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[Identification of item], Leavenworth Family Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
The Leavenworth Family Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a gift in 1933-1970.
Processed by Rubenstein Library Staff, 1989
Encoded by Jane Metters, Meghan Lyon, and Carrie Mills, July 2011
This collection is minimally processed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Abner Johnson Leavenworth was the second son born to Frederick Leavenworth (1766-1840) and Fanny Johnson (1776-1852) on July 12, 1803 in Waterbury, Connecticut. Leavenworth taught theological studies in Andover, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut and ministered in Waterbury and Bristol, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Warrentown and Petersburg, Virginia. Later he was connected with girls' schools in North Carolina and Virginia. He died on February 12, 1869 at the age of 65.
Frederick Peabody Leavenworth (born 1833) was a railroad engineer of Petersburg, Va., and Shreveport, La. He was put in charge of inspection of materials for the Marshall Railroad. He also served as treasurer to the Blue Ridge Springs Co. of Petersburg. Just prior to the start of the Civil War, Frederick traveled through the Midwest United States, exploring Minnesota, Arkansas, and Missouri.
The Leavenworth Family Papers cover 1733 to 1927 with the bulk of the manuscripts from the 1820s to the 1880s. The collection predominately consists of the sermons of Abner Johnson Leavenworth (1803-1869) as well as both his correspondence and that of his son, Frederick Peabody Leavenworth (1833-). Sermons date from as early as 1826 and extend through the Civil War period.
The correspondence of Abner Johnson Leavenworth deals largely with religious and missionary topics. Additional topics covered in both Abner and Frederick's correspondence include Civil War and Reconstruction in Petersburg, V.A.
The diaries of Frederick Leavenworth begin in 1857 with comments on the Minnesota Territory. Leavenworth was in St. Peter, Nicolett County, and visited St. Paul. He illustrated the diary with sketches of the Falls of Minnehaha; Mendota, Minnesota; the Indian Warrior, Iron Elk; and Fort Snelling. In 1860, Leavenworth went to Van Buren, Arkansas, and opened a school. He illustrates with a sketch of Van Buren and with a sketch of the
Additional materials include an extensive geneaology of the Leavenworth family; a copy of Civil War letters to Mrs. E. A. Skelton; a letter dated July 13, 1864 concerning the death of James Addison Porter before Atlanta, Georgia, and the fighting near Atlanta; a few religious pamphlets entitled "Reasons to Not Be a Baptist" and "Condition and Character of Females in Pagan and Mohammedan Countries;" and a scrapbook, 1835-1868, compiled by Abner Johnson Leavenworth.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
Series includes correspondence, genealogy, sermons, notes, and journals. Manuscripts have been divided into two sections: correspondence and other papers have been sorted apart from sermons. Each portion of the series has been arranged chronologically. Materials in box 9 and 12 are fragile.
Bound volumes and manuscripts from Abner Johnson and Frederick Peabody Leavenworth.