Archives at Cornell

Williams and Newcomb family items

Collection — manuscript box: 32 - folder 1

Identifier: 1148m

Scope and content

Two small paintings by Mrs. Newcomb, one of herself and her husband (referred to as Darby and Joan) in honor of their 50th anniversary in 1888, mounted together with a caption and a note to her friend Mrs. Williams. Also, photocopy of an obituary of Wesley Newcomb; and a mounted photograph of Josiah Butler Williams, dated 1840-1850?.

Dates

1840s-1893?

Language of Material

In English.

Biographical / Historical

Wesley Newcomb (1808-1893?) was a physician and naturalist. He practiced medicine in Albany, New York for a few years, then practiced as a pharmacist in Troy. He married Mrs. Helen H. Wells Post in 1838, and subsequently moved with his family to California. They lived in Hawaii for five years, then returned to Albany and then to California. In Albany Dr. Newcomb focused on organizing his collection of shells, which was later purchased by Ezra Cornell. In the 1860s Newcomb moved to Ithaca, where he lived and continued to build his shell collection, becoming expert in conchology, for the remaining 23 years of his life. His stepdaughter's two sons both attended Cornell University.