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Collection

Gough family papers, 1804-1926 (majority within 1860-1901)

1.5 linear feet

This collection is primarily made up of correspondence between and addressed to members of the Gough family of Gort, Ireland, including George Stephens Gough; his wife, Jane Arbuthnot; and their children, Hugh, George, Rodolph, and Eleanor ("Nora"). The Gough family directly descended from Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough. Most of the letters pertain to the education and military career of the younger George Gough. The collection also includes a travel diary, documents, financial records, and notes.

This collection is primarily made up of correspondence between and addressed to members of the Gough family of Gort, Ireland, including George Stephens Gough; his wife, Jane Arbuthnot; and their children, Hugh, George, Rodolph, and Eleanor ("Nora").

The Correspondence series (740 items) largely consists of incoming personal letters addressed to Jane Gough, Viscountess Gough, and her son George. George Gough frequently wrote to his parents (most often his mother) throughout the 1860s, describing aspects of his education at Woodcote House in Henley-on-Thames, England; Eton College; and the University of Cambridge. He also commented on family news and his desire to join the military. George's later letters, written from the 1870s-1890s, concern his career with the British Army, which included service in England, India, and Africa; some of his letters from 1881 refer to political relations around the time of the First Boer War. He also wrote letters from Dresden, Germany, and from Switzerland.

Jane Gough received additional letters from acquaintances, including a group of letters expressing sympathy after George was wounded at the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885. George Gough received letters from his siblings Hugh, Rodolph, and Nora, and from school friends and other acquaintances. One frequent correspondent, "Hubie," wrote throughout the 1860s, telling Gough about his experiences at Eton College and University College, Oxford.

The Diary (147 pages) recounts George Hugh Gough's travels in Canada and the United States during the fall of 1888. The volume covers the entirety of the trip up to Gough's return departure for Ireland, including ocean travel between Ireland and North America and railroad travel throughout Canada and the United States. Gough's entries regard daily activities, the scenery, historical context about places visited, and current events (such as the United States presidential election of 1888). The first page contains a list of visited locations and the distances between them. The final four pages contain a list of expenses incurred between September 28, 1888-November 15, 1888. A menu for passengers on the "'Allen' Line" of "Royal Mail Steamers" is pinned into the volume.

Partial Geographical List (George Gough diary):
  • Québec, Québec
  • Montréal, Québec
  • Ottawa, Ontario
  • Toronto, Ontario
  • North Bay, Ontario
  • Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Victoria, British Columbia
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Francisco, California
  • Yosemite Region, California
  • Ogden, Utah
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • New York City, New York

The Documents series (11 items) contains military appointments for Hugh Gough (March 15, 1843, and May 1, 1861) and George Stephens Gough (January 5, 1849), a document authorizing the recipient to raise a number of men for a military regiment (November 5, 1804), and 7 accounts for purchases made by G. V. H. Gough in March 1914. Gough paid for automobile repairs, shoe repairs, medical supplies, and food.

The Photographs series (11 items) includes nine black-and-white prints showing soldiers at leisure, soldiers with horses, and a military encampment. The remaining items are a carte-de-visite portrait of an unidentified boy and an informal outdoor picture of a boy with a dog.

The Writings, Lists, and Genealogy series is made up of 12 items. Writings include a small notebook containing French poetry, a sheet containing limericks and drawings, and an item titled "Liber secundus." Extracts and notes pertain to a House of Lords commission respecting forfeited Irish estates around the turn of the 18th century, to an "Index to the "Prerogative Wills of Ireland," and to a poem entitled "The Migration of the Sons of Umor." Lists include a "Catalogue of a Collection of Minerals and Geological Specimens arranged and sold by J. Tennant" in London, a list of clothing belonging to a member of the Gough family, a list of men involved in a cricket match, and a list of words made for an unidentified purpose. A family tree traces the descendants of Hugh Gough, great-grandfather of Hugh Gough, first Viscount Gough. One group of papers was intended to be used to record purchases in February 1862, though it contains only a heading.

Two items in the Printed Items series (11 items) pertain directly to Viscount Hugh Gough: a poem addressed to Gough and his wife during their visit to Bath on April 1, 1850, and a document regarding the construction of a memorial to Gough following his death (May 21, 1869). Other items include a "Map of the Northern Uaso Nyiro" (1914), three scorecards from cricket matches held at Lord's Cricket Ground in 1868 and 1780, and newspaper clippings pertaining to wineglasses, a funeral, and the Franco-Prussian War. The collection includes two books: a pocket-sized Book of Common Prayer that belonged to George Gough (1872) and a Catalogue of Pictures at Basildon Park, Berkshire (1910).

The Personal Stationery and Family Crests series (62 items) includes a drawing of a jester and numerous drawings and crests, most cut out of personal stationery belonging to a variety of individuals and families.

Collection

Henry Foster diary, 1757-1812 (majority within 1758, 1808-1812)

1 volume

Henry Foster, a native of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, kept a diary (74 pages) while serving in a provincial regiment during the French and Indian War. Foster regularly composed diary entries between May 27 and October 29, 1758, while stationed in eastern New York. The volume also includes 10 pages of accounts kept by Abner Hubbard of Norwich, Vermont, whose daughter married Henry Foster's son.

Henry Foster, a native of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, kept a diary (74 pages) while serving in a provincial regiment during the French and Indian War. Foster regularly composed diary entries between May 27 and October 29, 1758, while stationed in eastern New York. The collection also includes 10 pages of financial accounts kept by Abner Hubbard of Norwich, Vermont, whose daughter married Henry Foster's son.

Henry Foster's diary consists of a chronological journal, with notes, fragments, and penmanship and mathematics exercises. He added several sections by sewing pages into the diary.

The diary primarily covers the period between May and October 1758, with one entry dated November 1758. Foster left his home in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in late May 1758, and served with his regiment near Albany, Fort Edward, and Lake George, New York. He described life in camp, which included loading wagons and marching. He saw French prisoners of war, and described skirmishes, ambushes, and other encounters with the enemy. Foster wrote about his march to Lake George in the days before the Battle of Carillon (Battle of Ticonderoga), about the death and embalming of Lord George Howe (July 7, 1758), and about the engagement on July 8, 1758. An entry dated July 28, 1758, describes an ambush of a British convoy, which included women and children, near Fort Edward.

Foster was stationed at Diamond Island in Lake George, New York, throughout much of the summer of 1758. He noted the deaths of some soldiers due to drowning, and remarked about the weather, sick and wounded soldiers, punishments for crimes committed by soldiers, food, and other aspects of daily life. One page of the diary contains the first part of a letter written on February 2, 1757.

Abner Hubbard's accounts contain personal financial records that he kept while living in Norwich, Vermont, between 1808 and 1812. Most reflect his purchases of corn, food, and horse-related items. At least one man paid a debt to Hubbard with labor.

The Henry Foster diary and Abner Hubbard accounts are accompanied by Hubbard's leather wallet, in which the papers were originally housed.

Collection

Laura Prime Jay diaries, 1890-1893

3 volumes

This collection is made up of 3 diaries kept by Laura Prime Jay between January 1, 1890, and May 30, 1893. Jay discussed her life in New York City, her social activities, and visits to New Haven, Connecticut; Rye, New York; and Northeast Harbor, Maine.

This collection is made up of 3 diaries kept by Laura Prime Jay between January 1, 1890, and May 30, 1893. The first two volumes contain daily entries dated January 1, 1890-December 31, 1890, and the third volume contains daily and sporadic entries dated January 1, 1891-Mary 30, 1893. Jay dedicated the diary to her cousin, Edith Van Cortlandt Jay, and wrote brief statements regarding her reasons for maintaining a diary.

Most entries focus on Jay's daily life in New York City, where she attended school, took dancing lessons, and participated in social activities, often accompanied by her brothers Pierre and John and her cousin Edith. She attended religious services at Saint Thomas's Church with her family. Jay recorded the names of the books she read and reported on family illnesses and other news, such as the death of her grandfather, John Clarkson Jay, in November 1891. Jay sometimes visited New Haven, Connecticut, where she attended dances at Yale University. The Jay family, along with cousins and other relatives, spent much of their summers at "The Locusts" in Rye, New York, and at the Kimball House in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where they participated in outdoor activities such as swimming and boating. The diaries include descriptions of the family's journeys between New York City, Rye, and Northeast Harbor. In 1890, the Jays also spent time in and near Jaffrey, New Hampshire, where they climbed Mount Monadnock.

Each of the volumes, particularly the third, contains additional ephemera items laid or pasted in, including monthly lists of Christian feast days and other holidays. Most of the ephemeral items are programs from church services and musical performances. Additional items include dance cards, visiting cards, invitations, a receipt, and seating charts from social dinners.

One sheet of paper laid into the third volume contains drawings of a man (possibly a monk), a soldier ("Tritan"), and a woman. The third volume also has a colored illustration of three people in a canoe next to the heading "This Old House Gay at Last." Newspaper clippings pertain to events at Yale University and to the death of John Clarkson Jay.

Collection

Uriah Lee family collection, 1850-1912

39 items

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, Uriah Lee's discharge papers, and a photograph.

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items (1850-1912) related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, and Uriah Lee's discharge papers.

The Correspondence series (32 items) contains 27 letters that Uriah Lee wrote to his family while serving in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D. C. Lee provided details about his daily life as a soldier, and discussed soldiers' attitudes toward officers, food, and clothing; encounters with former slaves; the weather; and political issues. He also mentioned specific battles, and his letter of May 18, 1863, includes a hand-drawn map of his company's route from New Berne, North Carolina, to Washington, D. C. Leonard Lee wrote 3 letters during his Civil War military service, and discussed similar topics. In his postwar letters, Uriah Lee offered advice to his younger siblings and discussed family affairs. Anne Lee wrote a letter to Lyman Lee in which she recounted the events surrounding the death of a man named Edward, and Chauncey received an unsigned letter about his wife Eva's visit to the writer.

Elizabeth Lee kept 3 Diaries between July 1851 and November 1878, concerning her thoughts and activities as a wife and mother. Among other topics, she discussed housework, the weather, her family, social engagements, and religion. Most of her entries are brief lines about the weather and the housework she was able to finish, with details of church meetings provided every few days.

The Documents, Poetry, and Miscellaneous series is comprised of 5 items. Fanny Hosier wrote Uriah Lee a poem that reflected positively on Southern rights and secession. Uriah Lee's military discharge papers from 1863 and 1865 are also included. A piece of ephemera illustrates 4 badges of the Grand Army of the Republic.