Ingersoll family correspondence, 1835-1907.

ArchivalResource

Ingersoll family. Ingersoll family correspondence, 1835-1907.

Ingersoll family correspondence, 1835-1907.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/702161031

The chronologically-arranged Ingersoll family correspondence documents the lives of William (Willie), his wife Alice Norton Ingersoll, their children Ruth, Nell, Charles and Rose, and William's parents Charles and Caroline Sawyer Ingersoll, originally of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The correspondence written between 1835 and 1863, consists of letters from Charles Ingersoll to his wife from Iowa and Ohio (1835), and Christian County, Illinois (1861) where he was looking for work, and from Charles and Caroline Ingersoll to their son William while Charles worked for the Post Office Department in Washington and in Kansas (1862-1863). The Civil War-era letters convey war news, activities in Washington and Kansas, and concern by the Ingersoll's that their son is not applying himself to his schoolwork in Massachusetts. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1870 to 1894, and consists primarily of letters between William and his wife Alice, a schoolteacher, whom he met and married in Kansas in 1870, after moving there in 1863. William spent most of his married life apart from his wife and family searching for work that suited him, a search made more difficult by health problems and bouts of depression. Between 1872 and 1874 he travelled for a business out of Tioga, Kansas, and farmed with his parents in Lawrence, Kansas. From 1874 to 1894, he travelled to Sacramento, California, where he worked as a milkman; to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Flagstaff and Prescott, Arizona, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Del Monte, Silverton, and Denver Colorado, where he speculated in land and mines and worked for loan companies, including Colorado Loan and Trust,and to Mountain Home, Idaho, where he was the resident manager of an irrigation company. During 1885 he also lived in Boston, where he sold land to railroad companies. In his letters home William describes his work and financial situation, housing, and social activities. He often expresses his loneliness and desire to be with his family, and openly discusses the marital problems his absences and lack of income have created. Letters to William from Alice describe home life in Lawrence, her travels East to visit family, and her feelings toward her husband. In the early 1890s Alice, Caroline Ingersoll (whose husband had died), and the children moved to Denver. While the papers contain a letter dated 1894 May 17 written by William applying for a job in Bakersfield, California, it appears that the Ingersolls remained in Denver. Letters indicate that their son Charles lived in Idaho in 1899, daughter Ruth was in Pasadena, California in 1907, and that Rose died in 1899. Other corresondents represented in the collection include cousin Hattie W. Ingersoll of Maine, Lee and Ida [Norton?] in Plankton, Dakota Territory, and Mrs. N. Norton, Alice's mother, in Wheatville, New York. In addition to the Ingersoll correspondence, there are miscellaneous letters, receipts, and legal documents dating from 1835 to 1905, relating to several extended family members including Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Prasil of Omaha, Nebraska, Augusta and Eliza Sawyer, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Mediford Ingersoll of Massachusetts.

0.40 linear ft. (1 box)

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library