Title: Stevens and McConihe Family Papers, 1760-1846, 2019
Creator: McConihe family
Stevens family
Accession / Call Number: 2022.029
Object ID: 2022.029
Date: 1760-1846, 2019
Physical Description: 1 box ; 0.21 linear feet
Scope and Content: Constance J. McChesney used the materials in this collection to write her 2019 book, After Two Hundred Years: The Journey of an 1812 Chest of Drawers, which tells the story of an 1812 chest of drawers and the people connected to it. Consisting primarily of family correspondence and deeds, this collection provides an overview of the Stevens family and McConihe family in New Hampshire. The materials in this collection date from 1760 to 1846. The Stevens family is represented primarily through family correspondence, 1807 to 1838, to and from John Stevens (1785-1867) of Canterbury and Boscawen, NH. This includes letters to and from Submit Newcomb, his first wife, before their marriage until her death in 1825, as well as letters to and from Mary (Campbell) Sawyer, his second wife. The letters discuss the family, their health, and his travel for work, including during the War of 1812 as he tried to sell his goods to soldiers and a circa 1829 business trip to Quebec. There are also a few letters from Newcomb and Sawyer relatives, friends, and their children. Other materials for this family include a page of family genealogy, an 1817 deed to John Stevens, and an 1820 journal page from Daniel MCauley. The McConihe family is represented primarily through family correspondence and deeds, 1760 to 1846, of John McConihe II (1740-1815) and John McConihe III (1785-1840). The bulk of the correspondence is from Isaac McConihe, a postmaster in Troy, NY, to his brother John III in Merrimack, NH. The correspondence discusses the family, politics, and by the mid-1830s, begins to discuss traveling to the west. Also included are a few letters from other relatives, including Gilman Noyes, Johns father-in-law. While there are a few deeds in this collection where John McConihe III or Samuel McConihe were serving as witness, the majority of the deeds are land purchases by the family. John II and John III, sometimes with his brother Samuel, acquired several hundred acres of land in Bedford, Merrimack, and Amherst, NH, between 1760 and 1840. This collection contains thirty-four deeds detailing these different transactions, including the sale of the family farm in Merrimack from John II to John III in 1807. Other McConihe family materials include legal papers, such as bonds, indentures, an insurance policy, and estate and probate records for John McConihe III and Anna Howe. Folders that contain materials used in the book After Two Hundred Years: The Journey of an 1812 Chest of Drawers have the chapter number they were used in listed on the folder. A copy of the book is also included in this collection.
Subjects:
Contracts,
Correspondence,
Courtship,
Deeds,
Education,
Estates (Law),
Families,
Farmers,
Health,
Probate records,
Tanners,
United States--History--War of 1812
Locations: Amherst, NH
Bedford, NH
Boscawen, NH
Canterbury, NH
Greenwich, MA
Merrimack, NH
Troy, NH
People:
McChesney, Constance J.,
McConihe, Isaac, 1787-1867,
McConihe, John, II, 1740-1815,
McConihe, John, III, 1785-1840,
McConihe, Samuel, 1779-1853,
Stevens, John, 1785-1867,
Stevens, Mary J., 1794-1879,
Stevens, Submit, 1790-1825
Organizations:
McConihe family,
Stevens family
Credit Line: Gift of Constance J. McChesney.
Restrictions: Available for research.
Level Description: Collection
Finding Aid Link: RS64446_Stevens_and_McConihe_Family_Papers_2022.029.pdf