Preston Family Papers, 1819-1984 (majority within 1850-1870)

Start Over Collection Preston Family Papers, 1819-1984 (majority within 1850-1870)

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Preston Family Papers, 1819-1984 (majority within 1850-1870)

0.5 linear feet

St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan family. Papers of family members, primarily correspondence of Ann G. Loomis Preston with her father, Jonathan Loomis, and with her sons Wallace and Fowler, sailors in the Union navy during the Civil War; typescript of excerpt of Civil War diary of Wallace Preston; paper, 1978, of Harriet N. Preston based upon family Civil War experiences; photographs, clippings and miscellanea concerning family and St. Joseph, Michigan.

In 1972, a bundle of over forty Preston family letters, dating mainly from 1850 to 1870, were discovered in the attic of the family home in St. Joseph. Over the next few years, Harriet N. Preston, wife of Arthur G. Preston, Jr. (grandson of Wallace Preston), took an interest in these letters and the Preston family history. Mrs. Preston arranged the letters, compiled typed transcripts, and authored several papers based on the letters.

The Preston family papers document Great Lakes shipping in the nineteenth century, the Union Navy during the Civil War, and daily life in St. Joseph, Michigan during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The collection has been divided into five series: Correspondence; Legal Documents; Newspaper Clippings, Scrapbook and Miscellaneous Materials; Family Histories; and Photographs.

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Correspondence, 1819-1907

The Correspondence (1819-1907) is chronologically arranged and has been divided into originals, typed transcripts and photocopies of originals. For the most part, the photocopies are those of originals still held by the family. The majority of the correspondence is to or from Ann Jenette Preston and most of the letters date from 1850 to 1870. Correspondents include Mrs. Preston's sons as well as her parents in western Massachusetts. A two page typescript of excerpts from Wallace Preston's diary (1861) may also be found in the typed transcripts. Subjects documented in the correspondence include: a widow's life on the frontier; Great Lakes shipping especially in the 1850s; life aboard Union naval vessels during the Civil War; and daily life in St. Joseph, Michigan and western Massachusetts just before, during, and immediately after the Civil War.