March 25, 2008

Sorting out Benjamin Chew Jr's Correspondence

Over the past few days, Natalie and I have been sorting Benjamin Jr's correspondence. It was housed in 30 boxes, but now, sorted by letter of the correspondent's last name, it looks like this:


In the background, taped on the wall, is the Chew Family tree that I put together in the beginning of the project to try to clarify relationships between people.


The Chews were prolific correspondents. These tables are filled with letters from Benjamin Chew's family members. If we are lucky, we might be able to tell the difference between Maria and Catherine Chew's handwriting, as they often don't sign their letters.

Eventually (we hope very soon), these stacks will be sorted by correspondent's name and date, and placed in neat folders to be included in our finding aid.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am a descendandt of the Calder family of Kent County Maryland. Anthony Banning married Ann Calder. Their daughter, Catherine married Benjamin Chew, Jr. Ann Calder Banning was the sister of my 4th great grandfather, Alexander Calder. Alexander built the house in Kent County now kown as Rose Hill that passed to Katherine Banning Chew and Benjamin Chew, Jr. I am looking for any details that I can find regarding the Calder family. Is it possible that there is correspondence between Catherine and her family in Kent County? Any help would be appreciated. Please contact me at sgssms@aol.com.
Thanks,

Steve Strack