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Lightfoot Family Manuscripts
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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 Lightfoot family was a Pennsylvania Quaker family descended from Thomas Lightfoot (d. 1725), a Quaker minister who emigrated from Ireland to Kennett Monthly Meeting in 1716 with his second wife, Sarah Wiley, and nine children. His son Samuel (1701-1777) was a prominent surveyor and married Mary Head of New Garden Monthly Meeting. They had four children. Son Thomas (1728-1793) was an Elder in Goshen Monthly Meeting and accompanied visiting ministers such as Susanna Hatton from Ireland.
Susanna Hatton Lightfoot (1720-1781), eminent Quaker minister, was born Susanna Hudson in Ireland to a poor Quaker family. She traveled to America in the ministry with Ruth Courtney in 1737, and in 1742 married Joseph Hatton. He died in 1759, and in 1760 she made a second trip to America where she met Thomas Lightfoot. They married in Ireland in 1763, and she became a member of Uwchlan Monthly Meeting and continued her ministry in America. Thomas Lightfoot became a minister after his wifes death in 1781, and he married a second time, to Rachel Hunt, in 1785.
Jacob Lightfoot (1707-1774), also a son of Thomas and Sarah Lightfoot, married Mary Bonsall (1707-1777) of Darby Monthly Meeting in 1735. Mary Bonsall Lightfoot was a prominent Quaker minister. In 1757 she made a religious visit with Grace Fisher to Quaker meetings in the Concord Quarter. The family settled in Maiden Creek, Pa.
Their grandson, Thomas Lightfoot (1821-1896), was an Indian Agent in southeastern Nebraska during the period of Quaker involvement in President U.S. Grant's "peace policy." He was a the son of Benjamin W. and Rachel S. (Lee) Lightfoot. In 1846, Lightfoot married Mary Bonner Cadwallader (1820-1907), daughter of Yardley and Christianna (Moore) of Upper Dublin, Pa.. They had four children, two of whom survived to adulthood: Sallie C., born 1851, who married Albert L. Green, and Lee Garrigues.
Thomas Lightfoot was appointed Agent to the Great Nemaha Reservation in 1869 and served until 1873. The Indians for which he was responsible included Iowas as well as Sacs and Foxes. Mary B. Lightfoot established a mission school, and her husband attempted to promote agriculture and a "civilized" life style among the native Americans.
Thomas Montgomery Lightfoot (1865-[1959?]) was also descended from Jacob and Mary Bonsall Lightfoot. He was the son of Jesse Lightfoot (1818-1894) and Hannah Eliza Montgomery. Jesse Lightfoots parents were Jacob and Elizabeth Willets Lightfoot, and Jacobs parents were Thomas Lightfoot (1742-1821) and Hannah Wright. Thomas M. Lightfoot graduated from Swarthmore College, Class of 1888, and was a teacher.
Series 1 contains the papers of Thomas and Mary Lightfoot and includes correspondence received and sent (drafts) while they were at the Great Nemaha Reservation, as well as business and legal documents, including accounts with the Government, agreements, reports, and several census. Letters sent to Mary from members of the Indian Aid Association document the kinds of assistance and support offered by Philadelphia Friends.
Series 2 includes the journal of Mary (Bonsall) Lightfoot (1707-1777), a prominent Quaker minister and the wife of Jacob Lightfoot. It describes her journey to visit meetings in Concord Quarter in 1757. Three other journals (typescript copies) have been attributed to Thomas Lightfoot (1728-1793) on the basis of contextual detail. These accounts document visits to meetings in the mid Atlantic region, New Jersey to Virginia, from 1757 to 1760. A 1781 testimony concerning Susanna (Hatton) Lightfoot, Thomas' wife, and copies of Samuel Lightfoot's commissions complete the Series.
Series 3 includes genealogical charts of the descendents of Quakers who were members of Maiden Creek Meeting, compiled by Thomas M. Lightfoot (1865-[1959?]).
Deposit.
The bulk of the collection was donated by Thomas Lightfoot's son-in-law, Albert Lamborn Green, in 1935. A copy of the letter which describes the transaction (original in Albert Lamborn Green Papers, RG 5/175.) is included with the administrative information on the collection. There is no record of when Mary Lightfoot's Journal was given to FHL or its source; it was reprinted in Friends Intelligencer on 10mo 5 1895, and may have been received by Friends Historical Library through Philadelphia Yearly Meeting some time after that. In 1943, Thomas Montgomery Lightfoot, who was a descendent of Jacob and Mary Bonsall Lightfoot and Swarthmore College, Class of 1888, donated the typescript journals (the originals of which were still in family hands) and the facsimiles of Samuel Lightfoot's commissions. Five years later he donated his Maiden Creek genealogical research to the Library.
Parts of the collection are microfilmed. See: Film MS-F13.
Organization
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (Hicksite : 1827-1955). Joint Committee on Indian Affairs (1869-1892)
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (Hicksite: 1827- 1955). Sub-committee on Indian Concerns
Subject
- Society of Friends -- Nebraska
- Church work with the Poor -- Society of Friends
- Church Work with Indians -- Society of Friends
- Indians of North America -- Government relations -- 1869-1934
- Indians of North America -- Missions
- Society of Friends -- Indian Affairs
- Quakers -- Social service -- United States
- Quakers -- Nebraska
- Indians of North America -- Nebraska
- Sauk Indians
- Iowa Indians
- Fox Indians
- Quakers -- Pennsylvania
- Society of Friends -- Pennsylvania
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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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
Arranged chronologically. Primarily includes letters received by the Lightfoots while they were at the Great Nemaha and drafts of some of the responses. Of particular interest are letters to Mary B. from Quakers involved in the Friends Indian Aid Association (of Philadelphia) and from her Indian students after her return to Pennsylvania.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes bills and receipts, 1869-1877, n.d., arranged chronologically, among which are statements of accounts with the Department of the Interior. Also includes Bank Statements from Omaha National Bank, 1869-1873, and cancelled checks, 1869-1871.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes agreements with Burlington and South Westerm Railroad Company (1869), Wilson and Thomas for sale of wood (1870), David R. Hold for the sale of "Indian Res. Trading House" (1870), Atchinson and Nebraska Railroad Company (1870), a wood agreement with the Chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes (1871), a land agreement with the Chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes (1872), a renewal of license to trade for Mordecai T. Bartram (1873), and an agreement with Levi Sten for the lease of a farm in Upper Dublin (1879).
Physical Description1 folder
Includes a Report of Employees for the Great Nemaha Agency (1873), Property Reports (1869, 1873), and a draft of a report for the Friends Land and Colonizing Committee (1879).
Physical Description1 folder
Includes a census of the Iowa Tribe, and of the Sacs and Foxes.
Physical Description1 folder
Records of the administration of the estate of Lydia Roberts (1865-1866), and of Sarah Pim Lee (1874-1880).
Physical Description1 folder
A document beginning, "Rules and regulations to be observed in the..."
Physical Description1 folder
Commissions (facsimile) of Samuel Lightfoot (1707-77) as Deputy Surveyor of Chester and Lancaster Counties
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Typed copies produced 1920-1935.
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Testimony concerning Susanna Lightfoot, of Uwchlan Monthly Meeting.
Physical Description1 folder
Compiled by Thomas M. Lightfoot (1865-[1959?]) Genealogical compilation the result of Gatherings of the descendents of Maiden Creek Meeting beginning in 1940.
Physical Description1 folder