Wolcott family collection

1906-04-0

Collection

Identifier: 1906-04-0

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Correspondence chiefly between Frederick Wolcott (1767-1837), his wife Elizabeth (Betsey) Huntington Wolcott (1774-1812), his brother Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833) who served as Secretary of the Treasury and Governor of Connecticut, and Jabez W. Huntington (1788-1847) who served as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. Topics include domestic news, local, state, regional and national politics, business affairs, church activities, trade with China and the merchant vessel Trident, raising merino sheep, and manufacture of woolen cloth. Other correspondents include John Cotton Smith, Benjamin Tallmadge, and Uriah Tracy. Several correspondents were graduates of the Litchfield Law School. The collection also includes several account books as well as the schoolgirl diaries of Frederick and Elizabeth Wolcott's daughter, Laura Maria Wolcott Rankin and the Friendship Album given to Hannah Huntington Wolcott Freeman on the occassion of her marriage in 1834.

Dates

created: 1740-1844
Other: Majority of material found within 1790-1837
Other: Date acquired: 01/01/1906

Creator

Wolcott, Frederick, 1767-1837 (Person)
Wolcott, Oliver, 1760-1833 (Person)
Huntington, Jabez Williams, 1788-1847 (Person)
Wolcott, Betsey Huntington, 1774-1812 (Person)
Rankin, Laura Maria Wolcott, 1811-1887 (Person)
Freeman, Hannah Huntington Wolcott, 1803-1838 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection are in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use. Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

Oliver Wolcott (1726-1797) was born in Windsor, Connecticut in 1726 to Governor Roger Wolcott and his wife Sarah Drake Wolcott. He was graduated from Yale in 1747, served in the army, and studied medicine with his brother. He came to Litchfield in 1751 and was appointed sherrif of the new county the same year. He served in numerous public offices and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation.

Wolcott and his wife, Laura Collins Wolcott, had four children. Their sons, Oliver Wolcott (1760-1833) and Frederick Wolcott, were born in Litchfield, studied law with Tapping Reeve, and entered public service. This collection primarilhy documents their activities.

Extent

1.60 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement Note

The collection is arranged alphabetically by creator. It is divided into two series, correspondence and miscellany.

Physical Access Requirements

Some materials are fragile and staff may require the use of facsimiles.

Custodial History

The two accessions were combined with several other donations of related papers. At the time of the original donation in 1906 the papers of another collector, John Arent Vanderpoel, were also donated. The inventory lists for the collections were very similar, and the typist did not note the name of the collections on subsequent pages. A number of materials from that unrelated collection were interfiled with the Wolcott papers, but have since been removed.

Source of Acquisition

Wolcott, Alice (1843-1927)

Method of Acquisition

The bulk of the collection was donated in 1906 by Alice Wolcott, a granddaughter of Frederick Wolcott.

Accruals and Additions

A large addition of papers was purchased by Mrs. Elizabeth Wolcott Hamilton and Miss Julia Wolcott from Mr. and Mrs. Neilson Abeel in 1954. He was a great-great grandson of Frederick Wolcott. A number of small and single-item additions of materials have been added since then. The Friendship Album was donated by Virginia Kaiser in 2012. She is a descendant of Hannah Huntington Wolcott Freeman's son, Huntington Wolcott Freeman (1835-1906). Hannah Wolcott letter to her brother J. Huntington Wolcott (2010-94-0) was a Museum purchase.

Existence and Location of Copies

The bulk of this collection has been transcribed. Transcriptions are available upon request.

Related Materials

Oliver Wolcott, Sr. Papers, Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut.

Other Descriptive Information

Additional information about the Wolcott family is available on the Litchfield Historical Society's Web site.

This collection was processed with support from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).

Processing Information

The collection was previously processed without the use of authority files for names. It had been intermingled with another collection (John A. Vanderpoel Collection), which has since been removed. The description for many of the items in the collection was created collaboratively by historian Doron S. Ben-Atar and archivist Linda Hocking as part of a previous project.