| Abstract: |
Elisha Whittlesey (1783-1863) was a lawyer, United States Representative from Ohio (1822-1838), and public official. The
collection consists of correspondence, legal papers, receipts, account ledgers, memoranda, drafts of legislation, and land
deeds. The Elisha Whittlesey Papers deal with his career as a member of the United States Congress for sixteen years, comptroller
of the United States Treasury for eight years, and Auditor of the Post Office Department for two years. His voluminous correspondence
involves a large number of men prominent in national, late, and local affairs, particularly the Whig Party, American Colonization
Society, the American Bible Society, and the development of the canals, rivers, harbors, railroads, and banks of northern
Ohio and the Western Reserve. His mass of legal papers deals with the practice of his law office in Canfield, Ohio, his large
holdings of land in the Western Reserve, Firelands, and the Maumee Valley. His wife and family occupy another prominent place
in his correspondence, and he also had an interest in agricultural problems and served in the War of 1812.
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