Starkweather Family correspondence | Collections | The Huntington

Starkweather Family correspondence | Collections | The Huntington

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1853-1858
Manuscripts
The collection consists of correspondence between Starkweather family members at home in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the four members who came to California during the Gold Rush era. Topics discussed in the letters include ocean voyages to California, agriculture and ranching in Stockton, and Starkweather family news. There is a hiatus in correspondence from 1866 to 1876. The letters after this period deal chiefly with business arrangements between Charles in Massachusetts and his brother Haynes, who had returned to California to be with his son. Persons represented in the collection by five or more pieces include: Elizabeth Starkweather Breck (5 letters), Roxana Starkweather Nowell (20 letters), Alfred Starkweather (34 letters), Almira Starkweather (12 letters), Almira L. Merrick Starkweather (10 letters), Charles Graves Starkweather (12 letters and 4 account books), Frances Loomis Starkweather (6 letters), Frederick Merrick Starkweather (7 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1788-1866) (24 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1822-1895) (71 letters), and Martha Phelps Starkweather (9 letters).
mssHM 54689-54932
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1859-1884
Manuscripts
The collection consists of correspondence between Starkweather family members at home in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the four members who came to California during the Gold Rush era. Topics discussed in the letters include ocean voyages to California, agriculture and ranching in Stockton, and Starkweather family news. There is a hiatus in correspondence from 1866 to 1876. The letters after this period deal chiefly with business arrangements between Charles in Massachusetts and his brother Haynes, who had returned to California to be with his son. Persons represented in the collection by five or more pieces include: Elizabeth Starkweather Breck (5 letters), Roxana Starkweather Nowell (20 letters), Alfred Starkweather (34 letters), Almira Starkweather (12 letters), Almira L. Merrick Starkweather (10 letters), Charles Graves Starkweather (12 letters and 4 account books), Frances Loomis Starkweather (6 letters), Frederick Merrick Starkweather (7 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1788-1866) (24 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1822-1895) (71 letters), and Martha Phelps Starkweather (9 letters).
mssHM 54689-54932
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1836-1853
Manuscripts
The collection consists of correspondence between Starkweather family members at home in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the four members who came to California during the Gold Rush era. Topics discussed in the letters include ocean voyages to California, agriculture and ranching in Stockton, and Starkweather family news. There is a hiatus in correspondence from 1866 to 1876. The letters after this period deal chiefly with business arrangements between Charles in Massachusetts and his brother Haynes, who had returned to California to be with his son. Persons represented in the collection by five or more pieces include: Elizabeth Starkweather Breck (5 letters), Roxana Starkweather Nowell (20 letters), Alfred Starkweather (34 letters), Almira Starkweather (12 letters), Almira L. Merrick Starkweather (10 letters), Charles Graves Starkweather (12 letters and 4 account books), Frances Loomis Starkweather (6 letters), Frederick Merrick Starkweather (7 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1788-1866) (24 letters), Haynes Kingsley Starkweather (1822-1895) (71 letters), and Martha Phelps Starkweather (9 letters).
mssHM 54689-54932
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Ella P. Starkweather letter to "Mrs. Dwight and Family,"
Manuscripts
This letter was written by Ella P. Starkweather, a school teacher, living in the town of Bridgewater, now part of South Dakota. Starkweather describes her experiences in Dakota Territory to her friends back home. To her surprise, she likes the school where she is teaching. There are new series of books, a school room that is large and pleasantly furnished. She writes that some of her students could benefit from a lesson on cleanliness: "...a few would be rendered much more attractive by a vigorous application of soap suds..." Regarding life on the frontier, she writes: "You may imagine the people here are sick of the country, and I can hardly give you an idea how happy and contented they all seem to be. They say the most scant time for provisions they have known is since I came and I know of no one suffering." She also touches upon the weather and the farmers. "The country looks lovely, farmers who had seed here and sown find everything encouraging." Near the end of the letter, she describes her layover in Sheldon, Iowa for five days and her amusement regarding a car half-filled with Bohemian immigrants.
mssHM 80839
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Upson family correspondence
Manuscripts
The majority of these letters deal with the Upson family's mining and business interests in California and Montana; life in Sterling, Montana, and Sacramento and San Francisco, California; and the settlement of the estate of Gad Ely Upson after his death in 1866. There is one letter by James Upson written in Panama while on his voyage to California onboard the ship Falcon. There is also one letter written by Hiram D. Upham, Deputy Agent for the Blackfeet Indians. The originals of these letters are in the Upson Family Papers at Yale University Library.
mssHM 68204-68214
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Steele Family Correspondence
Manuscripts
The collection contains thirty letters chiefly from the Steele family of Ann Arbor, Michigan, between 1856 and the 1870s, to Ellen Steele Sturges (1837-1930). All but one of which are addressed to Ellen (or Ellen and David) Sturges from her immediate family (and one friend, identified only as "Rebecca"). The aberrant letter was written in 1856 to David B. Sturges from Ellen (it is unclear if they were already married at this point). The correspondence contains detailed descriptions of the failing health and treatment of Julia and Valentine Steele in the months leading up to their deaths. There are occasional references to cultural and religious life in Ann Arbor in the letters of the 1866-1876 period, especially regarding the growth of the Methodist Church and the public speeches of Erastus Otis Haven (1863-1869), the second president of the University of Michigan and pastor of the First United Methodist Church. Though politics and national affairs are rarely discussed, HM 73855 includes Phebe Steele's thoughts on President Ulysses S. Grant's unsuccessful bid for a third term. Ebenezer and Phebe Steele express deep anxiety throughout the 1866 correspondence as to their daughter's safety from Indians in Montana, though no specific events are referenced. In addition to the correspondence, there is a family record, believed to be in the hand of Phebe Steele, detailing the birth and death dates of the siblings and parents of Ebenezer Steele, as well as a folder containing seven empty envelopes.
mssHM 73830-73862