Wilbur family papers, 1830-1923.

ArchivalResource

Wilbur family. Wilbur family papers, 1830-1923.

Wilbur family papers, 1830-1923.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60448256

Series I contains correspondence from LaFayette to his son Earl, (and to Ralph, when the two boys were together), giving advice on where Earl should settle, how he should finance his home, other financial and legal advice, details of loans made to Earl, discussions of some of the court cases LaFayette was handling, and religious discussions of sermons LaFayette had heard or of sermons Earl had sent to him, and soul-searching when LaFayette joined the Unitarian church. There is also discussion of trips made to the west coast, questions about how to dispose of the Jericho home and belongings when LaFayette and Mercy moved to the Pacific coast, and some details on the sale of his History of Vermont. There are a few letters to "Cousin Flora" about Wilbur genealogy. Series II contains many letters from Mercy Wilbur, mostly to Earl and family, some to Ralph. These are weekly, sometimes daily, accounts of life in Jericho, births, marriages, and deaths, fires and floods, the weather, the state of Mercy's and LaFayette's health. Mercy speaks of her work in the church and occasional feuds with the church, (she and three other women were censured and "banned" by her church and she moved into Unitarianism), her activities as secretary for the Home for Friendless Women in Burlington, Vermont, and as editor of Our Home Guards, the publication of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Vermont. In later years her letters get shorter and deal more with ill health and the weather, less with causes that had interested her. She shared her husband's interest in the suffrage movement, and she was strongly against alcohol and tobacco and visited jails to try to reform drinkers. Series III consists of 1856-1859 ledger books belonging to LaFayette, and a book of court dockets for 1857-1859, which lists 153 cases LaFayette handled. Series IV contains a variety of genealogical sources, including Asa Wilbur's Genealogical Record of the Wilbur Family, records of the Morse, Fuller, Mead, Eliot, and Wilbur lines, photographs of homes and graves, deeds, draft records, and correspondence relating to genealogical questions. There are also some early (1830s-1840s) Wilbur letters and a scrapbook kept by LaFayette. Series V is made up of lectures written for talks LaFayette gave to many audiences, including the Jericho Literary and Scientific Club. The subjects ranged from historical topics (early English history, Lee and Grant, the Huguenots in Florida), politics (the courts and the law, free trade, conservatives vs. progressives), and women's suffrage

2.5 linear ft.

Vermont Historical Society