Main content
Jackson-Conard 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
William Jackson, a Quaker minister from Londongrove Township, Chester County, was born in 1746, the son of William (1705-1785) and Katherine Miller (1713-1781) Jackson. He was the grandson of Isaac Jackson (1665-1750) who emigrated from Ireland in 1725. This William Jackson was recommended as a minister by New Garden Preparative Meeting in 12mo 1775, and traveled with John Churchman on his last journey that same year. He continued to travel extensively throughout the Middle Atlantic region during the period of the Revolutionary War, and then to New England after 1781.
In 1788 he married Hannah Seaman, an Elder of Westbury Monthly Meeting on Long Island and daughter of Thomas and Hannah Seaman. The couple resided in New York for about two years until they returned to Pennsylvania in 1790. Hannah was recognized as a minister herself by New Garden Meeting in 1792. William Jackson traveled to Britain and Ireland in 1802 and spent three years visiting Friends in Great Britain. He returned home in 1805. Despite his age, William was active in supporting the Orthodox position during the Hicksite Separation of 1827. Hannah and William Jackson remained childless. Hannah predeceased her spouse in 1833, and he followed in 1mo 1834.
William Jackson (1789-1864) was the son of the second William Jackson's brother, John. William attended Westtown and then Enoch Lewis' boarding school at New Garden. He inherited his father's farm, Harmony Grove, at the death of the former, but was elected a member of the State Senate in 1838 on the ticket of the Anti-Masonic Party and served a single term. He was also involved in the anti-slavery movement and served as a Clerk of the New Garden Monthly Meeting. Mary T. Jackson (1820-?) was the daughter of William and Mary Taylor Jackson. She married Everard Conard (1814-1893) in 1839. Their son, Milton E. Conard (1851-1925), married Amie Anna Hughes (1850-1925), daughter of William and Elizabeth Gawthrop Hughes, in 1873. A daughter, Elizabeth H. Conard, was born in 1875.
The Jackson-Conard Family Papers include correspondence, journals and commonplace books, estate, property, and financial records, and other miscellaneous materials of a Chester County Quaker family.
The correspondence received by William Jackson (1746-1834) is primarily in support of his travelling ministry. Letters from other ministers and prominent Friends encourage his religious work and contain news of family and friends. Of particular interest is a manuscript map of the Quaker meetings in the Hudson River Valley—with indication of distance between each—drawn on the back of a 1798 letter from Joseph Whitall. Also included is a note from Joshua Pusey discussing the reasons for Friends' avoidance of certain colors in plain dress. Moses Brown makes reference to the activities of the Free Quakers in New England in the early 1780's. Other correspondents include Sarah Brown, David Cooper, Deborah Darby, Thomas Fisher, Edward Garrigues, Ann Harlan, Hannah Jackson, Isaac Jackson, James Jackson, Mehetabel Jenkins, Jacob Lindley, James Mott, Samuel Parsons, John Pemberton, Sarah Rodman, William Rotch, Rachel Rowntree, David Sands, Job Scott, Anne and John Willis, Anne Willson,
John Jackson's (1748-1821) papers include correspondence on the exchange of plants and several albums and lists of plant materials presumably maintained at his home, Harmony Grove. His son, William's (1789-1864) correspondence falls into two categories, that related to his brief political career in the Pennsylvania State Senate in the late 1830's, and that from relatives and friends, much relating to settlement of family estates for which he served as Executor. Of particular interest is a letter from Benjamin Lundy regarding his proposal to settle African-Americans in Mexico. Hannah Monaghan writes about a visit from the New Harmonists and relates her political views on a variety of issues. Elijah Pennypacker's correspondence contains a lot of information about Pennsylvania State politics from 1834-39. Other correspondents include Joel Jackson, Jesse Kersey, Dr. George Smith, and Benjamin and Catherine Webb
Amie Anna Hughes (1850-1925), also known as Anna A. Hughes, married Milton E. Conard in 1873; Milton earned his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1891. Milton's father, Everard Conard, married Mary T. Jackson, William's daughter, in 1839. Everard, who died in 1893, was a farmer and taxidermist. Of particular interest in this part of the collection are three journals of Amie Anna Hughes kept during the three years before her marriage, as well as correspondence between the soon-to-be newlyweds while Milton was at Millersville, Pennsylvania, at school.
This collection is divided into four series:
- Correspondence
- Journals and Commonplace Books
- Deeds, Business and Estate Papers
- Miscellaneous
- Memorials Concerning Deceased Friends. Philadelphia, Pa.: Joseph & William Kite, 1842.
- Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of Members of the Religious Society of Friends. Philadelphia, Pa.: Tract Association of Friends, 1871.
- Furthey, J. Smith and Gilbert Cope. History of Chester County. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881. p. 611.
Donor: Barbara Mott Patton, 6/22/2001; Accession number: 2001-008
The donor received the collection from Elizabeth H. Conard.
Collection was delivered to Friends Library in two archival cartons; collection was mostly unprocessed.
The following photographs of the Taylor Hughes families, 1864-1883, were removed to PA100 and filed by surname:
- Rebecca H. Taylor, Burlington, N.J., 8mo 1883
- Charles Taylor, Burlington, N.J., 8mo 1883
- Charles Taylor, 1879
- Becki Hughes (3), 1864
- Rebecca Hughes, 10.27.1872
- Mary Ann Hughes, wife of Samuel Hughes
- Becki Hughes, Sep. 18, 1870 afterward Rebecca Taylor
- Milton Conard
- Unknown (1)
Organization
- New Garden Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends : Chester County, Pa.)
- New Garden Monthly Meeting of Friends (Orthodox : Chester County, Pa.)
- Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Senate
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- POD
- Finding Aid Date
- 2001
- 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/.