This collection contains family portraits, genealogical material, correspondence among the Eddy siblings and parents, and a family Bible. The correspondence consists of approximately 120 letters, most of which were written during the American Civil War (1860-1865) between the three enlisted brothers, Willard, William and Clark, and their parents, Otis and Lucy. Three of the letters contain accounts of the Battle of Williamsburg (letter dated May 12, 1862), the First Battle of Fredricksburg (letter dated May 26, 1863), and the Second Battle of Fredricksburg (letter dated May 26, 1863). There are also digital scans of six of the letters and digital transcriptions of ten of them.
The family Bible is also included, and the loose leaf genealogical and family record materials that were once interleaved within it have been foldered separately for preservation reasons. There are also two official Union Army documents conferring promotions on Clark Eddy, one for the rank of corporal and the other for the rank of sergeant.
The collection also includes a box of family portraits taken using various early photographic methods. There are four 1/6th plate size portraits framed in “Union Cases,” two of which are tintypes and two of which are daguerreotypes. There are also two 1/9th plate size ambrotypes. The box also contains a leather-bound photograph album of fifteen later portraits of family members, as well as a small Maple Grove Candies box which holds five unframed and uncased tintypes.
The Eddy Family was a Civil War-era family from Plymouth, Michigan. Otis Eddy (b. August 30, 1810) married Lucy Ann Clark (b. December 27, 1811) on January 10, 1837. They had eight children: Willard, Jane, William Hannahs, Clark, Sarah Elizabeth, James Otis, Anna, and John Mathewson. Of these children, the three elder brothers served in the Michigan 2nd and 24th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiments in the Civil War. Willard Eddy was killed in action in the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862 and William Hannahs Eddy was killed in the Battle of Fredricksburg on December 12, 1862. Clark Eddy survived through most of the war but died in a military hospital near Petersburg, Virginia on June 18, 1865.
