Series I. Freeman/Van Horn Family Correspondence, 1836-1916

The bulk of the correspondence in this series is that of Henry V. Freeman, his wife, Ida Van Horn Freeman, and their daughters, Genevieve and Irmingarde, and is related to personal matters. Other correspondence is from Ida Van Horn Freeman's sisters and other family members including Abner Van Horn, Ida Freeman's father.

Henry Freeman wrote to his wife and daughters at home in Greenpoint, Long Island, while he was on business trips to Central America and California. After Henry's death in 1888, Ida returned to her family's home at Artist's Lake in Fishkill-on-Hudson (later renamed Beacon). A number of her letters were written to her daughters while they were away at school. Ida's sisters, Gertrude, Gay, Sadie and Alice also wrote to Genevieve and Irmingarde reporting Ida's failing health.

Irmingarde's correspondence begins when she was quite young and continues into the early years of her marriage, signed using various forms of her name and nicknames. Of interest is a letter written on the last night of the nineteenth century (January 31, 1899) to her sister, enclosing a pressed four-leaf clover (Box 1, Folder 6).

Also of particular note are Genevieve's letters to her father describing her intentions to become a doctor (Box 1, Folder 4, October 14, 1884) and Ida's letter to Henry showing her support for Grover Cleveland and describing an appearance in Brooklyn of Cleveland and George B. McClellan (Box 1, Folder 3, October 11, 1884).

Of the more than 107 letters and fragments, most are in good condition. A few are difficult to read because the ink has faded and some of the fragments (Box 1, Folder 10) are in poor condition.