Kendall-Plimpton Family History

The Kendall and Plimpton Family History and Genealogy Archive contains extensive material dealing with the family history of both the Kendall family, paternal ancestors and relatives of Henry P. Kendall, and the Plimpton family, his maternal ancestors and relatives. Both were old New England families; the Plimptons were primarily residents of Massachusetts since the 1600s, while the Kendalls came from Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The archives include genealogical charts, published books about family history, documents, correspondence, personal papers, photographs and memorabilia of several generations of Kendall and Plimpton family members. Similar materials related to the ancestry and family history of Evelyn Way Kendall can be found in the Evelyn Way Kendall archive.

Kendall Family History

Genealogical records and books:

Genealogical charts, printed booklets, books, and manuscript notes relating to Kendall ancestors from the 16th to 19th centuries, including Kendall family Bibles and The Kendall Book by Priscilla Smith Robertson, privately printed in 1959.

Papers of Lucien Bonaparte Kendall (1815–1896):

Lucien B. Kendall, grandfather of Henry P. Kendall, was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, son of Chester Kendall and Nancy Paine, and lived much of his adult life in Providence, Rhode Island. He was a small retail tradesman, beginning as an apprentice to a carriage painter. He and his wife Eliza Ann Phillips had ten children, three of whom survived childhood; Henry, Mary and Ednah. His papers include family correspondence beginning in the 1830s, with a few earlier letters, a daybook kept 1863–1894, a series of letters from friends in Kansas during the Civil War, and a few memorabilia.

Papers of Henry Lucien Kendall (1849–1883):

Henry L. Kendall was born in Providence, Rhode Island to Lucien and Eliza Kendall. He graduated from Brown University in 1871 and Andover Newton Theological Seminary in 1874, and became a Congregational minister. He married Idella Plimpton in 1875; they had two children, Henry and Helen. Respected as an accomplished minister, he briefly served congregations in Walpole and Charlestown, Massachusetts, Northfield, Minnesota and Jacksonville, Florida, but he suffered increasingly from chronic tuberculosis and died in his early 30s. His papers include correspondence, college and seminary essays, and sermons, as well as memorabilia of Brown University, Andover Seminary, and his pastorates.

Images:

The archive contains photographs of Lucien B. Kendall, his mother Nancy Paine and stepfather Albert Saunders, his wife Eliza, and their children, as well as adult and family photographs of Henry Lucien Kendall and a photograph of the Paine family home in Woodstock, Connecticut.

Plimpton Family History

Genealogical records and books:

Genealogical charts and records of the Plimpton and Lewis families, including the family trees of Calvin Gay Plimpton and Priscilla Guild Lewis and a Plimpton family Bible with family records. Books about the families including A Genealogy and Historical Notes on the Family of Plimpton or Plympton in America by Levi Chase and Lewis Farm: A New England Saga by Priscilla Smith Robertson. Also included are reproductions of 17th and 18th century documents referring to Aaron Guild and other ancestors, as well as an 1853 passport of Calvin Gay Plimpton and a transcript of the diary of John Allen Gould (1785–1860).

Papers of Clara Idella Plimpton Kendall (1848–1941) and other family members:

The Plimptons were a distinguished Walpole family, with multiple business and professional undertakings. Calvin Gay Plimpton and Priscilla Guild Lewis had nine children: Caroline, Priscilla, Clara Idella, John, Lewis, George, James Edward, Herbert, and Howard. Idella graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1871, married the Rev. Henry L. Kendall in 1875, and had two children, Henry and Helen. Widowed in her early 30s, she lived and brought up her children at the Plimpton Homestead in Walpole. Her papers include letters, personal possessions and memorabilia, and an 1870 diary.

Also among the Plimpton family papers are the memorial booklets of Ebenezer Gay and George Plimpton, typed copies of a variety of family correspondence, an early cookbook from the family home at Lewis Farm, the unpublished memoirs and recollections of several family members, including a history of the Plimptonville section of Walpole, and some business papers and publications of the Plimpton Press.

Images:

The archive includes a large number of 19th and early 20th century photographs of individual family members and a number of group portraits of family gatherings from 1895 through 1937, as well as photograph albums, glass plate negatives and glass lantern slides. Also included are sketches of family members, photographs of family homes, photographs of oil portraits of various ancestors, and one original oil portrait, of Joanna Gay Morey (1760–1849).