Marrett family papers, 1792-1971

Historical/Biographical Note

The Rev. Daniel Marrett (1767-1836), the patriarch of the family whose papers form this collection, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his family moving to Lexington when he was four years old. He graduated from Harvard College in 1790, and started to preach soon afterwards. In 1796 he was ordained as the Congregational minister of the Old Red Church in Standish, Maine. It was at this time that he married his first wife, Mary Muzzy (1770-1810) of Lexington, and moved into the Standish house, being the third owner of that property. Mary died in 1810, leaving Daniel with six children: Daniel (1797-1875), John (1799-1821), Amos (1800-1826), Caroline (1802-1817), William (1804-1859), and Mary Ann (1808-1839). Soon afterwards, Daniel married Dorcas Hastings (1785-1857), also of Lexington, with whom he had eight children: Leander (1811-1814), Lorenzo (1816-1887), Isabella Annette (1817-1818), Avery Williams (1819-1894), Dane Appleton (1822-18??), Samuel Hastings (1822-1850), Helen Maria (1823-1846) and Frances Grenville (1826-1859). As minister in Standish, there was sometimes a question of where Daniel's salary would come from. His actual salary may have been bolstered by the many services and items he received from his parishioners. Daniel was not only a minister; he was a farmer as well. It is said that he introduced grafting to the community. During the War of 1812, gold from the banks of Portland was stored in the Marrett House, the foundations having been strengthened and extra locks installed in preparation for the treasure. Daniel retired in 1829, but retained a pastoral relation to his parishioners. It seems that by 1834, a division in the congregation had appeared and Daniel was asked to leave the Old Red Church. This he did, with 73 followers, and moved into the then new Congregational Church of Standish.Of those children of Daniel Marrett who survived infancy and youth, most left the "Old Homestead." Daniel M. Marrett (1797- 1875) became a "trader" in Portland, and Mary Ann (1808-39) married Warren Duren and moved to Woburn, Massachusetts. Lorenzo Marrett (1816-1887), having studied at Bowdoin College, c. 1833, went to Cambridge, Massachusetts to study law. It was here that he married Eliza A. Winzor of Providence, Rhode Island, and became the trustee of many estates at the Savings Bank and Lechmere National Bank of East Cambridge. Samuel Hastings and Dane Appleton Marrett, twins, married twins, Frances W. and Eliza Ann Locke, and moved to the Somerville/Cambridge area, where Samuel was a "trader" and Dane Appleton dealt in wholesale groceries. Avery Williams Marrett (1819-1894) remained at home. Although Daniel Marrett died before 1847, it was at this date Avery legally obtained possession of the Standish house and property. He became a respected farmer, being renowned for his apple orchard. Avery married Elizabeth Bancroft Weston (1820-1905), the daughter of the Rev. James Weston (James Weston was the Congregational minister in Lebanon, Maine from 1824-36, where he was also active in the Lebanon Temperance Society). Elizabeth and Avery had six children: Helen Maria (1849-1936), Walter Hastings (1850-1938), Mary Elizabeth (1852-1934), Caroline Louise (1855-1940), Henry Weston (1857-????) and Frances S. (1865-1944).Helen Maria Marrett (1849-1936), along with her sisters, was highly educated and retained a great love of the Marrett house and family. She remained in the Standish house for most of her life, teaching in women's classes and becoming superintendent of the Sunday school.Walter Hastings Marrett (1850-1938) graduated from Bowdoin College in 1876, received his M. S. in 1879, and went on to take classes at the Dartmouth Medical School. He soon became, however, a traveling salesman for a medical publishing house. In the early 1890s, Walter returned to Standish, where he ran a large stable and became the editor of the "American Horse Breeder." In 1897, he removed to a fox farm near Juneau, Alaska, returning briefly to the Standish area in 1926, for his 50th class reunion at Bowdoin. He returned permanently to Standish in 1937. Walter's varied life provided a great deal by way of newspaper clippings for the family collectors. Mary Elizabeth Marrett (1852-1934) moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts in 1892 to become the third wife of Myron Samuel Dudley, a minister. When she returned to the Standish home ca. 1930, after the death of her husband, she brought with her the furniture from the Nantucket house, some of which had been acquired by Myron Dudley's former wives.Caroline Louise Marrett (1855-1940) also remained in the Standish house for most of her life. The house's garden was her main joy. This she laid out following the plan of one she had seen in Salem. A member of SPNEA, it was her suggestion that the Marrett property be left to the Society, the better to protect the house she loved.Henry Weston Marrett (1857-????) left Standish to live in San Francisco.After Frances S. Marrett (1865-1944) had graduated from Abbot Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (1885), she pursued a career as a teacher at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. It seems that it was here that she met her good friend Sarah M. Lilley. It may also have been at this time that Frances became acquainted with Helen Keller. Interspersed with her work at Perkins and her involvement with the Howe Society, Frances made at least one good trip to Europe (the English and European photographs and cards in the collection may have been collected by her). In 1928, she and Sarah Lilley retired to their home at 102 Gainsborough St., Boston. Frances' ties with her family remained strong. In 1936, for example, she became the executrix of the estate of Esther Sargent, the old family nurse. Frances was also a member of SPNEA, and at the prompting of her sister Caroline, she bequeathed the property, the house, and its contents to the Society. Thus the Marrett family papers were acquired by SPNEA, now Historic New England, in 1944.

Description

The Marrett Family Papers are divided into two major groups: papers of individuals and general and unassignable materials. The papers of individuals represent seventeen people, fourteen direct descendants of Daniel Marrett, and three peopple included because of their close ties of blood, marriage, or friendship with the family. In some cases, individuals are fairly well documented. Others, however, are barely documented at all. Outside of the papers of Daniel Marrett, most of the information on male Marrett family members covers only their early years in Standish, as they left the Marrett homestead in order to pursue various careers. Avery Marrett, although he lived in Standish throughout his life, left surprisingly little by way of documentation. Of the women, Frances Marrett, the last of the descendants of Daniel Marrett to occupy the Standish house, is perhaps the best documented. The others seem to have left little besides correspondence, legal papers, and photographs.General and unassignable materials is a mélange of information produced and/or collected by the Marretts and those who followed them in the occupation of the house. These papers mainly contain information on people, their lives, and interests. The Marrett house, aside from some correspondence and photographs, is not terribly well documented.

Arrangement

These papers are arranged by person, chronologically by birth date. In the case that vital statistics were not available, individuals are located after their general contemporaries (thus Rev. James Weston follows Rev. Daniel and Dorcas Marrett), or after the person with whom they are most closely associated (thus Myron S. Dudley follows his wife Mary Marrett Dudley, and Sarah M. Lilley follows her dear friend Frances Marrett). The papers of individuals have been broken into personal and career papers when appropriate. Further subdivision produces the categories of correspondence (correspondence between these individuals is filed under the writer; check the correspondence index for cross-references), diaries, financial records, legal papers, literary papers, collected manuscripts, printed, and visual and graphic material, special projects or societies with which the individual was involved, and photographs. Within each category, materials have been filed by type and chronologically. Photographs listed under each individual, which may include prints of friends and houses as well as personal photographs, have been removed for storage with other materials of their type. Oversize materials have also been removed to oversize storage.Although every effort has been made to assign materials to the individuals of this group, there remains a bulk of material which is unassignable. General and unassignable materials should always be consulted for possible additional information.N. B. The manuscript collection was collected by SPNEA staff from various locations in the Marrett house. Except for some cards collected in a cardboard box marked with Caroline Marrett's name, there was no form of original order to be maintained.Subgroup I: Papers of individuals, 1792-1944Series 1: Rev. Daniel Marrett papers, 1794-1836Series 2: Dorcas Hastings Marrett papers, 1840-1849Series 3: Rev. James Weston papers, 1815-1841, undatedSeries 4: Daniel M. Marrett papers, 1810-1839, undatedSeries 5: John Marrett papers, 1816, undatedSeries 6: Lorenzo Marrett papers, 1828-1844Series 7: Avery Williams Marrett papers, 1837-1892, undatedSeries 8: Elizabeth Bancroft Weston Marrett papers, 1832-1900, undatedSeries 9: Samuel Hastings Marrett papers, 1841, undatedSeries 10: Helen Maria Marrett papers, 1867-1936, undatedSeries 11: Walter Hastings Marrett papers, 1879-1938, undatedSeries 12: Mary Elizabeth Marrett Dudley papers, 1889-1935, undatedSeries 13: Myron Samuel Dudley papers, 1869-1898, undatedSeries 14: Caroline Louise Marrett papers, 1867-1940, undatedSeries 15: Henry Weston Marrett papers, undatedSeries 16: Frances S. Marrett papers, 1872-1943, undatedSeries 17: Sarah M. Lilley papers, 1885-1944, undatedSubgroup II: General and unassignable materials, 1802-1971Series 1: Correspondence, 1880-1900, 1943-66, undatedSeries 2: Diary of Dominicus Mitchell, 1802-22Series 3: Financial papers, 1800-1856, 1938-43, undatedSeries 4: Legal papers, 1847-1851Series 5: Literary material, 1796, 1838-39, 1883, undatedSeries 6: Collected manuscript or typed material, 1850, undatedSeries 7: Collected printed material, 1812-1949, undatedSeries 8: Collected visual and graphic material, 1865-1900, undatedSeries 9: Photographs, 1860-1971, undated

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