Main content
Heacock 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 Heacocks were a Quaker family of Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania. The Heacock family arrived in America from Staffordshire, England, about 1711. They settled in Rockhill Township, Bucks Co., and Wyncote, Montgomery Co., and were primarily farmers. Joseph Heacock, Jr., fell into debt as a man in his early 20's as a result of an unsuccessfully farming venture and had to work from 1871 to 1875 for hire as a farmhand in New York state and in an iron works in Pittsburgh in order to pay off his debt. In 1875 he rented his father's farm in Wyncote and began truck farming, later putting up heated greenhouses where he specialized in roses, carnations and palms. To furnish fertilizer for his flowers he had 200 head of pedigreed cows, producing 1600 quarts of milk daily from his dairy.
Joseph Heacock, Jr., served in the State Senate from 1910 to 1914. His unmarried sisters, Eliza, Annie, Jane, and Martha (known as Patty), as well as his wife, Elizabeth Walker Heacock, were all involved in teaching in various Quaker schools. One served as principal at the Green Street School, and the others operated the Chelten Hills School for many years. Earlier, Eliza and Jane Heacock were in charge of the Colored Orphans Home in Washington, D.C. In the 1860's, Annie Heacock taught in a school for African-Americans near Beaufort, S.C.
The collection includes correspondence, diary, and letter book (1871-1872), of Joseph Heacock (1846-1918), farmer, of Wyncote, Pa., including material relating to his work on a farm in Albion, N.Y., and in iron works in Pittsburgh, Pa., to earn money to pay debts; account book (1836-1877) of his father, Joseph Heacock (1800-1883);papers relating to the teaching activity of his wife, Elizabeth Walker Heacock, and unmarried sisters, Eliza, Annie, Jane, and Martha Heacock, in various Philadelphia area Quaker schools; biographical and genealogical data on the Hallowell, Heacock, Longstreth, and Penrose families; and minute book (1857-1891) of Richland Turnpike or Plank Road Company, of which J. S. Heacock was treasurer.
The collection is divided into five series:
- Biographical and genealogical materials, 1773-1928
- Correspondence, 1863-1911
- Memorabilia, 1869-1927
- Pictorial material
- Business, legal, and financial papers, 1836-1910
- Hallowell Family including the Longstreth, Penrose, and Norwood Branches, by William Penrose Hallowell. Call number BX7791.H25H3.
- Early Friends Families of Upper Bucks, Clarence V. Roberts, pages 242-270.
Donor: Esther Heacock, 1970
Jessie L. Hoopes, 1941
The collection was received as a gift in 1970. In 1976, it was decided to remove the minute book concerning the Richland Turnpike, which had been given to FHL in 1941 by Jessie L. Hoopes, from Miscellaneous Manuscripts and add it to this collection (Series 5).
Materials were arranged in categories and placed in document boxes in 1976. Minute book, 1857-91, of Richland Turnpike or Plank Road Co. was moved to RG 5/060; it was received from Jessie L. Hoopes in 1941 and originally catalogued as a Misc. MSS.
See Marriage Certificates, Chart Case H, for marriage of Joseph Heacock and Elizabeth Walker, 1877.
People
Organization
Subject
- Farmers -- Pennsylvania
- Iron and steel workers -- Pennsylvania
- Quakers -- Diaries
- Debt -- Pennsylvania
- Education -- Pennsylvania
- Quakers -- New York (State)
- Iron-works -- Pennsylvania
- Quakers -- Pennsylvania
- Quakers -- Social life and customs
- Quakers -- 19th century -- Diaries
- Quakers -- Education
- Quaker horticulturalists
- Quaker women -- Education
- Toll roads -- Pennsylvania
- Quaker women -- Pennsylvania
- Roads -- Pennsylvania
Place
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 1976
- Sponsor
- Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
- Access Restrictions
-
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
in notebook
From The North American newspaper.
photostat
Pictures Miss Annie Heacock (1/16/1838-1/16/1928), with short article on page 4.
Physical Description3 copies
Anonymous, probably by Eliza W. Heacock's father, Dr. James B. Walker.
3 copies
Ssketch of a school day in the Chelten Hills School.
Physical Description2 copies
See Green St. Secondary School Receipt Books, 1866-1895. Filed with Green St. Meeting records, School.