Historical note:

            Elihue Greene (1802-1878) was born on Potowomut Neck in Warwick, Rhode Island to Christopher Greene (1748-1830) and Deborah (Ward) Greene (1758-1835). He married Matilda Ray Sumner (b.1810), daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hubbard) Sumner of Brookline, Massachusetts. They had seven children: Matilda Elizabeth (b.1831), William W. (1834-1879), Emily Anna (1837-1841), Charles Richard (1840-1866), Thomas Sumner (b. 1842), Samuel W. (b. 1848), and Alice Sumner (b. 1850).

            Elihue was a merchant and was involved in the family's iron forge at Potowomut. He and his family moved from Potowomut to Brookline, Massachusetts and then onto Cincinnati, Ohio in 1832, where Elihue continued his work as a merchant. He died from injuries sustained stepping off a streetcar.

Bibliography:

Clarke, Louise Brownell. The Greenes of Rhode Island with Historical Records of English Ancestry, 212, 336. New York, 1903.

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Scope and content:

            This collection contains material from 1816 to 1832 with the bulk of information in the years 1831 to 1832. Found in these papers are financial transactions, as well as letters between Elihue and various family members: his brothers Richard and Nathanael; his niece Celia; and his wife Matilda. A 1830 ledger of Elihue's can also be found in the F &S.W. Greene Papers (Mss 466). Letters from Elihue to his mother, Deborah (Ward) Greene, can be found in the Deborah Ward Greene Papers (Mss 457).

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Provenance:

            These records are believed to have arrived as part of the "Albert C. and Richard W. Greene Collection." The actual date of the accession is not known for sure, but the collection was in hand by the late 1940s. Therefore, the date of 1948 was assigned to the collection.

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Processing note:

            A letter addressed to Christopher Greene from Samuel Ward Greene was transferred to the Christopher Greene Papers (456). A letter from Deborah Ward Greene to Elihue was transferred from the Greene Legal Papers (453).

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Inventory:

Box 1, folder 1. Cash/day book, 1830-1831

Oversized vol. 1. Cash journal, 1831-1832

Box 1, folder 2. Correspondence: from brother Richard Ward Greene, 1816, 1819, and    undated

Box 1, folder 3. Correspondence: miscellaneous

            Fom his brother: unknown, 1822

            From his cousin Franklin, 1824

             From a friend, 1831

            From his mother Deborah, 1835

Box 1, folder 4. Correspondence: from brother Nathanael Greene, 1823, 1828-1829

Box 1, folder 5. Correspondence: from wife Matilda Ray, 1832

Box 1, folder 6. Correspondence: from niece Celia Clarke, undated

Box 1, folder 7. Financial transactions, 1822-1832

Box 1, folder 8. Ledger, 1830-1831

Box 1, folder 9. Ledger, 1831

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Subjects:

Greene, Deborah (Ward), 1758-1835.

Greene, Matilda Ray (Sumner), b.1810.

Greene, Nathanael, 1789-1841.

Greene, Richard Ward, 1792-1875.

Clarke, Celia (Greene), 1786-1829.

Merchants - Rhode Island - Warwick

Warwick (R.I.) - Social life and customs.

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RIHS1822