William P. Webster Letter

1842

DAL.SMS.061

Collection Overview Title: William P. Webster Letter
Date: 1842
Creator: William P. Webster
Call Number: DAL.SMS.061
Repository: Drew Archival Library
Location: Small Collections Oversized Box
Quantity: 1 folder
Language: English

Administrative Information:
Access Restrictions: The collection is open to researchers.  There are no restricted materials in the collection.
Acquisition Information: The letter was donated by John and Polly Nash, DAL.2011.024
Preferred form of citation: DAL.SMS.061, William P. Webster Letter in the Drew Archival Library of the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society
Finding Aid Prepared by: Joshua West, Sept. 2013.

Scope and Content:
One letter written by William P. Webster, a young teacher in Duxbury, MA, to his brother, Walter R. Webster in Bridgewater, NH.  The letter vividly describes holiday celebrations, including Forefather’s Day at Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, MA.  Webster also attended the Duxbury Lyceum and he describes the topics of debate.  He was an advocate of temperance and frequented Duxbury’s temperance society meetings.  Of special note is the reference to the Universalist Church in Duxbury at Christmastime and its minister.  The year Webster lived in Duxbury was the same year the Mary Livermore met her husband, Rev. Daniel P. Livermore, at the Universalist Church on Washington Street.  She describes this meeting and her life in Duxbury in her autobiography, Story of My Life.

Biographical Note:
William Pingrey Webster was born in 1817 in Bridgewater, NH to Walter Raleigh Webster (1786-1849) and Betsy.  As a young man he moved for a time to Duxbury, MA where he taught school and became a member of the Duxbury Lyceum and Sons of Temperance.  William P. Webster died on July 8, 1844 of consumption.  He is buried in the Webster-Cross Cemetery in Bridgewater, NH