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Miller-Dickey Family papers

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Held at: Chester County Historical Society [Contact Us]

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Chester County Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
MS.Coll.142
Repository:
Chester County Historical Society
Extent:
10.0 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Ms. Coll. 142, Miller-Dickey family papers, 1786-1992, Chester County Historical Society.
Date:
1786-1992 (inclusive)
Creator:
Cross family, Dickey, J.M., (John Miller), 1806-1878, and Miller family
Form:
Business records, Correspondence, Diaries, Family papers, Genealogical tables, and Property records
Abstract:
This collection consists of papers of the Cross, Dickey, and Miller families of Chester County, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland. John Miller and his wife, Margaret, emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania with their young daughter, Jane, in 1786. Miller, who was trained as a stone cutter in Scotland, developed a thriving marble business in Philadelphia; he also owned a farm in Great Valley, Pennsylvania. John was active in the Philadelphia community; he was an early member of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, and a supporter of the Magdalene and Missionary Societies. The papers in this collection consist primarily of personal correspondence, business records, genealogical notes, diaries, and family photographs, of the Cross, Dickey and Miller families. The collection is particularly strong on relationships between women, family health, Presbyterian church, the history of Oxford, Pennsylvania, marble cutting business, and the genealogy of the Miller, Dickey, and Cross families.

This collection consists of papers of the Cross, Dickey, and Miller families of Chester County, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland.

John Miller and his wife, Margaret, emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania with their young daughter, Jane, in 1786. Miller, who was trained as a stone cutter in Scotland, developed a thriving marble business in Philadelphia; he also owned a farm in Great Valley, Pennsylvania. John was active in the Philadelphia community; he was an early member of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, and a supporter of the Magdalene and Missionary Societies. John Miller was an elder of the Scots (Associate Reformed) Presbyterian Church; it is probably through the Miller family’s association with the Church that they encountered the young Reverend Ebenezer Dickey. Dickey, and Miller's daughter, Jane, were married in 1805. Jane’s sisters, Helen, Margaret and Julia, eventually all married Presbyterian ministers: Helen married William Finney, Julia married George Junkin, and Margaret married Charles McLean.

Ebenezer and Jane Miller Dickey settled in Oxford, Pennsylvania and had six children: John Miller, Mary Jackson (later Cross), Margaret Irvine (later Cross), Helen, Samuel (4th), and Ebenezer Verner. Ebenezer and Jane Miller Dickey were passionate supporters of the Chester County Bible Society, which placed bibles in the county prison and poor house in the hopes of converting the recipients. As pastor of the Oxford Presbyterian Church, Reverend Dickey rose to prominence in the area. He published several essays on the importance of educating children and the temperance movement. Dickey, a former slave owner, also was a charter member of the local colonization society. Plagued with a chronic stomach ailment, Dickey went to Europe in search of a cure. Although he achieved a modicum of relief at a spa in the Pyrenees, Dickey was uncomfortable with the Catholicism in southern Europe and returned home after eleven months. The letters he wrote to his family and congregation were later published as Travels in Europe for Health, in 1820, by an American Clergyman, in the Christian Advocate, a Philadelphia periodical. In addition to his service as pastor, Dickey owned and operated a two hundred acre farm, and served as a silent partner in his brother Samuel’s cotton factory in Hopewell. After Dickey’s death in 1831, his wife, Jane, was left to raise their five minor children, and care for her mother, Margaret Irvine Miller.

Jane Dickey oversaw the formidable operation of the Oxford farm, as well as the Philadelphia property she had inherited after her father’s death. Dickey also continued to support various civic organizations including the Oxford Sewing Society and the Poor Widows’ Society of Baltimore. In 1832, her daughter Mary married Richard I. Cross, a Baltimore lumber merchant, and in 1836, her daughter Margaret married Reverend Andrew B. Cross, a Presbyterian minister, author and publisher. Helen, the youngest daughter, did not marry and lived at home with her mother. After training first at Dickinson, then at Princeton Theological Seminary, John Miller Dickey the eldest son of Ebenezer and Jane took his father’s place as pastor of Oxford Presbyterian Church. He established a private school for girls, the Oxford Female Seminary, and later helped found the Ashmun Institute which became Lincoln University after the Civil War. He married Sarah Emlen Cresson and had four children. Samuel Dickey, the second son of Ebenezer and Jane Miller Dickey became a Presbyterian minister after first attending Lafayette College then enrolling in Princeton Theological Seminary. He later served as the President of the Octoraro Bank. The third Dickey son, Ebenezer Verner, attended Lafayette College and medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Unable to get by on the proceeds of his medical practice, Ebenezer also owned a large dairy farm, was a member of the faculty of the Oxford Female Seminary and was the president of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad and the Octoraro Bank until his early death in 1857.

Bibliography:

Bradley, John. The Dickey Family and the Growth of Oxford and Hopewell, 1990.

Carr, George B. John Miller Dickey, His Life and Times.

Miller-Dickey family papers, Chester County Historical Society Clipping Files.

The papers in this collection consist primarily of personal correspondence, business records, genealogical notes, diaries, and family photographs, of the Cross, Dickey and Miller families. The collection is arranged into five major sections: "Correspondence," organized alphabetically by writer, then chronologically; "Bound manuscripts," organized alphabetically by writer, then chronologically; "Printed volumes," organized alphabetically by title; "Miscellaneous items," organized by related family, and then chronologically; and "Oversized items," arranged chronologically. The collection is particularly strong on the following topics: relationships between women, family health, Presbyterian church, the history of Oxford, Pennsylvania, marble cutting business, and the genealogy of the Miller, Dickey, and Cross families.

The Miller-Dickey family collection includes four photograph albums, two photographs and a stereograph of members of the Dickey and Cross families which have been transferred to photo archives.

Gift of Thomas M. Dickey and Louise Dickey Pinkow.

The creation of this finding aid was made possible through a grant from the IMLS Museums for America in 2006.

The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project.

Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.

Chester County Historical Society: Ms. Coll 1011-12, related to the Ashmun Institute;

Library card catalog (see "Dickey").

People
Organization
Subject
Place

Publisher
Chester County Historical Society
Finding Aid Author
Finding aid prepared by Dana Byrd
Finding Aid Date
2010.08.04
Sponsor
The creation of this finding aid was made possible through a grant from the IMLS Museums for America in 2006. The creation of the electronic guide for this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources’ “Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives” Project. Finding aid entered into the Archivists' Toolkit by Garrett Boos.
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may apply. Please contact the Chester County Historical Society with requests for copying and for authorization to publish, quote or reproduce the material.

Collection Inventory

Scope and Contents note

The "Correspondence" is arranged alphabetically by author of letter, then chronologically. The content of the series ncludes correspondence on a range of subjects including religion, relationships between women, health, marble cutting business, agricultural matters and travel. Note: Letters by women are filed under both married and maiden names.

Physical Description

30.0 Folders

Letters, Baynton through Cresson, 4 items. Letters to Jane Miller Dickey from C. Baynton regarding boarding school in Philadelphia and from Sarah Cresson regarding gift, to Helen Dickey from M.A. Bele regarding flowers, to Margaret Finney from William Broade regarding his mother’s death and impending visit, 1802-1807.
Box 1 Folder 1
“Country Letters” of Dickeys and Crosses, 23 items. Correspondence in the form of “country letters.” These are letters with multiple authors of the same family written to single or multiple family members. Correspondents include Jane Miller Dickey, Margaret I. Cross (née Dickey), and Mary J. Cross (née Dickey), John Miller Dickey and Reverend Ebenezer Dickey. The correspondence pertains to family affairs, including births, deaths, marriage and general health, 1823 – circa 1850.
Box 1 Folder 2
Letters of Reverend A.B. Cross and Margaret I. Cross, 6 items. Letters by Margaret I. Cross (née Dickey) to her husband Reverend Andrew Boyd Cross, and her mother, Jane Miller Dickey, regarding family matters including health and children, one envelope addressed to Helen Dickey from Reverend A.B. Cross, undated.
Box 1 Folder 3
Letters of Margaret I. Cross, (née Dickey) 24 items. Letters by Margaret I. Cross (née Dickey) to Reverend Andrew Boyd Cross, Mary J. Cross, Helen Dickey, Jane Miller Dickey, regarding family matters including health, marriage, and children. See also Folder 20, 1834-1847.
Box 1 Folder 4
Letters of Margaret I. Cross (née Dickey) 24 items. Letters by Margaret I. Cross (née Dickey) to Reverend Andrew Boyd Cross, Mary J. Cross, Helen Dickey, Jane Miller Dickey, Jane Cross, regarding family matters including health, marriage, and children. These letters cover the period in which one of the author’s children, Mary J. Cross and two her children died from an illness contracted while they were in Oxford, Pa., 1848-1873.
Box 1 Folder 5
Letters of Mary J. Cross, (née Dickey) 9 items. Letters by Mary J. Cross (née Dickey) to her mother Jane Miller Dickey, her brothers Samuel Dickey and Ebenezer V. Dickey, and her sister Helen Dickey. These letters primarily address family matters, health, marriage and children, and the founding of the Oxford Female Seminary, 1823-1849.
Box 1 Folder 6
Letters of Ebenezer Dickey, 22 items. Letters by Reverend Ebenezer Dickey to Jane Miller (later Dickey) before and during their marriage, 1801-1810.
Box 1 Folder 7
Letters of Ebenezer Dickey, 22 items. Letters by Reverend Ebenezer Dickey to his wife Jane Miller Dickey and his daughter, Margaret I. Dickey (later Cross), also included is a single letter to Dickey’s Oxford Presbyterian Church congregation. The letters address family life and also cover the early period of Dickey’s trip to Europe for health reasons, 1811-1820 April.
Box 1 Folder 8
Letters of Ebenezer Dickey, 23 items. Typed transcripts of Reverend Ebenezer Dickey’s correspondence to his wife Jane Miller Dickey while on a European trip for health reasons, 1819 December-1820 March.
Box 1 Folder 9
Letters of Ebenezer Dickey, [transcription of travel letters], 12 items. Typed transcripts of letters written by Reverend Ebenezer Dickey to his wife Jane Miller Dickey and his daughter, Margaret I. Dickey (later Cross), while on a European trip for health reasons, 1820 April-September.
Box 2 Folder 10
Travel Letters of Ebenezer Dickey, 21 items. Letters by Reverend Ebenezer Dickey to his wife Jane Miller Dickey, his daughters Helen Dickey and Margaret I. Dickey (later Cross), and his brother in law Reverend William Finney. Many of the letters address family life, his ministry and also cover the latter part of Dickey’s yearlong trip to Europe for health reasons, 1820 April-1830.
Box 2 Folder 11
Letters of Ebenezer Dickey, (bound), 1 item. Letters by Reverend Ebenezer Dickey to his daughter, Mary J. Dickey, bound, regarding family matters, particularly health, 1820-1831.
Box 2 Folder 12
Letters of Ebenezer Verner Dickey, 2 items. Letters by Ebenezer Verner Dickey to his mother Jane Miller Dickey from Lafayette College. The first discusses the burning of Pennsylvania Hall, and the second concerns his attempts to purchase furnishings for his dormitory room, 1836-1840.
Box 2 Folder 13
Letters of Helen Dickey, 9 items. Letters by Helen Dickey to her mother Jane Miller Dickey and her siblings, Margaret J. Cross, Mary I. Cross, and John Miller Dickey, and her niece Jane Cross. The correspondence is concerned with the health of various family members, undated.
Box 2 Folder 14
Letters of Helen Dickey, 10 items. Letters by Helen Dickey to her mother Jane Miller Dickey and her siblings, Margaret J. Cross, Mary I. Cross, and John Miller Dickey, and her niece Jane Cross. The correspondence is concerned with the health of various family members, and the Oxford Female Seminary. Also included is a piece of cut-work fancy paper, 1835-1851.
Box 2 Folder 15
Letters of Jane Miller Dickey, 19 items. Letters by Jane Miller Dickey to her children, John Miller Dickey, Helen Dickey, Margaret J. Cross, Mary I. Cross, her sister, Margaret Finney, her grandson Ebenezer D. Cross, and her son in law Reverend Andrew Boyd Cross. The correspondence is concerned with her son’s time at Dickinson College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and family matters including the death of her daughter Mary I. Cross, and several of her grandchildren. See also 23, 1822-1850.
Box 2 Folder 16
Letter of John Dickey, 1 item. One letter written by John H. Dickey (1809-1855) from Princeton Theological Seminary to his uncle, Reverend Ebenezer Dickey regarding an article in the Biblical Repertory, 1829.
Box 2 Folder 17
Letters of John M. Dickey, 1 item. Letters by John M. Dickey to Janet C. Preston regarding their mutual interest in Miller and Dickey family history. Dickey makes reference to John Miller’s dealings with the du Pont family and speculates on the location of Miller’s Great Valley farm, 1969.
Box 2 Folder 18
Letters of John Miller Dickey, 9 items. Letters by John Miller Dickey to various family members, including his mother Jane Miller Dickey, father, Reverend Ebenezer Dickey, siblings Margaret J. Cross, Samuel Dickey, and Mary I. Cross. Dickey makes reference to the formation of the Oxford Female Seminary, his tenure as the head of a Dutch Reformed Congregation in New Castle, Delaware, a visit to Tybee Island, Georgia and his time at Dickinson College, 1808-1838.
Box 2 Folder 19
Letters of Margaret Dickey (later Cross), 12 items. Letters by Margaret J. Dickey (later Cross) to her family, including her siblings John Miller Dickey and Helen Dickey, and her mother Jane Miller Dickey. The letters are primarily concerned with family affairs and personal health. See also s 4 & 5, 1823-1834.
Box 2 Folder 20
Letters, Mary Wardow Dickey to Samuel E. Dickey, 15 items. Letters by Mary Wardow Dickey, Samuel J. Dickey and Samuel E. Dickey. Samuel E. Dickey’s correspondence is concerned with retracing the history of the Dickey family. Mary Wardow Dickey and Samuel J. Dickey wrote about contemporary matters, including Dickey’s time at Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary, recommendations on purchasing a fireboard, and comments on the death of Mary Cross. One letter is written on piece of Princeton Theological Seminary stationery, 1832-1917.
Box 2 Folder 21
Letters, Dillingham through McIntire, 23 items. Letters by William Dillingham, Thomas Goodwillie, David Gilchrist, Reverend Robert Graham, Anne Irvin, Thomas Irvin, Samuel Irvin, Thomas Irvin, William Irvine, George Junkin, David Kirkpatrick, John Knox, James Laurie, Samuel McIntire, “H.M” and transcripts of letters in the Ulster County Historical Society from Jeannie Forsyth and Ella Forsyth, The letters are on a range of subjects including a response to an inquiry letter regarding John Miller’s stone cutting business from the Hagley Foundation, pleas for money for impoverished Scottish relatives, notice of the death of relatives, inquiries about health, and family, 1803-1968.
Box 3 Folder 22
Letter of Jane Miller (later Dickey), 1 item. One letter from Jane Miller (later Dickey) to Ebenezer Dickey relaying the news of Mrs. Gray’s illness and regarding their courtship, 1804.
Box 3 Folder 23
Letters of John Miller, 27 items. Letters by John Miller to various family members, including his daughter, Jane Miller, his wife Margaret Miller, Miller addressing the marble cutting business, his health, his trip with his wife to Sulphur Springs for health reasons, the outbreak of yellow fever in New York and Philadelphia, a wife’s duty to her husband and his participation in the Synod and Presbytery, includes two undated letters, undated, 1801-1805.
Box 3 Folder 24
Letters of John Miller, 14 items. Letters by John Miller to various family members, including his daughter Jane Miller and son-in-law, Reverend Ebenezer Dickey, topics addressed include, Miller’s attempts to “wind up” the marble business, Samuel Dickey III’s development of a new stove, and family news, 1806-1808.
Box 3 Folder 25
Letters of John Miller, 1 item. Bound letters from John Miller to his friend and Register of the United States, Treasury, Joseph Nourse, his daughter Jane Miller Dickey, Charles Heath, Reverend M. Dick, and William Irvin, topics discussed include, difficult tenants, meetings of the Synod, family matters, impending war between Britain and the United States, purchase of land on the Potomac in Washington, DC, 1808-1810.
Box 3 Folder 26
Letters of John Miller, 19 items. Letters by John Miller to Reverend Ebenezer Dickey and Jane Miller Dickey, topics discussed include grandson John Miller Dickey’s visit, family visit to Washington to see Joseph Nourse and his family, a visit to a cotton manufactory, Miller’s visit to the Magdalene Asylum, 1809-1814.
Box 3 Folder 27
Letters of National Portrait Gallery - Nourse, Joseph, 15 items. Letters are primarily from A.M. Josepha Nourse to Jane Miller (later Dickey) and Joseph Nourse to John Miller and Reverend Ebenezer Dickey. Topics include silk purchases, gardening, settlement of the accounts of the Widow Fox, health, and the proceedings of the Synod. A single letter from the National Portrait Gallery regarding the Rembrandt Peale portrait of John Miller is also included, 1801-1992.
Box 3 Folder 28
Letters of Old Presbyterian Church-Purdon, Mary, 14 items. Letters by Old Presbyterian Church, New Castle, DE soliciting John Miller Dickey to serve as their pastor, John Purdon to John Miller, including poems, and Mary Purdon to Jane Miller Dickey regarding health, her attempts to place her daughter in a school, the trials of moving into a new home, and the flu epidemic in Philadelphia, 1802-1829.
Box 3 Folder 29
Letters of Ralston-Wilson, 4 items. Letters by Robert Ralston to Ebenezer Dickey regarding Christmas gifts, “Unkle Toby” to Mary Dickey regarding her unmarried status, William and Grace Squire to Jane Miller Dickey regarding supper invitation, Marguerite Wilson to Jane Miller regarding Wilson’s move to Pittsburgh (written in French), 1814-1842.
Box 3 Folder 30

Scope and Contents note

This series is arranged alphabetically by creator, then chronologically. Contents of the series includes notes on family history, ledgers from John Miller’s marble cutting business, household account books owned by Margaret Miller and Jane Miller Dickey, Reverend Ebenezer Dickey’s travel diaries from his European trip.

Physical Description

31.0 Folders

Diary with genealogical information, Unknown author, 1 item Bound, twill fabric covered, The Standard Diary, 1887, filled with genealogical information including notes on Miller, Dickey, Irvine and Hopkins families, no author, circa 1887.
Box 4 Folder 31
Ledger, Oxford Presbyterian Church, 1 item. Ledger book with pew rents for Oxford Presbyterian Church recorded within, names include: Samuel Dickey, John Watt, William Michael and William Ross, 1807-1811.
Box 4 Folder 32
Travel Diary, 1 item, unidentified author, notes on visit to Europe, entries on author’s time at Stratford upon Avon, Holy Trinity Church, York Cathedral, Warrick, Cullenden, Glasgow, Inverness, Haarlem, Hague, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, and Luzerne, circa 1884.
Box 4 Folder 33
Travel Diary Photographs, 5 items. Albumen photographs collected on trip to Europe depicting interior and exterior of a church in Cologne, and several castles in Warwick, circa 1884.
Box 4 Folder 34
Diary of Margaret I. Cross, 1 item. Diary of Margaret I. Cross (née Dickey) detailing her daily activities visiting friends and family, 1877-1878.
Box 4 Folder 35
Notes on Genealogy by Margaret I. Cross, 1 item. Small bound volume of genealogical notes including birth and death information on members of the Dickey family, 1879.
Box 4 Folder 36
Recipe Book with Clippings, 1 item. Recipe Book includes handwritten recipes for making foods including currant wine and Bolognese sausage, and handwritten and pasted newspaper clippings of home remedies, including lock jaw and constipation, unknown compiler, circa 1831-1832.
Box 4 Folder 37
Recipe Book, 1 item. Recipe Book on lined paper, recipes are handwritten and clipped from newspapers, they are primarily recipes for cakes and cookies and include recipes for Sally Lunn cake and chocolate soufflé, unknown compiler, circa 1880-1915.
Box 4 Folder 38
Recipe Book, 1 item. Recipe Book on lined paper with mostly handwritten recipes for a range of foods including: caramels, veal orgnettes, rolls and corn fritters, some clippings from newspapers, circa 1880-1930.
Box 4 Folder 39
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, 1 item. Ebenezer Dickey’s bound diary of his travels with John and Margaret Miller to Sulphur Springs. Dickey writes of the stops along the way, including Lancaster, Oxford, Columbia, Chambersburg, and Bethlehem, his encounters with Samuel Dickey, the congregation at Upper Octoraro Presbyterian Church, Dr. Campbellan. The second half of the journal deals with Dickey’s travels to Albany, NY for a Presbytery meeting, 1803.
Box 5 Folder 40
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, [typed transcription], 1 item. Typed transcription of Ebenezer Dickey’s 1803 diary, 1803.
Box 5 Folder 41
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, 1 item. Ebenezer Dickey’s travel diary detailing a trip to Western Pennsylvania. Includes interesting description of taverns along the way, 1815.
Box 5 Folder 42
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, 1 item. Volume I of Ebenezer Dickey’s travel diary, details his European trip for health reasons. Dickey comments on goat milk, fellow passengers, language barrier and long on ship quarantine, and notes the varying levels of religion, food and government while in Gibraltar, Messina, Genoa, Nice and Montpelier, 1819.
Box 5 Folder 43
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, [typed transcription], 1 item. Typed transcription of Volume I of Ebenezer Dickey’s travel diary, 1819.
Box 5 Folder 44
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, 1 item. Volume II of Ebenezer Dickey’s travel diary, details his European trip for health reasons, Dickey visits Toulouse, Paris, Bagniers, Bordeaux and London. He is unimpressed with the Tuileries Gardens and London. He also comments on the manufactures of France, 1820.
Box 5 Folder 45
Travel Diary, Ebenezer Dickey, [typed transcription], 1 item. Typed transcription of Volume II of Ebenezer Dickey’s travel diary, 1820.
Box 5 Folder 46
Account Book, Jane Miller Dickey, 1 item. Household account book kept by Jane Miller Dickey, includes notes on the daily activities at the farm, attendance records for workers, expenses, and farm productivity, 1836-1839.
Box 5 Folder 47
Recipe Book, Jane Miller Dickey, 1 item. Undated recipe book owned by Jane Miller Dickey, recipes include plum pound cake, macaroons, malt wine, chicken salad and boiled ham, undated.
Box 5 Folder 48
Cipher Book, Jane Miller (later Dickey), 1 item. Cipher book used by Jane Miller (later Dickey), includes notes and practice problems from lessons on numeration, avoirdupois, currency exchange, time and the rule of three, 1798.
Box 5 Folder 49
Cipher Book, Jane Miller (later Dickey), 1 item. Cipher book used by Jane Miller (later Dickey), includes notes and practice problems from lessons on tare and trett, interest, loss and gain, and bartering, 1803.
Box 5 Folder 50
Account Book, John Miller, 1 item. Account Book used by John Miller, primarily business records related to his marble cutting business and Great Valley farm, includes payments to workers and purchases of books (Stored on shelf), 1805-1814.
Box 5 Folder 51
Diary, John Miller, 1 item. Diary used by John Miller; Miller notes his affection for family, describes his trip to the Synod meeting in November and the proceedings, also discusses his attendance at the Hindeman trial, 1809.
Box 6 Folder 52
Diary/Farm Journal, John Miller, 1 item. Diary used by John Miller, 1810, daily Miller notes the weather, and the state of the fields at his Great Valley farm, he also comments on service at a Baptist church, the last pages of the book contain memoranda on agriculture, including the proper harvesting of manure, and the proper way to harrow a field, 1810.
Box 6 Folder 53
Diary, John Miller, 1 item. Diary used by John Miller, 1811, notes on his trip to Yellow Springs, Cape May and his Great Valley farm, Miller also includes memoranda for farm, i.e. “pay particular attention to the water at the meadows,” and home remedies for curing ailments, 1811.
Box 6 Folder 54
Diary, John Miller, 1 item. Diary used by John Miller, labeled on inside back cover, “John Miller, marble cutter,” includes notes on the Bible and thoughts on the duty of man, circa 1813.
Box 6 Folder 55
Ledger, John Miller, 1 item. Ledger book, used by John Miller to record debits and credits for his marble cutting business, the first seventy-four pages of the book have been pasted over with newspaper clippings of poems from the Presbyterian and Temperance Herald. Many of the poems were penned by Margaret Junkin a relative of the Miller and Dickey families. A handwritten copy of Reverend Ebenezer Dickey’s obituary has also been bound into the book. The ledger book features entries revealing Miller’s workers as well as the houses for which he provided stone work, 1798-1850.
Box 6 Folder 56
Ledger, John Miller, 1 item. Ledger book, used by John Miller, the charges reflected are primarily related to the Great Valley farm, entries include payment from Samuel Dickey and Levi Miller, 1807-1811.
Box 7 Folder 57
Ledger, John Miller, 1 item. Ledger book, “F,” used by John Miller to record debits and credits related to his marble cutting business, significant entries related to his business with Thomas Cadwalader, Rembrandt Peale, Dr. Benjamin Rush, the Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, the Missionary Society, and the Black School, 1804-1814.
Box 7 Folder 58
Letters, John Miller, 1 item. Letter book, used by John Miller, contains copies of letters penned by John Miller, addressees include Thomas Irvin, Reverend James Laurie, Joseph Nourse, and merchants in New Castle, Delaware and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1802-1806.
Box 7 Folder 59
Notes, John Miller, 1 item. Notes penned by John Miller on the nature of Christian duty, the necessity of perseverance and civility, undated.
Box 7 Folder 60
Ledger, Margaret P. Miller, 1 item. Account book maintained by Margaret P. Miller, records rents, dividends and notes payable to the Estate of John Miller, 1816-1820, undated.
Box 7 Folder 61

Scope and Contents note

This series, containing 30 folders, is arranged alphabetically by title. Included are books owned by members of the Cross, Dickey and Miller families, and two family bibles with detailed genealogical information.

A Collection of Tables, calculated by Joseph Lippincott, inscribed “J. Miller,” 1 item, 1792.
Box 8 Folder 62
An Antidote to the Miseries of Human Life in the History of the Widow Placid and Her Daughter Rachel, Sidney’s Press, 1809, Inscribed “Helen Dickey, February 11, 1835, from S.E C. Dickey,” and “Sarah E. Cresson, Jr., 9 mo, 1st, 1824,” 1 item, 1809.
Box 8 Folder 63
Ethiopia Shall Soon Stretch Out Her Hands Unto God, Outlines of a Discourse Delivered in the Presbyterian Church in Oxford, Pennsylvania, Reverend John M. Dickey, 1 item, 1853.
Box 8 Folder 64
From the Correspondence of the American Bible Society, 1 item, 1840.
Box 8 Folder 65
Holy Bible, New York Bible Society, embossed on the cover, “Jane M. Dickey,” Inscribed “Given at the request of my dear daughter Mary J. Cross on her death bed, Oct. 11, 1849”, contains some records, births, deaths and marriages of the Millers, Dickeys and Crosses, I item, 1847.
Box 8 Folder 66
Pronouncing Bible contains some records, births, deaths and marriages of the Millers, Dickeys and Crosses, 1 item, 1825.
Box 8 Folder 67
Questions on the Shorter Catechism, Inscribed “To: Jane M. Dickey From: Her Nephew John Dickey,” 1 item, 1838.
Box 8 Folder 68
Resolution and Address, Bible Society of Chester County, 1 item, 1827.
Box 8 Folder 69
Reverend J.M. Dickey’s Address, John Dickey, Inscribed: “Mary J. Cross,” 1 item, 1836.
Box 8 Folder 70

Scope and Contents note

This series, consisting of 17 folders, is arranged alphabetically by subject and includes family history notes, legal documents, obituaries for Jane Miller Dickey and Reverend Ebenezer Dickey, citizenship papers for John Miller and business records for the Miller and Dickey families.

Physical Description

17.0 Folders

Advertisement for Belle Air Female Academy, 1 item. Printed broadside advertising the Belle Air Female Academy, newly opened April 1, 1836, 1836.
Box 9 Folder 71
Business Records, Dickey Family, 3 items. Chart reflecting yearly payments, notice of a public sale placed by Ebenezer Dickey, Indenture of Sophia E. Glascow to Helen Dickey, 1818-1860.
Box 9 Folder 72
Business Records, Dickey and Miller Families (Receipts), 29 items. Receipts for various items and services including, certificate of membership, payment on account by Dr. Benjamin Rush, payment for lots in Oxford Cemetery, set of power millstones, payment for stock in the Pennsylvania Slate Company and Schuylkill Bank Stock, transfer of indentured servant, 1792-1882.
Box 9 Folder 73
Business Records, John Miller, 7 items. Memorandum of money owed John Miller by G. Cottriger, copy of Finley McGrew’s will, document enumerating the terms under which Francis Lyle acquired a portion of John Miller’s Great Valley plantation, two notes reflecting transaction between John Miller and Doctor A. Fannon, accounts of dividends and rents due and received by John Miller, copy of the settlement of the estate of Margaret Duncan, executor, John Miller, 1797-1814.
Box 9 Folder 74
Church Certificate and US Naturalization, Miller, 2 items. Document from the elders of the Associated Church Hawick, Scotland attesting to the good character of Margaret Irvine and John Miller, John Miller’s Citizenship certificate signed by Judge Burd of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1789-1798.
Box 9 Folder 75
Estate Records of John Miller (1759-1814), 13 items. Two copies of John Miller’s will, probate inventory of items on Miller’s Chester County farm and Philadelphia town house, record of receipt of money from sale of shares of United States Bank Certificates, account of payment of John Miller’s bills by executor in 1815, document signed by John Miller’s heirs relinquishing their claim to the Miller’s Chester County farm, three copies of document relinquishing claim, 1815, undated.
Box 9 Folder 76
Genealogy, Miller, Cross and Dickey, Death Related, 12 items. Transcription of John Miller’s headstone, copies of the wills of Reverend Ebenezer Dickey, Jane Miller Dickey, Helen Dickey, account of Mary Jackson Cross’s death by her sister, Margaret Cross, draft of obituaries of Reverend Ebenezer Dickey and Mary Jackson Cross, Poem written in honor of the Friends of Mary J. Cross by Margaret Junkin, obituaries of John Miller, Martha Young, Samuel Dickey, and Helen Cross, two printed copies of the address given at Jane Miller Dickey’s funeral, 1814-1860.
Box 9 Folder 77
Mimeographed Record of the Miller, Jackson, Irvin, Dickey, Cross, Boyd, Finney, Junkin, McLean, Kelso (in part), Craighead, Young and Webster Families, William S. Cross, 1893, Typed document on the History of the Irvine Family, Bound treatise on the Account Book of Jane Miller Dickey, by Thomas A. Urbine, Jr., 3 items., 1893-1977.
Box 9 Folder 78
Genealogy, Record of Miller, Cross, Irvine and Dickey Families, 2 items. Notes on members of the Miller, Dickey, Boyd and Cross families in the hand of Helen Dickey, circa 1873-1975.
Box 9 Folder 79
Genealogy, Notes by Janet Preston, 156 items. Notes on the documents contained in this collection, as well as genealogical notes on members of the Miller, Dickey, Boyd, Cross, Irvin, Finney, Junkin and McLean families, circa 1970-1995.
Box 9 Folder 80
Genealogy, Photograph of Unidentified Man, 1 item. Bacharach Studio silver gelatin photograph of an unidentified man, circa 1926.
Box 9 Folder 81
Land Records, John Miller, 2 items. Land related bond of indemnity and articles of agreement between Henry Whiteman and John Miller, 1813.
Box 9 Folder 82
Membership Certificates, 2 items. Membership Certificates to the American Bible Society, Margaret I. Cross and Jane M. Dickey, 1840.
Box 9 Folder 83
Poems, 3 items. Poem on the raising of John Miller’s House, “Farewell,” by Sarah E. Wilson, poem written by Mary Cross while ill in be, 1804- circa 1840.
Box 9 Folder 84
Prose, 5 items. Essays and notes on religious subjects, undated.
Box 9 Folder 85
Recipes, 5 items. Recipes for chicken croquettes, Oil Mangoes, chocolate cake, gingerbread and herbal purgative, 1813-1900.
Box 9 Folder 86

Scope and Contents note

The "Oversized items" are arranged in chronological order. These items largely consist of deeds and mortgage agreements related to the Miller and Dickey families.

Physical Description

3.0 Folders

Miller-Dickey Land records, 5 items. Land records include a 1765 survey of land in Chester County by George Churchman (earliest portion dates to 1733), Deed for land between Garrett Cottringer and John Miller (1799), land deed between Margaret Miller and Frederick Kohne (unsigned, 1820) and mortgage agreement between Henry Whiteman and John Miller (1813), 1765-1820.
Box 10 Folder 87
Dickey Land Records, 6 items. Land records include deeds between Reverend John M. Dickey and wife and Jane M. Dickey (1835, 1845), the Heirs of Reverend Ebenezer Dickey and Jane M. Dickey (1845), Samuel Stockton and Helen Dickey (1860), Reverend Clement C. Dickey and Helen Dickey, (1882) Helen Dickey to Jane M. Cross (1882), 1845-1882.
Box 10 Folder 88
Maryland Temperance Herald, Baltimore, published by Reverend Andrew B. Cross, Corresponding Secretary for the Maryland Temperance Society, 1 item, 1849 September.
Box 10 Folder 89

Print, Suggest