1639-1930
Shelflist to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of correspondence, diaries, journals, genealogical records, commonplace-books, notes on sermons, lectures, debates, essays, drawings, scrapbooks, clippings, and other papers of the Quincy family.
Biographical Sketches
Below are brief biographical sketches of the Quincy family members most heavily represented in this collection, arranged by date of birth.
Edmund Quincy (1628-1698)
Son of Edmund Quincy (1602-ca. 1636) and Judith Pares Quincy (d. 1654); came to America, 1633; justice of the peace, representative from Braintree in General Court; colonel of Suffolk militia; member of Council of Safety during the Andros troubles; built first Quincy mansion ("Dorothy Q" house) in 1680s; married first in 1648? Joanna Hoar (1625-1680); married second in 1680 Elizabeth Gookin Eliot (1645-1700).
Edmund Quincy (1681-1738)
Son of Edmund Quincy (1628-1698) and Elizabeth Gookin Eliot Quincy (1645-1700); merchant of Braintree and Boston; Harvard 1699; selectman, justice of the peace, colonel of militia, representative in the General Court, and member of Council; justice of the Superior Court of Judicature; left an estate of over £14,000; married in 1701 Dorothy Flynt (1678-1737).
John Quincy (1689-1767)
Son of Daniel Quincy (1651-1690) and Anna Shepard Quincy (1663-1708); of Mount Wollaston, where he built the second Quincy homestead, ca. 1716; Harvard 1708; selectman and perennial moderator of Braintree town meetings; colonel of Suffolk militia; representative in General Court for nearly 40 years; Speaker, 1729-1740; member of Council; guardian of the Ponkapoags; eponym of John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) and of the town (later city) of Quincy; married in 1715 Elizabeth Norton (1696-1769).
Edmund Quincy (1703-1788)
Son of Edmund Quincy (1681-1738) and Dorothy Flynt Quincy (1678-1737); of Braintree and Boston; Harvard 1722; called "Squire" or "Justice" Quincy; partner in family firm whose ship Bethell in 1748 captured a Spanish treasure vessel and made all the partners rich; justice of the peace and of the quorum; suffered financial reverses and declared bankrupt, 1757; patriot; writer on husbandry; married first in 1725 Elizabeth Wendell (1704-1769); married second Anna Gerrish (1719-1787).
Henry Quincy (1727-1780)
Son of Edmund Quincy (1703-1788) and Elizabeth Wendell Quincy (1704-1769); married first in 1748 Mary Salter; married second in 1759 Eunice Newell.
Edmund Quincy (1733-1768)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1710-1784) and Hannah Sturgis Quincy (1712-1755); Harvard 1752; Boston merchant; died at sea in the West Indies.
Samuel Quincy (1735-1789)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1710-1784) and Hannah Sturgis Quincy (1712-1755); Harvard 1754; attorney and barrister; solicitor general of the province; loyalist exile; married first in 1761 Hannah Hill (1734-1782); married second in 1787 Mary Ann Chadwell.
Josiah Quincy (1744-1775)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1710-1784) and Hannah Sturgis Quincy (1712-1755); "the Patriot"; Harvard 1763; attorney; newspaper propagandist and pamphleteer; died at sea returning from London on a mission for the Massachusetts patriots; married in 1769 Abigail Phillips (1745-1798).
John Williams Quincy (1769-1834)
Son of Dr. Jacob Quincy (1734-1773) and Elizabeth Williams Quincy; married in 1794 Abigail Atkins.
Josiah Quincy (1772-1864)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1744-1775) and Abigail Phillips Quincy (1745-1798); called "the great Mayor" and "the President"; Harvard 1790; Federalist congressman, state senator, and representative; mayor of Boston, 1823-1828; president of Harvard, 1829-1845; orator, scientific farmer, and prolific author on many subjects, including The History of Harvard University, 1840; married in 1797 Eliza Susan Morton (1773-1850).
Eliza Susan Quincy (1798-1884)
Daughter of Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850); eldest of the five "articulate sisters"; artist; family archivist and historian.
Josiah Quincy (1802-1882)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850); of Boston and Quincy; Harvard 1821; held local and state offices; mayor of Boston, 1846-1848; promoter of railroads and of cooperative banks for workingmen; built the last Quincy mansion in Quincy; author of Figures of the Past, 1876; married in 1827 Mary Jane Miller (1806-1874).
Maria Sophia Quincy (1805-1886)
Daughter of Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850).
Margaret Morton Quincy Greene (1806-1882)
Daughter of Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850); married in 1826 Benjamin Daniel Greene (1793-1862; Harvard 1812).
Edmund Quincy (1808-1877)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850); of Quincy and Dedham; Harvard 1827; diarist, lecturer, and author of successful fiction in the Hawthorne mode and an immense amount of journalism on political and other topics; a leader in the Garrison wing of the abolitionist movement; married in 1833 Lucilla Pinckney Parker (1810-1860).
Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston (1812-1899)
Daughter of Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850); youngest of the "articulate sisters"; published a volume of Verses, 1863; married in 1840 Robert Cassie Waterston (1812-1893); two children, both of whom died young.
Josiah Phillips Quincy (1829-1910)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1802-1882) and Mary Jane Miller Quincy (1806-1874); of Boston and Quincy; Harvard 1850; poet, short-story writer, and publicist; married in 1858 Helen Frances Huntington (1831-1903).
Helen Frances Huntington Quincy (1831-1903)
Wife of Josiah Phillips Quincy (1829-1910); daughter of Judge Charles Phelps Huntington of Northampton, Mass.
Samuel Miller Quincy (1832-1887)
Son of Josiah Quincy (1802-1882) and Mary Jane Miller Quincy (1806-1874); of Quincy and Boston; Harvard 1852; lawyer and legal historian; commanded African American troops in the Union Army; wounded, captured, imprisoned, and exchanged; breveted brigadier general, 1865.
Edmund Quincy (1834-1894)
Son of Edmund Quincy (1808-1877) and Lucilla Pinckney Parker Quincy (1810-1860); Harvard (Lawrence Scientific School) 1856; civil engineer.
Henry Parker Quincy (1838-1899)
Son of Edmund Quincy (1808-1877) and Lucilla Pinckney Parker Quincy (1810-1860); of Dedham and Boston; Harvard 1862; studied in Europe; M.D., Harvard 1867; "anatomical draughtsman"; instructor in histology, Harvard Medical School; married in 1877 Mary Gardiner Adams (1845-1928), his distant cousin, both being descended from Edmund Quincy (1628-1698).
Josiah Quincy (1859-1919)
Son of Josiah Phillips Quincy (1829-1910) and Helen Frances Huntington Quincy (1831-1903); of Quincy and Boston; Harvard 1880; representative in the General Court; assistant secretary of the Navy in Cleveland's second term; Democratic mayor of Boston, 1895-1899, widely acclaimed and attacked for his social (or "socialistic") reforms; married in 1900 Ellen Krebs Tyler (1862-1904).
Mary Perkins Quincy (b. 1866)
Daughter of John Williams Quincy (1813-1883) and Lucretia Deming Perkins Quincy.
Collection Description
The Quincy family papers include correspondence, diaries, journals, genealogical records, commonplace-books, notes on sermons, lectures, debates, essays, drawings, scrapbooks, clippings, and other papers of the Quincy family. The collection contains papers related to the activities of the justice of the peace of Suffolk Co., Mass. (1716-1758); family matters; "Observations on the Boston Port Bill" (1774); and Samuel Miller Quincy's Civil War service as an officer of the 2nd Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Members of the family represented include Edmund Quincy (1681-1738), Edmund Quincy (1703-1788), Edmund Quincy (1733-1768), Edmund Quincy (1808-1877), Edmund Quincy (1834-1894), Eliza Susan Quincy (1798-1884), John Quincy (1689-1767), Josiah Quincy (1744-1775), Josiah Quincy (1772-1864), Josiah Quincy (1802-1882), Josiah Quincy (1859-1919), Mary Perkins Quincy (b. 1866), and Samuel Quincy (1735-1789). One scrapbook of Mary Perkins Quincy's journey to Thorpe-Achurch in Northamptonshire, England (QP89), contains photographs of various views of Northamptonshire taken by commercial photographers, ca. 1897.
Arrangement
This guide is a shelflist only. Items are listed according to their arrangement on the shelves, which is mostly by individual family member.
Acquisition Information
Gift of members and descendants of the Quincy family, 1795-1967.
Shelflist
Most, but not all, of the materials listed here are included on the Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, and Upham family papers microfilm (P-347); the location on the microfilm reels is noted. Those items excluded from the microfilm have also been identified.
Anna Cabot Lowell (Quincy) Waterston (1812-1899)
Edmund Quincy (1628-1698)
Edmund Quincy (1681-1738)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel I.2.
Edmund Quincy (1703-1788)
Included are about 20 letters from Edmund Quincy to Ebenezer Parkman, 1722-1723, and especially 1775-1781; three letterbooks, primarily covering the 1770s, containing letters to his children, friends, and sons-in-law (especially John Hancock); one letterbook, 1755-1764, related to his business affairs; a volume of notes on sermons heard in the 1730s; and a commonplace book, 1737-1766.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Letterbook including a) letters, business accounts, and an agricultural essay, 1727-1730, on reel II; and b) letters and business papers, including letterbook, 30 Nov. 1775-24 May 1776, and business and legal papers, 5 June 1773-24 May 1776, on reel II.3.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel III.2.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel II.2.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel III.1.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Includes a) Edmund Quincy (1628-1698) memoranda book, 1665-1697, on reel I.2; b) Edmund Quincy (1681-1738) commonplace book, 1697-1705, on reel I.3; and c) Edmund Quincy (1703-1788) on reel III.3.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel II.4.
See list of original letters in Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham index.
In letterbooks (QP9, above) and dispersed throughout chronological letters; see index to the Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Includes John Williams Quincy (1769-1834) collection of forms for legal instruments, 1825-1833, on reel V.2. See index for remainder.
Originals located at William L. Clements Library.
Not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
Edmund Quincy (1733-1768)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel III.6.
Edmund Quincy (1808-1877)
Included are about 100 letters from Edmund Quincy, primarily to Anne Warren Weston and Richard D. Webb of Dublin; lectures on the French Revolution, anti-slavery, George Fox, the early Quakers, and others subjects; letters to his wife Lucilla; newspaper clippings about a controversy between him and "Sigma," beginning in 1850, on the question of anti-slavery; a scrapbook of obituaries of him and reviews of his "Wensley," edited by his son Edmund in 1885; 15 letters to George F. Talbot, 1851-1875; nine journals, 1824-1850; and two writings entitled "Old Houses" and "Octogenary," 1837-1838.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.1.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.2.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.3.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.4.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.5.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.6.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VIII.7.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IX.1.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IX.2.
"Octogenary" is Edmund Quincy's fictionalized biography of Norton Quincy, published in American Monthly Magazine, vol. 5 (New York, 1838).
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: "Old Houses" on reel IX.4.
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Lectures on reel IX.3 and IX.5. Letters dispersed; see index for complete list.
Letters dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index for complete list. Memorandum books are scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and are not on the microfilm.
Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings; not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings; not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
Not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Lectures on Socrates, 1842, and "Private Life of Colonists of New England" on reel IX.6 and IX.7, and other miscellaneous writings on reel XI.2. Letters dispersed; see index for more information.
Edmund Quincy (1834-1894)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel XI.8.
Eliza Susan Quincy (1798-1884)
Included are four letters from Eliza Susan Quincy to George Gill, 1881, about the maintenance of the grave of her grandfather Josiah Quincy; a journal, 1814-1821; and two drafts of a memoir of Josiah Quincy (1744-1775) by Eliza Susan Quincy.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel V.7.
Not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VII.1.
Included are sketches and watercolors by Eliza Susan Quincy.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VI.1.
Included are sketches and watercolors by Eliza Susan Quincy.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel VI.2.
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm. Letters to Drake on reel 61. See index.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel 64; see index.
Helen Frances (Huntington) Quincy (1831-1903)
Henry Quincy (1727-1780)
Henry Parker Quincy (1838-1899)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Includes Edmund Quincy's draft of part of his novel, Wensley, 1853, on reel X.1. Other Edmund Quincy items dispersed on film; see index.
John Quincy (1689-1767)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel I.5.
John Williams Quincy (1769-1834)
Josiah Quincy (1744-1775)
Included are two journals, 1773-1775; an inventory of the estate of Josiah Quincy and a catalog of his library; a manuscript draft of "Observations on the Boston Port Bill" and the printed version published by Edes & Gill, 1774; five volumes of reports of adjudications in Massachusetts courts, 1761-1765; one volume of law reports belonging to E. Rutledge, copied by Josiah Quincy in 1773; and a commonplace book, 1770-1774.
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index under Josiah Quincy (1710-1784) and Josiah Quincy (1744-1775). Early genealogical materials are on reel 20, and most early papers are on reels 20-22.
Removed to Ms. S-299.
Identified as Catalog of library and list of bonds, 1775, on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm, reel IV.7.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.5.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.1.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.2.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.3.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.4.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.8.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel IV.6.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel III.8. For original manuscript journal of Quincy's trip to England, 23 Sep. 1774-3 Mar. 1775, see QP62.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel III.9.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel V.1.
Josiah Quincy (1772-1864)
Included are journals of Josiah Quincy kept on trips to southeastern New England, 1801, and Washington, D.C., 1829; two journals, slightly overlapping, 1805-1828; a few letters from Josiah Quincy to his son Edmund; and one volume of his correspondence with Lafayette, 1824-1825.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel V.3.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel V.4.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel V.5.
Not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel V.6.
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Includes Eliza Susan Quincy's commonplace book on reel VII.3 (misidentified as QP130 on the microfilm) and Helen Francis (Huntington) Quincy's (1831-1903) commonplace book, 1852-1872, on reel XI.7. Some of the remaining materials are dispersed on the microfilm; see index.
Josiah Quincy (1802-1882)
Included are 17 letters from Josiah Quincy to his wife Mary Jane (Miller) Quincy, 15 of which describe his journey from New York to Charleston, S.C., 20 Feb.-26 Mar. 1849.
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index.
Josiah Quincy (1859-1919)
Some select early items in QP72 are on the Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index. The remainder of these materials do not appear on the microfilm.
Josiah Phillips Quincy (1829-1910)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel XI.6.
Margaret Morton (Quincy) Greene (1806-1882)
Maria Sophia Quincy (1805-1886)
Mary Perkins Quincy (b. 1866) "Quinciana"
There is no volume numbered "XII." These items are not included on the Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Includes John Williams Quincy's (1813-1883) 1836 journal of visits on reel XI.5.
Samuel Quincy (1735-1789)
On Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm: Reel III.7.
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index.
Samuel Miller Quincy (1832-1887)
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index.
Quincy sisters
See reel notes above. Typescripts not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
Quincy scrapbooks
These items are not included on the Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
Eliza Susan Quincy
Josiah Quincy (1802-1882)
Edmund Quincy (1808-1877)
Josiah Phillips Quincy (1829-1910)
Quincy miscellaneous
Dispersed on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see index.
Shelved in printed collection: B. Gen. Large. Not on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm.
Some items on Quincy, Wendell, Holmes, Upham microfilm; see reel notes above.
Preferred Citation
Quincy family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Organizations:
Subjects:
Materials Removed from the Collection
Photographs from this collection have been removed to the Quincy family photographs (unprocessed). Photo. Coll. 500.19. The daguerreotype of Samuel M. Quincy (Photo. 1.491) is stored in the MHS Photo Archives by format.