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Walton Family Papers
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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 Waltons were a Quaker family from Byberry, Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia area. The lines represented in this collection were descended from Benjamin Walton (1701-1753) and Rebecca Homer Walton (d. 1783), of Abington Monthly Meeting and Byberry.
The business papers chiefly are from Israel Walton, whose grandparents were Benjamin and Rebecca Walton. Israel Walton (1789-1831) was the son of William and Lydia (Thornton) Walton of Byberry, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He married first Susan Townsend (1793-1848) and second Maria Houston (d. 1878). Their daughter, Susan Biddle Walton (1851-1927) was married in 1875 to William Warrington Their daughter, Margaret Houston Warrington, who provided genealogical information on the family, was married in 1904 to Nathan Leeds Jones. Their daughter, Ann, was a graduate of Swarthmore College (1942), as was her husband Charles Copeland Martin.
Other papers represent the Walton line descended from another son of Benjamin and Rebecca Homer Walton, Benjamin (1735/6-1820). This line descended through Nathan Walton (1763-1823), whose son, Lewis (1789-1861) married Elizabeth Hall Neal. Their son, Edwin Walton (1830-1911) was an active member of Fallowfield Monthly Meeting and an educator. He married Mary Dent Clayton (1832-1915) whose diary (1877-1878) is included in the collection. His sister, Emmaline Walton (1834-1913) was a Quaker poet and elder of Fallowfield Monthly Meeting. Edwin and Mary D. Walton's son, Edwin Clayton (E. C.) Walton 1866-1952), settled in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where is he was a civic leader and sold real estate. Both of his daughters were Swarthmore College graduates.
The collection includes business and estate papers, mostly of Israel Walton (1789-1863), a diary of Mary D. Walton (1832-1915) which includes a roll book of Fallowfield Monthly Meeting First Day School, albums and verse by Emmaline Walton (1834-1913) and others, and family memorabilia.
The collection is divided into five series:
- Biographical and genealogical, including the diary of Mary Walton
- Correspondence
- Business papers
- Manuscript writings
- Piece books and albums
- Byberry Waltons, by Norman Walton Swayne, 1958
Accession information:
Donor: Unknown, date unknown
The collection represents two lines descended from Benjamin and Rebecca (Homer) Walton. One line came down through their son, Benjamin, whose descendant was Lewis Walton. His son married Mary D. Walton, and his daughter was Emmaline Walton. The other line descended from the son of Benjamin and Rebecca, William, to their son, Israel Walton, through his daughter Susan who married William Warrington, then their daughter Margaret who married Nathan Leeds Jones. Their daughter, Ann Comfort Jones, and her husband, Charles Copeland Martin, were both graduates of Swarthmore College, Class of 1942. Descendents of the other Walton line also attended Swarthmore College in the twentieth century, and Edwin Clayton Walton was a Swarthmore resident and developer.
Formerly cited as Walton and Thomas Families Papers, RG 5/160. The information concerning the source of these papers was lost, and sometime before 1967, the Walton papers were catalogued and stored with a smaller collection of papers concerning the Thomas family, apparently unrelated. In October 2000, the two collections were catalogued as separate Record Groups.
People
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- FHL staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2000
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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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
3 pieces
Includes Fallowfield First Day School roll book, and list of words for spelling bee.
2 letters
Includes inventory, indentures, bonds, deeds, accounts, mortgages, judgements, lists of goods and chattels for sale, auditors' report, and agreement.
Includes accounts and receipts.
Includes deed, wills, promissory notes, accounts, receipts, inventory and appraisement, bond, rule of reference, bill, authorizations, power of attorney, and release.
Most in same handwriting, probably Emmaline Walton.