LORING-BARRETT-SHERMAN-SMITH FAMILY PAPERS, [179-?]-[1992?]

Lydia and Lucy Barrett
Lydia Ann Loring Barrett with Lucy Fay Barrett.
Not to be reproduced without permission from the Concord Free Public Library.

Vault A45, Loring, Unit 1

EXTENT: ca. 60 items in two containers.

ORGANIZATION: Four series: I. Correspondence of Loring family members, relatives, and descendants, 1847-1946; II. Manuscripts, [ca. 1895], 1898; III. Genealogies, family materials, and family history of the Loring, Barrett, Sherman, and Smith families, [1900s?]; IV. Images, [179-]-[1867].

BIOGRAPHY: Businessman, native of West Cambridge, Massachusetts, David Loring (1800-1870) grew up in New Hampshire. He settled in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1819, where he owned a lead pipe factory and later a wooden pail factory, and was a member of Concord’s Social Circle. In 1824 he married Susan Frost Sherman (1800-1862), daughter of Micah and Susanna Dennison Sherman of Marlborough, Massachusetts. They had seven children: George (1825-1908), Lydia Ann (b. 1827), Samuel Burr (1830-1831), Jane (1832-1891), William Sidney (1835-1847), Sarah Perley (1837-1867), Catherine (Katharine) Fearing (1839-1893), and Susan Frances (1842-1912). In 1848, Lydia Ann Loring married Jonathan Fay Barrett (1817-1885), also a member of the Social Circle, whose father owned the farm at Lee’s (or Nashawtuc) Hill; their great-great-granddaughter Lydia Barrett Chittenden married Whitney S. Smith. Catherine Fearing Loring married Francis E. Abbot in 1859; they had a son, Everett, and a daughter, Fanny. George Loring married and had a son, David. Susan Frost Loring’s brother, Sidney Sherman (1805-1873), hero of the Battle of San Jacinto, Texas, settled in Texas and married Isabel Cox. Their eldest son, Lieutenant Sidney Sherman, died in the Battle of Galveston, Texas, in 1863.

SCOPE AND CONTENT: Includes papers and materials relating primarily to two generations of the Loring family (David Loring, his wife Susan Frost Loring, and their children): correspondence, 1847-1946; manuscripts, [ca. 1895]-1898; genealogies [ca. 1900]-[1992?]; and 19th century photographs and other images. Manuscripts include Susan Frances Loring’s manuscript "Reminiscences of Concord." Genealogies and other materials relate to the Barrett family of Concord and the descendants of Sidney Sherman of Harrisburg and Galveston, Texas (the brother of Susan Frost Loring). Images include a miniature cased portrait of David and Susan Loring’s son William Sidney, silhouettes of Susan Frost Loring’s parents, Micah and Susanna Dennison Sherman, daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of several members of the Loring family, and silhouettes made by Lucy Barrett, daughter of Jonathan Fay and Lydia Ann Loring Barrett.

SOURCES OF ACQUISITION: Loring and Barrett papers and photographs presented by Mr. and Mrs. Whitney Smith, 1992. (Mrs. Smith was Lydia Barrett Chittenden.) Smith genealogy and family papers presented by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Smith, 1986.

PROCESSED BY: MRG; finding aid prepared 12/11/04.

 

CONTAINER LIST

 

SERIES I. CORRESPONDENCE OF LORING FAMILY MEMBERS, RELATIVES, AND DESCENDANTS, 1847-1946:

Box 1, Folder 1: Correspondence of David Loring, letters from Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, 1847 (2 items):
Letter from Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, 1847 May 24
Letter from E. R. Hoar, 1847 July 2

Box 1, Folder 2: Correspondence of David Loring, letters to his wife and family, 1848-1862 (4 items):
Letter to Susan Frost Loring, his wife, 1848 Mar. 2
Letter to Susan Frost Loring, 1848 Mar. 12
Letter to Susan Frost Loring, 1852 Dec. 17
Letter to Everett Abbot, his grandson, 1862 June 5

Box 1, Folder 3: Correspondence of Susan Frost Loring, letters to her husband and family, [1848?]–[1859] (4 items):
Letter to David Loring, her husband, [1848 or 1852] Jan. 4
Letter to David Loring, [1848 or 1852] Mar. 4
Letter to David Loring, [1858] May 16
Letter to daughters, [1859] Apr. 24

Box 1, Folder 4: Correspondence of Susan Frances Loring, letters from her father, [1848], [186-] (2 items):
Letter from David Loring, [undated, 1848]
Letter from David Loring, [186-] July 14, with envelope and enclosure (letter, dated July 9, from Lydia Ann Loring Barrett)

Box 1, Folder 5: Correspondence of Susan Frances Loring, letters from her mother, [185-]-[1859] (4 items):
Letter from Susan Frost Loring, undated [185-]
Letter from Susan Frost Loring, [185-] Feb. 24
Letter from Susan Frost Loring, [1859] May 15
Letter from Susan Frost Loring, [1859] Sept. 11

Box 1, Folder 6: Correspondence of Susan Frances Loring, letters to her nephew, 1897-1898 (5 items):
Letters to Everett Abbot, her nephew, 1897 Dec. 14 to 1898 Jan. 18—memories of her mother, Susan Frost Loring (with envelope)

Box 1, Folder 7: Correspondence of Lydia Barrett Chittenden (Mrs. Whitney) Smith, 1944, 1946 (2 items):
Letter from "Cousin Fanny" [Fanny Larcom Abbot (1872-1964)], 1944 Oct. 28
Letter from Andrew Forrest Muir, 1946 Apr. 28

 

SERIES II. MANUSCRIPTS, [ca. 1895]-1898:

Box 1, Folder 8: Manuscripts in the hand of Susan Frances Loring, [ca. 1895]-1898 (2 items plus accompanying materials):
Manuscript, "Reminiscences of Concord," [ca. 1895-1900], plus typescript by Marcia E. Moss of piece; and copy of published version, The Concord Saunterer, Dec. 1984
Copy of "Memoir of David Loring" by E. R. Hoar, handcopied by Susan Frances Loring, 1898

 

SERIES III. GENEALOGIES, FAMILY MATERIALS, AND FAMILY HISTORY OF THE LORING, BARRETT, SHERMAN, AND SMITH FAMILIES, [ca. 1900]-[1992?]:

Box 1, Folder 9: Loring Genealogies [190-]-[1992?] (2 items):
David & Susan Loring and their children, [190-]
Descendants of David & Susan Loring, [1992?]

Box 1, Folder 10: Barrett Genealogy [1992?] (1 item):
Ancestors of Lydia Barrett Chittenden Smith, [1992?]

Box 1, Folder 11: Sherman Genealogies [190-], 1909 (3 items):
Children of Sidney & Isabel Sherman & their spouses and children, [190-]
Descendants of Micah Sherman, [190-]
Sidney & Isabel (Cox) Sherman and descendants, 1901

Box 1, Folder 12: Barrett Family Materials [188-], 1883 (2 items):
Photograph [188-] of sketch of Squire Joseph Barrett’s farm, Nashawtuc Hill, Concord
Monograph by Grindall Reynolds, The Story of a Concord Farm and its Owners, Feb. 2, 1883

Box 1, Folder 13: Smith Genealogy/Family History [190-] (4 items plus photocopies):
Biography of John Smith [190-], author unknown
Copy of letter from John Smith to Col. Jacob Smith, his son, dated March 25, 1804, copied by his great-grandson [Henry F. Smith], [190-]
Smith genealogy, [1909]
Short biography of John Smith, (1760-1828); Fragment from Babson’s History of Gloucester, copied April 1909

 

SERIES IV. IMAGES, [179-]-[1867]:

Box 1, Folder 14: Silhouettes, [179-?] (2 items):
Silhouettes of Micah & Susanna Dennison Sherman, [179-] (one possibly a later copy of the other)

Box 1, Folder 15: Silhouettes by Lucy P. F. Barrett, [186-] (9 items):
Silhouettes by Lucy P. F. Barrett, including "Mr. Buckminster" and generic people and scenes

Box 2: Miniature portrait of William Sidney Loring, [184-] (1 item):
Miniature portrait of William Sidney Loring, [184-]

Box 2: Photographs, [185-]-[1867] (12 items):
Daguerreotype, David Loring (the lead pipe manufacturer), (2 images from same sitting), [1859]
Daguerreotype, Susan Frost Loring, [ca. 1855]
Tintype, Susan Frost Loring, [ca. 1855] (identical image to previous, in reverse)
Daguerreotype, George Loring, [1859]
Daguerreotype, David Loring (grandson of the lead pipe manufacturer), [1852]
Daguerreotype, Lydia Ann Loring Barrett, [185-]
Ambrotype, Lydia Ann Loring Barrett at 40 years, [1867]
Daguerreotype, Lydia Ann Loring Barrett with Lucy Fay Barrett, [ca. 1850]
Ambrotype, Lucy Fay Barrett at 7 years, [ca. 1856]
Daguerreotype, Lucy Fay Barrett at 10 years, [ca. 1859]
Daguerreotype, Rachel Hartwell Chapman, mother-in-law of Lucy Fay Barrett Chapman, [185-]

 

c2004 Concord Free Public Library.

Mounted 11th Dec 2004.  rcwh

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