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University of Michigan William L. Clements Library

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Lincoln family correspondence, 1800-1944 (majority within 1818-1883)

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Summary

Creator:
Lincoln family
Abstract:
This collection contains the correspondence of three generations of the Lincoln family of Dennysville, Maine, descendants of General Benjamin Lincoln. The primary correspondents are Theodore Lincoln, Benjamin Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Arthur Lincoln.
Extent:
0.5 linear feet
Language:
English
Authors:
Collection processed and finding aid created by Clements Staff and Meg Hixon, October 2012

Background

Scope and Content:

This collection (0.5 linear feet) contains the correspondence of three generations of the Lincoln family, descendants of General Benjamin Lincoln. The primary correspondents are Theodore Lincoln, Benjamin Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Arthur Lincoln of Dennysville, Maine.

The first 8 items are personal letters to Theodore and Hannah Mayhew Lincoln in Dennysville, Maine. From 1800-1817, acquaintances and family members provided news from towns including Machias, Maine, and Boston, Massachusetts. From 1818-1835, Theodore Lincoln corresponded with his son Benjamin, who attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, until 1822, and studied medicine until 1827. He offered his son educational advice, noted the importance of maintaining bodily health, and shared news from Dennysville. Benjamin Lincoln later wrote to his parents and to his sister Mary about his life in Boston, Massachusetts, where he began practicing medicine in 1827, and about his career as a lecturer at the University of Vermont and the University of Maryland. Benjamin's siblings Thomas and Mary ("Molly") Lincoln wrote to him about life in Dennysville. James Savage, a cousin in Boston, wrote to Benjamin about the rumored appearance of Asiatic cholera in North America (June 24, 1832).

The Lincoln family received condolences from friends and family members following the deaths of Benjamin Lincoln in 1835 and Mary Lincoln in 1844. After Theodore Lincoln's death in 1852, several letters concern his finances with the University of Vermont. During the 1840s-1860s, Thomas Lincoln received personal letters from George F. Talbot. Civil War-era correspondence largely pertains to Theodore Lincoln's estate, and letters from Benjamin Lincoln to a cousin mention the prices of goods during the war.

Between 1873 and 1883, Thomas Lincoln corresponded with his son Arthur. Many of the letters pertain to Arthur's problems after "a contemptible scrape" at Bowdoin College that resulted in his temporary suspension (May 20, 1877). Thomas scolded his son, provided advice, and wrote to the university's president. Arthur Lincoln wrote 6 letters to his father while traveling through Europe in 1880. Later material includes letters that Edmund Lincoln wrote while traveling in 1905, and a 1927 letter about an attempt to donate Dr. Benjamin Lincoln's library to the University of Vermont. George Cheever Shattuck of Harvard Medical School wrote to Arthur Lincoln's wife, declining to accept Dr. Benjamin Lincoln’s letters for his medical library (April 21, 1944).

Other items include financial records related to Benjamin and Theodore Lincoln, a typed list of books, photographs of furniture and of the inside of a home, a photograph of "M. [Shimotiusa]," and a photographic postcard of the interior of Longfellow's Wayside Inn in South Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Biographical / Historical:

General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810) had three sons: Benjamin (1756-1788), Theodore (1763-1852), and Martin (1769-1837). Theodore Lincoln graduated from Harvard University in 1785; he later practiced law in Dennysville, Maine, and was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate. He and his wife, Hannah Mayhew, had eight children: Theodore (b. 1800), Hannah (b. 1801), Benjamin (1802-1835), Mary (b. 1804), Bela (b. 1805), Sarah (b. 1807), Edmund (b. 1809), and Thomas (b. 1812). Benjamin Lincoln graduated from Bowdoin College in 1822 and studied medicine for five years before practicing in Boston, Massachusetts, and Burlington, Vermont. He also lectured in medicine for the University of Vermont and the University of Maryland. He returned home to Dennysville before his death on February 26, 1835.

Thomas Lincoln had two children with his first wife, Emma Johnson: Edith (b. 1855) and Arthur (b. 1856), who attended Bowdoin College in the 1870s and later became a doctor. Thomas Lincoln and his second wife, Mary Eastman, had one son, Edmund (b. 1870).

Acquisition Information:
1997. M-3406 .
Processing information:

Cataloging funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This collection has been processed according to minimal processing procedures and may be revised, expanded, or updated in the future.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged chronologically, with undated items and non-correspondence items placed at the end.

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

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open for research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Copyright status is unknown

PREFERRED CITATION:

Lincoln Family Correspondence, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan