RIAMCO

Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online

For Participating Institutions

Fayerweather Family Papers (Mss. Gr. 121)

University of Rhode Island Library, University Archives and Special Collections

15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Inventory

Inventory

Series 1. Sarah Fayerweather Correspondence
This series consists of the correspondence of Sarah Harris Fayerweather, plus two letters concerning Sarah from Prudence Crandall Philleo (Philleo was Prudence Crandall's married name) to Sarah's daughters Mary and Isabella. Though containing only a small number of items, this series merits separate treatment because of the historical significance of the correspondents.

Among the most interesting items is a letter to Sarah from Helen Benson Garrison, wife of noted abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. The informal tone of the letter indicates the close relationship between the Fayerweather’s and the Garrison’s. In addition to thanking Sarah for an apparently annual gift of a fruitcake to the Garrison family, Mrs. Garrison indicated that her husband enjoyed seeing Sarah in New York and accompanying her to an antislavery lecture by Wendell Phillips.

Also of interest are four letters of Prudence Crandall Philleo, two to Sarah and one each to her daughters Mary and Isabella, commiserating with them on the death of their mother. The letters reveal in rich detail Philleo's life in the Midwest. Other items include letters to Sarah from her mother Sally Prentice Harris and letters from Sarah to her husband George and to her daughter Isabella on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday.

The series is arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and items are arranged chronologically within folders. The originals of the correspondence in Folders 2 and 5 are missing (see Deed of Gift). Copies were made from copies in the Carl R. Woodward Papers, except for a letter of Prudence Crandall Philleo dated March 16, 1880, which was not found in the Woodward collection.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 1 Fayerweather, George (husband of Sarah Fayerweather)
1868 Jan 27
Box 1, Folder 2 Garrison, Helen Benson (Mrs. William Lloyd Garrison)
1863 Jun 05
Box 1, Folder 3 Harris, Sally Prentice (mother of Sarah Fayerweather)
1856 Feb 09, 1857 Sep 20
Box 1, Folder 4 Mitchell, Isabella Fayerweather (daughter of Sarah Fayerweather)
1855 Mar 02
Box 1, Folder 5 Philleo, Prudence Crandall (founder of the school for girls in Canterbury)
1869,1871,1879

Series 2. Subject Series
The Subject Series consists of a variety of materials representing several generations of the Fayerweather family. Included are account books, deeds, marriage and death certificates, address books, autograph books, mortgage notes, photographs, miscellaneous receipts, and correspondence.

Among the many items of interest are account books of the blacksmith shop of George and Solomon Fayerweather. Aside from demonstrating the skill and versatility of the village blacksmith, the account books indicate that George and Solomon ran a profitable and successful business.

Those interested in the tangled web of the Fayerweather estate, occasioned by the death of George and Solomon's father, will find a wealth of material in the folders labeled Mabel Perry (granddaughter of Sarah and George Fayerweather), Perry Estate, and Fayerweather Property.

Sarah's continuing interest in the antislavery movement is demonstrated by a receipt made out to her for Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator, dated January 1, 1862.Other items of interest include materials relating to Sarah's daughter, Isabella Fayerweather Mitchell, photographs of several generations of the Fayerweather family, and an unsigned, undated handwritten copy of an antislavery song entitled, "Wake Nicodemus".

The series is arranged alphabetically by folder title and chronologically within folders.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 6 Account Book: Blacksmith shop of George and Solomon Fayerweather: In Oversize
1809-1826
Box 1, Folder 6A Account Book: Blacksmith shop of George and Solomon Fayerweather
1868
Box 1, Folder 7 Address Book
1928
Box 1, Folder 8 Autograph Books
1880, undated
Box 1, Folder 9 Bank Book
undated
Box 1, Folder 10 Fayerweather, George: Property Line Agreement with Christopher Holloway
1866 Apr 12
Box 1, Folder 11 Fayerweather, Sarah: Locks of her Hair
undated
Box 1, Folder 12 Fayerweather, Solomon: Bill for Blacksmith Services
1864-1870
Box 1, Folder 13 Fayerweather Property See also: Perry Estate
1875, 1914, 1928, 1930, 1946
Box 1, Folder 14 Fayerweather Property in New Bedford: Assignment of Mortgage from Elisha Reynolds Potter to Thomas Wells
1862 Jul 18
Box 1, Folder 15 Helme House Deeds: Home of George and Sarah Fayerweather
1836 Mar 15, 1853 Apr 08
Box 1, Folder 16 The Liberator, receipt for
1862 Jan 11
Box 1, Folder 17 Mitchell, Isabella and George
1863-1915
Box 1, Folder 18 Perry, Arthur B.
1931-1940,1947,1954-1955,1960,1962
Box 1, Folder 19 Perry, Mabel Mitchell Lewis
1886-1946
Box 2, Folder 20 Perry, Mabel Mitchell Lewis
1954-1957
Box 2, Folder 21 Perry Estate See also: Fayerweather Property
1932, 1939, 1946-1948
Box 2, Folder 22 Photographs: Fayerweather Blacksmith Shop
undated
Box 2, Folder 23 Photographs: Fayerweather Family and Descendants
undated
Box 2, Folder 24 Photographs: Fayerweather Homestead
undated
Box 2, Folder 25 Photographs: Helme House in ruins (home of Sara and George Fayerweather)
undated
Box 2, Folder 26 Receipts, miscellaneous
1844, 1846, 1880, 1900-01, 1921
Box 2, Folder 27 Tax Notices: GeorgeIsaac Fayerweather
1910
Box 2, Folder 28 Wake Nicodemus: An Antislavery Song, mss.
undated