This collection is made up of 184 letters to Dr. John Theodore Kittredge of Framingham, Massachusetts; to his sister Ellen Kittredge Stone, also of Framingham; and to Ellen's husband, Dexter Stone of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The letters concern bereavement, finances, and family news from Framingham, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The collection also contains a few letters to the Stone family from other acquaintances, and an indenture.
From October 1825-November 1827, while attending Amherst College, John T. Kittredge received 7 letters from his parents, John B. Kittredge and Mary Kellogg Kittredge, and sister, Ellen I. Kittredge. The Kittredge family reported local news from Framingham, Massachusetts, and offered advice and encouragement. Between July 1830 and March 1831, Ellen Kittredge received 3 letters from Louisa J. Park, a friend who reported on life in Boston.
The remaining correspondence is mostly comprised of letters between John T. Kittredge, Ellen Kittredge Stone, and Dexter Stone, as well as letters from John B. Kittredge and Mary Kellogg Kittredge to their daughter and son-in-law. Dexter and Ellen Stone often corresponded during Ellen's visits to Framingham, while Dexter remained in Philadelphia. They discussed their separation, Kittredge family news, and their social activities. Dexter Stone also wrote to his daughters Mary and Ellen while they visited Framingham with their mother (August 8, 1842; July 16, 1844; July 20, 1845). During Dexter's final illness and shortly after his death in November 1846, Ellen received letters of sympathy from acquaintances. She occasionally received letters pertaining to finances, and the collection contains one indenture (October 4, 1854).
John Ball Kittredge was born in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, on June 8, 1771. He moved to Framingham, Massachusetts, around 1791, where he practiced medicine. On July 19, 1801, he married Mary Kellogg (February 25, 1782-August 20, 1836); they had two children: Ellen Ingersoll (May 19, 1803-February 26, 1874) and John Theodore (January 24, 1811-October 25, 1837). John B. Kittredge died on February 29, 1848.
Ellen Ingersoll Kittredge married Dexter Stone (April 12, 1791-November 22, 1846), a shipping merchant from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 1833. Stone had three children from his previous marriage to Harriet Ann West: Lawson Buckminster (b. 1817), Thomas West, and Charles. Dexter and Ellen Kittredge Stone had two daughters, Mary Kellogg (b. ca. 1835) and Ellen.
John Theodore Kittredge earned a bachelor's degree from Amherst College in 1828. He studied medicine with his father and at Jefferson Medical College (now part of Thomas Jefferson University), and received a medical degree from Harvard in 1833. On April 27, 1832, he married Sarah Carey. John T. Kittredge practiced medicine in Framingham, Massachusetts, until his death of typhoid fever September 25, 1837.
