Main content
Sharpless Family Papers
Notifications
Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. 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
The collection includes correspondence, journals, writing and miscellaneous papers from two branches descended from Joseph and Lydia (Lewis) Sharpless, Quakers of Pennsylvania who married under the care of Radnor Monthly Meeting in 1704. They had ten children, all of whom married. Their son Benjamin Sharpless (1709-1785) married first Edith Broom and secondly Martha Mendenhall. Benjamin and Martha's son, Joshua Sharples (1746/7-1826), was a Quaker minister. He married Edith Yarnall, also a Quaker minister. Joshua and Edith's son, Joshua Sharpless (1779-1860), married Philadelphia Drinker in 1808. She was the daughter of Joseph Drinker (d. 1809) a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting who spoke out at Meeting in 1795 against racism.
Jacob Sharpless (1722-1775) was a younger son of Joseph and Lydia Sharpless, and he married Ann Blakey. Their son Jesse Sharpless (1759-1832) married Joanna Townsend in 1784, and they had ten children, eight surviving to maturity. Jesse Sharpless began as a saddler and then became a Philadelphia merchant. Their son Townsend Sharpless (1793-1863), a successful Philadelphia dry good merchant, married Mary Brinton Jones (1795-1856) under the care of Birmingham Monthly Meeting in 1815. She was the daughter of Samuel Jones and Lydia Crosley Jones of Birmingham, Pa. Both were active in Quaker social causes. A younger daughter, Lydia A. Sharpless (1803-1883) did not marry and was active in Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Orthodox)
Lydia Jones Sharpless (1818-1911), the daughter of Townsend and Mary J. Sharpless, married Ezekiel Hunn in 1836 under the care of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Orthodox). Ezekiel Hunn (1810-1902) was the son of Ezekiel and Tabitha Hunn of Kent Co., Delaware. He apprenticed under Townsend Sharpless and was received on certificate from Wilmington Monthly Meeting to Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (O) in 1835. The Hunn family in Delaware was actively involved in the Underground Railroad.
Lydia J. and Ezekiel Hunn had three children: Ezekiel Hunn, Jr., Mary Sharpless Hunn, and Townsend Sharpless Hunn. Ezekiel Hunn, Jr., (1841-1926) attended the University of Pennsylvania, served in the Pennsylvania Militia in 1863, and became a Philadelphia attorney. He married Anna Eliza Jenkins (1855-1902), daughter of Jabez and Elizabeth Jenkins of "Wild Cat", Kent Co., Delaware, in 1876. In 1891, he requested membership at Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (O) for his minor children. He is buried in Friends Southwestern Burial Ground.
Lydia J. Hunn's younger brother, Henry Hale Graham Sharpless (1823-1870), was born in 1823. In 1855, Sharpless married Mary Van Buren and was disowned by the Quakers for marrying out. Sharpless ran a dry goods business in Philadelphia, which was started by his grandfather. He died in 1870, at the age of 46.
The papers were separated into three series:
- Series 1: Joshua Sharpless family, 1792-1812
- Series 2: Jesse Sharpless family, 1806-1892
- Series 3: Miscellaneous
Gift of E. Biddle Heg in memory of Walter Sterling Biddle, his grandfather
ca. 1940
Gift of Elizabeth Foster
1946
The bulk of the collection was the gift of E. Biddle Heg, in memory of his grandfather, Walter Sterling Biddle, ca. 1940. This gift is confirmed in FHL correspondence of 1983-1984 between the donor and J. William Frost, Director of Friends Historical Library. Heg was a graduate of Swarthmore College, Class of 1936, and the papers concern descendants of Joseph and Lydia (Lewis) Sharpless through Jacob and Ann Blakey Sharpless.
The journals of Joshua Sharpless were given to FHL by Elizabeth Foster in 1946 together with the 18th century correspondence of members of the Sharpless and Drinker families. She was a descendant of Joseph and Lydia (Lewis) Sharpless through Benjamin and Martha Mendenhall Sharpless.
The papers from the two donors originally were cataloged as separate manuscript collections in the 1940s. In the 1980s, the two were combined as a single manuscript collection representing two branches of the same family descended from Joseph Sharpless and Lydia Lewis Sharpless. In 1991 they were rehoused and a checklist created. In 2016, the collection was separated into two series according to provenance and an enhanced checklist created.
People
- Sharpless family
- Hunn family
- Sharples, Joshua, 1747-1826
- Sharples, Edith, 1743-1787
- Jones, Rebecca, 1739-1817
- Savery, William, 1721 or 1722-1787
- Dillwyn, George, 1738-1820
- Hunn, Ezekiel, 1841-1926
- Hunn, Lydia Jones Sharpless, 1818-1911
Organization
Subject
- Quakers -- Social life and customs
- Quakers -- Genealogy
- Quakers -- Diaries
- Lay ministry -- Society of Friends
- Society of Friends -- United States
- Quakers -- Pennsylvania
Place
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding Aid Prepared by FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2016
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Friends Historical Library believes all of the items in this collection to be in the Public Domain in the United States, and is not aware of any restrictions on their use. However, the user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status before reproducing. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/.
Collection Inventory
Gift of Elizabeth Foster, 1946
"Some account of a visit that was performed to the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings with the Compass of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting." Detailed accounts of where Joshua Sharpless (1747-1826) visited and in the company of other ministers. Recipe for muffins added in pencil second page from end.
Physical Description1 folder
Ms journal, on religious visit with committee appointed by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Physical Description1 folder
"Feeling an engagement of mind to join John Pierce in a visit to the Indian natives of this land..." Scanned 2015 for Quakers and Indians Project. Also acid free photocopy. Incomplete second journal of same journey deposited by John Foster, stored with RG5/221, Foster-Meyers Family Papers, together with typed transcript.
Physical Description1 folder
Visits to meetings of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and Westtown Boarding School. Description of the life and death of his mother who raised thirteen children.
Physical Description1 folder
4 AlsS between Quaker ministers. Rebecca Jones (1739-1817) was a Philadelphia teacher and Quaker minister.
Physical Description1 folder
1 ALS, describes visits to Friends. Cathral (1736-1807) also was a Quaker minister and assisted in Rebecca Jones's school in Philadelphia.
Physical Description1 folder
1 ALS, "Dear cousin."
Physical Description1 folder
1 ALS from William Savery (1750-1804), Quaker minister, abolitionist and representative to Native American tribes to Joseph Drinker (d.1809}
Physical Description1 folder
1 ALS from Drinker to his sister. Expresses sorrow on death of Job Scott and describes the fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Joseph Drinker wrote an unpublished plea in 1796 for the admission of African Americans into the Society of Friends.
Physical Description1 folder
1 ALS from Drinker (d. 1809) describing his work.
Physical Description1 folder
1 ALS. George Dillwyn (1738-1820), a Philadelphia Quaker minister visited Great Britain for nine years beginning 1793. His letter from London to fellow minister Joseph Drinker mentions other traveling ministers and the approval of the concern within the Society of Friends to support poor African and Native Americans
Physical Description1 folder
Gift of E. Biddle Heg
Includes letters from her father, Samuel Jones, and relatives while she is a student at the Westtown School; Townsend Sharpless, Lydia Jones, Thomas Garrett, Jr. Mary Brinton Jones (1795-1856) married Townsend Sharpless in 1815.
Physical Description1 folder
Most are letters from Townsend to his wife Mary. Townsend was a successful Philadelphia dry-goods merchant.
Physical Description1 folder
Most letters are affectionate letters from Townsend in Philadelphia to his wife in Birmingham; also letters to Aunt Mary Jones with whom he has business relations, and letters from Samuel and Lydia Jones, Mary's parents.
Physical Description1 folder
The bulk are addressed to Mary B. Jones, before her marriage. Includes ALsS from her parents, friends, and relations
Physical Description1 folder
Most are letters from Townsend Sharpless to his wife and aunt. In 1820 he reports to Aunt Mary Jones in Birmingham about the malignant fever in Philadelphia. Also exhibition by a balloonist at Washington Hall. ALS 1822 1 mo 17 describes the eloquence and presence of Edward Hicks who was attracting large crowds like Elias Hicks. Disastrous fire the same month at the Orphan Asylum. He also reports to her about the subscription drive for the Asylum for the relief of person deprived of the use of their reason and the debate in Meeting about opening it to patients who were not members. Mentions the corruption of Benjamin Parvin. In 1827, Townsend left for England for a long visit, the account of the voyage was copied by his brother-in-law Brinton Jones.
Physical Description1 folder
Lydia A. Sharpless (1803-1892), was the unmarried younger sister of Townsend Sharpless. In later life she lived in Philadelphia with her brother, John Sharpless, and doctor and also unmarried. Photocopies of letters from a cousin and endorsed letter from family and Friends in Baltimore who she visited in 1831. Endorsement from Friends in Port Elizabeth to Friends in Philadelphia regarding the visit of Lydia A. Sharpless.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Children of Townsend and Mary Sharpless. Lydia and Anna were students at Westtown Boarding School. ALsS from parents and siblings. The parents give updates of the other children and enclose a small piece book written by their sister Eliza (1822-1832).
Physical Description1 folder
ALsS to Harry from sister Anna; to Lydia from Fanny
Physical Description1 folder
Anna's ALsS to brother Harry. An ALS from Isaac Townsend with condolences on death of Joanna (Townsend) Sharpless in 1843. Brother Samuel writes while touring Italy and France. ALS to Townsend Sharpless, 1849, 10 mo, 10, from England (?) disagreeing with American system of solitary confinement.er) to Mary F. and subsequently to her family after Mary's death.
Physical Description1 folder
Letters to sisters and brothers Lydia, Anna, Charles, Samuel, and to mother and father, Mary B. and Townsend Sharpless, grandmother, and friends. Descriptive travel letters from Bombay Hook, Delaware, Athens Greece, Liverpool and London, England, and Paris, France.
Physical Description1 folder
Note to Ezekiel Hunn, Jr., (1841-1926) from his cousin at school in New Garden
Physical Description1 folder
Mostly family correspondence
Physical Description1 folder
Lydia Sharpless from Dr. William Darlington [?] expressing his wish that he were young enough to volunteer for the war effort. Signature removed, attribution added in pencil.
Physical Description1 folder
From friends Silas Pettit, James Garrett, his mother, etc.
Physical Description1 folder
From friends, James and Dave Garrett, mentioning girls and war service; cousin H.W. Sharpless at Haverford College, Ada Hickman, many from his mother, and others. 1861 letter gives a detailed description of death of William Emerson and his burial. References to family news and the war. Letter from Lizzie, 1863, 7 mo, 2, mentions color troops garrisoned in Chelton Hills (Camp William Penn); Ezekiel Hunn, Jr. enlisted as a Private of Captain Henry White's Company G, 32nd regiment of Pennsylvania militia June 18, 1863 and was discharged August 1, 1863. He requested a commission as second lieutenant in Dec. 1863, but it was not granted.
Physical Description1 folder
Ada Hickman, West Chester, and many from his mother who mentions war and politics. Also friends and family with reference to politics and war including the trenching at Petersburg.
Physical Description1 folder
Primarily letters from his mother, some friends
Physical Description1 folder
ALsS from his mother and others, war concerns and family.
Physical Description1 folder
Family and friends, less from Ada A. Hickman
Physical Description1 folder
Strong sentiments from family and friends about Lincoln's assassination. Some sent from Camp Parole, Md., Silas Pettit.
Physical Description1 folder
Family and friends, especially friends from military. Pettit with a new assignment
Physical Description1 folder
Civil War years
Physical Description1 folder
Family and friends. James Garrett from Esperanza. Ezekiel passes law boards.
Physical Description1 folder
ALS from his aunt E. A. Allen fretting about music and a piano.
Physical Description1 folder
Friends and family. Many from his mother.
Physical Description1 folder
Friends and family.
Physical Description1 folder
Friends and family.
Physical Description1 folder
With exception of the Drinker ms, these items were given by E. Biddle Heg.
3 items: includes 1819 receipt for vaccination and 1828 receipt from Westtown Boarding School for daughter Hannah
Physical Description1 folder
2 items
Physical Description1 folder
Ms. Also known as: "Joseph Drinker's Plea for the Admission of Colored People to the Society of Friends, 1795" referenced in Journal of Negro History, Volume 32, No. 1, January 1947. Gift of Elizabeth Foster
Physical Description1 folder
Mss, copy and original.
Physical Description1 folder
Ms
Physical Description1 folder
Disowned by Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Northern District; she requested membership at Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Hicksite)
Physical Description1 folder
Personal bequests of Joanna Sharpless for her children, in particular Lydia A. Sharpless. Recorded by Julia A. Wilson.
Physical Description1 folder
Ms copy of an article concerning the opposition of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to the war (appeared in Democratic Press, 1814)
Physical Description1 folder
Exekiel Hunn (1841-1926): Grade reports from University of Pennsylvania, military discharge for service (occupation: student), Law Academy of Philadelphia invoices.
Physical Description1 folder
Advertisement for Sharpless Brothers, printed poem written by Ann Sharpless Brown on death of Eliza Parker, 1851, etc.
Physical Description1 folder
Crafts
Physical Description1 folder
Watch paper worked with Mary Aggs's hair; Cloth made in Sandwich Islands, brought to U.S. by Daniel Wheeler in 1836 [Relics #952].
Physical Description1 folder
Newspaper clippings
Physical Description1 folder
Genealogical, donor information compiled by FHL staff.
Physical Description1 folder