The Morrell family correspondence (50 items) contains letters that Charles G. Morrell of Cumberland County, Maine, received from friends and family. His sisters Abby and Annie wrote the majority of the letters from Ohio, Maine, and Illinois.
A small notebook contains 8 pages of "Notes & Extracts" (June 14, 1842; November 13, 1842) about topics such as biology, medicine, animals, and history. The notebook contains 3 enclosures: 2 undated manuscripts with instructions for calculating interest and applying payments and a letter by [G.] D. Smith about insects (January 31, 1851).
The bulk of the collection consists of letters that Charles G. Morrell received from his sisters, Abby M. Morrell (later Barnes) and Anna B. Morrell (later Moody). In 2 letters from the early 1850s, Abby discussed her work and wages as a schoolteacher in Painesville, Ohio; she later wrote about her life in Nora, Illinois, where she and her husband had a farm in the mid-1850s. In her letter of November 20, 1859, she expressed her desire not to move to a slave state. Anna B. Morrell's letters, which she often signed "Annie," pertain to her life in Portland, Maine. She provided updates on their mother's health and commented on other family news; in one undated letter, she apologized for marrying without her brother's consent. Her husband, Eben Moody, also wrote to Charles.
Charles G. Morrell occasionally received letters from other family members and acquaintances in Boston, Massachusetts; Beloit, Wisconsin; and Poland, Maine; as well as in other Maine towns. At least 2 correspondents mentioned insect collections.
Charles G. Morrell lived in Painesville, Ohio, around 1850, and later moved to Poland, Maine, and New Gloucester, Maine. His sister Abby taught school in Painesville, Ohio, in the early 1850s. She and her husband, George F. Barnes, lived in Nora Township, Illinois, with their son Justus in 1860. Another sister, Annie B. Morrell, married Eben Moody. They lived in Portland, Maine, with their son Melville in 1860.
