Griffin family and Lydia Sigourney papers, 1807-1885

Summary

Creator:

Sigourney, L. H. (Lydia Howard), 1791-1865 and Griffin family

Abstract:

The collection consists of correspondence related to the Griffin family of New York City and includes 58 letters that George Griffin and his family exchanged between 1833 and 1854 with author Lydia H. Sigourney of Hartford, Connecticut. Additional material includes letters written by Sigourney about her work and correspondence among members of the Griffin family that provides commentary on family life, two extended trips to Europe, Protestant theology, and higher education. The final series in the collection includes manuscript copies of several of Sigourney's poems, including one on the death of American poet John Trumbull and another on the "Death of a Missionary to Liberia."

Extent:

0.75 linear feet

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Kate Silbert, June 2012

Background

Scope and Content:

The collection consists of correspondence related to the Griffin family of New York City and includes 58 letters that George Griffin and his family exchanged between 1833 and 1854 with author Lydia H. Sigourney of Hartford, Connecticut, as well as several other pieces of correspondence written by Sigourney and others. The second series of the collection includes several folders of correspondence among members of the Griffin family, especially letters of fatherly advice that George Griffin wrote to his sons Edmund Dorr Griffin (1804-1830) and George Griffin, Jr. (1811-1880). In addition to narratives of family life, the bulk of these letters involve accounts of two extended trips to Europe as well as discussions of Protestant theology and higher education. The final series in the collection is a 3-page manuscript copy of Sigourney's poem on the death, in 1831, of American poet John Trumbull.

Sigourney Correspondence, 1833-1854: This subseries consists primarily of Lydia H. Sigourney's correspondence with her close friend and intermediary, George Griffin, and his family in New York City. Thee letters from Lydia Sigourney, dated in 1857 and 1858, may or may not have been to Douglas Smith. In them, she offered a brief remark on her own aging and disclaimed the notion of striving to appear young; content on shipping books to the U.S. Consul; and an interest in agricultural sciences.

Much of Sigourney's correspondence with George Griffin directly involves her work as an author and her position as a woman in that profession. She frequently sent him copies of her written pieces, some of which had already been published in periodicals, asking for advice about the content of the work and about how she might pursue publication. In the course of doing so, she remarked upon her writing and revision process. These letters also specifically address her negotiations, often through Griffin's work as intermediary, with the Key & Biddle, Harpers, Leavitt, Lord & Co., D. Appleton, and Van Nostrand publishing firms, as well as the publication of her Letters to Young Ladies (1833 and 1841), Poems (1834), Sketches (1834), Girl's Reading-book (1838), and Letters to Mothers (1838). Additionally, a small number of letters from 1840 deal with Sigourney's trip to Europe.

Griffin, in turn, kept Sigourney apprised of developments with publishing firms as well as on the sale and review of her work. He candidly offered his response to works she had sent him, as well as general advice on the direction of her literary career. As a writer himself, he too sought feedback for his work, which took the form of theological essays. A manuscript copy of one of the reviews of his book, The Gospel its Own Advocate , appears in this series. Both correspondents also reflected on the challenges facing the publishing industry during the financial crisis of the late 1830s (especially the Panic of 1837) and shared their opinions on the state of American literary culture.

This series also includes letters that Sigourney exchanged with George Griffin's wife, Lydia Butler Griffin, and daughter Caroline. These pieces tended to relate family news and household matters but also included reflections on reading and Sigourney's involvement in various charitable societies. She briefly remarked on her relationship with her African American servant, Ann Prince. In addition, Sigourney conveyed in her letters to George Griffin that she valued the responses of his wife and daughters to her work. Finally, the series contains 2 letters composed by Charles Sigourney, Lydia Sigourney's husband, and ten letters written by Lydia Sigourney relating to her work, public appreciation of it, school celebrations, and social matters.

Griffin Family Correspondence, 1807-1885: The Griffin Family correspondence contains over 150 letters, dated between 1807 and 1885, that relate to George Griffin (1778-1860) of New York City and his family.

Most of the letters from the 1820s deal with Edmund Dorr Griffin (1804-1830), the second son of George and Lydia Butler Griffin. A handful of these items chart his religious convictions and pathway to becoming an Episcopal minister. The bulk of these letters, however, are ones that Edmund exchanged with his parents, siblings, and friends during the extended trip he took to Europe between October 1828 and April 1830. George Griffin's letters to Edmund during this trip are full of advice and directives about where to travel, what to observe, and practicalities about money. He also kept his son informed about matters that were unfolding among the Episcopal churches in New York and at Columbia College. Although George Griffin was the primary writer of these letters, many of them include notes from other family members as well, with accounts of family life, including the courtship and marriage of Edmund's older brother Francis to Mary Sands.

Edmund's letters home narrate his journey and impressions of Europe in extensive detail. George Griffin actively compiled his son's epistles to have them published in periodicals, and upon Edmund's death in September 1830, these travel accounts (not all of which are included in the collection) made up the bulk of the "Remains" compiled by Francis Griffin and published in his brother's memory in 1831. Letters pertaining to the preparation and reception of this document, as well as a 12-page account of Edmund's final days, can be found in Series I and II of the collection.

Another group of letters from 1830 chart George Griffin, Jr.'s (1811-1880) sudden religious awakening and decision to pursue ministerial training under the care of his uncle, Edward Dorr Griffin (1770-1837), a Congregational minister and the president of Williams College. Later letters in the collection reveal that George Griffin, Jr., eventually became a farmer in Catskill, New York, and deal with his efforts to sell his hay. He would also travel to Europe, in 1850, with his ailing sister Caroline (1820-1861). While they were away, their father conveyed advice regularly and procured letters of introduction, some of which remain in the collection.

Additional materials include subjects related to male and female friendship; family financial matter; the births, deaths, or marriages of family members; education; Protestant theology; health and medicine; early telegraph communication; and family genealogy. The handful of items that date to the 1870s and 1880s include a printed piece called "Dear Erskie!" which contains a series of riddles, and a fifteen-page booklet that includes two poems titled "Picnic" and "Archery."

Lydia Sigourney Poems, Notes, and Photograph

This series consists of six items: a 3-page manuscript copy of Sigourney's poem on the death of American poet John Trumbull in 1831; a manuscript copy of "Death of a Missionary to Liberia" written for theColonization Herald; her poem "Tomb of Josephine"; Sigourney's manuscript copy of an 1849 printed notice regarding Whisper to a Bride that she sent to an autograph collector; a "List of L. H. Sigourney's published poetical works" (ca. 1857? in her hand); and a carte-de-visite seated portrait of Lydia H. Sigourney. The photograph was published by E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., New York, from a photographic negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. It is signed by Lydia H. Sigourney to her friend Mrs. E. Douglas Smith.

Biographical / Historical:

Lydia H. Sigourney:

Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney (1791-1865) published a prolific amount of poetry, educational tracts, stories, travel narratives, memorial tributes, and conduct literature during her lifetime. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, the only child of Ezekial Huntley, a gardener, and Zerviah Wentworth, she benefitted from the patronage of a wealthy family in Hartford, the Lathrops, in receiving her education.

After her formal education ended, she continued to study Latin and Hebrew and began to teach others. In 1811, she and a friend, Nancy Maria Hyde, opened a girl's school in Hartford, Connecticut. This venture ended after Hyde's health declined. In her letter of September 20, 1834, Sigourney wrote to George Griffin about compiling, editing, and publishing her friend's papers after Hyde's death. A few years later in 1814, a friend of the Lathrops financed a school for Sigourney to oversee herself. As in other female academies at the time, the curriculum in Sigourney's school focused on intellectual and moral development, rather than on ornamental accomplishments. Many of the pieces that Sigourney initially composed for use in her school ended up in her first literary work, Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse, which was published in 1815.

Lydia gave up her teaching when she married Charles Sigourney, a Hartford widower with three children, in 1819. Charles Sigourney (1778-1854) worked as a merchant and eventually became the president of a bank. Lydia and Charles had five children together, only two of whom, Mary (1828-1889) and Andrew (1831-1854), reached adulthood.

Although her husband initially objected to her endeavors as a published author, Lydia H. Sigourney's literary pursuits grew during her marriage. After publishing anonymously for several years, she began to produce material under her married name in 1833. In the next two years alone, she oversaw the publication of nine texts. She actively contributed work to periodicals as well. The letters in the collection to her friend and intermediary, George Griffin, address how and what she wrote as well as how she negotiated different avenues of publication.

In tandem with her work as an author, Sigourney also participated in several female moral reform and charitable societies. As the collection reveals, she remained involved in her earlier pursuits as an educator as well, and George Griffin encouraged her in this effort through his letters. In addition to focusing many of her published works on education, she also hosted a reunion of the scholars of her academy in 1837, which she described in a letter included in the collection.

Sigourney's work enjoyed a widespread audience during her lifetime, enough for her to garner considerable income from her publications. Remembered as "the Sweet Singer of Hartford" and the "female Milton," she had produced 65 published works by the time of her death in 1865.

Griffin Family:

George Griffin (1778-1860), a lawyer, was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale in 1797, before eventually settling in New York City in 1806. Late in his life, he published three books on Christianity, Sufferings of Our Saviour (New York, 1845), Evidences of Christianity (New York, 1846) and The Gospel its Own Advocate (New York, 1850). Several letters relating to these publications, including Boston theologian Edward Beecher's response to Sufferings of Our Saviour, are in the collection.

George Griffin married Lydia Butler Griffin (1783-1860) on July 3, 1801, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he was practicing law at the time. Together, they had 8 children: Francis (1802-1852), Edmund Dorr (1804-1830), Ellen (1807-1823), Caroline Ann (1809-1810), George (1811-1880), Charles Alexander (1814-1859), Caroline Lydia (1820-1861), and Ellen Ann (1826-1831). The collection most directly deals with Edmund Dorr Griffin (1804-1830) and George Griffin, Jr. (1811-1880), though it does include a few letters from Francis, Charles, Caroline, and Francis's wife, Mary Sands Griffin. George Griffin died on May 6, 1860, in New York City.

Francis Griffin (1802-1852) was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Yale in 1822 before becoming a lawyer. He married Mary Sands (1804-1888) of Sands Point, New York, in 1829. They had five children. Charles Alexander Griffin also became a lawyer, having attended Williams College, from which he graduated in 1833. He married Pastora Jacoba DeForest, of New Haven, Connecticut, with whom he had four children. He died in New York City.

Edmund Dorr Griffin (1804-1830) was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Columbia College in 1823. He initially studied law with his father, but soon entered the New York Theological Seminary to pursue ordination in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Beginning in 1826, he briefly served as an assistant minister at St. James and Christ churches in New York City. Edmund made an 18-month trip to Europe between October 1828 and April 1830, during which he spent considerable time in Italy, Switzerland, France, and Great Britain. Upon his return to the United States, he gave a series of lectures at Columbia on Roman, Italian, and English literature. He died unmarried on September 1, 1830. His father, George Griffin, and brother, Francis Griffin, oversaw the publications of his "Remains," which included a memoir by the Rev. John McVickar, a professor at Columbia, in 1831.

George Griffin, Jr. (1811-1880) worked for several years in a merchant's counting house in New York City before receiving, in 1830, a sudden desire to become a Presbyterian minister. Because he had not attended college previously, his father, George Griffin, advised him to undertake accelerated study at Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts) under the supervision of his uncle, the Reverend Edward Dorr Griffin (1770-1837). George did not end up pursuing the ministry and instead became a farmer. He married Anne Augusta Neilson (d. 1841) in 1834, and together they settled in Catskill, New York. They had three children: Augusta (b. 1835), Francis Butler, who died at the age of 12, and Edward Dorr (b. 1838). Two letters that Francis Butler wrote to his father from boarding school in 1847 are part of the collection. After Anne Augusta's death in 1841, George married Mary Augusta Cooke (d. 1848), of Catskill in 1845. She gave birth to one child, Frederick Cooke, before her death. In 1850, George traveled to Europe with his sister Caroline, whose health was ailing. Upon his return, he married Elizabeth Frances Benson, with whom he had four children: Francis Butler, George, Lydia Butler, and Sophia Day.

Acquisition Information:

1980-1996, 2023. M-1887, M-3105, M-3142, M-3223.8, M-7816, M-7910 .

Custodial History:

Processing information:

Cataloging funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This collection has been processed according to minimal processing procedures and may be revised, expanded, or updated in the future.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series:

• Series I: Correspondence
  • Sigourney Correspondence
  • Griffin Family Correspondence
• Series II: Lydia Sigourney Poems, Notes, and Photograph

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Related Materials

The Lewis Cass papers contain a letter Lydia H. Sigourney wrote to Lewis Cass, dated 17 December 1860.

The George Brinley papers contain 2 letters Lydia H. Sigourney wrote to George Brinley (d. 1857), dated 24 April 1843 and 25 December 1860.

The Huntington family scrapbook contains two letters that Lydia H. Sigourney wrote to the Hannah (Phelps) Huntington, a letter to Maria (Perit) Huntington, and a letter in dedication of the 1857 Huntington family reunion. These letters included poems that had not been published at the time.

Lydia H. Sigourney's autograph may be found in the Martha Leach Packard commonplace book and the Russell-McCabe autograph album.

The William L. Clements Library also holds a significant selection of Lydia H. Sigourney's publications.

Bibliography

Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. "George Griffin." In Biological Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History. Volume 5. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911: 286-287.

Remains of the Rev. Edmund D. Griffin, Compiled by Francis Griffin: A Biographical Memoir of the Deceased, by the Rev. John McVickar, D.D. 2 vols. New-York, 1831.

Walworth, Reuben Hyde. Hyde Genealogy: Or, the Descendants, in the Female as well as in the Male Lines, from William Hyde, of Norwich, with Their Places of Residence, and Dates of Birth, Marriages, &c., and Other Particulars of Them and Their Families and Ancestry. 2 vols. Albany, NY: J. Munsell, 1864.

Zagarell, Sandra. "Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney." In The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 5th ed. Paul Lautner, ed. Online.

Alternative Form Available:

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Agriculture--New York (State)
American literature--19th century.
Authors and publishers.
Christian life.
Courtship.
Criticism.
Death--Poetry.
Depressions, 1836-1837.
Education, Higher--United States.
Family life.
Female friendship.
Health and medicine.
Indians of North America.
Male friendship.
Moravians.
Poets, American.
Publishers and publishing.
Temperance.
Theology.
Women--Education--United States.
Women poets.

Formats:

Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
Letters (correspondence)
Photographs.
Poems.
Reviews (document genre)

Names:

Columbia College (Columbia University)
D. Appleton and Company.
Episcopal Church.
Harper Brothers.
Key & Biddle.
Leavitt, Lord, and Co.
Williams College.
McVickar, John, 1787-1868.
Prince, Ann.
Sigourney, Andrew, 1830-1850.
Russell, Mary Huntley Sigourney, 1828-1889.
Trumbull, John, 1750-1831.
Beecher, Edward, 1803-1895.
Crawford, R.
Day, Sophia A.
Fisher, G.J.
Ford, George H.
Forman, M.
Gould, Robert Howe.
Gray, Alexander.
Gray, Eliza.
Gray, Jane.
Griffin, Augusta, b. 1835.
Griffin, Charles Alexander, 1814-1859.
Griffin, Edmund D. (Edmund Dorr), 1804-1830.
Griffin, Edward Dorr, 1770-1837.
Griffin family.
Griffin, Francis, 1802-1852.
Griffin, Francis Butler.
Griffin, George, 1778-1860.
Griffin, George, 1811-1880.
Griffin, Lydia Butler, 1783-1860.
Griffin, Mary Sands, b. 1804.
Hadder, H. B.
Hammersley, John W.
Havens, C. G.
Hubbard, F. M.
Lord, H.
Lloyd, Delia A.
Lyell, Thomas, 1775-1848.
Miner, Charles, 1780-1865.
Olmstead, A. F.
Park, Benjamin.
Richmond, William, 1797-1858.
Shelton, George A.
Sigourney, Charles, 1778-1854.
Tyng, Stephen H. (Stephen Higginson), 1800-1885.
Waddell, L.
Walsh, Robert, 1784-1859.
Woodworth, W.

Places:

Catskill (N.Y.)
Europe--Description and travel.
Hartford (Conn.)
New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs.
Williamstown (Mass.)