Manuscript Group 1224, Colhoun Family (Rutherford, NJ) Papers, 1805 – 1978

Archives Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs

Manuscript Group 1224, Colhoun Family (Rutherford, NJ)
Papers, 1805-1978, 0.5 linear feet / 1 box
Call Number: MG 1224

Summary

• Biographical Note
• Provenance Note
• Scope and Content Note
• Folder List

Summary:

Papers of various members of the Colhoun family of Rutherford, New Jersey. Included are newspaper clippings on the activities of Dr. Charles M. Colhoun (ca. 1864-1931); the scrapbook, 1944-1964, of his daughter Margery Colhoun (ca. 1895-1985) who served as assistant director of the Free Public Library of Rutherford for over thirty-years; a variety of pamphlets on the First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford; family photographs; and nineteenth-century documents including letters from Gustavus Colhoun to his daughter Jane Colhoun, letters of Martha Colhoun to Jane Colhoun, and two diplomas given to John Bohlen Colhoun (1813-1893), a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (1833) and of the General Theological Seminary in New York.

Given by David B. Pickering in honor of Margery Elizabeth Colhoun, 1985.

Biographical Note:

Gustavus Colhoun was a Philadelphia merchant. One of his three sons, John Bohlen Colhoun (1813-1893) earned an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1844, graduated from the General Theological Seminary. He married Elizabeth Jane Moore, the daughter of Reverend James Moore. John Bohlen Colhoun died in Rutherford, New Jersey on November 7, 1893.

Charles M. Colhoun (ca.1864-1931), the son of Elizabeth and John Bohlen Colhoun, was born in North Carolina, though his parents moved to Rutherford, New Jersey, soon after his birth. He attended Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he obtained his M.D. He subsequently married Camila Murray, with whom he had three children: Jefferson, Margery, and Helen. Dr. Colhoun was a member of the Bergen County Medical Society and also served on the Rutherford Board of Health. He died in February 1931 an the age of sixty-seven.

Margery Colhoun (ca. 1895-1985) spent most of her life in Rutherford, New Jersey. From 1918-1965, she worked in the Rutherford Free Public Library as a librarian. During this period she assisted with the gradual transformation of the library from a private organization housed on land once owned by the local Presbyterian Church, to its current status as the town’s public library. In 1965, after her retirement, she moved to Connecticut where she stayed until her death in October 1985. She never married.

Provenance Note:

This collection was donated to the New Jersey Historical Society in October 1985 by David Pickering. Mr. Pickering was the husband of Helen (Colhoun) Pickering.

Scope and Content Note:

The Colhoun Family Papers consist of one box of correspondence, diplomas, certificates, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs dating from 1805 to 1978. These documents reflect a variety of subjects, such as the early environmental effort of the Rutherford city government and riverside communities (ca.1905) for the purification and preservation of the Passaic River; employment strategies and professional development in the 1950-1960s; and child-parent relationships in the early nineteenth century.

Folder List:

Processed by Joseph M. Ciccone, March 2000 as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

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