Eddy Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-108

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Included within the Eddy papers are legal papers dealing with William W. Whitney (1806‑1872), founder of Kipton, Ohio. Whitney moved from Binghamton, New York, to Camden in 1834, owned the land where the first railroad station was placed in the 1850s, and laid out the town of Kipton, within Camden Township, which he initially named Binghamton. Reuben Eddy was a friend, legal guardian, and then executor of Whitney's estate. (See History of Lorain County, 1879, pp. 291 and 295 for information on Eddy and Whitney.) Ten items relating to Whitney in the Eddy papers include legal guardianship over the insane Whitney (1868, 1870); Whitney's accounts with local businessman J.A. Groot (1865‑1871); two wills of Whitney (1862 and 1872); an inventory of the Whitney estate (1872); and a record of the public sale of Whitney's personal property at auction (1873).

Note:Entry taken from William E. Bigglestone's unpublished "[preliminary] Guide to the Oberlin College Archives," which was prepared as individual entry sheets in a three-ring binder during the early 1980s.

Dates

Creation: 1805 - 1919
Other: Date acquired: 06/30/1977

Creator

Eddy, John (Person)
Eddy Family (Family)
Eddy, Reuben (Person)
Whitney, William W. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Reuben Eddy (1806‑1884), accompanied by his father, John Eddy (1766-1842), and mother, Experience Cook Eddy (1766-1845), moved to Camden, Ohio, in 1834.

Reuben married Hannah Sigsworth (1813-1889) on February 12, 1835. The couple's four children, Charles (1835-1904), John (1839-1907)), Luther (1841-1915), and Annette (1847-1909), were raised in Lorain County. The U.S. Census for 1850 records Reuben's profession as carpenter/joiner.

Annette Eddy married Philip Ritzenthaler (1841-1908), a German immigrant, in 1879. Philip brought two daughters to the marriage. Annette and Philip had another child, Flossie Edna (1889-1987), in 1889. Flossie attended Oberlin College.

Sources Consulted:

Reuben Eddy in the Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, via Ancestry.com.

U.S. Federal Census Records, via Ancestry.com.

U.S., Find a Grave Index, via Ancestry.com.

Annette Eddy in Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, via Ancestry.com.

Extent

0.20 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

German

Additional Description

Abstract

These are primarily financial and legal papers of the Eddys, a pioneering family in Camden Township, Lorain County, Ohio. Fifty‑six items cover the family's period as farmers in western New York State in the area called the Holland Land Purchase (1805‑1830). John Eddy (1766‑1842) was then the head of the family. These items include two deeds (1816, 1817) to land in Genesee County, New York; a Sheldon, N.Y., school tax bill (1820); and a notice (1829) to quit the land.

Seventy-four items in this collection (1862‑1919) are the papers of Reuben Eddy and of his daughter Annette and of her husband Philip Ritzenthaler. These include Eddy's will (1877); Ritzenthaler's deed to land (1876) in Mower County, Minnesota; a few family letters, photographs, and xeroxed information on geneology from family Bibles.