Overview
Correspondence and other papers of Vermont native and West Point graduate, Lieutenant Jenks Beaman.
Dates
- 1842-1847
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Primarily includes correspondence with family, chiefly with Beaman's brothers John Brown Beaman and George Hudson Beaman, and with West Point and other military friends such as Benjamin Alvord, Henry Prince, and Sidney Smith. Topics concern the U.S. Army, military life, the Mexican War, and personal matters. Also contains a clipping concerning the death of one of Beaman's fellow officers and a manuscript record of the 1843 court martial case of Lieutenant Don Carlos Buell at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.
Biographical / Historical
Jenks Beaman (1821-1848) was born in Poultney, Vermont, the son of Joel Beaman (1782-1846) and Lydia Brown Beaman (1790-1867). His father Joel ran a hotel and a general store. Jenks was a cadet at West Point from July 1838 to July 1842 when he graduated and was promoted in the U. S. Army as a Bvt. Second Lieutenant with the 8th Infantry Regiment. In December of 1842 he served as a Second Lieutenant with the U. S. 4th Infantry Regiment at Ft. Shannon Florida and later moved to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri (1843-1844). From 1844-1845 he served frontier duty at Natchitoches, Louisiana (Camp Salubrity) and from 1845-1846 was part of the military occupation of Texas. He participated in the War with Mexico from 1846-1848. On his return from the Mexican War, he died and was buried in Tampico, Mexico.
Persons associated with Jenks Beaman include:
- Joel Beaman (1782-1846), father.
- Lydia Brown Beaman (1790-1867), mother.
- Charles H. Beaman, brother.
- George Hudson Beaman (1810-1899), brother.
- Mary L. Beaman (1813-1820), sister.
- Minerya L. Beaman Mallary (1815-1888), sister.
- Joel D. Beaman (1817-1849), brother.
- John Brown Beaman (1819-1909), brother
- Cullen C. Beaman (1825-1912), brother.
- Carolyn L. Beaman (1826-1896), sister.
- Jane Beaman (1830-1915), sister.
- Frances H. Beaman Ruggles (1832-1862), sister.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by author.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number; Gift of unknown source; received: 1916. A typescript note was found with these papers: "See letter to W. B. Burke, Esq., Supt. Buildings and Grounds, Harvard Univ." This letter has not been located, and the note removed to the curatorial file.
Forms part of the collection of Western Americana manuscripts at Houghton Library, collected under the auspices of the Harvard Commission on Western History.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
- Title
- Beaman, Jenks. Jenks Beaman correspondence and other papers, 1842-1847: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02417
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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