Collection Overview
Title: Horace H. Soule Collection
Dates: 1840-1902
Creator: Soule family
Repository: Drew Archival Library
Call Number: DAL.MSS.133
Accession Number:
Location: Fogg Archives Room
Quantity: 3 boxes
Language: English

Administrative Information
Access Restriction: Collection is open to researchers
Acquisition Information: Donation, Christoper Soule, 2019
Preferred Citation: DAL.MSS.133, Horace M. Soule Collection
Finding Aid prepared by Carolyn Ravenscroft, 2019

Scope and Content:
The Horace H. Soule Collection includes numerous items from Soule’s school days and personal life. Included are two journals, one kept when he was a young man in Boston (1845-1850), the other while on a trip to Smyrna, Turkey in 1848. Also included is his 1902 and 1907 daily Standard Diaries.

There are also papers of Horace H. Soule’s father, Capt. Richard Soule Sr., a sugar merchant in Boston. Horace H. Soule’s son, also named Horace, is represented in the collection by his 1878 diary, kept when he was 11 years old, as well as his marriage certificate.

There are items created by or referring to Horace Soule’s mother’s family of South Berwick, Maine. Particularly interesting is the account book (1851-1855) of Charles Cushing Hobbs, kept while he was a student at Harvard. Also, a 1766 issue of the New Hampshire Gazette which has an advertisement for a runaway slave for Primus, owned by Thomas Wallingford, the great-grandfather of Horace Soule’s wife.

The oldest item in the collection is the book, Nonconformity without Controversy, published in England in 1670 and owned by John Cookson.

Biographical Sketch:
Horace Homer Soule Sr. (1827-1908) was the son of Capt. Richard Soule Sr. and his second wife, Lucy Loring. He was born in Duxbury, MA but spent the majority of his youth in Boston, living in his family’s home at 17 Crescent. In 1844 he went to work as a clerk. He left that position in 1848 when he embarked on a voyage to Smyrna, Turkey (see Journal in the Collection).

In 1850 he married Elizabeth Cushing Hobbs (1827-1906), the daughter of Judge Hiram Hayes Hobbs and Mary Hamilton Cushing, of South Berwick, ME. The Soules moved to Pennsylvania for a time before moving back to Massachusetts, eventually residing at 229 Bellvue Ave., Newton. Horace H. Soule was an insurance broker for many years. The Soules had two children: Mary H. Soule (1852-1919) and Horace Homer Soule Jr.

Horace Home Soule Jr. (1867-1920) was born in Pennsylvania to Horace Homer Soule Sr. and Elizabeth Cushing Hobbs. Horace spent the majority of his youth in Newton, MA. He graduated from Harvard College. In 1902 he married Adeline “Addie” Merritt Train (1868-1940), the daughter of William G. Train and Mary Elizabeth Phipps. Adeline was born in Boston but spent much of her life in Duxbury, in the house known as Hautboy Castle on Duxbury Bay. Horace and Addie were married at Hautboy Castle and later owned it. Adeline’s brother, Arthur Train, owned the summer estate next door. Horace and Addie Soule had three children: Horace H. Soule, 3rd, Elizabeth T. Soule, and John C. Soule.

Capt. Richard Soule Sr. (1786-1866) was born in Duxbury. He was the son of James Soule and Abigail Seaver. After moving to Boston he became a successful sugar merchant. In 1840 he purchased a house in Boston’s prestigious “Crescent,” a neighborhood designed by Bulfinch.

In 1810 Richard Soule married Prudence Loring (1789-1823) of Duxbury, the daughter of Capt. Samuel Loring and Prudence Chapman. Together they had three children: Richard Soule Jr., Mary Chapman Soule, and Elizabeth Seaver Soule. After the death of Prudence, Richard Soule Sr. married her younger sister, Lucy Loring. Together, they had three children; only Horace H. Soule Jr. survived to adulthood.