Lewis B. Woodruff Map of the United States, 1820

The Historical Society recently purchased the papers of New York City banker and businessman Samuel Flewwelling (1774 or 5-1849) primarily relating to property held by his wife, Julia Elvira Canfield Flewwelling (1791-1868), and him in the Western Reserve, later Ohio. Following Samuel’s death, the properties were managed by William Mackay (1795-1873), a New York City businessman and the husband of Caroline Emma Canfield Mackay. The collections includes indentures, agreements, leases, deeds, statements and accounts, and correspondence.The papers are arranged chronologically in one series and consist mostly of documents concerning the conveyance land in the Western Reserve. The earliest document outlines the partitioning of land Judson Canfield and others purchased from the Connecticut Land Co. in 1799. Flewwelling acquired land from Canfield as early as 1815. Some of the later sales were among members of Flewwelling’s family, including his father-in-law Judson Canfield, his brother-in-law Henry J. Canfield, and his brother- and sister-in-law Frederick Augustus Tallmadge and Elizabeth Canfield Tallmadge. Flewwelling provided mortgages to some of the purchasers of land, and the agreements contained in the papers spell out the payment terms. The finding aid, completed by Leith Johnson, is already available online.
Johnson also completed the finding aid for a related collection, the papers of Judson Canfield. The collection consists primarily of legal documents, including agreements, deeds, executions, receipts, statements, and correspondence. The papers also include a small collection of correspondence and writings relating to Walter Ferriss, whose daughter married Canfield’s son.
The study of Connecticut’s participation in settling the Western Reserve lands will certainly be enriched by access to these collections.

The Historical Society is pleased to announce the acquisition of several important collections of civic records. St. Paul’s Masonic Lodge, the Litchfield Garden Club, and the Litchfield County University Club have all voted to donate their records to the Society.

The records of St. Paul’s Lodge and the Litchfield Garden Club have been on deposit since the 1970s, and a collection of books once used by the Lodge as a lending library have been on loan since approximately 1906. The Litchfield County University Club, founded in 1896, recently located several scrapbooks of records dating to the earliest days of the Club. One of the club’s first vice presidents was George C. Woodruff of Litchfield, whose papers are in the Society’s collection.

If you are a member of a civic group whose records we have yet to document please consider donating your materials. If you would like to discuss it with the archivist, call Linda Hocking at 860-567-4501 or e-mail archivist@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.