Bennette Claude Merlino de Saint Pry papers and Treat family papers
Overview
Papers of Boston merchant Bennette Claude Merlino de Saint Pry, and his relations in the Treat family.
Dates
- Creation: 1764-1843
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in French, English, and Italian.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
2 linear feet (4 boxes)Contains letters, memoranda, agreements, invoices, receipts, account statements and other material concerning Bennette Claude Merlino de Saint Pry. Merlino de Saint Pry was a shipping merchant who was delivering goods to the Boston and Newburyport area, some from the West Indies. He also owned a saltworks in Maine and there are papers here concerning that enterprise. Most of the papers were sorted into groupings by family members and these groups were retained when possible. Much of these earlier papers are fragments, many very faint and hard to read.
Also included are papers of Saint Pry's daughter, Helena Merlino de Saint Pry Treat (1779-1845) and a few of her husband Captain Samuel Treat. Among these papers are letters concerning Helena's efforts to regain her inheritance held by France. Apparently Albert Gallatin and the Marquis de Lafayette, as well as many others, assisted her to regain this fortune.
Biographical / Historical
Bennette Claude Merlino de Saint Pry [or sometimes written "Merlino de St. Pry"] was a French merchant in Boston from circa 1771-1783, when he returned to France, fell ill and died about 1785. He was a native of Lyons, France and was descended from Italian, Spanish and French families. Bennette was married to Elizabeth Gyles. Bennette Merlino de Saint Pry was friends with the Marquis de Lafayette (Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Lafayette, 1757-1834). Bennette's daughter was Helena Merlino de Saint Pry Treat (1779-1845), the second wife of Captain Samuel Treat (1750-1806), married circa 1800. Helena and Samuel had a son, James Augustus Treat (1806-1887; Harvard AB 1832) who was the father of John Harvey Treat (1839-1908; Harvard AB 1862), the donor of these papers.
Source: The Treat Family by John Harvey Treat. Salem Press: 1893.
Arrangement
Arranged into the following series:
- I. Bennette Merlino de Saint Pry papers, chronological
- II. Bennette Merlino de Saint Pry papers, alphabetical
- III. Treat family papers
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Bequest of John Harvey Treat of Lawrence, Harvard AB 1862; received: 1910.
Bibliography
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
The papers arrived sorted into envelopes by date or by topic. It is probable that the donor, John Harvey Treat, did the sorting. The groupings were retained when possible.
- Title
- Merlino de Saint Pry, Bennette Claude. Bennette Claude Merlino de Saint Pry papers and Treat family papers, 1764-1843: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02518
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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