Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Van Valkenburgh, Robert B. (fl. 1849) to Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh Esquire

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC06253.03 Author/Creator: Van Valkenburgh, Robert B. (fl. 1849) Place Written: Poughkeepsie, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 6 March 1849 Pagination: 4 p. ; 19.9 x 13 cm. Order a Copy

A letter written by Robert B. Van Valkenburgh to his younger brother Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh. In this letter Robert speaks about family affairs, including his mother and young brothers who are now living in Michigan. Robert also speaks of Franklin's schooling and asks a series of questions regarding his goals and ambitions. The name of the author was determined based on other letters in the collection. Michigan is believed to be the location of Franklin's mother's new home based on letter GLC06253.01.

Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh was born February 21, 1835 in Prattsburgh, Steuben County, New York and died May 9, 1924 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. He is the son of Jacob Van Valkenburgh and Mary Bethiah Van Valkenburgh. Franklin Van Valkenburgh had a twin brother, Gerrit Smith, and was one of eleven children. Van Valkenburgh's great grandfather, Jacob Van Valkenburgh immigrated to the United States in 1746 from Holland and settled in Claverback, New York. His grandfather, Bartholomew Jacob, served in Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Van Duyck's Company in New York's 1st Battalion during the Revolutionary War and was married to Catherine Pruyn. Van Valkenburgh's father, Jacob, was the third oldest of ten children and was drafted into the army during the War of 1812. Van Valkenburgh's mother was a direct decedent of Mathew Gilbert, one of the original colonists in New Haven, Connecticut. Her baptismal name was Polly Bethiah Higgins, but she always wrote her name as Mary. Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh was a lawyer in Milwaukee who married Emmeline Wells Pratt and had three children.

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