaukee with the establishment of his shop in 1846. The family moved north of Milwaukee to Port Washington by 1850, and John Ramsey's son Henry became involved in his father's stone cutting business. In the mid-1860s, Frances "Fannie" Ramsey attended Ripley Female College at Poultney, Vermont.

On February 22, 1862, Henry C. Ramsey enlisted in Co. K (later transfered to Co. G) of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry. After mustering in at Camp Randall, Madison, Wisconsin, Ramsey left the state with the regiment on March 13th, and was quickly thrust into action at the Battle of Shiloh and the Siege of Corinth. As part of the forces gathering at Grand Junction in late 1862, Ramsey might well have expected to take part in the Siege of Vicksburg, but in January 1863, the 16th Infantry were ordered to Lake Providence, Louisiana, where they performed guard duty and took part in minor expeditions for over a year, spending most of their time overseeing agricultural labor. Sent to Vicksburg in February 1864, in June the regiment was ordered to join Sherman for the Atlanta Campaign, seeing action at the Battles of Atlanta, Jonesboro, and Lovejoy Station, and taking part in both Sherman's march to the sea and the march through the Carolinas, including the Battle of Bentonville. On April 5, 1865, Ramsey was mustered out of the regiment at the expiration of his service.

One of Henry's cousin's, Paul Ridgeway Cragin (1838-1864), of Chester, Wisconsin, was recruited into the 32nd Wisconsin Infantry on January 4, 1864. Joining the regiment when it was stationed near Grand Junction, Tennessee, Cragin was soon ordered to stage in Vicksburg, preparing to join Sherman (and Ramsey) for the Atlanta Campaign. Thereafter, the histories of the 16th and 32nd Regiments are very similar. Cragin, however, died of disease near Atlanta on October 25, 1864.

Cyanea Ramsey died in 1864 and around 1868 or 1869, John M. and their three children Henry C., Emily S., and Cyanea H., moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan. There, John and Henry established the Ramsey & Son marble works, near the corner of Pearl and Campau streets. John M. Ramsey remarried on November 9, 1871, to seamstress and widow Angeline McPherson. The two spent less than three years together before Angeline died on July 11, 1874. Census records suggest that John Ramsey worked as a farmer and in real estate before his death on May 8, 1897.

In the 1870s, Henry C. Ramsey spent time at the Michigan Asylum for the Insane in Kalamazoo, Michigan, but returned to Grand Rapids, living with his sisters on College Street until his death on September 13, 1917. Cyanea H. and Emily S. never married and they lived together until their deaths on July 27, 1920, and February 21, 1935, respectively.

Acquisition Information:

1997. M-3343 .

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in seven series:

• Correspondence
• Diaries
• Documents
• Financial and Business Papers
• School Papers and Writings
• Ephemera and Printed Items
• Address Book, Fragments, and Envelopes

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Bibliography

"History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin." Chicago: Western Historical Co., 1881.

Baxter, Albert. History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Munsell, 1891: 490.

Hurd, Duane Hamilton. History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Hillsborough County, N.H.: J. W. Lewis & Company, 1885: 343-344.

State of Vermont. Vermont Vital Records through 1870. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Courtship--United States--History--19th century.
Marble.
Sepulchral monuments--Retail trade.
Sherman's March to the Sea.
Sisters--Michigan--Grand Rapids--Diaries.
Soldiers--Wisconsin.
Stone-cutters--Michigan--Grand Rapids.
Stone-cutters--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Stone-cutters--Wisconsin--Port Washington.
Women--Michigan--Grand Rapids.
Women--New Hampshire--Greenfield.
Women--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Women--Wisconsin--Port Washington.

Formats:

Account books.
Advertisements.
Cabinet photographs.
Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
Checks (bank checks)
Deeds.
Diaries.
Financial records.
Indentures.
Invitations.
Legal documents.
Letters (correspondence)
Photographs.
Receipts (financial records)
Tax records.

Names:

Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo.
Ramsey & Greenbank.
Ramsey & Son.
Ripley Female College.
United States. Army. Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, 16th (1862-1865)
United States. Army. Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, 32nd (1862-1865)
Ramsey, Henry C., 1840-1917.
Baker, John.
Baker, Sarah.
Cragin, Paul Ridgeway, 1838-1864.
Marshall, Sarah.
Ramsey, Cyanea H., 1851-1920.
Ramsey, Cyanea Stevens, 1814-1864.
Ramsey, David, 1811-1889.
Ramsey, David Butler, 1829-1899.
Ramsey, Elvira Elizabeth Abbott, 1817-1915.
Ramsey, Emily S., 1837-1935.
Ramsey, Frances A., b. ca. 1848.
Ramsey, Hannah Marshall, 1782-1851.
Ramsey, John Milton, 1809-1897.
Ramsey, Rodney, 1819-1854.
Ramsey, William H., Jr.
Stevens, Collins Hinckley, 1816-1883.
Stevens, Lemuel.
Stevens, Reliance, 1773-1858.
Stevens, Sarah.
VanDensen, E. H.

Places:

Ancon (Ancon, Panama)
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Greenfield (N.H.)
Milwaukee (Wis.)
Port Washington (Wis.)
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.