C Cortelyou Family Papers, 1826-1964 2463 40 folders This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at shsresearch@umsystem.edu. INTRODUCTION Real estate leases, New Jersey, 1826-1846, and records of estates administered by James and Peter Cortelyou, New Jersey, 1842-1882. Personal correspondence received by Kansas banker Luther M. Cortelyou, Jr., 1895-1964; his high school papers and memorabilia; and diaries kept by him and his father, 1869-1900. DONOR INFORMATION The papers were donated to the University of Missouri by the Luther A. Cortelyou Estate on 21 May 1970 (Accession No. 3849). HISTORICAL SKETCH The Cortelyou family first settled in Somerset County, New Jersey, near the end of the seventeenth century. By the early nineteenth century the family had become well established in that area, respectably middle class, possessing farm lands there and in the Old Northwest. In the second half of the century, family members began migrating westward, mostly into the new territories and states of the Midwest. One of the Cortelyous who left New Jersey was Luther Cortelyou. After spending the late 1870s and 1880s in Maryland, he and his family trekked west to Atchison County, Kansas, where they settled permanently, and he became a successful grain dealer. His son Luther, Jr. entered banking in the late 1890s and, after several bookkeeping positions at various banks in the area, settled in Parsons, Kansas, eventually becoming president of the local bank. He married Lola Allison of Muscotah, Kansas, in 1914, and they raised one son, also named Luther Cortelyou. For more detailed information on the Cortelyou family, see John Vanzandt Cortelyou, The Cortelyou Genealogy, 1942, and Who s Who in the Midwest, 1940s-1960s, entries under Luther Cortelyou, John Vanzandt Cortelyou, Frank Cortelyou, and Herman Cortelyou. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE Collection has two major groupings. First group, 1826-1882, consists of leases, inventories, receipts, account books, and legal documents related to administration of estates and guardianships of minors by James and Peter Cortelyou of Somerset County, New Jersey. Arranged by estate title and chronologically. Second group, 1869-1964, contains correspondence, diaries, and various memorabilia related to personal life of east Kansas banker Luther Cortelyou, Jr. and, to a lesser extent, that of his father. Materials focus mainly on the adolescence and early adulthood of the two men.
C2463 Cortelyou Family Papers, 1826-1964 Page 2 Collection is useful for its materials on nineteenth century social history topics: funeral expenses, property values, prices and wages, social relationships and recreation among the young, and descriptions of day to day life in the rural Midwest, to name a few. Papers are arranged chronologically within these groupings with estate account books at the end of each group where they are present. FOLDER LIST f. 1-15 James and Peter Cortelyou served as the executors of estates of at least three relatives and friends in Somerset and Middlesex Counties New Jersey, including the estate of their deceased father Abraham Cortelyou. They also acted as legal guardians of various minor children. These papers relate almost entirely to those activities. Except for folder 1, which contains miscellaneous property leases, the papers are arranged by the following estate titles. f. 2-5 Abraham Cortelyou estate, 1842-1859 f. 6-14 John Dumont estate, 1857-1882 f. 15 John Stover estate, 1854-1862 f. 16-28 Correspondence, arranged chronologically, consists largely of personal letters received by Luther Cortelyou, Jr., from friends, relatives, and sweethearts, mostly between 1895 and 1901, the time of his adolescence and early adulthood. Letters reveal much about young people of the time, their amusements, courtships, dreams, and disappointments. There is also some information regarding the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, banking, and smallpox epidemics. One unusual series of letters from a friend who taught school in Turkey describes the turbulent political and social conditions in that country between 1911 and 1914, and then in 1930. There is also a folder of postcards regarding Masons in Parsons, Kansas, 18731893, apparently unrelated to the rest of the collection. f.29 Except for a daily assets and liability statement for the First National Bank of Hobart, Oklahoma, this small series consists solely of a receipt for a week's worth of laundry and Luther Cortelyou, Jr. 's monthly personal budget for the few months he spent as a clerk for the Bank of Horton, Kansas. That budget is a two page listing of all the expenditures that a twenty-year old man, careful with his pennies and away from home for the first time, considered essential for his wellbeing. Includes his salary at the bank and prices for clothing, shaves and haircuts, candy, meals, lodging, church donations, and other assorted goods and services.
C2463 Cortelyou Family Papers, 1826-1964 Page 3 f. 30 These papers relate specifically to Cortelyou s years while attending Atchison County High School, Kansas. Included are his certificate of 1895; his 1896 registration admission card, a constitution Cortelyou drafted for the Atchison County High School Cadets, a seventeen page prediction of the future of classmates and the world as a whole; report cards; and receipts for supplies used in conjunction with his tenure as class president, 1897-1898. f. 31 Consists of various ephemera kept by Luther Cortelyou, Jr. related to Atchison County High School. Includes programs, invitations, and an advertising brochure regarding the high school's "Conservatory of Music," and its "Department of Short- Hand and Business Practice." f. 32-33 Miscellaneous ephemera collected by Luther Cortelyou, Jr. Includes post card, valentine, musical concert program and advertisement, invitations, and advertisements featuring poems and cartoons. Also three photograph portraits of Cortelyou, c. 1930, c. 1940, and c. 1950. f. 34-40 Kept by both Luther Cortelyou, Sr. and his son Luther, Jr., these diaries relate the adolescent and early adult years of both men. Entries are brief, and although there are often long gaps in the elder Cortelyou's diaries, usually the two men wrote each day. The three diaries of Luther, Sr. cover his attempts to find a career in New Jersey during the early 1870s and then describe farming in Maryland in the 1870s and 1880s. The five diaries of Luther, Jr. deal mostly with high school, teenage social life, and his first year as a bookkeeper in turn of the century Atchison County, Kansas. INDEX TERMS Account books, 1850s 5 Account books, 1860-1880s 13,14 Adams, W. J. 23,24 Agriculture--Illinois, 1840s-1850s 2 Agriculture--Maryland, 1880s 35 Agriculture--New Jersey, 1870s 34
C2463 Cortelyou Family Papers, 1826-1964 Page 4 Allison, Lola E. 23,25 Amusements, 1890s 32 Ariel Ladies Sextette 32 Armenia, 1914 27 Atchison County High School, Effingham, Kansas 17-19,30,31,36-38 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, 1899 21-24 Auctions, Estate, New Jersey 2-5,13,15 Banks and banking--kansas, 1890s-1900s 24-28 Boyington, Edward 19-25 Broadsides--Concert announcement, 1896 32 Calvert, Ella 25 Calvert, Ella 25 y Camp Lewis, Washington 27 y Cartoons and caricatures, 1899 32 y Children, 1890s 17 Colleges and universities--kansas, 1890s-1900s 17,18,21,26 Cortelyou family--history 19 Cortelyou Luther, Jr. (1881- ) 33 y Cortelyou, Abraham ( -c. 1852) 1-5,15 Cortelyou, James 2-15,17 Cortelyou, John Vanzandt 17,19 Cortelyou, Louis C. 17 Cortelyou, Luther (1861- ) 18,28,30-35 Cortelyou, Luther, Jr. (1881- ) 17-33,36-40 Cortelyou, Peter 2-7,15,17 Dating (Social customs), 19th century 17-26 Diaries--Personal, 1860s-1870s 34,35 Diaries--Personal, 1881 35 Diaries--Personal, 1890s 36-39 Diaries--Personal, 1900 40 Dower, New Jersey, 1860s-1880s 12, 14 Dumont, Cornelia 6-11, 14 Dumont, John 6-14 Dumont, Magdalene 6-9, 14 Dumont, Margaret 6-12, 14 Dumont, Peter 6-12, 14 Dumont, Phebe J. 6-9, 14 Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York 34 Education, Secondary, Kansas, 1890s 17, 18, 30, 31, 36-38 Employment 18-25, 34 Estate inventories--new Jersey, 1940s-1860s 2-3, 6, 15 Excelsior Springs Golf Club, Excelsior Springs, Missouri 28 y Farm life--kansas, 1890s-1900s 16-32, 36-40
C2463 Cortelyou Family Papers, 1826-1964 Page 5 Farm life--new Jersey, 1870s 34, 35 Funeral rites and ceremonies--prices, 1850s-1860s 3-7, 14, 15 Golf courses 28 y Grain--Marketing--Kansas, 1900s 40 Greeting cards--valentine c. 1900 32 Guardianships, New Jersey, 1850s-1880s 4-12, 14 Harvey, A. B. 24, 25 Kansas, Atchison County, 1890s 17-20, 24, 28, 36-39 Kansas, Carbondale 21 Kansas, Effingham, 1890s-1900s 17-24, 36-40 Kansas, Horton 26 Kansas, Muscotah, 1890s 17-21, 24, 28, 36-40 Kansas, Parsons 16, 27 Kurdistan, 1914 27 Libraries, Kansas, Topeka, 1901 26 Manners and customs, 1890s 17-26, 32, 36-39 Manners and customs--new Jersey, 1860s-1870s 34 Marshall Normal School and Commercial College, Frankfort, Kansas 26 Maynard, H. A. 21, 23, 25-28 McDonald, Edward S. 17-19, 22 Military education, 1890s 17, 30, 36 Montana, 1899 22 Muscotah Exchange Bank, Muscotah, Kansas, 1901 24, 25 New Jersey, Middlesex County 15 New Jersey, Somerset County 1-14, 17, 34 Poetry 18, 23, 32 Postcards, 1900s 24, 32 y Postcards, 1910s 27 y Postcards, 1920s 28 y Prices, Kansas, 1902 23, 29, 30 Prices, Maryland, 1870s-1880s 35 Prices, New Jersey, 1840s-1880s 2-15 Promissory Notes, New Jersey, 1850s-1860s 2, 3, 6 Real Estate, New Jersey, 1830s-1860s 1-5, 7, 8, 14, 15 Recreation 17-25, 28, 36-39 Recreation, New Jersey, 1860s-1870s 34 Rutger's College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1870 34 School buildings, Kansas, 1890s 31 y Smallpox, Kansas, 1899-1901 22, 24 Spanish American War, 1898, Public Opinion 19, 30 State Bank of Effingham, Kansas 25, 26 Stover, Eleanor 15
C2463 Cortelyou Family Papers, 1826-1964 Page 6 Stover, Elizabeth 15 Stover, John 15 Stover, Nelly 15 Student life, 19th century 17-21, 25, 34 Taxation, New Jersey, 1850s-1880s 3-5, 9-12, 14 Turkey, 1910s, 1930 27, 28 Turner, H. M. 18-26 University of Kansas, Lawrence 17, 18 Wages, Kansas, 1900 24, 26 Walker, W. M. 24, 25 Washburn College, Topeka, Kansas, 1899 21 Widows, 1860s-1880s 6-12, 14-15 Wilcox, Alonzo D. 17, 18, 22 Wills, 1847 2 Wilson, J. W. 18, 19, 22, 31 World War, 1914-1918 27, 28 Youth, 1860s-1900s 17-27, 30-32, 34, 36-40