Manuscripts Collection
Clarrissa Blandin was born June 1, 1798 in Brookline, Vermont. On June 28, 1815 she married Rufus Stebbins (1789-1863) in Brookline. She died September 27, 1890 in Brookline.
Five of their children settled in Minnesota. Thomas Warren Stebbins (1816-1902) came to Minnesota in 1857 with his wife Esther and son Alonzo, and began farming in Winona County. In 1868 he moved to Rochester and worked as a carpenter. He remained there until his death in 1902. Adin William Stebbins (1823-1896) married Cornelia L. Bellows in 1851 and later settled (1864) in Utica, Minnesota, where he had a farm. Later he worked as a painter and operated (1865) a photography shop in St. Charles. He died in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Sarah Grey Stebbins (1824-1882) married Jesse Fletcher Butterfield in 1855, settled in Olmsted County, and died in Marion, Minnesota. Jonas Blandin Stebbins (1827-1897) married Maria Jayne Randall in 1861 and settled on a farm near Utica, Minnesota. Jothan Webster Stebbins (1841-1932) married Harriet (Hattie) Page in 1870. He was a Methodist minister and served various congregations in Olmsted, Houston, Fillmore, and Goodhue counties in southeastern Minnesota. He died in Northfield, Minnesota in 1932.
Biographical information taken from the papers and from
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Accession numbers: 13,786; 16,118
Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project grant
awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Catalog ID number: 001716128
Transcribed Stebbins family letters. Most of the letters are addressed to Clarrissa and Rufus Stebbins in Brookline, Vermont, and come from their children and grandchildren in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Minnesota. In addition to the letters cited, there is information on Brownsville, Marion, and Chatfield, Minnesota.
Early letters to Clarrissa and Rufus Stebbins from their children discuss their activities and work situations. They request clothes and food and relate the prices of goods and foodstuffs. By 1856 Jonas was in Winona, Minnesota and Adin was in St. Charles, Illinois. Jonas relates in a letter of December 14, 1856 his boarding and work experiences, and weather conditions in Winona. Esther Stebbins describes her journey to Minnesota (Dec. 7, 1857). There are many letters from Utica (Winona County) where Thomas and Jonas are living.
Letters relate crop prices, weather conditions, and family concerns. Thomas is operating a tavern in Chatfield, about 25 miles from Utica (Feb. 24, 1861) and describes activities there. More information on tavern prices is found in a letter of January 5, 1862. Clarrissa and Rufus visit their daughter Sarah (Oct. 25, 1862), who settled in Minnesota earlier that year. Edwin Alonzo Stebbins joined Company G, First Artillery, 11th Vermont Volunteers, and Jothan Webster Stebbins joined Company K, 9th Vermont Volunteers, during the Civil War. There are many letters from them, beginning with a letter from Webster near Harper's Ferry, July 26, 1862.
Webster is at Camp Douglas (Chicago) and relates his experiences in two letters of January 25, 1863. Edwin writes from Fort Slocum, D.C. (April 29, 1863); other letters indicate that his wife Jane is with him. News of the railroad construction to St. Charles, and news of the tavern business, are related in a letter by Thomas (Oct. 18, 1863). The illness and mortality rate is illustrated by the fact that Thomas has made more than 40 coffins in Utica, and most of them have been used (Dec. 13, 1863).
Webster is at Gales Creek (Dec. 27, 1863), and later Newport, North Carolina (Feb. 2, 1864). Edwin relates the fighting at Gaines Hill, Virginia (June 9, 1864), and later writes from Peterburg, Virginia. Adin writes from Utica (July 3, 1864) about land available for homesteaders. More letters from Edwin and Webster relate their movements in Virginia. There are letters from Thomas' son Alonzo, to his grandmother Clarrissa, from Winona where he is in school.
Webster describes his life as a dentist in St. Charles to his brother William (March 17, 1869). In 1870 he joined the Minnesota Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and became a minister, serving in different towns in southeastern Minnesota. Clarrissa Stebbins visited Minnesota in 1872-1873. Webster relates the deaths caused by a blizzard around Brownsville (Feb. 7, 1873). A letter from Webster describes La Crescent, Minnesota (Sept. 23, 1875), and also relates his ordination as an elder by Bishop Wiley. There are many letters from Webster describing his activities, health problems, weather, and travel conditions. The centennial celebration in Rochester is recounted by Esther Stebbins and her daughter Althea (July 4, 1876). The grasshopper plague of 1877 is described in Thomas' letter of March 14, 1877.
A steam thresher explosion that killed five men and injured two is recounted in a letter from Ida Stebbins, in Utica, to her grandmother (Aug. 3, 1878). Two letters (Jan. 18, Feb. 5, 1883) detail the blizzard that struck Elgin. Webster's letter of August 18, 1883 describes the tornado that hit Elgin, and a letter from Amelia Stebbins (Sept. 14, 1883) describes the damage in Rochester. The wedding and trousseau of Ida Stebbins are described on September 20, 1887.
Original letters transcribed in