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Aaron White 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

Call Number:
RG5.163
Repository:
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Extent:
2 linear ft. (4 boxes)
Language:
English
Date:
1805-1966 (inclusive)
Creator:
White, Aaron, 1793-1863, Shillitoe, Thomas, 1754-1836, Edgerton, Thomas, 1823?-1847, Forster, Josiah, 1782-1870, Coffin, Elijah, 1798-1862, and White, Margaret, 1979-1854
Form:
genealogies (histories)
Abstract:
Contains the papers of Aaron White (1793-1863) and his family. He was a birthright member of Pasquotank Monthly Meeting, N.C., and transferred to Milford Monthly Meeting, Indiana, in 1829. The Whites were active in Quaker affairs and concerns, including abolition and controversies within Indiana Yearly Meeting. Aaron, as the oldest son in his family, played a central role in the family both in business and personal matters. The bulk of the collection is the correspondence of Aaron and Margaret White, letters sent and received. Their extended family and concerns include relatives in Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. The letters chronicle the migration of Quakers to the mid-West as well as touch on Quaker activities and issues, slavery in North Carolina, and personal concerns through three generations. Prominent Quaker correspondents include Thomas Shillitoe, Thomas Edgerton, Josiah Forster, and Elijah Coffin. Also of interest are business papers and some family genealogical information on the White, Moore, Coffin, Nixon, and Fletcher families.

Aaron White was the son of Edmund and Mary (Morris) White of Pasquotank County, North Carolina. Edmund White (d. 1812) of Perquimans Monthly Meeting. married Mary Morris (d. 1813) under the care of Pasquotank Monthly Meeting in 1792. They had eight children: Aaron (born 1793, married Margaret Fletcher); Edmund (born 1896, married Margaret Nixon); Miriam (1797-1800); Joseph Morris (b. 1800); Mary (b. 1801, married Caleb White); Alfred (b. 1804-1844, married Abigail Pritchard); Elizabeth (b. 1806, married Daniel Tisdale); and Margaret Scott (1811-1830, married Joseph Elliott).

Aaron White married Margaret Fletcher (1796-1854), daughter of Joshua and Margaret Fletcher, of Perquimans Monthly Meeting in 1813, and they had seven children born in North Carolina, viz: Albert (1817-1840, married Gulielma Hiatt); Martha (1819-1820); Morris (1821-1822); Marcia (b. 1823, married Charles Moore); Oliver (1825-1825); Catherine (b. and d. 1827); and Susannah (1828-1829). In 1829, the family received a certificate of removal from Pasquotank MM to Milford MM in Wayne County, Indiana. Children born in Indiana under the care of Milford MM were: Richard (b. 1829, married Mary A. Underhill); Augustus (1832-1833); Deborah (1834-1888, married David Sutton); and Lemuel (b. and d. 1838). Margaret and Aaron White also raised the three orphaned children of Margaret's brother, William (1794-1826) who died in a shipwreck. They were: Samuel Francis (referred to as Francis in some family correspondence), Margaret Ann, and Sarah Nixon Fletcher. The Whites also took into their household two other nephews from North Carolina, Daniel T. (b. 1835) and William E. White (b. 1836) who were the children of Aaron's younger brother Alfred and his second wife, Mary. Mary White married secondly to Henry Haskett. Margaret White died in 1854, and Aaron married a second time in 1858 to Rachel P. Moore of Milford Monthly Meeting.

Of Aaron and Margaret White's eleven children, only four survived to maturity, and their oldest child, Albert (1817-1840) died shortly after his marriage. Daughter Marcia married Charles Moore of Milford Monthly Meeting in 1839; Richard married Mary A. Underhill of Miami Monthly Meeting in 1853; and Deborah married David Sutton in 1859.

Marcia and Charles Moore had nine children. Daughter Deborah (1855-) in 1879 married William Furnas of Fairfield Monthly Meeting, Indiana. They had three children, including Paul F. Furnas (1889-1960) who inherited some of the family papers and was comptroller for Earlham University. Their youngest child, Marcia Frances Moore, in 1892 married Don Carlos Barrett under the care of Whitewater Monthly Meeting, and additional papers apparently were preserved by her.

Contains the papers of Aaron White and his family. He was a birthright member of Pasquotank Monthly Meeting, N.C., and transferred to Milford Monthly Meeting, Indiana, in 1829. The Whites were active in Quaker affairs and concerns, including abolition and controversies within Indiana Yearly Meeting. Aaron, as the oldest son in his family, played a central role in the family both in business and personal matters. The bulk of the collection is the correspondence of Aaron and Margaret White, letters sent and received. Their extended family and concerns include relatives in Indiana, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. The letters chronicle the migration of Quakers to the mid-West as well as touch on Quaker activities and issues, slavery in North Carolina, and personal concerns through three generations. Prominent Quaker correspondents include Thomas Shillitoe, Thomas Edgerton, Josiah Forster, and Elijah Coffin. Also of interest are business papers and some family genealogical information on the White, Moore, Coffin, Nixon, and Fletcher families.

Organization: Organized in three series: 1. Biographical and Genealogical 2. Correspondence 3. Miscellaneous Papers

Deposit. Donor: Betty Furnas Date: 1966. Donor: Barrett family

The collection was given by the Betty Furnas, who was the widow of Paul J. Furnas who died in 1960. He was a descendent of Aaron White by his daughter Marcia who married Charles Moore in Milford MM. Paul J. Furnas was the son of their daughter, Deborah Moore who married William Furnas of Fairfield Monthly Meeting. This material includes family correspondence and business correspondence of Aaron White. Apparently about the same time, other material from other descendents of Aaron and Margaret White were given by the family of Deborah's sister, Marcia Frances Moore who married Don Carlos Barrett, and Thomas A. Moore's son Charles H. Moore. This material included family letters to Margaret White and Aaron's letterbooks. There is also some material from Samuel Francis Fletcher who was raised in the household of Aaron White and married Elizabeth Dix Hiatt.

Initially, White Family Papers were given by Betty Furnas, the widow of Paul Furnas in 1966. Additional family papers were apparently added to the collection shortly thereafter but were kept as two separate units. The collection was originally named Furnas Family Papers, also known as Furnas-Barrett Family Papers. In 1987, the collection was renamed the Aaron White Family Papers. In 2002, the collection was reorganized and the correspondence filed chronologically. A new finding aid was produced.

People
Organization
Subject

Publisher
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Finding Aid Date
2004
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Some of the items in this collection may be protected by copyright. The user is solely responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns to reuse, publish, or reproduce relevant items beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to the law. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/.

Collection Inventory

Coffin family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Fletcher family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Hiatt family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Moore family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Nixon family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Parker family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

White family.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, primarily to Margaret Fletcher/White, 1805-1824.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence and settlement of Little River Mills, 1825-1826.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence received by Aaron White, 1829.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Includes letter from Thomas Shillitoe and others with family news, mention of meetings, finances of move to Indiana. Also of interest is a letter concerning enslaved people given to the Yearly Meeting in North Carolina.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence of Aaron White, 1830.
Box 1
Scope and Contents

Includes a letter from Aaron White to his wife while making a trip east.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence to Aaron White, 1831.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Letter to Charles H. Moore from his father with Moore family genealogy, 1831.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1832.
Box 1
Physical Description

1 folder

Aaron White letterbook, 1832-1837.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, including letter from Thomas Shillitoe, 1833-35.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, including letter to daughter Marcia at Westtown, 1836.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Letters between Margaret and Aaron White, 1836.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Letters between Margaret and Aaron White when he travels to N.C., Norfolk, and Philadelphia, including acceptance of girls to Westtown.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondences, 1837.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Includes letter arranging tuition for daughter Marcia and niece Jane White at Westtown School (1837) and letters from Marcia at school.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1838.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Includes a letter from the Abolition Society of New York urging support of abolitionist candidates and a letter concerning Henry Knox, who was enslaved in in N.C. and whose wife and others were working to buy him to join the family in Indiana.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, largely to Margaret White, 1839.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Margaret White to Aaron White, 1839.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Travel to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Physical Description

1 folder

Letter, Samuel Francis Fletcher to his fiancée, Elizabeth Dix, 1839.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1840.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1841.
Box 2
Scope and Contents

Of interest letter from Thomas Edgerton concerning his disownment for abolitionist activities/subscription to pay for school building.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1842.
Box 2
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1843.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1844.
Box 3
Scope and Contents

Includes letter from John M. Macy explaining his plan to live among the Shawnee; subsequent letter indicates poor health which forced him to leave.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence and apprenticeship agreement for Jonah Davis, 1845.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1846.
Box 3
Scope and Contents

Includes visit of Margaret White and others to Chester Monthly Meeting. Letter from Elijah Coffin, and travels with the Coffins and other English Friends. Also biographical sketch of Thomas Moore, died 1846,

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1847.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1848.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1849.
Box 3
Scope and Contents

Includes correspondence with John Allen and Josiah Forster, English Friends

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1850.
Box 3
Scope and Contents

Includes memorial on death of Parker Gordan (1830-1850) who lived in the White household (in hand of Aaron White) and nephew Daniel T. White's coming to live with them and join the Society of Friends.

Physical Description

1 folder

Aaron White letterbook, 1850-52 & 1861.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1851.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1852-1853.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1854.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1855.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, 1856-1860.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, primarily to Deborah White Sutton, 1861-1874.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence to the Suttons and Barretts, 1875-1906.
Box 3
Scope and Contents

Includes letter certifying that Charles Moore was one-quarter Cherokee and his children therefore were of Cherokee descent.

Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence to Marcia Frances Barrett and Furnas family, 1928-1966.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Correspondence, primarily between Margaret White, daughters and granddaughters, n.d.
Box 3
Physical Description

1 folder

Marriage certificate, Aaron White and Margaret Fletcher, Perquimans Monthly Meeting, 16, 9mo, 1813.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

Fletcher, Haskett financial papers, etc., 1821.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

Permission of Charles H. Moore from parents to marry Marcia White, address to Milford MM, 1839.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

Deborah White (later Sutton) autograph books.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

Aaron White, draft of wills, 1844.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

Marcia Frances (Moore) Barrett's genealogical notes, memorabilia.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

Miscellaneous family published memorabilia.
Box 4
Physical Description

1 folder

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