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Huntington Family Collection

Collection, Ms B16

1811 – 1907
Fairfield Museum
Enoch Smith Huntington (1804-1862), around whom the collection is built, was born in Ashford, Connecticut, the son of Andrew and Zerviah Smith Huntington. He was a Congregational minister and a missionary in Illinois. His youngest sister was Amelia (1811-1847). In 1836, Enoch married Lucy Cowles (d. 1843), the daughter of Chester and Sally Cowles. Lucy's siblings included Frances and William. Enoch Huntington's third wife, whom he married in 1853, was Esther Lyon (1819-1904), daughter of Burr (1789-1867) and Abigail (Burr) Lyon and granddaughter of Wakeman (b. 1764/65) and Esther Hubbell Lyon. Enoch and Esther's children were Lucy, Frances, William Smith, Eliza Matilda, Andrew Burr (b.1857) and Enoch Smith. Esther's siblings were Mary, Eunice Sherwood (1789/90-1889), Eleanor B. (1825-1899), Morris Wakeman (1826/7-1906), and Eliza A. (1828-1898). Morris Wakeman Lyon was a graduate of Yale and for a number of years he ran a school in New York City. He was also a major donor to the Fairfield Memorial Library. In 1853, he married Isabella Beard Wildman (1831-1912), daughter of William Bradley and Elizabeth Field (Beard) Wildman. Eunice Lyon married Daniel Thatcher (1789-1867), wholesale drug merchant and bank president in Bridgeport, Conn. She was his second wife. Thatcher's first wife was Julia Ann Hubbell (1798-1852). For more information about these families, see the genealogical pages in the collection file.
The materials in this collection are arranged first by family and alphabetically under each family by first name.

Papers relating to the Huntington family are arranged in Sub-group 1. Series A encompasses the estate account and division of property of Amelia Huntington, 1847. Andre Huntington's school diary, 1868, in in Series B. The papers of Enoch Smith Huntington in Series C encompass certificates and letters concerning assuming pastorships, 1833-1850; preaching record, 1847-1861, and a chap book with answers to religious questions as well as a preaching record and vital records, 1837-1865; diaries, 1835-1836; correspondence, 1839-1850; and assorted material including a bill, 1856, printed material, 1825 n.d., and a photograph of his Ashford home, n.d.

Esther Lyon Huntington is represented by correspondence, 1880-1893, primarily concerning genealogy, and Hubbell genealogy notes in Series D. Series E consists of the correspondence of Lucy Cowles Huntington, 1833-1842, including letters from her mother Sally Cowles, her brother William Cowles, and from her sister Frances and Mary B. Waters. The final series in the sub-group is a photograph album that belonged to Harriet Bulkley. The images are primarily cartes-de-visite and tintypes and most have been identified. Harriet Bulkley is related to the Huntington's through marriage. See the collection folder for genealogical information.

Sub group 2 consists of the papers of the Lyon family. Series A encompasses correspondence, 1811-1812; a receipt, 1839; and a bond, 1843 for Burr Lyon, and a set of temperance publications bound into a single volume, with his manuscript notes at the back, 1828-1842. Series B and C consists of the Estate records of Sisters Eleanor Lyon, 1900, and Eliza Lyon, 1898-1899. The papers of Morris Lyon are arranged in Series D. They include a diary, 1849-1850, 1856; legal documents, including deeds, 1851, 1866; a letter of administration, 1879, leases, 1867-1875; correspondence, 1898-1901, including a petition to President McKinley concerning war with Cuba and a response from Ebenezer Hill, 1898; a historical address about the ministers of First Congregational church in Fairfield, 1902; catalogs of the Collegiate Institute in New York City, 1861-1875; two volumes with the constitution and by-laws and minutes of meetings of the Literary Society at the Collegiate Institute, 1866-1867; two copies of the address given at his funeral and memorial resolutions, 1906-1907; gift acknowledgements, 1871-1872; and math exercise books, 1803-1804. Morris' wife Isabella is represented in Series E by correspondence, including sympathy notes, and a letter from her nephew Leonard concerning his experiences during the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Series F consists of correspondence and financial records concerning the Greenfield Hill Church, 1811-1828; deeds, 1801, 1810; and receipts, 1809-1828, kept by Wakeman Lyon.

Thatcher family papers are organized in Sub-group 3. Daniel Thatcher is represented in Series A by correspondence, 1838, 1860, 1868; deeds, 1826-1861, 1878 stock transfers, 1838-1860; and power attorney letters, 1838-1856; financial records, including bills, receipts and promissory note, 1845-1866; and accounts with his son George (b. 1825), 1838-1861; and plot maps, 1832. Eunice Lyon Thatcher's estate records, 1891, are in Series B. Assorted materials in Series C include genealogy notes on the Thatcher family; a copy of the 1810 Greenfield tax list; mechanical drawings; a blank petition for women's men's emancipation; an inventory of a trunk marked "E.S."; a letter to Esther Lyon; a poem; a receipt from Thomas Couch to Titus Freeman, a free black man, 1819; and a photograph of a man with a dead bear.
Sub-Group 1. Huntington Family Papers, 1825-1893
Sub-Group 2. Lyon Family Papers, 1801-1907
Sub-Group 3. Thatcher Family Papers, 1819-1866
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