George Henry Preble Papers, 1729-1926 (Bulk: 1729-1884)
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GUIDE TO THE PREBLE FAMILY PAPERS AT THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Abstract: This collection contains documents primarily concerning Rear-Admiral George Henry Preble (1816-1885) and a few documents relating to his father, Enoch Preble (1763-1842), and his grandfather, Jedidiah Preble (1707-1784). The bulk of the collection consists of journals kept on ships upon which George H. Preble served including the US frigate United States, US frigate Macedonian, US sloop of war Warren, USS Levant, US steam sloop Narragansett, US steam gunboat Katahdin, US steam sloop Oneida, US sloop of war St. Louis, US steamer State of Georgia, and US steam sloop Pensacola. There are his research notes on the Boston Navy Yard, history of steam navigation, study of spherics and nautical astronomy, Preble family genealogy, and the history of the American flag. Collection also contains a record of ship disbursements recorded by Captain Enoch Preble and the Revolutionary War diary of Brigadier General Jedidiah Preble. Collection dates: 1775-1873 Volume: 3.83 linear feet Repository: R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Call Number: Mss 621 Copyright ©2010 by New England Historic Genealogical Society. All rights reserved. Reproductions are not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. Preble Family Papers Mss 621 HISTORICAL NOTE George Henry Preble was born in Portland, Maine, February 25, 1816, and died in Brookline, MA, March 1, 1885. He was the son of Captain Enoch4 and Sally (Cross) Preble, and great- great-grandson of Abraham1 Preble, of Scituate, Massachusetts, and York, Maine, an immigrant from Kent, England, in the year 1636. The line from the progenitor was that of Benjamin2, Jedidiah3, and Enoch4. He attended the public schools of Portland, was employed in a book store, and in his father’s West India and grocery house. He began a lifelong naval career in 1835, when he was appointed midshipmen in the United States Navy. He was warranted a passed midshipmen in 1841 and served in the Florida Expedition on board the schooner “Madison,” and the brigantine “Jefferson.” He was promoted acting-master of the sloop-of-War “St. Louis,” and sailed for the East Indies in 1843, and served as acting-lieutenant in 1843 to 1845. He was in command of the first armed American force that ever landed in China. In 1846 he joined the gunboat “Petrel,” as acting-master and executive officer, and was engaged in the war with Mexico until falling ill. He was commissioned lieutenant in 1848, and served in the Gulf until poor health forced him to leave the Southern climate. He was on board the frigate “St. Lawrence,” which conveyed the American contributions to the World’s Fair of 1851, and which was also engaged in an unsuccessful search for the remains of John Paul Jones. He served under Commodore Perry in Japan in 1853, and was afterwards engaged in the extermination of pirates in Chinese waters. He returned to Boston, and was on duty at Charlestown Navy Yard from 1857 to 1859. In the Civil War, he participated in the surrender of New Orleans, and in all the river operations, as far up the river as Vicksburg. He was promoted Captain, by seniority, in 1867, and Chief-of-Staff to Rear-Admiral Craven, in 1868; was commissioned Commodore in 1871; Rear-Admiral, in 1876; commanded the South Pacific squadron, 1876-1879; and retired in 1878. He was vice-president of the Naval Library and Institute at Charlestown, and of the Portland Natural History Society. He was a member of the American Antiquarian Society, and president of the Massachusetts Order of the Loyal Legion. He was the author of “Chase of the Rebel Steamer of War ‘Oreto’ (1862);” “The Preble Family in America,” 1868; “First Cruise of the United States Frigate Essex,” 1870; “History of the American Flag,” 1872; and “Steam Navigation,” 1883. He was married on November 18, 1845 to Susan Zabiah, daughter of John and Thankful Harris Gore Cox, of Portland, Maine. 2 Preble Family Papers Mss 621 SCOPE AND CONTENT The collection contains one volume of Preble family genealogy. Included in this volume are family charts, chronologies, autographs, newspaper clipping of obituaries and other family news, several photographs, a self-portrait of George Henry Preble, and representations of the Preble Family coat of arms. The volume also contains four letters from Jedidiah3 Preble, three of which were written in 1780 to his daughter (Statira) and one which Jedidiah wrote in 1793 asking Stephen Longfellow to act as a pallbearer at his wife’s funeral. The majority of the collection consists of ships’ journals — most from ships upon which George Henry Preble sailed. These journals contain such things as daily log entries, ships’ procedures, lists of ports visited, lists of armament, sketches, etc. All of the journals contain a list of officers attached to the ship, with all but the USS Pensacola containing watch bills and quarter bills listing the men on board. The journals for the USS St. Louis, the USS Katahdin, and the USS State of Georgia contain complete descriptive lists of all the sailors on board. A number of items in the collection consist of naval documents, including correspondence, acts, and general orders. Certain volumes are dedicated to the orders of a single officer—John Dahlgren, in one case, and David Porter in another. Accounts of an 1839 court martial case against Preble are included. George Henry Preble’s interest in naval matters is also represented in this collection by his research notes on the Boston Navy Yard and the history of steam navigation. In each case, these notes were intended to be the basis for a book, and they contain both hand-written passages and clippings. The history of the Boston Navy Yard includes seven albumen print photographs of the yard. Other topics of research for Preble which are represented in the collection are the history of the American flag, and the study of spherics and nautical astronomy. The volume on spherics is a transcription from Professor David McClure’s notes for a class he was teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1840-1844. Of particular interest is the volume entitled “George Preble in the War.” This volume covers his activities in the Navy during the Civil War, and offers insight into such topics as naval involvement in the war, Southern reactions to the appearance of the ships, emotions among the enlisted men, etc. 3 Preble Family Papers Mss 621 ORGANIZATION Sub-group I. Preble Family Sub-group II. Jedidiah Preble (1707-1784) Sub-group III. Enoch Preble (1763-1842) Sub-group IV. George H. Preble (1816-1885) Series A. Journals Series B. Naval Documents Series C. Flag Series D. Writings Sub-group V. USS Ohio Sub-group VI. Graphics RELATED COLLECTION(S) New England Historic Genealogical Society Letter book of Isaac Hull, 1838 August-1839 December 6 (Mss C 5041) Massachusetts Historical Society George Henry Preble Papers, 1729-1926 (bulk: 1729-1884) Navy Department Library George Henry Preble Collection ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Restrictions: Open access for NEHGS members Provenance: Gift; 1871; Preble, George H., Brookline, Mass. Processing Information: 2002 April 12; Cory Grimminck Preferred Citation: Preble Family Papers (Mss 621). R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society. 4 Preble Family Papers Mss 621 FOLDER LIST Note to Researchers: To request materials, please note the collection name and call number along with the box and folder numbers shown below on a manuscript request form. Folder Description Date(s) Physdesc Item # Box # Sub-group I. Preble Family Preble family genealogy in a copy of Lemuel 1 v. ([425] 1 1 Shattuck’s A Complete System of Family p.) Registration (1841). Commenced by George H. Preble A.D. 1850 rebound with additional leaves by George Colman, bookbinder, 22 Winter Street, Boston February 1862. Pages 217 & 218 have original mounted letters written by Jedidiah Preble dated 23 October 1776 and 29 May 1777 Sub-group II. Jedidiah Preble (1707-1784) Original journal of Brig. Gen. Jed. Preble 1775-1782 1 v. ([119] 2 2 p.) Journal & letters of Brig Genl. Jed. Preble 1707 to 1775-1782 1 v. (511 p.) 3 2 1784 [handwritten copy] Letter written at Falmouth to Stephen Longfellow 1753-1780 4 ALS, [8] of Falmouth dated 12 March 1753; Three letters, p. all written in 1780 at Falmouth, to daughter Statire Preble, Boston Letter, Portland, Me., to Commodore Preble 1875 [4] p. 4 2 concerning the exhumation of the remains of the October 29 Hon. Jedidiah Preble & wife on the 15th Sub-group III. Enoch Preble (1763-1842) Ships Accounts of Disbursements 1791-1824 1 v. ([88] p.) 5 6 Sub-group IV. George Henry Preble (1816-1885) Series A. Ship journals Journal of The United States, 1836 May 1-1838 1836-1838 1 v. ([24, 6 3 November 22. 731] p.) Journal of The Warren, Macedonian, Levant, and 1839-1840 1 v. ([425] 7 4 Erie, 1839 January 31-1840 September 23. p.) George Preble in China 1854 1 v. (230 8 6 pgs.) Log of The Katahdin, Oneida, St. Louis, 1862 1862-1865 1 v. (477 9 5 February-August, 1862 August & September, and pgs.) 1863-1865 respectively. Log of The State of Georgia, 1865 April 3- 1865 1 v. (140 p.) 10 6 September 4. 5 Preble Family Papers Mss 621 Folder Description Date(s) Physdesc Item # Box # George Preble in the War 1862-1865 1 v. (278 p.) 11 6 Journal of USS St. Louis 1863-1865 1 v. ([64] p.) 12 6 Journal of the USS Pensacola, Flag Ship North 1869 1 v.