Repository: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College / Subject: Society of Friends -- Hicksite Separation / Language: English - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Extent:: .02 linear ft. (5 folders)
Abstract:: The collectionn contains Mekeel's notes and abstracts concerning Quaker meetings in the Scipio and Farmington Quarterly Meetings of New York Yearly Meeting, particularly concerning the various nineteenth century Orthodox separations. There is also a small group of correspondence focused on Quaker meeting records.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: .5 linear ft.
Abstract:: This collection contains the correspondence and legal papers of Samuel L. Southard, New Jersey lawyer and politician, concerning his defense of the Hicksite position in the trial over the Crosswicks School Fund at the time of the Separation in the Society of Friends. The School Fund of Crosswick Preparative Meeting, New Jersey, was claimed by both factions, Hicksite and Orthodox.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 12 linear ft. (23 boxes plus photographs)
Abstract:: The collection contains correspondence, journals and other writings, business and legal papers, and miscellaneous items of the Smedley family, a large and prominent Quaker family of Penncrest Farm, Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The family was related to the Kite and Sharples/Sharpless families of Chester and Delaware Counties. The papers include significant correspondence of the Kite family, especially Thomas Kite (1785-1845) and Mary Kite (1792-1861), both prominent Quaker ministers, and Thomas's daughter, Susanna Kite (1809-1844) who married Aaron Sharpless. Their daughter, Elizabeth S. Sharpless married Edward G. Smedley of Middletown, thus merging the Smedley-Sharples-Kite families. In the 20th century, the property became the home of Edward Smedley's nephew, Walter Smedley (1862-1939), a Philadelphia architect, and his wife, Ida Wilkins Roberts Smedley (1896-1993). She married second C. Canby Balderston. The papers cover a wide range of subjects...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 1 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:: The collection contains papers of Mira Sharpless Townsend, a major Quaker social activist and reformer in Philadelphia. Mira Sharpless Townsend (1798-1859) was born in Philadelphia, attended Friends Select School, and in 1828 married Samuel Townsend (1800-1887). He was a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting by whom she had six children, only two surviving to adulthood: Emily Sharpless Townsend who married Powell Stackhouse and Clara Gordon Townsend, married William Penn Troth. During the 1840's, Mira Townsend became an active and vocal social activist who wrote and published a variety of poetry and articles which reflected her strong views regarding women, slavery, temperance and capital punishment. She also was the driving force behind the founding of the Rosine Association. In January 1847, at a meeting of the Society for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, she announced her desire to form a society "to open a house for the reformation, employment and instruction of...(see more)

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 6 folders
Abstract:: This collection contains letters and other manuscripts relating to visits of English Friends to America in the 1820s and the controversies which led to the Hicksite-Orthodox Separation. Also included are letters from Elizabeth Rathbone, Liverpool, England, to "My Beloved Uncle;" Joseph Bringhurst, Philadelphia, to "My Esteemed Friend;" also Abel Thomas to Thomas and Mary Wistar (copy) as well as some miscellaneous Quaker papers.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Extent:: 0.5 linear ft. (1 box)
Abstract:: Hannah A. Jennings was the daughter of Phebe (Glover) and John Clark of Gloucester, N.J. She married Levi Jennings, a bricklayer, in 1832. The collection contains correspondence (1805-1861), household accounts, and miscellaneous papers of Hannah A. Jennings, her husband, Levi Jennings, and her mother, Phebe (Glover) Clark Eldridge. Includes a manuscript account of a sermon by Priscilla Hunt at Merion in 1823, the renunciation of Maria Emily (Imlay) by Ann Jones in 1826, and letters discussing the Hicksite controversy.

Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]

Search