Boylston Family Collection

Collection Overview:

Title: Boylston Family Collection

Dates: (1819-1981)

Bulk Dates: (1850-1880)

Creator: Benjamin and Joseph Boylston

Accession/Call Numbers: DAL.2006.008/DAL.MSS.026

Repository: Drew Archival Library

Quantity: 1 box, 1 oversized box

Language: English

 

Administrative Information:

Access Restrictions:  The Boylston Family Collection is open to researchers.  There are no restricted materials in the Collection.

Acquisition Information:  The Collection was donated to the DRHS in 2006 by the Rockland Trust.

Administrative Note:

Preferred form of citation: DAL.MSS.026, Boylston Family Collection in the Drew Archival Library of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society.

Finding Aid Prepared By: Chris Sullivan/Carolyn Ravenscroft, March 2011

 

Scope and Content:

The Boylston Family Collection contains land deeds of the Boylston Family of North Duxbury from the early 18th century throughout the 19th.  Also included are 31 letters, mostly to Benjamin Boylston although the most poignant is written to Lydia Fish Boylston telling of the death of her son, Joseph, in Panama in 1852. Twelve letters (1864-1869) are written by John W. Atwood, the brother-in-law of Benjamin Boylston and the executor of the estate left to the Boylston children by their grandfather, John Atwood of Chatham.  The collection contains numerous receipts from the mid-19th century.

Biographical Information:

The Boylston Family lived in the Crooked Lane area of North Duxbury near the Marshfield town line.

Benjamin Boylston (1822-1896) was the son of Joseph Boylston and Lydia Fish.  He was born in Pembroke, MA.  In 1848 he married Mehitable Atwood (1828-1860) of Chatham, MA, the daughter of John Atwood and Mehitable Taylor; he later married Huldah Sprague (1838-1927), the daughter of Ezekial Sprague and Susan.  By Mehitable Atwood he had the following children: Benjamin Clarence (b. 1850), Mehitable Clara (b. 1850), and Mary D. (b. 1852).  By Huldah Sprague he had Susie Sprague (b. 1863), Joseph (b. 1866), George P. (b. 1868), Leona (b. 1872) and Charles Atwood (b. 1875). Benjamin Boylston was the proprietor of the Crooked Lane store once owned by Captain Edward Baker (see Capt. Edward Baker Collection).  Boylston was also a wheelmaker.

 

LC Subject Headings:

 

Series List:

Series I:                        Correspondence

Series II:           Legal Documents

Series III:          Financial Documents and Receipts

Series IV:          Day Books

Series V:           Ephemera

 

Series I: Correspondence (1864-1873)

 

BOX 1

 

Folder 1: Correspondence from John W. Atwood to Benjamin Boylston (1864-1869). 12 items

  1. From Boston, March 3, 1864
  2. From Boston, March 25, 1864
  3. From Chatham,  April 8, 1864
  4. From Boston, June 24, 1864
  5. From Boston, July 28, 1864
  6. From Jersey City, September 22, 1864
  7. From Jersey City, October 18, 1864
  8. From Jersey City, October 4, 1864
  9. From Jersey City, December 3, 1864
  10. From Lafayette NY, January 9, 1865
  11. From Jersey City, March, 21 1865
  12. From Jersey City, Oct. 9, 1869

Folder 2: Correspondence (1844-1871). 11 items

  1. Joseph Boylston (Bridgewater, MA) to Benjamin Boylston (Boston, MA), Sept. 2, 1844
  2. Joseph Boylston (So. Boston, MA) to Benjamin Boylston (Chatham, MA), Mar. 17, 1850
  3. Joseph Boylston (San Francisco, CA) to Boylston family (Duxbury, MA), Apr. 15, 1852
  4. Elisa Josselyn (Boston, MA) to the parents of Joseph Boylston. Regarding the death of Joseph in Panama. [1852]
  5. J. M. Josselyn (San Francisco, CA) to Benjamin Boylston, May 19, 1859
  6. “Sa” (Mansfield, MA) to Benjamin Boylston, Mar. 10, 1842 (found in Marbled Diary of Benjamin Boylston, 1845)
  7. Samuel (Chatham, MA) to “Brother,” Sept. 28, 1863
  8. A.W. Grays & Sons (Middletown, VT) to Benjamin Boylston w/envelope,  Aug. 29, 1870
  9. George Ford (Port Sambel, Washington) to Benjamin Boylston,  Aug. 21, 1871
  10. George Ford (Port Sambel, Washington) to Benjamin Boylston (Marshfield, MA), 1873. Two letters and a check attached together by paper clip.
  11. J. W. Faulkner (Berry Creek, Bar Butte, CA), n.d. Regarding the death of N. W. Hall.

Folder 3: Envelopes (10 items)

OVERSIZED BOX

Folder 4: Correspondence (1845)

  1. C. A. Pulsin (Bradford, VT) to Benjamin Boylston (Bridgewater, MA), Mar. 16, 1845

Series II: Legal Documents (1802-

BOX 1

Folder 1: Deeds (1819-1848)

  1. Ebenezer Fish to Joseph Boylston,  June 24, 1819
  2. Joseph Torrey and Micah Foster to Joseph Boylston, Nov. 16, 1820 
  3. John Ford to Joseph Boylston, May 10, 1832
  4. Josiah Barker, Levi Thomas to Joseph Boylston, Levi Thomas, Deacons of Baptist Church of Pembroke and Hanson, Aug. 26, 1837                                                                                  
  5. Mason Simmons to Lewis Simmons, Oct. 12, 1842                                                                                
  6. Jabez Peterson to Benjamin Alden,  Aug. 28, 1845    
  7. Martin Bryant to Joseph Boylston and Joseph Boylston, Jr., Feb. 21, 1848

Folder 2:  Deeds (1851-1910)                                                                           

  1. Bezer Drake, Ursula Drake, Welcome White, Urania White to Lydia Boylston, Mar. 11, 1851
  2. Lewis Simmons to Benjamin Boylston, Nov. 4, 1852
  3. Peleg Ford to Rufus B. Dorr, Mar. 1, 1854                                                                                      
  4. Emaline Bartlett to Benjamin Boylston,  May 5, 1854   
  5. Lewis Thomas to Benjamin Boylston, Jan. 3, 1855                                                                            
  6. Amasa Witherill to Benjamin Boylston,  April 2, 1855                                                                                       
  7. Mary Harlow to Benjamin Boylston,  May 19, 1868                                                                                    
  8. Rufus B. Dorr to Benjamin Boylston, March 2, 1875                                                                                        
  9. Rufus B. Dorr to Benjamin Boylston, Jan. 25, 1873
  10. Joseph Boylston to Susan S. Lewis, Dec. 16, 1909
  11. Clarence Boylston, et al to Susan S. Lewis, May 16, 1910                                                                                     
  12. Susan Lewis Sprague to Charles A. Boylston, June 13, 1910 

Folder 3: Legal Documents (1820-1911)

  1. Contract with John Ford for repairs to schoolhouse, Mar. 10, 1813
  2. Will of Ursuala Fish, 1828
  3. Will of J. John Atwood, 1864
  4. Guardianship of Benjamin Boylston, Mehitable Boylston and Mary Boylston, Sept. 12, 1864
  5. Bill of sale for Patent to Benjamin Boylston, 1869
  6. Will of Henry H. Lewis, 1911

OVERSIZED BOX

Folder 4: Legal Documents (1802-

  1. Probate documents, 1802
  2. Deed of Emmaline and Seth Bartlett to Benjamin Boylston, 1853
  3. Deed of Mary Harlow, Thomas Blackman and Olive Blackman to Benjamin Boylston, 1868

 

Series III Financial Documents and Receipts

 

Folder 1: Banking Papers (1939-1981)

  1. Paperwork from South Scituate Savings Bank to Charles Boylston, May 1, 1939
  2. Copy of letter from Helen Hill regarding Boylston Collection, Dec. 28, 1980
  3. Letter regarding Doris Boylston’s Will from Rockland Trust, Jan. 16, 1981

Folder 2: Town Tax Bills and Receipts (1861-1938); 8 items

Folder 3: Receipts from G.C. & A. Prior (1854); 18 items

Folder 4: Receipts from G. C. & A. Prior (1855); 34 items

Folder 5: Receipts from G. C. & A. Prior (1855); 18 items

Folder 6: Receipts from G. C. & A. Prior (1856-1857); 10 items

Folder 7: Receipts from Various (1854-1858); 7 items

Folder 8: Receipts from Various (1857); 13 items

Folder 9: Receipts from Various (1857); 18 items

Folder 10: Receipts from Various (1858); 11 items

Folder 11: Receipts from Various (1864-1878); 13 items

Series IV Ephemera

  1. “The Unexpected Letter” (c. 1845)
  2. T. J. Bayley’s Marble Manufactury business card (c. 1860-1870)
  3. South Boston Iron Company business card (c. 1860-1870)
  4. A. W. Gray and Sons business card (c. 1860-1870)
  5. 5 cent stamp (1866)
  6. A. W. Gray advertisement (c. 1869)
  7. Lock of hair wrapped in paper (1878)
  8. Newpaper clipping from Old Colony Memorial (c. 1880)
  9. Sketch of house plan, n.d.
  10. Sketch of boxes (paces) with arithmetic on verso, n,d,
  11. Copies of bible pages listing births, marriages and deaths (c. 1980)

Series V: Day Books and Ledgers (1847-1876)

OVERSIZED BOX

  1. Marbled Ledger Book of Joseph Boylston, 1845
  2. Marbled Diary and Ledger of Benjamin Boylston, 1845
  3. Minutes of the Duxbury School District No. 10, 1847-1868
  4. Black Leather Diary, 1852
  5. Tan Leather Day Book/Ledger of Benjamin Boylston, c. 1860’s
  6. Tan Leather Day Book/Ledger, c. 1865
  7. Tan Leather Day Book/Ledger, c. 1873-1876

 

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