Temporary record

The Patten Family Papers is comprised of typical, general family correspondence, mostly between siblings. The Massachusetts Pattens appear to have been involved in the dry goods trade and in farming; some of the family migrated to Illinois in the 1850s and farmed there. The papers present the usual "family fare" -- discussions of health, travels, weather, religion, and family events. There is also some information on mercantile business matters, land sales by various family members, farming, flooding, and outbreaks of cholera. An interesting overall perspective to be gained from the Patten papers is the sense of the movement of families from the east to the midwest and west during this era. A set of letters and notes from 1907 includes some information on genealogy. Two interesting individual items in the collection are an 1832 June-December weather journal and an 1834 document for the sale of a wall pew in the Westford (Mass.) meeting house.

M-2832.2

Subjects

Brown, Lydia Patten, 1794-1859
Cholera
Family--Illinois
Family--Massachusetts
Family--Religious life
Family farms--Illinois
Family farms--Massachusetts
French, Mary Patten, b. 1798
Health
Migration, Internal--United States
Patten family
Patten, Isaac, 1784-1811
Patten, James, 1783-1860
Patten, Jonathan, b. 1792
Patten, Rufus, b. 1802

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