This collection (50 items) consists of correspondence between members of the Davenport family of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Rutland and Brandon, Vermont. Between August 29, 1853, and July 7, 1858, Elijah ("E.") Davenport wrote 13 letters to his father, Elijah L. Davenport, and to his sister Augusta, both of whom lived in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He wrote from Prospect Hill, Wisconsin, and Webster County, Iowa, describing his attempts to find work on the Wisconsin and Iowa frontier and commenting on the weather, construction of log cabins, agriculture, and local politics. He intended to farm, and grew potatoes while constructing a log cabin for himself. He also mentioned the culinary use of a special corn and his fondness for a local variety of bread (November 29, 1857).
The bulk of the collection consists of letters to Charlotte M. Kingsbury (née Field) of Bradford, Massachusetts, and her husband, Reverend John D. Kingsbury, from her parents, William M. and Minerva K. Field, and her grandfather, Barzillai Davenport, all of Rutland and Brandon, Vermont. Her family provided local news and often commented on religious matters; for example, her father praised her for joining the Church of Christ (February 20, 1857). They occasionally mentioned other news stories, such as a destructive windstorm (November 22, 1869), and the sinking of the Atlantic (April 16, 1873). Two of Minerva Field's later letters are addressed to Katie and Mattie Kingsbury, her granddaughters. The collection also has 5 receipts concerning purchases made by Ellis J. Burnham in Cambridgeport and Essex, Massachusetts, between 1876 and 1880.
Barzillai Davenport was born in Dummerston, Vermont, on January 13, 1789, the son of Daniel Davenport and Hannah Rice; he had nine siblings. He moved to Brandon, Vermont, in 1822, where he began a legal practice and served as the town clerk for 41 years, as a justice of the peace for 28 years, and as a state representative between 1854 and 1855. He married Patty Simons on December 3, 1807, and they had five children: Minerva K., Fernando, Laura L., Emily C., and Charlotte. After the death of his first wife, he married a woman named Martha. He died on July 24, 1871.
Minerva K. Davenport (December 1816-August 29, 1886) married William M. Field, who later became sheriff of Rutland, Vermont. They had six children: Charlotte M., Henry H., Mary F., Frederick A., Ellen A., and Kitty. Charlotte M. (b. 1835) married Reverend John D. Kingsbury (b. April 1831), a Congregationalist minister, around 1861. They lived in Bradford, Massachusetts, and had four children: John, Catherine ("Katie"), Martha ("Mattie"), and Charlotte.
Elijah Davenport was born around 1831, the son of Elijah L. Davenport and Martha O. Davenport of Dorchester, Massachusetts. He had two siblings, Augusta and Clarence. Elijah was a cabinet maker until moving west to Wisconsin in the early 1850s. He lived for a time in Prospect Hill before moving to Webster County, Iowa. He first married a woman named Eleanor and, following her death, a woman named Emeline.
