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David Olcott Shattuck correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: SC-Cent. Misc. Mss. 48

Scope and Contents

Collection consists of letters addressed to David Olcott Shattuck, who served as president of Centenary College of Louisiana (Jackson, La.) from 1844 to 1848. Correspondence from J. L. Riddell and William Marbury Carpenter, both professors at the Medical College of Louisiana (New Orleans, La.), recommend Norman K. Leslie as a science professor at Centenary. Letter from W. H. Potter and John Caldwell Doremus relates to their employment operating Centenary College of Louisiana’s preparatory department.

Dates

  • 1846

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.

Biographical / Historical

David Olcott Shattuck (1800-1892) was a judge, educator, and Methodist minister. Born in Colchester, Connecticut, he was the son of David Shattuck (1758-1840) and Dorothy Olcutt Shattuck (1767-1838). In the early 1820s, Shattuck taught school in North Carolina and Connecticut. He then became a Methodist Episcopal Church minister serving churches in the Virginia Conference (1824-1827), Tennessee Conference (1832-1833), and Mississippi Conference (1836-1839). During this time, he also worked as a lawyer in Brownsville, Tennessee (1829-1833) and Carrolton, Mississippi (1833-1837). From 1837 to 1841, Shattuck served as judge of the 2nd Judicial District of Mississippi. In 1841, he made an unsuccessful run for governor of Mississippi.

In 1842, Shattuck became a law professor at Centenary College (Brandon Springs, Miss.). He then served as the college’s president from 1844 to 1848; this included the transition of moving and renaming the institution Centenary College of Louisiana (Jackson, La.). After resigning as president, he served on Centenary’s board of trustees from 1849 to 1850.

In 1849, Shattuck visited San Francisco, California, and subsequently moved with his family to the nearby town of Sonoma. From 1854 to 1857, he served as a judge in the Superior Court of California. Next, he returned to work as a lawyer. From 1862 to 1863, Shattuck served as presiding elder of the Santa Rosa District of the Pacific Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1864, he moved to Mexico to cultivate cotton, then returned to California in 1867. For the remainder of his life, Shattuck managed his Sonoma farm and vineyard.

In 1824, Shattuck married Lydia Watrous (1791-1824). In 1827, he married Elizabeth Ann Sanders (1803-1875); they had ten children.

Extent

1 Folders

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Likely transferred circa 1930 with additional records documenting Centenary College of Louisiana (Jackson, La.) by Centenary's president, George Sexton. See caption published in Yoncopin (Shreveport, LA: Centenary College of Louisiana, 1938), page 9.

Title
Finding Aid to the David Olcott Shattuck correspondence
Author
Chris Brown
Date
2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
2911 Centenary Blvd.
Shreveport LA 71104 US
(318) 869-5462