This collection contains personal family papers from the Oliver Seymour Phelps family.
Letter from Oliver Seymour Phelps collection.
Collection Overview
Oliver Seymour Phelps (1816-1902) was the son of Oliver Phelps (1779-1851) who was a leader in the Welland and Erie Canal Projects. Oliver S. Phelps married Hester Anne Dexter (1816) of Lockport who died in 1848. Later he married Eliza Rebecca Lawton (1831-1888) also of Lockport, New York. Phelps then relocated with his family to St. Catharines, Ontario where he had a brief political career. Later, he returned to the United States where he controlled a large part of the shipments of grain along the Erie Canal. In 1869, he moved to Portland, Oregon with his family, where he became a Justice of the peace for two terms. Oliver was also the primary family genealogist, co-authoring with son-in-law Andrew T. Servin, Phelps Family of America Pittsfield, MA: Eagle Publishing Co 1899 2 volumes.
The content includes but is not limited to deeds, personal letters between family members, and records of Oliver S. Phelps' father overseeing building the Welland Canal in Upper Canada as well as the Erie Canal in New York State.
This collection was donated by Mark MacWilliams and family.