Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

The Ebenezer Ricker collection is made up of letters, poems, financial records, and writings that Ricker compiled from 1787-1805. Many items pertain to seafaring life and Ricker's career as a merchant ship captain.

The Ebenezer Ricker collection (118 pages) is made up of letters, poems, financial records, and writings that Ricker compiled from 1767-1805. Copied letters have various writers and recipients, occasionally including Ebenezer Ricker, and concern topics such as condolences for a bereaved wife, relationships between women and men, and orders for Ricker as master of ships such as the Charming Molly and America. Some diary entries pertain to travel in the Caribbean and several essays address religious topics; one essay has a description of a marriage ceremony. Ricker signed and dated many of the poems, which contain references to sea life, married life, and liaisons with women. Financial records and documents pertain to shipments of cargo onboard several vessels, particularly in the early 19th century.

This collection is made up of correspondence, speeches, a travel diary, and a published history related to the family of General George S. Patton. The bulk pertains to Patton's parents, George S. Patton, Jr., and Ruth Wilson Patton, and to his sister, Anne W. Patton ("Nita"), though items written by and addressed to General Patton are also present.

This collection (0.75 linear feet) is made up of correspondence, speeches, a travel diary, and a published history related to the family of General George S. Patton.

The largest selection of correspondence pertains to George S. Patton, Jr., and Ruth Wilson Patton. Letters written by Patton to Wilson during their courtship and after their marriage provide news of his life, work, and travels. Some items mention their son Georgie (George S. Patton III). Patton also wrote letters to his family, including five to his mother while participating in the punitive expedition to Mexico in 1916. Letters written by Nita Patton largely concern her experiences while living in London, England, in 1919. Some of her letters refer directly to her acquaintance and relationship with John J. Pershing, whom she met during a visit to New Mexico after the punitive expedition of 1916.

Multiple letters written by George S. Patton, Jr., relate to the future general's admission to and studies at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the 1900s. Patton provided his son with personal advice and encouragement, and news from home. The collection includes miscellaneous family letters, addressed to and exchanged between numerous family members between the 1870s and 1890s.

The Patton family papers contain a daily diary of Nelly Davenport and her father's trip to Antigua from December 1789-1790, taken in an attempt to improve Nelly's ailing health. The diary and an accompanying description relate Nelly Davenport's final illness, medical treatments, and death.

A selection of George S. Patton, Jr.'s, speeches is included in the collection. Most were delivered while Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute in the late 1870s, including his valedictorian speech. The speeches concern topics such as the Civil War, the Battle of New Market, and politics. One later item, the text of a speech delivered before the Sunset Club on November 25, 1904, concerns interactions between African Americans and Europeans, particularly with regard to black slavery and suffrage in the United States.