Call Number:

MC.1025

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

2 linear ft. (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Morris/Engle Family Papers (HC.MC 1025), Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1820-1938 (inclusive)

Creator:

Elfreth, Jacob R., Sr., 1789-1870 and Elfreth, Jacob R. Jr., 1837-1924

Form:

Financial records, letters (correspondence), minutes (administrative records), Photograph albums, and Photographs

Abstract:

Although the central figure in this collection is the Philadelphia Quaker businessman and philanthropist, T. Wistar Brown (1826-1916), it also includes materials relating to his father Moses Brown, mother Mary Wistar Brown, and wife Mary Farnum Brown, along with other members of the Brown family. Among the papers are correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks and deeds.

Jacob R. Elfreth Sr. (1789-1870) was a teacher, who later became a bookkeeper for Leigh Navigation Company. He married Abigail Pierce in 1821, and on October 22, 1837, Jacob R. Elfreth Jr. was born in Philadelphia. Jacob R. Elfreth Jr. was educated at the Friends Select School, and then apprenticed to J.R. Sowers & Co. for 5 years. After that, Jacob R. Elfreth Jr. and his brother James Elfreth started a carpet business. Elfreth was a minister and an elder in his meeting. He never married, and he died on November 14, 1924. James Linton Engle (1874-1939) was born in Camden, New Jersey to Margaret T. Engle and Joseph Engle on May 6, 1874. He married Florence Redman Engle (1877-1951), and they had one child, Joseph Redman Engle. J. Linton Engle was the president of the Holmes Press. Florence Redman Engle was a member of the Colonial Dames Association. J. Redman Engle (1900-1973) attended Westtown Boarding School, and then Princeton University. He worked with his father at Holmes Press. He married Edith "Deedy" Morris (1899-1987). Edith Morris' sister Lydia S. Morris (1901-1987) married Frank Condie Baxter, and they had one son, Fancis Condie Baxter (1930-2004). (Information from internal evidence, the

Dictionary of Quaker Biography, and US Census data).

This collection is divided into six series. Series I consists of the financial ledgers and account books of the Elfreth and Engle families. Loose papers which were in the books have been removed to folders. Series II consists of the correspondence of the Morris and Engle families. Subseries I is the correspondence of many members of the Morris and Engle families, separated by recipient, and organized by date. These letters are about family and social matters. Subseries II is the correspondence of J. Redman Engle relating to the publication of

The Westonian. Series III consists of one minute book for the Haddonfield Progrssive League, and one for the Bristol Township Relief Organization. Series IV is made up of diaries, notebooks, writing, and a scrapbook of the Elfreth, Engle, and Morris families. Subseries I consists of diaries and notebooks, including the 1869 diary of Hannah Morris while she was at Westtown, and the 1939-1940 diary of Lydia Morris while she was in France. Subseries II consists of several essays written by J. Linton Engle about philosophy and religion. Subseries III is made up of a number of presentations written by members of the Colonial Dames Association about history. Series V consists of photographs of the Morris and Engle families, a photograph album, and an engraving of Stephen Grellet. Series VI is made up of other Engle family papers, including J. Redman Engle's honorable discharge from the US army, and a set of Pennsbury leaflets.

Series I: Financial Books Series II: Morris and Engle Correspondence Series III:Morris/Engle Minute Books Series IV: Diaries, Scrapbooks, Notebooks, and Writing Series V: Morris/Engle Photographs Engle Papers