Copies of transcripts, 1819-1865, undated

The bulk of the Woodbury-Fay Family Papers consists of correspondence, beginning in 1819 with the courtship of Benjamin Woodbury and Mehetabel Pettengill, and a letter in transcript form only from “Mary” to Mehetabel.  Other letters to this couple include a call from a church to Benjamin Woodbury in 1845, a letter from Benjamin’s brother Charles Hall, also in 1845, and letters from Benjamin and Susan (sister of Mehetabel Woodbury) Huntoon between 1837 and 1840.

The highest number of letters were written or received by Roxana Dickinson Woodbury Fay and her husband Nathaniel Thomas Fay, between 1839 and 1865.  Three letters describe events during the Civil War, during which Fay served as a delegate from an auxiliary society of the Cleveland Christian Commission.  Several refer to the Fremont Company, which had 31 volunteers from Prairie Depot (Wayne in Wood County, Ohio) in 1861, and which became the 111^th Regiment, Ohio Infantry in 1862.

Each letter is accompanied by a transcript provided by the donor.  There is one transcript without its original letter. An additional set of copies of transcripts can be found at the end of the series.