Samuel Putnam Papers, 1718-1876, 1915-1942, undated
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Not requestable
Scope and Content Note
The Samuel Putnam Papers consists of legal papers, correspondence bills, receipts, notes, and an account book. Several shipping papers of his brother, Ebenezer, are also included. The collection has been organized into three series.
Series I. Business Papers consists of legal papers, commissions as Justice of the Peace, correspondence, bills and receipts, and an account book. Correspondence includes letters from Judge Joseph Story (1779-1845) and William Cranch (1769-1855) and letters dealing with Timothy Pickering's (1745-1829) libel suit against William Carlton and the Salem Register. Other business letters concern legal cases and Putnam's rental properties. The account book lists cases he worked on and costs charged; most are in Essex County. This series also contains a few of Putnam's estate papers.
Series II. Personal Papers includes letters to and from family members as well as some notes and speeches written by Putnam. The deeds in box 2 folder 4 were marked "old deeds and papers relating to the Danvers farm."
Series III. Family and Other Papers contains correspondence by Putnam's family members as well as papers belonging to other Putnams. Included is a letter by loyalist James Putnam (1756-1838) to his brother, Ebenezer, and shipping papers. Katharine Loring's papers (box 2, folder 18) include a printed booklet about William Lowell Putnam (1863), a death notice for Frederic Ward Putnam (1915), correspondence, an essay about Louisa Putnam Peabody, and a copy of the obituary for Samuel Putnam (copied from the Salem Gazette, 1853).
Dates
- Creation: 1718-1876, 1915-1942, undated
Creator
- Putnam, Samuel, 1768-1853 (Person)
Restrictions on Access
This collection is open for research use.
Biographical Sketch
Samuel Putnam was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, on May 13, 1768, the son of Gideon (1727-1811) and Hannah (Brown) (1732-1813) Putnam, and was the only one of his parents' ten children to survive. He started school in Beverly; when he reached the age of ten, he studied at Philips Andover Academy. He graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1787, and then studied law with Judge Theophilus Bradbury in Newburyport. In 1790 he was admitted to the Bar in Essex County and in July 1790, began to practice law in Salem. In 1806, he represented Elizabeth (Derby) West in her divorce proceeding with Captain Nathaniel West.
In 1814 he was made associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court justice. In 1830, he wrote the opinion in Harvard College v. Amory which established the Prudent man rule in United States law. In that same year he served as chief justice at the trial of Joseph and Francis Knapp, who were accused of hiring Richard Crowninshield to murder Captain Joseph White of Salem. He served as state senator in 1808, 1809, 1813, and 1814. In 1825, Harvard granted him an honorary Doctorate of Law. He retired from the bench in 1842.
He married Sarah Gooll (1772-1864) in 1795 and they had eight children: Samuel Raymond (1797-1861); Hannah (1799-1822); Louisa (1801-1876); Mary Ann (1803-1845); Charles Gideon (1805-1875); Elizabeth Cabot (1807-1881); Sarah Gooll (1810-1880); and John Pickering (1813-1867).
From 1798 to 1833, Putnam and his family lived on Federal Street in Salem (now the PEM's Cotting-Smith Assembly House). After 1833, he lived in a rented house in Boston in the winter and on the family farm in Danvers in summer. He died in Boston on July 3, 1853, and is buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Danvers.
Extent
3.5 linear feet (4 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Samuel Putnam Papers consists of legal papers, correspondence bills, receipts, notes, and an account book.
Series List
SERIES I. Business Papers
SERIES II. Personal Papers
SERIES III. Family and Other Papers
Physical Location
Phillips Library Stacks
Provenance
This material was donated by Katherine Peabody Loring on June 28, 1926, and Susan G. Loring, in memory of Katherine Peabody Loring, on October 16, 1978. Twenty one letters from Putnam's children and all of the commissions as Justice of the Peace were removed from the Bradlee family collection and relocated here. Some documents were a gift from Mrs. Eben Putnam on March 6, 1945. The account book was a gift from Mrs. Augustus Loring on September 7, 1990. Five letters and three receipts were removed from our autograph collection and relocated here. One of those letters, dated 1817, was from the Margarette W. Brooks collection.
Processing Information
Collection processed by O. M. Sargent, May 1980 and Tamara Gaydos, May 2018.
Subject
- Clark, Anna (Person)
- Cranch, William, 1769-1855 (Person)
- Crowninshield, Sarah Putnam, 1810-1880 (Person)
- Derby, Elias Hasket, 1766-1826 (Person)
- Derby, Richard, 1736-1781 (Person)
- Doust, John (Person)
- Doust, William (Person)
- Gerrish, Benjamin (Person)
- Glover, Jonathan (Person)
- Gray, Jane Loring, 1821-1909 (Person)
- Herrick, Ginger (Person)
- Hutchinson, Israel (Person)
- Hutchinson, Robert (Person)
- Jeffry, Elizabeth Bowditch, 1735-1797 (Person)
- Loring, Katharine P., 1849-1943 (Person)
- Lowell, Elizabeth Putnam, 1807-1881 (Person)
- Mackmallin, Jonathan (Person)
- Needham, George (Person)
- Newhall, Ezra (Person)
- Newhall, Samuel (Person)
- Nichols, Benjamin Ropes, 1786-1848 (Person)
- Peabody, Louisa Putnam, 1801-1876 (Person)
- Peirse, Eunice (Person)
- Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829 (Person)
- Porter, John, Jr. (Person)
- Putnam, Andrew (Person)
- Putnam, Archelaus (Person)
- Putnam, Benjamin, d. after 1753 (Person)
- Putnam, Charles Gideon, 1805-1875 (Person)
- Putnam, Ebenezer, 1768-1826 (Person)
- Putnam, Frederick Ward, 1839-1915 (Person)
- Putnam, Gideon, 1726-1811 (Person)
- Putnam, Israel, 1730-1756 (Person)
- Putnam, James, 1756-1838 (Person)
- Putnam, John Pickering, 1813-1867 (Person)
- Putnam, Nathaniel, Lt., approximately 1619-1700 (Person)
- Putnam, Samuel Raymond, 1797-1861 (Person)
- Putnam, Sarah, 1772-1864 (Person)
- Putnam, Solomon, 1720-1752 (Person)
- Putnam, Tarrant, 1688-1732 (Person)
- Story, Joseph, 1779-1845 (Person)
- Taylor, Samuel (Person)
- Towne, Daniel (Person)
- Astria (Ship) (Organization)
- Essex Bridge Corporation (Organization)
- Governor Endicott (Brig) (Organization)
- Granite (Ship) (Organization)
- Jason (Ship) (Organization)
- Minerva (Ship) (Organization)
- Neptune (Ship) (Organization)
- Polly (Brigantine) (Organization)
- Rose (Brig) (Organization)
- Union (Brig) (Organization)
- Title
- SAMUEL PUTNAM PAPERS, 1718-1876, 1915-1942, undated
- Author
- Processed by O. M. Sargent and Tamara Gaydos; machine-readable finding aid created by Rajkumar Natarajan.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Phillips Library Repository