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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: N2017-161
Creator: Hutchinson, Charles, 1813-ca. 1890.
Title, Dates: Charles Hutchinson letters, 1839-1843, 1952, 1956.
Amount: 0.25 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Chronologically.
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Biographical/Historical:     Charles Hutchinson (1813-ca. 1890) was born in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was the great-grandson of Eleazer Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College. His grandfather was Tutor Woodard, longtime professor of mathematics at the college. Charles received an education before moving to Tallahassee after his brother, Henry, in 1839. His brother died shortly before Charles arrived in Tallahassee. He worked in Tallahassee as a store clerk and later as a bookkeeper for James B. Gamble. After moving to Tallahassee, Hutchinson wrote several letters between 1839 and 1943 detailing his journey from New England and his new life in Tallahassee. His letters give insight into life in Tallahassee during territorial days.

    Charles Hutchinson appears in the 1860 U.S. Census, living in Leon County with his wife and four children. They moved to Putnam County to begin growing oranges in 1866. His family was among the first settlers in what is now Crescent City, and the 1880 U. S. Census lists his occupation as a farmer. He may have been discharged as a postmaster for Putnam County between 1875 and 1882. His home on the banks of Dennis Lake, now Crescent Lake, was known as Oakwood. He had a hand in founding the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter in Crescent City. His date of death is unknown.
Summary:     This collection consists of letters written by Charles Hutchinson to his sisters in New England between 1839 and 1843. Also included is a letter written by his grand-niece, Mabelle Grant Anderson, to F. A. Rhodes of the Tallahassee Historical Society in 1952. The letters give insight into what life was like in territorial Tallahassee from the perspective of an educated New England man. Also included is a typescript of James T. Campbell's "The Charles Hutchinson Letters from Tallahassee of Territorial Days, 1839-1843", an academic article written in 1956 about the Hutchinson letters.
Finding Aids: Folder listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
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Ownership/Custodial History: The collection of Hutchinson's letters were donated to the Tallahassee Historical Society by Hutchinson's grandniece Mabelle Grant Anderson after she found them in her ancestral New England home. They were gifted to the State Library from the F. A. Rhodes Collection on May 23, 1988.
Publication Note:
General Note: Previously State Library of Florida Manuscripts Collection MS200.
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Tallahassee Historical Society.
Yellow fever Florida
Letters. aat
Tallahassee (Fla.)
Putnam County (Fla.)
Leon County (Fla.)
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