Nehemiah Sweet correspondence and papers, 1795-1855.

ArchivalResource

Sweet, Nehemiah, b. 1785. Nehemiah Sweet correspondence and papers, 1795-1855.

Nehemiah Sweet correspondence and papers, 1795-1855.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58780446

Correspondence and papers, 1795-1855, mostly concerned with Sweet's activities in the lumber trade. The correspondence, 1814-1829, consists mostly of letters from Nehemiah Sweet's brother Thomas, sent to him while he was at Fort Edward purchasing lumber, which he then sent down to Thomas for sale in Poughkeepsie. The letters pertain to orders for lumber, scarcity of money, demand for lumber, prospects, availability of boards, planks, shingles, clapboards, posts, masts, etc., problems of transferring money, quality of lumber available, prices, and rafting lumber down the river. There are also occasional comments on politics and public affairs. There are also a large number of miscellaneous papers, mainly concerned with the lumber trade, but some with personal expenses, including school fees for his daughter, Helen. They include bills, receipts, vouchers, accounts, invitations, checks, lottery tickets, and a deed for land in Dover (N.Y.). There are also two school mathematics books, kept by Nehemiah Sweet in 1795 and 1801, and one kept by Thomas Sweet; Thomas Sweet's expense book for 1817; and 22 receipt and account books of Nehemiah Sweet. Most of these deal with the lumber business, but there are two receipt books, 1843-1855, dealing with his activities as administrator of Thomas Sweet's estate. One account book, 1833-1834, records his accounts with Dutchess County for payments made by him to various individuals and for money due him for his work with the poor. There is an account book kept by John Wightman, 1787-1792, reused in 1851 by Helen Sweet for French vocabulary, and containing some sketches done in the 1880s, probably by Helen Sweet's husband, Benson J. Lossing. A book containing an inventory of property in Congress House, made in 1840 by Stephen J. Haviland, was reused as a scrapbook. The collection also contains Helen Sweet's copy of a 12-page pamphlet giving reviews of Edward A. Brackett's statue, the Shipwrecked Mother and Child, and a diary, probably kept by one of her children, dating from 1872-3, 1878-9, or 1883-4.

0.8 linear feet (2 boxes, 1 oversize)

Churchill County Museum