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McArthur Family Papers,
1790-1890
16
linear feet.
Catalog Number:
M116
Series List:
- Correspondence, 1780-1949, n.d., 5 linear feet
- Military Material, 1809-1866, n.d., 1.25 linear feet
- Legal Material, 1819-1881, n.d., 1.25 linear feet
- Financial Material, 1821-1870, n.d., 0.5 linear feet
- Ephemera and Miscellaneous Material, 1799-1905, n.d., 0.75 linear feet
- Diaries and Journals, 1794-1886, n.d., 0.75 linear feet
- Sermons, 1800-1836, n.d., 0.5 linear feet
- Pension Material, 1806-1894, n.d., 5 linear feet
- Photographs, 1863-1882, n.d., 1 linear foot
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Agency History / Biographical Note:
The collection centers on two generations of the McArthur family of
Limington, Maine. Arthur McArthur, Sr., was born January 14,
1790, the ninth of eleven children of John McArthur (1745-1816), a native
of Perth, Scotland, and the third settler of the town of Limington,
and Mary Miller McArthur (1753-1835). McArthur, Sr., was graduated from
Bowdoin College in 1810 after prepatory study at Fryeburg Academy. He
completed his legal studies with Cyrus King, half-brother of the first
governor of Maine, at Saco in 1815. McArthur, Sr., was a farmer in Limington
(1817-1874) and U.S. pension agent for the State of Maine. In 1829,
he married Sarah Prince Miltimore (1805-1881), daughter of the Rev.
William Miltimore of Falmouth, Maine. They had six children: Arthur,
Jr., (1830-1862), William (1832-1917), Catharine (1834-1864), Duncan
(1837-1854), Charles (1839-1894), and Malcolm (1841-1886). McArthur,
Sr., died on November 29, 1874.
Arthur, Jr.,
(Bowdoin 1850) taught school and travelled in the South and Midwest before
settling in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, as a teacher and lawyer in 1859. He
enlisted in the Confederate Army, served as a major in the 6th Louisiana, and
was killed in battle at Winchester, Virginia, on May 25,
1862. William(Bowdoin 1853) served with the 8th Maine and rose to
the rank of Brevet Brigadier General. Although he was a lawyer like his
father, he never actively practiced law. William succeeded his father as
pension agent, served as a member of the Maine House (1867) and Senate
(1869), was postmaster of Limington (1866-1907), and ran the family farm
until his death in 1917. Catharine, the only daughter, was graduated
from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1853 and taught school in Maine and Flint,
Michigan (1860-1863). She died in 1864 soon after taking a position at Gorham
Academy. Duncan went to sea at 15 on board the ship "A.B. Thompson"
and drowned after falling overboard during a violent storm on the return
voyage from Havre, France, on March 1, 1854. Charles, a Bowdoin
non-graduate (Class of 1863) travelled to California as a young man. He later
married and practiced law in Kansas and Missouri. Malcolm, the
youngest, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in
1865, was captain of the 17th Infantry, United States Army, and spent his
career as a frontier officer in the Dakota and Montana territories. His
troops, under the command of Major Reno, were among the first on the scene of
the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Scope and Content:
This collection contains correspondence (1780-1949 and undated),
including Civil War letters from Arthur, Jr., and William; family
documents and diaries; Civil War military records, mostly containing the
muster rolls, payrolls, courts martial adjutant reports and other
material relating to the 8th Maine (ca. 500 items); student records of
Malcolm during his time at West Point; and the pension records kept by
Arthur, Sr., and William. Miscellaneous records include Revolutionary
War rosters; lists of bounty lands; War of 1812 rosters, including the
list of officers and crew of the ship "U.S. Adams," which was blown up
at Hampden, Maine, on September 3, 1814. Also included are the Rev.
William Miltimore's sermons (1800-1836 and undated); family financial
records; miscellaneous legal papers and documents; court dockets
(1854-1881); photographs, including a series of stereographs of
earthquake damage in Jamaica; and ephemera. The principal family
correspondents are: Arthur, Sr., his wife Sarah Miltimore McArthur, and
their six children Arthur, Jr., William, Catharine, Duncan, Charles, and
Malcolm.The
McArthurs of Limington, Maine ... by Elizabeth Ring cites many of
the collection's letters.
Finding Aid/Index:
Alphabetical card index of correspondents with associated numbered
chronological list available. The index excludes the majority of the
outgoing correspondence from Arthur McArthur, Sr., his wife and children.
Cite as:
McArthur Family Papers, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections
& Archives, Bowdoin College Library.
Access Restrictions:
None.
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