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Start Over Subject Lay ministry -- Society of Friends Subject Quakers -- Pennsylvania Year 1855 to 1859

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Sharpless Family Papers, 1792-1892 (inclusive)

Extent:
2 linear ft. (4 boxes)
Abstract:
The collection represents two branches of the Sharpless family of Pennsylvania descended from Joseph and Lydia (Lewis) Sharpless). It contains correspondence between extended Sharpless family relations including Sharpless, Hunn, Jones, Drinker families and journals of Joshua Sharpless, a Quaker minister who worked with Native Americans and visited Quaker meetings in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Canada. Correspondence covers various topics including the travels of women ministers, yellow fever, and contemporary events. The second series contains primarily nineteenth century correspondence of the extended family of Townsend and Mary Brinton (Jones) Sharpless. It includes letters written by Henry H. G. Sharpless during his European tour and extensive correspondence received by Ezekiel Hunn who served briefly in the Union Army during the Civil War.

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

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Collection of Bringhurst Family Correspondence, 1780-1811 (bulk) 1780-1941 (inclusive)

Extent:
6 linear ft.
Abstract:
Contains the collected correspondence of the Bringhurst family, largely compiled by C. Marshall Taylor. It includes correspondence, 1780-1806, of Philadelphia Quaker businessman James Bringhurst and his letters received from John Murray of New York City. Bringhurst corresponded with family and prominent friends including John Dickinson, Job Scott, Nathan Hunt, James Pemberton, Jesse Kersey, Lindley Murray and Moses Brown. Of particular interest are descriptions of life in Philadelphia and the conditions of free blacks, as well as Quaker religious and social concerns and visits from traveling ministers. A second group of letters contains primarily letters from Joseph Bringhurst, the brother of James, to his niece, Elizabeth Foulke while she was traveling in the ministry.

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

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Smedley Family Papers, 1751-1996 (inclusive) 1821-1950 (bulk)

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]

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Hunn-Karsner Family Papers, 1809-1985 (inclusive) 1947-1974 (bulk)

Extent:
4.75 linear ft. (10 boxes)
Abstract:
The collection contains correspondence, writings, and other papers of the family of Ezekiel Hunn and Lydia Jones Sharpless Hunn, Philadelphia and Delaware Quakers. The papers were compiled by their granddaughter Katherine Hunn Karsner (1899-1993). She was a Philadelphia Quaker minister and married Joseph Reed Karsner in 1930 under the care of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Hicksite). The bulk of the collection is composed of correspondence from their daughter, Mary Ann Karsner Kegler (1932-1983) who moved to Alaska in 1950 and was one of the founders of Chena Ridge Monthly Meeting. The collection also contains earlier family correspondence between Ezekiel and Lydia Jenkins Hunn and other members of the Hunn family. The writings include diaries and writings by Katherine Hunn Karsner, her sister Lydia Hunn Williamson, Joseph Karsner, and Mary Ann Karsner Kegler.

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

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Emlen Family Papers, 1740-1886 (inclusive) 1817-1849 (bulk)

Extent:
0.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)
Abstract:
Contains papers relating to the Emlen family, residents of Middletown and West Chester, Pennsylvania. Chiefly correspondence (1817-1849) of Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen (1787-1849), Quaker minister, relating to her travels to visit Friends' meetings in England, Ireland, New England, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Also correspondence of Quaker ministers 1740-1790, copybooks, and memorabilia. Includes material relating to Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in Chester County, Pa., where both Emlens taught; the Hicksite-Orthodox separation; slavery, the free produce movement and other Quaker concersn. Correspondents include Moses Brown, John Churchman, Samuel Emlen (ca. 1765-1837), Josiah Forster, Samuel Fothergill, Isaac Hadwen, Thomas Kite, Thomas Shillitoe, Esther Tuke, Joseph Whitall, and John Wilbur.

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

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Eyre Family Papers, 1840-1912 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)
Abstract:
The collection contains papers concerning the Eyre family, Pennsylvania Quakers. descendents of Isaac and Eleanor (Cooper) Eyre, of Philadelphia and Bucks County. Isaac Eyre (1778-1843) was a prominent Philadelphia shipbuilder. In 1828, he removed to a farm in Bucks County, Pa. William Eyre (1804-1885) was their oldest son, a Philadelphia master builder. His brother, Isaac (1819-1904) was a farmer and promoter of the railroad from Bucks County, Pa. He was also one of the founders of the George School, Newtown, Pa., and active in Quaker concerns. The collection contains correspondence of Isaac Eyre largely to Isaac Hicks (1815-1900) Quaker interests, prominent Friends, farming, and railroad projects; also eighteen diaries of William Eyre (1840-1880, gaps 1841-1849 and 1855-1857, microfilmed), and some miscellaneous family material.

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

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Mather-Nicholson family papers, 1822-1903 (inclusive)

Extent:
1 linear ft. (1 oversize folder (7 items) and 1 legal sized box)
Abstract:
Collection contains student work books, two marriage certificates and four school certificates relating to the Thomas T. and Rachel (Nicholson) Mather family.

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

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Patience Hunn Jenkins Papers, 1841-1860 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.25 linear ft. (1 box)
Abstract:
Patience Hunn Jenkins (1805-1884) was a Quaker minister of Camden Monthly Meeting, Delaware. The collection contains journals, a letter book, and miscellaneous correspondence reflecting her life in the ministry and social concerns. Her brother, John Hunn (1818-1894) with whom she was very close, was a major participant in the Underground Railroad.

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

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Richard Price correspondence with John Watson, 1826-1867-1826-1848 (bulk) (inclusive)

Extent:
.1 linear ft. (.1 linear feet (12 folders.))
Abstract:
Richard Price's letters to fellow Hicksite Quaker John Watson provide a rich account of the Hicksite-Orthodox Separation with references and comments on many of the personalities involved: Elias Hicks, William Wharton, Jonathan Evans, as well as visiting Quaker ministers including George Truman, Lucretia Mott, Ann Jones, Mary and Susan Cox, and Martha Smith. Price also wrote a detailed account of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1848. The collection contains a small number of other correspondents including Benjamin Hanna who described the split in Ohio Yearly Meeting.

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

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Ash-Schofield Family Papers, 1796-1933 (inclusive) 1833-1912 (bulk)

Extent:
1.5 linear ft. (3 boxes)
Abstract:
Samuel Shinn Ash and his wife, Sarah Jane Schofield Ash, were prominent Quakers, active in a variety of philanthropic activities, including anti-slavery, peace, temperance, women's rights, and education. Samuel Shinn Ash was apprenticed as an engineer and machinist and worked in manufacturing. This collection consists of family papers, manuscript letters and memorabilia, largely of a domestic nature. Includes some descriptions of Meetings and religious journeys, of the early struggles of Samuel S. Ash in engineering and business, and references to the Schofield Normal and Industrial School in Aiken, S.C. of which Martha Schofield, one of the correspondents, was Manager. The exchange of letters between Mary S. Ash and her mother, Sarah Ash, describes student life at Swarthmore College in the 1890's.

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

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Samuel Walton Family Papers, 1813-1890 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.75 linear ft. (4 boxes)
Abstract:
The Waltons were prominent Quakers in Philadelphia, Pa., and Belmont County, Ohio. Joseph Walton (1817-1898) taught at Westtown School, edited the Quaker periodical, The Friend, and served as Clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox). His brother, Samuel Walton (1827-1899), moved to Ohio in 1847 and in 1854 married Sarah James Edgerton at Stillwater Monthly Meeting, the center of Wilburite Quakerism in Ohio. The family was deeply involved in matters relating to the Society of Friends. This collection contains primarily family correspondence, particularly of Samuel and Sarah Walton of Stillwater Monthly Meeting and Joseph Walton of the Westtown School, Haverford College, and Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Other correspondents include Rebecca Walton, Lydia L. Walton, and Mary and Nathan Kite. Topics include family and religious concerns, the Wilburite - Gurneyite controversy in Ohio, and related issues in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. There are lengthy descriptions of the yearly...(see more)

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

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Mott Manuscripts, 1831-1898 (inclusive)

Extent:
3 linear ft. (6 boxes)
Abstract:
Lucretia Mott was a prominent Philadelphia Quaker minister and a leader in reform movements, especially antislavery, education, peace, and women's rights. She was born in 1793 in Nantucket, Mass., the daughter of Thomas and Anna Coffin, and educated at Nine Partners Boarding School in Dutchess Co., N.Y. In 1811, she married James Mott and they settled in Philadelphia, Pa. The Motts were active Hicksite Quakers, and Lucretia served as clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and traveled in the ministry. James Mott died in 1869, and Lucretia died in 1880. The bulk of the collection consists of material which was assembled at the time of the publication of Life and Letters by Anna Davis Hallowell in 1884. It includes original correspondence of Lucretia Mott and her husband, James M. Mott, with family and other reformers of their day. Also contains sermons, essays, and antislavery documents, and the diary of Lucretia Mott's trip to England to attend the World's Antislavery Convention of 1840.

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

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Richardson-Yarnall family papers, 1722-1962 (inclusive)

Extent:
6 linear ft. (13 boxes)
Abstract:
The collection contains personal papers, primarily correspondence, of members of the Richardson and Yarnall families, Pennsylvania Quakers who emigrated to America in the 1680s. The families were united by the marriage in 1816 of Nathaniel Richardson and Hannah Yarnall of Byberry. Of special significance are the diaries of Quaker ministers Peter Yarnall (1754-1798) and his second wife, Hannah Haines Thornton Yarnall (1765-1822) and their correspondence with family and fellow ministers. The papers reflect the daily life and concerns of members of two prominent families in southeastern Pennsylvania from the 18th through much of the 20th centuries.

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

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