Ten Years A-Courting: Letters of Walter Allen and Grace Weston, 1856-1868

mnsss137 Weston-Allen Family Papers, 1848-1985 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Susan Boone. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College

Northampton, MA

2003

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Brook Hopkins. 2003-07-01 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mnsss137 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Sophia Smith CollectionSmith College Weston-Allen Family Papers, 1848-1985 Finding Aid MS 185 Susan Boone 1985 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Weston-Allen Family Weston-Allen Family Papers1848-1985 1848-1868 MS 185 1 box (.5 linear ft.) Sophia Smith Collection

Smith College Northampton, MA

The vast majority of the collection is correspondence, documenting the courtship and marriage of Grace Weston Allen and Walter Allen. The collection includes letters exchanged between Grace and Walter before and after their marriage and from other family members to Allen during his service as paymaster in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. Also included are a published version of the Weston-Allen letters: Ten Years A-Courting: Letters of Walter Allen and Grace Weston, 1856-1868, as well as photographs and biographical materials. English. Biographical Note

Walter Allen with his wife, Grace Weston Allen, and their children, circa 1892

Walter Allen was born in Boston, Massachusetts March 21, 1840, but the family soon moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he lived until his marriage. He graduated from Yale in 1863 and in the same year enlisted in the 26th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. Shortly thereafter he was mustered out to become Acting Assistant Paymaster in the U.S. Navy. After his discharge in August 1865 he decided to move west and began his newspaper career in Cairo, Illinois and Cincinnati, Ohio. During his years as a journalist he wrote for 8 different newspapers, mostly in New York and Boston. He died in Boston in 1907.

Grace Weston was born September 5, 1840, in New Braintree, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Oread Institute in Worcester and from the finishing school of the Misses Anabele in Philadelphia, after which she served as a governess for two years in Chicago. They were married on October 9, 1866.

This biographical sketch was excerpted in part from "Biographical Sketches, Yale Class of 1863," which was reproduced in Ten Years a-Courting. [For more information on Grace Weston, see History of the Oread Collegiate Institute (1905) by Martha E.B. Wright, bio. sketches]

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Weston-Allen Family Papers consist mainly of letters of Grace Weston and Walter Allen, 1856-1868. There are 81 letters from Grace Weston to Walter Allen, 1856-1868, plus 65 letters from Walter Allen to his family while he was in the Navy during the Civil War. Their granddaughter, Alice Allen Eaton Johnson (Smith Class 1929), compiled an edited version of the letters entitled Ten Years a-Courting, Letters of Walter Allen and Grace Weston, 1856-1868 (1985), which is included in this collection. In addition there are 3 miscellaneous letters and a few photographs.

Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

The papers are open for research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

The Sophia Smith Collection owns copyright to the works created by members of the Weston-Allen family. Copyright to materials created by others may be owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission must be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use."

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Weston-Allen Family Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

History of the Collection

The Weston-Allen Family Papers were the gift of Alice Allen Eaton Johnson in 1985.

Processed by Susan Boone, 1985.

Search Terms Allen, Walter, 1840-1907. Allen, Grace Weston, b. 1840 Courtship--United States--History--19th Century--Sources. Women--Massachusetts--History--19th century. Journalists--United States--History--19th century--Sources. Family--New England--History--19th century--Sources. United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives. Johnson, Alice Allen Eaton. Ten years a-courting, letters of Walter Allen and Grace Weston, 1856-1868. Additional Information 1 1 Ten Years a-Courting, Letters of Walter Allen and Grace Weston, 1856-1868, by Alice Allen Eaton Johnson, 1985 Correspondence 1 2-7 Grace Weston to Walter Allen, 1856-68 1 8-9 Walter Allen to Grace Weston, 1864-68 1 10-12 Family to Walter Allen, 1863-65 1 13 Miscellaneous, 1848, 1862, 1865 1 14 Photographs, 1856-1900