Descriptive Summary |
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| Creator: | Steele, Richard Holloway (1824-1900) |
| Title: | Guide to the Richard Holloway Steele Letters |
| Dates: | 1840-1843 |
| Quantity: | 7 items (1 folder) |
| Abstract: | This collection contains one folder of seven letters of Richard Holloway Steele, written to his sister Mary Frances Steele, while he was a student at Rutgers College, 1840-1843. |
| Collection No.: | R-MC 030 |
| Language | English. |
| Repository: | Rutgers University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. |
Richard Holloway Steele, the son of John B. and Eliza B. (Holloway) Steele, was born in Watervliet, New York on September 17, 1824. A Reformed minister, he served the Presbyterian churches of Charlton, Albany, and Ballston Spa, as well as the Reformed Church at Nassau, N.Y.
Steele was pastor of the First Reformed Church in New Brunswick, N.J., for seventeen years, from 1863 to 1880. He then proceeded to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where for seven years he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church. He then retired from active work in the ministry and lived quietly in Detroit with his family.
A prolific writer, Steele published many sermons, addresses and historical discourses, including "America, a land pre-eminently blessed," a sermon preached in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Nassau, N.Y., on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1852. He spoke and published much on the duty of patriotism during the Civil War, including "Victory and mourning: a sermon occasioned by the death of Abraham Lincoln, late president of the United States, preached in the first Reformed Dutch Church, New Brunswick, N.J., June 1st. 1865."
He was married to Miss Frances Hays of Milton, N.Y., on December 13, 1848. They had three children, Charles H., M.D., (Rutgers College Class of 1872), E. Francis (Fannie), and Wallace. Richard Holloway Steele died on April 5, 1900 and was buried in Detroit, Michigan, next to his wife and son Wallace, who had pre-deceased him.
This collection contains one folder of seven letters of Richard Holloway Steele, written to his sister Mary Frances Steele, while he was a student at Rutgers College. These letters were originally folded into envelopes, sealed with wax, and addressed to her at Guilderland Center, Albany County, N.Y., except for the letter of September 25, 1840, which was addressed to her at 265 Broadway, New York City.
In these chatty letters, Steele often discusses family matters, as well as national events as experienced in New Brunswick, New Jersey. However, much of the substance of these letters concern Steele's daily activities at Rutgers, including his course work and classmates and friends.
The seven letters in this collection are contained in one folder and are organized in ascending date order, beginning February 13, 1840, and ending June 27, 1843.
| Letters of Richard Holloway Steele, 1840-1843 | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, February 13, 1840 | |||||||||
| Abstract: Steele imagines the enjoyment his sister must have had at the Guilderland Center parsonage house on New Year's Eve. He will not return until the spring. His roommate is a "fine young man." He will leave Grammar School in the spring, and is applying to enter the College with three others. He wants to join the Philoclean Society (not his father's). He is now a member of a secret society in Rutgers College that includes twelve members. He went into New York City for a week over the Christmas holidays. | |||||||||||
| 2 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, March 6, 1840 | ||||||||||
| Abstract: On the evening of March 4, two expresses travelling from Washington, D.C. to New York City, came through New Brunswick to carry the news of Benjamin Harrison's inauguration. Holloway expects to enter college in April with three or four schoolmates. Long discussion of the comings and goings back home. His roommate is named David Cole, Class of 1842, the son of a minister in the D.C., Dutch Reformed Church. He writes, "They are repairing Rutgers College and have now got a splendid chapel." | |||||||||||
| 3 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, August 22, 1840 | ||||||||||
| Abstract: Has been in New Brunswick for two and a half weeks. "I like it very well, it is a very healthy place and considerable life in it. The grammar school which I attend is a fine institution there are 100 students and three teachers. The principle [sic] Mr. James Furgeson is a man of splendid talents and he keeps the students in his department in very strict order." More about studies, his fellow lodgers. Mr. Hasbrouck, a lawyer of Kingston, chosen for president of Rutgers by the trustees. | |||||||||||
| 4 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, September 25, 1840 | ||||||||||
| Abstract: Examination takes place on the 7th of October; he is anxious to get home and see all his friends. His "chum" Ganse, a member of the theological seminary, is from 495 Broadway and is a graduate of Columbia College. Steele is studying Greek and Virgil and is going to enter college at the end of the year. | |||||||||||
| 5 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, January 28, 1841 | ||||||||||
| Abstract: Studies are proceeding rapidly. "Mr. Furgeson intends to leave the Grammar school in the Spring and he is preparing a class of ten to enter college at that time of which I am a member. And probably before I come home I shall be a member of Rutgers College." Steele moved to a rooming house which charges only $2 per week. As Ganse did not move with him, his new chum is Mr. Cole. Ganse is sick in New York with an ulcer in his throat and will probably not return this term. | |||||||||||
| 6 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, October 30, 1842 | ||||||||||
| Abstract: John Gardner, Class of 1844, returned to the adjoining room after delivering temperance addresses at a school on Staten Island. Less than half as many additions to Rutgers College this term as last. Mr. Strong has been deranged for two weeks from studying entirely too hard. Steele has commenced Rhetoric and Metaphysics, both very hard. Asks his sister to take care of this at home this winter and not to break the old sleigh, which must last three or four winters more. | |||||||||||
| 7 | Richard Holloway Steele to Mary Frances Steele, June 27, 1843 | ||||||||||
| Abstract: His sister has visited and sailed back to Guilderland from New Brunswick via New York City and Albany. He considers the scenery between New Brunswick and New York to be delightful. His sister is to marry a Mr. Coney; Steele thinks her entirely too young at twenty. Much excitement in New Brunswick over John Tyler's passing through. "He arrived in the cars from Princetown, stayed about two hours, made quite a speech and was cheered quite heartily." All are studying hard for examinations; Mr. Bigelow will speak at commencement. Cherries and strawberries are ripe, but locusts are eating everything up. Would like to move to the Rev. Mr. Stryker's, but he charges twenty shillings a week, fifty cents more than Steele now pays. | |||||||||||