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Newcomb Family Papers
mssNewcomb
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Newcomb family papers
Identifier/Call Number: mssNewcomb
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1769-1863
Abstract: Papers belonging to the American Newcomb and Johnson families.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Newcomb family papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Nick A. Kovach, 1953.
Daniel Newcomb (1746-1818) was born in Norton, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard in 1768. From 1769 to 1774, he headed
various schools in Massachusetts. By 1778, he settled at Keene, Cheshire County, New Hampshire and started to practice law.
He was Justice of New Hampshire state supreme court from 1796 to 1798, and a member of New Hampshire state senate in 1800
and 1805 to 1806. After his first wife Sarah Stearns died in 1796, he married Hannah Dawes (1769-1851). Henry Stearns Newcomb
(1788-1825), son of Daniel and Sarah Stearns Newcomb, joined the Navy and distinguished himself in the War of 1812. In 1814,
he married Rhoda Mardenborough. One of their sons, Henry S. Newcomb, followed in his father's footsteps and became a naval
officer. He died in October 1863, while serving with the East Gulf Blockade squadron. The other son, Charles King Newcomb
(1820-1894), was a noted diarist and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Daniel Newcomb's youngest daughter Patty (born 1796) married
Dr. Marlin Johnson (1800-1828). The couple moved to Middlebury, Ohio where Dr. Johnson started a medical practice. After his
death in 1828, Patty married David Garrett and the family moved to Cleveland. Her son from the first marriage, Henry N. Johnson,
a graduate of Western Reserve College, taught school in Louisiana from 1844 to 1849. He then returned to Cleveland and was
admitted to the bar in 1851. From 1857 to 1861, he edited the Cleveland Daily Review.
Personal and professional correspondence of Daniel Newcomb, Patty Newcomb Johnson Garrett, Marlin Johnson, Henry N. Johnson,
and other family members, including a few letters by Henry Stearns Newcomb and Charles King Newcomb. Also included is a letter
from a friend of Daniel Newcomb's describing his service at Valley Forge in April 1778, a few letters reflecting Dr. Marlin
Johnson's interests in collecting minerals, two Civil War letters from a friend of Henry N. Johnson's written from Athens,
Alabama in July of 1862, and a letter from the commander of the East Gulf Blockade Squadron, Theodorus Bailey, to the widow
of Henry S. Newcomb, Jr. with the account of his death in 1863. There are also letters by George Cheyne Shattuck, physician;
Clinton Dewitt, governor; and Henry Bond, physician. Henry Clay is an addressee of one letter.
Processed by Huntington Library staff. In 2022, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.
Arranged chronologically.
Former call number: mssNewcomb family.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Educators -- Louisiana -- Correspondence
Educators -- New England -- Correspondence
Minerals -- Collection and preservation
Women -- Northwest, Old -- Correspondence
Louisiana -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources
New England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources
Northwest, Old -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources
Ohio -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Personal narratives
Family papers -- New England
Family papers -- Northwest, Old
Letters (correspondence) -- United States
Clay, Henry, 1777-1852
Garrett, Patty Newcomb Johnson, 1796-
Johnson (Family)
Johnson, Marlin, 1800-1828
Newcomb family
Newcomb, Charles King, 1820-1894
Newcomb, Daniel, 1746-1818
Newcomb, Henry S., -1863
Newcomb, Henry S. (Henry Stearns), 1788-1825
United States. Navy -- Officers -- Correspondence