Scope and Contents:
The collection chiefly contains letters sent to Henry P. Hovey and Susan E. Hovey by family and friends from 1854-1887. There are 267 letters with 161 retained mailing envelopes. There is also an unsigned business ledger with a variety of transactions, including many for lumber, and some entries at Indian Creek, Illinois, dating from 1846-1885. Additionally, there are approximately 110 related ephemeral materials. These ephemera items, dating from 1863-1887, primarily include mailing envelopes, receipts, taxation documents, and advertisements for cartes-de-visite.
Biographical/Historical Context:
Henry Porter Hovey (1810-1885) was born in East Machias, Maine on September 4, 1810, to Captain Moses Hovey (1773-1827) and Mary Foster. Henry P. Hovey briefly lived in Canada and Ohio before settling in Illinois as a farmer in 1839, first in Freedom, Illinois, and subsequently in Ottawa, Illinois. On January 31, 1850, Hovey married Mary Ann “Polly” Sinclair (1826-1893), the daughter of Amos Sinclair and Elizabeth Chamberlain Watkins. The Hovey family was one the earliest groups of white settlers in the town of Ottawa, Illinois.
The couple had one child, Susan Elizabeth Hovey (1851-1936), who was born on January 3, 1851, in Freedom, Illinois. Susan E. Hovey attended Jennings Seminary in Aurora, Illinois around 1870 to 1871. She lived in Ottawa, Illinois for most of her life. Upon her death on March 8, 1936, Susan Hovey was buried in Serena, Illinois, alongside her parents.
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