Table of Contents
Scope and Contents of the Collection
| Ask a question |
| Request a visit |
| Potentially harmful content statement |
Overview of the Collection |
|
| Creator: | Commins, Jedediah D. |
| Title: | Jedediah Commins Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1808-1829 |
| Quantity: | 0.75 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | Papers, mostly financial, illustrating the business activities of Jedediah Commins (Commins) in Central New York. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Biographical History
Jedediah Commins (1756?-1836) was an early settler of Lima, New York, arriving in the area prior to 1798. In 1809 he was elected an overseer of the poor. He and his wife Olive had three daughters (Anna, a second daughter named in Commins' will as "Mrs. Wealthy Miller," and Olive) and four sons (Erasmus, Jedediah, Joel, and Ezra). Jedediah Jr. (1790-1867), born in Vermont, was for some time a merchant in Lima; it is unclear whether he or his father started the business, but it was evidently very active. He and his wife Sophia eventually relocated to Akron, Ohio where opened the first drugstore in that city. Variant spellings in the collection include Cummins and Cummings. [Sources: Lockwood Lyon Doty, History of Livingston County, New York, From Its Earliest Traditions to the Present, Geneseo: Edward R. Doty, 1905; "Last Will and Testament of Jedediah Commins," New York Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999; William Henry Perrin, History of Summit County, Chicago: Baskin & Battey, 1881.]
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Jedediah Commins Papers consists of personal and financial material relating to Jedediah Commins (1790-1867).
Financial material includes correspondence, partnership agreements, loan agreements, memoranda, receipts, checks, ledger pages, etc. Some of the earlier items are headed "Pitts & Commins."
Personal material includes family, legal, and social correspondence, as well as a three-page essay dated 1809 on the Biblical justification for slavery.
Arrangement of the Collection
Subdivided into personal and financial, and arranged chronologically within each series.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Use Restrictions
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Subject Headings
Persons
Subjects
Places
Genres and Forms
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Jedediah Commins Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 2015.
Finding Aid Information
Created by: MRC
Date: 23 Sep 2015
Revision history:
Inventory
| Personal material | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | Correspondence 1808-1829 - includes letters to Jedediah from his father, siblings and children, some items pertaining to the local courts (e.g., a list of jurors from 1812), a few items from the local Quintillian Society, and two letters on the potential division of counties; also a three-page essay or speech (1809) justifying slavery on Biblical grounds | ||||||||||
| Financial material | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | [General] 1808-Jul 1828 (21 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | [General] Aug 1828-1829 (4 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | [General] undated or illegible - includes partnership agreement between Pitts and Commins | ||||||||||