Legacy Finding Aid for Manuscript and Photograph Collections

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SPECIAL COLLECTIONS FINDING AID

Title: MS 581 Dulany Family Papers, 1802-1974

Processor: Michelle A. Krowl

Date: March 2001

Bladen Dulany (1793?-1856) born in Alexandria, Virginia. He began his naval career as a midshipman from the District of Columbia in May 1809, serving first on the USS Constellation. Among the ships on which Dulany served were the Erie, Spitfire, Independence, Guerriere, Brandywine, Boston, Java, Cumberland, and St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence was Dulany’s flagship while commander-in-chief of the Pacific Squadron. Commodore Dulany was detached from the Pacific Squadron in 1855, and died at his home at Mount St. Albans on December 26, 1856. He is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery.

Caroline Rebecca Nourse Dulany (1819-1893) was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Charles Joseph Nourse and Rebecca Morris Nourse, later of “The Highlands” at Mount St. Albans in Washington, D.C. She married Captain (later Commodore) Bladen Dulany in 1845 in Georgetown. She survived her husband and all three of her daughters, and died at “Mount Alban” on July 27, 1893.

The Bladen Dulanys had three children: Caroline Rebecca Dulany (1845-1846), Phoebe Pemberton Dulany Chew (1850-1883), and Rosa Morris Romilly Dulany Chew (1852- 1879). Phoebe married Rosa’s widower, Thomas Chew, in 1883, only a few months before her own death.

Anthony Morris of Philadelphia was longtime friend of Dolley Madison. He served as United States Minister to Spain, and later held a position at the Treasury Department. His daughter Rebecca (1793-1885) married into the Nourse family in 1816, and resided with her husband, Major Charles Joseph Nourse (1786-1851), at The Highlands. An earlier Anthony Morris (1654-1721) served as Mayor of Philadelphia.

Scope and Content: The Dulany Family Papers, 1802-1974 contain correspondence and miscellaneous documents from members of the Chew, Dulany, Morris, and Nourse families, which were connected by marriage. Most prominently represented are Commodore Bladen Dulany and his wife, Caroline Nourse Dulany. The collection includes naval commissions and a letter book belonging to Dulany during his distinguished naval career, and correspondence to and artwork by Caroline Dulany and her female relatives. The earliest document in the collection is a later photostatic copy of 2

an original Joseph Nourse document dated 1790, and thus is not included in the span dates of the collection.

This collection is arranged chronologically by family group or document type, with genealogical materials at the beginning of the collection. The Bladen Dulany letter book is stored in Container 2.

Donor: Captain and Mrs. Bladen Dulany Claggett, 1991.126

Size: 0.50 cu. ft. (2 containers)

Restrictions: none

Related Materials: George Washington Letter to Mrs. Daniel Dulany, 1785, MS 500, Historical Society of Washington, D.C. Bladen Dulany Papers, Naval Historical Foundation Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Dulany, Bladen, Captain, USN, Navy Department Library, Naval Historical Center. 2 LS dated 17 May 1852, Callao, and 19 April 1855, Norfolk. Each addressed to Midshipman Francis M. Ramsay. Grace Dunlop Peter, “Unpublished Letter of Dolley Madison to Anthony Morris Relating to the Nourse Family of the Highlands,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 44-45 (1944): 215-239.

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Container List

Container 1

Folder 1: Genealogical materials, 1802-1974. Majority of documents are photocopies of newspaper clippings and secondary sources. The Nourse family is most prominently represented, but surnames of Clagett, Stoddert, and Keene also appear.

Folder 2: Nourse family papers, 1790-1840, and undated. Contains assorted notes and correspondence to and from the Nourse family. The Joseph Nourse document dating from 1790 is a photostatic copy of an original document, the whereabouts of which are unknown. Folder also contains an undated poem, envelope, and calling card from Rosa Dulany, addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. Nourse.”

Folder 3: Morris family papers, 1808-ca.1897, and undated. Contains the cover of journal belonging to Rebecca W. Morris, visa for Anthony Morris to travel to Geneva, Switzerland in 1816, Anthony Morris’ calling card, advertisement for The Morris Family of Philadelphia, and an undated 20th century presentation card.

Folder 4: Bladen Dulany papers, 1809-1855. Contains naval commissions and orders (including command of the Pacific Squadron), bond for rent by Beverly Hith, a letter from Fairfax Moresby, invitation acceptance card from Hawaiian Royal Family member Liholiho, and an invitation from the Ward Room officers of the Brandywine to the Dulanys. A letter from Thomas A. Doernin to Secretary of the Navy J. C. Dobbin is included in this folder. Commodore Dulany appears to have been in Hawaii with the Pacific Squadron in the 1850s, and he likely received this copy of the Doernin letter.

Folder 5: Miscellaneous documents, ca. early 1800s-1931. Includes ticket to the Winchester Assemblies probably dating from the early 1800s, undated calling cards, newspaper clipping on the “Loss of the Steamer Central America,” envelope from Adams Express Company, and an invitation to the wedding reception of Marie duPont.

Folder 6: Chew family letters, 1835-1859, 1933. Three letters written to Priscilla Chew and Bettie Chew. Rosa and Phoebe Dulany both married Thomas Chew, which is likely how the documents came into the Dulany family. File also contains a postcard to Jane Chew from 1933.

Folder 7: Caroline R. Nourse Dulany papers, 1843-1892, and undated. Correspondents include First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland and her mother, Emma Folsom, Enoch Pratt (of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore), and Mary Custis Lee (widow of Robert E. Lee). See also Caroline R. Nourse Dulany paintings in Folder 10.

Folder 8: Dolley Madison seal, pre-1849. Madison signature and seal from another document is pasted into a scrapbook page. Reverse side includes clippings of poems. The signature and seal served as franking for mail as the widow of a president, and thus was probably created between 1837 and Mrs. Madison’s death in 1849. 4

Folder 9: Photograph of “The Highlands,”1890. Inscription on reverse of photo also identifies it as “Nannette, Feby 2nd 1891 Mt. Alban.” The house had been built by the Nourses in 1827, and located near the site of the Washington National Cathedral. It was later sold to Admiral Cary Grayson.

Folder 10: Artwork, undated. The majority of the original artwork is unsigned, although several pieces bear the name Caroline R. Nourse Dulany. Caroline Dulany’s mother, Rebecca Morris Nourse, and her aunt, Phoebe Morris, were both amateur painters and they may have created some of the watercolors contained in this file. Images are arranged by original artwork and reproduced lithographs. Subjects of original artwork include flowers, houses, Eskimos, and historical scenes.

Folder 11: Poetry, undated. Assorted verses of poetry by unknown authors.

Container 2

Folder 12: Bladen Dulany letter book, 1836-1846. Letter book kept by Dulany while commander of the U.S. Sloop of War Boston, U.S. Receiving Ship North Carolina, and U.S Frigate Cumberland. Contains copies of orders, circulars, and correspondence regarding the ships, their outfitting, crew, and sailing orders. Rosa Dulany also used the book in the 1860s as a composition tablet in which she practiced her penmanship, wrote poems, and pressed flowers in the pages (plant specimens have been removed).