York Family. Correspondence and Ephemera, 1855-1955

This collection consists of correspondence between and to the Fuller, Hearn, Elliott, Hiatt, and York families, as well as ephemera such as receipts, newspaper clippings, checks, and envelopes dating from 1855-1955.

Margaret Jane "Maggie" Elliott was born in 1842 to William and Sarah A. Hearn Elliott. She had at least one sister, Esther M. Elliott. Maggie's uncle, Thomas C. "Chal" Hearn married Frances "Fanny" H. Fuller and had at least two children, William and Carrie. Maggie married John Milton Hiatt and had two children with him, Mary Cora Hiatt and Frances "Fannie" Ellen Hiatt. Three years after the death of her first husband in 1869, Maggie married Jeremiah F. York in Tazewell County, Illinois. Jeremiah was also a widower and had four children from his previous marriage: Charles, Katie, Luella, and Freddie. Together the two had a child, Mattie S. York. The family resided in Cambridge, Henry County, Illinois as farmers. In 1863, Jeremiah registered for the Civil War draft, but it is unclear if he served. Jeremiah and Maggie moved to California with their son Freddie and his family, and their daughter Mattie, in the early 1900s, some time before Jeremiah's death in 1910. Maggie lived another twenty-two years and died in California in 1932.

This collection contains correspondence between and to the Fuller, Hearn, Elliott, Hiatt and York families. A large bulk of the letters are to Margaret "Maggie" Elliot Hiatt York and her mother, Sarah A. Hearn Elliott. These letters concern family and financial matters, particularly financial matters inherited after the death of Maggie's father, William Elliot, in 1856. Other letters to Maggie include letters from her first husband, John Milton Hiatt, her second husband, Jeremiah F. York, and her children. Other correspondents include Frances "Fanny" Fuller Hearn and her husband, Thomas C. "Chal" Hearn, Aunt and Uncle to Maggie respectively. Letters from Thomas and Frances Hearn, mostly to Maggie and Sarah Elliott, briefly discuss the Civil War and its effects in Ohio. This collection also contains financial documents such as property tax receipts, mortgage and warranty papers for land in Illinois, Ohio, and Nebraska, and miscellaneous receipts and checks. This collection also has several envelopes that have not been matched to corresponding letters, newspaper clippings related to fashion, news, and family obituaries, and two locks of hair from children in the family.

The Library purchased this collection with the assistance of the Stone Family Endowment in 2021.