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7 linear feet
This collection is comprised of 1,182 letters; 98 diaries; 210 documents; 468 receipts, checks, and account books; seven school papers and writings; three photographs; 34 printed and ephemeral items; and other materials of the family of stonecutter and marbleworker John M. Ramsey, his wife Cyanea, and their children. The family lived in Greenfield, New Hampshire; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around 60 Civil War letters and one diary of the Ramseys' son Henry, who served in the 16th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and around 10 letters of a cousin Ridgeway P. Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included. Particularly notable are 96 daily diaries of the Ramsey daughters Emily S. and Cyanea H., kept largely while they lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1870s-1920s.
The Correspondence series includes 1,182 items and opens with the 1827-1830s letters of Caroline and Hannah Ramsey of Greenfield, New Hampshire, and a sister, Sarah Marshall, of Augusta, Maine. A group of letters pertain to the courtship and marriage of John M. Ramsey and Cyanea Stevens--including a letter from Cyanea's parents Lemuel and Reliance about Cyanea's request for their approval of the wedding (August 5, 1836). Letters of the 1850s include correspondence of Collins Hinckley Stevens, regarding the death of Cyanea's mother Reliance in 1858, and incoming letters to Emily Ramsey from her schoolmates. A selection of letters to Emily from E. H. Langdon, a schoolteacher in Milwaukee, are present.
In the 1860s, sisters Emily, Frances "Fannie", and Cyanea carried on correspondence with each other and with friends and family, including:
- "Hannah" from the Baraboo Female Seminary (Sauk County, Wisconsin) in 1863
- Fannie to Emily while visiting Stoughton in 1863; Fannie's correspondence while attending the Ripley Female College, 1865-1866; her letters while staying with family in Greenfield, New Hampshire; and correspondence while in Chicago for medical reasons
- Ora Stevens in Nashville and Louis H. Stevens of Manchester, Vermont
- Friend "Louise" in Hartford, Connecticut (who moved to Bay City, Michigan, and married Edwin Wood)
- John M. Ramsey's nephew David Butler Ramsey (1829-1899), from Chicago and Milwaukee, many written while working in the law offices of Palmer, Hooker & Pitkin, later Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
- Female friends and family to Emily and Fannie, written from Evanston, Illinois; Milwaukee and Ozaukee, Wisconsin; and Poultney, Vermont
The Ramsey family correspondence includes around 60 Civil War letters of Corporal Henry C. Ramsey of the 16th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry. He wrote from Camp Randall, the steamship Planet, Camp Sabin, Camp near Grand Junction, Camp near Memphis, Camp near Lake Providence, Louisiana, Camp Randall, and Vicksburg. In the mid-1870s, Henry was admitted to the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the family received letters from Dr. E. H. VanDensen about his progress, especially around 1876. Around 10 letters of a cousin Paul Ridgeway Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included.
Cyanea's and Emily's other correspondents from the 1870s to the 1930s include but are not limited to:
- Friends, cousins, and other relatives, including the Stevenses in Vermont; Persis Moore of Niles, Michigan; "Augusta" of Allegan and Otsego, Michigan; Almira Marshall in Owasso, Michigan; Frederick Marshall of Saginaw, Michigan; "Lizzie" in Woburn, Boston, and Framingham; Elvira Elizabeth Ramsey in Greenfield, New Hampshire; "David" in Greenfield; Murray J. Hoppock of Fremont, Michigan; and many others
- William H. Ramsey, Jr., a cousin, employed at the Ozaukee County Malting Company at Port Washington, Wisconsin, in the late 1880s; and as Secretary and Treasurer of the Wisconsin Chair Company in the 1890s
- Grand Rapids attorneys More & Wilson and bankers Edward M. Deane and Company, following the death of their father in 1897
- Gertrude P. Newton (Mrs. E. B. Newton) from Newton's Ranch, Colusa, Kansas, early 1900s
- Cousins James and Sarah (Saidee) Baker, from Ancón, Canal Zone, Panama, 1921-1935
The Diaries series includes 98 daily diaries, 96 of which were kept by sisters Cyanea H. and Emily S. Ramsey between 1873 and 1935, while the two lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The remaining two diaries include Henry C. Ramsey's Civil War diary for the year 1864 and a partial 1921 diary kept by [Howard Stevens?] in a pre-printed 1894 pocket journal. Henry Ramsey's 1864 pocket diary includes entries covering the 16th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry's movements from Vicksburg to Tennessee, to Georgia, with accounts of Kennesaw Mountain and the battle of Atlanta. The diary also covers his experiences as part of Sherman's march to the sea.
The Documents series is made up of 210 legal and financial documents pertinent largely to land and property in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Michigan, between 1786 and 1919 (bulk 1825-1911). Additional items include tax documents, stock-related items, and other materials.
The Financial and Business Papers includes 300 receipts, around 160 bank checks, and eight account books. The receipts date between 1831 and 1928, pertaining largely to John M. Ramsey's marble and stonecutting business. Additional receipts relate to personal property and tax payments. The 160 checks are drawn largely from Grand Rapids, Michigan, banks between December 1869 and October 1880. The account books include:
- [John M. Ramsey?] Account Book, 1830-1836. Comprised largely of accounts related to farm labor (haying, plowing, tending stock, etc.) in Greenfield, New Hampshire.
- John M. Ramsey Ledgers and Account Books, 1854-1886 (7 vols.). Consisting of the accounts of John M. Ramsey's marble and stonecutting businesses. One undated, illustrated manuscript book of monuments designed by N. Merritt for J. M. Ramsey, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is included with the account books.
The collection's School Papers and Writings (7 items) include John M. Ramsey's teacher's book, November 1830-February 1831; a fragment of mathematical rules by J. M. Ramsey; a chronological table by Emily Ramsey, 1851; a reward of merit for Mary Ramsey; two penmanship exercises; and a manuscript issue of The Literary Chip Basket (vol. 111, no. 11), Port Washington, 1861, with list of contributors including Fanny Oatman and Emily Ramsey.
The Photographs series includes one carte-de-visite of Henry C. Ramsey of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry; and one carte-de-visite and one cabinet card of unidentified individuals.
The Ephemera and Printed Items series is made up of invitations, Nashua Manufacturing Company employee regulations (August 31, 1837), advertisements for marble and other products, and torn pages from the History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, ed. Hurd, 1885.
The collection also contains items pertinent to Genealogy (6 items) and an Address Book, Fragments, and Envelopes.
22 items
This collection contains 22 deeds and other legal documents related to oil lands near Burning Springs, West Virginia, and to the formation of the Rathbone Petroleum Company of Pennsylvania. Of the 22 documents, 12 are true copies of deeds. Several early deeds document the transfer or lease of land around Burning Springs in Wirt County, West Virginia, on which several brine and, later, oil wells were subsequently drilled.
John V. Rathbone is mentioned in the first document, in which he agreed to lease land to John H. Weare (November 30, 1860), and in an agreement with John H. Weare and J. H. Camden regarding payments on the lease (May 24, 1862). Other deeds pertain to the ownership or lease of various nearby parcels of land by John F. Petty and Jacob H. Petty, both residents of Wirt County. Three abstracts trace the history of ownership of several tracts of land, including ownership by John G. Stringer and Alfred L. Kinnaird. The collection also holds an agreement between Weare and Darnell of Fleming County, Kentucky, and Samuel Herndon of Mount Sterling, Kentucky, regarding drilling for oil in the West Virginia oil fields (November 25, 1861).
Several items concern the formation and land holdings of the Rathbone Petroleum Company of Pennsylvania, including its original articles of association, created on July 18, 1863, and signed in Philadelphia on July 26, 1864. The collection also contains the company's letter patent, signed by the governor of Pennsylvania on September 24, 1864. Many of the later deeds and indentures relate to William S. Hassall, one of the company's founders.
17 items
This collection consists of 17 manuscript documents respecting local affairs in Reading, Massachusetts, between 1666 and 1731. The documents address property, indigent persons, town meetings (calls to meet and issues addressed), and financial matters. Examples include:
- April 30, 1666: An agreement drafted between representatives from the towns of Woburn and Reading reestablishing town boundaries. One attendee was William Cowdrey, a founding member of Reading who served as a deacon, Clerk of the Writs, Town Clerk, a selectman, a chairman, and a Representative to the General Court.
- January 4, 1710: An order, issued by Jn. Horbert (Town clerk), for Constable Thomas Taylor to "warn John Rich forth with to cause to depart and leave this town" the "indigent" person living in his household. Note on the verso indicates the warning was delivered according to the "warrant."
- June 5, 1711: Three individuals from Reading--Cptn. Nickols, Mr. Riley, and Burnap--"are impoured to answer to a petishon presented to the genarall court by sum of the inhabitants of the North syde of Ipswi[c]h river for a precinct to be asined them and to defend the Towns intrest."
- April 21, 1712: Receipt of payment to constable "Gorge Flent," signed by Elizabeth Pierpont.
- February 7, 1727/8: A warrant ordering Hannah Dix, having arrived in Reading "about the thirteenth of November & doth reside in our town at the house of Joseph Wessen," "to depart [out of Wessen's home] & out of this town to Boston from whence she came."
- September 8, 1731: Agenda for a forthcoming meeting, with an item "To hear ye Indian Deed of our Township Read if they if they [sic.] please if sd Deed can be procured."
2.75 linear feet
This collection consists of 883 letters, documents, an orderly book, printed items, and other materials concerning revolutionary conflicts in Cuba and the Philippines, American involvement particularly, dating largely from the 1890s-1900s. This collection's contents include detailed information from Cuban and Philippine revolutionaries at home and in exile; U.S. Army activities related especially to the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and postwar occupations; American, Cuban, Filipino, and Spanish consular and governmental officials; and civilians (including families of U.S. Army soldiers' and sailors' family members) involved in the events.
Please see the box and folder listing in this finding aid for extensive, detailed descriptions of items and groups of items in the Revolutionary Cuba and Philippines Collection.
11 items
This collection (11 items) contains correspondence and documents related to Reverend Richard Peters and his nephew, also named Richard Peters, who both lived in Philadelphia in the mid- to late 18th century. The material pertains to Pennsylvania property and Cumberland County boundaries, Arlington sheep, finances, and politics. The collection includes a certified copy of a map of property belonging to Peters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (copy dated March 17, 1810), an account book kept by the younger Richard Peters from 1785-1789, and a letter that the younger Richard Peters wrote to William Rawle about his uncle's biography (September 22, 1825).
1 volume
The Richard Whitworth papers contain 32 documents, 7 letters, and 3 notes, bound by Richard Whitworth into an 80-page volume. The collection primarily concerns Jonathan Carver's and Richard Roberts' money-making ventures in North America, several of which they proposed while in England, and about which they consulted Whitworth during his tenure as a Member of Parliament.
The volume opens with four pages of accounts, written in an unknown hand and covering 1814-1815. They record transactions involving wheat, barley, peas, iron, and other items. Following this is a document entitled "An Account of the Situation, Trade and Number of Hunting Indians at Lake Pepin in the Mississippi, North America" (pp. 7-10), written by Carver to Whitworth in 1773. In it, Carver proposed the opening of a distillery near Lake Pepin (about 70 miles southeast of present-day Minneapolis) in order to sell rum and brandy to the local Native Americans, requiring an initial investment of £4000 and about 32 workers. He also described the activities and numbers of Native American hunters in the area, and gave a detailed description of the land, including terrain, trees, and opportunities for settlement by Europeans. The volume also contains two documents related to Carver's request to the King to grant him mining rights to large swaths of northeastern North America, in effect giving him a monopoly on precious metals produced in those areas. Included is a draft of his petition (p. 12), which gives the boundaries of the desired land and the specifics of the proposed agreement.
Other documents relate to the exploration for the Northwest Passage, and the attempts to secure payment for such an expedition, including one entitled "Memorandum for Mr. Whitworth," which proposed "rather an expedition by Water than otherwise," (p. 14); it provided many details of what Carver envisioned as a successful journey, including the types of men to hire, and supplies, pack animals, and weapons to bring. An additional document gives information on pay and the necessity of cooperation from the "Commanding Officers of Posts in the Interior part of the Country" (p. 22). Two printed copies of a petition from Rogers to the King (pp. 57-64), dated February 11, 1772, call the search for the Northwest Passage a "Great National Object," and claim that a small number of "Adventurers" could undertake such an endeavor for a "very moderate Sum." Also included is a document signed by Rogers, listing three pages of "Necessaries" for such an expedition (pp. 46-48), and a list of American tree seeds (p. 51).
Another highlight of the collection is a 1775 copy of a "land deed" fabricated by Carver, which he claimed documented a transfer of territory to him from the Naudowessie Indians in 1767. Oddly, the land purportedly granted, located in Wisconsin, belonged not to the Naudowessie, but rather to their enemies, the Ojibwe (Chippewa). The document includes the falsified pictographic signatures of "Hawnopawjatin" (turtle) and "Ottotongomlishea" (snake).
4.5 linear feet
The Riley family papers (2,913 items) document the personal and business activities of Ashbel Wells Riley and his son George Stillson Riley of Rochester, New York. The papers concern family relationships and society in western New York, as well as the Riley's participation in the temperance movement, and George Riley's involvement in the Grand Council of the Iroquois.
The Personal Correspondence series (367 items) consists primarily of letters to Ashbel W. and George S. Riley, from friends and family members. Included are several letters from Charlotte to her husband Ashbel, when he was traveling in Europe in the 1840s; letters from Ashbel Riley, Jr., to George during his travels in Cuba and around New York; and letters from Anna H. Riley to her family from the Utica Female Seminary and while living with her husband in Chicago. In the mid-1840s, multiple family members considered moving to Michigan and financial/banking/mortgage subjects were frequently discussed. Of particular interest are letters, written in the 1840s by George's cousin Caleb Hutton Hammond, in which he relayed family news and commented on social happenings in Rochester. These include his criticisms of several wealthy acquaintances who follow the Graham System (September 13, 1840); a description of a lecture and demonstration by Dr. Reid of Philadelphia, who studied phrenology; and a discussion of a lecture on American Antiquities that claimed that Egyptians must have settled Central America and built pyramids there (February 26, 1841). The majority of the letters spanning 1892-1917 are from Belle Hart ("Aunt Belle") to George Riley. She wrote from hotels in New York City and Rochester; the content is personal in nature.
Visual material includes letters on hotel letterhead that feature engraved depictions of the hotel, and a December 25, 1849, letter from Ashbel Riley, Jr., to George Riley that contains a diagram of his invention for a device that holds writing paper.
The Business Correspondence series (494 items) documents the Rileys' business communications, largely concerning property transactions and debts. Both Ashbel and George invested heavily in land but struggled to pay back debts throughout their lives. The bulk of these papers ranges from 1840 to 1895. In addition to letters requesting repayments for loans, the series contains copies and drafts of outgoing letters from George S. Riley to business partners and debtors, with many sent o S. P. Ely concerning property in Diamond, Utah, and in Michigan.
The Personal Writings Papers series (189 items) is comprised of non-correspondence writings, including notes, speech drafts, and fragments (1841-1908). Included are two bundles of items, which are kept in their original order, entitled "Scribblings & odds & ends -- t. c. in reference written mostly 1841, 2, & 3" and "Temperance Convention" from October 1845. These primarily relate to temperance activities with some material concerning the Seneca Indians.
The Financial Records series (1481 items) consists of receipts and accounts, account books, tax records, insurance records, stocks, and other miscellaneous items related to the Rileys' finances. The bulk of these records dates from between 1850 and 1880. In addition to the family's detailed business accounts, the series conatins a 1844 house expense book.
The Documents series (226 items) consists of legal papers (62 items), real estate papers (131 items), Grand Council of the Iroquois papers (14 items), and temperance-related papers (13 items). The legal papers concern Ashbel and George's financial problems related to land owning and paying taxes. It also contains George's patent certificate for "Improvements in smoke consuming furnaces." The real estate papers document the Riley's land holdings, mostly in upstate New York, consisting of land agreements and details on values. The Grand Council of the Iroquois papers are comprised of documents and letters relating to meetings of the Grand Council between 1842 and 1846. These include a description of a Seneca fort and a burial ground that Timothy Sullivan destroyed during his raids in 1779, a petition to Congress concerning Seneca landholdings, and a heavily edited description of a meeting. The Temperance papers contain documents related to various temperance meetings held in Rochester in 1845.
The Photographs series (1 item) contains a photograph of a bearded man, likely George S. Riley, taken by Notman & Fraser of Toronto, Ontario.
- Newspaper clippings (71 items), mostly from Rochester papers containing topics such as death notices, scientific and philosophical articles, poetry, and news of the day
- Pamphlet (1 item) entitled, "Inquiries, Respecting the History, Present Condition and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States" [1847]
- Invitations (9 items) for formal and religious events such as lectures, plays, memorials, weddings, and a piano recital
- Miscellaneous material (10 items), including a voter registration reminder, and a constitution for the Christian Reform Association of Monroe County, New York.
38 items
The 38 items in the Riopelle family papers span 1737-1894 and relate to several interconnected families of French-Canadian origin living in Montreal and Detroit. The collection contains 26 legal and military documents, 5 receipts, 3 letters, 2 newspaper clippings, and 2 small prints. Approximately one-third of the collection is in French.
The legal documents include a 1737 trading license for Jean Baptiste Cuillerier dit Beaubien allowing him to trade in the vicinity of Fort Detroit; it specifies his route, trading partners, and supplies. Most of the other legal documents are land deeds and title abstracts for land in southeast Michigan owned by various family members. President James Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe signed a land patent issued to "Ambroise Riopel" on April 20, 1811. A few items after Nicholas Gouin's death in 1813 relate to the bequest of his land near the Detroit River to his daughter Collette and son-in-law, Dominique Riopelle.
The collection's seven military documents include promotions, general orders, and commissions, issued between 1753 and 1805. One such item, signed by King Louis XV and dated August 16, 1766, commissions J.B.M. Quindre as sublieutenant of a Burgundy Regiment. Other military documents relate to the Beaubien brothers in Michigan. Also present is a copy of the terms of treaty between the United States and the Chippewa, signed at Michilimackinac (October 18, 1842).
The collection's three letters relate family matters, including the death of Dominique Riopelle's uncle (April 29, 1843) and news from a branch of the family in Chatham, Michigan (June 25, 1845). The undated items comprise a list tallying trading activities with Native Americans; two newspaper clippings (one concerning land near River Rouge and the other giving biographical information on William Gouin); and two small prints, one of Lewis Cass and one of Detroit in 1820.
0.25 linear feet
This collection contains legal and financial documents related to Robert Caldwell and his son Washington, of Penn Township, Pennsylvania. The first item is an indenture between Samuel and Margaret Caldwell of Salem, Pennsylvania, and Robert Caldwell, related to the estate of the recently deceased Joseph Harvey (January 24, 1823). The bulk of the material dates from 1840 to 1901, and documents the property interests of Robert Caldwell, as well as the financial and legal affairs of his son. Early items (1840-1872) consist of indentures, court records, and other documents, primarily pertaining to land in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Also included are several early bonds (late 1840s), as well as testimonies from several court cases, including Caldwell's disputes with William and Sophia Whitfield, John P. Schuster et al., George Miller, and Robert M. Callen. A survey map that Caldwell commissioned from E. H. Heastings, shows land along Plum Creek, near Millersville (December 28, 1854).
Later material pertains to the financial and legal affairs of Washington Caldwell, beginning with his assumption of administrative powers over his father's estate (March 25, 1873). Several receipts dated throughout the late 1800s relate to the purchase of carpentry supplies, and a series of court documents from 1899-1900 concern legal cases he presided over while a justice of the peace for the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, particularly wage disputes against Daniel Moore. Other material includes insurance policies from various companies, covering Washington Caldwell's property in Verona, Pennsylvania (1886-1892).
Two broadsides document Robert Caldwell's efforts to arrest a burglar (December 21, 1843), and Washington Caldwell's sale of his deceased father's "Frame Grist and Saw Mill" (January 23, 1875).
84 items
The Robert McCallen papers (84 items) are the personal and military documents of a captain in the Revolutionary War from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The collection contains nine letters, 31 military records and accounts, six regimental orders, one muster roll book, 29 receipts and financial records, one town tax record, and six legal documents.
The letters contain both personal and military information and are addressed both to McCallen and to his wife Isabella.
- October 22, 1774: From Agnes and James Lock to Robert and Isabella McCallen, mentioning the "Indian War" in western Pennsylvania where over 2,000 men were stationed at a Shawnee town. Also mentioned is a massacred by the Cherokee of several families in Houston, Pennsylvania
- October 19, 1776: From servant William Grear to his "Dear and loving Master and Mistress," written the Battle of White Plains while he was in Kingsbridge
- December 26, 1776: From McCallen to his wife containing his eyewitness account of the Battle of Trenton
- Undated: From Agnes Lock to her daughter Isabella McCallen concerning family life and remarriage
The military records relate primarily to outfitting, arming, and paying McCallen's Pennsylvania company. Included are five lists of firearms borrowed from the local citizenry, which detail the types, conditions, and owners of the weapons (May 15, 1776, and four undated items from 1776). Also of note is the pledge from McCallen's militia agreeing to join General Washington's army (December 7, 1776). The regimental orders contain instructions for troop movements in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the 11-page muster roll book, kept by McCallen in the summer of 1776, is comprised of multiple lists of members of McCallen's regiment and an absentee roll.
The receipts and financial documents record McCallen's personal transactions for goods, land, and services, before and after the war. The tax collecting document for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is made up of printed instructions for the tax collector and four pages of accounts of the person who paid the tax (August 12, 1778). Legal documents include the will of Sarah McCallen (Robert's mother) and documents related to Robert McCallen's estate, such as an inventory of his property and a record of sale of land by his executors William Boal and Robert Geddis. Of note is a broadside advertisement, in German, of the sale of a piece of Pennsylvania property owned by Thomas McCallen: "Oeffentliche Vendu. Dienstags, Den 30sten Dieses Instehenden Novembers, Wird Auf Dem Vermögen Selbst, öffentlich Verkauft Werden… (Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 1824).