2010-96-0

Collections of Papers

Samuel Flewwelling

between 1799 and 1868

Samuel Flewwelling Papers

Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library, Litchfield Historical Society

Litchfield, Connecticut; Canfield, Ohio; New York, New York

0.83 linear feet

The papers of New York City banker and businessman Samuel Flewwelling (1774 or 5-1849) primarily relating to property held by his wife, Julia Elvira Canfield Flewwelling (1791-1868), and him in the Western Reserve, later Ohio. Following Samuel's death, the properties were managed by William Mackay (1795-1873), a New York City businessman and the husband of Caroline Emma Canfield Mackay. The collections includes indentures, agreements, leases, deeds, statements and accounts, and correspondence. Samuel Flewwelling was born in 1774 or 1775, a son of Abel Flewwelling and Abigail Fowler Flewwelling of Newburgh, N.Y. The Flewwellings moved to New Brunswick during or shortly after the American Revolution. Samuel became associated with William Rhinelander in New York in 1796 and joined the Manhattan ...Bank in 1801 as bookkeeper. He was promoted to more responsible positions, becoming cashier of the Poughkeepsie branch in 1809. In 1810, he returned to the main office to become cashier until 1817, when he became cashier of the City Bank. He was the cashier of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company from 1825 until 1829, when he became cashier of the National Bank in New York. Flewwelling maintained residences in New York City and Nyack, N.Y. He retired in 1840 and died in 1849. Samuel Flewwelling married Julia Elvira Canfield, a daughter of Judson Canfield and Mabel Ruggles Canfield. Samuel and Julia Flewwelling had no children. Julia's siblings were Henry J. Canfield (1789-1856) of Canfield, Ohio; Elizabeth Hannah Canfield Tallmadge (1793-1878); and Caroline Emma Canfield Mackay (1798-1872). The papers are arranged chronologically in one series and consist mostly of documents concerning the conveyance land in the Western Reserve. The earliest document outlines the partitioning of land Judson Canfield and others purchased from the Connecticut Land Co. in 1799. Flewwelling acquired land from Canfield as early as 1815. Some of the later sales were among members of Flewwelling's family, including his father-in-law Judson Canfield, his brother-in-law Henry J. Canfield, and his brother- and sister-in-law Frederick Augustus Tallmadge and Elizabeth Canfield Tallmadge. Flewwelling provided mortgages to some of the purchasers of land, and the agreements contained in the papers spell out the payment terms. For many years, Royal Millard served as Flewwelling's agent in Ohio, and the collection includes many of his letters reporting on the buying and selling of properties and the collection of funds. After Millard died in 1854, Henry Canfield and William H. Canfield, a nephew of Judson Canfield, served as agents in Ohio, and their letters are also represented in the collection. Following Flewwelling's death in 1849, his brother-in-law William Mackay, a New York City businessman whose father William and brother Robert Mackay were wealthy Boston merchants, managed the Ohio lands for Julia Canfield Flewwelling. It appears that by the time of Mrs. Flewwelling's death in 1868 all of her and her late husband's Ohio land holdings may have been sold. Of particular interest in the papers are several documents that summarize Flewwelling's property holdings and detail the contracts and deeds he held.
[more][less]