Prudden Family Papers, 1836-1839
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Prudden family members were among the first students to attend the newly found Oberlin College ("Collegiate" Institute before 1850). Part of the family of nine children of Peter, a farmer, and Charity Prudden, George Peter, J. (James) Davis and Nancy Prudden came to Oberlin between 1835 and 1838 seeking a higher education. Though they were not successful, their letters home provide a significant and important glimpse into daily life in a struggling Oberlin.
George Peter Prudden (1816-1872) attended the Oberlin Theological Department from 1835 to 1836. George, after leaving Oberlin in the fall of 1836, returned to his parent's home in Lockport, New York. Sometime in 1837, George, who was then a student-teacher, moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where he continued his studies at the Yale Theological Seminary. He graduated in 1839 and moved to Medina, New York, to become a Congregational clergyman at the town's Methodist church. That same year on November 4, George married Eliza Ann Johnson. Their son, Henry J. Prudden, attended the Preparatory Department of Oberlin College from 1859 to 1861. George died at the age of 56 on August 2, 1872, in Hartford, Connecticut.
Nancy M. Prudden (1818-1910), born in Orange, Connecticut, came to Oberlin at the urging of her brothers George and Davis. She arrived sometime in 1837, first attending the Preparatory Department, and soon after, the College. Returning to Lockport in late 1838 or early 1839, Nancy, a Presbyterian, married Seth Chapin Hart on June 20, 1839. Nancy and Seth produced seven children, and over the next seventy years, lived in Lockport, Naples, and finally Medina, New York. Though Nancy did not finish her coursework at the College, she stated in 1908 that she was extremely proud to study at Oberlin. Nancy died May 1, 1910, at the age of 82.
J. Davis Prudden (1820-1843), who came to Oberlin at the same time as his brother George, attended Oberlin College between 1835 to 1836 and 1837 to 1838. In 1838, Davis left Oberlin before completing his coursework and return to New York. On December 14, 1843, in Wilson, New York, Davis married Elizabeth A. Bristol. Nearly five years later, he died on June 5, 1848, at the age of 23, in Wilson, New York.
Administrative Information
The papers of the Prudden family contain correspondence. Written mostly to George Prudden between 1836 and 1838 from his siblings Nancy and Davis, these letters provide a fascinating and rare view of early daily life, studies, traveling, and socializing in Oberlin, Ohio. Most significant are six letters written by Nancy to her brother George. Written both from Oberlin while she was a student and from her home in Lockport, New York, these letters discuss her loneliness for family and family affairs; her intense pride about the state of religious feelings at Oberlin, including references to the work of Professors Charles Grandison Finney and John P. Morgan; and her views on the literary societies and coeducation. Seven 1836 letters from George and Davis Prudden to their parents are also noteworthy, in that they describe the life of male students in Oberlin. A July 18, 1836, letter reported on jobs both George and Davis held as part of Oberlin's tradition of "learning and labor." George complained of hoeing rows for mulberry trees, while Davis earned five cents an hour to watch cows. Many of these letters were used heavily in Robert Fletcher's 1943 work A History of Oberlin College: From Its Foundation Through the Civil War.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence (incoming and outgoing) of George and J. Davis Prudden, 1836-1837 (0.1 linear feet)
Consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence of George and J. Davis Prudden. Most significant here are 22 letters addressed to George dated between 1836 and 1837. In rich detail, fourteen letters (five each from Nancy and Davis, four written together) report on daily life and studies at Oberlin College. Included also are copies seven letters (dated July-October 1836) written by George and Davis while students together at Oberlin College in 1835 to 1836. Correspondence donated to the archives in 1989 (#1989/167) contains transcripts and photocopies and are arranged chronologically by individual letter. Letters acquired in 1930 by the Oberlin College Library are arranged chronologically in one folder. Transcriptions of these letters, along with the correspondence (copies) from George and Davis to their parents, are in series two.
Series 2. Correspondence (incoming and outgoing) of George Peter and J. Davis Prudden (transcriptions)
This series contains 21 transcripts of incoming and outgoing correspondence of George and Davis Prudden in series one (1). These transcriptions include the eleven manuscript letters (dated 1836-1837) sent to George Prudden from Nancy and Davis, as well as the seven 1836 letters (copies) from George and Davis to their parents in Lockport, New York. In addition, three transcripts (dated April 8-17, 1837, July 4, 1837, and April 22, 1839) are of letters not in the collection. Arranged chronologically.