1791-1924
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of the papers of Boston physicians George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. and George Cheyne Shattuck, Jr., as well as their families.
Biographical Sketches
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. (1783-1854) was a Boston physician. He was educated at Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania and practiced in Boston from 1807 until his death. He served as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society from 1836 to 1840 and established the Shattuck Professorship of Pathological Anatomy at Harvard Medical School. In 1811, he married Eliza Cheever Davis (1790-1828), and they had the following children: George Cheyne Shattuck, Jr. (1813-1893), John Derby Shattuck (1815-1816), Caleb Davis Shattuck (1816-1820), Eleanor Elizabeth Shattuck (1819-1842), Lucy Cheever Shattuck (1823-1835), and John Derby Shattuck (1825-1826). George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. married second Amelia H. Bigelow (1792-1865) in 1835.
George Cheyne Shattuck, Jr. (1813-1893) was, like his father, a Boston physician. He received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1831, his M.D. in 1835, and studied for a time in Europe, including with renowned Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis. Shattuck was an instructor in medicine almost his entire professional life and the visiting physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital for 36 years. He also served as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society from 1872 to 1874 and founded St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H. In 1840, he married Anne Henrietta Brune (1809-1894), and they had the following children: Lucy Brune Shattuck (1840-1861), Eleanor Anne Brune Shattuck (1842-1918), George Brune Shattuck (1844-1923), and Frederick Cheever Shattuck (1847-1929).
Benjamin Shattuck (1777-1831) was the brother of George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. He graduated from Harvard College in 1797 and served as a midshipmen in the U.S. Navy before working as a ship captain in the merchant service.
Sources
Burrage, Walter L. "George Cheyne Shattuck, Senior." A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography Comprising the Lives of Eminent Deceased Physicians and Surgeons From 1610 to 1910. Ed. Howard A. Kelly. Vol. II. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1912. 361-362.
Burrage, Walter L. "George Cheyne Shattuck, Junior." A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography Comprising the Lives of Eminent Deceased Physicians and Surgeons From 1610 to 1910. Ed. Howard A. Kelly. Vol. II. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1912. 362.
Hassam, John T. "Bartholomew and Richard Cheever and Some of Their Descendants." The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. 36. Boston: New-England Historic Genealogical Society, July 1882. 305-313.
Shattuck, Lemuel. Memorials of the Descendants of William Shattuck, the Progenitor of the Families in America That Have Borne His Name. Boston: Printed by Dutton and Wentworth, 1855.
Collection Description
This collection consists of the papers of Boston physicians George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. and George Cheyne Shattuck, Jr., as well as their families. The collection contains family and personal correspondence and papers; account books (1825-1853) and medical appointment books (1818-1849) of George C. Shattuck, Sr.; an account book (1843-1846) and diary (1850-1854) of George C. Shattuck, Jr.; papers of shipmaster Benjamin Shattuck, including loose papers, the log of the brig Rigel (1811) and schooner Nancy (1815), and a diary of a journey to Arkansas (1819); a Shattuck family genealogy; and correspondence and other papers of related Brune, Cheever, Davis, and Derby family members. Included are a few letters written by Marian Hooper Adams.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Frederick Cheever Shattuck and George Brune Shattuck, 1917, 1922.
Other Formats
Digital facsimiles of the logs of the brig Rigel and schooner Nancy are available on Life at Sea, a digital publication of Adam Matthew Digital, Inc. This digital resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS makes this resource available onsite; see a reference librarian for more information.
Arrangement Note
The manuscripts in this collection were previously tipped into volumes in a roughly chronological arrangement. Most of these volumes have been disbound, and the papers rehoused into folders and document boxes (Series I), except for eight volumes that were cased (Series II). Former volume numbers are listed in the Detailed Description of the Collection below.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Loose papers, 1791-1924
This series contains former volumes 1-33, including family and personal correspondence and other loose papers. These volumes have been disbound and their contents filed chronologically in document boxes.
Undated, 1791-1814
1815-1825
1826-June 1829
July 1829-Apr. 1833
May 1833-June 1836
July 1836-1839
1840-1844
1845-May 1849
June 1849-June 1865
July 1865-Oct. 1878
Nov. 1878-1885
1886-1889
1890-1924 and undated miscellany
Loose oversize papers, 1806-1856
Photocopies of items from Special Colls.
II. Volumes, 1809-1886
This series contains volumes 34-49. Some of these volumes are stored in document boxes, and some have been cased.
Log of the brig Rigel, 1811
Soft-bound oversize volume.This log of the brig Rigel was kept by shipmaster Benjamin Shattuck, 1 Jan.-14 Dec. 1811 on a trading voyage from Boston, Mass. to Montevideo, Uruguay. Included is a harbor log kept at Montevideo. The brig was washed ashore in a storm at Montevideo on 19 October and condemned on 3 December with all hands discharged on 14 December.
Digital facsimiles of the log of the brig Rigel are available on Life at Sea, a digital publication of Adam Matthew Digital, Inc. This digital resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS makes this resource available onsite; see a reference librarian for more information.
Log of the schooner Nancy, 1815, and Benjamin Shattuck diary, 1819
This log of the schooner Nancy was kept by supercargo Benjamin Shattuck from 21 July-24 Nov. 1815 (with gaps) while on a trading voyage from Boston, Mass. to Surinam and Guyana and back to Boston. The schooner was commanded by Neil Livingston. The same volume also contains Shattuck's diary of a journey from Massachusetts to Arkansas, via New York, Ohio, and Illinois, 16 June-30 Dec. 1819.
Digital facsimiles of the log of the schooner Nancy are available on Life at Sea, a digital publication of Adam Matthew Digital, Inc. This digital resource is available at subscribing libraries; speak to your local librarian to determine if your library has access. The MHS makes this resource available onsite; see a reference librarian for more information.
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. "daybook" (appointment book), 1 Aug. 1819-6 Dec. 1822
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. "journal" (appointment book), 1 Oct. 1829-31 Aug. 1832
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. appointment book, 17 May 1839-31 Aug. 1841
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. appointment book, 1 May 1844-31 May 1849
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. account book, 1 Apr. 1825-28 Dec. 1848
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. rent book for various properties, 1825-1853, 1854-1856, 1867, 1871-1886
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. account book, 1825-1853
Unidentified index, [1809?]
Medical treatise written for the North American Review, 1844
George C. Shattuck, Jr. household accounts, 1843-1846
George C. Shattuck, Jr. diary, 8 Apr. 1850-10 Oct. 1854
Shattuck family genealogy, undated
George Cheyne Shattuck, Sr. account book, 1849-1853, including personal property income, 1868
"Letters," 1847-1850
Included are letters and clippings, not in chronological order, primarily personal correspondence of George C. Shattuck, Jr. and his wife Anne (Brune) Shattuck with the Brune and Shattuck families.
Preferred Citation
George Cheyne Shattuck 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.