- unitid
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{"value"=>"24862", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 24862", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
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{"value"=>"1792-1884", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1792/1884"}
- unittitle
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{"value"=>"William Wilson family papers"}
- physdesc
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{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.26 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
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{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Manuscripts and Archives</span>"}
- abstract
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{"value"=>"William Wilson (1756-1828) of Clermont, Columbia County, New York, was a physician, postmaster, and judge, and an estate manager for the Livingston family at Clermont. The William Wilson family papers, 1792-1884, comprise professional and personal correspondence of William Wilson and his sons Robert L. Wilson and William H. Wilson; correspondence among family members, including letters from Stephen B. Wilson during his U.S. Navy service; documents recording real property transactions, mostly in Columbia County; notebooks and maps of land surveys conducted in Columbia and Dutchess Counties, signed by John Wigram, Alexander Thompson and others; financial and legal documents; and printed ephemera. The papers chiefly pertain to Wilson's management of business affairs for the Livingston family, as well as for himself, and his own engagement in political and civic affairs in Columbia County; roles carried on to some extent by his son William H. Wilson. Also included are professional certificates and printed matter. William Wilson's notable correspondents include Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), Edward P. Livingston (1779-1843), Nicholas Romayne (1756-1817), and Richard Varick (1753-1831)."}
- langmaterial
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{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
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{"value"=>"Wilson, William, 1756-1828", "type"=>"persname", "role"=>"cre"}
- bioghist
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{"value"=>"<p>William Wilson (1756-1828) of Clermont, Columbia County, New York, William Wilson (1756-1828) of Clermont, Columbia County, New York, was a physician, postmaster, and judge, and an estate manager for the Livingston family at Clermont. He was the first postmaster of the Town of Clermont, serving variously as a justice of the peace, town supervisor and school supervisor, and a Columbia County judge for the New York State Court of Common Pleas. Wilson was also a founder of professional societies in the fields of medicine and agriculture for Columbia and Dutchess Counties.</p> <p>Born in Wooler, Northumberland, England, William Wilson was the son of Reverend Alexander Wilson, minister of the community's Scots (Presbyterian) Church. He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1775, and succeeded his father as minister in 1778, but soon left the church to study medicine. Upon completion of his studies, he emigrated to New York in 1784, leaving his wife Mary Howey Wilson (1753-1801) and son Alexander (1783-1805) to follow him later. Upon arrival he went directly to Clermont in Columbia County and began the practice of medicine there, implying a connection with the Livingston family. Not long after, he became the estate manager for statesman Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), known as \"the Chancellor,\" who held Clermont, the \"Lower Manor\" of the Livingston family. Wilson became a trusted friend and an executor of his legal estate. Wilson knew other members of the Livingston family and acted on their behalf as well, including Edward P. Livingston, who became the proprietor of Clermont upon the death of Robert R. Livingston, his father-in-law, and General Henry Livingston, son of Robert Livingston Jr. (1708-1790).</p> <p>William and Mary Wilson's American-born children were sons William H. (William Henry) Wilson (1791-1884), Robert L. (Robert Livingston) Wilson (1794-1830), and U.S. naval captain Stephen B. (Stephen Bayard) Wilson (1795-1863). Their daughters were Frances (\"Fanny\") Wilson (1787-1879), who married Fyler Dibblee; Elizabeth (\"Eliza\") Wilson (1797-1879) who married Fyler's brother Richard Dibblee; Mary Ann Wilson (1792-1887), who married George A. Shufeldt; and Alicia Ann (\"Nancy\" or Ann) Wilson (1799-1888), who married David Van Deusen. After Mary Howey Wilson's death in 1801, William Wilson married Hannah Shufeldt (1784-1876).</p> <p>Alexander and Robert both attended Union College and became lawyers, but died at relatively young ages. Robert's law practice in New York City included acting on his father's behalf in local professional and personal legal matters. William H. Wilson studied medicine and served as a surgeon's mate during the War of 1812, but returned to Clermont to help his father in his business and civic affairs. He succeeded his father as postmaster of Clermont in the 1820s, and also sat as a judge for Columbia County in the Court of Common Pleas. Among other civic activities he was a founding trustee of the Claremont Academy, incorporated in 1834. He married Anne Hulme of Philadelphia in 1829 and had two surviving children, Elizabeth Hulme Wilson (1829-1904) and Harold Wilson (1836-1919).</p> <p>Robert Livingston Jr. (1708-1790) was the \"Third Lord\" or proprietor of Livingston Manor in Columbia County, also known as the Upper Manor. The Upper Manor was bordered on the north by the towns of Claverack and Hillsdale, on the west by the Hudson River, north of Clermont and Germantown, and on the east by the border with Massachusetts. Since his son Peter R. Livingston was deeply in debt, he bequeathed the bulk of his land to sons Walter (1733-1797), Robert C. (1742-1794), Henry (1752/3-1823), and John (1750-1822), each receiving one of four \"Great Lots,\" numbered 1-4, respectively. The lots ran east-west through the central and eastern portions of the Upper Manor, with No. 1 bordering Claverack and Hillsdale to the north, and No. 4 bordering Dutchess County to the south. In 1788 the Upper Manor became the Town of Livingston, with the Lower Manor becoming the Town of Claremont.</p> <p>The deaths of Robert Livingston Jr. and his sons Walter and Robert in the 1790s had repercussions on Livingston tenant lease-holders and others, especially throughout the great lots. Measures to secure the settlement of the Livingstons' personal estates and their title to land under the 1686 Dongan charter included the surveying of the great lots for farms, collection of back rents from tenants long in arrears and ejections for non-payment of rent, the removal of squatters who cleared farm lands from wood lots, and related legal actions. As a Livingston agent, Wilson was involved in such measures, and assisted in the management of Great Lot No. 2 with Peter Van Schaack. For most of the 1790s he served as a justice of the peace for Clermont.</p> <p>Tenants used legal and illegal means to contest the feudal system of landholding. An increasing show of violence came to a head in the mid-1790s, as judicial and legislative interests upheld the Livingstons' titles with strict enforcement of the law. In 1803, Democratic-Republicans in state government succeeded in breaking the Town of Livingston into three townships. Livingston now anchored the area on the Hudson, while the great lots were incorporated into the townships of Granger and Gallatin, later recovering their traditional names of Taghanick and Ancram in 1814 before further subdivision. Robert R. Livingston, aligned with the Democratic-Republican party during the 1790s, switched his allegiance to the Federalists in 1806, not long after his tenure as U.S. Minister to France.</p> <p>Although there was further tenant anti-rent unrest, notably in 1811 and the 1840s, the manorial system was already in decline by the time of Wilson's death on December 20, 1828. The transition in landholding patterns was marked by the gradual sale of land by Livingston descendants, and the building of a local civic structure within the context of state and national events.</p> <p>Sources:</p> <p>Brooke, John L. <span class=\"title\">Columbia Rising: Civil Life on the Upper Hudson from the Revolution to the Age of Jackson</span>. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.</p> <p>King, Roger. Finding aid for the Wilson Family Papers, 1704-1884, University of Michigan, William L. Clements Library, Manuscripts Division.</p> <p>Livingston, James D. and Sherry H. Penney, \"The Breakup of Livingston Manor.\" In <span class=\"title\">The Livingston Legacy: Three Centuries of American History</span>, edited by Richard C. Wiles and Andrea K. Zimmermann, 406-426. Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Bard College Office of Publications, 1987.</p> <p>Wigram, John. <span class=\"title\">A map of the towns of Livingston, Germantown, and Clermont in the County of Columbia: compiled from actual surveys in January 1798</span>. Albany: Secretary of State, 1850. Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/53c21dc0-cdb9-0133-feb8-00505686a51c</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The William Wilson family papers, 1792-1884, comprise professional and personal correspondence of William Wilson and his sons Robert L. Wilson and William H. Wilson; correspondence among family members, including letters from Stephen B. Wilson during his U.S. Navy service; documents recording real property transactions, mostly in Columbia County; notebooks and maps of land surveys conducted in Columbia and Dutchess Counties, some signed by John Wigram; financial and legal documents; and printed ephemera. The papers chiefly pertain to Wilson's management of business affairs for the Livingston family, as well as for himself, and his own engagement in political and civic affairs in Columbia County; roles carried on to some extent by his son William H. Wilson. Also included are professional certificates and printed matter. William Wilson's notable correspondents include Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), Edward P. Livingston (1779-1843), Nicholas Romayne (1756-1817), and Richard Varick (1753-1831).</p> <p>Correspondence forms the bulk of the collection and is arranged by a generational listing of immediate family members, in alphabetical order by sender within: William Wilson; his wife Mary Howey Wilson; and their children in alphabetical order by surname, then first name. These are followed by letters and postcards sent or received by William H. Wilson's family members, 1837-1870, along with a small amount of third-party correspondence. There are no letters to or from William Wilson's daughters Mary Ann Wilson Shufeldt or Elizabeth Wilson Diblee.</p> <p>William Wilson's incoming correspondence, 1792-1826, concerns business transactions conducted on behalf of the Livingstons, or in his own interest, with some sharing of political and local news; there are also letters from family members. His outgoing correspondence is found in a few drafts and copies of letters sent, 1801-1824, and in the incoming correspondence of his son Robert. The tendency of correspondents to address letters to William Wilson as Judge or Postmaster, titles also held by William H. Wilson during his father's lifetime, can lead to some confusion.</p> <p>There are a number of friendly and informative letters written by Edward P. Livingston, 1802-1824. The earliest is written from Paris, while his father-in-law Robert R. Livingston was serving as U.S. Minister to France, with most of the remaining letters written from Albany, sharing political news. There are also two written by Henry Livingston in 1797, and one by Robert R. Livingston, 1801 January 29, discussing estate business and politics. Other correspondents include Wilson's friend, New York City physician Nicholas Romayne, and lawyer Richard Varick, Mayor of New York City. Varick's letters, 1800-1804, are mainly concerned with settling the estate of Philip L. Hoffman, with mention of enslaved persons. Prominent Columbia County correspondents include Abraham Spencer, Jacob Van Ness, William W. Van Ness, Peter Van Schaack, and Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer. Few letters date from the 1790s, and there is generally only passing reference to tenants, showing rather day-to-day business, property and farming transactions.</p> <p>Letters received by Robert L. Wilson, 1820-1830, concern business and family matters. They are mostly from his brother William H. Wilson, writing of their father's illness and death, and family affairs; there is also a letter from his father. Also present are certificates pertaining to Robert's profession as a lawyer, 1815-1821.</p> <p>Letters received by William H. Wilson, 1822-1861, are from business, personal and family correspondents. Business matters concern his administration of local properties for others, and the settlement of Brodhead family personal estates. An 1843 invoice with remarks from A. J. Downing & Co. lists extensive plantings purchased by Wilson.</p> <p>Of interest among the correspondence of the immediate family are letters to William Wilson from his son Alexander and daughter Frances discussing their school arrangements, as well as Alexander's legal training in Albany, and Stephen B. Wilson's letters to his father and his brother William H., pertaining to his service as a U.S. Navy officer prior to the Civil War and personal affairs. There are also letters from relatives in Great Britain, including William Wilson's brother Alexander and sister Isabella Minster, and his wife's Howey and Torrence relatives, some written to his sons after learning of William Wilson's death.</p> <p>Financial and legal documents, 1799-1870, include invoices, receipts, notes, insurance policies, a sheriff's bond, and other items, largely concerning the Wilson family's personal and professional affairs. A tuition bill from Union College, 1807, for an unnamed son is included.</p> <p>Land documents, 1793-1823, 1872, consist of indentures, mortgages, deeds, and agreements concerning the leasing or conveyance of Livingston lands, as well as personal transactions of William Wilson and William H. Wilson. Most of the property is located in Columbia County.</p> <p>Land surveys, 1790s-1842, notably illustrate the breakup of Livingston lands in the 1790s, especially the surveying of Great Lot No. 2 in the Town of Livingston. A set of maps signed by surveyor John Wigram show the laying out of farms for named individuals, and a large key map with an incomplete set of component maps, unsigned, shows the location of farms and other features in the township, dating from approximately 1800. Notebooks of surveys in Dutchess County taken by surveyor Alexander Thompson, 1794-1800, are also present.</p> <p>Printed ephemera concern a legal case over Livingston land, dating after 1794, the opening and operation of the Claremont Academy, 1834-1844, and electoral politics in Columbia and Dutchess Counties, [1823]-1833.</p> <p>Printed matter consists of the October 1794 issue of the <span class=\"title\">New-York Magazine, or Literary Repository</span>, and a clipped newspaper obituary for William H. Wilson [1884].</p>"}
- acqinfo
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{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from Swann Galleries, Inc., 2018.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Susan P. Waide</span>, <span class=\"date\">2019</span></p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Wilson Family Papers, 1704-1884; University of Michigan, William L. Clements Library, Manuscripts Division; Ann Arbor, MI.</p> <p>William H. Wilson Papers, 1754-1878; New York State Libary; Albany, NY.</p> <p> Additional papers of William Wilson and his family are held at the New-York Historical Society, New York, NY.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1792
- keydate
-
1792
- date_end
-
1884
- date_inclusive_start
-
1792
- date_inclusive_end
-
1884
- extent_statement
-
1.26 linear feet (3 boxes)
- prefercite
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{"value"=>"William Wilson family papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}