Summary Information
Draper Manuscripts: John Cleves Symmes Papers
1791-1846
- Symmes, John Cleves, 1742-1814
- Symmes, John Cleves, 1780-1829
Draper Mss WW
0.8 cubic feet (4 volumes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of two men, an uncle and a nephew, bearing the same name. The elder John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814) was a prominent political and military figure in New Jersey and later a judge, pioneer, and land developer in the Northwest Territory. The younger John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829) was a military man and settler along the Mississippi River. The bulk of the collection deals with the younger Symmes and his work to promote his “concentric spheres” theory, which held that the earth was composed of concentric spheres with a habitable interior which could be entered at either pole.
Descriptions of the volumes are copied from the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts / by Josephine Harper. Out of date and offensive language may be present. This collection is also available as a microfilm publication. Forms part of the Lyman Copeland Draper Manuscripts. The fifty series included in the Draper Manuscripts have been cataloged individually. See the Draper Manuscripts Overview, and the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts / by Josephine Harper (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1983) for further information. There is a restriction on use to this material; see the Administrative/Restriction
Information portion of this finding aid for details.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-draper0ww ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
The elder John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814) took a prominent role in Revolutionary military and political activities in New Jersey. Through the influence of Benjamin Stites, Symmes had become interested in western lands by 1787 and negotiated from Congress the Miami Purchase embracing a million acres between the Miami rivers. Upon appointment in 1788 as a judge of the newly created Northwest Territory, he moved to Ohio, established his home at North Bend, and devoted much time and effort to promoting the colonization and settlement of this extensive tract. With other territorial magistrates, he journeyed to Illinois in 1790. From 1793 to 1795, he was in the East arranging his business affairs and securing confirmation of more than 311,000 acres for which he had raised payment. After his North Bend house burned in 1811, he spent the last years of his life at the home of his son-in-law William Henry Harrison in Cincinnati, the leading metropolis within the Miami Purchase.
His nephew known as John Cleves Symmes, Jr. (1780-1829) came to Ohio from New Jersey, perhaps accompanying his uncle on his return from the East in 1795. From 1802 to 1815, the younger Symmes made the army his career, was stationed at posts in Arkansas and Missouri, and served in the battle of Lundy's Lane and the siege at Fort Erie during the War of 1812. After his discharge in 1815, he served as sutler in several Mississippi River posts for three years. The later period of his life (1818-1829) he spent in Newport, Kentucky, and Hamilton, Ohio. About 1818 he published in St. Louis a pamphlet expounding his novel theory that the earth was composed of concentric spheres with a habitable interior which could be entered at either pole. To the promotion of this theory, he devoted the remainder of his life writing, lecturing, and petitioning Congress without success for funds to outfit an expedition to the North Pole. Although his theory attracted a few adherents, it was usually ridiculed, and “Symmes Hole” became a widely understood term of derision.
In 1845 the papers composing this series were acquired by Draper from John Cleves Short, grandson of the elder Symmes.
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of the collection deals with the younger Symmes and his work to promote his “concentric spheres” theory. Correspondence with editors, congressmen, military officers, diplomats and academic societies throughout the world attest to his efforts to arouse interest in his theory and to gain support for a scientific polar expedition. Personal correspondence with his brothers Daniel and Peyton, his wife Marianne, his mother Mercy, and other family members discuss life in Cincinnati, Ohio, and on frontier military posts in both war and peace, particularly Bellefontaine on the Missouri River, and early development of his theory. Major correspondents include prominent political and academic figures of the time.
The elder Symmes's papers deal with his business and land development, especially with Jonathan Dayton. Major topics discussed were the Miami Purchase and its early settlements, the government of the Northwest Territory, and military operations against the Indians. Biographical and genealogical information was extracted and summarized by Draper from the elder Symmes's correspondence and daybook.
Administrative/Restriction Information
PHOTOCOPY RESTRICTION: Photocopying originals is not permitted; researchers may copy from the microfilm available in the Library.
Contents List
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Draper Mss WW
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Series: 1 WW (Volume 1)Original papers, 1791-1817, of both uncle and nephew. Only a few, however, are those of the elder Symmes. Included are three letters (1791, 1800) to Governor Arthur St. Clair of the Northwest Territory, detailing political and judicial differences between the two men, and one letter (1811) to James Henry discussing the burning of Symmes's house, a Fourth of July celebration in Cincinnati, and immigration to the Miami Purchase area. The bulk of the papers are those of the younger Symmes. Among his military papers are contemporary copies of two orders (1803, 1804) by James Wilkinson. Extensive personal correspondence (1802-1817) was exchanged between Symmes and his brothers Daniel and Peyton, his wife Marianne, his mother Mercy, his uncle, and other family members. Within some letters are discussions of life in Cincinnati and on frontier military posts in both war and peace, particularly Bellefontaine on the Missouri River. Others pertain to the early development of his theory on the hollow construction of planets. Among other correspondents are Madeleine Askin, Ethan A. Brown, Anthony Campbell, John Campbell, E.B. Clemson, William Eustis, Willis Foulk, Thomas Hamilton, William Henry Harrison, Jacob Kingsbury, Hugh Moore, R.C. Nicholas, Charles Peltier, Horatio Stark, William Swan, and David Walker.
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Series: 2 WW (Volume 2)Papers, 1795-1846, but mainly correspondence, lecture notes, diagrams, and memoranda, 1818-1828, concerning the junior Symmes's theory of planetary construction. Correspondence with editors, congressmen, military and naval officers, diplomatic representatives of Russia and Great Britain, and academic societies throughout the world attest to his efforts to arouse interest in his theory and to gain support for a scientific polar expedition. Family papers include a few autobiographical notes, one letter from his cousin Anna (“Nancy”) Symmes Harrison (Mrs. William Henry Harrison), two to his brother Peyton, undated fragments written to his wife during his army career, and undated notes for a will. A few letters and notes refer to provisions for use or sale of his three slaves. There are several drafts of military letters (1805) and notes and a newspaper article (1821) pertaining to service of the First Regiment in the War of 1812. Symmes's other correspondents included Eben I. Bell, Lewis Bissell, William B. Champney, Thomas S. Hinde, James McBride, John McLean, Samuel L. Mitchell, Horatio Gates Spafford, and William A. Trimble. The few papers of the elder Symmes in this volume include an Ohio land agreement to which Symmes, Jonathan Dayton, Israel Ludlow, Arthur St. Clair, and James Wilkinson were principal parties, and a list of mortgages to be sold by Symmes in 1804. A biographical and genealogical account of the judge and his family is embodied in a letter (1846) by John Cleves Short.
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Series: 3 WW (Volume 3)Primarily copies, extracts, and summaries of correspondence and papers of the elder Symmes, made by Draper in 1846 from a manuscript volume loaned to him by John Cleves Short. Included are a few biographical entries from Symmes's daybook, 1812-1813, a letter (1776) on the death of his first wife, and an extensive series of business letters, 1788-1796. More than sixty of these were to and from Jonathan Dayton, but there are also a few to and from Elias Boudinot and members of the board of proprietors of the Miami Company. Major topics discussed were the Miami Purchase and its early settlements, the government of the Northwest Territory, and military operations against the Indians. The latter portion of this volume contains notes and articles copied by Draper from the Ohio State Journal (Columbus, Ohio) and the Cincinnati Gazette. Among these are reminiscences of the Miami settlement signed by the initials “E. F.,” Joseph R. Underwood's recollections (1828) of William Dudley's defeat and the treatment of American prisoners of war in 1813, and obituaries (1826-1828) for Thomas Hinde, John Dunn Hunter, Thomas Todd, and Thomas Worthington.
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Series: 4 WW (Volume 4)
: An original manuscript law of the Northwest Territory prescribing the duty and powers of coroners. Dated July 16, 1795, the document bears the territorial seal, and each of the several sheets of text contains the signatures of Governor Arthur St. Clair and of territorial judges John Cleves Symmes and George Turner.
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