The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Mailly family                                        

Title:               Papers

Dates:             1818-1918

Call No.:         Col. 37

Acc. No.:         82x355, 84x165

Quantity:        4 boxes

Location:        9 B 2-3

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

The Mailly family's immigrant ancestor to the United States was Augustine Mailly, who came from Lyon, France, in the early 1800s.  He married Mary Ann Thomas (daughter of Samuel and Rachel Wilson Thomas, and granddaughter of David and Mary Corbit Wilson) on 6 September 1831.  The couple went to France for a period of time after the wedding.  While there, Mary Ann signed a document giving her mother in law, Constance Mailly, an annual stipend of 1000 francs should she (Mary Ann) die first (see box 1, folder 3).

 

The Maillys returned to Delaware and settled near Cantwell's Bridge (now Odessa).  Mary Ann Mailly died in 1845; Constance Mailly lived until 1851.  Mary Ann's "cousin-once-removed" (according to notes from Horace Hotchkiss), Daniel Corbit, was designated trustee of her estate; some of the correspondence in these papers (particularly in box 2, folders 14 and 15) consists of Corbit's letters to Augustine Mailly regarding the financial support of Mary Ann's children.

 

Augustine re-married at least once.  He earned his living from farming, teaching French, editing a newspaper (the Delaware Line), and as a "merchant."  He became a citizen of the United States in 1837 (see box 1, folder 3).

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection centers around Augustine Mailly's correspondence (N. Chauncey and Wm. McCauley were two who wrote numerous letters to him), and the finances of succeeding generations.  While receipts are included for such items as vests, clover seed, school tuition, and dental expenses, the bulk of the receipts are for various taxes and insurance policies.

 

One of Augustine and Mary Ann's children, Richard Lindsey Mailly, married Rachel Jane Deakyne on 15 May 1862.  Richard and Rachel's names appear on many of the receipts in box 3 of the collection.  There are some Thomas family papers, letters to other members of the Mailly family, newspapers, a leather wallet, and a coffin name plate.

           

 

ORGANIZATION

           

The Thomas family papers are filed first, followed by Mailly papers, mostly divided by person and then arranged chronologically.  The letters written by Daniel Corbit to Augustine Mailly are organized into one chronological sequence.  The newspapers are found in Box 4.

 

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of Miss M. Mailly Davis, a great-granddaughter of Richard Lindsey and Rachel Jane Mailly. 

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

            People:

                        Mailly, Augustine.

                        Mailly, Mary Ann Thomas.

                        Corbit, Daniel - Correspondence.

                        Chauncey, N. - Correspondence.

                        McCauley, Wm. - Correspondence.

                        Thomas family.

 

Topics:

            Slave bills of sale.

            Odessa (Del.) - History.

            Letters.

            Receipts.

            Wills.

            Deeds.

            Newspapers.

            Poems.

            Ephemera.

            Bills of sale.

            Tax records.

            Certificates.

            Checks.

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 9 B 2 and 3

 

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          Letters, Thomas family, 1818-1833

Folder 2:          Mailly personal papers, 1831-1861

Folder 3:          Mailly legal papers (wills, citizenship, etc.), 1833-1853

Folder 4:          Deed poll, Daniel Corbit to six members of the Mailly family, 1846

Folder 5:          Various legal and financial papers, 1861-1869

Folder 6:          Various legal and financial papers, 1870-79

Folder 7:          Various legal and financial papers, 1880-89

Folder 8:          Various legal and financial papers, 1890-99

Folder 9:          Various legal and financial papers, n.d.

Folder 10:        Mary Ann Thomas Mailly, Letters received, 1824-1825 (from her father)

Folder 11:        Mary Ann Thomas Mailly, Letters received,, 1826-1827 (from her father)

Folder 12:        Mary Ann Thomas Mailly, Letters received,, 1828-1845 and n.d. (most from her father)

Folder 13:        Bills and letters, 1845-1846 (especially regarding estate of Mary Ann Thomas Mailly)

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 14:        Daniel Corbit, Letters to Augustine Mailly, 1840-1849

Folder 15:        Daniel Corbit, Letters to Augustine Mailly, 1850-1852 and n.d. (includes Delaware Line prospectus)

Folder 16:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1831-1832 (from various    people)

Folder 17:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1838-1839

Folder 18:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1842-1847

Folder 19:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1848-1849

Folder 20:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1850

Folder 21:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1851

Folder 22:        Augustine Mailly, Letters received, 1852-1853

 

 

Box 3:

 

Folder 23:        Letters, to Rachel, Richard & Mamie Mailly, from Rachel's mother, on death of Richard, Jr., 1873

Folder 24:        Richard Mailly, Letters from, and marriage certificate, 1852, 1862 (includes list of students at Jeremiah Hayhurst Boarding School)

Folder 25:        Mailly family finances, cancelled checks, 1873, 1878

Folder 26:        Mailly family finances, receipts and cancelled checks, 1882-1885

Folder 27:        Mailly family finances, receipts, 1890-1899

Folder 28:        Mailly family finances, receipts, 1900-1904

Folder 29:        Mailly family finances, receipts, 1905-1909

Folder 30:        Mailly family finances, receipts, 1910-1918

Folder 31:        Unsorted documents (includes 1904 teaching certificate, temperance     poem,

                        and picture of A. Bolmar's Boarding School, West Chester, PA)

Folder 32:        Letters, rough drafts, accounts, and bills, 1835-1893 and n. d. (includes bill of sale for a "negro man", 1839)

Folder 33:        Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co., complaint and freight statement, 1875, 1877

Folder 34:        Leather wallet; copy of Juvenile Mental Arithmetic by John F. Stoddard. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1865.

Folder 35:        note about newspapers: they were saved by Eugene C. Mailly [newspapers are in Box 4, below)

Folder 36:        S. H. Mailly, metal coffin name plate

 

 

Box 4: Newspapers

 

            Daily Gazette, Wilmington, DE, 20 October 1876

            Morning Herald, Wilmington, DE, 21 October 1876

            Morning Herald, Wilmington, DE, 9 November 1876

            Daily Gazette, Wilmington, DE, 10 November 1876

            Daily Evening Times, Portsmouth, NH, 25 October 1877

            Daily Evening Times, Portsmouth, NH, 26 October 1877

            North State Whig, Washington, NC, 1 August 1884

            Every Evening, Wilmington, DE, 11 November 1884