Guide to the Mellen Family Papers, 1611-1968, undated
No restrictions.
Mellen Family Papers, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine
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The Mellen papers, collected and compiled by Clara Hawkins Mellen, contain correspondence and genealogical material on various families from Maine, New England, and beyond. Included are the Clark family of Massachusetts; the Cony family of Augusta, Maine; the Harward family of Bowdoinham, Maine; the Hawkins family of Kentucky and Tennessee; the Manley family of Augusta, Maine; the Mellen family of Massachusetts; the Sewall family of Augusta, Maine; the Seymour-Ledyard and Seymour-Lincoln families of Cheltenham, England; and the Snow family of Massachusetts.
Joseph Clark came to Dedham, Massachusetts from Suffolk, England in 1640. He was one of the first thirteen settlers of Dedham. Ellen Seymour Clark married William Proctor Mellen in 1876.
The Cony family has an extensive history in the Augusta area of Maine. Daniel Cony was James Bowdoin III's land agent, and a charter Overseer of Bowdoin College. Lucy Cony Manley, daughter of Susan Hannah Cony and Joseph Homan Manley, married Chase Mellen in 1893.
The Harward family has a strong affiliation with Bowdoinham, Maine and also has a house on Swan Island, Maine, built in 1782. The progenitor of the New England Harward family, Reverend Thomas Harward, M.D., was born in Surrey, England and died in Boston. He was King's lecturer at King's Chapel in Boston. The third generation of Harwards began building ships, a business which continued into the fourth generation. The Harwards were friends of the Mellen family; Joseph and Clara Mellen bought the Swan Island property, called Harward House.
The Hawkins family included many notable figures, including William Hawkins, governor of North Carolina, Alvin Hawkins, governor of Tennessee, and Ashton William Hawkins, captain of the 2nd West Tennessee Federal Cavalry Regiment. Ashton William Hawkins' granddaughter was Clara Mellen nee Hawkins, compiler of these records.
The Manley family has strong ties to Augusta, Maine. Lucy Cony Manley married into the Mellen family in 1893.
The first Mellen in the United States was Richard, who emigrated to Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1639.
The Sewall family are long time residents of New England. Henry Sewall was the first in his family to arrive in the United States, emigrating from Great Britain to Rowley, Massachusetts in 1634. He married Jane Dummer in 1646, and the couple had three sons and five or six daughters. Judge David Sewall graduated from Cambridge College as a classmate of John Adams. President Washington appointed Sewall Judge of the District Court of Maine. Mercy Hannah Sewall married Samuel Cony in 1834; their granddaughter Lucy Cony Manley married Chase Mellen in 1893.
The Seymour family resided in Hartford, Connecticut in the 19th century. Catherine Ann Seymour (some records Charlotte Ann Seymour) married Major Nathan Clark in 1816. Daughter Ellen Seymour Clark married William Proctor Mellen in 1856.
Nicholas Snow came to the United States on the Anne in 1623. He married Constance Hopkins, who came with her father on the Mayflower in 1620. Family descendants of Snow lived in Plymouth and Barnstable counties. Descendant Sarah Snow married William Mellen, Jr., in 1809.
The collection contains print and manuscript material from the family papers and genealogical research of the compiler, Clara Hawkins Mellen. The bulk of the collection dates from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War to the mid-20th century, and consists of genealogical notes, charts, and correspondence; ancestral and family correspondence, including Civil War (Ashton Hawkins) and Revolutionary War (Henry Sewall, Jr.) correspondence; diaries, including a copy of Henry Sewall, Jr.'s revolutionary war diary; documents; and clippings. Families represented include: the Clark family of Massachusetts; the Cony family of Augusta, Maine; the Harward family of Bowdoinham, Maine; the Hawkins family of Kentucky and Tennessee; the Manley family of Augusta, Maine; the Mellen family of Massachusetts; the Sewall family of Augusta, Maine; the Seymour-Ledyard and Seymour-Lincoln families of Cheltenham, England; and the Snow family of Massachusetts.
Among the major correspondents, most in government or the military, are: Salmon Portland Chase, James Abram Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Horace Greeley, Henry Wager Halleck, Benjamin Harrison, William Heath, Andrew Johnson, Frank Andrew Munsey, Albion Keith Parris, Timothy Pickering, Whitelaw Reid, William Tecumseh Sherman, Charles Sumner, John Quincy Adams, and George Washington.
Correspondents with twenty or more letters include: Gardiner Hawkins of Greenville, S.C.; Edward Verrall Lucas, essayist and member of the staff of Punch; William Proctor Mellen, Treasury agent; Stephen Caldwell Millett, Jr. of New York; William J. Palmer of the Denver office of the Kansas Pacific Railway; Henry Sewall, Jr., (Revolutionary War captain), Henry Sewall Sr. and Jotham Sewall, his father and brother. Principal correspondents with connections to the College include: Salmon Chase, Frank Andrew Munsey, Albion Keith Parris, and Jotham Bradbury Sewall.
A chronological list of correspondence and an alphabetical list of correspondents are available.
This series contains Mellen family genealogical information, personal correspondence, legal documents, and newspaper clippings organized by Clara Hawkins Mellen and William P. Mellen. Of particular note is the correspondence between William P. Mellen and Salmon P. Chase, dated 1844-1873, and a letter (1863 Aug. 1) from Gen. U.S. Grant concerning the cotton trade. Also in the series are writings by Clara Mellen including typescripts and published material.
Arranged by family member, then alphabetically by material type.
No restrictions.
Alphabetical list of correspondents in the collection
Chronological list of correspondence in the collection
Biographical data sheets
Correspondence, 1922-1968, n.d.
Correspondence - Shoppenhangers/Hawkins
Miscellaneous personal material
Newspaper clippings re: Chase Mellen, 1939
"A. A. Milne, the New Mother Goose," 1926
"Almira's Next Cat" - 3 typescripts with holograph corrections and illustrations
"Plummeting to Spring" n.d.
"So Goes the Nation" in Harper's Bazaar, 1943
Pears Annual: 1925 (ed. by Clara Mellen)
Correspondence, 1844-1906, n.d.
Last will and testament of Ellen S. Mellen, 1881
Miscellaneous
Correspondence, 1841-1853
Genealogy - "A Record of the Mellen Family" by David Mellen, 1853 (2 copies)
Genealogy - chart and notes
Genealogy - correspondence, 1906-1940
This series contains genealogical information, correspondence, and miscellaneous material from several families featured in Clara Mellen's research. The Cony family material includes several certificates of appointment from the state of Massachusetts and a 1784 manuscript document concerning public roads in Hallowell, signed by Samuel Cony. The Harward material includes the last will and testament of William Harward of Jamaica, the notice of Thomas Harward's death and the reading of his will, a journal from the Harward Farm spanning the years 1942-1952, and a blueprint for Harward House (?) in Bowdoinham, 1939. The Hawkins family material includes a copy of the wills of Philemon Hawkins and Clara Hawkins, a copy of a letter by Patrick Henry, and typescripts of Ashton W. Hawkins' Civil War letters. The Manley family material includes a genealogical report by Fannie Spurling, Abbie S. Manley's last will and testament, Samuel Cony Manley's thesis, "Was Maine or Massachusetts the mother of New England?", 1887, and four scrapbooks made by S. C. Manley, dating 1820-1930 (bulk 1880-1930). The Sewall family material includes Elizabeth L. Sewall's 1836 album, correspondence between Henry Sewall, Jr. and his family written to and from the field during the Revolutionary War, copies of Henry Sewall, Jr.'s Revolutionary War diaries, 1776-1790, two volumes of Sewall genealogy, and assorted wills, compositions, property deeds, indentures, and receipts of payment. It also contains oversize documents signed by John Hancock, James Madison, James Monroe, and Samuel Adams.
Arranged alphabetically by family, then alphabetically by material type.
No restrictions.
Correspondence, 1847-1848
Correspondence and genealogical notes, 1819-1936, n.d.
Correspondence, 1812-1852
Document re: roads, 1784
Genealogy
Cony family papers
"Pear's Annual:1925" and Register of Pedigree of Susan Cony
Dumaresq house on Swan Island-notes
Documents: facsimiles and transcripts, 1730-1818, blueprint 1939
Farm Journal, 1942-1952
Genealogical notes
Ashton W. Hawkins Civil War letters, 1862-1864, n.d. (typescripts)
Documents: photocopies and transcripts, 1779-1947, n.d. (includes wills, Patrick Henry letter)
Genealogical notes - Clara Mellen's research, 1950s
Genealogical notes - English Hawkins and Hawkins family crest
Genealogical notes and correspondence, 1903-1945, n.d.
Genealogical notes and correspondence - Neeley-Ralston-Hawkins
Clara Standish Hawkins diploma from Vassar College
Colorado Journal, 1877 Jul - 1878 Jul
Correspondence, 1880-1930
Genealogy - chart
Genealogy by Fanny Spurling
Last will and testament, Abbie S. Manley, 1922
Scrapbooks, Samuel Cony Manley, 1820-1930
Thesis, Samuel Cony Manley, 1887
Album - Elizabeth L. Sewall, 1836
Correspondence, 1774-1844, n.d.
Correspondence transcripts, 1775-1783
Diary, Henry Sewall, 1776-1783 (copy published in the Maine Farmer)
Diary, Henry Sewall 1776-1790, (photocopy)
Documents, 1784-1825, n.d.
Genealogy
Genealogy, second volume
Genealogies - 1840, n.d.
Genealogies - biographical sketches, 1839 and 1841
Genealogies - correspondence and notes, 1935-1942
Genealogies - notes by Clara Mellen
Genealogies - notes by Henry Sewall, 1900
Genealogies - Henry Sewall letters (photocopies), notes on persons and events
Sewall family papers
Seymour-Ledyard families - correspondence, 1853-1873
Seymour-Ledyard families - ephemera
Seymour-Ledyard families - genealogical correspondence
Seymour-Lincoln family - notes
Genealogical correspondence
This series contains manuscripts, newspaper and magazine clippings, and miscellaneous correspondence and documents from the Mellen family papers. Included in this series are the schooner log of Captain Samuel Patterson, the transcript for "Blue Water Woman," by Lorena Reed and two issues of "The Cunarder" from December 1927 and March 1928. Also included are original and copied manuscript maps of the Kennebec River and environs circa 1797, the coal lands of Peach Orchard, Kentucky, circa 1850(?), locations considered for the Lincoln County Courthouse circa 1764, land distribution around Phillips, Hallowell and Farmington, Maine, in 1797, and annotated maps of the Gardiner, Maine, area circa 1938 and 1943.
Arranged alphabetically by material type.
No restrictions.
Clippings and papers
"The Cunarder," December 1927 and March 1928
Captain Samuel Patterson - transcript extracts from ship log of schooner "Syren," brig "Jane" and ship "Asia"
Manuscript documents, letters, and fragments, 1806, n.d.
Manuscript indenture on parchment, 20 Mar 1611 (damaged)
Reed, Lorena "Blue Water Women" (typescript, carbon copy)
Miscellaneous maps, area around Kennebec River, 1798, 1764
Miscellaneous maps - Peach Orchard, Kentucky (c. 1850?), and Gardiner, Maine area (1938, 1943)
Miscellaneous maps of Maine townships circa 1797
This series includes various research and personal correspondence, magazine and newspaper clippings, and epitaphs collected and organized by Clara Mellen. Also included are documents pertaining to the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Lincoln County Courthouse, and publications from the Richmond Bee circa 1880. The series includes genealogical material and miscellaneous documents associated with the Mellen family, as well as several Lincoln County families.
Arranged alphabetically.
No restrictions.
American Libraries Abroad proposal
Archival development notes
Articles concerning American libraries and industries abroad
Bailey, Jacob (1761) - notes, booklet, transcripts and photocopies of correspondence, biographical sketch
Clark account book notes, Confederate money notes
Clippings - miscellaneous
Clippings - Richmond Bee, 1862-1902
Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1944 December meeting - paper on New England coats of arms
Epitaphs
Genealogy correspondence
Genealogy notes - 3 notebooks
Genealogical and historical notes - miscellaneous
General services (Bowdoinham, Leila H. Chamberlain) - other research 1959-1960, 1965
Hallowell Academy; Fort Western; Kennebec Historical Society
Hawkins, William and Clara
Kavanaugh Family and Boston, 1722-1844
London, 1965
Massachusetts Historical Society
Maxwell Family - miscellaneous
Pejepscot County records (notes, photocopied correspondence and negatives)
Seventeenth Institute on Archival Administration, 1963
Seventeenth Institute on Archival Administration, archival material
Twycross/Goodwin correspondence - transcripts and photocopies, 1766-1802
Twycross/Goodwin/Johnson material
Twycross, Lydia chronology; draft of "The First Lydia Twycross" by Clara Mellen
Twycross, Lydia research material - family references and historical background
Twycross, Lydia research material - family references and historical background, "Mrs. Bowman's Answers"
Twycross, Robert - notes and correspondence, 1957
This series contains photographs of four sizes which are categorized by family. Families in this series include the Harward, Hawkins/Gardiner, Mellen, Sewell and Seymour-Ledyard families. Many of the photographs are portraits of family members. Also included are photographs of the Harward house in Bowdoinham, Maine and of the Gardiner house on Swan Island. Box 4 contains small and medium photographs and box 5 contains large and extra-large photographs.
Arranged alphabetically by family, then by photograph size.
No restrictions.
Small
Medium
Large
Extra-large
Small
Medium
Large
Extra-large
Small
Medium
Large
Extra-large
Large
Large
Small
Large