THE KITCHEL FAMILY LETTERS

The Kitchel letters come from the descendants of Robert. The actual line
Ford-6, Abraham-5, Joseph-4, Abraham-3, Samuel-2, Robert-1.

Letter Family Tree

Only members of the family who wrote letters are included in this very abbreviated family tree. Their names are highlighted in blue to make their identities clearer.

First Generation

Ford Kitchel(1770-1842) m. Elizabeth McCarty (1780-1854)

Second Generation

Sarah (1807-1891) m.William Iliff

Euphemia (1809-1874) m.Ludlow Pruden(1804-1869)

Emily(1810-1901) m. Nelson Slater

Elizabeth(1813-1889)

Jane (1818-1893) m. Michael Doland

Abraham(1815-1872) m Elizabeth Farrand (1822-1906)

Third Generation

Emma Pruden(1834-1868) m. Henry Kitchel(1829-1911)

Electa Doland (1844-1925) m.John Jones

Fourth Generation

Carrie (1855-1893)

Henrietta (1860-1927) m. William Durand

There are148 Kitchel letters in this collection.

The Kitchel sisters - the "other" Victorian women

• Victorian novel, magazines and books of etiquette usually portray women as "the weaker sex," or as "the angel of the house" with their lives focused on domesticity. While there was some truth in this image, many other Victorian women were forceful, independent and strong-minded.

• Mary Kitchel and Emily Kitchel Slater were examples of the latter.

• Mary was a businesswoman who ran a successful hat shop in Rockaway, New Jersey.

• Emily was a pioneer woman who traveled overland with her husband and family to California.

Mary Kitchel ,Rockaway, N.J. 24 letters 1869,1870s,1890s. Most of her letters are written to Phebe or Thomas Carman.

• "I like to keep track of my relations"

• Her letters are practical, rather sharp-tongued , but also caring.

1869, family news, 1874 business matters, 1879 sickness and deaths of friends, 1886 family problems, 1891 church affairs, lady pastor ,against the claims on Sarah's Iliff's estate 1892-against the claims on Sarah Iliff's estate1899 family news. For a fuller account of the part Mary played in the settlement of Sarah Iliff's estate, see Family Lawsuit file.

• For a list of letters written to Mary by Blain, Miner, Nelson and Woolston see Inventory-Others.

• Emily Kitchel Slater the Pioneer- 36 letters 1835-1888. Most of her letters are written to her sister, Euphemia.

  1835 (2) 1836(2) from Ohio1840 (1) 1843 (2) 1844(1) 1845 (3) 1846(2)from Illinois 1847 (7) 1848 (3) from Wisconsin 1849 (2) from Mississippi
  1856 (1) 1863(1) 1864(1) 1867(1) 1868(1) 1869 (2) 1870 (2) 1873 (1) 1888(1)
  These are all written from California, the Sacramento area.

  Born and raised in Rockaway, New Jersey, Emily and her husband, Nelson Slater, decided to go West.

  • Before the era of the railroad during the 1830's and 1840's she and her husband traveled in a horse and wagon to Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin , and Mississippi. Along the way she bore five children! Her husband was a teacher, minister, farmer and purveyor who kept moving Westward. In the 1850s the family traveled to California (by the overland route) after California had become a state and after the Gold Rush. In California she bore a sixth child and the family settled there permanently. Not content with motherhood, she had a "tailoring" business on the side and helped her husband in his various occupations.

  The letters are rich in detail about everyday life under these circumstances.

• Sarah Kitchell,another sister,N.Germantown, one letter,1866. Sarah astounded her relatives by getting married in her fifties !

• This letter tells of her contentment in her newly married state.

EMMA KITCHEL-THE YOUNG WIFE AND MOTHER

Emma -Euphemia's daughter-67 letters 1851-1868. Newark, New Jersey. She is writing mainly to her mother and to her sister,Phebe.

1851 an extremely interesting letter about school conditions. Emma was a teacher at this time.

1854-1868 Emma married in 1854 and the rest of the letters concern her happy life in Newark with her husband and children. Many details of 19th century life are given as she talks about housekeeping, sewing, her little girl's scarlet fever, birth of two children, wedding of her brother-in-law,church problems, Civil War "secession and hard times" draft problems of husband and brothers, Lincoln's assassination.

The poignant letters of 1868 tell of her last illness. She died of tuberculosis in that year. She was 34.

See Others for a description of letter from Emma's friend Mary Carpenter.

Carrie Kitchel, Emma's daughter,Newark, N.J.- one letter 1869 To her grandmother, Euphemia Pruden

• Carrie is 14 years old; writes about her school subjects.

Henrietta Kitchel Emma's daughter, Newark, New Jersey,one letter 1870, to her grandmother,Euphemia Pruden

• Henrietta is 10 years old; writes to her grandmother, begging her to come for Christmas.

OTHER RELATIVES.

Hannah Kitchel one letter 1813 Menly (no state) To her mother, Rebecka{sic} Kitchel.

• This is the earliest letter in the entire collection. Hannah Kitchel is a young wife whose husband is away on business; she talks of missing him.

Elizabeth Kitchel,sister of Mary and Emily, four letters,1867,1879,1887,Pardis,N.J. Whippany, N.J.

• Elizabeth was a schoolteacher; the 1867 letter is about her loneliness, the 1879 about her many health problems.

Elizabeth Farrand Kitchel, sister-in-law of the Kitchel sisters, wife of Abraham Ford Kitchel one letter,1891

Elizabeth was involved in the lawsuit about Sarah Kitchel Iliff's will. She is making a claim that she is owed money.

Lodi Kitchel, a cousin, Island Heights Hospital, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, two letters 1864

• Lodi was a Union soldier writing from a soldiers' hospital in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Conditions in a Civil War hospital.

Tillie Kitchel, a cousin, Newark, N.J.,ten letters 1856-1861, to Phebe Carman

• Tillie Kitchel was the younger sister of Henry Kitchell, Emma's husband, and a dear friend of both Phebe and Emma.
  She was a warmhearted, lively, fun-loving young woman when she wrote these letters. There are teasing references to romance, news of weddings, jokes, and talking of coming to live with Emma.
  

Electa Doland Jones, daughter of Jane Kitchel Doland, Newark, N.J.and Rockaway, N.J. three letters, 1863-1864,one letter, 1892.

• The 1860's letters are about her ill health, family affairs. The 1892 letter is about the family lawsuit.

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