From the Archives
Back Home Again in Indiana
by Beth Swift
Last summer a member of the Thomson family left a voice mail message for the Archives. Pat Thomson was moving and had some things that she thought the College might be interested in having.
The Thomsons were instrumental in the founding of Wabash. It is always interesting to connect with the family, and in this case what a connection! Pat is the widow of Clay Thomson, who comes from the line of Everett Burbridge Thomson [W1864], who married Catherine “Kitty” Tuttle, the daughter of President Joseph F. Tuttle.
Everett trained to be a minister and served in Ohio before he returned to Crawfordsville to pastor Center Presbyterian Church. But Everett was not a healthy man and in 1886 he retired from the ministry. In 1891 he became the librarian at Wabash, serving until 1895. By all accounts dearly loved, Everett died in 1899, leaving Kitty a widow. She lived on with her daughter and her father-in-law, Alexander Thomson, in the house that became the home of Beta Theta Pi. Later, Kitty moved west and lived the rest of her life with her son Herbert, also a minister.
The writings left behind by the Tuttle/Thomsons reveal a close and loving family. When Kitty went west, she took with her mementos of loved ones past. Among those items were Everett’s ministerial license, a gold-headed cane presented to her father by the faculty of Wabash in 1879, and a beauty of a chair.
Thanks to Pat Thomson, the chair and cane are now in the Archives, having been shipped here in a large wooden crate during the summer. Clearly the family took great care with this heirloom—the chair is more than 100 years old, but in amazing condition. It has travelled far and returned home.
captions:
President Tuttle in his study at home seated in “the chair.”
Archives summer intern John Newton ’18 opens the crate containing the 100-plus year-old chair.
Beth Swift is the archivist at the Robert T. Ramsay, Jr. Archival Center at Wabash.