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Henry Ellsworth Wood Papers
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Title: Henry Ellsworth Wood Papers
Dates: 1853-1935
Collection Number: Consult
repository.
Creator:
Wood, Henry Ellsworth,
1855-1932
Extent:
726 items
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: manuscripts@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The collection spans several
generations of the Wood family, focusing on the personal life and business
activities of Henry Ellsworth Wood. The bulk of the collection consists of
correspondence, including some 300 pieces from Henry Ellsworth Wood to his wife,
Belle Matteson McGinnis Wood.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the
Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following
web
site
.
In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual
materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the office of the
Library Director. In most instances, permission is given by the Huntington as
owner of the physical property rights only, and researchers must also obtain
permission from the holder of the literary rights. In some instances, the
Huntington owns the literary rights, as well as the physical property rights.
Researchers may contact the appropriate curator for further information.
[Identification of item], Henry Ellsworth Wood papers, The Huntington Library,
San Marino, California.
The collection was purchased from Joseph W. Jones on April 29, 1955.
Henry Ellsworth Wood was born in 1855 in Joliet, Illinois, the son of William Cowper
Wood and Hannah Tucker Lawrence. The Woods hailed from a prominent Connecticut
family which included Oliver Ellsworth, the third Chief Justice of the United States
Supreme Court. In 1868, William accompanied Major John Wesley Powell’s expedition to
explore the headwaters of the Colorado River, hoping a trip to the West might
improve his health. Thirteen-year old Henry joined his father for much of the
journey. Having entered Yale University with the class of 1876, Henry left after two
years of study in mineralogy for a job with the Edgar Thompson Steel Works in
Braddocks, Pennsylvania. In 1876, Henry Ellsworth Wood returned to Colorado where he
began work in the Boulder County mines as a miner, ore assorter and assayer. He
arrived in Leadville, Colorado in 1878, partnering with Maurice Hayes before
establishing his own assay office and laboratory. Life in Leadville proved difficult
for his family and in 1889 Henry moved the business to Denver. In 1898, he expanded
his professional activities with the formation of the Henry E. Wood Ore Testing
Works. He patented the Wood Ore Flotation process in 1909 and in 1912 turned his
attention toward the concentration of Molybdenite. During the First World War, Henry
shipped the product to England, France and the United States from the largest
Molybdenite mine in Canada. His finances suffered following the war and eventually
Henry joined his sons in their general oil business. Henry Ellsworth Wood married
Belle Matteson McGinnis on November 1, 1880 in New York City. The Woods established
a residence in Colorado, though each traveled extensively. Belle, granddaughter of
former Illinois governor Joel Aldrich Matteson, possessed her own Colorado ties. Her
aunt, Mary Jane Matteson, married mining and real estate broker Roswell Eaton
Goodell and the pair became prominent Leadville residents. The Goodells had five
daughters with whom both Henry and Belle were close. In 1881, Mary Matteson Goodell
married mining engineer James Benton Grant, operator of the Grant Smelter at
Leadville and later first Democratic governor of Colorado. The Woods had three
children: Katharine Earle Wood, Oliver Ellsworth Wood, and Lawrence Matteson Wood.
The death of their daughter Katharine shortly after the birth of her daughter
Katharine Wood Manice in 1902, involved the Woods in a protracted dispute with her
widower, Arthur R. Manice, regarding both the upbringing of their granddaughter and
various financial entanglements. The Woods celebrated their fiftieth wedding
anniversary in 1930. Having fallen on hard times financially, Henry Ellsworth Wood
died in Sacramento, California in 1932.
The collection contains 27 manuscripts and 4 manuscript fragments generated by Henry
Ellsworth Wood, 533 letters written by 114 different authors, 87 photographs, 23
negatives, 51 pieces of ephemera and 1 assay book. The collection spans several
generations of the Wood family, focusing on the personal life and business
activities of Henry Ellsworth Wood. The bulk of the collection consists of
correspondence, including some 300 pieces from Henry Ellsworth Wood to his wife,
Belle Matteson McGinnis Wood. These letters, composed over the fifty year period of
their marriage, cover a wide range of aspects of their lives, including their
immediate and extended family, their day-to-day activities, trips to visit family
and friends, financial hardships, mining affairs in Colorado and Canada, and
assorted business activities. Four generations of the Wood family are represented in
the correspondence, including 69 letters composed between 1853 and 1856 by William
Cowper Wood, his parents and siblings. The collection includes various drafts of
Henry Ellsworth Wood’s reminiscences of his childhood and early days in Leadville,
the most comprehensive manuscript of this type being “I Remember”. Also of note is
the manuscript “Colorado in 1868”, reproduced with commentary by Henry Ellsworth
Wood from a notebook kept by his father, William Cowper Wood, during the 1868 John
Wesley Powell expedition. The collection contains one assay book kept by Maurice
Hayes between the years 1873-1878. Maurice Hayes arrived at Leadville no later than
1873, serving as one of the first assayers in the area and many early Leadville
notables are entered in this record book.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into five sections, with materials arranged
alphabetically: 1) Manuscripts (28 folders) 2. Correspondence (149 folders) 3.
Photographs (6 folders) 4. Ephemera (15 folders) 5. Assay Book (1 volume)
A detailed container list is available through the Manuscripts Department.
Hayes,
Maurice.
Herter, Christian
Archibald, 1895-1966.
Lyman, Chester Smith,
1814-1890.
Mudd, Harvey Seeley,
1888-1955.
Newell, Frederick
Haynes, 1862-1932.
Powell, John Wesley,
1834-1902.
Wood, Henry Ellsworth,
1855-1932.
Wood, William Cowper,
1821-1889.
Assayers--Colorado.
Assaying.
Businessmen--Colorado--Archives.
Currency question.
Depressions--1893.
Mines and mineral
resources--Canada.
Mines and mineral
resources--Colorado--Boulder County.
Mines and mineral
resources--Colorado--Leadville.
Mining
engineers--Colorado--Denver.
Mining
engineers--Colorado--Archives.
Molybdenite--Canada.
Silver--Assaying.
Silver mines and
mining--Colorado--Leadville.
Silver question.
Colorado River
(Colo.-Mexico)--Description and travel.
Leadville
(Colo.)--History.
West (U.S.)--Description
and travel.
Letters
(correspondence)--Colorado.
Letters (correspondence)--United
States--19th century.
Letters (correspondence)--United
States--20th century.
Personal papers--Colorado.
Photographs.
Reminiscences--20th
century.