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

This travel account of Abbé Montesquiou was written in 1798 three years after his trip to American from 1758-1832. The journal covers Montesquiou's travels as well as his thoughts on America, Canada and the mid-Atlantic areas he visits.

Montesquiou's 'journal' is not a standard travel account: it goes beyond pure description to include discussions of the philosophy and the history, the people and government of the nation. The journal appears to have been written following the Abbé's return to France with internal evidence suggesting 1798 as the most likely date. Perhaps because of the time that had elapsed between his voyage and its writing, the journal includes as many opinions on his experiences in North America as it does actual description of what he has seen. Montesquiou is naturally analytical in his writing style, and he has a penchant for 'augmenting' his personal observations with views and opinions that appear to have been culled from written sources. Thus his discussion of the Philadelphia Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793 contains information that may have been derived from the opinions of contemporary scientists, and his discussions of the relative merits of monarchy and democracy are sufficiently generic that the American context seems almost incidental.

Montesquiou is generally an unsympathetic observer of the young United States; while he appreciates the scenery and the productivity of the nation he is strongly critical of the hypocrisy of 'Republican' slaveholders, of the nation's leaders -- particularly Washington and Jefferson. While he admires the Philadelphia prison system, he is repelled by what he considers the crass, ultra-capitalist sensibilities of Americans. Among the more interesting aspects of the 'journal' are his extended discussions of the prison system and a theory of crime and punishment, slavery, the American character, and democracy and monarchy.

The Ellen Rice journal contains the daily thoughts of a deeply religious woman devoted to her sisters and family, while she worked in her sister's household.

This intelligent, articulate young woman wrote in her journal every evening, recording far more than the day's events. Although she did note newsworthy items at the local and national level, she rarely gives the reader much of a clue what she had been doing all day long. The brief moments when she allowed herself to complain about her situation make it clear she worked long days attending to the needs of her nieces and nephews, and that she was responsible for most of the family's sewing. She chose not to dwell on drudgery. Instead, she celebrated her love of God, of Nature, and of her relatives, particularly her sister Susan.

Ellen felt close to God when she was close to Nature. In springtime, living in Boston made her "feel confined in a cage and long to soar away to my native element and live in the temple of Nature" (1:32). She believed that "no one can cultivate and watch the growth of Flowers, without feeling their hearts expand and fill with thoughts of God which exerts a beneficial influence upon the character. One ray of religious love sheds a light upon the character which no sunbeam can outshine" (2:11). She was occasionally critical of the preachers who did not deliver the word of God as purely as nature did. After one sermon, she accused the preacher of not having a "deep mind," and she chastised another for using "coarse and common" comparisons and expressions, even though his ideas were good (2:21, 1:53).

Ellen continuously returned to the concept of nature as a sublime channel to God:

"What pent up feelings it awakens to roam again o'er the hills among the trees, rocks and flowers. I look upon these as not merely inanimate objects, for there seems to be a connecting link between them and our spirits a something which awakens all the fine feelings and emotions of the heart and makes us keenly sensitive to the wisdom and Goodness of God and his love and mercy to us" (1:46).

In addition to connecting spiritually with God through nature, she was attuned to spiritual connections with people, through their letters. When reading "line after line traced by the loved one's hand, the image rises before me and I hear the spirit breathing the words I read" (1:17).

She felt divided between her home with Mary and her home with her parents, but there was one steady attraction that always made her old home in Wayland more appealing -- her sister Susan lived there. "My heart whose every chord vibrates to her own, yearns to be near her and enjoy the happiness which true sisterly love only can know," she frequently declared (2:3). After expressing her excitement that Susan would soon visit her, she added, "surely it is natural that I should rejoice at the thought of meeting a Sister whose love is pure and strong and in whom I find an echo for every thought and wish" (2:39).

Tension arose when her brother-in-law refused to let her go visit Susan, even though she could easily have been spared from his house for a few days: "I think he cares but little for me or my feelings, but I will not entertain unkind feelings towards him for Mary's sake" (1:38). Even though her relationship with William was cool, she resolved that if her sister died, she would willingly "give up all my youthful hopes and pleasures and devote my life to them, for I love them too well ever to trust them to the care of another" (1:30).

There were men in her life, or wanting to be in it, but she did not really respond to them. She visited and corresponded with Jared, and initially argued that men and women ought to able to have as close friendships as women were allowed to have. "I know it is not customary but that does not prove that it is wrong," she wrote, and insisted that she "can see no reason why those of different sex cannot be friends as well as those of the same" (1:20). A few weeks later, however, she decided to break off the correspondence "for several reasons," but her true feelings for him remained obscured. After they moved to Lexington, Mr. Thayer, a traveling daguerreotypist, fell for her, and startled her with his frank declarations. She told him she did not feel she could be any more than a "common acquaintance" of his, although she was "extremely sorry to disappoint his anticipations" (2:22). He eventually left town, after urging her to reconsider, and presenting her with her likeness in a beautiful case. The third suitor, Mr. Gammell, announced that he wanted her for his "chosen companion," but she remained unmoved (2:49). The cares of her sister's household overwhelmed her, and soon after she succumbed completely.

The Giles family papers document an American family through various generations and locations, though the focus of the papers is on Elizabeth Shipton Giles of Maryland and New York City.

The Giles family papers document an American family through various generations and locations, though the focus of the papers is on Elizabeth Shipton Giles. Her 13 letters to Aquila and to sons Henry and George are literate and engaging, depicting a strong-willed woman who did not lose her spirit and sense of humor in the face of life's trials. Writing in 1780, as a flirtatious young woman enjoying the attentions of an army officer, she accuses her "pretty Major" of flirting with other women: "Upon my word tis a high joak, I should be very glad to know what right you have to dispose of your pretty Person in this manner? ... I'll not endeavor to soften any misfortunes you bring upon yourself so I give you fair warning."

It must have been difficult to descend from youthful romance into the harsh realities of a financially-pinched existence, enduring separation from family, the early deaths of most of her children, and estrangement from the two surviving daughters. But Eliza pinned her hopes on son George, reminding him in 1817 that "your life and mine hang on the same hinge..." and that his father, "tho' he provides for all your necessities, leaves me still the Guardian of your comforts and where will such true comforts be found as in an Honest Heart, and Virtuous Mind." She urges him to imitate his namesake, "the greatest man that ever lived," and become "an ornament to the World, an able Statesman and defender of your countrys Laws, and Rights." Fearing that George's temper may "blast my hopes in you or bring me in sorrow to the Grave," his mother begs him to learn restraint, and to look to God, so that he may seek her in heaven after she is separated from him, whom she regards as "heaven's last, best Gift" on this earth.

The nature of Eliza's relationships with other family members is not readily apparent, except in the case of daughter Elizabeth Thorne, who married well and evidently took pride in showing off, which her mother resented. In one instance the haughty Mrs. Thorne agitated to be given Mrs. Giles's most prized possession, a portrait of husband Aquila. Eliza described the dispute in an 1817 letter to son Henry, declaring that the painting had been her companion, never out of her sight, for 7000 miles of travel and four years of separation, "and I have often fancied I wiped tears from its eye." Her daughter, she felt, merely wanted to display it "over her fine sideboard." But Mrs. Thorne sent a servant to remove the painting the next day, and her mother vowed never to look at it again.

Eliza Giles did not live long enough to see son George married and successfully established, and her life was difficult until the end, but she never ceased to see better days ahead. Writing to George in 1820, two years before her death, she tells him not to worry about his parents, assuring him that "God willing I trust we shall live to see better days. The prospect dawns. So keep your spirits and health to meet the cheering ray."

The other correspondence in this collection is scattered. Two courtship notes from Aquila Giles to Eliza in 1780 exhibit youthful charm, while one letter to Eliza in 1815 and two to son George in 1819-1820 dwell on good intentions thwarted by bad debts. A series of letters to George and Elizabeth Giles in Europe from children and other family members, dating from 1838-1840, comment on the children's schooling and on family health and social matters. An interesting product of that trip is Elizabeth Giles's journal of their visit to Spain and France en route to Madeira, which features detailed description of buildings and art in Seville. Two 1823 New York City court depositions, evidently made to establish property claims of the surviving Giles children, reveal the sad fates of their siblings.

In 1679, John Mifflin of Warminster, Wilts., became one of the first English emigrants to Pennsylvania. Like most of the first generation of Anglo-Philadelphians, the Mifflins were members of the Society of Friends, and over the course of the next few decades, his became one of Philadelphia's most prominent commercial families. The Mifflin family papers consist of a large family's business and personal correspondence over several generations. The bulk of the material concerns two branches of the Mifflin family, the children and grandchildren of George Mifflin, son of John (1661-1714) and the children of another of John's sons, John.

The Mifflin family papers consist of the scattered remains of a large family's business and personal correspondence over several generations. The bulk of the material concerns two branches of the Mifflin family, the children and grandchildren of George Mifflin, son of John (1661-1714) and the children of another of John's sons, John. Both branches were affluent, well-educated, and politically involved, and although the collection is somewhat scattered, it is a useful collection for the study of family relations in southeastern Pennsylvania during the late 18th and early 19th century and the history of the Society of Friends. The collection also includes miscellaneous deeds, wills, bills, and other sundry items relating to the Mifflins between their arrival in America in the 1680s and the mid-19th century.

The names George, John, Jonathan, and Joseph were repeatedly used by every branch of the family. As a result, in the cataloging of the Mifflin Family papers, birth and death dates have been applied only when identities seem reasonably certain, and even at that, these should be viewed with caution.

Among the most interesting letters from the descendents of George Mifflin are the several letters of and relating to Charles Mifflin. As a record of a young man struggling against adverse circumstances and seeking to establish himself in life, the letters provide excellent documentation of mid-18th century Quaker attitudes toward the maturation into adulthood, familial responsibilities, and parental expectations. But the highlight of Charles' letters is a fine description of a love feast at the Ephrata cloister, 1769, where Charles had gone to learn German and thereby improve his prospects in the business world.

Four letters include information on the Revolutionary War. Two of Joseph Mifflin's letters (1776 July 14 and 22) provide accounts on the early phases of the war in Reading, Pa., the popular reaction, and the mobilization of troops. In a letter to John Mifflin written on August 24, 1777, Joseph Mayo relays rumors that William Howe is intending to land at the head of the Chesapeake to wage a campaign on Philadelphia, and adds wryly, "I hope that British Savages will be glad to get off with themselves long before it is in their Power to throw once more the Philadelphia Ladies into a disagreeable anxiety about the Fate of their Place of Abode." John Weston's letter of July 7, 1780, includes news that the women of the Baltimore Friends Meeting had agreed to knit stockings for the Continental Army. The post-war attitudes of two old foes are outlined in two letters written in 1784 and 1785 by Richard Hergest, a former seaman in the Royal Navy, to Capt. Henry W. Archer. Hergest and Archer appear simply to have agreed not to discuss politics in order to rekindle their once close friendship.

The most important items in the Mifflin papers are the two letters from Warner Mifflin, which provide important glimpses into the moral universe of the idiosyncratic Delaware abolitionist and reformer. The first of these letters, written by Mifflin to Nicholas Waln in December, 1780, includes an extended account of a dream that Mifflin had in which he saw Waln's corpse rise from the dead to admit that Mifflin had been right after all in his refusal to accept Continental currency or to pay war taxes. Mifflin also expresses serious concern over Waln's spiritual state (a remarkable fact, considering Waln's spotless reputation in the Quaker community), and discusses his famous visit to George Washington's camp to try to dissuade the General from pursuing his war-like ways.

In his second letter, dated 1783 July 16, Mifflin considers the case of the notorious China Clows, condemned to be executed for murder. Although Mifflin considered Clows to be a "bad man," he remained rigidly true to his pacifism in opposing Clows' execution.

John Houston Mifflin's fourteen letters were mostly written while he was working as a semi-itinerant portrait painter in Augusta, Ga., 1835-1839. They provide details on the social and artistic life in Georgia, descriptions of Augusta itself, and a few brief discussions of John's aspirations as an artist and attempts to establish his reputation. The collection includes three rough pencil portraits by Mifflin of his recently deceased brother, James.

Finally, the collection includes one letter of the well-known woman physician, Susannah Wright (Houston), and one letter (from her granddaughter, Deborah Ann) about her. In the letter from Susannah Wright to her husband, John, she describes an ailment she has contracted from drinking warm water and her efforts to treat herself. Three medical receipts, included in a separate folder at the end of the collection, may also have been issued by Susannah Wright.

The Wilson papers contain letters and documents relating to the lives and careers of three generations of the family of William Wilson, residents of Clermont, N.Y. in the mid-Hudson River Valley.

The Wilson family papers contains over 4,000 letters relating to the lives and fortunes of three generations of the family of William Wilson, residents of Clermont, N.Y, in the mid-Hudson River Valley. Virtually all of the letters in the collection were received by members of the Wilson family, with only a very few out-going drafts. Together, these present an impressively detailed perspective on many aspects of family life, political culture, agriculture, commerce, and the economy of Columbia and Dutchess County, N.Y., in the fifty years following the end of the American Revolution. As well being educated, energetic members of the social elite, the Wilsons engaged in a variety of pursuits, from the legal and medical professions, to land proprietorship, farming, and politics, and they commented extensively at every turn. A genealogical chart of the Wilson family, detailing the relationships of all those mentioned in the collection can be found in box 42:11.

The core of the Wilson papers consists of the letters received by William Wilson, who shouldered a wide variety of responsibilities in Columbia and Dutchess counties and knew their residents intimately. The breadth of his interests brought him into contact with many of the state's leading citizens, but also with the tenant farmers, medical patients, merchants and clerks. William's major pursuit in life was medicine, and his surviving papers contain seven medical daybooks (40:3; 47:9-14), providing a chronological record of his visits, diagnoses and prescriptions, as well as his fees. He also kept two notebooks dealing with the causes and symptoms of various diseases (47:15, 16), and scattered throughout his papers are letters from patients discussing their illnesses. Of particular importance are the letters relative to the deaths of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston and his wife, for whom Wilson was the attending physician (18:6-10; 19:15, 21, 23). Wilson was also a founding member of the Medical Society of Dutchess and Columbia Counties in 1796, and was associated with the founding of the New York Medical Society, as well as with the effort to establish a medical college (15:69; 16:17, 24, 44, 46, 52, 66, 70, 76, 80; 17:3, 13, 17, 23, 29; 45:19).

William Wilson was also employed as an administrator of landed property, usually for members of the Livingston family, and particularly Henry Livingston (1752/53-1823). The wide-spread unrest among "General Livingston's" tenants is discussed in many of the letters, along with more general discussions of land tenure, proprietary power, and tenant satisfaction. Wilson also served as administrator for the property of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, especially during the latter's appointment to France, for two absentee landlords from New York City, Walter Rutherford and J. Stark Robinson (41:1, 2); and he was an executor or administrator for the estates of Robert Cambridge Livingston (1742-1794) (42:1), Peter Robert Livingston (1737-1794) (42:7), and the Chancellor (42:3-6). The materials relating to Livingston rental properties consists largely of receipts for rents received, but also include lease agreements, about twenty account books relative to the Chancellor's lands, and negotiations for the sale of land, especially the Chancellor's property in New Jersey after his death. A section of the estate documents for Robert R. Livingston relate to payment of medical, boarding, and clothing bills for Isabella and her son, Stephen, who were enslaved by Livingston (42:4). Some of the documents refer to her as Isabella Bond.

In 1791, Wilson added the office of Deputy Postmaster to his collection of responsibilities, becoming the first such agent for the town of Clermont. He was reappointed in 1803, and continued at his lucrative post until surrendering it to his son in 1825. As with everything else, Wilson saved all of his papers (42:12-15), and this the collection includes Wilson's original appointment commissions, signed by Post Master General Timothy Pickering (1:46 and 12:72), as well as the postal accounts and other records, which are generally of an administrative and bureaucratic nature. There are a few scattered items from correspondents critical of the speed and unreliability of the mails.

William Wilson also filled various political appointments in the county, and was active in state politics. As a Jeffersonian-Republican, befitting a friend of Chancellor Livingston, he played an important local role as judge of the county court, yet while many of his letters are addressed to "Judge" Wilson, virtually nothing pertaining to his official judicial activities survives in the collection apart from a series of receipts from various sheriffs and a few examinations of a woman for illegitimacy (43:44; 41:19). However Wilson corresponded with other judges and lawyers in the region, a fair amount of which has been preserved, especially from Peter Van Schaack and members of the prominent Van Ness family. Wilson's role as one of the first school supervisors in the area is represented by some scant records (41:22), as is his position as a commissioner for the granting of tavern licenses (41:23).

Wilson was involved in two other county-wide projects that had an important impact on Columbia County, and for which there is excellent material. One of these was the construction of the Highland Turnpike, which ran from Westchester County to near Albany, with gates in Columbia County. Wilson sat on its Board of Directors, and was a frequent and regular correspondent with its president, Joseph Howland (43:1, 2). Howland's are among the few letters that bear on broader national issues, and are in many ways the most interesting series of letters in the collection (see especially 17:87). Secondly, Wilson was instrumental in the establishment of the Agricultural Society of Dutchess and Columbia Counties, or the "Farm Club," as it was usually called. As (variously) president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer, Wilson was intimately involved in the operation of the organization. Of particular interest is the material relative to the annual county fairs held by the club, and the notifications from potential participants, the standards for awards, and the lists of winners (41:3-11). These records, together with the information to be gathered from the receipts from merchants, presents a detailed picture of agricultural life in the rural Hudson Valley.

In sum, those portions of the Wilson Papers that deal directly with William Wilson and his many activities provides a comprehensive picture of rural life in Columbia County and the state of New York in the forty years after the American Revolution.

The letters from Wilson's children offer insights into other aspects of life in early nineteenth-century New York. Alexander Wilson wrote many letters to his father while a student, and it is from his papers that one gets a good idea of the nature of legal education at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Alexander's early death means there is little material relating to his career as a practicing attorney, but what is lacking from Alexander is more than made up for by the papers of his younger brother, Robert. Robert kept extensive records of his practice, including a register of cases covering the entire period of his independent practice in New York, 1823-1830 (46:17), and his day books and account books, which list his professional duties preformed on behalf of clients, and his expenses, fees, and collections (40:1; 46:15,16). The Wilson Papers also includes file papers for many of the cases in which Robert participated (43:5-30), providing a broad, and occasionally deep insight into one man's legal practice in the early 19th century.

The letters of Wilson's other sons are less numerous than those of Alexander and Robert. William H. spent most of his life in Clermont, and so wrote less often, and Stephen B. was a secretive man, who simply did not write many letters. William H. wrote several letters during his tour of duty on the Lake Champlain frontier during the War of 1812 (18:43, 52; 19:18, 26, 36, 47, 56, 60, 68; 20:16, 18), but these are preoccupied with descriptions of camp life and military "politics" rather than strategy or the social impact of the war. William succeeded his father as Deputy Postmaster in 1825, and kept the same copious records as his father (42:12-15). He was not, however, as active in politics as his father, and except for a few letters relating to his run for a seat in the state senate in 1839, and some candidate lists and election return broadsides (41:25-27), there is little of political interest in William's papers. Stephen's letters are the more interesting for their rarity. When he does write, it is well worth the reading.

In addition to the letters written and collected by William, William H., and Robert L. Wilson, the Wilson Papers contain a vast quantity of documents. The largest category of this material contains an enormous number of accounts and receipts from merchants with whom the Wilsons did business. In terms of the number of items, fully half of the Wilson Papers is comprised of these accounts. Approximately 800 individual laborers, craftsmen, merchants, and business firms are represented as having done business with one or another member of the Wilson family, and the collection includes accounts for nearly every kind of household goods, from furniture to food to building materials, agricultural supplies, from seeds to fruit trees to sheep, and personal goods, from cheap "segars" to an "invalid chair" for Robert L., to wine.

The accounts (box 44 and 45:1-16) are arranged alphabetically by creditor. A complete list of merchants and firms represented in the collection is included under "Merchants" in the subject index. The accounts are a particularly valuable resource for social historians. For example the accounts of Samuel Haner (44:12) document aspects of blacksmithing; those of the Clermont grocers Bonesteel and Broadhead (44:4) reveal aspects of diet and nutrition; those of Thomas Beekman (44:2) document medicine and medical supplies; and those of Peter Outwater (45:6) provide information on transportation and commerce on the Hudson River. Receipts for payment that do not include goods or services are filed by surname (45:20-23). The collection also includes a number of the Wilsons' account books, especially William's and Robert's, which offer a view of the other side of the ledger (40:5; 46:18; 47:1, 2).

A second subdivision of the collection, and one closely related to the merchant accounts, deals with land administration. In addition to the correspondence of Henry Livingston with William Wilson mentioned above, the collection contains several subject files related to this important issue in Hudson River Valley history. Most important are the folders containing information on absentee landlords (41:1, 2); deeds (41:4); land grants (43:4); leases (43:31, 32); mortgages (45:17); various rental accounts (46:1-7); surveys and surveying (46:8); as well as William Wilson's rental account books (46:17-20).

Finally the collection contains a small body of material of an essentially genealogical or local history value, and a wide, if not very deep, collection of letters of the Livingston family. William Wilson was an executor for some of the Livingston family estates, most notably for Robert Cambridge Livingston (42:1, 2) and Robert R. Livingston (42:3-6), as well as for other estates (41:29; 42:7-10). The information included in the "genealogy" folder (42:11) is particularly helpful in interpreting the material relating to estate settlement and administration.

The local history of the town of Clermont and Columbia County appears throughout the collection, ranging from arrest warrants to local taxes, and including a very important group of papers relating to the establishment of Clermont Academy (41:16-23). As for the Livingstons, while the famous Chancellor does not overpower the collection, the Livingston family does play an important part. Over sixty members of the family are mentioned in some significant way in the Wilson Papers. Some -- like "General" Henry with his tenant problems, the administration of the estates of Walter T. Livingston (1772-1827) and the Chancellor (42:3-7), or the letters of Edward Philip Livingston (1779-1843) concerning his trip to France -- are meaningful parts of the collection (9:78, 86, 98; 10:8, 64). Other Livingstons are merely the signers of documents or letters, such as Janet Livingston Montgomery's (1743-1828) announcement that she plans to enter the Farm Club fair, a request from Mary Thong Livingston Wilson for financial assistance after the birth of Wilson's grandson, or the Chancellor's grandson, Clermont Livingston, who signed a quit claim deed for the benefit of Clermont Academy.

In sum, the Wilson papers are primarily a collection of family papers. While some members of the family participated in significant activities, and while the letters relating to those activities are important, there is a strongly personal aspect about them, and whatever broader historical significance that can be gotten from them must be gotten in the mass.