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Huff-Nixon Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: FMS-15

Scope and Contents

The Huff-Nixon family papers consist of correspondence, legal and business papers, reminiscences, clippings, and genealogical materials of five generations of Quaker families in North Carolina and Indiana. Most of the material concerns the families of Samuel Nixon (1781-1865), his son-in-law Daniel Huff (1816-1899), and his son Dr. Oliver Nixon Huff (1852-1937) of Fountain City, Indiana, and Oliver Nixon Huff's wife, Sophia (Bogue) Huff (1866-1931). The oldest material in the Nixon-Huff Papers is found in a scrapbook compiled about 1883 by Emily Jane (Nixon) Huff. It consists of letters, leaflets, pamphlets, receipts, and other papers of the Nixon family dating back to 1760. Of special interest is a silhouette of Samuel Nixon's grand-father, Phineas Nixon (1710-1771) of Pasquotank County, North Carolina, which is believed to be the oldest image we have of a North Carolina Friend. Most of the correspondence dates from 1829 to 1860. It includes letters from family and Quaker friends, including letters from Friends at the Friends Shawnee school near what is now Lawrence, Kansas, and correspondence on business, politics, antislavery, education, and Quaker affairs. There are extensive files of clippings and reminiscent material on antislavery, including letters of Levi Coffin; on a party of Newport men who traveled to California seeking gold in 1850; and on local and Quaker history. The collection also includes extensive genealogical material, mainly collected by Sophia (Bogue) Huff, on the Huff, Nixon, Bogue, Durfee, Rogers, and related families in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, New York, and New England.

Dates

  • 1760-1976
  • Other: Date acquired: 00/00/1980

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to the public.

Conditions Governing Use

Some materials may be protected by copyright. Permission to reproduce and to publish for commercial purposes must be requested from the Archivist.

Biographical or Historical Information

Samuel Nixon was born in Prince Georges County, Virginia, March 21, 1781, the son of Barnaby Nixon, a native of Pasquotank County, North Carolina, and an eminent Quaker minister, and his wife Sarah Hunnicutt. In 1818 Samuel Nixon married Rhoda (Hubbard) Butler, a widow with children, and moved to Guilford County, North Carolina. They became the parents of four children. The collection contains extensive material on three: Emily Jane Nixon (1821-1889), the wife of Daniel Huff; Oliver Woodson Nixon (1825-1905); and William Penn Nixon (1832-1912). The latter two were long associated with the Chicago Inter-Ocean. In 1829, Samuel and Rhoda Nixon moved their family to Wayne County, Indiana, settling at Newport, now Fountain City, where he farmed and was a merchant. Rhoda (Hubbard) Butler Nixon died on a visit to a son in Knightstown, indiana, in 1841. In 1848 Samuel Nixon remarried, his second wife also being a widow, Rhoda (Rawls) Butler (1797-1856) of Rush County, Indiana. Samuel Nixon died at Newport, February 16, 1865. In 1843 Emily Jane Nixon married Daniel Huff, a wagonmaker and tavern keeper of Newport. He was born in Surry County, North Carolina, November 29, 1816, the son of John and Mary (Burnside) Huff, who settled in Wayne County in 1819. Daniel and Emily Jane Huff were from the 1840s to the 1890s among the most prominent residents of Fountain City. Both were active in reform movements, especially antislavery and temperance, and in Quaker affairs. Daniel Huff spent considerable time in his last years composing reminiscences about the history of Fountain City. he died there June 7, 1899. The second son of Daniel and Emily Jane (Nixon) Huff was Oliver Nixon Huff. born in Fountain City. March 14, 1852. After attending Earlham College, he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1878 and began practicing medicine in Fountain City. In 1888 he moved to Chicago, where he achieved some distinction as a physician, serving on the staffs of two hospitals and as city medical inspector. In 1892 he married Sophia R. Bogue, a Chicago native. In 1898 they moved back to Fountain City, where they lived until their deaths. Both were among its leading citizens, and Oliver N. Huff was widely known as an authority on local history.

Note written by

Extent

3 Boxes

Language of Materials

English

Source of Acquisition

Donation, Robert Nixon Huff, and Donation, Kathleen Kaeuper.

Method of Acquisition

The Nixon-Huff Papers were received in two donations. The first came from Robert Nixon Huff (Earlham 1925), son of Oliver N. and Sophia Huff, in 1980. The second came from his niece, Kathleen (Barnes) Kaeuper, in 1991.

Accruals and Additions

Further material may be forthcoming.

Title
Archon Finding Aid Title
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
eng

Repository Details

Part of the Friends Collection and Earlham College Archives Repository

Contact:
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