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Saltonstall Family Papers, 1772-1889, undated

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 71

Scope and Content Note

The Saltonstall Family Papers include daybooks, ledgers, account books, correspondence, and genealogical records created by members of the Saltonstall family over the span of 90 years. The collection has been arranged into three series.

Series I. Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall (1746-1815) Business Records includes daybooks, a ledger, and correspondence created by Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall throughout his career as a physician in Massachusetts. The daybooks span from 1772 to 1815 and document the daily appointments Dr. Saltonstall scheduled and the medicines he prescribed. The ledger, correspondence, and accounts record the financials of his practice. This material has been arranged chronologically within the series.

Series II. Nathaniel Saltonstall (1784-1838) Papers includes an account book, ledger, cash book and correspondence created by Nathaniel Saltonstall. Subseries A. Business Records incorporates records created by Saltonstall as a merchant in Salem, Massachusetts. Subseries B. Personal Papers includes correspondence from Saltonstall to his father and after his father's death in 1815, to his mother and siblings. This material is arranged chronologically within the two subseries.

Series III. William Gurdon Saltonstall (1831-1899) Papersinclude correspondence, diaries, journals, a scrapbook, a passport, and a letter book created by William G. Saltonstall. The diaries chronicle Saltonstall's travels around Europe and the beginning of the Civil War. Early correspondence includes letters written to Saltonstall from family and friends while later correspondence and the letter book details Saltonstall's experience in the U. S. Navy aboard the U. S. S. Commodore Hull during the Civil War. The passport records his travels, predominantly in Europe, from 1855 and 1856. The scrapbook includes original letters from Saltonstall's career in the United States Navy, along with a short autobiographical account of his life and newspaper clippings recounting Civil War battles.

Series IV. Saltonstall Family Papers includes correspondence and genealogical records created by members of the Saltonstall Family. The majority of the records concern the estate of Caroline Saunders Saltonstall. Additional genealogies document the Cabot and Orne families.

Dates

  • Creation: 1772-1889, undated

Creator

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Biographical Sketch

Nathaniel Saltonstall (1746-1815) was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts to Judge Richard Saltonstall (1703-1756) and Mary Cooke Saltonstall (1723-1804) on February 10, 1746. Saltonstall graduated from Harvard College in 1766 and became a physician, practicing in Haverhill, Bradford, Andover and Amesbury, Massachusetts. On November 21, 1780, he married Anna White (1752-1841), daughter of Samuel White and Sarah Brown White of Haverhill, Massachusetts and together they had seven children: Mary Cooke Saltonstall (1781-1817); Leverett Saltonstall (1783-1845); Nathaniel Saltonstall (1784-1838); Anna Saltonstall (1787-1865); Sarah Saltonstall (1790-1870); Richard Saltonstall (1794-1834), and Matilda Saltonstall (1796-1831). He died on May 15, 1815.

Nathaniel Saltonstall (1784-1838) was born on October 1, 1784 to Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall (1746-1815) and Anna White Saltonstall (1752-1841). His brother was Leverett Saltonstall (1783-1845), a future Salem, Massachusetts attorney, mayor, and Congressman. Nathaniel Saltonstall was a merchant in Baltimore, Maryland for twelve years before returning to Salem. On November 30, 1820, in Salem, he married Caroline Sanders (1793-1882), daughter of Thomas Sanders of Salem and sister of his brother Leverett's wife Mary Elizabeth. Together the couple had four children: Catherine Pickman Saltonstall (1823-1852); Elizabeth Sanders Saltonstall (1825-1887); Henry Saltonstall (1828-1894); and William Gurdon Saltonstall (1831-1889). He died on October 19, 1838.

William Gurdon Saltonstall (1831-1899) was born on December 22, 1831 in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Saltonstall (1784-1838) and Caroline Sanders (1793-1882). An East India merchant by profession, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. He was appointed acting master of the U. S. S. Commodore Hull, a ship involved in the North Atlantic blockade of the Confederacy, on June 8, 1861 and was steadily promoted to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant on May 5, 1863 and Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Commander on May 20, 1863. He was mustered out of service on October 5, 1865 and returned to Salem. On December 18, 1867, he married Josephine Rose Lee (1842-1889) and the couple had four children: Robert Saltonstall (1870-1941); Lucy Sanders Saltonstall (b. 1871); John Lee Saltonstall (1878-1959); and Rosamund Saltonstall (b. 1881). He died in 1899 in Domo D'Ossola, Italy.

Extent

3.5 linear feet (5 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Saltonstall Family Papers include daybooks, ledgers, account books, correspondence, and genealogical records created by members of the Saltonstall family over the span of 90 years.

Series List

SERIES I. Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall (1746-1815) Business Records

SERIES II. Nathaniel Saltonstall (1784-1838) Papers

  • A. Business Records
  • B. Personal Papers
SERIES III. William Gurdon Saltonstall (1831-1899) Papers

SERIES IV. Saltonstall Family Papers

Physical Location

Phillips Library Stacks

Provenance

This material was donated by various sources. The William G. Saltonstall diaries were donated by John Lee Saltonstall on November 15, 1949. The volumes in Series II were acquired from D. R. Nelson & Co. on November 27, 1973. Two letters from W. G. Saltonstall located in Series III were donated by John S. Belmont on March 23, 1985 (acc. 84037). Additional correspondence in Series III was donated by Letitia Howe on January 4, 1985 (acc. 84032). The W. G. Saltonstall scrapbook, passport, and journals from 1858 and 1859 were a gift of John S. Belmont in 1989 (acc. 89067). Some of the material in this collection was originally arranged as Fam. Mss. 907 and Fam. Mss. 908.

Bibliography and Related Collections

Saltonstall, Leverett. Ancestry and descendants of Sir Richard Saltonstall: first Associate of the Massachusetts Bay colony and patentee of Connecticut. Boston, Mass: The Riverside Press, 1897.

Massachusetts Historical Society. Saltonstalls of New England: 350 years in public life. Boston, Mass: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1978.

Leverett Saltonstall Papers, 1715-1845, MSS 243

Mary Saltonstall Parker Papers, 1763-1985, MSS 388

Processing Information

Collection processed and cataloged by Halley Grogan, December 2012.

Title
SALTONSTALL FAMILY PAPERS, 1772-1870, undated
Author
Inventory prepared by Halley Grogan
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Processing of this collection was funded by a grant from the NHPRC (National Historical Publications and Records Commission).

Repository Details

Part of the Phillips Library Repository

Contact:
Peabody Essex Museum
306 Newburyport Turnpike
Rowley MA 01969 USA