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© 1988 Radcliffe College
Call No.: MC 385
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: SEWALL FAMILY
Title: Papers, 1837-1904, n.y., n.d
Quantity: 1 file box
Abstract: Correspondence of the Sewall family of Chesterville, Maine.
The collection consists mainly of the correspondence of Abby (Morgridge) Sewall of Chesterville, Me., her husband Otis C. Sewall, and their daughter, Augusta. Little is known about the Sewall family. It is clear from these letters that OCS was appointed postmaster of Chesterville in 1845, that he acted as business agent for people away from the town, and that he had brothers who went west. AMS came from a large family in nearby Litchfield; she and some of her sisters had been schoolteachers. The Morgridge family was also scattered. A sister, Serena M. Brown, lived in New Harmony, Indiana.The Sewall children (Augusta, Eugene, and Howard) were educated locally and at nearby Kents Hill School. Augusta became a teacher and taught in Maine, New Jersey, and New York. She married Stephen Hawes in about 1866; they lived in Chelsea, Mass.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and Brooklyn, N.Y. Eugene, a carpenter and lumberman, worked in several New England towns. He married Augusta Hutchins in 1857; they lived near his parents and, in about 1866, had a son, Willis. According to a descendant, Eugene had another son, Eugene (ca.1890-1984).According to the same descendant, Howard (born 1835) was in the lumber and real estate business and a builder, and was married twice. His second wife was Carrie (Weston), a Vassar graduate; they had a son, Dr. Weston Fullerton Sewall (1904-1986).
The collection consists mainly of correspondence, with a few insurance receipts. Most letters are originals. Original letters and envelopes represented here by photocopies are in the possession of the donor. The largest groups of letters are those from AMS to her sister Serena Brown, and those from Augusta Sewall to her mother. The early letters to Serena are signed "OCS" but were obviously written by AMS; in 1852 she began to sign her own name. Family and business letters to OCS are included, and letters from friends and family to AMS and Augusta.The Sewalls were apparently a close-knit family and these letters provide information about them and their daily lives, education, and interests. Subjects addressed include spiritualism, religion and preachers, teaching and teachers, death, loneliness, the Civil War, clothes, business, travel, dancing school, widows, and health.The correspondence is arranged in four groups: letters to OCS, correspondence of AMS, correspondence of Augusta S., and letters from others to others. Within each group the arrangement is chronological.