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Guide to the Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers, 1886-1925
ECS03.05
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Title: Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers
Date (inclusive): 1886-1925
Collection Number: ECS03.05
Creator:
Waterhouse Family
Extent:
Containers: 1 manuscript box
Volume: .35 cubic feet
Volume: .35 cubic feet
Repository:
Sourisseau Academy for State and
Local History,
San Jose State University
San Jose, California 95192
Abstract: The Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers is comprised of
photographs of members of both the Waterhouse and Mills families, and two letter
books and a diary written by three members of those families.
Language:
English
Collection is open for research.
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs in the collection are the property of the
Edith C. Smith Trust. Neither the original photographs nor the digital images in
the catalog may be reproduced, published, or used on the Internet without the
expressed, written permission of either the Sourisseau Academy for State and
Local History. The credit line, "Courtesy of the Edith C. Smith Trust
Collection, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History" should accompany any
such use.
[Identification of item], Waterhouse-Mills Fmaily Papers, [Folder number], Edith
C. Smith Collection, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San Jose
State University, San Jose, California
The Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers was acquired by the Sourisseau Academy in 2005,
and is a part of the Edith C. Smith Trust Collection.
The Waterhouse and Mills families were joined together through the marriage of Leof
Mills to George B. Waterhouse in the late 1880s. The Waterhouse family was
originally from Long Island, New York, and the Mills family had been living in
Chicago, Illinois when Leof and George married. The Mills family owned property in
Illinois, Minnesota and Alabama in the late 1800s, while the Waterhouse family
primarily owned property in New York.
By the late 1890s, George and Leof Waterhouse, along with Leof’s mother and sister
Lyra, had purchased and owned an orchard in Saratoga, California. One of the
children of George and Leof was Clark Booth Waterhouse, whose photographs from a
1916 state-wide tour are owned by the Sourisseau Academy, and are in the Clark B.
Waterhouse Photograph Collection.
The following terms may be used to index this collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Abernathy, Marion
Willis
Eldorado Canyon (Lincoln
County, Nev.)
Ketchikan
(Alaska)
Mills, W.S.
Saratoga
(Calif.)
Southwest Mining
Company
Terry, Amelia
Waterhouse
Waterhouse, Edward
B.
Waterhouse, George
B.
Waterhouse, John
L.
Waterhouse, Leof
Mills
Willis, Cynthia
Waterhouse
The Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers is comprised of one diary, two letter-books, 69
photographs, and 47 empty envelopes addressed primarily to Lyra Mills, and span the
years of the 1890s to the early 1900s. Many of them items in this collection seem to
have been collected by Lyra Mills, marked with stamps stating the material was found
in “L.M.’s trunk” and dated 1932.
The diary in this collection was kept by Leof M. Waterhouse and contains sporadic
entries through the years 1901 to 1905, and primarily discusses activities, events
and people associated with the Waterhouse and Mills families. One of the two
letter-books contains correspondence written by Leof’s husband George B. Waterhouse
and the other contains correspondence written by her father, W. S. Mills, during his
last year as manager at the Eldorado Canyon mine in Lincoln County, Nevada.
One group of photographs includes pictures of Ketchikan, Alaska, where George B.
Waterhouse worked for a few years in the early 1900s. The other group of photographs
is primarily portraits of members of the Waterhouse family, mostly four siblings and
their descendents. One of the four siblings seems to have been George B.
Waterhouse’s father.
The empty envelopes are mostly addressed to Lyra Mills, span the years of the
mid-1890s to the mid-1920s.