Makepeace family papers

This collection contains account books, autograph albums, and other papers of the family of Walter D. Makepeace and of his wife's family, as well as of a few individuals whose relation to the Makepeace family is not clear. The items in the collection are arranged alphabetically by individual.

The oldest items are three account books. The first was kept by the cooper Thomas Burtch from 1773 to 1787, and by another Thomas Burtch, possibly his grandson, who was a day laborer, from 1806 to 1835. Both men lived in Stonington, Connecticut, and their accounts deal largely with work done on various ships. The elder Burtch appears to have been co-owner of a sloop with Henry and William Elliot. The birth dates of the children of the younger Burtch are recorded at the end of the volume. It is not known whether the Burtch family was related to the Makepeace family.

The second account book appears to have been kept by Orlando Porter (1787-1836) of Waterbury, Connecticut, from 1809 to 1814. He was a partner in the clock manufacturing company of Lemuel Harrison & Company, and the brother of Walter D. Makepeace's wife's great-grandfather. Finally, the third account book, 1818-1842, was kept by Ward Peck (1784-1847), Ethel (Sperry) Makepeace's great-great-grandfather, and it records his farming activities in Waterbury.

There are four autograph albums in this collection: that of Sarah Andrews, of unknown relation to the Makepeace family, compiled from 1827 to 1834 in Cornwall, Litchfield, and Washington, Connecticut; two belonging to Frank Barrows Makepeace, father of Walter D. Makepeace, which include the signatures of such notables as John Burroughs, Leonard Bacon, Timothy Dwight, James A. Garfield, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Wendell Phillips, and Henry Ward Beecher; the album of Helen (Viets) Makepeace, Walter D. Makepeace's mother, containing the signatures of Catharine Beecher, Horace Greeley, and students at Miss Beecher's seminary in Hartford, Connecticutof the class of 1873.

The remaining items in this collection include five diplomas and certificates of Walter D. Makepeace (1875-1942), a genealogical notebook and letter concerning genealogy of Sophy M[akepeace?] Andros, and an address book of unidentified ownership.

The account books were donated to Yale University by LeRoy M. Makepeace from the library of his father, Walter D. Makepeace, in 1945, and the autograph albums by Mary M. Kenway in 1946.