Summary Information
Robert Eliot and Norman Emmons Papers
1840-1882
- Emmons, Norman
- Eliot, Robert
Milwaukee Mss EV
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)
UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)
Business and personal correspondence of Emmons, a Milwaukee attorney and railroad executive, including correspondence relating to Indian claims at Mackinac, Michigan; letters from New York investor Russell Sage about his Wisconsin business affairs; and several Civil War letters. Also present is correspondence of Emmons' brother-in-law, Robert Eliot, concerning family matters; an 1852 letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Theodore Parker concerning the inscription on the Concord bridge; an 1854 letter of appointment to the rank of lieutenant from Commander Matthew C. Perry to Garret V. Denniston; and an account book, 1855-1858, from Eliot's business as an iron and produce commission merchant.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil000ev ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Biographical information concerning Robert Eliot and Norman Emmons in not readily available. It is known, however, that Emmons, an attorney, moved to Milwaukee from Detroit in 1846. He had two brothers: Halmer, an attorney, who became a Michigan circuit judge; and Jed, also an attorney. In 1863 Emmons was president of the Milwaukee and Western Railroad, which later became part of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul system. His connection with Eliot was through his wife, Julia Whetten, who was the sister of Eliot's wife, Eliza Whetten. Julia and Eliza were half nieces of Harriet Douglas Whetten, an army nurse during the Civil War, and later nurses' superintendent at the Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C. Eliot was an iron and produce commission merchant in Milwaukee.
Scope and Content Note
Business and personal correspondence (1840-1882) of Norman J. Emmons comprises the major part of this collection. Several letters, 1843-1847, relate to Indian claims at Mackinac and include single letters from Robert Stuart, Samuel Abbott, and George Johnston, men well known in Indian and fur trade circles. There are also eleven letters, 1862-1864, from the New York investor Russell Sage respecting Wisconsin legal and business matters in which he had an interest. Notable non-business correspondence includes two letters, March 21, 1863 and March 22, 1863, from Confederate soldiers to their families. These were sent on April 17, 1863 to Emmons by Rufus King, prominent Wisconsin editor and politician, and a brigadier general with the famed “Iron Brigade.” There is also one letter, July 31, 1864, from an unidentified Union soldier giving a favorable account of a regiment of black troops stationed near Memphis; and several letters from Emmons' law partner, C.A. Hamilton, an officer in the 7th Wisconsin Cavalry, on military and business matters. In 1872, there are two letters from Jed Emmons concerning his successful defense of Harrison Reed, reconstruction Governor of Florida from 1868-1874, who three times during his stormy tenure of office was tried and acquitted during impeachment proceedings. Reed was a former Wisconsin editor and politician. Other noteworthy correspondents include William Woodbridge, governor of Michigan, Wisconsin governors A. W. Randall and Edward Salomon, Senator Timothy O. Howe, and Representative James S. Brown, but the contents are of a mundane nature.
The Robert Eliot correspondence, 1867-1875, pertains primarily to personal matters, e.g. family births, deaths, and social events. Two unrelated but noteworthy letters are filed in the miscellaneous folder: One is a letter, dated June 18, 1852, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Theodore Parker concerning the inscription at the bridge at Concord commemorating the battle of April 19, 1775; and the other a letter of appointment from Commander Matthew C. Perry, dated at Hong Kong, August 29, 1854, to Garret V. Denniston, elevating him to the rank of lieutenant.
The Eliot account book, 1855-1858, contains information relating to Eliot's business as a commission merchant and may contain some potentially useful economic information.
Related Material
The Harriet Douglas Whetten Papers (call number New York Mss G).
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Eliot G. Fitch in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 5, 1972. Accession Number: M72-166
Contents List
|
Box
1
Folder
1-4
|
Emmons Correspondence, 1840-1882
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
5
|
Eliot Correspondence, 1867-1875
|
|
|
Emmons and Eliot
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
6
|
Miscellaneous Correspondence , 1852; 1854; undated
|
|
|
Box
1
Folder
7
|
Household bills, Receipts, Invitations, and Clippings
|
|
|
Robert Eliot's Account Book, Milwaukee, 1855-1858
|
|
|
