Summary Information
Ballard-Edwards Papers
1838-1874
- Ballard, Anson, 1821-1873;
- Edwards, Nathaniel, b. 1837
Green Bay Mss 19
2.4 c.f. (3 archives boxes and 3 flat boxes)
UW-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)
Papers of Anson Ballard and Nathaniel Edwards, first and second husbands of Harriet M. Story of Appleton, Wis. Ballard's papers include correspondence exchanged with fraternity brothers at Hamilton College in the 1840s and with Perry H. Smith, his law partner in Appleton. A few papers relate to his extensive landholdings in Outagamie County and to his establishment and endowment of an infant school in Appleton. Edwards' papers contain correspondence relating to his work as a consulting engineer, particularly his work on the Fox and Wisconsin River Canal after 1866. A series of letters to and from the law firm of Stevens and Flower in Madison deals with railroad and other business interests. Other correspondence relates to the operations of a planing mill which he and two partners owned until its failure in 1872. Letters of his first wife, Laura M. Whittlesey, are also included.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-gb0019 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Scope and Content Note
Anson Ballard and Nathaniel Edwards were the first and second husbands of Harriet M. Story of Appleton, Wisconsin. Ballard was born December 20, 1821, in Appling, New York. He attended Hamilton College, graduating in 1845. The collection contains a number of papers from this period, principally letters to members of Psi Upsilon Fraternity in which Ballard was active. After graduation, Ballard taught for five years while studying law, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. In the same year, he moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he and Perry H. Smith, a fraternity brother, organized the law firm of Smith and Ballard. Smith was already active in Wisconsin politics, and there are several letters in the collection on the subject.
In May 1851, Ballard married Harriet Story of Appleton, and by the end of the decade, he was thought to be the most substantial citizen of the town, having the largest land holdings in the county. Unfortunately, the collection contains only fragmentary materials for this period.
Ballard retained his interest in teaching and was responsible for establishing a school in Appleton, which, due to the faulty drafting of his will, lost its endowment on his death. He died April 4, 1873, and on May 12, 1874, his widow married Nathaniel Marsh Edwards.
Edwards was born July 5, 1837, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He graduated from Union College in New York as a civil engineer, and he served in the Civil War, emerging a captain of engineers. In 1866 he went to Appleton to work as an engineer on the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company. He seems to have had an excellent reputation in his profession for there are a number of letters requesting his services as a consultant.
In June 1868, he married Laura M. Whittlesey, and the collection contains many of her letters. Her death two days after the first anniversary of the wedding is, on the other hand, mentioned in none of the correspondence. The collection dwindles in 1873 and there is very little after that. There are no letters referring to Edwards' marriage to Harriet Story Ballard. Although it is difficult to believe that two men as prominent as Ballard and Edwards were not acquainted in a community the size of Appleton, there is nothing in the collection to indicate it.
By far the most voluminous part of the collection covers the period from 1868 to 1872. It contains many letters from the law firm of Stevens and Flower in Madison, which represented a railroad in which Edwards had an interest. There is also a large number of letters concerning a planing mill owned by Edwards and two partners, Lake and Randall. Its failure in 1872 is covered very fully by the correspondence.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Thomas Orbison, Appleton, Wisconsin, May 26, 1953; and by William Raney, Appleton, January 11, 1956.
Contents List
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Box
1-3
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Correspondence, 1838-1874
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Box
3
Volume
3
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Anson Ballard's Copybook or Index Rerum, February 5, 1846
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Box
3
Volume
5
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Assistant U.S. Engineer N.E. Russell's Memo Book of the Soundings of the Fox River, September 28-30, 1861
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Box
3
Volume
6
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N.M. Edward's Memo Book of an Inspection Tour of the Locks on the Wisconsin River, June 1, 1866
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Box
3
Volume
15
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Farm Journal, 1855
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Anson Ballard's Scrapbooks of Clippings
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Box
4
Volume
1
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1862-1867
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Box
4
Volume
2
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1867-1873
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Box
4
Volume
4
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Anson Ballard's Account Ledger, 1855-1874
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Copies of Letters from the Firm of Smith & Ballard
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Box
5
Volume
7
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1854
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Box
5
Volume
8
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1854-1856
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Box
5
Volume
9
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Copies of Letters from Ballard, January 1862-April 1863
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Box
6
Volume
10
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Copies of Letters from the Firm of Ballard & Smith, 1864-1867
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Box
6
Volume
11
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Land Purchase Record, 1854-1857
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Box
6
Volume
12
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Tax Titles of Anson Ballard, 1857-1866
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Account Books
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Box
6
Volume
13
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1851
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Box
6
Volume
14
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1857-1862
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Box
6
Volume
16
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Description of the Real Estate of Alvin Foster, 1858-1864
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