Chauncey family-Fowler family papers
Collection
Call Number: GEN MSS 814
Scope and Contents
The papers primarily consist of correspondence but also include account books, Yale College diplomas, and miscellaneous documents related to Nathaniel Chauncey, Elnathan Chauncey, William Chauncey Fowler, and their extended families and friends. Among the correspondents are members of the Ellsworth, Fowler, Goodrich, Hand, March, Wadsworth, and Webster families, in particular Rebecca and Noah Webster. Also present are more than 100 sermons, and folders of material related to the Susquehannah Company, a group of Connecticut investors in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania.
Dates
- 1669 - 1880
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Chauncey Family-Fowler Family Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from C. A. Stonehill on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2004. The papers were in the estate of Howard B. Field Jr.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Correspondence. II. Financial and Other Records. III. Writings.
Extent
13.5 Linear Feet (18 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The papers consist of correspondence, account books, Yale College diplomas, and miscellaneous documents related to Nathaniel Chauncey, and his son Elnathan Chauncey and great-grandson William Chauncey Fowler. The collection contains more than 5,000 letters exchanged by members of the Chauncey, Ellsworth, Fowler, Goodrich, Hand, March, Wadsworth, and Webster families, in particular Rebecca and Noah Webster, as well as various prominent friends in New England. Also present are more than 100 sermons, and folders of material related to the Susquehannah Company, a group of Connecticut investors in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania.
Chauncey and Fowler Families of Connecticut
Nathaniel Chauncey (1681-1756), clergyman of New Haven, Connecticut, was the first graduate of Yale College (1702). His son, Elnathan Chauncey (1724-1796), clergyman of Durham, Connecticut, was also a graduate of Yale College (1743). Elnathan Chauncey's daughter Catherine (1765-1841) married Reuben Rose Fowler (1763-1844) of Durham in 1790. Their son William Chauncey Fowler (1793-1881), clergyman, educator, and author, of Amherst, Massachusetts, and Durham, was a graduate of Yale College (1816); in 1825 he married Harriet Webster Cobb (1797-1844), the widow of Edward Cobb and daughter of noted lexicographer Noah Webster.
The genealogy, lives, and careers of Chauncey and Fowler family members are well described in the volume Memorials of the Chaunceys, by William Chauncey Fowler (Boston: Henry W. Dutton, 1858), in particular pages 93-112, 175-192, and the Chauncey family tree that folds out between pages 88 and 89.
The genealogy, lives, and careers of Chauncey and Fowler family members are well described in the volume Memorials of the Chaunceys, by William Chauncey Fowler (Boston: Henry W. Dutton, 1858), in particular pages 93-112, 175-192, and the Chauncey family tree that folds out between pages 88 and 89.
Processing Information
This collection received a basic level of processing. The descriptive information found in the Collection Contents section, including span dates for the collection, is drawn in large part from information supplied when the collection was acquired in 2004.
Half of the loose letters in Series I were received in three-ring binders and half were stacked in boxes; the latter group was placed in folders during baseline processing.
Some of the material in this collection may appear in a set of eleven microfilms made in 1932 (FILM MISC 412, Fowler collection, 1662-1874, at Sterling Memorial Library) of material then in the possession of William Chauncey Fowler; for instance, reel number 11 has the volume of Noah Webster letters present in Box 5. However, the films are of poor quality, contain no table of contents, and possess no other guide document.
The former call number was Uncat MSS 653, and the former title of the collection was Nathaniel Chauncey and William Chauncey Fowler Papers.
Half of the loose letters in Series I were received in three-ring binders and half were stacked in boxes; the latter group was placed in folders during baseline processing.
Some of the material in this collection may appear in a set of eleven microfilms made in 1932 (FILM MISC 412, Fowler collection, 1662-1874, at Sterling Memorial Library) of material then in the possession of William Chauncey Fowler; for instance, reel number 11 has the volume of Noah Webster letters present in Box 5. However, the films are of poor quality, contain no table of contents, and possess no other guide document.
The former call number was Uncat MSS 653, and the former title of the collection was Nathaniel Chauncey and William Chauncey Fowler Papers.
- Account books
- Chauncey family
- Chauncey, Nathaniel, 1681-1756
- Chauncy, Elnathan, 1724-1796
- Clergy -- United States -- 18th century
- Congregational churches -- Clergy
- Congregational churches -- Connecticut -- 18th century
- Congregationalists -- Connecticut -- 18th century
- Connecticut -- Church history
- Connecticut -- Religion
- Connecticut -- Social life and customs
- Diplomas -- United States -- 18th century
- Fowler family
- Fowler, William Chauncey, 1793-1881
- Fowler, William Worthington, 1833-1881
- Goodrich family
- Goodrich, Chauncey A. (Chauncey Allen), 1790-1860
- Goodrich, Elizur, 1761-1849
- Hand, Joseph Winborn, 1792-1844
- Letter books
- Sermons -- United States -- 18th century
- Susquehannah Company
- Webster family
- Webster, Noah, 1758-1843
- Webster, Rebecca Greenleaf, 1766-1847
- Yale University
- Title
- Guide to the Chauncey Family-Fowler Family Papers
- Author
- by Beinecke staff
- Date
- 2007-05-15
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
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