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This volume contains a narrative of Jared Willard's travels from Madison, Connecticut, to Buffalo, New York, via railroad and the Erie Canal, as well as a later shopping list and genealogical information about the Field and Wilcox families.

This volume (23 pages) contains a narrative of Jared Willard's travels from Madison, Connecticut, to Buffalo, New York, via railroad and the Erie Canal, as well as a later shopping list and genealogical information about the Field and Wilcox families. In the first 13 pages, Willard recounts the first part of his 1833 trip with Leander Foster to the "western country," where they distributed religious tracts entitled "The Life of Christ," published by Deacon N. Whiting of New Haven, Connecticut. The pair began their journey at Madison on the Tryon, and a day later reached New York City, where they stayed long enough for Willard to make a brief record of his impressions of the "respectable" metropolis of just over 200,000 people. From there, the men took the Sandusky up the Hudson River to Albany, and embarked on a railroad journey to Schenectady; during this stage of the trip, the author noted several aspects of the railroad's construction, designed to accommodate both steam- and horse-driven carriages. After begin accosted by canal boat representatives at Schenectady, Willard and Foster made their way along the Erie Canal via several different boats to Buffalo. The remainder of the volume is occupied by a one-page account of household goods, complete with prices (March 26, 1841); genealogical information regarding the Field, Kelsey, and Wilcox families; and an inventory of fruit trees in a Connecticut orchard. Among the volume's several enclosures is a playful recipe for "Composition Cake," which lists parts of speech among its primary ingredients; this was composed by M. E. Redfield and E. W. Tucker for a publication called "School Echoes."

The collection consists of papers related to the Mathewson family of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, about their involvement in the early Shaker community of New Lebanon, New York, and the subsequent settlement in the early-19th century of brothers Philip Mathewson (1765-1828) and Jeremiah Angell Mathewson (1769-1841) in Hamilton and Pulaski, New York, respectively.

The collection consists of papers related to the Mathewson family of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, about their involvement in the early Shaker community of New Lebanon, New York, and the subsequent settlement in the early 19th century of brothers Philip Mathewson (1765-1828) and Jeremiah Angell Mathewson (1769-1841) in Hamilton and Pulaski, New York, respectively.

Series I: Jeffrey Mathewson correspondence, 1801-1822

This series contains 7 letters received by Jeffrey Mathewson (1761-1833), of Lisbon, Connecticut, between 1801 and 1822. The earliest letter is from his brother, Jeremiah Angell Mathewson (1769-1841) and 5 of the remaining ones are from his brother Philip (1765-1828). The remaining letter is from a family friend, Ashbel Cooley. Both Jeremiah and Philip were early settlers of western New York, and their letters include a mix of family news and commentary on the weather, crops, and local and state politics. Points of note include Jeremiah Angell's dispute with his mother and the Shaker community over gravestones (22 Aug.1801), as well as Philip's accounts of New York state politics, the War of 1812 in the western part of the state (19 Jan. 1814), and brief mentions of the Erie Canal's construction and the early days of the Tammany Hall political machine.

Series II: Philip (1737-1796) and Jeremiah Angell Mathewson papers, 1796-1840

The second series chiefly contains papers related to Philip Mathewson (1737-1796) and his son Jeremiah Angell Mathewson (1769-1841), particularly their experience in joining and separating from the early Shaker community in New Lebanon, New York, in the late 1780s and 1790s. Jeremiah's 56-page account contains details about the initial founding of the Shakers, including material related to the group's founders, Elder William Lee and Mother Ann Lee, as well as a lengthy narrative of the difficulty his father encountered with the community over a disputed contract.

Related to this document are the 4-page lease of Samuel Hand's farm in Canaan County, New York, to Philip Mathewson and Peter Wylie, out of which the Mathewson's disputes with the Shakers grew; a short narrative of the failed attempt to prohibit alcohol consumption among the New Lebanon Shakers, accompanied by Jeremiah A. Mathewson's overall judgment of the Shaker experiment; a 1-page note, dated 1840, in Jeremiah's hand about the origins of the family name; and a letter to Jeremiah Mathewson from his nephew Bucklin Mathewson, dated November 13, 1833, relating the death of Jeremiah's brother Jeffrey Mathewson.

Other papers in the series consist of 2 short, undated poems from an unknown author and a letter addressed to Miss Sally Porter of Camden, New York, from her sister, Mary Porter, and mother, Polly Porter, of Taunton, Massachusetts, dated May 16, 1837. The letter describes the effects of the Panic of 1837 in Taunton.