Little family papers, 1764-1984

Historical/Biographical Note

In 1851, Edward Henry Little, a descendant of George Little, an early settler of Newbury, leased the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm from the heirs of John Pettingell; later, in 1861, he purchased it. Born in 1819, Mr. Little was, in the tradition of virtually all the previous owners, an enterprising and public spirited gentleman. Historic New England is fortunate to have received with the farm a great many of Edward H. Little's papers. Letters, account books, bills, and other materials document the farm operation -- giving lists of milk sold to various customers, fees received from lending out an Ayrshire Bull, accounts of thousands of bushels of onions sold, bills for farm equipment purchased, horse-shoeing fees, and the like. Also included in the papers is evidence that Edward H. Little held just about every office in the Town of Newbury, including Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and Assessor. Like previous owners of the Spencer-Peirce-Little House, Edward H. Little was not just a farmer and public servant; he was a real estate investor, mortgage lender, bank officer, and part owner in the 1870s of the ship "Exporter." He was the largest stockholder in the First National Bank of Newburyport and a trustee of the savings institution.Edward H. Little died in 1877. His obituary in the "Newburyport Herald" implies that his character was both liberal and stern. "Mr. Little," the paper said, "was a man of good judgement, liberal towards the poor, and in a different sense of the word liberal in politics and in religion." The article continues, "The one lesson of his life, as it seems to be, is that all he was to the sick, the suffering, to all the community, was more the result of principle, of careful self-training, than from the impulses of a kindly natural disposition."The writer of the obituary noted both the historic nature of Little's property and the way in which the farm reflected Little's character. The property was, he said, "One of the best farms in Essex County, or in fact, The Commonwealth. . . . Everything about it is ample and indicative of the wealth and care of the proprietor. . . . The mansion is an old stone house built in the early days of Massachusetts, and is a reminder of the dwellings of the English yeoman, who owned their own acres and lived independently and in comfort."At about the time that this obituary was written, Americans were beginning to appreciate the artifacts of their historic past. Already in the 1870s, the historical uniqueness of the Spencer-Peirce-Little House was recognized, and the house was emerging as an icon of the Colonial Revival movement.Edward H. Little's wife, Catherine Adams Little, outlived her husband by nearly fifty years. She died at the age of ninety-nine in 1923. Remembered as a person of strong character by many who knew her, Catherine Little was the cornerstone of the extended family which occupied and visited the house in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Edward H. and Catherine Little had four children who lived to adulthood. Henry Bailey Little (b. 1851), the oldest, moved from the farm to Newburyport as a young man. There he became a legendary figure as the oldest living bank president when he died at 106 in 1957. His wife was Fanny Gray.The farm was inherited jointly by the next two sons, Edward Francis Little and Daniel Noyes Little. Ed Francis, as he was known, was described as gregarious and jovial. He and Daniel Noyes developed a business of importing draft horses from Iowa by train. Ed Francis was, like his father, an officer in the First National Bank of Newburyport. Ed Francis and Daniel Noyes were, "widely known and eminently successful in business."Ed Francis (1853-1935) married Sarah A. Adams (1854-1921) in 1885. They had one child, Agnes Lawrence Little, who was born in 1896, and died in 1982. She was one of the donors of the property to Historic New England. Agnes, who graduated from Smith College in 1918, became a highly respected teacher of German and mathematics in the Newburyport High School and faithfully kept in touch with her students.Daniel Noyes Little (1858-1912), who was more retiring than his brother, married Amelia Bradley (1863-1903) in 1885. They had four daughters and a son. Katharine Little, born in 1886, was regarded as a great beauty. She died at the age of twenty of tuberculosis. Margaret Little, the next oldest, born in 1888, became a school teacher. For many years, she divided her time between Detroit, where she taught at a private school, and Newbury, where she spent her summers. She was described as a birder and a great baseball fan. She died in 1967.Frances, born in 1890, was known for her intellectual achievements. She was the valedictorian of her high school and a leader in her class at Radcliffe College, from which she graduated. She taught briefly and died of tuberculosis at age 27.Amelia Worth Little was born in 1892. She attended a home economics course at Simmons College and for many years was the dietitian at Groton School. While living in Newbury, she was a devoted Sunday school teacher to teenagers. Amelia Little was the last surviving owner of the house; upon her death in 1986, the property came to Historic New England.Albert Noyes Little, the only son, was born in 1894 and died in 1976. He was in the lumber business.The mother of these children, Amelia Bradley Little, died of tuberculosis in 1903. According to her obituary, she was a "most lively lady and had a host of friends." The children's father, Daniel Noyes Little, lost his life in a tragic accident in 1912. As he was getting off the train from Boston late at night, the train started up and he was crushed under the wheels.Eliza Adams Little, the only daughter of Edward H. and Catherine Little, was born in 1861 and died in 1959. She was active in the First Church in Newbury, and was the initiator and co-editor of the history of the church prepared for its tercentenary in 1935. After Amelia Bradley Little died, Eliza raised the children in the family. in the mid- and late twentieth century, the house was occupied by the remaining Little women, Eliza, Margaret, Agnes, and Amelia.In 1971 Agnes and Amelia Little deeded the Spencer-Peirce-Little property to Historic New England, thereby ensuring its preservation. They reserved life tenancy, however, so the property did not fully come under the organization's control until Amelia died in 1986.

Description

The Little Family Papers are built around a core of the papers of Edward Henry Little, who originally leased the Spencer-Peirce-Little farmhouse in 1851 from the Pettingell heirs. In 1861, he purchased the farm outright and moved in with his family. The Littles retained ownership of the property until 1986, when it was given by Amelia and Agnes Little to the Society for the Preservation of New England, now Historic New England. Edward Henry's papers account for eight boxes within the total collection of twenty-six boxes of manuscripts.The most extensive materials within the collection are financial records that pertain to the running of the farm and farm households in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. All of the Littles appeared to have been scrupulous record keepers. Their financial records and associated notes provide a detailed perspective on multiple components of running a farm in the 1800s, including costs, equipment needed, farmhands used, inventories of farm animals, bull stud books, supplies bought and sold, in sum the issues faced and the opportunities seized. Because the records span all of the 1800s and extend (in portions) into the 1900s, they also provide an excellent record of how the maintenance of a farm evolved over that period of time. It should be noted that the records do encompass different farms and only those of Edward Henry Little and his descendents specifically refer to the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm.The following individuals all kept detailed files of receipts and bills for their households and farms: David Little (beginning in 1802); Henry Little (from 1832 to 1866); Ebenezer Little (from 1825 to 1877); Edward Henry Little (from 1850 through the 1870s); Agnes and Amelia Little (from the 1950s through the 1980s).The oldest materials in the collection are primarily legal documents regarding land transfers, wills, and account books. Of particular interest is a letter sent by Stephen Little and several others in 1776 requesting "wages due as minutemen during the time of the battle of Lexington Green." Of additional interest are the account books of David Little that contain diary entries about the daily events of running his farm in the early 1800s which provide the reader with a real sense of the hard work and struggle that went into farming in New England. Also, the collection includes both the funeral directions and the coffin plate of Henry Little, demonstrating the well-known Yankee predilection for being prepared even for one's own death.The papers from the mid to late 1800s include more correspondence than the earlier papers. Among the papers of Ebenezer Little is included a letter to his daughter Catherine Adams Little explaining why she didn't get a bigger inheritance, his feeling being that she was well-off through her marriage to Edward Henry Little and did not need an inheritance as much as her siblings. A second note found with his tax papers includes "Lines addressed to a friend on the death of a child" which could refer to any one of the five children of Ebenezer Little that died in childhood.The Little papers are somewhat unusual in that they include papers from the women in the family even in the early 1800s (Abigail Noyes Little, Phebe Little Little, Sarah Little Little, Eliza Adams Little), indicating that literacy was something prized by both men and women in this family. Of interest in those papers are an herbal prescription in the papers of Eliza Adams Little and a recipe book in the papers of Amelia Bradley Little.As noted above, the papers of Edward Henry Little are the most extensive in this collection. They include voluminous financial papers both personal and from his extensive public service for the Town of Newbury as a selectman, overseer of the poor and assessor. The farm documents include account books, bills, lists of milk sold to various customers, fees received from lending out an Ayrshire Bull, accounts of thousands of bushels of onions sold, bills for farm equipment purchased, horse-shoeing fees and the like. These are the first papers in the collection that refer directly to the Spencer-Peirce-Little farmhouse and as such they provide a detailed understanding of the operations of a large and busy farm in the mid to late 1800s.The papers of Edward H. Little also include correspondence that reflects the momentous events of the 1860s. In one letter dated 1861 an acquaintance notes "war, war, the war cry fills the air." Another personal letter was received from a soldier in New Orleans in 1860. It identifies some of the trials and tribulations faced by troops preparing for a civil war. A second letter received in 1863 provides more details from a soldier in the heart of the Civil War.The later papers in the collection reflect the quiet but full days of the remaining Little women -- Eliza, Margaret, Agnes and Amelia. Their lives were focused around Newbury and Newburyport, they traveled some, contributed to worthy causes, kept meticulous records of their expenses and tried carefully to maintain the house and grounds. Their correspondence and financial records reflect this lifestyle and provide an interesting window into the lives of four women who lived through the eventful twentieth century.Three boxes of photographs are included in the Amelia Litte papers. The photos cover through the late-twentieth century and include both personal photos of Amelia Little and photographic diaries of work done by Historic New England at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm.

Arrangement

All of the papers in this collection come from the descendents of George Little, the founder of the Newbury family of this name, through his son Moses. The papers are in chronological order by family member and represent the lives of multiple generations of the family. The papers of the wives of Little family members follow those of their husbands, e.g. the papers of Catherine Adams Little follow immediately after those of Edward Henry Little.The inventories of each individual are divided into the following series as appropriate for each set of papers: correspondence, diaries, financial, inventory, legal, literary, miscellaneous, and printed matter.Subgroup 1: Stephen Little papers, 1764-1802, undatedSubgroup 2: Josiah Little papers, 1801-1809Subgroup 3: David Little papers, 1793-1816Subgroup 4: Tristram Little papers, 1844-1849Subgroup 5: Abigail Little papers, 1838-1843Subgroup 6: Nathaniel Little papers, 1847Subgroup 7: Henry Little papers, 1803-1866Subgroup 8: Phebe Little papers, 1850-1855Subgroup 9: Hector Little papers, 1848Subgroup 10: Ebenezer Little papers, 1822-1884Subgroup 11: Eliza Adams Little papers, 1864-1891Subgroup 12: Edward Henry Little papers, 1825-1877Subgroup 13: Catherine Adams Little papers, 1728-1903Subgroup 14: Henry Bailey Little papers, 1867-1888Subgroup 15: Edward Francis Little papers, 1866-1900Subgroup 16: Daniel Noyes Little papers, 1879-1881Subgroup 17: Amelia Bradley Little papers, 1882-1903Subgroup 18: Eliza Adams Little papers, 1842-1902Subgroup 19: Moses S. Little papers, 1868-1873Subgroup 20: Isaac Little papers, 1870-1871Subgroup 21: Frances Little papers, 1908-1910Subgroup 22: Margaret Little papers, 1893-1912, undatedSubgroup 23: Agnes Little papers, 1921-1976Subgroup 24: Amelia Little papers, 1900-1984, undated

Record details

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