Charles Sedgwick Papers 1813-1908 Guide to the Collection Funded by the Sedgwick Family Charitable Trust.

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketches Sources Collection Description Related Collections Arrangement Acquisition Information Organization Detailed Description Preferred Citation Access Terms

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketches

Individuals most heavily represented in the collection:

Charles Sedgwick (1791-1856)

On the 15 December 1791, Charles Sedgwick was born in Stockbridge Massachusetts, the youngest son and tenth child of Federalist Judge Theodore Sedgwick (1746-1813) and Pamela Dwight (1753-1807). In 1820, he moved to Lenox and educated himself for the bar, as had his three brothers. He eventually attained the position of clerk of the courts in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. On 30 September 1819 he married Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight, a teacher, and over the next thirteen years had five children: Katharine Maria, Charles, Elizabeth Dwight, William Dwight and Grace Ashburner. Ill health eventually forced him to resign in 1856, the year in which he later died.

Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight Sedgwick (1801-1864)

Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight Sedgwick was born in 1801 to Josiah Dwight and Rhoda Edwards. Rhoda was the granddaughter of Jonathan Edwards, the president of Princeton College. Elizabeth married Charles Sedgwick in 1819 and had five children as listed above. One of her closest friends was her husband's sister, novelist Catharine Maria Sedgwick. For over thirty years Elizabeth was the headmistress of a school for young ladies in Lenox, which was regarded as one of the best schools in the country. She was also an author of several books including Lessons Without Books and A Talk With My Pupils. In 1859 she closed the doors to her school and died five years later in Lenox.

Katharine Sedgwick Minot (1820-1880)

Katharine Maria was the oldest child of Charles Sedgwick and Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight Sedgwick. She was born in Lenox on 15 September 1820 and named after her famous paternal aunt, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, with whom she shared a close relationship. While in the Italian city of Rome, Katharine met William Minot II of Boston and married him at Stockbridge on 28 November 1842. They lived at William's father's house at 61 Beacon Street for a short period of time. Following this, William, with his brother and father bought Woodbourne, and together, they built a house in 1847. Woodbourne was land on Bourne Street, Forest Hills that was named by Julia Minot. Their seven children, Jane, Alice Woodbourne, William, Charles, Robert, Henry Davis and Lawrence were all born at Woodbourne. Katharine died on 29 June 1880 in Boston.

William Minot II (1817-1894)

William was born on 7 April 1817, the second son of William Minot (son of George Richards Minot) and Louisa Davis Minot (daughter of Solicitor Daniel Davis). He graduated from Harvard (A.B. 1836; LL.B. 1840) and was admitted to the bar in 1841. Following this, his health suffered and subsequently he traveled to Europe. Eventually he returned to America and began working from an office at 39 Court Street, the location where both his father and grandfather had practiced. He later became connected with the management of trust estates and soon had charge of over one fiftieth of all of the property in Boston. He married Katharine Maria Sedgwick in Stockbridge on 28 November 1842 and had seven children with her (see above). William enjoyed hunting and often went to Nova Scotia and North Carolina for that reason. In 1883 he moved from Woodbourne to 22 Marlborough Street, Boston and spent his summers in Bar Harbor, Maine until his death in 1894.

Elizabeth Dwight Sedgwick Rackemann (1826-1891)

Elizabeth was born on 15 July 1826, the third child of Charles Sedgwick and Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight, and younger sister to Katharine Maria. On 20 June 1855 she married Frederick William Rackemann, son of Daniel Rackemann and Philippine Florentine (Marianne) Rackemann of Bremen, Germany. They had six children between 1857 and 1868: Charles Sedgwick, Frederick William, Felix, Elizabeth Sedgwick, Louise Sedgwick and Wilfred Rackemann. Frederick Rackemann died 16 August 1884 and Elizabeth on 24 September 1891.

Grace Ashburner Sedgwick Bristed (1833-1897)

Grace was born on 5 March 1833 in Lenox. She was the fifth child of Charles Sedgwick and Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight and became active in the United States Hospital Service during the Civil War. In August 1857 she married Charles Astor Bristed from New York, a graduate from Yale and Trinity College, Cambridge, England. They had one son Charles Astor Bristed, Jr. who was born on 24 May 1868 in New York. Grace Ashburner Sedgwick Bristed died in St Cloud, France on 8 February 1897.

William Dwight Sedgwick (1831-1862)

William was born in Lenox on 27 June 1831, the second son of Charles Sedgwick and Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight. After leaving Harvard College in 1851, he spent one winter in a law office before studying abroad in Heidelberg, Gottingen, and Breslau. After his return, he remained for a year at Cambridge Law School and then established himself as a lawyer in St Louis, Missouri. In 1857 he married Louisa Frederica Tellkampf in Hanover, Germany, daughter of Professor A. Tellkampf. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, William left his profession and on 25 May 1861 was commissioned as first lieutenant in Company D, the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was subsequently detailed as ordnance officer of Major-General Nathaniel D. Banks' Corps and was then transferred to the staff of Major-General John Sedgwick with the rank of major. Through his period of service he wrote constantly to his family and particularly to his mother, Elizabeth B. D. Sedgwick. On 17 September 1862, he suffered a mortal wound on the battlefield of Antietam. After eight hours he was found by friends and spent his last days in a farmhouse attended by his mother and sister. When he died on 29 September 1862, his wife Louisa was not present because she did not learn of her husband's condition until her arrival from Europe. He left behind three daughters: Grace, Amelia and Mary Elizabeth.

Additional Correspondents (listed alphabetically):

Josiah Dwight

Josiah was the father of Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight and grandfather of Katharine Sedgwick Minot. He married Rhoda Edwards in 1798.

Rhoda Edwards Dwight

Rhoda Edwards, daughter of Timothy Edwards, married Josiah Dwight in 1798. She was the grandmother of Katharine Sedgwick Minot and mother of Elizabeth Buckminster Dwight Sedgwick.

Sarah Forbes

Sarah was born on 20 January 1813 to Stephen Hathaway and Lydia Swain and was the twin sister of Mary Watson. Prior to marrying John Murray Forbes, her maiden name was Sarah Swain Hathaway.

Alice Woodbourne Minot (1847-1883)

Alice was born on 10 July 1847 to William Minot II and Katharine Sedgwick Minot. She was their second child and never married. She died at the young age of thirty-six on 15 December 1883.

Charles Sedgwick Minot (1852-1914)

Charles was born on 23 December 1852 to William Minot II and Katharine Sedgwick Minot. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1872 and married Lucy Fosdick of Groton, on 1 June 1889. Charles became an instructor in oral pathology and surgery 1880-1882, holding many eminent positions over the course of his career until his death on 19 November 1914. Charles and Lucy had no children.

Francis Minot

Francis was born on 12 April 1821 to William Minot and Louisa Davis. He graduated from Harvard University in 1841 and then went to Medical School on Mason Street, Boston. In 1859 he was elected visiting physician to Massachusetts General Hospital, and later became consulting physician. He remained in this post until his death on 11 May 1899.

Henry Davis Minot (1859-1890)

The son of William Minot II and Katharine Sedgwick Minot was born on 18 August 1859.At seventeen he wrote a book called The Land and Game Birds of New England and then began working at Jackson and Curtis as a stockbrokers. Eventually he gained a position at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway where he became vice president. On 14 November 1890 he was killed in a railroad accident at the age of 31. He never married.

Julia Minot (1823-1875)

Julia was born on 23 January 1823 to William Minot and Louisa Davis. For many years she was an invalid and died on 22 March 1875 unmarried.

Louisa Davis Minot (1788-1858)

Louisa was born on 10 May 1788 to Daniel Davis and Lois Freeman. She married William Minot in 1810 and became mother to William, Francis and Julia. When William Minot II married she became Katharine Sedgwick Minot's mother-in-law. She died on 21 January 1858.

Robert Sedgwick Minot (1856-1910)

The son of William Minot II and Katharine Sedgwick Minot was born on 10th August 1856. He married Abby Howe, daughter of William Wayland Manning of Michigan in January 1883 and had four children. He died on 15 May 1910 in Dover.

William Minot III (1849-1900)

William, the third son of William Minot II and Katharine Sedgwick Minot, was born on 7 May 1849. In 1868 he graduated from Harvard Law School. He married Elizabeth Vredenburgh Van Pelt on 4 June 1882 and they had four children. On 30 November 1900, he died in Boston.

Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789-1867)

Catharine Maria was born on 28 December 1789 to Theodore Sedgwick and Pamela Dwight, in Stockbridge. She shared a close relationship with her brothers Theodore II, Henry Dwight, Robert and Charles. She eventually became one of America's most popular authors producing novels such as Redwood (1824) and Hope Leslie (1827). She remained unmarried until her death on 31 July 1867, which occurred while living with her nephew, William Minot II.

Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick (1824-1898)

Elizabeth was born on 27 January 1824 to Robert Sedgwick and Elizabeth Dana Ellery. She was the cousin of Katharine Sedgwick Minot (their fathers were brothers). Elizabeth married Francis James Child in 1860 and had four children. She died in Cambridge in 1898.

Jane Sedgwick (1821-1889)

Jane was born on 20 February 1821 to Henry Dwight Sedgwick and Jane Minot. She was the cousin of Katharine Sedgwick Minot and died unmarried on 12 February 1889 in Washington D.C.

Louisa Tellkampf Sedgwick

Louisa was the wife of William Dwight Sedgwick and sister-in-law to Katharine Sedgwick Minot. She married William in 1857 in her hometown of Hanover, Germany and they had three daughters. Following her husband death during the Civil War, she looked after her daughters until her own death in 1879.

Maria Banyer Sedgwick

Maria was born on 8 December 1813 to Theodore Sedgwick II and Susan Anne Livingston Ridley. She was the cousin of Katharine Sedgwick Minot and died on 5th September 1883.

Robert Sedgwick (1787-1841)

The son of Judge Theodore Sedgwick and Pamela Dwight was born on 6th June 1787. He was the older brother of Katharine's Sedgwick Minot's father, Charles Sedgwick. Robert graduated from Williams College in 1804 and became a well-known lawyer in New York City. On 21 August 1822 he married Elizabeth Dana Ellery of Newport, Rhode Island and they had eight children. He died of apoplexy at Sachems Head, Connecticut on 2 September 1841.

Susan Anne Livingston Ridley (1788-1867)

Susan was born on 24 May 1788 to Matthew Ridley and Catherine Livingston. She married Theodore Sedgwick II, the uncle of Katharine Maria Sedgwick on 28 November 1808. Susan died at Stockbridge on 20 January 1867.

Frances Watson

The daughter of Ebenezer Watson and Frances Sedgwick was born on 21 September 1811. Frances and Katharine Sedgwick Minot were cousins (Katharine's father and Frances' mother were siblings).

Mary Watson (1813-1890)

Mary was born on 20 January 1813 to Stephen Hathaway and Lydia Swain. She was married on 1 July 1833 to Robert Sedgwick Watson, the son of Ebenezer Watson and Frances Sedgwick. Her maiden name was Mary Taber Hathaway and she had a twin, Sarah Swain Hathaway who was married to John Murray Forbes. She died in Milton on 20 December 1890.

Sources

Foster, Edward Halsey, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Twayne Publishers, Inc., New York, 1974

Menand, Catharine, Research Guide to Massachusetts Courts and Records, 1987

Minot, James Jackson, Ancestors and Descendants of George Richards Minot 1758-1802, 1936

The Minot Family: Record of Births, Marriages and Deaths 1754-1934, Copied from Family Bibles, 1934

Welch, Richard E. Theodore Sedgwick, Federalist: A Political Portrait, 1965

Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 75, 1963

Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 70, 1950-53

The Sedgwick Family Website: http://www.sedgwick.org

Harvard Memorial Biographies: William Dwight Sedgwick: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/2126/hmb.sedgwick.html

Collection Description

The Charles Sedgwick papers document the relationships among the interrelated Sedgwick and Minot families and their friends from 1813 to 1908. The collection consists of twenty boxes of papers, two large manuscript folders, and five bound volumes.

Apart from the business papers of Charles Sedgwick (1791-1856), the bulk of the collection consists of correspondence to and from Elizabeth B. D. Sedgwick (1801-1864), Katharine Sedgwick Minot (1820-1880), William Minot II (1817-1894), Elizabeth D. S. Rackemann (1826-1891), Grace A. S. Bristed (1833-1897), and William D. Sedgwick (1831-1862). The collection also contains bound volumes, including diaries and travel journals kept from 1828 to 1879, most written by Katharine Sedgwick Minot, as well as general correspondence.

Charles Sedgwick's business papers document his professional life as a lawyer who dealt with litigation and property deals. Many of the male members of the Sedgwick family were trained in the legal profession and their correspondence throughout the collection reflects this as well.

The family correspondence encompasses a broad range of topics, including politics, family deaths and religion. The women in the Sedgwick family are heavily represented in the collection, in particular their involvement in education, both as pupils and teachers, travel in the United States and abroad, and the Civil War on the home front. A large section of the correspondence is to or from Katharine Sedgwick Minot, the niece of author Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Catherine Maria played an influential role in both Katharine and her daughter Alice's lives. Catharine Maria Sedgwick introduced the family to Charles Dickens when he toured America in 1842, and family correspondence documents the reaction and excitement prompted by the event.

William D. Sedgwick's wrote extensively to his mother Elizabeth B. D. Sedgwick during the Civil War, while serving in Company D, the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In his letters he articulates many aspects of the war, including battles, military strategy, daily life as a soldier, and his support of a draft, until his death on the battlefield of Antietam, in 1862.

Related Collections

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds numerous collections of Sedgwick family papers, including several of Catharine Maria Sedgwick. See the collection descriptions in ABIGAIL and the finding aids to individual collections for more information.

The Massachusetts Historical Society also holds the following photograph related to the Charles Sedgwick papers: Carte de visite of Louisa Sedgwick Playfair, 1890. Photo. 9.18.

Arrangement

The correspondence to and from Elizabeth B. D. Sedgwick (1801-1864), Katharine Sedgwick Minot (1820-1880), William Minot II (1817-1894), Elizabeth D. S. Rackemann (1826-1891), Grace A. S. Bristed (1833-1897), and William D. Sedgwick (1831-1862) is arranged chronologically under these five individuals and their correspondents. To avoid overlap, correspondence between Katharine Sedgwick Minot and one of the other main individuals is always placed with the Katharine Sedgwick Minot correspondence. Likewise, apart from letters with Katharine Sedgwick Minot, correspondence with these individuals and William Minot II is always organized with his papers. Remaining correspondence not related to these individuals is filed in General correspondence.

Each series of correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent's first name.

Acquisition Information

Katharine Minot Channing (Mrs. Henry Morse Channing) of Sherburn, Massachusetts deposited the Charles Sedgwick papers in May 1952. The papers were removed from a larger collection of Minot family papers that included letters by Daniel Davis, Elizabeth Dwight, Catharine Maria Sedgwick and Theodore Sedgwick, as well as correspondence and diaries of William Minot. The collection was made a gift to the Massachusetts Historical Society in May 1963.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Charles Sedgwick papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.