Genealogy & Family Papers
- The Christian Family Collection contains papers from three generations of the Christian, Roberts, Bartlett, and Sanborn families of Raymond and Deerfield, NH. Significant topics include Emma Tucker Bartlett (first woman NH congressional representitive, 1918-1919) and…
- Special CollectionsThe Sally Towle Hersey Church Application is a one page handwritten document requesting formal admission to the Congregational Church at Epsom, N.H. It consists of Sally (Towle) Hersey's story of conversion at a revival given by a Rev. Mr. Curtis, her…
- Special CollectionsThe Johnson family of Newport NH consisted of three generations who conversed extensively by letter during World War II. The family correspondence consists of two boxes of letters between Charles and Ruth, one box of letters from other members of the…
- Special CollectionsHenry C. Beecher and C. F. Newell, potentially of northern New Hampshire, were at the least close friends and possibly lovers during the 1830s. Nothing more is known about either of them. A 3 page handwritten "Brotherhood Contract" lays out five…
- Special CollectionsJames McQueston (1794-1853) was the father of Jonathan Young McQueston (1821-1901), both of Manchester, N.H. The McQueston Family Papers consist of two land deeds for tracts purchased by James McQueston in 1818 and 1828, a receipt for a tooth extraction for his son Jonathan, three Manchester tax…
- Special CollectionsJonathan Chesley (1721-1765) was born in Dover NH and died in Durham NH. He was the son of Jonathan Chesley (1695-1785) and Mary Weekes (1710-1755), and married Mary Smith (?-?) bef. 1736. A single document probating Chesley's will, dated 3 July 1765 at Portsmouth. The Justice of the Peace was…
- Special CollectionsHarrison D. Robertson (ca. 1807 Hopkinton-9 June 1862 Warner) was a postmaster as well as "wood + lumber denter" according to the 1860 Census. His personal estate was valued at $30,000 at that time with extensive real estate holdings; most of the…
- Special CollectionsThe Page family was a relatively well-off family from Gilmanton Ironworks, NH. Members consisted of Moses Page (1791-1862) and his son John Sherburne Page (1825-1891). Others included Moses's wife Dorothy Sanborn (1790-1872), John Page's wife Sarah T…
- Special CollectionsThe Wilson family of Maine and New Hampshire bought and sold land during the 1850s-1910s, usually in the area of Berlin, Coos County, N.H. Members included: Mary Elizabeth Shaw Wilson (1814-1872), James B. Wilson (1840-?), George Shaw Wilson (1846-?), Julia Wilson (1849-1922), William Melville…
- Special CollectionsThe Hutchins Family Correspondence consists of letters between Joseph Herbert Hutchins (1852-1908) and his wife Mary Bell (Cate) Hutchins (1863-?), the daughter of Nathaniel Cate and Olive Adelaide Tuttle of Northwood Ridge, NH. “Herbert” and Mary…
- Special CollectionsThe Cunningham family of Peterboro N.H. and Rockville Ill. was an important early settler family in both towns, migrating west by wagon in 1860 with the Mandville family. The two families later intermarried. Each family contained numerous…
- Special CollectionsThe Parsons family of Rye, New Hampshire consisted of the descendants of Dr. Joseph Parsons, including his son John Wilkes Parsons (1778-1849) and John's wife Abigail Garland, John's son Col. Thomas Jefferson Parsons (1804-1890), Charles Parsons (1808…
- Special CollectionsDrs. Lorus and Margery Milne were an eminent husband-and-wife team, who worked together as biologists, teachers, writers, lecturers, and experts on ecology. This collection has been roughly sorted by subject.
- Special CollectionsThis book was kept by Mary Merrill (Weeks) Cleasby (1815, Warren NH - 12 May 1886, Wentworth NH). Other prominent family names in the text include Merrill (her mother’s surname at birth) and Kezer (her sister Hannah’s married name). Cleasby’s single…
- Special CollectionsMorris Cotton (1827-1921) was the son of Jonathan Cotton and Abigail C. Hobbs of North Hampton, NH. His occupation is listed as farm laborer in younger life, and later as "own income". The Cotton notebook contains extensive genealogy information on…
- Special CollectionsJoseph Haven was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1757 to Samuel Haven, Jr. and Abigail Marshall. He became a preacher, and died in 1829. The six manuscript letters, written to niece Elizabeth H. Wardrobe, often contain advice, in particular on…
- Special CollectionsThe New Hampshire Account Book Collection creaters made their living through a variety of rural professions, mostly farmers, blacksmiths, doctors, town officials, tanners, cobblers, and other mixed income streams. The account books are organized by town within New Hampshire, Maine, Massachussetts…
- Special CollectionsHazel and Clayton Sinclair operated Rock Rest, an inn primarily for African American guests in Kittery Point, ME. They also helped establish the first Seacoast branch of the NAACP. The collection consists of a small amount of material directly related…
- Special CollectionsSylvester Bingham (1901-1981) was a graduate of Dartmouth College, studied at Harvard Law School, earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and the Ph.D. from Yale University. He joined the faculty at the University of New Hampshire in 1936 and…
- Special CollectionsJohn B. Swasey was born in Meredith, New Hampshire in 1782. He married Alice Ladd of Windham, New Hampshire in 1809. The couple had five children and lived in Meredith. Swasey owned and ran a store from which he sold goods like foodstuffs, kettles and…
- Special CollectionsGeorge Robert Laderbush was born June 26, 1923 in Greenland, NH, the eighth of eleven children born to Albert and Stella Laderbush. This collection contains a mix of correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and documents relating to George Laderbush'…
- Special CollectionsJohn Bucknam (of Medford, Massachusetts) and Susan Ann Warren (of Concord, New Hampshire) married in the spring of 1830 in Massachusetts. They had 3 sons, of whom 2 survived. In the fall of 1838, Susan and sons Warren and George moved – without John…
- Special CollectionsHarry David Dufresne, Jr. was born on April 23, 1919 in Dover, New Hampshire. He married Anna F. Laderbush in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1938. He died in September 1965. The Harry Dufresne papers are mostly made up of correspondence…
- Special CollectionsRoland Douglas Sawyer, a Protestant minister and Massachusetts state legislator, was born in Kensington, New Hampshire on January 8, 1874. Sawyer graduated from Revere Lay College in 1898 and worked as pastor. During his ministerial career, Sawyer was…
- Special CollectionsThe Northam Colonists, named for the original town of Dover, was the historical society of Dover, New Hampshire from 1900 until the organization disbanded in 2008. The mission of the Society was to collect, preserve and exhibit artifacts, information…
- Special CollectionsMaurice E. Bowes (b. 1923) was born in Greenfield, N.H. He enlisted in January 1943 and served with distinction in World War II as a first engineer and top turret gunner on a B24 bomber, being awarded a Purple Heart, two oak leaf clusters and an air…
- Special CollectionsThe Drake-Aldrich Family Papers are from Frank James Drake (Pittsfield NH 1842-1891) and family, as well as Frank’s brother, Nathaniel Seavey Drake (1851-1936) and his family. Charles Spaulding Adrich married Frank's daughter Helen ca. 1898, and their…
- Special CollectionsThe Hanson Family Association was organized in Dover, N.H. on Sept. 7, 1911 at a meeting in Central Park, Dover at which the by-laws of the association were adopted and officers elected from the thirty-two descendants of Thomas Hanson present. Thomas…
- Special CollectionsRice Rowell Whittier (1817–1897) was a deeply religious Free Baptist Elder, subscription agent, and missionary from Deerfield Centre, New Hampshire. During the years covered in the diaries Whittier lived in Greenwood, Illinois, 1862–1870, New Orleans…
- Special CollectionsThe Dowst family lived in Allenstown, near Manchester, New Hampshire. They included various generations of men named Henry Dowst (beginning in 1784) and Frank Dowst (-1905). Contents of this collection were kept by the men of the family. The…
- Special CollectionsThe Hardy family of Nelson, New Hampshire, was a well-to-do group of farmers, schoolteachers, and ministers in nineteenth-century New England. The Hardy Family papers are almost entirely composed of the family's internal correspondence, dated 1862-…
- Special CollectionsCora Watson Lewis was born in Concord, N.H. on November 26, 1858. At age 20, on the death of her mother, she joined her father in Washington, D.C., where he was doing work for former N.H. Governor N.G. Ordway, and took up teaching primary school in the house of the family she boarded with. After…
- Special CollectionsMembers of the Sterns Family of Epping NH included: Rev. Josiah Stearns (1732-1788), wife Sarah (Ruggles) Stearns (1731-1808), their son Rev. Samuel Stearns (1770-1834), Jonathan Stearns of Andover, MA, and Ebenezer S. Stearns. Also included is…
- Special CollectionsFort Constitution was built in 1632 on the island of New Castle, New Hampshire. Through several centuries, the post served as a trading port, a target of warfare, and a training ground for the military. It was a center of rebellion several months…
- Special CollectionsThe Browne family of Boston, MA consisted of Civil War veteran George Browne (1840-1912); Mountaineer/artist/author Belmore Browne (1880-1954) the youngest son of George and Nellie Browne; outdoor educator Evelyn Browne (1916-1994) the oldest child…
- Special CollectionsRuth G. Stimson graduated from UNH in 1940 with a degree in Home Economics. She joined the Cooperative Extension as a Home Demonstration Agent-at-Large. Shortly after, she was assigned to the Rockingham County Office where she worked until she retired…
- Special CollectionsThis collection was primarily assembled by Mary P. Thompson (1825- 1894) and her nephew Lucien Thompson (1859-1924), Durham historians. Their prominent ancestors included “Judge” Ebenezer Thompson (1737-1802), and Benjamin Thompson (1806-1890). This…
- Special CollectionsResident of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The initials "P.F." do not match current documentation of residents of Portsmouth at that time. Four letters to Mrs. P. F. Harrington, Middle Street, Portsmouth, NH, one from her daughter Ethel and one from her daughter [-in-law?] Helen Nelthropp Harrington,…
- Special CollectionsThe Piscataqua Pioneers are descendants of the Piscataqua River basin’s original settlers. Families who moved to and helped develop any of the towns from Kennebunk to Dover Point and the Massachusetts border qualify. Across the United States, the…
- Special CollectionsThe Isaiah Piper family lived in Factory Village (Belmont), New Hampshire from 1836. Isaiah’s first wife Elisabeth died in 1864 aged 35 years leaving two children, Ahira Barney (born 1856) and Elmer Isaiah (born 1861). His second wife, Sarah Emeline…
- Special CollectionsThe Willis family took root in New England when Job Willis emigrated from England and settled in Massachusetts. Individuals in this collection include Nellie Willis, her husband Eugene Willis, their daughter Lela Willis, Clarence Willis, Daniel Willis…
- Special CollectionsAmanda Elizabeth Homiston (Mrs. E.E.) Thompson was born in 1864 and married Elmer Ellsworth Thompson in 1885 and they had two children, a daughter, Ethel Elizabeth, in 1886 and a son, Sereno Wright, in 1889. In 1896 they adopted another daughter, Ina…
- Special CollectionsMartin V. B. Tewkesbury (1834-1900) of Danville, New Hampshire was primarily a farmer who grew potatoes, corn, and wheat, and also raised sheep and pigs. He supplemented his income by means of a saw and cider mill which were constantly in use…
- Special CollectionsHarold Caswell Sweetser, son of John P. Sweetser, who was born May 19, 1897 in Portsmouth, N.H. He was employed as a Helper General at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in May of 1917 and graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1918. After enlisting…
- Special CollectionsIn 1757, the first Stevens (Joshua, 1737-1816) settled in Nottingham, New Hampshire and for over one-hundred and fifty years the family occupied the same land. Town and local histories provide little information about the lives of the first three…
- Special CollectionsThe Perkins Family resided in Unity, New Hampshire. The principal figure of the family papers is Amos Perkins (1790-1885). He was a farmer by occupation but also worked as Secretary and President of Unity Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He also served…
- Special CollectionsThe Pages and Southards were old families in Haverhill, New Hampshire. John Page (1787-1865) was one of Haverhill’s most honored and respected citizens, serving as town clerk, selectman (fourteen times), representative to the General Court (three…
- Special CollectionsThe New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association was organized on April 10, 1976. It was incorporated as a voluntary association with the New Hampshire Secretary of State on April 12, 1977. The Association’s mission is “to discover, restore, maintain, map…
- Special CollectionsElwin Eugene Muzzey (1923-?, UNH Class of 1946) was a native of New Hampshire who served in WWII before going on to study business and work in retail for many years. He lives in Ohio. The Elwin E. Muzzey collection consists primarily of letters…
- Special CollectionsHenry Brewer Quinby was Governor of New Hampshire from 1909-1910. Henry Cole Quinby, Henry Brewer’s son, was born in Lakeport, New Hampshire, on July 9, 1872. The Quinby papers are a small but varied collection of personal and public memorabilia –…
