Frey Family Papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
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Language of Materials
Abstract
The Frey Family Papers primarily document multiple generations of the Frey and related Ludlow and Van Schaack families of upstate New York and elsewhere. The bulk of the collection is correspondence (16 boxes), detailing family news, health matters, and deaths; opinions on religion, politics, and the Civil War; financial, legal, and property issues and troubles; family history and genealogy.
Biographical Note
This collection contains items for over one hundred individuals. See family trees (available at repository) for the Frey, Ludlow, and Van Schaack families for relationships, birth and death dates. These trees were compiled from a variety of sources, including the items in the collection.
Many individuals in this collection had nicknames and used them often in correspondence. The following nicknames are commonly used:
Missing Title
Arrangement
Correspondence arranged by sender. See container list for other series arrangements.
The collection is organized into the following seventeen series:
Missing Title
- Series I. Correspondence, 1793-1917, undated
- Series II. Diaries, 1821-[18]92, undated
- Series III. Financial Records, 1799-1912, undated
- Series IV. Legal Material, 1799-1865, undated
- Series V. Land and Property Records, 1806-1873, undated
- Series VI. Genealogical Material, undated
- Series VII. Poetry, undated
- Series VIII. Ephemera, 1818-[1904], undated
- Series IX. Organizational Material, 1880-1911, undated
- Series X. Educational Material, 1833-1857, undated
- Series XI. Drafts, 1799, 1852, undated
- Series XII. Notes, Memoranda and Extracts, 1849-1891, undated
- Series XIII. Gold Mine Documents, 1844-1866
- Series XIV. Newspapers, Clippings and Reprints, 1860-1907, undated
- Series XV. Sketches, undated
- Series XVI. Photograph, undated
- Series XVII. Fragments, undated
Scope and Content Note
The Frey Family Papers primarily document multiple generations of the Frey and related Ludlow and Van Schaack families of upstate New York and elsewhere. The bulk of the collection is correspondence (16 boxes), detailing family news, health matters, and deaths; opinions on religion, politics, and the Civil War; financial, legal, and property issues and troubles; family history and genealogy. The larger correspondence subseries include letters from Caroline Frey Winne written from army postings in the western United States during the 1870s and 1880s; letters from Samuel Ludlow Frey concerning the family farm and finances; and letters from John Frey regarding financial, legal, and property matters. Letters from Henry A. Frey detail his ongoing financial, familial, and marital difficulties. Various members of the Ludlow family are also represented, presenting their opinions on religion, politics, and current events.
This collection also contains diaries; financial, legal, and property records; genealogies; poetry; ephemera; organizational and educational material; drafts of writings; notes, memoranda, and extracts; newspapers and clippings; sketches; one photograph; and documents relating to a southern gold mine.
The Frey Family Papers support research in the histories of New York State (major locations represented include Palatine Bridge, Oswego, New York City, Albany, Kinderhook); nineteenth century family life and religion; the Civil War; and late nineteenth century western history (letters of Caroline Frey Winne). This collection also supports research in nineteenth century women's history. The letters of Caroline Ludlow Frey, Christina Cantine, Elizabeth Van Schaack Frey, Anna Ludlow, Ellen Ludlow, and Helen Ludlow, for example, discuss family and social lives, health, religion, childrearing, politics, and current events (see subseries descriptions for details). In addition, the Frey Family Papers contain a number of letters written by children. See especially Caroline Frey ["Carrie" b.1868], Helen Frey, John Frey ["Johnny" d.1858], Wallace Jones, and Charles K. Winne, Jr.
Subjects
Organizations
Families
Genres
People
Topics
Places
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Portions of the collection that have been microfilmed will be brought to the researcher in that format and can be made available by Interlibrary loan.
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.) Researchers on site may print out unlimited copies from microfilm reader-printer machines at per-exposure rates. 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 Frey Family Papers, The New-York Historical Society.