Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The Robert Preston Randall Collection is composed of proceedings, correspondence, legal documents, printed materials, and literary productions in the possession of the Randall and Green families at the time of transfer to the Center for Archival Collections on October 25, 1984. The documents cover the period of 1834 to 1944 and were not produced by one individual, institution, or family.

Of particular interest are three series: the correspondence of a Dr. Horace Green with his brother Joel, and his wife, Mary; a collection of childhood memories by Dr. Ephraim Tucker; and the minutes of a literary organization known as the Scribbler's Club, Toledo, Ohio.

The collection was assembled by Mr. Randall with the assistance of Betty Neidecker, field representative of the Center for Archival Colections. At the time of transfer, Mr. Randall indicated that he had already disposed of the remainder of his family's historical papers.

Literary and property rights have been dedicated to the public and duplication is permitted for the purpose of preservation and scholarly research. The register was prepared by Daniel Ward in May 1985.

Biographical Sketch

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Preston Randall reside in Port Clinton, Ohio. The materials assembled in this colleciton represent the surviving papers of five generations of Mr. Randall's ancestry.

Robert Preston Randall is the son of Frank Preston Randall and Elizabeth Upham. Dr. Lyman Upham and Eliza Upham were his maternal grandparents. His paternal grandparents were Mary Estella Green and Albert Dallas Randall. Etta Randall was Albert Dallas Randall's second wife and Coral Randall was the wife of Robert Preston Randall's uncle, Archie Randall. Coral Randall and Etta Randall were both recognized Ohio poets.

The parents of Mary Estalla Green were Dr. Horace Green and his second wife, Catherine Tucker. Dr. Green studied medicine with Dr. Lovejoy in Wayne County, New York and received his diploma from Geneva College in 1835. In the same year, he moved to Sylvania, Ohio. He had a successful medical practice in Sylvania until he died during the cholera epidemic of 1852.

Dr. Ephraim Tucker was the father of Horace Green's second wife, Catherine Tucker. Dr. Tucker was born in New Hampshire but moved to western New York State while still a child. A serious wilderness accident left him crippled for life but stimulated his interest in medicine. His memories are thoughtfully detailed in his "Old Time Memories" in this collection.

Scope and Content

The Robert Preston Randall Collection is a synthetic collection of surviving papers from the ancestry of one man. By his own account, additional records of this type were previously disposed.

The collection covers the period of 1834 to 1944, more than a century, and includes the proceedings of a local literary organization, several examples of nineteenth century correspondence, diaries, an autograph album, manuscript poems, family legal documents including deeds and land contracts, various news clippings, a guidebook to the 1890 United States Pharmacopoeia, a new centennial history of Sylvania, Ohio, and an extremely valuable literary production, the memoirs of Dr. Ephraim W. Tucker.

Of greatest value is the last item, Dr. Tucker's childhood "memories." This 1883 manuscript, in the author's own hand, is seventy-two pages in length and is formatted essentialy as a letter to or a conversation with his sister. In this fascinating series of intimate personal narrative sketches, Dr. Tucker recounts how his mother shamed him out of nursing, the building of the Erie Canal (in New York State), life in a log house, the custom of boys wearing dresses, two particularly horrible storms, a local "witch" and the superstitions surrounding belief in witches in Tucker's family, tilling the soil with a horse, a church raising, the accident which crippled him, the widespread use of alcoholic beverages in the early nineteenth century, hunting experiences, corporal punishment and the old country schoolhouse, the election of Jackson in 1828, and a strange medical case involving a man infected with parasitic worms.

Especially when read with Dr. Horace Green's and other contemporary correspondence in this collection, Dr. Tucker's memories paint a clear picture of life in western New York during the nineteenth century. The longer document, however, is perfectly capable of standing alone.

The letters included, as noted above, give strong evidence of the values of Americans in rural Ohio and New York during the early nineteenth century. The letters include correspondence of the Burbank family of Wayne County, New York, letters from Dr. Horace Green in Sylvania, Ohio to his wife, as well as letters to Dr. Green from his brother Joel. Of special interest within the Horace Green correspondence are his comments as a new settler and physician in Whiteford, later Sylvania, Ohio. The autograph album of Irene Green (1844-1854) provides further insight into the nineteenth century mindset.

The 1896 and 1899 diaries of Eliza Upham are of interest in that they record events and give commentary, but also because they faithfully track the weather and cash accounts of her household. The minutes of the Scribbler's Club (1942-1944), Toledo, Ohio, provide considerable evidence of the workings of a local literary club. The minutes are typed in rough draft form and include pencilled notations, probably added by Coral Randall.

A fairly complete Green-Randall family genealogy is included in this collection. The data was compiled by Horace Randall prior to 1964. A supplement to the earlier genealogy is also provided by the donor of this collection.

Of the printed material included, the bulk is clippings from newspapers. Of these, a good many are song lyrics and poems, some of which were composed by family members. A centennial history of Sylvania (1933) also is included.

Series Description

PROCEEDINGS

SCRIBBLER'S CLUB MINUTES
1942-1944.
Arranged chronologically
Includes minutes, notations, letters read, clippings.

CORRESPONDENCE

LETTERS, MISCELLANEOUS
1834, 1854, 1879, 1880, 1911
Arranged chronologically
Includes a letter to Horace Green from "Me", a letter from Lucy Rice to her sister Catherine (possibly Catherine Tucker), two letters from Ephraim Tucker--one to Preston and one to Etta--and an unsigned postcard to Mrs. A. D. Randall.

LETTERS OF MARY BURBANK GREEN
1835.
Includes one letter from Electa Burbank to her daughter Mary after her marriage to Horace Green and move to Sylvania, Ohio.

LETTERS OF HORACE GREEN
1834-1837.
Arranged chronologically
Includes letters from Dr. Horace Green to his wife Mary, and one letter to Jacob Burbank, Mary's father.

LETTERS OF JOEL GREEN
1843-1849.
Arranged chronologically
Includes letters to Dr. Horace Green from his brother, Joel.

LITERARY PRODUCTIONS

OLD TIME MEMORIES
1883.
Includes a 72-page manuscript recounting childhood memories in western New York State during the early nineteenth century.

DIARIES OF ELIZA UPHAM
1896, 1899
Arranged chronologically
Includes two diaries that record daily events and impressions as well as the weather and the cash accounts of a household.

THE GREEN-RANDALL GENEALOGY
1964, 1984.
Includes an incomplete genealogy of the Green and Randall families.

AUTOGRAPH ALBUM OF IRENE GREEN
1844-1855.
Includes inscriptions of many family members and friends.

LITERARY PRODUCTIONS, MISCELLANEOUS
n.d.
Includes: a quote from James Russell Lowell, a song lyric, "In Good Old Colony times," some notes on the Ohio-Michigan War, a poem, "Christmas" by W. P. ____, minister; a poem, "Mothers Love," and a poem, "Our Army of the Dead."

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

GREEN FAMILY LAND CONTRACTS AND DEEDS
1901, 1905, 1909, 1910, 1912.
Arranged chronologically
Includes oil and gas lease, warranty deeds and land contracts.

SCRAPBOOK MATERIALS

NEWS CLIPPINGS MENTIONING GREEN AND RANDALL FAMILY MEMBERS
n.d.
Includes clippings mentioning Horace Green, Maclyn Randall, Horace, Etta, Helen Randall, and a photo of the 1923 Sylvania H. S. Class.

PUBLISHED WRITINGS OF ETTA RANDALL
n.d.
Includes poems and newspaper articles.

NEWS CLIPPINGS, MISCELLANEOUS
n.d.
Includes sayings, poems, song lyrics and articles.

PRINTED MATERIALS

GUIDE TO ORGANIC DRUGS
1890.
Owned by Dr. L. Upham, gives medicinal preparations of the United States Pharmacopoeia.

HISTORY OF SYLVANIA, OHIO
1933.
Includes a centennial history of Sylvania, Ohio and a program for a celebration of the centennial. Also included is a page, apparently removed from a book containing photographs of family members.

TICKET
1835.
Admits Horace Green to a course of lectures on chemistry at the Geneva Medical Institution in Geneva, New York.

Inventory

Box 1

Folders

1. Proceedings of the Scribbler's Club, 1942-1944
2. Correspondence--Miscellaneous, 1834, 1854, 1879, 1880, 1911
3. Correspondence--Mary Burbank Green, 1835
4. Correspondence--Horace Green, 1834-1837
5. Correspondence--Joel Green, 1843-1849
6. Literary production--memoirs, 1883
7. Literary production--diaries, 1896, 1899
8. Literary production--genealogy, 1964, 1984
9. Literary production--autograph album, 1844-1855
10. Literary production--miscellaneous, n.d.
11. Legal documents--Green family, 1901, 1905, 1909, 1910, 1912
12. News clippings--Green and Randall, n.d.
13. News clippings--writings, n.d.
14. News clippings--miscellaneous, n.d.
15. Printed material--Guide to Organic Drugs, 1890
16. Printed material--History of Sylvania, 1933
17. Printed material--ticket, 1835

Manuscripts by Subject | Family Collections