David and Pierce Catlin Family Papers (1767 - ca. 1890)
Finding Aid completed by Eric Roth 9/27/1999
Last Revised
4/12/2001
Volume: .25 cubic feet
Acquisition: The papers were probably donated to the Huguenot
Historical Society by Reuben Crispell sometime between 1965-1972.
These papers were originally part of an aggregation of papers
documenting the family line of Reuben Bernard Crispell, known
invariably as the Crispell Collection, or the Reuben Crispell
Collection. The two other collections from this original aggregation
are the Reuben Bernard Family Papers (1837-1922) and the Dr. Abraham
Eltinge Crispell Papers (1845-1865).
Access: Unrestricted.
Copyright: Request for permission to publish materials from these
records should be discussed
with the Archivist and Director of
the Huguenot Historical Society.
Biographical Note
David Catlin, Revolutionary War officer and landowner at Litchfield, Connecticut, was born on April 6, 1747 to John Catlin and Margaret Seymour. He married first Ann Peck, and second Ann Parmelee, by whom he had at least five children, David, Pierce, Emily, Elvira, and Nancy. In 1783, David was appointed Captain of the “11th Company on Trainband in the 17th Regiment” in Connecticut. At Litchfield, David apparently “belonged to a local company of horsemen, commanded by Catlin Moses, Legionnaire, which was ordered to N.Y. city under Major Elisha Sheldon of Salisbury Conn….” According to genealogical papers stored in the collection, David “resided in Litchfield, Conn. until 1839 when he removed to Kingston, Ulster Co. N.Y. to live with his son Pierce and a daughter (Nancy) both in good circumstances, the remainder of his life.” David Catlin died on October 13, 1839.
Pierce Catlin was born on September 3, 1789. On June 11, 1820 he married Ann Winegar (1794-1838) and later Sarah (maiden name unknown), who is listed as Pierce’s widow in the Kingston City Directories as late as 1889. Pierce had at least two children. A son, Amos P. Catlin received his law license at Kingston “shortly after 1840; and practiced here a few years, when he removed to California, and is now a prominent lawyer in that State.” A daughter, Jane Ann (1830-1904), married Kingston physician Abraham Eltinge Crispell (1823-1881).
At various times in his life Pierce Catlin owned a wagon making business, a farm, and a grist- mill. An 1831 advertisement in a local newspaper provides evidence that Pierce Catlin owned a Carriage and Wagon Making Business in Kingston. A letter from his son Amos P. Catlin stored in this collection mentions that Pierce sold a farm (presumably near Kingston) and purchased a grist mill in Rhinebeck in ca. 1852. Pierce is also listed as a founding trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the town of Kingston in 1830, and a founding officer of the Kingston chapter of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York in 1850. Pierce Catlin died on July 31, 1872.
Collection Description
The records in this collection document approximately 130 years
of the Catlin family of Litchfield, Connecticut, and Kingston,
Ulster County, New York. Records include letters, deeds, wills,
bills of sale, receipts, leases, insurance papers, and genealogical
research materials. The major subjects represented in the collection
involve the acquisition and management of the family's land holdings
primarily in Litchfield, attempts by David Catlin to recover the
assets and financial interests of his deceased son who died in the
Caribbean, an unspecified construction project in Kingston
undertaken during the 1870's and 1880's, and the history and
genealogy of the Catlin family. The collection also contains brief
references to mining and business speculation in California in the
early 1850's, and scattered notes about family news, schoolteaching,
and slavery.
The collection is comprised of four broad record types:
Correspondence, Estate and Legal Papers, Genealogical Research
Materials, and Receipts. The main informational wealth of the
collection lies chiefly in the 17 letters written by and to members
Catlin family from ca. 1810 to 1852. These correspondences are
unusually descriptive in comparison with other letters from this
time period and cover a range of subjects, including family news,
financial and legal business ventures, and mining and business
speculation in California. The first batch of correspondence
consists of letters chiefly written to David Catlin concerning his
efforts to recover financial assets of his recently deceased son,
also named David, who died in the Caribbean. One undated later
written by son to father provides perhaps the last communication
between them. In this letter, David, the younger, informs his father
of his preparations to set sail to Barbados and also mentions some
legal arrangements regarding "a deed of a piece of land with a store
and barn in Dummerston (Vermont) worth at least Seven Hundred
Dollars." Letters to the father by several family members and legal
agents from 1810-1818 discuss various problems in recovering the
lost son's assets. In one letter written to David Catlin in 1814,
his nephew Lynde Catlin of New York writes that he "Sincerely
lament(s) that this unhappy War has prevented our obtaining what is
justly due you in the West Indies. The present prospect of Peace
will I hope soon enable us to make another effort to recover itÖ."
Additional letters from Lynde and others from this period mention
business contacts in Martinique, Philadelphia, Roseay, and Dominica,
and discuss numerous difficulties encountered when trying to collect
payments from the deceased son's debtors.
Four letters written between 1826 and 1829 primarily discuss
family news. One letter from 1826 discusses the death of Phenias
Catlin, who died of a fatal illness caused by a minor wound that
went untreated. Two letters written to Daniel Roberts while a
student in Middlebury College in Vermont in 1828 and 1829 provide
detailed information on various family members and their daily
lives. Emily Catlin of Litchfield writes in 1828, that "I am
teaching a school of about thirty scholars a business which I am
quite tired of should you come to Litchfield in the course of a year
or two you may or may not find me in the same employment." This same
letter contains several paragraphs written by Emily's sister Elvira,
who writes that "I suppose that you have heard that I am in a school
this summer it is so perplexing that I have a mind to say I shall
never undertake it again." Elvira also mentions the marriage of her
sister Emily, although unfortunately the name of the husband is
illegible.
Another letter to Daniel from an unidentified aunt residing in
Philadelphia is unusually detailed and descriptive in comparison
with other letters from this time period. In it she offers moral and
religious advice, urges Daniel to study for the ministry, and gives
opinions regarding of churches and preachers in Philadelphia,
including Grace Church and St. Andrews Church. The letter's author
also discusses her living situation and her feelings about married
life, saying that she "is very pleasantly situated, excepting being
so far distant from my dear friends, yet I have a dearer friend,
with me, that makes up in a considerable degree the loss of their
society, I wear no chain, but the "Joyful Chain and that you know
must be easy, I perhaps have as little care as any married lady can
expect we board, as it is not so expensive as house keeping, and
frees me from the care, that would devolve upon me if we were to
keep house. Therefore that I may be as free from care as possible,
my dear Husband has given me my choice to do which I please, I have
plenty of time to read and writeÖ." As to life in Philadelphia, she
writes that she "enjoy(s) the many inestimable privileges which I
could not had I not remained in Litchfield we are not rich in this
worlds goods neither are we very poor we have enough to enjoy life
comfortably, and that is all we need."
Three letters written to Pierce Catlin of Kingston by his son
A.P. (Amos P.) Catlin in 1851 and 1852 discuss the son's activities
as a miner and speculator in California during the Gold Rush period.
The son mentions that he left Sue City because of a cholera outbreak
and is currently located on Mormon Island near San Francisco. He
discusses prices of goods and property, and mentions that he is
interested in pursuing work in mining quartz veins, speculating in
damming and water companies, and a steam saw mill. He also discusses
his wish to return home but will not return until he has made enough
money to live upon. He also expresses surprise at learning of his
father's recent move to trade his farm (presumably near Kingston)
for a gristmill at Rhinebeck.
The Estate and Legal Papers from 1767 to 1821 primarily consist
of deeds, survey bills, receipts, and other legal records of David
Catlin concerning land in Litchfield and Dummerston from 1767-1808.
Other documents include the will of John Catlin (1769); a military
commission of David Catlin (1783), a sale of a slave by John
Crispell to Thomas Crispell (1790); a court document relating to the
estate of Mary Tarmele of Litchfield (1798), and a document from
1821 releasing to Catlin "so much of the old High-way in this Town
of Litchfield in the Society of Milton, to his use and improvement
with liberty to enclose the same." There is also a Revolutionary
War pension claim filed by David Catlin from 1832, and an 1847
summons to the Surrogate court in Kingston concerning the will of
Mary McLeon. Papers from 1875-1883 concern the estate of Pierce
Catlin, who died intestate. Among these documents are letters of
administration, certificates of fire insurance, a lease between
Sarah Catlin and A.N. Childs.
The Genealogical Research Papers include handwritten notes
tracing the Catlin family back to Thomas Catlin, who settled in
Hartford, Connecticut in 1646. There are also some notes written on
1890's letterhead of plumber A.H. Catlin of Peekskill, Putnam
County, New York regarding the military service of members of the
Catlin and Guernsey family, primarily during the Revolutionary War.
Also among the genealogical papers is an 1828 certificate of
marriage between Andrew Dickinson and Elmira Catlin at the Reformed
Dutch Church in Kingston.
Also in this collection are receipts of Pierce and Sarah Catlin
dating mainly from the 1870's and 1880's relating to taxes, fire
insurance, domestic goods, and construction and repair work. These
latter receipts relate to payments made at several stores in
Kingston for coal, bolts, screws, lath, nails, cement, mortar,
posts, planks, brick, and turpentine. Many of the receipts also
detail unspecified construction work, although work involving laying
floors and painting rooms is mentioned. Three receipts from
1864-1865 relate to payments made to Janet Freer for tombstones.
In addition to this collection, the Huguenot Historical Society
also maintains a family bible of Pierce Catlin, which includes
family records. This bible stored maintained with Bible and
Religious Book Collection and is listed as Bible #95. Transcriptions
of the family records from the Bible are available upon request.
The papers are filed into folder by type, and arranged
chronologically within folders. The papers are very fragile and must
be handled with the utmost care. Because of this reason, requests to
photocopy some of the documents may be denied. The handwriting
throughout the papers is legible, with the exception of one letter
from 1828, which is very difficult to decipher.
Folder List
Correspondence (1810-1852 and undated)
Estate and Legal
Papers:
(1767-1847)
(1875-1883)
Receipts (1864-1865,
1871-1889)
Genealogical Research Materials (1828-ca. 1890)
Notes
The majority of the information in the biographical sketches of David and Pierce Catlin is taken from the Genealogical Research Materials stored in this collection. Unless otherwise noted, all genealogical references are drawn from this source.
Annual Directory of the City of Kingston for the years 1888-1889, containing a business and street directory and an appendix of useful information. Thompson and Breed, Newburgh, NY, p. 47.
Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett. History of Ulster County, New York, with Biographical Sketches of its
Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part First. Philadelphia, Evans & Peck (1880): p. 107.
“The Ulster Palladium, Wednesday, May 11, 1831”. Newspaper #29, The Early American Newspaper Collection. Special Collections, Huguenot Historical Society, New Paltz, NY.
Sylvester, pp. 233, 267.
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