Mills and Whitney families papers, 1809 - 1877

Summary

Abstract:
This collection consists of personal and legal papers pertaining to the Mills and Whitney families between 1809 and 1877. The Mills family had land interests in both western New York and Michigan, and the bulk of the collection contents are related to these interests. The collection also includes a reproduction copy of the famed Ulster County Gazette of January 4, 1799, most likely produced in the mid-19th century.
Extent:
.049 Cubic Feet 2 folders and .049 Cubic Feet
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Mills and Whitney family Papers, [Box#, Folder#], Local History and Genealogy Division, Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County N.Y.

Background

Scope and content:

Two folders of family papers from the Mills and Whitney families, ancestral to Charles F. Hutchison of Rochester. Papers mostly related to land transactions and political offices held by the families in both New York and Michigan.

This collection documents some of the activities and land holdings of the Mills and Whitney families between 1809 and 1877. The dominant figures in the collection are Isaac and George C. Mills, apparently brothers, whose land holdings and dealings in Wayne County, New York, and Gun Plain Township, Michigan, are documented by this collection. The Whitney family was apparently tied to the Mills brothers by marriage. The copy of the January 4, 1799, Ulster County Gazette included in this collection is a mid- to late-19th century reproduction, as described in the materials accompanying it.

Biographical / historical:

Obtaining detailed information on the creators of this collection has proven difficult. Isaac and George C. Mills appear to have been brothers resident in Monroe and/or Wayne County, New York, in the 1830s and 1840s. They were land owners, and Isaac purchasing new lands in Michigan in the 1830s. The Mills brothers were also politically connected in New York, with George C. obtaining a commission as paymaster of the Second Brigade of Riflemen in the New York Militia in 1835.

At an indeterminate date before the Civil War, Isaac Mills must have relocated to Michigan, settling his land just outside the town of Plainfield, Gun Plain Township, northwest of Kalamazoo. Either he or George C.'s son married into the Whitney family. Their combined lands just southeast of Plainfield, as shown on a hand-drawn map in the collection, are in the hands of George C. Mills (presumably junior) on an 1873 map of Gun Plain Township.

Acquisition information:
This collection was donated by Charles F. Hutchison in 1950.
Arrangement:

This collection consists of two folders in a single series.

Physical description:
Fair to poor.
Dimensions:
12 x 9.5 x .75
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this collection.

Terms of access:

Copyright is held by the Rochester Public Library, Local History and Genealogy Division. Copyright of the papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder[s] of copyright and the Local History and Genealogy Division before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Preferred citation:

Mills and Whitney family Papers, [Box#, Folder#], Local History and Genealogy Division, Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County N.Y.

Location of this collection:
Rundel Memorial Building
115 South Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
585-428-8370
lochist@libraryweb.org