Call Number:

MC.1285

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

1.5 linear ft. (4 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Waring Family papers (HC.MC.1285), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1863-1941 (inclusive)

Creator:

Waring, Thomas, 1834-1908

Form:

Financial records

Abstract:

This collection documents several generations of the Waring family, mainly through financial records and correspondence. Some materials related to Thomas Waring's time as Superintendent of the Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey.

William Waring (1808-1884) was born May 3, 1808 to Rebecca and Thomas Waring. He married Lydia Stewart Waring (b. 1814) and had children: Thomas Waring (b. 1834), David Waring (b. 1839), Wilson Waring (b. 1845), William Waring (b. 1848), and Mary Waring (b. 1852). Thomas Waring (1834-1908) married Anna Smith Waring (c. 1839 - December 8, 1898) on October 1, 1873 and had children: Stewart Waring (b. 1875), Bernard G. Waring (b. August 1876), and William E. Waring (b. February 1879). Thomas and Wilson Waring ran the Waring Fertilizer Company in the 1880s, but it failed and was sold around 1889. He then became superintendent at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, in the early 1900s. Thomas Waring died on December 10, 1908. Wilson Waring (1845-1915) married Eva L. Waring (b. 1855) and had children: Joseph E. Waring (b. 1879), Anna E. Waring (b. 1885), and Mary A. Waring (b. 1889). At some point he may have been affiliated with Pennsylvania Hospital, as he frequently uses their letterhead. Stewart Waring (b. 1875) was the oldest son of Thomas Waring. He married Mary Wallingford Waring on November 27, 1906 in Evanston, Illinois; they had children: Robert Waring (b. 1908) and Stewart Waring (b. 1914); later they moved to Richmond, Virginia, where Stewart worked as a telephone operator. Bernard Gilpin Waring (b. 1876): married Mildred Whitall (b. June 15, 1884) on November 18, 1908; their children were Margaret Waring (b. 1911), Nancy Waring (b. 1915), Dorothy Waring (b. 1916), and Thomas Waring (b. 1922); Mildred Waring died on January 10, 1923 of pneumonia/bronchitis [?], and on June 11, 1927, Bernard married Grace Warner Sharpless (b. 10/7/1887). Bernard graduated from Westtown School in 1895.

The majority of this collection consists of financial materials. The Thomas Waring series includes materials from the Waring Fertilizer Company, including many stocks and information about the closing of the company. Thomas Waring applied for a patent for a new kind of organizer, and information on this includes copies of the claim filed, blueprints, and correspondence. Other financial materials include financial correspondence and receipts, deeds, mortgages, and leases. Some of these materials are from Thomas Waring's role as Superintendent of the Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, and heavily track clothes and other purchases. Thomas Waring's account books document cash transactions. Insurance documents track his life insurance policies. Estate files include wills and receipts. Materials related to the Physick family include financial reports by Thomas Waring in his role as ex-officio guardian of Cecil Physick. Accounts of estates include those of John Harris, Caleb Sharpless, Preston Minors, Edmund Physick, and Theodore Physick.

Thomas Waring correspondence includes letters to both him and wife Anna from friends, with his brother Wilson, and from his son William who is often travelling on business. Most of these letters relate family news. There are also letters to and from Thomas in his role as Superintendent at Cooper Hospital, and about the Swoboda system of physiological exercise. Miscellaneous materials include writings on Quakers' place in the world and drafts of documents.

Bernard Waring materials include condolences on the death of his mother, letters from Thomas and Anna as well as Mary Waring, and letters about the investments of Edith Mason Smith, identified as Aunt Edith. Photographs are unidentified, while miscellaneous materials include bookplates, marriage certificate with Grace Warner Sharpless, and materials from Westtown School.

Waring family materials include two account books which show detailed food purchases, and an account book from William Waring showing payments to and from a variety of people. Correspondence is mostly unidentified, while committee materials include those from a variety of Friends organizations. Germantown Friends School materials are ephemera and publications. Clippings and ephemera include ads for items such as lighting and electric cooking equipment, while miscellaneous materials include unidentified accounts, some Haverford graduation invitations, and a poem about Quakers.

The collection contains three series: Thomas Waring, Bernard Waring, and general Waring family materials. Within each series, materials are divided by format.