Gannett, Caleb, 1745-1818. Papers of Caleb Gannett, 1768-1820: an inventory

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Harvard University Archives
Call No.: HUG 1411
Creator: Gannett, Caleb, 1748-1818
Title: Papers of Caleb Gannett, 1768-1820
Quantity: .26 cubic feet (1 half-legal document box)
Abstract: The papers of Caleb Gannett (1745-1818; Harvard AB 1763), Harvard College Steward from 1779 to 1818, consist of a small assortment of miscellaneous personal records including a personal account notebook used between 1768 and 1777, two pieces of correspondence, miscellaneous financial documents, and records created in the settlement of Gannett's estate. Notably, the collection includes a 1775 letter written by Gannett discussing his smallpox inoculation and news of the Revolutionary War, and detailed inventories and appraisals of Gannett's estate including listings of his furniture and personal library.
Note: This document last updated 2013 April 29.

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Related Materials

In the Harvard University Archives

• Harvard University. Early records of the Steward, 1650-1800.
• Harvard University. Steward. Records of the Steward, 1801-1875.

In the Houghton Library

• Diaries of Caleb Gannett, 1774-1782 (MS Am 516, 516.2, and 516.3).
• Gannett, Caleb. A meteorological register kept at Cambridge, 1782-1783 in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Meteorological records.
• Lewis Gannett Papers. (MS Am 1888-1888.4).

In the Massachusetts Historical Society

• Mellen family papers, 1739-1883.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged in five series:

• Series I: Notebook, 1768-1777
• Series II: Correspondence, ca. 1767-1775
• Series III: Financial documents, 1791-1801
• Series IV: Estate papers, 1808-1820
• Series V: Epitaphs, undated

Biographical Note

Caleb Gannett (1745-1818), Harvard College Steward from 1779 to 1818, was born August 22, 1745 in Bridgewater, Mass. He received an AB from Harvard in 1763 and an AM in 1766. Gannett was a member of the Pembroke Church and studied theology with Ebenezer Gay (Harvard AB 1714). In June 1768, Gannett traveled to Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, and served as a minister there until September 1771. He returned briefly to Massachusetts in October 1768 to be ordained as the Cumberland minister by Gay. In 1773, the Harvard Corporation appointed Gannett a tutor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. In May 1775, he left Harvard to be inoculated for smallpox and then returned to aid the College in its relocation to Concord, Mass due to the Revolutionary War. During the War, Gannett served regularly as a preacher in nearby towns. In 1779, the Corporation asked Gannett to succeed Jonathan Hastings as the College Steward; he accepted and remained in the position until his death in 1818.

On January 17, 1781, Gannett married Katherine Wendell, and after her death on July 25, 1798, he married Ruth Stiles, the daughter of Yale President Ezra Stiles, on January 19, 1800. Gannett was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex County in 1804, and was involved in many local civic organizations; he was a founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Friendly Fire Society, and the Humane Society of Cambridge. His wife Ruth died in June 1808, and Gannett died on April 25, 1818. Gannett had five children: John Mico (Harvard AB 1802), Katharine Brattle Bascomb, Thomas Brattle (Harvard AB 1809), Elizabeth Latham Andrews, and Ezra Stiles (Harvard AB 1820).

References

• Shipton, Clifford K. Biographical Sketches of those who attended Harvard College in the classes of 1761-1763. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1970.

Scope and Content

The papers of Caleb Gannett contain a small assortment of miscellaneous personal records including estate documents. The collection is comprised of a personal accounting notebook used by Gannett between 1768 and 1777; two pieces of correspondence consisting of an undated letter from Thankful Smith to her sister Mary Dunster, and a 1775 letter written by Gannett to Harvard Professor Edward Wigglesworth discussing Gannett's smallpox inoculation and news of the Revolutionary War; and three miscellaneous financial documents. Additional records include estate papers created in the process of appraising and auctioning Gannett's estate, including lists of his furniture and personal library; and two handwritten, undated epitaphs written in remembrance of Gannett.

The collection does not include records related to his work at Harvard College.

Series Descriptions and Item List

• Series: I. Notebook, 1768-1777 .01 cubic feet (1 folder)
  Scope and Content: This series contains one notebook kept by Caleb Gannett between 1768 and 1777. Gannett used the notebook as a ledger for recording personal expenses and ministerial fees.
  • Preaching Book, 1768-1777 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 1
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: Small soft-cover notebook containing handwritten entries made by Caleb Gannett between 1768 and 1777. The notebook consists of a one-page "An Account of my eating at the Steward's from August 7th, 1772" consisting of a short list kept between August 7 and September 21, 1772 of coffee, milk, tea, and meat consumed; twenty-two pages used as an accounting ledger for personal expenses between 1769 and 1775; and ten pages listing preaching fees received from 1768 to 1777. The entries listing ministerial fees generally follow the format: "April 3. Mr. Eliot to preaching at S. Cambridge 6..15..0."

    Gannett's ledger lists entries for purchases, board, and services acquired from William Allan, Joseph Daniels, Jonathan Hastings, Mrs. Hasey, William Hon, Hezekiah King, James Law, Mr. Manning, Mr. Marsh, Mehatabel Prentice, Samuel Raymond, Nathaniel Reynolds, John Spring, John Steward, Samuel Wethered, and Joshua Winslow.

• Series: III. Correspondence, ca. 1767-1775 .02 cubic feet (2 folders)
  Scope and Content: This series contains two pieces of correspondence: a letter from Thankful Smith of Pembroke, Mass. to her sister Mary Dunster of Harwick, Mass., likely written in the late 1760s, and a letter from Gannett to Harvard Professor Edward Wigglesworth, written in 1775, discussing Gannett's case of smallpox and events of the Revolutionary War.
  • [Letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster, ca. 1767] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 2
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: Handwritten one-page undated letter from Thankful Smith to Mary Dunster of Harwick, Mass. The letter is witnessed by Judith Smith, Elisha Parker, and Caleb Gannett. The short letter is playful and provides cryptic details about Smith's life. Though the letter is closed, "I remain your dutiful Parent," the author appears to be Thankful Smith writing to her sister Mary Dunster.
    Historical Note: Thankful Smith (b. 1749) and Mary Smith Dunster (1739-1796) were the daughters of Reverend Thomas Smith (Harvard AB 1725) and his wife Judith Smith of Pembroke, Mass. Mary married Rev. Isaiah Dunster (1720-1791; Harvard AB 1741) in November 1766. Caleb Gannett, before leaving for Nova Scotia in June 1768, was a member of the Pembroke church, suggesting the letter was written at some point between Mary's marriage in 1766 and his departure from Pembroke in 1768.
  • [Letter from Caleb Gannett to Edward Wigglesworth], 1775 May 2 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 3
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: Handwritten letter from Caleb Gannett to Professor Edward Wigglesworth written in "Saybrook" on May 2, 1775. In the letter Gannett mentions that he "took the small-pox" and describes it briefly and requests Wigglesworth to investigate the state of his possessions left behind at the College. Gannett references the College being used as a barracks and discusses events in the Revolutionary War. The verso includes the note: "Letters from C. G. to Prof. Wigglesworth given me by Rev. Dr. Andrews Apr. 1841."
    Historical Note: Edward Wigglesworth (1731/2-1794), the second Hollis Professor of Theology at Harvard, was the son of Harvard Professor Edward Wigglesworth (Harvard AB 1710). From Harvard he received an AB in 1749 and an AM in 1751, and also received an MA from Yale in 1752. Wigglesworth worked as a merchant and as a schoolmaster before accepting a tutorship at Harvard in 1764. On October 16, 1765 he became the second Hollis Professor of Theology following the death of his father who had previously held the professorship. Wigglesworth was elected to the Harvard Corporation in 1779 and served as acting president of the College from 1780-1781. Wigglesworth resigned from Harvard on June 31, 1790 and died on June 17, 1794.

• Series: III. Financial documents, 1791-1801 .03 cubic feet (3 folders)
  Scope and Content: This series contains three documents: two receipts from 1791 and 1782 generated by the Commissioner of Loans in the State of Massachusetts relating to certificates of funded debt purchased by Caleb Gannett, and an 1801 receipt of subscription funds entrusted to Gannett to pay for a burial monument to Harvard Tutor John Wadsworth.
  • [Receipt for certificates of funded debt], 1791 January 28 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 4
    Acquisition Information: Received May 8, 1882 from Jeremiah Colburn.
    Scope and Content: Printed Commissioner's Office receipt form acknowledging three certificates of funded debt received by Caleb Gannett from Nathaniel Appleton, Commissioner of Loans in the State of Massachusetts. The receipt, No. 712, is signed by Gannett and dated January 28, 1791.
    Historical Note: After the Revolutionary War, the federal government offered certificates of federal debt to help pay the cost of the war. Commissioners for each state issued certificates for which subscribers received stock issue and interest starting in 1791. Nathaniel Appleton (Harvard AB 1749) served as the Continental loan officer for the state of Massachusetts from 1786 to 1792.
    Related Material: United States Continental Loan Office, Massachusetts receipts, Massachusetts Historical Society.
  • [Receipt issued for interest on stock], 1792 February 2 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 5
    Acquisition Information: Originally filed in the Collected Papers of the Bursar (UAI 70.6). Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: Printed Commissioner's Office receipt form acknowledging the disbursement of money to Caleb Gannett from Nathaniel Appleton, Commissioner of Loans in the State of Massachusetts, for interest on stock in the funds of the United States. The receipt, No. 484, is signed by Gannett and dated February 2, 1792.
  • Subscription for John Wadsworth Monument, 1801 October 10 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 6
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: Handwritten document acknowledging the receipt of money by Caleb Gannett from a subscription drive to erect a monument for Harvard tutor John Wadsworth who died in 1777 and was buried in the Cambridge burying ground. The document is signed by fourteen individuals and lists their contributions.
    Historical Note: John Wadsworth (1739-1777), a Harvard tutor, received an AB from Harvard in 1762 and an AM in 1765. In July 1770, he became a tutor in Logic and Metaphysics at Harvard College, and was elected to the Corporation in 1774. He died of smallpox on July 12, 1777 in Newton, Mass. Wadsworth's body was initially buried in Waltham, Mass., but two years later Gannett had it removed to the Cambridge burying ground; money collected in 1779 for a monument was made worthless by war-time inflation. In 1801, money was successfully raised and a gravestone was purchased for Wadsworth.

• Series: IV. Estate papers, 1808-1820 .14 cubic feet (14 folders)
  Acquisition Information: The documents in this series were donated by Michael Gannett in 1975. The items were formerly owned by Ezra Stiles Gannett (Harvard AB 1820).
  Scope and Content: This series contains documents created during the inventorying and sale of Caleb Gannett's estate after his death in 1818, by estate executor Thomas B. Gannett and appraisers William Hilliard, James P. Chaplin, and Royal Morse. The papers also include an 1808 Cambridge land deed between William Porter and Oliver Hildrith.
  Historical Note: Thomas Brattle Gannett (1789-1851), the second son of Caleb and Katherine Gannett, received an AB from Harvard in 1809 and was the minister of the Cambridge Port Parish from 1814 until 1841. He served as the executor of his father's estate.
  • [Deed between William Porter and Oliver Hildrith], 1808 March 31 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 7
    Scope and Content: Printed land deed between grantor William Porter, a brick-layer, and grantee Oliver Hildrith, a cordwainer, for a lot of land on Winsor street in Cambridge.
  • Copy of Caleb Gannett's will, 1817 December 16 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 8
    Scope and Content: Handwritten copy of the will of Caleb Gannett.
  • [Court appointment to inventory the Gannett estate], 1818 April 29 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 9
    Scope and Content: A one-page printed Middlesex County Court of Probate form appointing and authorizing William Hilliard, James P. Chaplin, and Royal Morse to inventory of the estate of Caleb Gannett.
  • An inventory of all of the estate of Caleb Gannett late of Cambridge in the county of Middlesex, Esquire, deceased, appraised upon oath by us the subscribers, duly appointed to that service by the Hon. James Prescott Esq. Judge of Probate & wills, in said county of Middlesex, viz., 1818 May 21 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 10
    Scope and Content: Eight-page handwritten inventory and appraisal of Caleb Gannett's real estate and personal estate by William Hilliard, James R. Chaplin, and Royal Morse with an attached certification of the Middlesex County Court of Probate signed May 26, 1818.
  • List of furniture, [1818] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 11
    Scope and Content: Long paper notebook with a handwritten draft of the inventory of Gannett's furniture.
  • List of books, [1818] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 12
    Scope and Content: Ten-page handwritten list of books presumably from Gannett's personal library. Some books have prices listed in pencil.
  • Sales at auction of property of the late Caleb Gannett Esq. of Cambridge, 1818 HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 13
    Scope and Content: Eleven-page handwritten list of items sold from the estate of Caleb Gannett, dated May 29, 1818. Items are arranged by house location (such as "in the kitchen") and entries consist of the item name, the purchaser, and the price. The list includes a substantial section of "books in Office sold June 3, 1818." The verso of the last page includes the note: "Account of Sales at auction of the personal estate of C. Gannett- copied from auctioneer's book."
  • First Account of Administration on C. Gannett's Estate & Papers relating to the same, [1818] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 14
    Scope and Content: Long paper notebook with a handwritten inventory of Gannett's estate arranged by house location with price estimates. The inventory appears to correspond with the "Sales at auction" document. The verso of the last page contains the note: "Inventory of Personal Estate (copy)."
  • The Account of Thomas B. Gannett Executor of the last will & testament of Caleb Gannett late of Cambridge Esqr. deceased, 1819 February HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 15
    Scope and Content: Four-page handwritten account statement of the estate of Caleb Gannett with the note on the verso: "This account of administration was rendered the Judge, but was declared by him to be incorrect-- Feb 1819."
  • Account of articles included in auction sales--not inventoried, [1820 February] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 16
    Scope and Content: One-page handwritten list of items sold at auction but not appraised.
  • Papers relating to the first account of adminis'n, [1820 February] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 17
    Scope and Content: Five loose pages of handwritten lists of personal property and calculations.
  • Minutes explaining difference between first act. rendered Judge and charges to that date entered on Estate Book, 1820 February HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 18
    Scope and Content: Two pages with calculations and notes relating to the differences between the Estate Book and the account rendered by the Judge of Probate.
  • The first account of Thomas B. Gannett Executor of the last will & testament of Caleb Gannett late of Cambridge Esq. deceased, 1820 February HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 19
    Scope and Content: Four-page handwritten account statement with the note on the verso: "Thomas B. Gannett's first account as executor to C. Gannett February 1820 copy."
  • The first account of Thomas B. Gannett Executor of the last will & testament of Caleb Gannett late of Cambridge Esq. deceased, [1820] HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 20
    Scope and Content: One-page handwritten accounting document with the note on the verso: "changes of from which items in 1st account of administration are formed." The document is undated.

• Series: V. Epitaphs, undated .02 cubic feet (2 folders)
  Scope and Content: This series contains two handwritten undated epitaphs for Caleb Gannett after his death in 1818.
  • An Epitaph, undated HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 21
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: One-page handwritten epitaph to Caleb Gannett beginning" Here lies within the circumference of this turf, the segment of Caleb Gannett a man of acute parts..." A handwritten note at the bottom of the document reads: "Written by a classmate of Judge Davis when in College, & when C.G. was particular tutor. - Given to me by Mr. White, June 22, 1847."
  • Lines in remembrance of Mr. Gannett--a tribute sincere, but unworthy of his character, undated HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 22
    Acquisition Information: Donated by Michael R. Gannett in 1981.
    Scope and Content: One-page handwritten remembrance written by "B. Kent," beginning "Hark, tis a voice on high--'Come to thy rest..."

Superseded call numbers

The call number for all material in the papers of Caleb Gannett is now HUG 1411. To assist researchers in identifying materials noted in previous citations, the list below provides references from obsolete call numbers to new box and folder numbers. Please use the current call number, HUG 1411, with the appropriate box and folder number in place of the superseded call number when citing material from this collection.

Formerly HUG 1411.10 Papers of Caleb Gannett (including his preaching book)

• See HUG 1411 Box 1, Folders 1-6 and 21-22

Formerly HUG 1411.8 Caleb Gannett's estate file

• See HUG 1411 Box 1, Folders 7-20

Formerly UAI 70.6 1791

• See HUG 1411 Box 1, Folder 5 [Disbursement receipt]