Description: Davis, Brown, and Yale families correspondence

Davis, Brown, and Yale families correspondence

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Brown, Henry Kirke 1814-1886 (Creator), Davis family (Creator)
Collection:	Davis, Brown, and Yale Families Correspondence
Collection Number:	0164
Format:	Manuscript
Language:	English
Subjects and Genres:	Sports and Leisure > Fishing Women's history > Social life and customs > 19th Century.
Online Access:	Link to finding aid
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Physical Description:	0.2 Linear feet 0.2 linear feet, 1 box, 181 items
Summary:	William Morris Davis was a Philadelphia sugar refiner, abolitionist, Pennsylvania delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention, and member of Congress from 1861 to 1863. He was born in Keene Valley, Essex County, New York on August 16, 1815. In 1845, he married Elizabeth M. Jacobs (b. 1824) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died on August 5, 1891 and is buried at the Friends Fair Hill Burying Ground in Philadelphia. This small collection consists primarily of letters from William Morris Davis to Henry Kirke Brown, a New York sculptor. Also included are letters to Davis’s wife, Elizabeth, and letters from their friends Catherine Brooks Yale and her husband, Linus Yale, developer of the Yale lock. There are also a few letters from Henry Brown to William Morris Davis, as well as several congenial letters between Elizabeth Davis and Henry Brown’s wife, Lydia. There are also two letters from Edward Parmele, chairman of the Clay Monumental Association of New Orleans, to the Browns. The Davises (in Philadelphia) and Browns (in New York) seemed extremely close considering they lived some distance from each other. They mention a longing to see each other in many of their letters and often discussed plans to get together. It seems as though this was made difficult by William’s busy schedule and Lydia Brown’s health. Mrs. Brown was often described as “recovering” and was therefore unable to travel. Further demonstrating that the families were close, the Davis children referred to the Browns as “Aunty Lydia” and “Uncle Henry.” William and Henry corresponded regularly throughout the 1850s and less frequently in the 1860s and 1870s, and William’s letters to Henry make up the bulk of the collection. While most of the letters appear to be routine correspondences, several topics emerge, such as Brown's sculptures, fly fishing, forging and casting, religion, machine tools, the Panic of 1857, and Republican politics. Davis also wrote about Passmore Williamson's imprisonment for contempt of court during a fugitive slave case in 1857, sending his daughter to Theodore Weld's school, his support for John C. Frémont's presidential candidacy, and his criticism of both James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln. An 1861 letter gives an account of a confrontation between Jessie Benton Frémont and Francis Preston Blair in St. Louis. His letters make little mention of the war itself.

Physical Description:

0.2 Linear feet 0.2 linear feet, 1 box, 181 items

Summary:

William Morris Davis was a Philadelphia sugar refiner, abolitionist, Pennsylvania delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention, and member of Congress from 1861 to 1863. He was born in Keene Valley, Essex County, New York on August 16, 1815. In 1845, he married Elizabeth M. Jacobs (b. 1824) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died on August 5, 1891 and is buried at the Friends Fair Hill Burying Ground in Philadelphia. This small collection consists primarily of letters from William Morris Davis to Henry Kirke Brown, a New York sculptor. Also included are letters to Davis’s wife, Elizabeth, and letters from their friends Catherine Brooks Yale and her husband, Linus Yale, developer of the Yale lock. There are also a few letters from Henry Brown to William Morris Davis, as well as several congenial letters between Elizabeth Davis and Henry Brown’s wife, Lydia. There are also two letters from Edward Parmele, chairman of the Clay Monumental Association of New Orleans, to the Browns. The Davises (in Philadelphia) and Browns (in New York) seemed extremely close considering they lived some distance from each other. They mention a longing to see each other in many of their letters and often discussed plans to get together. It seems as though this was made difficult by William’s busy schedule and Lydia Brown’s health. Mrs. Brown was often described as “recovering” and was therefore unable to travel. Further demonstrating that the families were close, the Davis children referred to the Browns as “Aunty Lydia” and “Uncle Henry.” William and Henry corresponded regularly throughout the 1850s and less frequently in the 1860s and 1870s, and William’s letters to Henry make up the bulk of the collection. While most of the letters appear to be routine correspondences, several topics emerge, such as Brown's sculptures, fly fishing, forging and casting, religion, machine tools, the Panic of 1857, and Republican politics. Davis also wrote about Passmore Williamson's imprisonment for contempt of court during a fugitive slave case in 1857, sending his daughter to Theodore Weld's school, his support for John C. Frémont's presidential candidacy, and his criticism of both James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln. An 1861 letter gives an account of a confrontation between Jessie Benton Frémont and Francis Preston Blair in St. Louis. His letters make little mention of the war itself.

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Davis, Brown, and Yale families correspondence

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