The Minnesota Historical Society

Date:
1935
Reference:
WA/HMM/CM/Sal/52/79
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Minnesota Historical Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    116. Houtton (Witiiam H., anp FAMILY) Papers, 1792-1914. 60 boxes and 60 volumes. The papers for 1792-1844 are letters to members of the Kendall and Houlton families in New Salem, Massachusetts, and Houlton, Maine, personal in nature, with much comment on religious condi- tions. One letter, dated July 12, 1812, gives the reaction of the Maine frontier to the War of 1812. The letters for 1852-59 contain information on social and economic conditions in New York, Illinois, and Minnesota. The papers for the years after 1860 are chiefly those of William Houlton, lumber and flour manufacturer, banker, and farmer of Elk River. Most complete are the accounts, records, and correspondence pertaining to lumbering and logging in Sherburne County, 1880-1904. The data on Houlton’s farming interests are valuable because his was an early attempt to introduce blooded stock into Minnesota. The papers relating to banking con- tain information on real-estate transactions and fire insurance. Many letters for the seventies and early eighties relate to Minnesota poli- tics and to Houlton’s campaigns for state senator in 1878 and 1883. The papers for 1896-1900 contain letters and records concerning affairs at the state reformatory at St. Cloud, of which Houlton was superintendent. Among the papers for 1882-1901, when Houlton was a member of the school board of Elk River district, are vouchers, accounts, and teachers’ applications and contracts. Miscellaneous items included in the papers are the secretary’s book of the Sher- burne County Bible Society, 1856-86; railroad passes for Minnesota railroads, 1884-86; data on Masonry in Minnesota; letters concern- ing grain buying in Minnesota, 1855-70; elementary-school com- positions by William H. Houlton; Civil War material, including letters from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, enlistment papers in Minnesota, 1861, certificates of discharge, and reminiscent accounts of the activities of Company E, Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infan- try; and biographical data about Samuel and William H. Houlton. Minnesota History Bulletin, 1: 535. 117. Hoyt (JoHn F., AND FAMILY) Papers. 1855-86. 1 box. Deeds to land, mainly in Ramsey and Goodhue counties, disclos- ing the interest of John F. and Benjamin F. Hoyt in real estate and forming a representative file of pre-emption and military bounty warrants; bills and receipts for taxes on that land; fire-insurance
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