PERLEY FAMILY PAPERS, MSS 121 Processed by: Heather Pentland April 1984 Updated by: Catherine Robertson January 2015

Transcription

1 PERLEY FAMILY PAPERS, MSS 121 Processed by: Heather Pentland April 1984 Updated by: Catherine Robertson January 2015 Volume: 9 boxes, 1 volume 4.5 linear feet Provenance: Conservation: Copyright: Processing: The Perley Family Papers are a reorganization and integration of 10 scrapbook volumes, several diaries, and one account book. The collection is believed to have been donated to the Essex Institute by Harriet Cleaveland ( ), of Salem, Massachusetts. The bulk of the collection was removed from scrapbooks in The material was placed in acid-free folders. Requests for permission to publish material from the collection must be submitted in writing to the Manuscript Librarian in the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum. Processing was done as a directed study for graduate work in American History at Salem State College. 2015, Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum Page 1

2 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Enoch Perley ( ) was born in Boxford, Massachusetts, son of Thomas Perley ( ) and Eunice (Putnam) Perley ( ), sister of General Israel Putnam. Enoch was one of Boxford's 50 Minutemen who marched to Lexington April 15, 1775 and thence to Boston. In 1776 he moved to the Maine wilderness where he settled on land laid out in 1760 by an Essex County, Massachusetts, company. His clearing eventually became the center of the town of Bridgetown and he the leading citizen, serving as town moderator and justice of the peace. His large tracts of timberland made Enoch Perley the wealthiest man in the region where he was known as "Squire Perley." He married Anna Flint ( ) and fathered five children, among them General John Perley ( ) and Captain Thomas Perley (b. 1783). Thomas Perley ( ), born in Boxford, Massachusetts, was the son of Thomas Perley ( ) and Eunice (Putnam) Perley ( ). A tailor as a young man, he had wideranging interests and a keen historical consciousness. He kept notes on political, social, and economic matters of his day, and maintained a broad correspondence. Thomas Perley served Boxford as town clerk, selectman, assessor, surveyor of highways, and member of the school committee. He was town moderator for 21 years, trustee of public school funds for 30 years, an attorney and justice of the peace for 40 years. He was on committees to regulate prices of labor and goods, to examine the state constitution, and to review relations with Great Britain. He represented Boxford at the General Court in Ipswich and Boston, and received votes for senator, lieutenant governor, and governor of Massachusetts. Aaron Perley ( ), the last of eight children of Thomas Perley ( ) and Eunice (Putnam) Perley ( ), was born in Boxford where he served briefly as assessor and selectman, and was active in the First Congregational Church. He inherited his father's farm and became wealthy on a large stock of cattle and oxen, extensive orchards and a cider mill. He married Mehitable Wood ( ), sister of Sarah (Wood) Perley, and had ten children, including John, Thomas, Asa, and Huldah. John Perley ( ), born in Bridgeton, Maine, was the son of Enoch Perley ( ) and Anna (Flint) Perley ( ). He was a productive farmer in Cumberland County, selectman, town treasurer, school and church trustee, and justice of the peace in Bridgeton. He was a general in the Massachusetts and Maine Militias, member of the House of Representatives, and was active in reform causes. John Perley ( ) of Salem, Massachusetts, was born in Boxford, the son of Aaron Perley ( ) and Mehitable (Wood) Perley ( ). He had a shoe store at 252 Essex Street in Salem, and flower gardens widely known for beauty and abundance. Asa Perley ( ), son of Aaron Perley ( ) and Mehitable (Wood) Perley ( ), lived in the family home throughout his lifetime except for those periods when mental illness confined him to McLean Asylum in Charlestown. Thomas Perley ( ), born in Boxford, was the son of Aaron Perley ( ) and Mehitable (Wood) Perley ( ). He inherited his father's farm and was an active member exhibitor and committeeman of the Essex Agricultural Society and the Massachusetts Agricultural Society. Huldah Perley ( ), daughter of Aaron Perley ( ) and Mehitable (Wood) Perley ( ) lived at the family farm for the duration of her life. She wrote and collected poetry. William Neale Cleaveland ( ), son of Nehemiah and Experience (Lord) Cleaveland of Topsfield, married Harriet Perley ( ), daughter of Aaron and Mehitable (Wood) Perley ( ). He was a cotton manufacturer, businessman, and a selectman in Page , Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum

3 Topsfield, He moved to the Perley family farm in 1856, and thereafter administered and settled estates. James Putman Cleaveland ( ), son of William N. Cleaveland ( ) and Harriet (Perley) Cleaveland ( ), was born in Topsfield and attended school in New York City. He inherited his father's estate and became a progressive farmer. He married Anna J. Palmer, daughter of Asher and Anne Folson Palmer, but had no children. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Perley Family Papers trace the history of the Perley family of Boxford, Massachusetts, and Bridgeton, Maine, and the development of those towns from pre-revolutionary days through the mid-nineteenth century. The collection is organized into four series. Series I. Enoch Perley ( ) Papers, , contains letters written by Enoch from Bridgeton, Maine, to his brother Thomas in Boxford, Massachusetts, and the accounts on timberland in Maine owned jointly by the two men. The papers record experiences of early settlers in the Maine wilderness, the founding of Bridgeton, and development of the logging industry. Series II. Thomas Perley ( ) Papers ranging from include his legal papers, accounts, personal correspondence and memoranda as well as letters received by his wife Sarah (Wood) Perley from relatives. The bulk of the legal papers contain estates and vendues of clients. Of interest are the letters of Abigail Wheeler ( ) seeking alimony payments from her husband Rufus. Miscellaneous legal papers of the Perley family, for whom Thomas acted as attorney, can be found in Series III. Thomas memoranda, , include the 1787 certificate for election of a Massachusetts state representative, an undated copy of President John Adams deeds to the town of Quincy, an undated catalog of the books in Boxford, a copy of the 1703 mulatto and negro slave law, the 1787 inventory of Massachusetts products and goods, the 1787 list of Massachusetts exports, the 1801 act for regulation of weights and measures, toasts given at a Boxford celebration July 4, 1801, lists of Massachusetts electors, notes on a meeting of the Federal Republicans in Salem in 1806, a description of railroad construction from Boston to Albany, specifications and drawings for construction of a house, and prescriptions to cure disease in man, animals, and plants. Thomas correspondence includes copies of his letters to or on behalf of his brothers, , and his diaries, Letters to Thomas from his brother Enoch and nephew John Perley of Bridgeton, Maine, are located with their papers. Of interest in the letters to Thomas Perley are several from the Massachusetts Congressman Jeremiah Nelson reporting on political activities in Washington D.C., , and a 1823 letter from nephew Edward Ballard describing his journey from Hopkinton, New Hampshire, to New York City, and thence Elizabethtown, New Jersey. A series of letters in 1825 presents doctors diagnoses and prescriptions for the illness of Sarah (Wood) Perley. Series III. Perley Family Papers, , contains mostly personal correspondence of family members. John Perley s ( ) papers include information on real estate and financial matters in Bridgeton, Maine, and notes on the legislature in Portland. The papers of John Perley ( ) of Salem, Massachusetts, concern domestic matters. Thomas Perley ( ) papers include letters from his cousin Thomas Perley (b. 1783) regarding Maine State politics and elections, land and timber sales, and a detailed description of logging with six ox teams, December 20, Also included here are Augustus Perley s comments on the Tyler-Van Buren presidential campaign and election. Asa Perley s ( ) papers relate the experiences of a mentally-ill man, , and his time as a patient at McLean Asylum, with descriptions of the environment, 2015, Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum Page 3

4 activities, care, and staff. The poetry collection of Huldah Perley ( ) indicates the romantic sentiment of her time with pieces on ' woman, home, nature, friendship, and death. Miscellaneous family papers include correspondence among the Perley and Ballard (Hopkinton, New Hampshire) cousins, Aaron Perley s undated treatise on horsemanship, and his description, 1818, of planting an orchard in Relatives papers include the letters of William Neale Cleaveland ( ) to his son James Putnam Cleaveland ( ), a student in New York City circa 1851, and letters from James young friends in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Of interest is a document exempting James from military service in A title abstract traces the Perley- Cleaveland farm in Boxford from 1666 to The Palmer papers, , include bills from Amherst and Harvard Colleges, and copies of undergraduate examination. Series IV. Boxford Town Records, , contains military papers, church records, school records, correspondence with selectman, and notes of town meetings. The military papers contain lists of Boxford s Minutemen and foot soldiers in the Continental Army, Thomas Perley s ( ) history of raising a militia in Boxford up to 1788, and several petitions opposing conscription during the Revolutionary War. Church Records, , include membership lists, , notes of minsters salaries, 1768, notes on a singing school, 1805, and a history of the First Congregational Church, April 30, The bulk of the church records contains the documents pertaining to the schism under Reverend Briggs, , and of construction of a new meeting house in School records, , include: letters from prospective teachers; lists of scholars, , 1832, 1836, 1837; rules and regulations of school, 1796; and a list of repairs to the schoolhouse, Other school issues are located in correspondence with selectmen and notes of town meetings. Correspondence with selectmen and notes of town meetings, , includes: lists of town officers from the 1700s; petitions against assessments and for warrants; a petition against lewdness, 1794; drawings of plans for woodlots and roads, ; the town treasurer s reports, , deal primarily with costs of buildings and repairing roads, and providing for the poor. Particularly interesting is the life history of the black itinerant Mars, born in Africa, who died in Boxford in 1806, and valuation lists for tax assessments that include individual estates, the town as a whole, and other towns in Essex County. Miscellaneous correspondence, , includes a treatise by Thomas Peabody on the American Indian, February 14, 1840, and several open letters, undated to the President. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RELATED COLLECTIONS Perley, Sidney. The Dwellings of Boxford. Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, Perley, Sidney. The History of Boxford. Boston: Franklin Press, Page , Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum

5 PERLEY FAMILY PAPERS, MSS 121: Perley Family Papers SERIES LIST SERIES I. Enoch Perley ( ) Papers SERIES II. Thomas Perley ( ) Papers A. Legal Papers B. Financial Records C. Correspondence and Memoranda D. Sarah (Wood) Perley ( ) Papers SERIES III. Perley Family Papers A. John Perley ( ) Papers B. John Perley ( ) Papers C. Asa Perley ( ) Papers D. Thomas Perley ( ) Papers E. Huldah Perley ( ) Papers F. Miscellaneous Perley Family G. Relatives' Papers SERIES IV. Boxford Town Records SERIES I. Enoch Perley ( ) Papers CONTENTS LIST Box Folder Contents Date 1 1 Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Accounts Accounts SERIES II. Thomas Perley ( ) Papers A. Legal Papers 2 1 Miscellaneous legal papers Miscellaneous legal papers Miscellaneous legal papers Miscellaneous legal papers Client papers: Abigail Wheeler Client papers: Samuel Brown , Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum Page 5

6 A. Legal Papers (continued) Box Folder Contents Date 2 7 Client papers: Samuel Brown Client papers: John Smith Client papers: Nathan Wood Client papers: William Hale Miscellaneous wills Legal accounts B. Financial Records Volume 1 Thomas Perley, tailor, account book Personal accounts Personal accounts Personal accounts Personal accounts Personal accounts Personal accounts C. Correspondence and Memoranda 4 1 Memoranda and diaries Memoranda and diaries Letters from Thomas Perley Letters from Thomas Perley Letters from Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley D. Sarah (Wood) Perley ( ) Papers 5 1 Letters to and from relatives Letters from relatives Letters from relatives Page , Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum

7 SERIES III. Perley Family Papers MSS 121: Perley Family Papers A. John Perley ( ) Papers Box Folder Contents Date 5 4 Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley B. John Perley ( ) Papers 5 8 Letters to Sarah (Wood) Perley Letters to Sarah (Wood) Perley C. Thomas Perley ( ) Papers 6 1 Letters from Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Letters to Thomas Perley Diary Accounts D. Asa Perley ( ) Papers 6 6 Letters to relatives E. Huldah Perley ( ) Papers 6 7 Collection of poetry undated F. Miscellaneous Perley Family Papers 7 1 Correspondence and memoranda Accounts Legal papers Perley family wills G. Relatives Papers 7 5 William Neale Cleaveland ( ) papers James Putnam Cleaveland ( ) papers Miscellaneous Palmer family papers SERIES IV. Boxford Town Records 8 1 Boxford military records , Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum Page 7

8 2 Boxford church records Boxford church records Boxford church records Boxford church records Boxford school records Boxford selectman records: correspondence, notes of town meetings Boxford selectman records: correspondence, notes of town meetings Boxford selectman records: correspondence, notes of town meetings Boxford selectman records: correspondence, notes of town meetings Boxford selectman records: correspondence, notes of town meetings Boxford tax records Boxford tax records Boxford tax records Boxford tax records Boxford tax records Miscellaneous correspondence Page , Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum