Hale and Mull families papers

The Hale-Mull Family Papers are on seventeen reels of microfilm and include correspondence, diaries, business and legal papers. It also includes several photographs of this family, their relatives and ancestors from Pennsylvania. Most of the papers date from 1817 to 1936, though there are a few papers from as early as 1776 to as late as 1943. A broad range of topics in the Hale-Mull Family Papers includes personal and family matters, social events, business transactions, legal practice, and travels in the United States and abroad. The papers also cover political subjects such as issues on Episcopal Church affairs in central Pennsylvania and in other localities in the United States. Most of the manuscripts, documents and photographs in this collection concern the Hale family. Reuben Charles Hale is the central figure in the papers and the most prominent member of the family in law, business, politics and military affairs. He was the active agent in establishing the Hale family's wealth and position in the first half of the nineteenth century.

In addition to Reuben C. Hale's letters with news of friends and relatives; there are certificates of appointment to military and public offices; business correspondence and papers on land purchases, timber and land sales; stock shares and papers on construction of the Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad. There are also court documents and correspondence regarding clients' cases and reports. It also contains official documents on his role as leader of volunteer military units and as Quartermaster General of Pennsylvania. Lastly, there are letters discussing candidates for state and national office, political issues and questions; and appointments to public offices. Of particular interest among Reuben Charles's papers are letters sent to him by his brother-in-law, Gideon Welles, a prominent New England publisher and politician. Welles comments on national politics, political issues from the 1830s to the 1860s (i.e. Bank of the United States, Clay vs. Jackson, currency issues, Whig/Democratic party rivalry), on political connections that proved to be helpful for Reuben's career and cabinet appointments. Reuben's military papers include correspondence with members of the Brady Regiment during the Mexican War in which war developments, troop movements and the fortunes of the regiments are mentioned.

Reuben C. Hale's ancestors are documented with the correspondences and few business and legal papers of Reuben Charles's father, Elias White Hale, and mother, Jane Mulholland Hale. There are similar papers for Reuben Charles's uncle, Reuben Hale. Elias's correspondence with his son concerns Reuben Charles's purchase of land in Towanda, Pennsylvania, the prospects for distilling whiskey, and family and personal news. There are three letters from Jane Mulholland Hale to her sister concerning pregnancies, births, and deaths. For family members of Reuben C. Hale's generation, there are papers of Reuben's wife Sarah Mills Hale, Reuben's brothers, one of his sisters and a cousin. The letters of Sarah Mills Hale, Reuben Charles's wife, concern births, deaths and illnesses, and news of family friends. There are also several versions of her will, essays on youth, education and other topics and correspondence concerning purchases of household furnishings and garden seeds. Letters to Laura W. Mills, sister of Sarah Mills Hale, are from school friends writing about travels and family news. Reuben Charles's brothers are also represented by letters and business concerns in central Pennsylvania. There are personal letters from Mary Jane Welles, Reuben Charles's sister, to Reuben. Another group of letters are to James T. Hale, Reuben Hale's cousin, from Reuben and others concerning business enterprises, law clients and court cases, as well as elections for state office and the temperance question of the 1840s.

There is a significant amount of correspondence and papers concerning Reuben Charles's children and grandchildren. The most important are letters, diaries, and letter books belonging to Reuben Charles's son, John Mills Hale, and daughter, Laura Caroline Hale Mull.

John Mills's correspondence covers mostly personal and family matters, business transactions, buying, selling, and leasing coal and farm land, and his law practice. There are also five diaries kept by John Mills in which he records social visits to women friends, a visit to Washington, D.C. during the Civil War, and his membership in literary clubs. John Mills' letter books mostly concern his management of family property and business interests. Laura's letters are mostly those sent to her by her husband, John A. Mull, her sons, other relatives and friends. There are letters sent to her and letters she wrote during her trip to Europe in 1899. Other correspondence concerns investments in a coal company and property in Spring Lake, New Jersey. Besides the letters of John Mills and Laura, there are letters from the four other children of Reuben C. Hale. These letters concern the family home, Halehurst, their father's estate and will, business ventures, relationships among family members, travels and Charles's pastorship at several churches.

The last generation of Hale-Mull family members in this collection include only the three sons of Laura C. and John A. Mull; Reuben Harold, Lawrence John and Nathan. Reuben Harold is best represented of the three. There are letters written to him from his parents and school friends. His college diary and two other diaries, as well as business correspondence reflect his interest in steel rails, coal lands, and family property. Letters to Lawrence and Nathan by relatives when they were young boys are the only papers concerning them.

In addition to the papers of family members, the collection has documents by and about other individuals and business firms. Some of the individuals in this group are connected to family members by marriage. The businesses and organizations are often those in which family members participated or had a strong interest.

Reuben Charles's brother-in-law, George D. Morgan, a partner in business with him, has letters and business agreements in the collection. These concern property in which Morgan owned in Philipsburg and a court case between Morgan and other members of the Hale and Mull families. There is more extensive correspondence for James K. Kelly, a Centre County, Pennsylvania, native and later state senator, U.S. District Attorney, and U.S. Senator in Oregon. His relationship to the Hale-Mull family may have been through Sarah Mills Hale. Letters to Kelly at Princeton University and at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he studied for the bar, touch on his family, school friends, the Whig Party and his law practice.

Charles Seymour, Sarah Mills Hale's maternal grandfather, is represented by several letters written to his wife describing military organization, troop movements, and battles during the period of August and September 1776 of the American Revolution. There are other letters to and from Seymour as well.

The records of the Temperance Society of West Hartford, Connecticut include lists of members and a creed.