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Benjamin F. Whitson 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:
RG5.164
Repository:
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Extent:
7 linear ft. (14 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item or series here], RG 5/164, Benjamin F. Whitson Family Papers, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
Date:
1835-1957 (inclusive)
Creator:
Whitson, Benjamin F., 1867-1957, Friends World Conference, 2nd (1937) (Swarthmore College; Haverford College), Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative : 1854- ), Five Years Meeting (Society of Friends: U.S.), Whitson, Jane Thorp, 1866-1952, Whitson, Thomas H., 1829-1907, and Hoag, Huldah, 1762-1850
Form:
Account books
Abstract:
Benjamin F. Whitson (1867-1957) of Moylan, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was a Quaker businessman. Whitson was active in Quaker affairs such as Friends World Conference in 1937 and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and in Quaker concerns such as peace, temperance, and education. He was the son of Thomas H. and Phebe (Cooper) Whitson, and his family and extended family has deep Quaker associations. Both Benjamin Whitson and his father, were recognized as Quaker ministers and made visits to Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative). Benjamin Whitson lived in California from 1905-1907 and was active in Pasadena Meeting of Friends. In later life, he collected letters and genealogical information on the many Quaker branches of his family. Papers consist of correspondence, 10 journals (1893-1957), account of trips to Quaker conferences, essays, speeches, and genealogical notes and correspondence of Included in the papers are a 1936 diary of his wife, Jane T. Whitson; Thomas H. Whitson's "Account of Religious visit to Ohio, Indiana, Iowa;" piece books, extensive correspondence, and other memorabilia of members of the Cooper, Master, Moore, Stratton, Thorp, Walker, Whnitson, and Yarnall families.

Benjamin F. Whitson (1867-1957) of Moylan, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was a Quaker businessman, active in Quaker affairs such as Friends World Conference in 1937 and the Fellowship of Reconciliation and in Quaker concerns such as peace, temperance, and education. He wrote extensively on social and religious topics for Quaker periodicals.

Whitson was the son of Thomas H. and Phebe (Cooper) Whitson, and his family and extended family had deep Quaker associations. Thomas Whitson (1829-1907) was a farmer and acknowledged as a minister by New Garden Monthly Meeting (Pa.). An Orthodox Quaker, he and his wife were conservative in dress and worship. In 1901, he traveled as a minister to Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative).

Thomas and Phebe Whitson had five children: Sarah (1857-1945; Quaker minister of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Orthodox); married first Phillips Chamber and second, Elwood Cooper); Samuel L. (1858-1918, married Frances Linton); Mary (1860-1924); Joseph T. (1861-1925, married Jane Thorp); and Benjamin F. (1867-1957). Benjamin Whitson was a birthright member of New Garden Monthly Meeting. He was educated at Westtown School and briefly taught at Barnesville School before entering various business ventures.

In 1892, he was married under the care of New Garden Monthly Meeting (Ohio) to Anna Masters (1869-1925) at a double ceremony at which Anna's sister, Mary Masters, married Elisha K. Brantingham. Benjamin Whitson and his family lived in California from 1905-1907 and were active in the Pasadena Meeting of Friends. Benjamin Whitson was acknowledged as a minister by Chester Monthly Meeting in 1913, and he and wife Anna, an Elder in the Meeting, made a ministerial trip to visit Conservative Quaker meetings in Ohio in 1923, accompanied by Anna's father, Joseph Masters.

After the death of his first wife, Benjamin Whitson in 1927 married Jane Thorp Whitson (1866-1952), the widow of his brother. She was the daughter of James and Jane (Yarnall) Thorp and an also active in Chester Monthly Meeting (name changed to Media Monthly Meeting in 1955).

Papers consist of correspondence, 10 journals (1893-1957), accounts of trips to Quaker conferences, essays, speeches, and genealogical notes and correspondence of Benjamin F. Whitson (1867-1957) of Moylan, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a Quaker businessman. Whitson was active in Quaker affairs such as Friends World Conference in 1937 and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and in Quaker concerns such as peace, temperance, and education. He wrote extensively on topic such as "Ohio Yearly Meeting, 1912," "Are Soldiers Murderers?" "To Change the Social Order", "Quaker Pioneers", "A Confession of Faith," "Treasures of Old Thoughts", "Letters to Friends - 1916". Whitson was active in local organizations in the town of Media, Pa. He was the son of Thomas H. and Phebe (Cooper) Whitson, and his family had deep Quaker associations. Both Benjamin Whitson and his father were recognized as Quaker ministers and made visits to Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative). Benjamin Whitson lived in California from 1905-1907 and was active in Pasadena Meeting of Friends. In later life, he collected letters and genealogical information on the many Quaker branches of his family. Included in the papers are a 1936 diary of his wife, Jane T. Whitson; Thomas H. Whitson's "Account of Religious visit to Ohio, Indiana, Iowa;" piece books, extensive correspondence, and other memorabilia of members of the Cooper, Masters, Moore, Stratton, Thorp, Walker, Whitson, and Yarnall families. Also of interest is a copy of an 1824 letter of Huldah Hoag.

The collection is divided into six series:

  1. Journals
  2. Correspondence
  3. Writing
  4. Organizations and interests
  5. Genealogical notes and correspondence
  6. Miscellaneous, including piece books and memorabilia

Accession information:

Donor: Benjamin F. Whitson, 1955

Donor: Jay Whitson (Wilzue Whitson genealogy), 1964

Donor: Elizabeth Whitson, 1972

Donor: Ruth Whitson Stokes and Anna Whitson Fisher, 1993

The collection was given by Benjamin Whitson. Additional material was given by other family members.

Collection was arranged and annotated by Benjamin F. Whitson when received, and that order largely has been preserved. Whitson had working files on family members which included letters, piece books, etc., which were stored with his genealogical notes; these have been placed in Series 6, Miscellaneous. Memorabilia from Elizabeth Whitson added in 1972. Volume 10 of Whitson's Journal, 1955-1957, gift of Ruth Whitson Stokes (granddaughter) and Anna Whitson Fisher, was added in 1993. In 2001 the collection was refoldered and described more fully.

The following materials, originally part of the collection, were removed and recatalogued:

  1. Daguerreotypes removed and placed with FHL Cased Pictures, PA 107
  2. Sampler by Phoebe P. Cooper, 1835, assigned Relics #379.

People
Subject
Place

Publisher
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Finding Aid Author
SKM
Finding Aid Date
2001
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

Physical Description

10 vol. and approx. 10 small notebooks

Notebook describing session at Westtown School, 1887-1890.
Box 1
Notebook with reflections, 1892-1898.
Box 1
Notebook with reflections, 1901-1938.
Box 1
Miscellaneous notes, 1925.
Box 1
Daily notes, 1935-1950.
Box 1
Notes and quotations, 1939-1942.
Box 1
Account book, personal expenses, 1885-1918.
Box 1
Jane T. Whitson, small journal, 1935.
Box 1
Thomas H. Whitson Account of Religious visit to Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, 1901.
Box 1
Journal I, 1892-1897.
Box 1
Journal II, 1897-1903.
Box 1
Journal III (includes published account of their time in California, including visit to Pasadena Friends Meeting of Ohio Yearly Meeting Conservative), 1903-1908.
Box 1
Loose items removed from Journal III.
Box 1
Journal IV, 1908-1941.
Box 1
"Daily Register", 1931.
Box 1
Journal V (begins loose-leaf journals), 1935-1945.
Box 2
Journal VI, 1945-1949.
Box 2
Journal VII, 1948-1949.
Box 2
Journal VIII, 1950-1952.
Box 2
Journal IX, 1954-1953.
Box 2
Journal X (Includes some Quaker history).
Box 2
Summary of vacations 1926-1937 and trips 1888-1920, 1888-1937.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1901.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1905.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1917-1919.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1922-1927.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1928.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1928-1929.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1931.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1932.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1933.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1934.
Box 3
Five Years Meeting, F.O.R. Conference, 1935.
Box 3
Cape May Conference, Somerton Quarterly Meeting, Virginia, 1936.
Box 3
Friends World Conference, Wyalusing, Cape May General Conference, 1937-1938.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1941.
Box 3
Account of vacation trip, 1947.
Box 3

Scope and Contents

Additional family correspondence included in Ser 5., Miscellaneous

Letters from Thomas H. Whitson, 1889-1907.
Box 3
Whitson family letters, 1887-1891.
Box 3
Miscellaneous Whitson letters, 1888-1908.
Box 3
Whitson Family Letters, 1900-1923.
Box 3
Typed letter describing correspondence between B.F. Whitson and his first wife, Anna, ca. 1953.
Box 3
St. Albin Kite.
Box 3
Max Reich.
Box 3
William Richie.
Box 3
Miscellaneous, 1934-1948.
Box 4
Miscellaneous Correspondence, A-C.
Box 4
Miscellaneous Correspondence, D-G.
Box 4
Miscellaneous Correspondence, H-L.
Box 4
Miscellaneous Correspondence, M-P.
Box 4
Miscellaneous Correspondence, R-T.
Box 4
Miscellaneous Correspondence, W-Z.
Box 4
B. J. Whitson, letters, article clippings.
Box 4
"The Circulator," family letters, 1912-16.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1912.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1914.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1915.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1916.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1917.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1918.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1919.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1919-1920.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1921.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1922.
Box 5
"The Circulator," family letters, 1918-1922.
Box 5
Small diary and letter concerning Jeremiah Cooper (1825-1848), c. 1848.
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "B".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "C".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "D".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "E".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "F".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "H".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "K-L".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "M".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "P".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "R".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "S".
Box 5
Miscellaneous, "T-Z".
Box 5
Miscellaneous Correspondence to E.A. Abbot, J.S. Butler, Wilson, Roosevelt, Sproul, Alexander, Wolfenden, and Senator Davis, 1910-1951.
Box 6
Miscellaneous Correspondence to Wilson, Roosevelt, Sproul, Alexander, Wolfenden, and Senator Davis, 1910-1951.
Box 6
Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1930-1951.
Box 6
Miscellaneous letters, 1920-1936.
Box 6

Essays at Westtown, 1885-1887.
Box 6
Examination at Westtown, etc., 1886-1890.
Box 6
Old essays, 1889, 1900-1902.
Box 6
Compositions, 1882-1886.
Box 6
Lecture (Barnesville), 1891-1892.
Box 6
"The Conversational," essays on various topics, 1894-1903.
Box 6
Essays, 1937-1940.
Box 6
Essays, 1936, 1940.
Box 7
Miscellaneous Essays, 1919-1928.
Box 7
Various Essays, c. 1928-c. 1935.
Box 7
Essays in Print, 1892-1924.
Box 7
Sundry Essays, 1892-1924.
Box 7
Essays, 1930 or prior.
Box 7
Essays, 1935 or prior.
Box 7
Essays, 1944.
Box 7
Most Recent Essays.
Box 7
Duplications of essays.
Box 7
Sermonettes in Media News, 1936.
Box 7
Public Speaking.
Box 7
Various writings on Prohibition, 1929-1935.
Box 7
"Peace Beginning to Be" essay.
Box 7
Memorial to Walter L. Moore (letter).
Box 7
"Problems in Temperance Education", 1945.
Box 7
Articles published in Media News, 1934-1939.
Box 7
"Effusions" (poems) and Effervescence (early writings), 1886-1950.
Box 8
Printed essays, 1886-1917.
Box 8
Addresses, 1894-1911.
Box 8
Letter to Friends throughout US, 1916.
Box 8
"National Defense", 1917.
Box 8
"The Sanity of Christianity", 1917.
Box 8
"Treasures of Old Thought", 1915.
Box 8
Criticism of Society of Friends (a conversation).
Box 8

Civic Association papers.
Box 8
Lessons for Media Adult Classes, 1911-1915.
Box 8
Miscellaneous from the Media Adult Class, 1934-1937.
Box 8
Adult Studies for World Conference, 1937.
Box 8
The Conversational Circle, 1898.
Box 8
Extension Committee.
Box 8
Pamphlets on Gambling.
Box 9
Investments.
Box 9
Media 50th Anniversary, May 1900.
Box 9
Poems.
Box 9
Media Civic Association, 1880.
Box 9
Scripture Lessons, 1880.
Box 9
Sermons, etc., 1880.
Box 9
Sundry References to Present Day Economic System, 1932, 1922-1926.
Box 9
Tobacco Education, 1922-1926.
Box 9
World War I, 1918.
Box 9
Progressive Party, 1912.
Box 9
Fellowship Committee.
Box 10
Fellowship for Reconciliation.
Box 10
Friends Fellowship Council.
Box 10
Media Church Council, 1933-1944.
Box 10
National Anti-Saloon League of America, 1913.
Box 10
Quadrangular Conference: Mennonites, Schwenkfelders, Brethren, and Friends.
Box 10
Visits among M.M. Families, 1935.
Box 10

"Ancestral Tablets" (1 vol.), compiled by Benjamin Whitson, with notes, 1933.
Box 10
Genealogical correspondence on Beeson, Whitson, Seaman families, 1943-1945.
Box 11
Notes and Correspondence, Whitson family.
Box 11
Whitson notes.
Box 11
Worksheets on Cooper-Moore-Walker Book, 1949.
Box 11
"Old letters," family and genealogical, letter concerning Plain Dress (1893), c. 1893-1930.
Box 11
Whitson family Notes and Worksheets.
Box 11
Duplicate loose-leaf Whitson family genealogy.
Box 11
Cooper, Walker, Moore families.
Box 12
Moore family.
Box 12
Autobiography of Daniel Stratton.
Box 12
Thorp family.
Box 12
Joseph and Huldah Hoag.
Box 12
Joseph Masters (Strattan) family, including correspondence.
Box 12
Master family.
Box 12
Whitson family, letters.
Box 12
Genealogical letters.
Box 12
Genealogies of Whitson women.
Box 12
Early research by B. F. Whitson on Whitson and Masters families.
Box 12
Notebook on Cooper, Masters, Stratton, Thorp, Whitson, Yarnall families.
Box 12
Genealogical records kept by Mary H. Whitson, a cousin of B. F. Whitson, and correspondence, 1949.
Box 12
Records kept by Sarah Whitson Cooper, before 1925.
Box 13
Wllzue Whitson family, 1964.
Box 13

Sarah Ann Cooper autograph book, 1843-1844.
Box 13
Scope and Contents

From her sister Susanna J. Cooper in 1838.

Sarah Cooper (mother of Phebe Cooper) letters, poems, 1843-1851.
Box 13
Phebe P. Cooper piece book, 1845-1846.
Box 13
Scope and Contents

wIncludes letter from her mother, Sarah Walker Cooper. Phebe was the mother of B. F. Whitson.

Anna Master (later the wife of B. F. Whitson) piece book, 1887.
Box 13
Joseph Masters (father of Anna Masters) piece books, ca. 1862.
Box 13
Mary A. Masters (sister of Anna Masters, married Brantigan) piece book, ca. 1891.
Box 13
Scope and Contents

Includes "Life in Kansas" essay

Thomas H. Whitson (father of B. F. Whitson) biographical sketch, letters, sermons, etc., 1855-1909.
Box 13
Thomas H. Whitson memorials and related materials collected by B. F. Whitson, including sermons, letters, 1884-1909.
Box 13
Benjamin Whitson autograph book, 1883-1901.
Box 13
Joseph T. Whitson (brother of B.F. Whitson), estate and biographical sketch, 1925-1934.
Box 14
Mary Whitson, sister of B.F. Whitson, notes concerning, about 1907-1934.
Box 14
Samuel Whitson, brother of B.F. Whitson (1858-1918) memorials and papers concerning, 1896-1919.
Box 14
Sarah Whitson, sister of B. Whitson, dictation book, piece book, 1857, 1874.
Box 14
Sarah W. Cooper (wife of Elwood Cooper), account of a visit to Kansas Yearly Meeting, 1911, and letter from her husband, 1911.
Box 14
Photostat of sampler , pocket Bible.
Box 14
Scope and Contents

Sampler transferred to Relics.

Family photographs.
Box 14
Scope and Contents

Cased photos removed to PA 107, FHL Cased Pictures Collection.

Whitson's reference file on Lyman Abbott and others.
Box 14
Miscellaneous reference material.
Box 14
Scope and Contents

Westtown catalogues removed to PG 2, brochure on New Garden MM (Ohio) removed to PG 1.

Print, Suggest