19th Century

• Account Books
  
• Bills
  
• Civil War Documents
  
• Deeds
  
• Family Registers
  
• Letters
  
• Military Papers
  
• Miscellaneous Documents
  
• Parsons Family Papers
  
• Prentiss Papers
  
• Pro-Brush Collection
  
• Shaw-Hudson Letters
  
• Shepherd Family Papers
  
• Charles Graves Starkweather Collection
  
• Stebbins-Lathrop Papers
  
• Stoddard Family Papers
  
• Williston Family Papers

Account Books

The collection of 19th Century account books consists of both commercial ledgers with documentation of individual's personal expenses. A variety of goods and services, such as coffin manufacturing, general stores, land settlements, sleigh repair, and dowries are represented in this collection. For each account book, the finding aid lists the individual who kept the book, its dates, and a general description of the material contained within it. There are 117 account books with dates from 1800-1904. See also Account Books--18th Century.

Items/Persons included:

Account Books
Allen, Electa
Allen, Elijah
The Book Club
Bartlett & Starkweather
Bodman, Luther
Cambell, Ebenezer
Chapman, James
Childs, Charles
Clark, Moses
Clark, Spencer
Diaries
Edwards, Luther
Edwards, Nathaniel
Financial and Legal Records
General Stores
Genessee Female Institute
Hinckley Rice Company
Hoxie, Benjamin
Ingols, James
Lathrop, I.S.
Pomeroy, Seth
St. Joseph Band
Stocker, Alfred
U.S. Clothing Issue Civil War
Williams, Francis
Wright & Pomeroy General Store

Bills

The bills in this collection are of two types: tax bills and bills for goods and services. Of note are early internal revenue tax bills and nine bills to the Northampton Fire Department for livery, buckets, and gas for lighting. The dates range from 1810 to 1878. There are 41 documents in this collection. The finding aid lists the individual or organization who issued it, to whom it was issued, its date, and a general description of the service or item rendered.

Items/Persons included:

Hampshire Gazette
Internal Revenue
Mansion House
Merchant Tailors
Nonotuck Silk Co.
Northampton Fire Dept. Northampton Gaslight Company
Parsons, Phinehas
Taxes
Wright, Ansel

Civil War Documents

The Civil War Documents Collection consists of the official and personal papers of Charles Harvey Brewster, an adjutant in the Massachusetts 10th Regiment, produced during the course of his military duties. The first part of the collection consists of 182 documents, including materials relating to Brewster's appointment, promotions, and discharge from the Union Army. Civil War items include muster rolls, volunteer rosters There are also similar official documents that belonged to other local individuals who served in the Union Army. The second part of the collection contains 210 letters that Brewster wrote to his family in Northampton. The finding aid consists of an item-level description of all documents. This collection was published as David Blight, ed. When This Cruel War is Over: The Civil War Letters of Charles Harvey Brewster (UMass Press, 1992). See also: Prentiss Papers

Items/Persons included:

Appointments
Brewster, Charles Harvey
Diaries
Discharges
Flagg, George W.
Inspection Reports
Letters--19th Century
Massachusetts 10th Regiment
Muster Rolls
Wade, Edward H.

Deeds

There are 192 deeds in this collection, documenting land transfers in Hampshire County during the 19th Century. There dates are 1800-1899, but the bulk of the deeds date before 1860. For each deed, the finding aid lists the type of deed, (warranty, quitclaim, etc.) the grantor, the grantee, and the date it was executed. Where applicable, the date of the copy is also indicated, though most deeds are originals. Because of the viariety of names and the lack of an index, no individuals are listed in the names field.

Items/Persons included:

Deeds
Financial and legal records
Hampshire County
Smith College

Family Registers

Miss Harriet Parsons Abbott (1881-1964) donated some 370 letters and miscellaneous documents pertaining to the Abbott, Samuel Parsons, and Kingsley families of Northampton. These papers are not too well organized, but they are interconnected to themselves and to the Abbott pro-genitors of the Bliss/French collection of Historic Northampton. These letters from Miss Abbott's ancestral Northampton families are divided by family name. This collection also includes the Bliss/French papers and the papers of Henry Rose Hinckley.

Items/Persons included:

Abbott
Bliss
Diaries
French
Hinckley
Letters
Kingsley
Parsons

Letters

The 19th Century Letters Collection dates from 1804 to 1894. The bulk of the collection is letters and drafts of letters written to and from members of the Bliss, Clark, Clarke and Crafts families. The names field is not exhaustive. The finding aid lists each letter individually with author, recipient, and date where known; for most letters, there is also a brief description of content. There are approximately 750 letters in this collection.

Items/Persons included:

Bliss family
Bliss, Arthur
Clark Family
Clark, Isaac
Clark, Mary Proctor
Clarke Family
Clarke, Anne L.
Clarke, Elizabeth
Clark, Joseph O.
Crafts family
Crafts, James
Crafts, Mary P.
Letters--19th Century
Pratt, Thomas
Wright Family
Wright, Anna
Wright, Mary
Wright, Olive

Military Papers

This collection documents militia company activity in Hampshire County before and after, but not during, the Civil War (for those documents, please see 19th Century--Civil War Documents). There are 21 documents in this collection include certificates, discharges, appointments, a minute book, rosters, and militia records. The finding aid consists of an item-level description of all documents. Items/Persons included:

Appointments
Commissions
Discharges
Militia
Sherman, William T.
Smith, Harvey
Strong, Caleb

Miscellaneous Documents

There are approximately 380 documents filed under miscellaneous. For the most part, these documents cannot be filed under family papers or other specific collections. Of interest are over 40 guest registers maintained by the Summit House on Mount Holyoke. The registers cover the years 1823-1901 and also contain weather notations. Other items in this collection include marriage certificates, promissory notes, indentures, pew purchase certificates, diaries, notices, agreements, medical logbooks, and journals. The finding aid consists of an item-level description of all documents.

Items/Persons included:

Agreements
Diaries
Educational materials
Guest Registers
Marriage certificates
Medical logbooks
Notices
Receipts
Summit House
Taxes
Temperance
Warrants

Parsons Family Papers

The Parsons Family Papers collection includes typewritten transcripts and a sheet of annotations for letters in this collection dated 1797-1881. The bulk of the letters in this collection date from the mid-to-late 19th century. Thre are item-level descriptions of all documents in this collection.

Items/Persons included:

Account Books
Diaries
Letters
Parsons, Elijah
Parsons, Isaac
Parsons, Josiah
Parsons, Lyman
Parsons, Mary

Prentiss Papers

Miscellaneous collection of Dr. Henry Conant Prentiss (1832-c.1910-1911) of Northampton, Massachusetts. Prentiss was the son of William Conant (1797-1870) and Asenath Sanford Prentiss (1793-1861). He received degrees from Harvard College and Berkshire Medical Institution (?). He married Clara Jane Howe (1837-1866) and then Catherine Harrietta White. The collection contains compositions and records from Prentiss' time in school and in college; correspondence and records from his jobs on the State Board of Charities of Massachusetts and at Worcester Hospital, Worcester, Massachusetts; family records; newspapers and newspaper clippings; letters from brother John Appleton Prentiss (1829-1884) during the civil war; various bills, fliers, and tickets; postcards received by his Catherine Prentiss; and a few thin books.

Items included:

Letters (38)
Telegraph (1)
Postcards (56)
Cards (2)
Books (5)
Writing Book (1)
Essays and Stories (8)
Newspaper clippings (8)
Fliers (5)
Certificate (3)
Business Cards (2)
Program (1)
Newspapers (6)
Tickets (2)
Family Records (3)
Pieces of Letterhead (4)
Set of Bylaws (1)
Hospital Report (1)
Hospital Accounts

Pro-Brush Collection

The Pro Brush Company Papers document the Florence, Massachusetts manufacturing concern. In 1866 the company, already well-established as a manufacturer of thermoplastic buttons and daguerreotype cases, changed its name to the Florence Manufacturing Company. It began to manufacture toothbrushes in the 1880s. The collection includes administrative, legal, financial, and product design documents, as well as photographs and advertising. Processing of this collection has not been completed, but it is open for research. Dates range from 1857-1970s. There is an item-level description in the finding aid.

Items/Persons included:

Florence, MA
Pro Brush Company
Toothbrushes

Shaw-Hudson Letters

This collection contains a diary or journal kept by Erasmus Hudson while traveling as an agent and lecturer for the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society in 1838-39. Most of his travel was in Litchfield and Fairfield Counties, and was reported by Hudson in The Charter Oak, the publication of the society.

Items/Persons included:

Abolition
Connecticut
Diaries
Essays Hudson, Clara
Hudson, Darwin
Hudson, Laura Shaw
Hudson, Erasmus
Letters
Marriage documents
Medical Book
Mitchell, Ellen Shaw
Plainfield School
Scrapbook
Shaw, Charles L.
Shaw, Elizabeth O.
Shaw, Samuel F. "Frank"
Shaw, Sarah
Shaw, Stella

Shepherd Family Papers

The Shepherds were a prominent Northampton family from 1764-1969. The Shepherd House now exists as one of the three homes of Historic Northampton. The Shepherds came to Northampton from Hartford around 1764. They were successful entrepreneurs, owning a blacksmith shop and an apothecary. The collection consists of account books, letters, legal documents, geneology charts, journals, scrapbooks, and assorted memorabilia. There is an item-level description for each item in the collection and a name index of all letter writers. The dates range from 1764-1969.

Items/Persons included:

Account books
Address books
Brigham family
Carpenter family
Cowgill, Mary Elizabeth Shepherd
Crane, Helen Shepherd
Death notices
Deeds
Depositions
Diplomas
Edwards, Catherine Shepherd
Foye family
Letters
Marriage documents
Medical
Monson, Dr. Aneas
Monson, Mary Shepherd
Mortgages
Munroe family
Photographs
Pomeroy, Mary
Rogers, Frances Edwards
Scrapbooks
Shepherd, Catherine Tryon
Shepherd, Edith Carpenter
Shepherd, Henrietta
Shepherd, Henry
Shepherd, Florence
Shepherd, Susan Munroe
Shepherd, Thomas
Shepherd, Thomas Munroe
Smith, Katherine Shepherd
Strong family
Wills

Charles Graves Starkweather Collection

Correspondence from Charles G. Starkweather (1819-1906) on his journey to California and in California to his family in Northampton, Massachusetts. Includes also a few letters from family members in Northampton and letters from Alfred Starkweather (1826-1917) and Martha Starkweather in California. Charles G. Starkweather left Northampton in 1849 to join the California gold rush, but was unsuccessful in his search for gold. His brother Alfred Starkweather joined him in California in 1851. The two brothers owned and ran a ranch near Stockton, California. Later their brother Haynes Kingsley Starkweather, Jr. (1822-1895) went to California with his wife, Martha Starkweather, and their son, William Starkweather (c.1849-c.1872). The letters concentrate on the period from 1849-1851 and are concerned mostly with Charles G. Starkweather's early experiences in California.

Provenance: Estate of Agnes Wright Howland

Period Covered: 1849-1851, 1853, 1855, 1857

Number of Pieces: 43 Letters

Subjects: Charles Starkweather
California - Voyages

Stebbins-Lathrop Papers

This collection consists of the letters, notes, and ephemera of Daniel Stebbins and his family and descendents. Stebbins was a successful merchant who also had interests in silk production, the "Connecticut River Bridge," land speculation in (West) Virginia. He was also a great admirer of Rev. Jonathan Edwards and was a member of the Masonic Lodge.

Items/Persons included:

Coat-of-arms
Deerfield Massacre
Diaries
Edwards, Rev.Jonathan
Essays
Geneology
Gravestones
Lathrop, Bessie
Lathrop, Clarissa
Lathrop, Henry
Lathrop, Suzanne
Raynor, Edward
Silk
Stebbins, Daniel
Stebbins, Jere
Stebbins, Joseph
Stebbins, Rowland

Stoddard Family Papers

Dating from 1787-1896, the Stoddard Family Papers consist primarily of letters to and by Solomon Stoddard (1800-1847). Several describe college life at Yale from 1816-1820 and his life as a classics professor at Middlebury College. There is also a large quantity of correspondence between Solomon and his parents and siblings. Non-correspondence documents include sermons, travel notebooks, and some financial and legal records. The finding aid lists each letter individually with author, recipienct, and date where known. For a related collection, see the Williston Family Papers.

Items/Persons included:

Account Books
Day, George (pres. of Yale)
Deeds
Genealogies
Letters
Middlebury College
Notebooks
Sermons
Smith, Sarah Stoddard
Stoddard
Arthur
Charles
David
Frances G.
Henry
John
Lewis
Louisa
Sarah Tappan
Solomon
William
Webster, Noah
Williston, Louisa Stoddard
Wills
Yale College

Williston Family Papers

This collection is mainly correspondence between members of the Willison family and their acquaintances. Also included are certificates, letters from Samuel F.B. Morse, and business-related materials. Dates range frm 1792-1919. Many of the letters in this collection were donated by Harry and Sydney Williston in November of 1977. Note: many of the Williston Papers overlap with the Stoddard Family Papers.

Items/Persons included:

Breene, Catherine
Morse, Samuel F.B.
Sanford, Helen B.
Southampton
Stevens, Augustus
Stevens, Elizabeth
Stevens, Holmes
Williston, Louisa
Williston, Payson
Williston, Samuel

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