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Creator
Little, Lora C
Call number
MssCol NYGB 18189
Physical description
2.94 linear feet (7 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Ferris Family Genealogical Research Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Lora Cornelia Little, public health activist and a descendant of the Ferris family through her maternal grandmother Ruth Ferris, was born Lora Williams, in Waterville, Minnesota Territory in 1856. The genealogical research compiled by Lora Little and Henry Boynton Ferris lineage related to their investigation of the Ferris Family includes family data sheets, research notes, and photographs, as well as correspondence from distant relations, fellow genealogists, town clerks and other recordskeepers.

Biographical/historical information

Lora Cornelia Little, public health activist and a descendant of the Ferris family through her maternal grandmother Ruth Ferris, was born Lora Williams, in Waterville, Minnesota Territory in 1856. She married Elijah A. Little, a civil engineer from Port Byron, N.Y. In 1895 Little's only child Kenneth died following a compulsory vaccination that was administered in advance of his admission to the Yonkers, New York public schools. She provides an account of his death in "Crimes of the Cowpox Ring", published in 1905, and crusaded against mandatory vaccinations laws for the remainder of her life. In 1918, while living in Bismark, N.D., her anti-vaccination work led to her arrest for violation of the Espionage Act.

Little, a descendant of John Ferris of Pound Ridge, N.Y. (who served as a private in the Continental Army), was admitted to the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1893. Working in collaboration with Henry Boynton Ferris of Chicago, Little immersed herself in a project to more fully document the Ferris family lineage and together they amassed extensive information on the Ferris family genealogy. When her health failed, she turned her material over to Morris Patterson Ferris. Little died in Chicago on October 30, 1931 at the age of 75.

Scope and arrangement

The genealogical research compiled by Lora Little and Henry Boynton Ferris lineage related to their investigation of the Ferris Family includes family data sheets, research notes, and photographs, as well as correspondence from distant relations, fellow genealogists, town clerks and other recordkeepers. Some correspondence from the 1860s, which was forwarded to Little in the course of her project, represents attempts by earlier generations of Ferris' to trace the family genealogy.

In 1966 Western Reserve Historical Society genealogist Harriet Scofield undertook a comprehensive exploration of the tangled lines of the Ferris family and published her findings in the "New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record" in her article |The Six Ferris Brothers and Their Families.| "[T]his is not my own family at all," Scofield noted in a 1966 letter to a NYGB editor, "but just one where the problems and mix-ups intrigued me." In preparation for her article, Scofield reviewed the Ferris Family Genealogical Research papers, than housed at the NYGB, and arranged and annoted the research notes and correspondence. Scofield explains her methods in a letter that accompanied the draft of her article (box 1, folder 1). Throughout the collection, Scofield's arrangement scheme and annotations have been preserved.

The Ferris family genealogical research papers are arranged in three series:

  • Series I: Family Data Sheets, 1966-1967; n.d.

    Harriet Scofield's article on the Ferris family along with her correspondence with New York Biographical and Genealogical Society staff precedes the data sheets.

  • Series II: Research Materials, 1865-1909

    Notable materials include Little's application to the Daughters of the American Revolution and the sheet music for a composition she wrote.

  • Series III: Research Correspondence, 1867-1914

    This series consist chiefly of correspondence received by Little and Henry Boynton Ferris related to their research. Some correspondence from the 1860s, which was forwarded to Little my her Ferris relations, represents attempts by earlier generations of Ferris' to trace the family genealogy. The numbering scheme and annotations are transcribed from Harriet Scofield's original titles.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 2008

Processing information

Compiled by Leslie Reyman.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Conditions Governing Use

None

Alternative form available

None