The Quinby Family Papers consists of ca. 1300 items (7 Hollinger boxes and one oversize folder, 2.8 linear shelf feet, 1759(1800-1898)1968, papers of the Upshur, Teackle, Quinby, and other related families of the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia, specifically Somerset County, Maryland, and Accomack and Northampton counties, Virginia. The collection includes correspondence, legal and finanical papers, a letterbook, ledgers and journals, class notebooks, commonplace books, genealogical information, prayerbooks, and memorandum books. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence of Elizabeth (Upshur) Teackle, Littleton Dennis Teackle, Elizabeth Anne Upshur (Teackle) Quinby, Aaron Balderston Quinby, and Upshur Balderston Quinby with friends, family, and business associates.

Much of the early correspondence, 1778 to 1799, is with Andrew D. Campbell. Campbell and his wife were British friends of the Teackles and Upshurs and he continued to write lengthy letters to members of these families until his death in 1853.

In 1800, Elizabeth Upshur (1783-1837) married Littleton Dennis Teackle (1777-1850) of Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland. Many of her letters from the period 1800-1837 were written to: her, husband; her daughter, Elizabeth Anne Upshur Teackle (1801-1875); and her sister, Anne Eyre of Northampton County, Virginia. These letters are of a personal nature but contain a few references to historical events, such as one of the British landings in the Chesapeake Bay area (Havre de Grace) in May 1813. One letter, dated December 2, 1778, from Nancy Cunningham (signed "Ruralinda") to Sally Teackle, has a note attached, written by Elizabeth Upshur Teackle on October 1, 1829, which provides background on the 1778 letter. The letter refers to Nancy Cunningham's flight from Philadelphia in the Fall of 1777 or 1778 and to her later return and describes the whereabouts of Severn Teackle, who was being held as a prisoner of war by the British on Long Island in New York.

Littleton Dennis Teackle owned and managed a ship supply company in Princess Anne, Somerset County, Maryland, from 1805 to 1807. A letterbook from that business contains a great deal of historical information relating to the period prior to the War of 1812. It describes Teackle's business and lists materials he supplied, such as wooden structural components for ships, makes references to domestic and foreign affairs, and contains many other details relating to his daily business operations during this period.

Apparently Mr. Teackle was away from home much of the time between 1807 and 1815 and between 1824 and 1836. During the earlier period he may have been involved in a shipping business with headquarters in Baltimore; he was a member of the Maryland House of Delgates during the later period.

Included in Teackle's unbound correspondence is a letter from Henry Clay written in 1825 regarding paper money and another from James Madison on primary schools in Maryland written in 1826, in which he states some of his views on education. In 1836 Teackle wrote to Thomas R. Joynes of Accomack County, Virginia, as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, regarding that body's consideration of a plan to build a railroad through the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He presented this information in order that Mr. Joynes could, if he were agreeable, support the continuance of the road south to Norfolk, Virginia. A railroad was not actually built through this area until more than forty-five years later.

Most of the material dated 1838-1853 consists of personal, business and legal business papers of Elizabeth Anne Upshur (Teackle) Quinby and her husband, Aaron Balderston Quinby (1795-1853), a Baltimore lawyer whom she married in 1839. Major correspondents include Henry Clay, dated 1842 on the Whig Party; Quinby's brother, Jesse B. Quinby, including on English investment in the U. S.; and the Reverend J. W. Hoffman, a minister in Monroe, Connecticut, and a friend of the family. Material from this period includes several letters from United States representative Issac D. Jones and others to Secretary of State Daniel Webster, recommending Aaron B. Quinby for an appointment in the United States Patent Office, and correspondence of Quinby with representatives of the U.S. Navy, including James K. Paulding, George E. Badger and James Biddle, whom he was asking to test and adopt his invention to prevent steam boiler explosions. Also included is an 1841 letter to Charles Stewart regarding ship propeller.

Between 1854 and 1875, Elizabeth A. U. Quinby corresponded with relatives and friends, such as Henrietta Chauncey, C.E. Le Cato and a Mrs. C. Williams.

Aaron B. Quinby's legal papers include a copy of his will, powers of attorney to collect property for clients, and his claim to property in the possessions of his wife's father. One power of attorney concerns lands in the Virginia Military District in the State of Ohio which were acquired as an award for service rendered by a soldier during the Revolution.

Much of the personal correspondence between 1860 and 1897 is that of Upshur Balderston Quinby (1841-1898), son of Mrs. Elizabeth A. U. and Aaron B. Quinby. Upshur Quinby attended the University of Virginia (1860-1861), and later became a highly respected lawyer in Onancock, Virginia. He and Georgeanna ("Georgie") Richardson (1845-1896) were married in 1864 and had seven children.

Upshur Quinby's early correspondence with his mother includes references to his life as a student at the University of Virginia, such as a description of a hike to "Monticello," and records rumored and actual events at the beginning of the Civil War. In 1879 Mr. Quinby was involved with the Onancock Academy in Onancock, Accomack County, Virginia. Related correspondence includes letters from applicants for teaching positions and recommendations in support of several of them from Professor John B. Minor of the University of Virginia.

Quinby was a candidate for judge of the Eastern Shore Circuit in 1880 and his correspondence for that year includes letters of support from friends and associates including: Charles U. Williams; G. W. Le Cato; L. R. Warren; Robert Thruston Hubard; Judge John M. Jeffries; John B. Minor; Richard Lee Tuberville Beale of the U. S. House of Representatives; and W. W. Walker. Several of these promised to recommend him to the governor of Virginia, Frederick W. M. Holliday.

Quinby's personal correspondence from 1883 to 1897 consists chiefly of letters from relatives and friends, such as Adaline M. Swarts, Dr. W. F. Quinby, I. W. Quinby, and L. D. Teackle Quinby, and includes many letters concerned with genealogy. In 1896 Quinby received many letters of condolence on Mrs. Quinby's death.

Most of Upshur B. Quinby's legal and financial papers, which date fron 1828 to 1894, pertain to properties which he and Mrs. Quinby owned in Accomack County, Virginia. The papers include deeds, copies of deeds, land records, and receipts for purchases of building materials. Included in this section is some of the Quinby's professional correspondence relating to general legal claims and debt collection.

The genealogical material in this collection includes information regarding the related Andrews, Balderston, Scarburgh, Stockley, Sturges, Teackle, Upshur, Walter, and West families, dating back to the 16th century. Much of the correspondence dating from 1886 to 1931 contains family information, probably in response to inquiries from Upshur Quinby. The genealogy section of the collection contains the baptismal certificate of Upshur B. Quinby, birth and death records from a family bible, notes, charts, and newspaper clippings. Other genealogical information appears in a psalter and a Book of Common Prayer which also contains slave records, the three commonplace books, and the oversize material.

The bound volumes include two commonplace books of poems written by Elizabeth U. Teackle and her daughter and thirteen record books kept by Upshur B. Quinby. The latter include three University of Virginia class notebooks; four memoranda book which are almost indecipherable; two account books containing records of fees paid to the Onancock Academy; and three books containing financial accounts of Quinby's farm and legal practice.