Papers of the Parsons family, 1815-1905

This collection consists entirely of correspondence, which falls into three distinct and unrelated groups. The bulk of the collection consists of letters written between the six children and a few friends and lodgers of Judith Parsons during the period 1845-1905. An earlier group (1815-1833) consists of letters to Maria L. Burns (Mrs. Andrew) Mack from family and friends and one letter to her sister Anne in Florida. These letters discuss the community, a corrupt minister, death, sickness, family news, vacations and the 1833 State of the Union message. There are also two letters (see #2) that are unrelated to either group.

The only apparent common feature of the three groups of letters is the fact that members of both families at some time lived in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Here Judith Parsons and her daughter, Sarah J. Parsons, took in boarders and ran a school. Other family members became doctors, preachers or teachers, or married members of those professions. They lived in various parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

The letters discuss local events and fashion trends; the weather; produce and crops and their prices; illness, medicine and death; boarders and the school. There is an occasional mention of current public events, including a speech to repeal laws relating to atheists (February 1858), and a military victory in New Orleans (May 1862). The letters have been arranged in chronological order.