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Bancroft, Nunn, and Trevett family papers, 1835-1958

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Bancroft family; Trevett family; Nunn family
Title
Bancroft, Nunn, and Trevett family papers
Dates
1835-1958 (inclusive)
1849-circa 1930 (bulk)
Quantity
1.85 cubic feet, (2 legal document cases; 1 card file box (12x9x6); 1 flat box (14x18); 1 oversize folder (20x24))
Collection Number
Mss 854
Summary
Papers and photographs of the related Bancroft, Nunn, and Trevett families. Theodore Brooks Trevett (1832-1901) came to Oregon in 1850, and in 1865 married Mary Melissa "Lissie" Bancroft (1837-1933), who had previously lived at Fort Simcoe, Washington Territory. Their daughter Emily Bancroft Trevett (1867-1958) married English-born oculist Richard K. Nunn (1859-1920) in 1901.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English, German, French
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Biographical Note

Theodore Brooks Trevett was born in 1832 in Bath, Maine. In 1849, he sailed to California; the following year he sailed to Portland, Oregon, where he worked for the firms Corbett, Failing & Robertson and Honeyman, DeHart & Company. He married Mary Melissa "Lissie" Bancroft (1837-1933) in 1865 in San Francisco, California. Bancroft had previously lived at Fort Simcoe, Washington Territory, where her father, Azariah Ashley Bancroft (1798-1885), had worked as an Indian agent; Theodore B. Trevett had also spent time at Fort Simcoe in 1861 and 1862. The historian Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918) was one of Mary Melissa Trevett's brothers.

The Trevetts had two daughters: Katherine Lucy Trevett (1866-1955) and Emily Bancroft Trevett (later Emily B. Nunn, 1867-1958). Theodore B. Trevett died in 1901 in Portland; Mary Melissa Trevett died in 1933, also in Portland.

Sources: Articles in the Oregonian and Oregon Journal, 1901-1933; vital and passport records and biographical sketches on Ancestry.com.

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Biographical Note

Katherine Lucy "Lulu" Trevett and Emily Bancroft "Millie" Trevett were born in San Francisco, California, in 1866 and 1867, respectively. They were the daughters of Theodore Brooks Trevett (1832-1901) and Mary Melissa "Lissie" Trevett (neé Bancroft, 1837-1933). Both sisters were educated in Weimar, Germany, in the 1870s and 1880s. Emily B. Trevett married the English-born oculist Richard K. Nunn (1859-1920) in 1901. The couple had three sons: Joshua Westby Nunn (1902-1914), Richard Trevett Nunn (1904-1933), and John Curtis Nunn (1905-1914). After Joshua Nunn and John Nunn accidentally drowned in the Columbia River in August 1914, the family moved to London, England, and Richard K. Nunn served in the English Royal Army Medical Corps during World War I. The family returned to Portland after the war, though Richard T. Nunn later studied in England, and worked for the Brown Boveri Company in Baden-in-Aargau, Switzerland.

Katherine Lucy Trevett died in 1955; Emily B. Nunn died in 1958.

Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, 1914-1933; vital and passport records and directory on Ancestry.com.

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Content Description

The collection consists of papers and photographs of the related Bancroft, Nunn, and Trevett families. Correspondence in the collection includes the letters of A. A. Bancroft and his wife, Lucy D. Bancroft; the letters of their children Albert Little Bancroft, Hubert Howe Bancroft, Mary Melissa Trevett, and Emily Palmer; and the letters of Mary Melissa Trevett's husband, Theodore Brooks Trevett. Diaries in the collection were written by Theodore B. Trevett, Mary Melissa Trevett, and their daughters, Katherine Lucy Trevett and Emily B. Nunn. Theodore B. Trevett's diaries includes entries from his sea voyage from Massachusetts to California in 1849 and his time at Fort Simcoe, Washington Territory; Mary Melissa Trevett's diaries also include her time living at Fort Simcoe, where her father worked as an Indian agent. Other written materials include a guestbook, notes, and certificates. Several written items are partially or fully in German, and one diploma is in French. In addition to loose family photographs, there are four photograph albums in the collection: One is an album of cartes de visite kept by the Trevett family; one is an album kept by the Nunn family in the early 20th century; and two are albums compiled by Richard T. Trevett, consisting of photographs in and around Baden-in-Aargau, Switzerland, where he worked.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Bancroft, Nunn, and Trevett family papers, Mss 854, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Gifts of Katherine Lucy Trevett and the estate of Emily B. Nunn, June 1952 and July 1959 (RL2023-016-RETRO; Lib. Acc. 7833). Guestbook gift of William L. Brewster and Nan M. Brewster, July 1966 (Lib. Acc. 10236).

Processing Note

Initially processed prior to 1971. Reprocessed in 2023 to include photographs and photograph albums that shared provenance but had previously been separated, including Album 121, Album 122, and Org. Lot 1143 (consisting of Albums 178 and 189). Albums 178 and 189, which are Richard Trevett Nunn's albums, had previously been erroneously attributed to Ben Fleischman. Collection was previously titled "Bancroft and Trevett family papers."

Related Materials

Additional diaries of Emily Bancroft Nunn and Katherine Lucy Trevett at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library are located in the Ellen Hazard Cox papers, Coll 798.

Separated Materials

Daguerreotype photograph of Mary Melissa Bancroft Trevett was separated to the Cased photographs collection, Org. Lot 1414, Oregon Historical Society Research Library. Autograph albums of Katherine Lucy Trevett and Emily B. Nunn from their education in Weimar, Germany, are in the Manners and Customs collection, Mss 1522, Card File Box (CFB) 3, Folders 2 and 3.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

  • Description: A. A. Bancroft and Lucy D. Bancroft correspondence
    Dates: 1862-1879
    Container: Box 1, Folder 1
  • Description: A. A. Bancroft and Lucy D. Bancroft correspondence
    Dates: 1880-1888; undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 2
  • Description: H. H. Bancroft correspondence; A. L. Bancroft correspondence
    Dates: 1855-1865; 1871-1877
    Container: Box 1, Folder 3
  • Description: Emily Palmer (neé Bancroft) correspondence (includes one letter partially in German)
    Dates: 1837-circa 1885
    Container: Box 1, Folder 4
  • Description: Mary M. Trevett correspondence to Emily Palmer and to Mary Johnson
    Dates: 1862-1871
    Container: Box 1, Folder 5
  • Description: Mary M. Trevett (neé Bancroft) correspondence to Theodore B. Trevett
    Dates: 1862-1881; undated
    Container: Box 1, Folder 6
  • Description: Theodore B. Trevett correspondence to Mary M. Trevett (neé Bencroft)
    Dates: 1863-1884
    Container: Box 1, Folder 7
  • Description: Other family correspondence (one letter in German)
    Dates: 1835-1918
    Container: Box 1, Folder 8
  • Description: Theodore B. Trevett diary, including voyage from Massachusetts to California
    Dates: 1849 February 2-1850 December 24
    Container: Box 1, Folder 9
  • Description: Mary M. Bancroft diary while living in San Francisco, California
    Dates: 1860
    Container: Box 1, Folder 10
  • Description: Theodore B. Trevett diary while at Fort Simcoe; Theodore B. Trevett pocket diary
    Dates: 1861 August 22-1862 January 29; 1865
    Container: Box 1, Folder 11
  • Description: Mary M. Bancroft diaries while living at Fort Simcoe, Washington Territory
    Dates: 1863 January 1-1864 July 16
    Container: Box 1, Folder 12
  • Description: Katherine Lucy Trevett diary
    Dates: 1887 January 25-1890 September 25
    Container: Box 1, Folder 13
  • Description: Emily B. Trevett diary
    Dates: 1889 June-1896 July
    Container: Box 2, Folder 1
  • Description: Emily B. Trevett diary
    Dates: 1894 March 1-1901 April 9
    Container: Box 2, Folder 2
  • Description: Transcript of Emily B. Trevett's 1894 diary
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 3
  • Description: Emily B. Nunn (neé Trevett) diary and reminiscences
    Dates: 1908-1911
    Container: Box 2, Folder 4
  • Description: Correspondence and documents relating to genealogy and family history
    Dates: 1862-1958
    Container: Box 2, Folder 5
  • Description: Guestbook
    Dates: 1880-1932
    Container: Box 2, Folder 6
  • Description: Family photographs
    Dates: circa 1868-1920
    Container: Box 2, Folder 7
  • Description: Trevett family cartes de visite album
    Dates: circa 1865-1880
    Container: Box 3
  • Description: Nunn family photograph album
    Dates: circa 1905-1910
    Container: Box 4, Folder 1
  • Description: Richard T. Nunn photograph albums of Switzerland
    Dates: circa 1929-1930
    Container: Box 4, Folder 2-3
  • Description: Certificates, receipts, and promissory note
    Dates: 1849-1879
    Container: Box 2, Folder 8
  • Description: Certificate to Theodore Brooks Trevett for having served seven years as a firefighter; diploma for Katherine Lucy Trevett from the University of Paris (in French)
    Dates: 1874 December; 1902 June 21
    Container: Folder Oversize 1
  • Description: Notes, poem, prayer, and drawings (poem and prayer in German)
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box 2, Folder 9
  • Description: Notes about trips to Fort Simcoe, Seattle, and Alaska
    Dates: 1909
    Container: Box 2, Folder 10
  • Description: Shorter catechism of the Westminster Assembly, with note that Mary Melissa Bancroft successfully recited it
    Dates: 1849
    Container: Box 2, Folder 11
  • Description: Granville Female College report card for Katherine Lucy Trevett
    Dates: 1874 December 11
    Container: Box 2, Folder 12

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Pioneers--Northwest, Pacific
  • Voyages to the Pacific coast

Personal Names

  • Bancroft, A. A. (Azariah Ashley), 1798-1885--Correspondence
  • Bancroft, A. L. (Albert Little), 1841-1914--Correspondence
  • Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918--Correspondence
  • Bancroft, Lucy Damaris, 1799-1882--Correspondence
  • Nunn, Emily Bancroft, 1867-1958
  • Nunn, Richard T. (Richard Trevett), 1904-1933
  • Palmer, Emily, 1829---Correspondence
  • Trevett, Katherine Lucy, 1866-1955
  • Trevett, Mary Melissa, 1837-1933--Correspondence
  • Trevett, Theodore B. (Theodore Brooks), 1832-1901--Correspondence

Family Names

  • Bancroft family
  • Nunn family
  • Trevett family

Geographical Names

  • Switzerland--Photographs
  • Washington (State)--Description and travel--19th century

Form or Genre Terms

  • correspondence
  • diaries
  • photograph albums


2023

CC0

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