COLLECTION GUIDES

1710-1939

Guide to the Collection


Collection Summary

Abstract

This collection consists of papers from the Wister, Channing, Clark, Kittredge, and Endicott families of Massachusetts, as well as miscellaneous papers, 1710-1939, collected by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

Collection Description

The Colonial Society of Massachusetts collection, 1710-1939, consists of papers from the Wister, Channing, Clark, Kittredge, and Endicott families, as well as miscellaneous papers.

Wister family papers include those of William Rotch Wister (1827-1911), a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a prominent lawyer. He was known as the "father of American cricket" for his role in organizing and promoting the sport in the United States. He married Mary Channing Eustis of Milton, Mass., granddaughter of William Ellery Channing. Their children included Francis A. Wister, Ella E. Wister, John Caspar Wister, and Mary Channing Wister. Wister family papers include family correspondence, household account books, a travel journal, property lists, obituaries and clippings, a memorial for Mary Channing Wister, and ephemera (greeting cards, invitations, and calling cards).

Channing family members represented in this collection include William Ellery Channing (1780-1842), his father William Channing (1751-1793), and his nephew William Henry Channing (1810-1884). Channing family papers include genealogical notes, appointments, a passport, a letter, clippings, engravings, and ephemera.

Papers of the Clark family of Tewksbury and Lowell, Mass. include those of Jonas Clark and Jonathon Clark. Their papers include deeds for property in Tewksbury and Chelmsford, a bill from Jonathan Clark to the estate of Henry Kittredge, and an appointment of Jonathan Clark as a justice of the peace.

Papers of the Kittredge family of Tewksbury and Lawrence, Mass. include those of Henry A. Kittredge and T.A. Kittredge. Papers include correspondence, and a division of swampland.

Endicott family papers include a diploma and several membership certificates of William Crowninshield Endicott, Jr., 1860-1936.

Miscellaneous papers include two charters for the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, promissory notes, a pauper notice, an unidentified paper on the 56th congress, clippings, a folder of poems, and printed ephemera.

Acquisition Information

Deposited by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Oct. 1991.

Detailed Description of the Collection

I. Wister family papers, 1846-1939

Arranged chronologically.

Wister family papers include family correspondence, household account books, a European travel journal, property lists, William Rotch Wister obituaries and clippings, a memorial for Mary Channing Wister, and ephemera including greeting cards, invitations, and calling cards. Correspondence includes letters between Mary Channing Eustis Wister and her sister Ella Eustis prior to Mary's marriage to William Rotch Wister, letters to William Rotch Wister from University of Pennsylvania classmates, and letters to William Rotch Wister from his brother John Wister, Jr., from Duncannon Iron Works.

Three Mary Channing Eustis Wister household account books, 1868-1887, record daily expenditures on household supplies, services, and food. Mary Channing Eustis Wister's European travel journal, 1883, records her itinerary and brief notes on places such as London, Cologne, Geneva, Paris, and Edinburgh.

Property lists include an undated record of the disposition of the property of Sarah Logan Wister (mother of William Rotch Wister) and property schedules for Mary Channing Eustis Wister and her children Francis A. Wister, Ella E. Wister, John Caspar Wister, and Mary Channing Wister, 1884-1894.

Box 1Folder 1-4
Wister family correspondence, 1846-1939
Box 1Folder 5
Mary Eustis Wister household account book, Oct. 1868- Dec. 1876
Box 1Folder 6
Loose papers removed from Mary Eustis Wister household account book, Oct. 1868- Dec. 1876
Box 1Folder 7
Mary Eustis Wister household account book, Dec. 1883-Jul. 1886
Box 1Folder 8
Loose papers removed from Mary Eustis Wister household account book, Dec. 1883-Jul. 1886
Box 1Folder 9
Mary Eustis Wister household account book, May-Aug. 1887
Box 1Folder 10
Loose papers removed from Mary Eustis Wister household account book, May-Aug. 1887
Box 1Folder 11
Mary Eustis Wister European travel journal, 11 Jun. - 10 Nov. 1883
Box 1Folder 12
Disposition of the personal property of Sarah Logan Wister, n.d.
Box 1Folder 13
Wister family property schedules, 1884-1894
Box 1Folder 14
William Rotch Wister obituaries and clippings, 1911-1913
Box 2Folder 1
Mary Channing Wister memorial, 1913
Box 2Folder 2
Ephemera (greeting cards)
Box 2Folder 3
Ephemera (invitations)
Box 2Folder 4
Ephemera (calling cards)

II. Channing family papers, 1770-1891

Arranged chronologically.

Channing family papers include genealogical notes, William Channing, 1751-1793's, bar admission and appointment as a justice of the peace, Mr. and Mrs. William Ellery Channing's passport to France and Holland, 1822, a letter to William H. Channing from Marianne G. Jackson regarding William Ellery Channing, clippings, engravings, including two of William Ellery Channing, and ephemera including bookplates and calling cards.

Box 2Folder 5
Channing genealogical notes
Box 2Folder 6
William Channing Rhode Island bar admission, 12 Nov. 1770
Box 2Folder 7
William Channing Rhode Island Justice of the Peace appointment, 19 Jan. 1775
OS BoxFolder 1
Mr. and Mrs. William Ellery Channing passport to France and Holland, 1822
Box 2Folder 8
Marianne G. Jackson to William H. Channing, 4 Nov. 1842
Box 2Folder 9
Channing clippings, 1876-1897
Box 2Folder 10
William Ellery Channing ephemera and engraving
OS BoxFolder 2
2 engravings of William Ellery Channing, 1829

III. Clark family papers, 1751-1905

Arranged chronologically.

Clark family papers include correspondence to Jonas and Jonathan Clark, bills, deeds for property in Chelmsford and Tewksbury, and a commonplace notebook kept by Mary Clark containing original poetry.

Box 2Folder 11
Clark family papers, 1751-1905
OS BoxFolder 3
Deed of land in Chelmsford, Mass., from Abel Marshall to Moses Hale, 14 Sep. 1808
OS BoxFolder 4
Appointment of Jonathan Clark as Justice of the Peace for Massachusetts, 10 Mar. 1843

IV. Kittredge family papers, 1710-1900

Arranged chronologically.

Kittredge family papers include family correspondence, a copy of the constitution and by-laws of the First Baptist Society of Tewksbury, miscellaneous bills, a division of swamp land listing Kittredges, 11 Mar. 1710, and Republican City Committee of Lawrence materials.

Box 2Folder 12

V. Endicott family papers, 1878-1932

Arranged chronologically.

Endicott family papers include seven oversize documents, including William C. Endicott, Jr.'s diploma from Salem Classical and High School, his life membership certificates for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Bostonian Society, and the Boston Society for Natural History. Also includes surveyed plans for two farms in Danvers, Mass.

OS BoxFolder 5
William C. Endicott, Jr., diploma from Salem Classical and High School, 2 Jul. 1878
OS BoxFolder 6
William C. Endicott, Jr., life membership in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 2 Sep. 1899
OS BoxFolder 7
William C. Endicott, Jr., life membership in the Bostonian Society, 14 Apr. 1903
OS BoxFolder 8
William C. Endicott, Jr., life membership in the Boston Society for Natural History, 2 Mar. 1917
OS BoxFolder 9
Mrs. William C. Endicott, Jr., life membership in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 12 Apr. 1919
OS BoxFolder 10
Title plan of the Peabody Farm, Danvers, Mass., belonging to Mrs. Ellen Endicott, Feb. 1932
OS BoxFolder 11
Portion of the Barbour Farm, Danvers, Mass., 20 Jan. 1927

VI. Miscellaneous papers, 1800-1872

Miscellaneous papers include two charters for the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, the first incorporating it in 1892 as the Massachusetts Society and the second changing the name in 1893 to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, a notice to the Selectmen of the Overseers of the Poor in Tewksbury that Ebenezer Flint is a pauper, ca. 1800, two promissory notes to James F. Puffer, 1869 and 1872, a folder of unidentified poetry, an unidentified paper regarding the 56th congress, clippings, two unidentified notebooks, the embroidered initials M.C.W., twelve hand-colored marine bird picture cards, engravings and silhouettes, travel brochures, and printed ephemera.

OS BoxFolder 12
Colonial Society of Massachusetts charters, 1892, 1893
Box 2Folder 13
Tewksbury, Mass., pauper notice for Ebenezer Flint, 9. Feb. ca. 1800
Box 2Folder 14
2 promissory notes to James F. Puffer, 1 Jun. 1869 and 20 Mar. 1872
Box 2Folder 15
Folder of unidentified poetry
Box 2Folder 16
Unidentified paper re the 56th congress
Box 2Folder 17
Clippings
Box 2Folder 18
2 unidentified notebooks
Box 2Folder 19
Embroidered initials M.C.W.
Box 2Folder 20
12 hand-colored marine bird picture cards, ca. 1870
Box 2Folder 21
Miscellaneous engravings and silhouettes
Box 2Folder 22
Miscellaneous travel brochures, 1893-1915
Box 2Folder 23
Miscellaneous printed ephemera

Photographs Removed from the Collection

Photographs have been removed from this collection to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts visual materials collection, ca. 1860-1961. Photo. Coll. 53.

Preferred Citation

Colonial Society of Massachusetts collection, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Channing family--Genealogy.
Channing family.
Channing, William, 1751-1793.
Channing, William Ellery, 1780-1842.
Channing, W. H. (William Henry), 1810-1884.
Clark family.
Clark, Jonas.
Clark, Jonathan.
Endicott family.
Endicott, William Crowninshield, 1860-1936.
Wister family.
Wister, Mary Channing, 1869-1913.
Wister, Mary Channing Eustis.
Wister, Sarah Logan Fisher, 1806-1891.
Wister, William Rotch, 1827-1911.

Organizations:

Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

Subjects:

Account books--1868-1887.
Commonplace-books.
Family history--1750-1799.
Family history--1800-1849.
Family history--1850-1899.
Home economics--Accounting.
Poetry.
Real property--Massachusetts--Chelmsford.
Real property--Massachusetts--Danvers.
Real property--Massachusetts--Tewksbury.
Europe--Description and travel--1800-1918.
Diaries, 1883.
Women's diaries.