Subseries A, Papers of Peter Lesley III, Elizabeth Oswald Allen Lesley, and Susanne Elizabeth Robbins Whitehead Lesley, 1795-1862 (#13.22-20.9, F+D.3, OD.1)
Scope and Contents
Subseries A, Papers of Peter Lesley II , Elizabeth Oswald Allen Lesley, and Susanne Elizabeth Robbins Whitehead Lesley, 1795-1862 (#13.22-20.9, F+D.3, OD.1) contains family and business correspondence, legal and financial papers, a diary, and various writings. The family lived in Philadelphia yet Peter Lesley III was intensely involved with the development of the western United States, purchasing plots of land in Missouri and buying stock in canal companies and other industries involved in western expansion. A diary (#17.8) details his 1836 trip west to Missouri. Much of his business correspondence is with his various land agents in Missouri. The legal, financial, and estate papers include certificates for the Missouri land; stock transactions; indentures and bonds, including for a housewifery apprentice in 1816; and several folders of Lesley family checks, invoices and receipts which reveal their household and other purchases from 1814 to 1853: clothing, building materials, coffin and grave digging, church fees, etc. Photographs of Peter Lesley III are in Series XVII.
Dates
- Creation: 1762-2006
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Folders #200.1 - 201.9 in Series XIV are closed until January 1, 2050. The remainder of the collection is open for research.
Extent
101.08 linear feet ((237 file boxes, 2 half file boxes, 2 folio boxes) plus 6 folio folders, 10 folio+ folders, 6 oversize folders, 2 supersize folders, 171 photograph folders, 4 folio photograph folders, 14 glass negatives, 1 object, electronic records)Biographical / Historical
Peter Lesley III was born in 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the third child of Catherine Kitler and Peter Lesley II. He worked as a cabinet maker, and was also involved in a number of businesses related to transportation and raw materials, which benefitted from the western expansion of the United States population. He married Elizabeth Oswald Allen in 1815 in Philadelphia; they had six children: Elizabeth Lesley Stilwell (1816-1895), J. Peter Lesley (1819-1903), Allen Voorhees Lesley (1822-1881), Henry V. Lesley (d.1881), William Wood Lesley (1827-1901), and Joseph Lesley (1831-1884). Elizabeth Lesley died in 1832. Peter Lesley married Susanne Elizabeth Robbins Whitehead Lesley in 1837, and they had another son, Alexander Lesley (1838-1876). Peter Lesley III's brother James Lesley II (1795-1865), a banker, served as US Consul to France from 1861 to 1865; the brothers were involved in a number of business ventures together. Peter Lesley III died in 1855.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.