| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | The William Bascom-Hiram Little Family Papers |
| Title: | William Bascom-Hiram Little Family Papers |
| Dates: | 1837-1929 |
| Extent: | 0.61 linear feet (2 containers and 1 oversize folder) |
| Abstract: | William Tully Bascom was an Ohio journalist and editor. His daughter Laura L., a music teacher and soloist, married Dr. Hiram H. Little. Their son, Tully Bascom Little, was a Cleveland businessman who became chairman of the National Defense Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. W.T. Bascom's son, Gustavus, fought in the Civil War and became a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army. The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and genealogical and autobiographical material. |
| MS Number | MS 3618 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
The William Bascom-Hiram Little family had members active in Ohio journalism politics, the military, medicine, and in business and social life in Cleveland. William Tully Bascom (1812-1877) was a journalist, editor of the Ohio State Journal in 1848, owner and editor of the Xenia Torchlight in 1862 and the Mount Vernon Republican in 1865, and part owner and editor of the Canton Repository in 1874. As a newspaper editor, Bascom was an influential figure in Ohio political circles, and his friends included James A. Garfield and Jacob D. Cox, governor of Ohio, 1866-1868.
Lt. Colonel Gustavus Bascom (1841-1884), the son of William T. Bascom served as an adjutant and aid in the Ohio Volunteer Militia during the Civil War. He participated in the Kanawha, Wester Virginia Campaign in 1861 and in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam (Sharpsburg) in 1862. In 1867 Bascom secured an appointment to the Regular Army, and in 1876 investigated reports of intimidation in Louisiana during the controversial Presidential election.
In1876 Dr. Hiram H. Little (1816-1896) married the daughter of William Bascom, Laura L. Bascom, a music teacher and soloist in Canton. Originally Dr. Little came from Vermont at the age of twenty to study medicine with his brother, Dr. Lyman Little, who practiced in Morgan County, Ohio. And in 1843, Hiram Little received an M.D. degree from the Ohio Medical College. With his first wife, Hattie Keyes (who died in 1875), Little set up a practice in McConnellsville, Ohio. To supplement his income, Dr. Little speculated in real estate by purchasing land warrants issued to veterans of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American Was. Finally in 1856, Hiram moved to Cleveland and formed a real estate partnership with his brother Lyman and E.W. Keyes. Before his death in 1896, Dr. Hiram Little served as trustee of the Cleveland Unity Church and University School as a director of the Citizen's Savings and Loan Association.
The son of Hiram and Lauren Bascom Little, Tully Bascom Little (1879-1940), achieved prominence in business, politics, and the military. Tully was a partner in the Crowell-Little Construction Company, which was responsible for Severance Hall and other buildings in Cleveland. In 1913 Mayor Newton D. Baker named Little to the City Charter Commission, and in 1915 he became the youngest president of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. A year later Little was appointed chairman of the National Defense Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and also served on a special board created by secretary of War Baker to study the type of machine gun to be bought for the U.G. Army. During World War I, Little served in the Ordnance Corps and in 1918 retired from military service with the rank of Colonel. He was awarded the Distinguishes Service medal in 1919.
The William Bascom-Hiram Little Family Papers, 1837-1929 and undated, are arranged chronologically within five groups of document types: correspondence, diaries, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and genealogical-autobiographical material. The Correspondence of William T. Bascom concerns his political activities and the beginning of the Ohio State Journal; the correspondence of Lt. Col. Gustavus Bascom relate to Civil War campaigns in West Virginia in 1861 and at South Mountain and Antietam (Sharpsburg) in 1862; that of Lauren Bascom Little concerns her travels in Europe and the Orients; T. Bascom Little' correspondence deals primarily with his duties as president of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce in 1915 and his service as chairman of the National Defence Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1916. The diaries are accounts of Lauren Bascom Little's travels to Europe and the Orient, and the genealogical-autobiographical material is an autobiographical memoir of Dr. Hiram Little, which also traces the Little genealogy. Newspaper clippings refer primarily to T. Bascom Little and the activities of Lt. Col. Gustavus Bascom in Louisiana in 1876 but also include obituaries of the Bascom-Little family. Memorabilia include certificates and invitations belonging to the Bascom-Little Family.
Of special interest are letters from Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, Horace Greeley, Edwin Stanton, Jacob D. Cox, William Belknap and William McKinley in the correspondence of William T. Bascom. Letters from Newton D. Baker are in the correspondence of T. Bascom Little.
None.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3618 William Bascom-Hiram Little Family Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift from the Estate of Mrs. Bascom Little, Jr. in 1972.
Processed by Virginia Krumholz in 1975.
William Bascom-Hiram Little Family Papers 1837-1929 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Genealogical material and autobiographical memoir of Hiram Little. undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence of William T. Bascom 1840-1885 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Correspondence of Dr. H.H. Little 1890-1901 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Correspondence of T. Bascom Little 1915-1924 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Newspaper clippings concerning T. Bascom Little 1913-1922 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Obituaries and newspaper clippings of the Bascom-Little family 1875-1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Memorabilia of the Bascom-Little family 1837-1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Diaries (4) of Laura Bascom Little 1875-1876 1897 1909-1912 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Typescript copies of letters 1861-1865 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Scrapbook 1876 | |||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||
| 1 | Certificates of the Bascom-Little family, many of which were signed by Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodrow Wilson, and Warren G. Harding 1858-1922 | ||||||||||