J. W. Gunnison Papers, 1832-1926, bulk 1832-1896

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Summary

Creators:
Gunnison, J. W. (John Williams), 1812-1853.
Abstract:
This collection contains journals of United States Army topographical engineer J. W. Gunnison (1812-1853), kept on expeditions between 1840-1853, including one with descriptions of life among the Mormons in Utah; correspondence during the American Civil War period from family in the South; and letters, sketchbooks, and journals of nephew Charles Andrew Gunnison (1861-1897) in Europe and Japan in the 1880s.
Extent:
83 pieces in 4 boxes + 2 volumes
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of letters, manuscripts (including 9 journals and 2 sketch books) and photographs arranged in three separate series. The first series concerns J. W. Gunnison himself: his journal kept in Florida and Georgia in 1840, letters from Wisconsin Territory (1841), the Stansbury Expedition (1849-1850) with descriptions of life among the Mormons, the expedition Gunnison led from St. Louis to Utah (1853), and the official communications relating to his death. The second group contains letters written during the Civil War period from his wife’s family in the South. The third group consists of letters, sketchbooks, and journals of his nephew, Charles Andrew Gunnison (1861-1897), who traveled in Europe and Japan with San Francisco businessman Timothy Hopkins, adopted son of Mrs. Mark Hopkins.

Some interesting or important items include: Martha Delony Gunnison’s letter to Alice Mary Boothe and Mary Boothe (1854, Feb. 19) contains a copy of a letter by Brigham Young giving his account of the death of J. W. Gunnison. The letter by Mrs. William Gaston Delony to Maria Osborne Delony (1865, July 4) gives an account of life in Georgia just after the Civil War. Also, in Box 2 is a genealogical tree of the Gunnison-Briard families (c.1862-1892) (HM 42638). This family record includes photographs and is very old (the last page has writing dated 1666. Later pages with photographs and clippings have been inserted. There are also three daguerreotype and ambrotype photographs in their cases. Also includes a facsimile of Booth, Andrew G. Notes on Biography of Capt. John W. Gunnison ... 1860 (FAC 706).

Biographical / historical:

John Williams Gunnison (1812-1853), the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Williams Gunnison, was born in Goshen, New Hampshire, in 1812. He attended Hopkinton Academy in New Hampshire, then taught school before he entered the U.S. Military Academy in 1833. Gunnison graduated from West Point in 1837, second in his class of 50. During the winter of 1837-1838, Lt. Gunnison served as an ordnance officer in the Seminole War in Florida, and in the spring of 1838 he aided in the transfer of the Cherokees to Indian Territory. He then returned to the Florida War, having been transferred to the Corps of Topographical Engineers. From 1840 to 1849 Gunnison was engaged in survey work in Georgia and in the Wisconsin-Michigan Lake region. While in Georgia, he married Martha A. Delony in 1841.

Gunnison had been appointed a first lieutenant in 1846, and was next assigned to accompany Captain Howard Stansbury’s expedition in 1849-1850 to map and survey the Great Salt Lake. While in Salt Lake, Gunnison wrote a book about the Mormons, The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints, in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, which was published in 1852. From 1851 to 1853, he was in Washington, D.C., supervising the publication of the Stansbury Expedition report, after which he engaged in further survey work of the Northwestern Lakes.

Gunnison was promoted to Captain in 1853 and was chosen to lead a Government survey for a Central Pacific Railroad route. The expedition completed a reconnaissance through the mountains of Colorado and Utah, and reached the valley of the Sevier River in Utah in October 1853. On October 26, 1853, Gunnison and several members of his party, including the artist Richard Kern, were ambushed by Pah Vant Indians near Sevier Lake and were killed.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Genevieve D. O'Neill, 1952; purchased from Alma Gunnison, March 23, 1954; Mrs. Doris C. Newman, September 18, 1979; and gift of Barbara G. Anderson, June 27, 1991.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following order:

  • Box 1: Correspondence and manuscripts (1832-1896, 1926)
  • Box 2: Genealogical Tree, Photographs in cases, Clippings, Typewritten Transcripts of Correspondence in Box 1
  • Box 3: Charles Andrew Gunnison. Journals, 1881-1894
  • Box 4: Charles Andrew Gunnison. Volumes of Poetry, Sketches, Scrapbook, Autograph Album, etc.
  • Two loose volumes: Gunnison, Charles Andrew. Sketchbooks

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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