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Large heavy folio. 16 ½ x 11 ½ inches. 3 inches thick. Weight: 13 ½ lbs. (6.1 kg.) About 650 pages. In the original reverse calf, decorated in blind with gilt lettered black Morocco label on front cover. Marbled endpapers. Rubbed. Leaves clean and bright with some ink smudges. Very good. Only half of the register is filled, 283 pages of densely written names on lined and part printed sheets with over 300 blank pages. (well over 6,000 manuscript entries, showing many repeat patrons). 1871 is represented by a single day (January 3rd.), and 1872 covers only the month of December (5th-31st). There are no leaves missing, suggesting perhaps that another register was used during those periods. Brothers William Bacon (1805-1882) and John L. Bacon (1809-1880) were the proprietors of the hotel from 1839 to 1874. The register includes the names of patrons, dates, residence, room numbers, time of arrival (marked, B. L. D. S. Breakfast, lunch or dinner), horses and remarks. Includes some interesting entries. U. S. Grant (Washington, DC) and Horace Greeley (NY) are registered as sharing a room on Sunday, Dec. 4, 1870 (room 45). This is intriguing as the men hated each other and Grant delivered his State of the Union Address the following day, Monday Dec. 5th in Washington. On the same day, Rev. Henry W. Beecher of Brooklyn shared a room (19) with George Francis Train, of Paris, France. At the time, Rev. Beecher was in the midst of a sexual scandal. William Holland from "Billies Island", Feb. 21, 1873, in subsequent days, however, Holland signed his name with the residence of New London. [Rev.] John Du Bois of Eutaw, Alabama, [Rev.] Frederick William Chapman of Rocky Hill, N. Byron Griffing, James Ward and D. C. Osborn (all whalers from Shelter Island) stayed on Friday, March 14, 73. Doctor Josiah Griffin Ely of Hamburg, CT. was another guest. The patrons hail from all of New England, NY, NJ, Fishers Island, Sag Harbor, including entries for Fox Lake, Wisconsin, Cleveland Ohio, Edwardsville and Chicago, Ill, Jacksonville, FL, Saint Louis, Mo, New Orleans, LA, Savannah, Georgia, Texas, West Virginia, Omaha, NE, Charleston, SC, Wilmington, NC, Nebraska City, NE, Baltimore, MD, Kennett Square, PA, San Francisco, Cal, South Bend, IN, Detroit, MI, England, France, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Canada, Stavanger, Norway and other places. H. B. Silliman of New York (Horace B. Silliman), H. H. Stiles of North Haven, CT, (Captain Henry H. Stiles, Civil War), S. R. Stinard of Paterson, NJ, Rev. D.S. Brainard, Franklin H. Lummus of Brooklyn, NY, Hon. Ira G. Briggs, state senator and cotton manufacturer, Amherst College students, John W. McElhinney and Charles A. Siebert stayed in room 26 on Friday July 22, 1870, John S. Chandler of Yale arrived the next day with his teenage sisters, Henrietta and Gertrude (John Scuder Chandler was a Congregationalist Missionary and Tamil Scholar), George S. Alexander of Nebraska City, NE, Dr Armand John DeRosset Jr from North Carolina, William Birch McMurtrie, artist and draftsman with the U.S. Coast Survey, on October 28, 1870, room 47 was reserved for Sub Force Pump Men of Niantic, Rev. H.M. Gallaher of Brooklyn, Jeremiah Ludlow of Sag Harbor (whaling ship captain), Richard Jerome of Plum Island, Miss Cornelea Brennerman of West Virginia, etc. These include merchants, seafarers, clergy, families, railroad operators, mail agents, military, physicians, students, single men with ladies, etc. A fantastic hotel register. [New London, CT - History] [Reconstruction - Hotel Registers].
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