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Corlis-Respess Family Papers, 1698-1984 

May 7, 2021
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Held by The Filson Historical Society 

Creator:  Corlis-Respess family 

Title:  Papers, 1698-1984 

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department. 

Size of Collection:  8 cubic feet 

Location Number:  Mss. A C799 

Scope and Content Note 

Correspondence includes early letters, 1787-1799, discussing his and Robert Murray’s trading efforts along the North Carolina coast; letters, 1801-1815, discussing his international trading efforts and the ill–fated voyage of his ship Hazard; letters, 1816- 1839, discussing his and his family’s efforts to establish a farm in Kentucky, finances, daily routines, family matters, John Corlis’ efforts to start a distillery in Bourbon County; and later letters, 1829-1900, are primarily between Susan C.R. (Corlis) Respess and her family, although other Corlis children are represented.  

John Corlis’ business records include accounts, payments, promissory notes and receipts detailing his efforts as a merchant and international trader in Providence, 1787-1815, and as a farmer in Kentucky. They also include records from the Hazard, 1801-1822, as well as invoices, memoranda, and bills of lading, 181 7-1819, regarding the shipment of tobacco down the Kentucky River to New Orleans.  

Legal records, 1790-1816 and undated, detail John Corlis’ handling of his brother-in-law, John C. Nightingale’s estate. Records include material relating to his investments in Yazoo lands.  

Land records, 1698, 1747-1868, include indentures, deeds, and contracts regarding the Corlis family buying and selling land and lots in Rhode Island and in Providence; the Corlis Respess families’ purchase of land in Bourbon County (Ky.), 1812-1816; and later deeds and indentures regarding land purchased by the Respess family in Boone and Kenton counties in Kentucky.  

Collection also includes John Corlis’ commission, 5 Nov. 1792, in the Rhode Island militia; broadsides; recipes and a recipe book; Elizabeth Corlis’ poetry book; essays; newspaper clippings; family records from the Respess family Bible; and other miscellaneous genealogical information.  

Collection spans 1698-1984. The bulk of the collection is between 1787 and 1840.

 

***See PDF for Index to Correspondence 

 

Biographical Note 

John Corlis (1767-1839) was a successful merchant in Providence, Rhode Island, but suffered misfortune when his ship, Hazard, was seized by the Spanish governor at Valparaiso, Chile, in 1801. Financial difficulties resulting from the Hazard and other unsound investments drove him to leave Rhode Island for Bourbon County (Ky.) in 1816.  

 

Folder List 

Box 14 

  1. Business records: Correspondence, 1808-1832.
  2. Business records: Accounts, 1775-1795.
  3. Business records: Accounts, 1796-1799
  4. Business records: Accounts, 1800-1805
  5. Business records: Accounts, 1806-1810
  6. Business records: Accounts, 1811-1816
  7. Business records: Accounts, 1817-1818

Box 15 

  1. Business records: Accounts, 1819-1820
  2. Business records: Accounts, 1821-1822
  3. Business records: Accounts, 1823-1824
  4. Business records: Accounts, 1825
  5. Business records: Accounts, 1826-1827
  6. Business records: Accounts, 1828-1830
  7. Business records: Accounts, 1831-183 6
  8. Business records: Accounts, 1837-1839, 1855

Box 16 

  1. Business records: Accounts, undated
  2. Business records: Orders of payment, 1805-1838, undated
  3. Business records: Promissory notes, 1783-1800
  4. Business records: Promissory notes, 1801-1805
  5. Business records: Promissory notes, 1806-1825
  6. Business records: Promissory notes, 1826-1839
  7. Business records: Receipts, 1790-1813

Box 17 

  1. Business records: Receipts, 1814-1819
  2. Business records: Receipts, 1820-1824
  3. Business records: Receipts, 1825
  4. Business records: Receipts, 1826
  5. Business records: Receipts, 1827-1830
  6. Business records: Receipts, 1831-1834
  7. Business records: Receipts, 1835-1839, 1855, and undated
  8. Business records: Agreements, 1790-1819
  9. Business records: Agreements, 1820-1826, 1870, and undated

Box 18 

  1. Business records: Ship Hazard, Jan.-May,1801
  2. Business records: Ship Hazard, June-July,1801
  3. Business records: Ship Hazard,August,1801 
  4. Business records: Ship Hazard, Sept-Dec.,1801
  5. Business records: Ship Hazard, 1802-1803
  6. Business records: Ship Hazard, 1804-1819
  7. Business records: Ship Hazard, 1821-1822
  8. Business records: Ship Hazard, Pay vouchers, Aug.-Sept.,1801
  9. Business records: Ship Hazard, undated
  10. Business records: Ship Hazard, undated

Box 19 

  1. Business records: Tobacco accounts, 1817-1821
  2. Business records: Tobacco invoices, undated
  3. Business records: Tobacco invoices, undated
  4. Business records: Tobacco invoices, undated
  5. Business records: Tobacco billsoflading, 1817-1821, undated
  6. Business records: Tobacco receipts, 1818-1821
  7. Business records: Tobacco memoranda and miscellaneous

Box 20 

  1. Business records: Memoranda
  2. Business records: Memoranda
  3. Business records: Memoranda
  4. Business records:Way billsand other shipping receipts 
  5. Business records: Steamboats
  6. Business records: John Corlis’sday bookand ledger, 1815-1817 
  7. Business records: Miscellaneous
  8. Business records: Tavern bills
  9. Slave records: Bills of sale and receipts

Box 21 

  1. Legal records: Nightingale estate, 1790-1800
  2. Legal records: Nightingale estate, 1801-1808
  3. Legal records: Nightingale estate, 1809-1816
  4. Legal records: Nightingale estate, undated
  5. Legal records: Nightingale estate, undated

Box 22 

  1. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1698-1789
  2. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1790-1797
  3. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1798-1799
  4. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1800-1810
  5. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1811-1824
  6. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1832-1839
  7. Land records: Indentures, deeds, and contracts, 1840-1868, undated
  8. Land records: surveys and miscellaneous material, 1797-1844, undated

Box 23  

  1. Tax records: receipts, 18 00-18 3 5 
  2. Military record, 5 Nov. 1792
  3. Broadside
  4. Recipes
  5. Poetry
  6. Poetry book of Elizabeth B. Corlis 1 77. Essays and\ memorials
  7. Miscellaneous
  8. Newspapers and newspaper clippings
  9. Respess family Bible
  10. Genealogical and family information

Box 24 

  1. Scraps
  2. Scraps
  3. Scraps
  4. Scraps

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