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3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Benjamin R. Phelon Family Papers Book-keeper and soldier, of Providence, R.I. Family papers, 1853-1912 Size: 0.25 linear feet Catalog number: MSS 618 Processed by: Rick Stattler, October 2001 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
Benjamin Ray Phelon (1840-1923) was the son of Benjamin Phelon and Sarah W. Greene. During the Civil War he served in the three-month 9th R.I. Infantry, in the 78th New York Infantry, and as a clerk in the Quartermaster's office of the U.S. Military Railroad. After the war, he worked as the book-keeper for various firms. He married Mary Dana Robbins (1851-1931), daughter of Gen. Charles T. Robbins (1822-1868) and Caroline A. (Westcott) Robbins (1822-1898). They had two children: Alice G. (1878-1959), and Anna R. (1883-1965), who married Walter Daboll.
Alice G. Phelon (1878-1959) attended the public Providence High School, later worked as a stenographer, and married Pawtucket textile craftsman James Poland (1875-1907), who soon died. She married again at age 40, to Hayward H. Prew (1892-1920) of Wrentham, Mass. who was only 27. Mr. Prew died the following year. Finally, in 1921, she married Earle R. Wilcox, an inspector in Providence. They lived together in Providence until her death in 1959.
Bibliography:
Clarke, Louise B. The Greenes of Rhode Island... (New York: 1903)
Poland, Lloyd Orville. The Polands from Essex County, Massachusetts, 3rd edition, p. 429-430
1900 U.S. Census, Providence, E.D. 6, pages 1-6, showing Alice's neighborhood, including many of her friends.
1920 U.S. Census, Providence E.D. 188, page 13
Obituary, Providence Journal, April 22 1959, page 18
Providence city directories
Rhode Island Cemetery Database
Scope and content:
This collection consists of papers of Benjamin Ray Phelon, his wife, his father-in-law and mother-in-law and his daughter. Benjamin R. Phelon's correspondence relates to employment searches, including letters of recommendation and letters offering him interviews or positions. His diary was written mostly while serving in the Civil War in 1863.
Noteworthy among the papers of Mary (Robbins) Phelon and Caroline (Westcott) Robbins are five letters, two poems and a newspaper clipping from pioneering feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a relative.
Alice Greene Phelon's diary, written in 1896 at the age of seventeen, is also of particular interest.
Provenance:
These papers were apparently donated by Earle R. Wilcox in 1959. The accession book lists three gifts from him in the months following the death of his wife, Alice G. (Phelon) Wilcox, whose 1896 diary is the last item in the collection. Possible manuscripts included "Civil War diary," "Charlotte Perkins Gilman autobiographical material (autographed)," and "misc. material." The bulk of this small collection could have been donated as "misc. material", or arrived in another unrecorded gift from Mr. Wilcox, or possibly from another family member. It does include several Gilman letters, and a Civil War diary.
Processing note:
These papers were known as the Phelon-Robbins Papers until they were processed in 2001. One folder was transferred to Graphics in 2001.
Inventory:
Benjamin Ray Phelon (1840-1923)
Folder 1. Correspondence, 1863-1867
Folder 2. Correspondence, 1876-1906
Folder 3. Diary page, May 27 1862, re first day in 9th R.I. Infantry
Folder 4. Diary, January 1 - December 31 1863, in unknown regiment and 78th N.Y. Infantry.
Folder 5. Military papers, 1862-1912
Folder 6. Miscellaneous:
Book-keeping certificate from Scholfield's Commercial Academy, 1861
Warwick teaching certificate, 1862
Manuscript program titled "The Candle Light" for "Dike's Opera House", 1872
Obituaries of Rev. Benjamin Phelon, 1882
Postcard of Greene Memorial House, undated (photocopy - original in Graphics)
Printed "Roll of Names," undated. Possibly church members.
Mary D. (Robbins) Phelon. Wife of Benjamin Ray Phelon.
Folder 7. Papers, 1862-1907
1862/06/07 Letter from father C.T. Robbins
1865/07/25 Letter from grandmother "B.R."
1867/08/30 Letter from grandmother
1869/07/21 Letter from C. T. Westcott of Providence.
1872/08/11 Letter from friend Anna --- of Providence
1873/11/13 Wedding announcement
1876/08/28 Letter from cousin [Charlotte Perkins?]
1883/07/18 Letter from mother
1892/06/08 Letter from daughter Alice G. Phelon
1896/09/28 Letter from uncle George S. Greene. Part cut out.
1897/06/18 Letter from cousin Charlotte Perkins Stetson in San Francisco
1898/03/31 Letter from Charles Colgate Abbe of Brooklyn, N.Y.
1907/09/27 Two letters from husband B. Ray Phelon in Gettysburg, Penn.
Undated letter fragment
Undated memorandum, "Expenses of trip of Miss Mary Robbins"
Undated clipping of letter from Charles W. Stetson to editor of The Globe defending his ex-wife Charlotte Perkins Stetson.
Caroline A. (Westcott) Robbins (1822-1898). Mother-in-law of Benjamin Ray Phelon.
Folder 8. Papers, 1853-1880
1853/12/24 Two copies of poem titled "Carry's Babies"
1858/03/29 Will of mother Catherine Arnold Westcott of Warwick
1867/07/31 Life insurance certificate
1868/11/13 Letter from Royal C. Taft re life insurance
1869/07/20 Letter from daughter Mary Phelon
1880/07/25 Letter from niece Charlotte A. Perkins, illustrated
1880/08/22 Letter from niece Charlotte A. Perkins, 4 pages, unillustrated
1880/08/22 Letter from niece Charlotte A. Perkins, 8 pages, illustrated
Undated poem by C.A.P. (Charlotte A. Perkins) titled "Farewell to the Latin Class"
Undated poem by C.A.P. (Charlotte A. Perkins) titled "Angel of the Wood"
Charles T. Robbins. Father-in-law of Benjamin Ray Phelon.
Folder 9. Papers,
1859/10/13 Title abstract for Summer Street land
1865/08/22 Letter to father
1866/05/13 Quote from poem beginning "Now in thy youth beseech of Him..."
1868/04/30 Sale agreement with David and Mary Hunt
1868/11/05 Memorial resolution from Providence Marine Corps of Artillery
Ten commissions for various posts, 1855-1867
Alice G. (Phelon) Wilcox. Daughter of Benjamin Ray Phelon.
Folder 10. Diary, 1896, as Alice Greene Phelon. With memoranda through 1899.
Subjects:
Brigham, Clarence S., 1877-1963
Cooke, Mary B. (Armington), 1879-1965
Diaries, 1862-1863
Diaries, 1896
Evans, George W., 1880-1963
Gilman, Charlotte A. (Perkins) (Stetson), 1860-1935
Greene, George Sears, 1801-1899
Ostby, Erling C., 1880-1973
Ostby, Harold W., 1877-1954
Phelon, Alice Greene, 1878-1959
Phelon, Mary D. (Robbins), 1851-1931
Poland, Alice G. (Phelon), 1878-1959
Prew, Alice G. (Phelon) (Poland), 1878-1959
Providence, R.I. - Social life and customs
Robbins, Caroline A. (Westcott), 1822-1898
Robbins, Charles T., 1822-1868
Robbins, Mary Dana, 1851-1931
Stetson, Charles W., 1858-1914
United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865
Westcott, Caroline (Arnold)
Westcott, Caroline A., 1822-1898
Wilcox, Alice G. (Phelon) (Poland) (Prew), 1878-1959
Woodbury, Augustus
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RIHS1822