Manuscripts

Saxton family papers

Description: The collection of correspondence covers William Carroll's life as an itinerant school teacher in Northern California, where he writes about the Chinese in California, flooding in Sacramento, and enslaved people; Americus D. Buck's service in Virginia during and immediately after the Civil War; Nathan Buck's service with a New York infantry regiment and the Siege of Petersburg; Edward H. Spencer's service as a Union soldier in South Carolina; and D. Carroll's service with a New York regiment. Topics include family matters, soldiers' everyday lives, and politics.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1860-1865
Call number: mssSaxton
Provenance: Gift of Harriett Saxton, 1955 and 1957.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Rights: The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining permission rests with the researcher.
Associated people: Buck, Americus D., (active 1864-1865,); Buck, Nathan, (active 1864); Carroll, D., (active 1864-1865); Carroll, William, (active 1860)
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

Saxton family papers

Manuscripts

The collection of correspondence covers William Carroll's life as an itinerant school teacher in Northern California, where he writes about the Chinese in California, flooding in Sacramento, and enslaved people; Americus D. Buck's service in Virginia during and immediately after the Civil War; Nathan Buck's service with a New York infantry regiment and the Siege of Petersburg; Edward H. Spencer's service as a Union soldier in South Carolina; and D. Carroll's service with a New York regiment. Topics include family matters, soldiers' everyday lives, and politics.

mssSaxton

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Saxton, Rufus to Hiram Barney

Manuscripts

Hiram Barney's political, business, legal, and family papers concern a wide variety of subjects including real estate, primarily in Iowa, and New York; court cases (often pertaining to debt collection) and other legal services; politics generally, but especially patronage distribution; family affairs, business transactions concerning the Erie and other canals; small railroads (largely in the Lake Plains region); Mexico and Mexican-American relations; the Civil War; U.S. Customs Service. Barney's correspondence contains numerous references to the anti-enslavement movement in the North, the Civil War, Republican Party politics, and Barney's friendship with Abraham Lincoln. Also found throughout this portion of the collection are transportation papers dealing with Barney's interest in connection with the opening up of waterways, the railroad, and the telegraph from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. Among the correspondents are William C. Bryant, William A. Butler, Salmon P. Chase, Charles P. Clinch, Erastus Corning, Edward C. Delavan, William P. Fessenden, John Jay, David W. Kilbourne, Eugene Kozlay, Abraham Lincoln, Edward L. Pierce, Matias Romero, Horatio Seymour, William T. Sherman, Edward D. Smith, Breese J. Stevens, Lewis Tappan, William D. Waterman. Real estate papers concern mostly the Half-Breed Tract between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers. Which includes signed documents of land indentures by specific Indigenous tribal members of the Sak and Fox (Meskwaki) Nation with papers pertaining to the first Anglo proprietors and settlers. Related to Barney's real estate documents are Francis Scott Key's papers. Legal papers extend from 1825 to 1888 and includes articles of partnership, court cases, powers of attorney, and notes for collection. New York Custom House papers cover the general operations, patronage, and personnel of the Custom House, as well as records of the fraud investigations conducted by the U.S. Treasury Department.

mssHB

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Beck family papers, (bulk 1815-1850)

Manuscripts

Collection of family papers relating to John M. Beck and the Carr family. Includes three letters sent by John Beck to Mary Carr Beck while he was mining for gold in California in 1850; deeds for land in New York City and Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania; a letter of courtship (possibly a marriage proposal) from 'Silva' to John Beck; a certificate of honorable discharge from the First Regiment of Horse Artillery, New York Militia, for William Carr (1836); citizenship statements for William Carr and John M. Beck; a marriage certificate for John M. Beck and Mary Carr (1848); a birthday greeting to John Beck from a Father Larcher; and a letter from Clara Woodruff to Herman Smith with information on the Beck family (1947). The letters from John to Mary Beck focus on his travel expenses, his gold mining experiences in Yuba County (including his encounters with mine thieves and grizzly bears), and references to Thomas Stoddard's "Gold Lake."

mssHM 73770-73785

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Daniel D. Harkness papers

Manuscripts

The Daniel D. Harkness papers primarily consist of diaries, military records, and photographs related to his service in the 1st Volunteer Cavalry, 34th Infantry Regiment, American Expeditionary Forces, and Forest Service. There are 189 photographs of the Philippines, Hawaii, Arkansas, Lake Arrowhead, New Mexico, and at sea. In addition, there is ephemera related to his time in Langres, France with the AEF. There is a folder with items related to John C. Couts and another related to Oscar N. Land. Other ephemera includes material related to the Roosevelt's Rough Riders Reunion in 1928. There is an oversize panoramic photograph of 604th Engineer Company D, C, and F Washington Barracks, D.C., August 1917. Note: This panoramic photograph is fragile.

mssHarkness

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George Tate papers

Manuscripts

Diaries, military records, correspondence, and photographs documenting Tate's life, especially his Civil War career. The three Civil War diaries cover the campaigns of 1862-1865 in Virginia and Maryland, and discuss war news and rumors, including the news of Lincoln's assassination, and everyday life in camp. Tate's service in Texas is also recounted in two letters to Elnora L. Guest (1903). Also included a copy of pre-war diary made "for presentation and reference," documenting Tate's life in Fredonia in 1854-1860, including accounts of Fredonia Academy. The military records include Tate's commission, discharge papers, muster rolls, pension certificates, etc. Also included are photographs of officers and soldiers of the 72nd New York Regiment, a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of lists of the Union casualties, and two photographs of Tate taken in the early 1900s. Additionally there are two bound volumes: Henry Le Fevre Brown's "History of the Third Regiment Excelsior Brigade 72d New York Volunteer Infantry 1861-1865" (Jamestown, N.Y. :Journal printing Co., 1902) and a copy of the The English version of the polyglott Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; : with the marginal readings ... Stereotyped by L. Johnson (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait, & Co., 1844), with an inscription indicating that Tate acquired it in Brazos Santiago, Tex.

mssHM 64287-64293

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Rice, Edmund, family papers

Manuscripts

mssHB

Saxton family papers

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Saxton family papers

Saxton, Rufus to Hiram Barney

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