TUPPER FAMILY PAPERS
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Gordon, Rachel and Edward wrote each other, their mother and their brother Willie. The collection consists of this correspondence. The descriptions are vivid and detailed.
Collection also available on microfilm: Mflm180.
Gordon Tupper's letters contain colorful descriptions of his life as an adventurer in the west. In Nebraska, many letters detailed army life with descriptions of typical marches, punishments, how his money was spent and his uniform and equipment. In Utah, he described life as a schoolteacher and what it was like to live among Mormons. In Wyoming, he told of herding sheep and the life of a cowboy working with cattle. These letters also contain descriptions of his love adventures. ("You don't know what fun there is in hugging a girl that don't wear corsets...") Later, in Montana, Tupper wrote of a prospecting trip looking for rubies and encounters with Indians. He described playing a role in General Crook's Powder River campaign in 1877. Finally, fictional stories and memoirs constitute a portion of the series.
Edward Tupper traveled to Kansas in 1879. There, he homesteaded near Salina, Kansas. He wrote his brother Will telling of the livestock he raised, the crops he planted and harvested and the house he built. Apparently, Will invested in the farm for a share of it. Thus, Edward Tupper accounted for expenses and income in detailed entries in his letters.
One letter comprises this series. After traveling from Massachusetts, Rachel Tupper described Edward's farm in detail to her brother Will.
Dates
- TBD
ACCESS:
The collection is open for research.
OWNERSHIP:
The Tupper Family Papers are the physical property of the Denver Public Library.
PUBLICATION RIGHTS:
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Samuel Tupper (b.1824), a clergyman in Nova Scotia, and his wife, Mary Ann Lowden (1819-1870), moved to Massachusett where the couple had eight children: Ellen (b.1844), Rachel Rand (b.1844), Sarah (b.1846), Gordon DeWolfe (b.1848), William "Willie" Nathan (b.1851), Edward Angell (b.1854), Henry A. (b.1856) and Frederick A. (b.1859).
Gordon Tupper left his Massachusetts home after the Civil War and joined the Frontier Army (Company C, 2d Cavalry). In his letters, he frequently expressed regret about not joining during the Civil War because of his desire to be an officer. Instead, he rose to the rank of corporal, was demoted to private, and finally left the army in 1872. For the next several years, he wandered around western states working as a schoolteacher, a sheepherder, a miner and a cowboy. He never married. In 1910, he was working as a hired man in Montana, and as of 1930, at the age of 82, he was a boarder in a town in Montana. Gordon Tupper eventually lived in Montana where he owned a farm. He never married and died on January 1, 1944 and is buried at Missoula Cemetery.
Edward Tupper came to Kansas in 1879 to homestead. He settled on a farm near Salina, Kansas. There, he built a house and stable, and raised wheat, corn and livestock. He also established a peach orchard. His older sister, Rachel, came to live with him in 1883. Edward Tupper did eventually marry. At the turn of the century he and his wife, Ella, were living with his son and grandchild, still on a Kansas farm. Edward Tupper died in 1933 in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Their older sister, Rachel lived in Massachusetts where she died in Newton, Massachusetts on February 16, 1929.
Extent
1 Boxes (.5 lf)
1 reel ilm (Mflm180)
Other Finding Aids
PROVENANCE:
The Tupper Family Papers were purchased in 1976 from David L. Jarrett.
SIZE:
Number of Boxes: 1 (.5 lf)
Microfilm: 1 reel (Mflm180)
LOCATION:
WH1697
PROCESSED AND ENCODED BY:
Ann Brown
2007
PROJECT MANAGER:
Ellen Zazzarino
- Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- 19th century. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Letters (correspondence). Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Microfilms. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Prospecting -- West (U.S.) -- 19th century. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Tupper family --Archives.
- Tupper, Edward A., -- 1854-1933 -- Correspondence.
- Tupper, Gordon D., -- 1848-1944 -- Correspondence.
- Tupper, Rachel R., -- 1844-1929 -- Correspondence.
- United States. -- Army -- Military life -- 19th century.
- West (U.S.) -- Description and travel -- 19th century. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- TUPPER FAMILY PAPERS
- Date
- 2007
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Denver Public Library, Western History and Genealogy Repository
