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Green and Mitchell Papers

Call Number

MS 263

Date

1805-1861 (Bulk 1824-1855), inclusive

Creator

Green, Timothy Ruggles

Extent

3.2 Linear feet (7 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The collection consists of the personal and business papers of two attorneys, Timothy Ruggles Green and John Wroughton Mitchell. The work of these attorneys typically encompassed financial matters, such as estate settlements and disputes over debts or other financial dealings. The collection is mostly client files and but also contains professional and personal correspondence.

Historical Note

The American ancestry of Timothy Ruggles Green reaches back to Thomas Green of Malden, Massachusetts, who came to America from Leicestershire, England, about 1636. His maternal grandfather, Timothy Ruggles, was a leading royalist in Massachusetts during the American Revolution. A cousin, Andrew Haswell Green, was influential in the planning and development of northern Manhattan and in the consolidation of Manhattan with its neighboring cities. Though his family remained centered in New England, principally Worcester, Massachusetts, Timothy R. became an attorney in New York City circa mid-1820s. He was a trustee of Brown University and was active in religious circles. He married Cornelia Elizabeth Arnold, a member of another leading New England family, circa mid-1830s. He had two children, the first being Arnold Green (1838 -- 1903), who went on to become a prominent attorney in Providence, Rhode Island. Timothy R. became ill in late 1839 and died on March 16, 1840, in South Carolina where he had gone in the hope of recovering.

John Wroughton Mitchell (1796 -- 1878) was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He began practicing law in that city in 1817. Mitchell married Caroline Green, the sister of Timothy R., in 1825. In 1835, Mitchell moved to New York City, where he continued his law practice, now in partnership with his brother-in-law. He was actively involved with the Episcopal church in Charleston and continued these activities in New York. The Mitchells had at least one child, Clarence, who also became an attorney in New York.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by type of material. The client files are in alphabetical order according to client name, and the correspondence is filed in alphabetical order by correspondent, then chronologically.

The papers are arranged into the following series:

Missing Title

  1. Series 1: Client Files
  2. Series 2: Correspondence
  3. Series 3: Green Family Papers
  4. Series 4: Other Documents

Scope and Content Note

All materials, regardless of type, that could be associated with a specific client of Green or Mitchell are found in the Client Files series. Correspondence that is personal in nature or that could not be linked to a client relationship during processing will be found in the Correspondence series. Agreements among various Green family members and genealogical notes are found in the Green Family Papers series. Material other than correspondence, including legal, financial, and research documents, that could not be linked to the Green Family or to a client relationship are in the Other Documents series. The researcher should consult series descriptions for individual series arrangement details.

Although original order for much of the material appeared to have been lost prior to processing, this may not have been the case in all instances as some concentrations of materials associated with particular clients or cases, consistent with the attorneys' filing labels, were found in the unprocessed collection. Documents found within these client-specific concentrations were retained within a file for that client even though the linkage to the client could not be readily identified for all such documents. Researchers should be aware that some materials retained in the Client File for this reason were used for multiple purposes (e.g., reference notes written on the back of other document forms) and therefore possibly relate to multiple matters.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.) See guidelines in Reading Room for details.

Use Restrictions

Permission to quote from this collection in a publication must be requested and granted in writing. Send permission requests, citing the name of the collection from which you wish to quote, to

Library Director
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Green and Mitchell Papers.

Provenance

Donation by Mrs. A. G. Burnham, 1963.

Collection processed by

Processed by Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:48:36 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derivedfrom greenmitch01mb.xml

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024