Titcomb-Dole-Cowles Family, Papers, 1805-1895

Finding Aid

Prepared by Merritt D. Betts, February 20, 1979
Revised by Stephanie Wachalec October 17, 2003
1 slim document case, .16 cubic feet, 11th floor
Old archives number: D.1.9.1.

Historical Note

This collection was donated by Margaret Cowles Ticknor in 1978. Greenleaf Dole traveled Ohio in 1816-1817 looking for a new home. During these travels he met Giles Hooker Cowles (future father-in-law to Selena Dole Cowles). Greenleaf and Selina (Titcomb) Dole's daughter Selina married Lewis D. Cowles in 1848. Lewis was the brother of Betsy Mix Cowles. Related collections are: the Fuller Family Papers, Lysander Mix Cowles Papers, Giles Hooker Cowles Papers, and Myra G. Cowles Papers.

Scope and Content

The central figures of the collection are Greenleaf Dole and his wife, Selina (Titcomb) Dole, who first settled in Portsmouth, Ohio and then Cincinnati. The letters in this collection provide information about everyday life in early nineteenth-century Ohio. Greenleaf's and Selina's granddaughter Julia (Cowles) Johnson provides a description of the Cowles Family house in Austinburg, Ohio, as remembered from her childhood.

Box 1

1. Miscellaneous genealogical materials
2. Manuscript genealogies of the Titcomb and Dole families, [no date] (shelved in map case on 11th floor)
3. Correspondence: to Greenleaf from his father Oliver Dole, January 1810- September 1816
4. Correspondence: to Selina (Titcomb) Dole from Greenleaf, August 1816-June 1824, [no date] and to Greenleaf Dole from Selina (Titcomb) Dole, August 1824
5. Correspondence: to Greenleaf from his sister Sarah Dole, December 1816; and from his brother Ebben Dole, October 1832
6. Correspondence: to Greenleaf from his brother Samuel Dole June 1828-January 1837 and to Greenleaf's widow Selina from Samuel Dole, March-September 1837
7. Correspondence: to Greenleaf from his wife's brother, George Titcomb, November 1823
8. Correspondence: to Greenleaf from non-family members, January 1819-August 1831
9. Correspondence: to Enoch Titcomb from his brother Joseph Titcomb, January 1812
10. Correspondence: to Selina (Titcomb) Dole from her father, Enoch Titcomb, July 1811
11. Correspondence: to Selina (Titcomb) Dole from her cousins Harriet Hooper, December 1805; N. Jones, October 1813; Eliza (Titcomb) Mitchell, November, 1813-April, 1823; and friend Dorcas Homes, July 1812
12. Correspondence: to Selina (Titcomb) Dole from her sister, Ann (Titcomb) Chase October 1811-April 1827; from Ann's husband William Chase, September, 1812 and their son John Chase, July 1823
13. Correspondence: to Selina (Titcomb) Dole from her brother, Edward Titcomb, September 1824; from her sister, Mary Jones Titcomb, November 1819-July 1831; her sister Fanny (Titcomb) Lord, September 1824-September 1833
14. Correspondence: to Selina (Dole) Cowles from her husband Lewis Cowles, January 1848, her sister-in-law, Cornelia Cowles, [no date]; her uncle Samuel Dole, April 1850; her cousin, Alfred Lord (son of Fanny Titcomb Lord), August 1895
15. Correspondence: approximate typescript of a letter from Julia (Cowles) Johnson to her nephew, Howard Cowles, September 1930
16. Correspondence: miscellaneous letters to Mary Minot, [no date] and from Harriet Newell, July 1812 [manuscript copy]
17. Miscellaneous legal papers: contract between Greenleaf Dole and Ebenezer Corwin, January 1821; will abstract of Samuel Dole [includes property plans, no date] and legal items dated 1818 and 1839
18. Miscellaneous unidentified essays and religious writings [no date]
19. Outline by Lewis D. Cowles for a history his life and times [original manuscript located in the Cowles Family Papers]
20. In Memoriam, a booklet containing a sketch of the life of Sophia Hooker Dole, 1836-1920