“Cheer up Emma, it will all seem better when he comes home…” – Harriet J. Fish to Emma Cushing Paulding, July 15, 1861 On a late summer day in 1861, 17 year old John Southworth of Duxbury was mustered into the 18th Massachusetts Infantry, Company E. He was not alone, accompanying him were a number of young [...]
Archive for the ‘Collections’ Category
John Southworth of the 18th Massachusetts
Posted in Collections on January 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
4th of July – 1850 Style
Posted in Collections, tagged Daniel Sampson, Duxbury, Eugene Sampson, July 4th, Sampson Family, Somerset Street, Sprage & Soule on June 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Apparently, “boys will be boys” even in 1850. In preparation for a bang up 4th of July celebration in old Duxbury, a group of teenage boys were soliciting funds to purchase a keg of powder in Boston. The plan was to ship the keg to Duxbury and “make that cannon behind Swift’s Shop ring.” The [...]
Intellectual with much promise seeks career change…
Posted in Collections, tagged Bowdoin, Capitol Rotunda, George Cooke, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Peleg Sprague on November 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In 1834 a young Bowdoin College professor wrote to the U.S. Senator from Maine, Peleg Sprague, looking for a favor (two favors, actually). He was hoping that Sprague could assist his very talented friend, George Cooke, in obtaining a commission to paint one of the four vacant panels in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, DC. He also hoped that Sprague could help him [...]
The Dower of Olive Wadsworth
Posted in Collections, tagged Ahira Wadsworth, Benjamin Holmes, Deborah Sprague, Dower rights, Duxbury, Hamilton Wadsworth, Olive Wadsworth, Rufus Holmes on August 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
On a spring day in 1822 young Olive Wadsworth married her distant cousin, Ahira Wadsworth, in Bristol, RI. Both the bride and groom hailed from Duxbury so it is a bit of a mystery as to why they chose to marry out of state but perhaps Ahira, a merchant, had reason to be in that port. [...]
Thank Goodness for Henry A. Fish
Posted in Collections on August 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Henry A. Fish is not a name that comes immediately to mind when thinking about Duxbury history, but it should. His unpublished “Notes” as well as his published booklet entitled Duxbury Massachusetts Ancient and Modern: A Sketch with Map and Key (1923) are quite possibly the most used items in the Drew Archives. He was [...]
The Cost of Edward and William Ellison
Posted in Collections, tagged Edward Ellison, Gershom Bradford, Hickling, James Ellison, Sarah Alden Bradford, William Ellison on July 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In 1820 young William (1811-1858) and Edward Ellison (1813-1866) of Boston tragically lost both of their parents and two of their siblings to ”spotted fever” (possibly typhus). Their older brother, James, while greatly concerned with their wellfare, was ill-equipped to care for the boys. Luckily, William and Edward were part of a much larger family consisting of numerous aunts, uncles [...]
Charlotte Bradford vs. Louisa May Alcott
Posted in Collections on June 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
During the Civil War Charlotte Bradford of Duxbury traveled to the South to become a nurse. She worked for a time aboard the Transport Ships (“Floating Hospitals”) organized by the United States Sanitary Commission and later worked in Washington, D.C. area hospitals under Dorothea Dix. During her tenure as a nurse she kept a daily journal and [...]
WWI through a girl’s eyes.
Posted in Collections, Events, tagged diary, Eleanor S. Young, Phyllis Twombly, WWI on May 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In preparing for our upcoming WWI Letter Reading I took a closer look at a diary we have at the Drew Archives. It is a small blue day book that once belonged to a Duxbury summer resident, Eleanor Stearns Young, in 1916 . Fourteen year old Eleanor was a faithful diarist for the first quarter of [...]
Four Generations of Duxbury Women
Posted in Collections, tagged daguerrotype, Frances Smith, Judith Winsor, Judith Winsor Smith, Lewis McLauthlin, Polly Hathaway, Rufus Hathaway, Sylvanus Smith on April 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It is not often you come across a daguerrotype depicting four generations. This one is especially fine considering the importance of the women photographed. Starting on the right, we have Judith Winsor Hathaway (1778-1881). The story goes that Judith was such a lovely young woman that the painter/doctor, Rufus Hathaway, fell in love with her [...]
The Peleg Sprague Papers
Posted in Collections on April 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in content. The Peleg Sprague Papers have been cataloged and are now open to the public. The collection consists of correspondence from some of the most important “movers and shakers” of antebellum America – Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Edward Everett and Rufus Choate. Also included [...]
