This collection consists primarily of correspondence, business and legal papers, military records, and orderly books of William Henshaw; and correspondence, business and legal papers, newspaper articles, and essays of Horatio Gates Henshaw. Box 1, Folder 1, includes information about this collection and Folder 2 has information on the Henshaw family genealogy. Folder 3 contains correspondence and military papers, 1757-1892. This folder includes correspondence between William Henshaw and his second wife, Phebe Swan Henshaw (1753-1808), while he served in the American forces during the U.S. Revolution. There is correspondence of Horatio Gates Henshaw, his sister Ruth Henshaw Bascom (1772-1848), and his daughter Harriet Elizabeth Henshaw (1817-1896). There are also troop returns and regimental orders from the French and Indian War and the U.S. Revolution. The last folder in Box 1 contains William Henshaw's bound justice of the peace records, 1790-1811. Box 2, Folder 1, has a few items generated by Rev. Luther Conklin (1817-1888) who married Almira Henshaw (1818- ), daughter of Horatio Gates Henshaw and Elizabeth Hastings Henshaw. There are six small account books with entries for 1838?-1841?, 1845, 1847-1848, 1848-1849, and 1866-1868. There is also one undated sermon and a student essay. Box 2, Folder 2, contains a variety of undated manuscripts and Folder 3 has miscellaneous manuscripts including poetry; biographical fragments; William Henshaw's notebook with receipts and various other notations, 1765-1789. Folder 3 also contains a fragment of the notes kept by Ruth Henshaw Bascom on her trip to Norfolk, Va., through Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York in 1801. This is apparently the rough draft from which Mrs. Bascom's 1801 Diary was copied. [See Bascom, Ruth Henshaw, Diaries, 1789-1846.] The dates and entries correspond to the Diary from 6 October to 21 October, although they are somewhat re-written. Folders 4 and 5 contain legal and business papers, 1765-1809 and 1810-1869, with some copies of documents dating back to 1720. These folders include justice of the peace records for both William and Horatio Gates Henshaw and manuscripts pertaining to members of the Denny family. Folder 6 has essays and newspaper articles by Horatio Gates Henshaw. Box 3 contains bills and receipts, 1758-1889. Box 4 includes the following five orderly books of William Henshaw: 1) 9 May-28 November 1759, including miscellaneous notes and accounts, 1763-1792. This volume describes camp life, the march to Fort Edward, and Henshaw's duties at the Fort. There is also a brief account book kept by Henshaw while at Fort Edward and Crown Point. 2) 20 April-25 September, 1775. 3) 1 October 1775-27 March 1776. 4) 28 March-14 July 1776. 5) 15 July-3 October 1776. The orderly books from the Revolutionary War period, combined with Henshaw's letters while in the military service, give a detailed picture of his activities. This box also includes fragments of orders from which the complete books were later written. Box 5 contains typewritten and handwritten copies of Henshaw's orderly books. The first volume of the orderly books is dated 1759, the second is dated April-September 1775, the third is dated October 1775-March 1776, the fourth is dated March 1776-July 1776, and the fifth is dated July 1776-October 1776. There may be omissions in the typewritten and handwritten copies and in the printed versions. The oversize folder contains documents appointing Horatio Gates Henshaw a justice of the peace, and other legal documents pertaining to him. There are also three William Henshaw items, including a draft of a 1775 letter from Henshaw to George Washington, and copies of the reproductions used in the 1881 edition of his orderly book. The collection includes folio account books of a general store in Worcester, Mass., for the periods 10 June 1816-22 May 1817, 24 May 1817-5 November 1818, and 9 November 1818-11 July 1820. There is also an index volume of the names of customers. These records were probably kept by Horatio Gates Henshaw, who had a store in Worcester after he finished his apprenticeship with Stephen Salisbury and before he went to the Leicester bank.
