Repository: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College / Subject: Agriculture -- Pennsylvania -- Delaware County - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Start Over Repository Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Subject Agriculture -- Pennsylvania -- Delaware County

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:: 28 linear ft. (57 boxes (and photographs))
Abstract:: This collection contains the papers of the Darlington family of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Woodstown, New Jersey. Quakers with strong ties to Swarthmore College, the family was involved in education, social and peace concerns, and businesses in the Philadelphia area. Charles J. Darlington (1894-1966) served as Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends during the reunification of the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings. The collection includes family correspondence relating to the Darlington, Shortlidge, Gause, and Palmer families as well as genealogical research and 20th century Quaker activities.

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

Extent:: 24.417 linear ft. (49 boxes)
Abstract:: The Painter family was an early Pennsylvania Quaker family that married into the Minshall family of Delaware County. In 1681, William Penn granted Thomas Minshall a land tract which now includes the Tyler Arboretum. The property was home to eight generations of the same family. The collection includes family correspondence, business and legal papers, property records, papers on interests and concerns of the Painter brothers, genealogical papers, and miscellaneous deeds and other papers collected by Minshall Painter. It is a rich source of information not only on the Painter family of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and the origins of the Tyler Arboretum, but also on agriculture, social life and customs, and nineteenth century Quaker concerns through day books, account books, financial records, correspondence, and other documents.

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

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