Benjamin F. Bosworth Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-117

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers consist of two series: Correspondence, 1818–1824, 1836, and Estate Materials, 1843–1865, and undated Estate Materials is further divided into two subseries: Estate Correspondence, 1843–1865, and Financial Records, 1843–1845 and n.d. The Correspondence series includes a series of letters from Benjamin Franklin Bosworth’s school days at Lenox Academy in upstate New York and Union College. The materials are modest, but they do shed light into the life of a student at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Of particular interest is Bosworth's description of housing for students during his schooling. The Estate materials offer a view of the financial details of a small mercantile operation of the mid-nineteenth century in McHenry, Illinois. This material includes a comprehensive list of Bosworth's assets and debts, invoices, notes of credit, and correspondence documenting the legal procedures associated with the settlement of an estate.

Dates

Creation: 1818-1865, undated

Creator

Bosworth, Benjamin F. (Bosworth, Benjamin Franklin) (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Benjamin Franklin Bosworth was born in 1801 to Alfred (1773-1861) and Olive Pease Child Bosworth (1775-1843) in Saratoga Springs, NY. He had numerous siblings, Mary Church (1799-1846), Oliver Cromwell (1803-1835), Lucinda S (1805-1849), Abigail Munro (1808-1883), and Increase Child (1812-1888). He was a student at Lenox Academy, a college preparatory school, from 1818 to 1821. Although he attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, it is neither known when he graduated nor where he attended medical school. He became a doctor and settled in Boston, New York. He married Amelia Smith (1811-1834) and they welcomed a son, Franklin Smith (1832-1919). Two years later, Amelia died of consumption, and Benjamin left his child with his grandparents in Saratoga Springs, New York.

In 1836, Benjamin and his brother, Increase Child Bosworth, moved to Chicago. Three years later, in 1839, their parents and Franklin S. joined them, settling in Dundee, Illinois. Around the same time, Benjamin married again, giving up medicine for business pursuits, and became a merchant in McHenry, Illinois. The name of his second wife was Elizabeth Nixon (b. 1803). He had two daughters in this marriage, Almira J (1839-1843) and Olive Child (1841-1843). In 1843, Benjamin Franklin Bosworth died in McHenry, Illinois.

Franklin Smith Bosworth was raised by his grandparents in Dundee, Illinois. Increase Bosworth, Benjamin's brother, was a merchant in Dundee and took care of his brother's estate. Franklin Smith Bosworth was the father of Edward Increase Bosworth (A.B. (Yale) 1883, B.D. (Oberlin) 1886, A.M. 1893, D.D. 1901; d. 1927), former faculty member and Dean of the Oberlin Theological Seminary, 1883-1927, and great-grandfather of Edward Franklin Bosworth (A.B. 1916, B.D. 1923; d. 1957), former Dean of College Men at Oberlin College, 1927-1946, and Dean of Men, 1946-1956.