1844

This series is both the bulk and the heart of the Cilley family collection. There are more than four hundred letters documenting four generations of the Cilley family, especially Jonathan Cilley, his wife Deborah, and their son Jonathan Prince Cilley. There are also letters with many members of the Prince family, with Jonathan Cilley's mother, and with family and friends. Topics are far-ranging, from the inner workings of a close-knit New England family to the professional duties of Jonathan Cilley while serving in the United States House of Representative. An ample number of letters relate to Cilley's death in a duel in 1838 and the aftermath for Deborah and his young children. Other letters show a fond relationship between Jonthan Prince Cilley while a student at Bowdoin and then President Franklin Pierce (Bowdoin Class of 1824)--the President offered to loan young Cilley money and he declined, but did accept Pierce's invitation to visit the White House. Later letters relate to Grace Cilley Tibbitts genealogical research, including letters from Jonathan Cilley's classmate, Horatio Bridge.