Collections

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Four Generations of Duxbury Women

Four Generations of Duxbury Women

Four Generations of Duxbury Women, c. 1850

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 at first sight.  Next to Judith is her daughter, Polly Hathaway McLauthlin (1796-1879).  Polly was married to Lewis McLauthlin, the groundskeeper of Ezra “King Caesar” Weston’s estate.  Next is Judith Winsor McLauthlin Smith (1821-1921). She was married to shipbuilder, Sylvanus Smith.  Judith was active in political and social causes throughout her life.  She was an abolitionist and a suffragette.  In 1920, at the age of 100, she was able to cast her first vote.  Finally, on the left we have Frances Smith (1849-1916).  Like her mother, Frances was a reformer and spent her life working in Boston as a social worker and for many charitable organizations.

The photograph is from the Smith McLauthlin Collection.

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The Peleg Sprague Papers

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 is a remarkable letter written by a very young Henry Wadsorth Longfellow while he was a student at Bowdoin College.

Peleg Sprague (April 27, 1793 – October 13, 1880) was an American politician and U.S. Federal judge.  He was born in Duxbury, MA to Seth Sprague and Deborah Sampson.  After graduating from Harvard in 1812, Sprague studied law in Conneticut and was admitted to the bar.  He practiced law in Maine before becoming involved in politics.

Sprague served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1821-1822.  In 1823 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine’s Fourth Congressional District (1824-1829).  He then was elected to the U.S. Senate (1829-1835).  In 1835 he resigned from the Senate and practiced law in Boston from 1836-1841.  In 1840 he was a presidential elector for the Whig party.

In 1841 Sprague became a Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  Due to his failing eyesight, he retired from the bench in 1865.

Peleg Sprague married Sarah Deming in 1818.  Together they had four children: Charles, Seth, Sarah, and Francis.  He died in Boston in 1880 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA.

For a complete item list of the Collection, click on the Peleg Sprague Papers in the menu bar on the right.

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Amasa Delano and Benito Cereno

Amasa Delano is one of Duxbury’s most famous historical figures.  Born in 1763 to Samuel Delano, Sr. and Abigail Drew, Amasa would spent most of his life as a master mariner, circumnavigating the globe three times.

In 1817 Amasa Delano published the account of his voyages in A Narrative of Voyages and Travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres: Comprising Three Voyages Round the World; Together with a Voyage of Survey and Discovery in the Pacific Ocean and Oriental Islands. While a terrific read, this book is most famous for being the inspiration for Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno.”  The most recent scholarly work on this episode is Seeing Unseeing: The Historical Amasa Delano and his Voyages by Dr. Henry Hughes of Western Oregon University.

We are fortunate at the Drew Archival Library to have the Amasa and Samuel Delano Collection that includes fascinating letters written by Amasa during his time in the South Seas.

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A Duxbury Family

Jonathan Smith, Jr.

Come to the Drew Archival Library this evening and hear history come alive. Letters will be read from the family of Captain Jonathan Smith, a master mariner from Duxbury, MA.  Jonathan and his wife Zilpha Drew lived in the stately home located at 18 St. George Street.  The home was later occupied by their daughter, Zilpha Smith, and her husband, Dr. James Wilde.

The letters read will include those of Capt. Smith to his wife while he was away at sea; the entertaining news of Jonathan Smith, Jr. to his brother; those of Zilpha Wilde to her sister-in-law, Judith Winsor Smith (1858) concerning the care of a sick child and Duxbury gossip; and the letters of Judith to her husband, Sylvanus Smith.

The Letter Reading will be at 7p.m. at the Wright Building, 147 St. George Street, Duxbury.  Admission is free.

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Tsk, tsk, Mr. Weston

Ezra “King Caesar” Weston II (1772-1842) was one of Duxbury’s most prominent 19th century citizens.  He ruled his vast ship building empire from his stately home on Powder Point.  But even Ezra Weston was not above the law.  In 1834 a warrant was issued for Mr. Weston’s arrest. It seems he was selling distilled liquor and allowing it to be consumed in his shop.

Ezra Weston Warrant, 1834

According to Massachusetts law at the time, “no person shall presume to be a retailer or seller of spirituous liquor in less quantity than 28 gallons, unless he is first licensed as a retailer of spirits…” (I assume the 28 gallon limit distinguished wholesalers/importers from retailers).  You also needed a license if you were running an establishment that served alcohol.  Three witnessed instances of a sale were considered sufficient to indict.  In Weston’s case, Bradford Holmes, Robert Orr, Reuben Witherell and one other person were seen purchasing and drinking spirits on the premises. 

On June 14, 1834 Deputy Sherrif Spencer Cushman “arrested” Weston and had him appear before one of the Justices of the Peace in Duxbury, Gershom Bradford Weston. It must have been a comical hearing as G. B. Weston was Ezra’s son.  Ezra Weston paid a fee of $200 and promised to appear in court.

Whether or not King Caesar’s case ever went to trial, whether he was found guilty or made to pay a fine, I simply do not know.  If you would like to visit the scene of the crime, however, the King Caesar House is open for tours in the summer.

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A Gift to Longfellow.

Oh, I do love a good mystery!  If you check out our SMALL COLLECTIONS link on the right and click on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow you will see that we have two letters by the venerable poet.  One of the letters is actually a very brief note sent to Duxbury resident, Lyman Drew, in 1879.  In it, Longfellow refers to a gift he has just received from Drew that was once in “the hand of the brave, old Puritan Captain.”

Could Lyman Drew have sent a relic from Myles Standish to Longfellow in honor of his poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish?”  Or was it an artifact that had once belonged to Longfellow’s Duxbury ancestor, Peleg Wadsworth?

This may take a bit of sluething on my part but I am hoping to come up with an answer soon…stay tuned…

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Sea Fencibles? What?

I like to think that I know a thing or two about early American history but every once in a while something comes along that makes me say “what?”  Just such a thing happened today as I was cataloging one of our smaller collections.  I came across a folder entitled “Sea Fencibles.”  Contained within were two documents – a letter written by Duxbury’s own Judah Alden in 1817 and a Certificate given to a Mr. Jones (1823).  Both documents referred to Sea Fencibles.  

So, what exactly is a sea fencible? It is pretty much what you might guess based on the sound of the words.  Sea Fencibles were companies of men formed for the defense of the seaboard.   The term was originally used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars.  Americans began using Sea Fencibles during the War of 1812, ironically against England. They were usually comprised of 107 men, all of whom had been employed in the maritime trades prior to the War.  

The letter in our collection refers to a cannon that was lent to the town of Duxbury during the war to be used by the Sea Fencibles (it was returned to Charlestown after the hostilities were ended). 

So there you have it.  I hope you enjoy the addition to your vocabulary.

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Small Collections are coming!

Over 25 small collections, and we do mean small, have recently been processed. Some collections are no more than one item, most are no more than one folder. They range in topic from the 1742 Indenture papers of young Elizabeth Hedge, to the Civil War letters of John Southworth, to the construction documents of the Duxbury Alms House.  

Finding Aids for these smaller collections will be online soon.