Ives Family Papers

Levi Silliman Ives (1797-1867) was born in Meriden, Connecticut, to Levi and Fanny Silliman Ives. He had his early education at Lowville Academy, New York, and served in the War of 1812. In 1816, he enrolled at Hamilton College but was unable to complete his studies due to illness. In 1819, he joined the Protestant Episcopal Church and studied theology under Bishop John Henry Hobart, whose daughter Rebecca he married in 1822. That same year, he was ordained a deacon and was ordained a priest in 1823. In 1831, he was consecrated as Bishop of North Carolina. While on a visit to Rome in 1852, he resigned his episcopal post and, together with his wife, converted to Catholicism. In 1853, he published "Trials of a Mind in Its Progress to Catholicism," defending his conversion. After living abroad for several years, he returned to New York where he taught English at St. John’s College and St. Joseph’s Seminary.

Joseph Christmas Ives (1828-1868) was born in New York City and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1852. He began his career as an assistant to Lt. A. W. Whipple on the Pacific Railroad survey (1853-1854). From 1857 to 1858, he led an expedition to explore the Colorado River and later worked as an engineer and architect on the Washington Monument (1859-1860). During the Civil War, he held various engineering roles and served as aide-de-camp to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (1863-1865). After the war, he settled in New York City where he lived until his death. He is mentioned--along with his sons Edward, Eugene, and Frank--in the will of Levi Silliman Ives, though the exact nature of their familial connection is unclear. His wife was Cora M. Semmes Ives (1834-1916), whose sister Clara Semmes Fitzgerald (1830-1908), is also named in Levi Ives' will and referred to as "Aunt Clara" in letters written by Edward, Eugene, and Frank Ives.

Edward Bernard Ives (1855-1903) was the eldest son of Joseph Christmas Ives and Cora Semmes Ives. He began his education at Georgetown College in 1868, withdrew in 1874, and subsequently enrolled at West Point, graduating in 1878.

Eugene Semmes Ives (1859-1917), the second son of Joseph and Cora Ives, entered Georgetown College in 1870. He earned his BA in 1878, followed by an MA in 1888 and a PhD in 1889. He later obtained a law degree from Columbia College and practiced law in New York, where he also served as a state senator. In 1895, he relocated to Tucson, Arizona. In 1910, he ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic candidate for Arizona’s Constitutional Convention in Pima County and later sought the Democratic nomination for US senator but lost in the primary. He married Ann M. Waggaman (1870-1951) in 1889, and they had seven children: Annette, Cora, Helen, Marian, Eleanor, Thomas Ennals, and Eugene.

Frank J. Ives (1857-1908), the third son of Joseph and Cora Ives, entered Georgetown in 1871. In 1874, he withdrew to accompany his mother on a religious pilgrimage to Europe. He continued his education at Stella Matutina College in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria. Later he joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps, serving in the 1886 Geronimo campaign and spending two years stationed in the Philippines. He retired in 1906 due to physical disability.

Joseph Moss Ives (1876-1939) was born in Danbury, Connecticut, the son of George Edward and Mary Parmelee Ives. He earned a law degree (LLB) from Yale Law School in 1899 and received an honorary LLD from Loyola College in 1934. Admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1899, he also served in the Connecticut General Assembly and held various civic roles, including director of the Danbury National and Savings Banks, vice-president and trustee of the Danbury Public Library, member of the Child Welfare Commission, and secretary of the National Conference on Uniform State Laws. Later in life, he researched and published a study on early Maryland settlement and Catholic founders, resulting in his 1936 book "The Ark and the Dove." He and Minnie Louisa Goodman of Worcester, Massachusetts, married in 1900 and had six children: Richard Goodman, Lyman Brewster, Moss White, Walter Bigelow, Chester Brown, and Sarane Wilcox.