The collection includes a variety of family records.
Amos Gould’s records include: personal correspondence, 1828-1872, family correspondence, 1875-1912, Civil War correspondence mostly from Ebenezer to Amos or Ebenezer’s wife and children, 1862-1864, railroad business records, 1852-1881, lumber business correspondence and papers, 1867-1882, business correspondence, 1849-1915, receipts of business transactions, 1830-1883, legal papers, including briefs, trail records, contracts land contracts, mortgages, agreements, indentures, and deeds, 1832-1885 from New York and Michigan, and more legal records and tax receipts, 1848-1932, book receipts, 1870-1879, trial records of cases Amos and his associates tried, 1842-1877, railroad receipts, 1857-1864, and letter books, day books, and account books, 1839-1935. Also included are five eagle buttons. Additional Amos Gould buttons are in the Display Items collection.
Papers relating to Ebenezer include: Civil War correspondence mostly from Ebenezer to Amos or Ebenezer’s wife and children, 1862-1864, courtship and marriage correspondence from Ebenezer to his wife Irene Beach, 1845-1866, and business correspondence and miscellaneous, including a scrapbook of obituaries and family news, 1868-1936.
Papers relating to Fred H. Gould include his diaries, 1892-1931, and personal correspondence to/from Fred, 1870-1872, and undated.
Overall the collection provides a good look at life in a small Michigan town (Owosso), multiple business interests, especially land and lumber, and personal life before, during, and after the Civil War. There are also letters from Gould’s brother-in-law, Dr. J. N. Graham, on early medical practices, such as the use of chloroform in Michigan.
Processing Notes: Due to size differences among the boxes, some boxes are shelved out of numerical orders. Boxes # 74-75, 108-120 are cubic foot boxes, the rest are .5 cubic foot boxes. Folder level processing was completed, but the inventory is at box level. Some materials are still tri-folded in their original wrappings, not in folders, or in unlabeled folders.
Biography:
Amos Gould was born in Aurelius, New York (State) on December 3, 1808. Educated, he studied for a while at Hamilton College. On temporary suspension from the college, he taught at Auburn, New York, while entering the office of William H. Seward, then governor of New York (State) as a student. Admitted to the bar in 1832, Gould practiced law ably for several years in New York (State) before moving to Owosso, Michigan, in 1843 due to debts incurred by his brother and brother-in-law. In Owosso he practiced law until 1865.
From the time of his arrival in Michigan in 1843, Gould speculated in land, much of which he purchased at tax sales. When the demand for Michigan pine skyrocketed following the Civil War, Gould cut, sawed, and marketed lumber on a rather large scale near Owosso. His brother, David, also was involved in the lumber industry in the vicinity of St. Charles and Chesaning, Michigan.
Gould served as the attorney for the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad Company, 1852-1881, a position which was quite involved with the acquisition of land for its right-of-way from Pontiac westward to Grand Haven, Michigan. He also promoted the establishment of the Amboy, Lansing, and Traverse Bay Railroad (one of Michigan’s first land grant roads), and directed construction of its first section, from Owosso to Lansing, Michigan.
Gould was elected Probate Judge of Shiawassee County in 1844. Gould served as Prosecuting Attorney of Shiawassee County, and Supervisor of Owosso, 1844-1850. Also, he served as Senator from the Twenty-sixth District, 1853-1854. In 1855 Gould was the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, but was defeated. After the Civil War he was a Republican in his political beliefs.
In 1865 Gould organized the First National Bank of Owosso, served as its president, and owned most of its stock. He also managed an extensive farm of 1200 acres.
Gould married Louisa Peck of New York (State) in 1841. Together they had six sons and daughters, of whom five lived to adulthood. A wealthy man, he died May 14, 1882, survived by his wife and five children. His estate was computed to be worth $250,000, most of which included over 1250 acres of property in Michigan and other states.
Amos Gould had a brother named Ebenezer whose papers, among those of other family members, are part of this collection. Ebenezer married Irene Beach in 1845 and they had several children together. He was commissioned in the 5th Michigan Cavalry as Major in 1862 at the age of 44. Eventually Ebenezer was commissioned Colonel in 1864 and honorably discharged in November 1864 due to wounds received at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1863.
Amos Gould had a son, Fred H. Gould, who was born October 11, 1857. Fred attended military academy in Chester, Pennsylvania, and later the law department of the University of Michigan in 1878. He worked at the First National Bank of Owosso until his father died in 1882. Afterwards Fred was active in real estate business. He was one of the stockholders and a director of the First National Bank, until it was liquidated. Fred raised thorough-bred cattle and standard-bred horses. In June, 1883 he married Josephine Fletcher. Together they had three children.
(This information is from Michigan Biographies vol. 1. and the History of Shiawassee and Clinton Counties Michigan (1880).
