Whitten family papers

Collection

Identifier: BC-2025-104

Scope and Contents

Letters to and from William H. Whitten (a brick mason) and Emily Isabel Pritham Whitten (a mill worker), originally from southern Maine and later residents of Jamaica Plain (Boston), Massachusetts. The letters include courtship letters, family exchanges, and reflections on working-class life, labor, and community mobility in New England. The writers describe William’s brickwork on military fortifications at Clarke’s Point, Emily’s mill work, and the family’s gradual establishment in Boston, including operating a boarding house and participation in the Dorchester Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dates

Creation: 1856-1921

Creator

Whitten family (Boston, Mass.) (Family)
Whitten, William Henry, 1838-1928 (Person)
Whitten, Emily Isabel Pritham, 1832-1911 (Person)

Access Note

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Biographical note: Whitten family

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Emily Isabel Pritham was born around 1832 in Saco, Maine. She was the daughter of farmer Samuel Pritham (1787-1871) and his wife Matilda Milliken (1798-1870). She had at least four siblings: Samuel Shirley Pritham (1835-1919), Charles L. Pritham (1838-1918), Henrietta "Etta" Pritham, and Eliza E. Pritham.

William H. Whitten was born in Biddeford, Maine on September 16, 1838, to William Whitten and Lucy F. McKenney, and grew up in Kennebunkport, Maine. He had at least four siblings: Jennie Whitten, Lizzie Whitten, Ivory Whitten, and Charles Whitten.

Emily Pritham married William H. Whitten on November 23, 1865, in Biddeford, Maine. At the time, William was a brick mason and member of the Freemasons, living in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The couple moved to West Roxbury, Massachusetts, before 1870, to Boston before 1880, and to Jamaica Plain before 1900. William continued working in brick and stone masonry, and the family home regularly served as a boarding house. They were members of the Dorchester Street Methodist Episcopal Church in South Boston, and were regularly involved in missionary activities and revivals, either personally or through family and friends.

Emily and William had six children: Ida Jane Whitten Serex (1866-1934), Ernest Pritham Whitten (1867-1915), Agnes M. Whitten (1869-1908), Mary "Mamie" W. Whitten (1872-?), William H. Whitten, Jr. (1874-1937), and Susan "Susie" Whitten.

Emily Whitten died in 1911, and William H. Whitten, Sr., died in 1928.

Full Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 container)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Letters written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to and from William H. Whitten (a brick mason) and Emily Isabel Pritham Whitten (a mill worker), originally from southern Maine and later residents of Jamaica Plain (Boston), Massachusetts.

Arrangement

Alphabetical.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Carmen Valentino, 2025.

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