Evarts family papers

The papers of Jeremiah Evarts are composed of correspondence, manuscripts of published articles, reports, memoranda, and legal and financial records. The material is divided into "Correspondence," "Subject File," and "Personal, Legal and Financial Papers."

The correspondence in these papers includes correspondence of Jeremiah Evarts with his family. There are more than fifty letters from Evarts to his wife, Mehetabel, which were written, for the most part, when he was traveling on behalf of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. A letter from Evarts to his father, James Evarts, gives a detailed account of a difficult sea voyage from Boston to Savannah, Georgia, in the winter of 1818. John Jay Evarts, writing to his father, Jeremiah Evarts, from Yale College, describes the sophomore class rebellion of 1830.

Scattered throughout the correspondence are letters to Jeremiah Evarts from fellow members of the Class of 1802 at Yale: David Dudley Field, Eleazer Foster, Sherman Johnson, William Maxwell (for whom Jeremiah Evarts named his second son), Pelatiah Perit, David Austin Sherman, and Roswell R. Swann. Other correspondence related to Yale includes two letters each to Jeremiah Evarts from Timothy Dwight (about the publication of some of the latter's writings), James Luce Kingsley, and Jeremiah Day. Letters from John Hough and Samuel Hubbard, also classmates of Evarts at Yale, appear in the correspondence. Hough was a professor at Middlebury College from 1812 to 1839. Jeremiah Evarts and Samuel Hubbard, a Boston lawyer, banker, and judge, were fellow members of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the Park Street Church in Boston. Hubbard and Evarts shared other religious and educational interests; Hubbard was a trustee of Andover Theological Seminary, a president of the American Education Society, and vice president of the American Home Missionary Society.

Letters on the subject of a religious revival movement in 1830 may be found in Evarts' correspondence with Josiah Bissell and David Austin Sherman. There is also correspondence between Jeremiah Evarts and Simeon Baldwin, both of whom were married to daughters of Roger Sherman. Within the papers are a letter from John Jay and one from John Randolph to Jeremiah Evarts in response to letters which he sent in 1812, presumably about the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Other correspondents of Jeremiah Evarts include men who were associated with Andover Theological Seminary in its early years: Leonard Woods, Moses Stuart, Samuel Farrar, Ebenezer Porter, and Justin Edwards. Letters from John Todd to Evarts give a student's impressions of Andover in 1822 and 1823.

Many of the correspondents were associates of Jeremiah Evarts on the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Leonard Woods, Samuel Worcester, Jedidiah Morse, Samuel Hubbard, Rufus Anderson, Warren Fay, and Benjamin B. Wisner were, like Evarts, members of the Board's Prudential Committee. Evarts corresponded with missionaries such as Hiram and Sybil Bingham in Hawaii and Gordon Hall in India. (Additional missionary correspondence may be found in the Subject File, under "A. B. C. F. M.")

A significant topic in the Jeremiah Evarts papers is the controversy over Cherokee and Choctaw lands in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Correspondence on the subject dates from August, 1829, to February, 1831. Letters related to the dispute may be found in Evarts' correspondence with Eleazer Lord, Asa Mead, George B. Cheever, and the North American Review. There is a letter from Henry Clay indicative of his position on the Cherokee question in August, 1830. Members of the 21st Congress who corresponded with Evarts about the bill to remove the Indians from their lands were Theodore Frelinghuysen, Senator from New Jersey, Isaac Chapman Bates, Representative from Massachusetts and a Yale classmate of Jeremiah Evarts, Edward Everett, Representative from Massachusetts, and Ambrose Spencer, Representative from New York. There are two letters from John Ross, head of the Coosa Cherokee Nation, one written before and one after the passage of the Indian bill on May 26, 1830. Another letter, written by William S. Coodey, a Cherokee, describes the activities of the Cherokee delegation in Washington, D.C., in December, 1830.

The "Subject File" consists of papers related to several important concerns in the life of Jeremiah Evarts from 1810 to 1831. There are contracts signed and letters received by Evarts as editor of the Panoplist. Among the papers pertaining to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions are letters from missionaries, reports, financial statements, memoranda, and notes. There are copies of articles intended for publication (apparently in the Missionary Herald), and thirteen copies of the magazine, three of which were edited by Jeremiah Evarts. These papers, however, represent only a portion of Evarts' files for the A. B. C. F. M. and the Missionary Herald. Most of his records, including travel journals and correspondence on behalf of the A. B. C. F. M., are with the files of the Board in the Houghton Library of Harvard University.

Jeremiah Evarts supported the movement to stop Sunday postal service in the United States. Among his papers are several pamphlets describing citizens' efforts in New York and Boston and a memorial to the Congress of the United States on the subject.

The papers of Jeremiah Evarts also contain manuscript copies and proofs of his articles on behalf of Indian rights, first published in the National Intelligencer under the pseudonym, "William Penn." Appearing in 1829 in the midst of the controversy over the removal of the Cherokees from their land in Georgia, the William Penn essays sought to increase popular support for the Indian cause.

The "Personal, Legal, and Financial Papers" of Jeremiah Evarts consist of student compositions, portions of a journal, notes, memoranda, pamphlets, bulletins, certificates, legal documents, and financial records. There are two compositions written while Evarts was an undergraduate at Yale College, "A Dissertation on Amor Patriae" (1800) and "Are the abilities of females inferior to those of males?" (1801), in which Evarts took the position that the abilities of women are equal to those of men. There are several segments of a journal kept by Jeremiah Evarts. The first segment (1801 Sep 27 - 1802 Jan 2) records his thoughts and activities as a member of the senior class at Yale College. Some of the entries reflect the influence of President Dwight on the lives of the students. Another portion of the journal (1803 May 22 - Sep 12) was written during the period when Evarts was principal of the Caledonia County Grammar School in Peacham, Vermont. A third (1824 Jan 1 - May 29) was written during a visit to the Cherokee and Choctaw missions as an agent of the A. B. C. F. M. Among the personal papers of Evarts are memoranda and prayers written by others and a handful of pamphlets, bulletins, and circulars descriptive of New England events, and institutions in the 1820's. The legal papers include certificates of membership in the bar associations of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, as well as documents entrusted to Evarts by clients. The financial papers contain estimates of property and records of expenditures and receipts. The property estimates include inventories of Evarts' library and furniture. In addition, there are bills and receipts from 1810 to 1831 pertaining principally to family finances but occasionally to Evarts' account with the A. B. C. F. M. (Statements of balances of the Board prepared by Evarts as treasurer are in the Subject File.)

For additional writings by or about Jeremiah Evarts, see the entries in the public catalog of Sterling Memorial Library. Correspondence and journals of Jeremiah Evarts on behalf of the A. B. C. F. M. are located in the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, contain the following papers related to this collection: Baldwin Family Papers, Vaill Collection.

The papers of William Maxwell Evarts, Series II, are comprised of correspondence, legal papers, congressional papers, memorabilia, and financial records.

The correspondence of William Maxwell Evarts is composed of personal and family correspondence, as well as correspondence related to Evarts' New York law practice and public service. Most of the letters were received by, rather than written by, Evarts. With the exception of family members, there are in most instances no more than two or three letters received from each of his correspondents.

There is legal correspondence with clients and colleagues involving international, commercial, probate, corporation, and, infrequently, criminal law. There are both professional and personal elements in the correspondence of William Maxwell Evarts with Allen W. Evarts, Sherman Evarts (sons of William M. Evarts), Charles C. Beaman, Charles H. Tweed (sons-in-law), and J. Evarts Tracy (nephew). All were lawyers, and all but Sherman Evarts were members of the firm of Evarts, Southmayd and Choate. Letters to William M. Evarts from Joseph H. Choate are related to New York politics, political appointments, and personal matters, rather than to the law firm. Among the many lawyers who wrote to Evarts on professional matters are Charles O'Conor, A. A. Redfield, Francis M. Bangs, William H. H. Hart, and Thomas H. Hubbard.

One segment of correspondence dates from William Maxwell Evarts' diplomatic mission to London and Paris in 1863-1864. There is a letter to Evarts (1864 Jan) from the American Consul-general in Paris, John Bigelow, on the Rappahannock and treaty obligations of neutral countries, and a letter to Evarts (1864 Feb) in London from William H. Seward. Although most of the letters from English dignitaries and officials are in the form of social invitations, there are a handful of letters on political matters from Richard Cobden, Robert Lush, and Henry C. Rothery.

Another segment of correspondence dates from 1877 to 1881 when William Maxwell Evarts was Secretary of State in the Hayes Administration. Most of the letters are related to political patronage or appointments to the military academies. Many of the letters reflect Republican party politics in New York, Evarts' home state, since he was often asked to exert his influence in the filling of vacancies by the Administration on state and local levels. One such occasion was the appointment of a new collector of internal revenue for Brooklyn in 1879. (For a list of New York businessmen, lawyers, journalists, politicians, and others who wrote to Evarts on the subject - among them Henry Ward Beecher - see Series II, box 17.) Other correspondents involved in New York State politics, although not necessarily in the years 1877 to 1881, are Thurlow Weed, Edwin A. Merritt, Seth Low, and John M. Scribner, who wrote to Evarts on behalf of the New York Bar Association.

Evarts' personal correspondence from his years in the State Department contains unofficial communications from men in the diplomatic and consular service. There are three letters from James B. Angell, appointed minister to China, as he made preparations to leave the United States, and a letter written in Shanghai on his way to Peking in 1880. Others writing from abroad include John A. Kasson in Vienna, Edwin W. Stoughton in St. Petersburg, and W. H. Trescot in Japan. There are nine letters to Evarts from John Hay, informing Evarts of State Department business during the latter's absence in the summer of 1880. The correspondence for these years also includes a letter from Bismarck (thanking Evarts for a replica of Jefferson's desk) and a handful of letters from foreign diplomats, among them Victor Drummond, Kurd von Schlözer, and Sir Edward Thornton.

There are papers and correspondence related to the International Monetary Conference held in Paris in 1881, to which William M. Evarts was a delegate. They include general instructions to the United States delegation on behalf of President Garfield from James G. Blaine, copies of telegrams and dispatches, as well as letters from James Russell Lowell, J. Dana Horton, Alexander H. Stephens, and others.

As a United States Senator from 1885 to 1891, William Maxwell Evarts received letters on proposed legislation, applications for government positions, and requests for assistance. For example, there are letters in 1886 calling Evarts' attention to circumstances surrounding the issuance of licenses to trade with Indian tribes, and from Ward McAllister seeking to have his son, Ward McAllister, Jr., re-instated in an Alaskan judgeship. Copies of letters from William Maxwell Evarts to President Harrison, cabinet members, fellow Congressmen, and constituents were recorded in a letterbook with entries from December 1889, to March, 1891.

From 1867 until his death in 1901, Evarts was a member of the Peabody Education fund. References to the administration of the Fund may be found in letters from J. L. M. Curry, Hamilton Fish, Melville W. Fuller, B. G. Northrop, George W. Riggs, Samuel Wetmore, and Robert C. Winthrop.

The correspondence of William Maxwell Evarts includes letters from Chester A. Arthur, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Theodore Roosevelt. Cyrus W. Field wrote to Evarts in 1867 about the trans-Atlantic cable and about the feasibility of a trans-Pacific cable in 1880. There are five letters to Evarts from William Tecumseh Sherman on personal matters, principally the latter's daughter Rachel. In addition, there are two letters from another close friend, Richard Henry Dana.

Relatively few original letters written by William Maxwell Evarts appear in these papers. (The Edwards Pierrepont Papers, Yale University Library, contain approximately seventy letters written by Evarts.) Notable exceptions are Evarts' letters to his wife, Helen, four letters to Noah Porter, and two to Allen W. Owen. Written in 1848 and 1858, the letters to Owen contain reflections on Evarts' professional career and political aspirations.

There are eighteen boxes of legal papers, containing briefs, transcripts, memoranda, and notes. There are approximately twenty-five opinions in manuscript form written by William Maxwell Evarts from 1865 to 1884, as well as one folder of opinions and memoranda of Charles O'Conor, Charles C. Beaman, and others.

Since Evarts did not specialize in any one type of law, there are a wide variety of cases represented in his papers. A number of them dealt with probate law, such as the Parrish, Phelps, and Stanley will cases, and the Gardiner-Tyler suit, which involved John Tyler's widow, Julia. There are revenue, taxation, insurance, and contract cases, as well as patent cases associated with such disparate products as Goodyear rubber, typesetting machines (Wescott), horseshoes ( Burden v. Corning et al), fatty acids and glycerine ( Mitchell v. Tilghman), and organs ( Burdette v. Estey). Among the legal papers are copies of Evarts argument before the Supreme Court in the Cotton Tax Case ( Farrington v. Saunders), and printed case material from the national bank tax cases and the Virginia coupon cases.

As one might expect, many of the cases in these papers are related to New York City, among them the Metropolitan Police Case, the West Washington Market Case, and the Brooklyn Bridge Case. The Bell Barnard Case is one of several in Evarts' papers involving the New York Customs House.

Railroad litigation held a prominent place in Evarts' practice in the 1870's and 1880's, and some of the case material in these papers reflects this aspect of his work. Evarts was involved in the early development of rapid transit in New York City as a result of his work for the New York Cable Railway Company and others. In the area of national railroad development, there is an opinion of William Maxwell Evarts on a Union Pacific bond issue, and material related to Evarts' work for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in the matter of the Texas Pacific land grant.

Some of Evarts' most celebrated cases are not represented in these papers. There is no case material on the defense of Andrew Johnson or the Tilton-Beecher trial. There are papers pertaining to the United States Government's attempted prosecution of Jefferson Davis for treason, but they are principally copies of Davis' correspondence during the Civil War. With the exception of a printed argument, there are no papers from the Hayes-Tilden Electoral Commission of 1877.

There is one box of Congressional papers containing copies of bills and reports from the 49th, 50th, and 51st Congresses, and two docket books of applicants for positions in government service. The latter, dating from 1889-1891, when William Maxwell Evarts was a United States Senator, records the favor or position sought, the disposition of the request, and remarks on each candidate.

Among the papers of William Maxwell Evarts are three boxes of memorabilia, consisting of invitations, notices, calling cards, programs, souvenirs, and clippings. There are memorial tributes to Evarts and others, memorabilia of the Class of 1837 at Yale, and reminiscences of Evarts. In addition, there are speeches and notes of William Maxwell Evarts, including his speech at the International Monetary Conference in 1881. Of interest are "Memorandum notes of my visit to Europe, 1863,"which describe the circumstances in which Evarts was asked to undertake a diplomatic mission for the State Department. After a description of the trans-Atlantic passage, the entries end. There is no account of subsequent events in England.

The four boxes of Evarts' financial records contain accounts, bills, receipts, tax and insurance records, and cancelled checks.

Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, contain the following papers related to William Maxwell Evarts: Edwards Pierrepont Papers.

Series III, "Evarts Family," is made up of correspondence, memorabilia, legal papers and financial records of three generations of Evarts.

The correspondence, which dates primarily from 1800 to 1928, contains letters to and from members of the Evarts, Sherman, Baldwin, Hoar, Tracy, and Wardner families. For the period 1800-1835, the correspondence is principally that of Jeremiah Evarts' wife, Mehetabel Sherman Barnes Evarts, a daughter of Roger Sherman. There are letters from her son by a previous marriage, Daniel Barnes, and her sister, Elizabeth Baldwin, wife of Simeon Baldwin. Other correspondents are her son, John Jay Evarts, who attended Yale College from 1828 to 1832, and her daughters, Mary Evarts Greene and Marthan Evarts Tracy.

Included in the correspondence of the 1830's are several letters to Jeremiah Evarts' son-in-law, Ebenezer C. Tracy. There is a letter (1833 Oct 26) to the editor of the Boston Recorder on the subject of slavery, sent by Josiah D. Crosby. Other correspondents of E. C. Tracy are Joseph Tracy, clergyman, editor, and author (ALS 1836 Nov 3 to his brother re: editorial work on the Boston Recorder), Stephen Tracy (ALS 1836 Dec 14 describing a voyage from Batavia to Singapore) and David Greene, a member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ALS 1837 Aug 4).

For the period from 1835 to 1902, the correspondence is largely (though by no means entirely) that of Helen Minerva Wardner Evarts, wife of William Maxwell Evarts. The principal correspondents are her father, Allen Wardner, and eleven Evarts children. However, there are also letters to Helen M. W. Evarts from friends in New York, Windsor, and Washington, many of whose names appear in the correspondence of William Maxwell Evarts as well.

Evarts family memorabilia contains articles, notes, verses, photographs, printed matter, recipes, and school lessons. There are two copies of a genealogy of the Evarts family. A travel journal, written by Charles Butler Evarts in 1867, describes Cumberland, Maryland, and the foundry and mines of Mount Savage and Frostburg. "An Education in Funerals" (typescript; possibly written by Prescott Evarts) describes childhood in a New England town during the Civil War.

The legal and financial papers in Series III are for the most part those of William Maxwell Evarts' daughter, Mary Evarts, and pertain to the family estate at Windsor, Vermont. There are also several legal documents from the eighteenth century and certificates of military service.

Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, contain the following papers related to the Evarts family: Roger Sherman Papers, Baldwin Family Papers.