This collection contains 79 items related to the Appleton family of Massachusetts and the Foster family of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, chiefly dating from 1797-1849. Letters reflect the family affairs; social life and customs of New England society and family life. Some letters contain references to the War of 1812 and to the activities of the Unitarian Church in New England and Baltimore.

The Appleton family of Massachusetts and the Foster family of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were related through the marriage of Mary Appleton to John Welch Foster in 1824. Mary Foster's mother, Sarah (Greenleaf) Appleton Haven (died 1838) married, first in 1780, Dr. Nathaniel Walker Appleton (d. 1795), a Boston physician. The names of five of their seven children appear in the baptismal records of the First Church of Boston as Charles, George, Mary, William Greenleaf, and Sally. Following Dr. Appleton's death, Mary Foster married a first cousin of her first husband, Joseph Have of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, around 1815. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel Haven and Mehitabel (Appleton) Haven, aunt of Dr. Appleton.

1.2 Linear Feet (1 box )

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