Introduction

Jason Whitman, a close friend of the Dorr family, was from New Hampshire and was a student at Phillips Exeter Academy at the time Thomas Dorr was a student there. This letter was written when Allen Dorr (1808-1889), the younger brother of Thomas Dorr, was enrolled at Exeter and while Jason Whitman was still in attendance. In the early 19th century, Exeter was a feeding school for Harvard College.