Famille

029947 — Archive of family correspondence consisting of approximately 474 letters totaling 2266 pages of correspondence most with original mailing envelopes plus 34 pieces of ephemera mainly used envelopes all dated between 4 October 1852 to 14 March 1924. Letters are written in ink and pencil written in legible hands in good condition with normal wear. <br /><p>Correspondents in the collection include three generations of the extended Alexander and Harrison families of Litchfield and West Winfield Herkimer County New York including Olive E. Alexander who married Thomas E. Harrison Olive's sister E. Jane Alexander and the children of Olive and Thomas Harrison: Dr. Herbert A. Alexander Leonard Alexander and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Harrison. Other correspondents include the brothers of Thomas E. Harrison Jane Alexander sister of Olive other brothers and a number of cousins and friends who have dispersed across America in the migration west. </p><p> Of the 474 letters 326 are written to Lizzie Harrison another 59 are written to her brother Dr. Herbert A. Harrison generally when he was away at school in Manhattan studying medicine or doing a residency at a hospital in Washington DC. Lizzie appears to have never married stayed at home and cared for her parents until their respective deaths and became the center point for the family for all relevant news of members who had left home. Many of the letters written to Lizzie were written by her brother Herbert over 45 letters and Hebert's wife Delia over 50 letters who Lizzie became good friends with. Lizzie's cousin Carrie Alexander who moved to Michigan with her parents would later marry the Rev. Albert S. Tedman and reside in Detroit for time as well as other locations in Michigan. Carrie writes 41 letters to Lizzie keeping her apprised of her life and how things are going in Detroit. </p><p> Lizzie also receives letters from many friends and cousins from various places particularly from New York State and Michigan but also as far away as California. There are also letters written to Lizzie from her brother Leonard as well as her father and mother Thomas and Olive Harrison. </p><p> Dr. Herbert A. Harrison receives 59 letters and writes 46. His main correspondent is his sister Lizzie. Earlier correspondence from the 1850s to 1870s concern the Alexander sisters Jane and Olive Lizzie's mother and their friends and cousins. In all Olive E. Alexander Harrison writes 31 letters and receives 13 many from her sister Jane and Jane Alexander who never married writes 3 letters but receives 27. Thomas E. Harrison Lizzie's father in all writes 12 letters receives 15 mostly to and from his children Lizzie Herbert Leonard. </p><p><b>Alexander and Harrison Family History</b> </p><p> Thomas E. Harrison was born in Litchfield New York on 25 February 1836. He was the son of Stephen Harrison 1806-1894 who came from England and settled first in New Hartford and then at Litchfield about 1833. He married Mary Watson 1810-1890 and they had eight children Thomas E. Harrison being one of them. Thomas was a justice of the peace for a number of years. </p><p> Thomas married Olive E. Alexander of Litchfield New York about 1865. She was the daughter of Joseph Alexander 1797-1861 and his wife Eliza Warner 1801-1860. Olive's father had a small farm of about 105 acres at Litchfield where he grew oats and corn and had some milk cows and pigs. Olive became a school teacher and taught at Winfield in 1856 and at Litchfield in 1858. At the time of her parent's death they were buried at the Jerusalem Hill Cemetery in Herkimer County New York. The Alexander's had a second daughter by the name of Esther Jane Alexander 1824-1883 Olive's sister who features in the early correspondence of this collection. </p><p> Dr. Herbert Alexander Harrison was born in 1871 at West Winfield Herkimer County New York. He was the son of Thomas E. Harrison 1836-1920 and Olive E. Alexander 1839-1893. Herbert had a sister Mary Eliza Harrison 1867-1929 and a brother by the name of Leonard E. Harrison 1876-1936; both were living at West Winfield when Herbert died in 1915. </p><p> Herbert's sister Mary Eliza Harrison titled "Lizzie" in the correspondence was educated first at the West Winfield Academy then at the State Normal School at Albany where she graduated in the class of 1888. She became a teacher and for awhile taught at Selden Long Island. She is found living with her parents and her brother Leonard in the 1892 NY State Census and listed with no occupation. Lizzie M. Harrison of North Winfield is shown contributing $25.00 in 1895 to the Daniel Hand Fund for the Education of Colored People. A later letter in the collection shows her to be contributing money to the Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee. When the 1905 New York State Census was taken she is shown living with her father and brother Leonard her mother having died. She was not listed with an occupation but rather listed for her occupation as "house work." She is later found to be a charter member of the Society of Middletown Upper Houses. On 3 October 1910 a passenger manifest for the ship Celtic shows her arriving at the Port of New York from Liverpool England. Her father accompanied her to Europe. </p><p> Herbert's brother Leonard E. Harrison attended the West Winfield Union School and Academy. Leonard died of pneumonia contracted after he was hospitalized for a fall. He was a farmer and a graduate of Cornell University. He left a wife Edith Bonfoy Harrison 1885-1973 and a son Walter L. Harrison 1914-1994 a student at Cornell when his father died. There are several letters in this collection written to Lizzie by a woman named Edit. It may be her sister-in-law Edith Bonfoy Harrison. </p><p> Herbert A. Harrison grew up in West Winfield and attended the village school and was graduated from the West Winfield Academy. Deciding to study medicine he went to New York City and took a course in the New York Homeopathic College from which he graduated. A number of letters written to and from his sister Lizzie were written at the time that he studied at New York Homeopathic College. </p><p> After taking his degree in medicine at the N.Y.H.M.C. & H. in 1895 he served two years as an intern at the Washington Hospital and then began practice in Cooperstown N.Y. When he was living at Washington DC there is some further correspondence between him and his sister Lizzie. After several years at Cooperstown he took a special course in eye ear nose and throat diseases at the New York Ophthalmic Hospital which he completed in June of 1903 and remained at NYOH for six months as house surgeon before returning to Cooperstown where he practiced until July of 1905 when he removed to Utica New York and followed his profession residing at 8 Scott Street and having an office in the Evana Building. He was a member of the staff of the Utica Homeopathic Hospital. He attended Plymouth Church and was a member of the West Winfield Masonic Lodge. </p><p> He was a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy the American Ophthalmological Ontological and Laryngological Society the National Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis the New York Homeopathic Society the Central New York Medico - Chirurgical Society and the Utica Homeopathic Club. </p><p> In 1903 he married Miss Delia Ellison 1867-1956 of Utica the daughter of Henry Duane Ellison 1833-1910 and Elnora Josephine Arnold 1837-1888. Together the couple had two sons one Thomas Duane Harrison 1904-1984 and Leonard Harrison b. 1911. Delia wrote 54 letters in this collection to her husband's sister Lizzie who she appears to have become close friends with. There are a couple of letters written to Delia's sons Thomas and one written by Thomas in this collection. </p><p> On May 13 1915 while walking the track on his way to the station at East Creek New York. Dr. Herbert A. Harrison was struck by a train and instantly killed. He had the custom of taking the train to East Creek then walking about ten minutes on the train track to a farm that was owned by his wife nearby. This collection contains several letters of condolence written to Herbert's sister Lizzie. Letters upon the death of Thomas E. Harrison Herbert and Lizzie's father are also included in this collection. He died in 1920. </p>Overall the correspondence collection is interesting in that it shows the changing of one generation to the next. Thomas E. Harrison a farmer sends his children to university to become professionals a teacher and a doctor. The collection also shows the extended family migration west the women keeping in touch with folks back home wishing them to come and move west with them with promises of a better life. Most of the correspondents tend to be women and the conversations of the letters tend to be dominated on the domestic sphere of life that they controlled. <br /> books