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Asa M. Janney 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
Asa M. Janney (1802-1877) was the son of Abijah and Jane McPherson Janney of Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, Virginia. He was the younger brother of Samuel M. Janney (1801-1880), noted Quaker minister, educator, abolitionist, and author. Samuel M. Janney lived with his uncle Phineas Janney while attending school in Alexandria and attempted to run a cotton factory in Occoquan. When that failed, he opened the Springdale Boarding School in Loudoun County. Asa Janney traveled with his brother in the ministry, and the brothers shared a concern for the welfare of Native Americans. Asa served an Agent to Santee Sioux tribe in Nebraska, 1870-1871, when his brother was Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Superintendency.
Asa Janney married Lydia Neal Haines (1800-1891) in 1826 and operated a flour mill, Forest Mills, in Loudoun County. They were members of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting where Asa served as an Elder. Asa and Lydia had eight children: Mary Jane, Eliza, Ellen, Abijah, Cosmelia, Thamsin, Hugh, and Lydia Neal. Lydia Neal Janney (1844-1925) attended Earlham College and in 1866 married a Loudoun County neighbor, William Brown, a Quaker who owned property in nearby Circleville. They had three children: Thomas Janney Brown; Samuel who did not marry; and Cosmelia (Cossie) who married Daniel McPherson. The eldest, Thomas Janney Brown (1867-1951), graduated from Swarthmore College in 1888 and married Elsie Palmer. They were members of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting, Va., and had five children: Janet, Boyd Janney, Elsie Palmer, Virginia N., and Thomas McPherson Brown.
The collection consists of correspondence and other papers of the Virginia Quaker family of Asa M. Janney. The letters contain family news and note Quaker concerns and activities. Of special interest are letters from Asa's older brother, Samuel M. Janney, noted Quaker minister, author and abolitionist. Also included are an account book of Janney's Forest Mills flour mill, 1860-1862; a Swarthmore College student notebook kept by his grandson, Thomas Janney Brown; and a notebook of genealogy and memoirs written by his daughter Lydia Neal Brown which includes a copy of a letter written by her sister Thamsin describing events on the Janney and Brown farms during the Civil War together with other family stories.
Arranged in two series: Correspondence and Family Papers
Gift of Lee and Paul Lawrence in honor of Gael McPherson Post, Acc. 2017.039
Sorted into series and described.
People
Subject
- Quakers -- Virginia
- Quakers -- Virginia -- Loudoun County
- Quakers -- Virginia -- Diaries
- Society of Friends -- Hicksite Separation
- Quakers -- Social life and customs
- Universities and colleges -- Pennsylvania -- Swarthmore
- Women -- Diaries
Place
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- Susanna Morikawa
- Finding Aid Date
- September 2017
- Use Restrictions
-
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Collection Inventory
Arranged chronologically
Signed autograph letter (ALS) describes the last days and death of Edward Stabler (1769-1831), Quaker minister, and the illness of Stabler's children including 3 year old Caroline who died of measles a month after her father's death.
Signed autograph letter (ALS) from Edward to his brother with addendum from Samuel. Mentions that family attended yearly and quarterly meetings, death of their sister Thamsin
3 ALsS, mention cholera and music.
2 ALsS. In 1854 Samuel writes that he is preparing to start a religious visit to New York and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings with John Smith as his companion. Family news and concern about the school. The letter dated 1855-5mo-2 is written on a prospectus for his Springdale Boarding School announcing that George S. Truman and wife will serve as superintendents
ALS describes his removal to Iowa and attempts to establish a meeting, financial difficulties
Griffith visited the Janneys in Richmond, Va. The letter refers to offense taken regarding an Orthodox-Hicksite religious debate
ALsS mostly concerning financial - land sales
Signed letter refers to controversy in Richmond Meeting, Virginia, and aiding the publication of Samuel M Janney's book
Letter to "Sister" from Cosmelia, mentions other Indian agents arriving. Also fragments of letters.
Cover letters concerning expenses submitted for payment
2 ALsS, family concerns
Signed letter (initials) from Thomas Janney Brown's father
Thomas Janney Brown and wife Elsie Palmer Brown and their children, Janet, Boyd, Elsie, Virginia, and Thomas. The Browns were members of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting and later resided in Washington, DC.
Property deeds, from Thomas and Emily Nichols and others. The Brown and Nichols properties were linked with the marriage of Thomas Brown and Phebe Nichols in 1835.
Thomas Brown and Phebe Nichols, the care of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting. In fragments. The marriage united the two families, both landowners in Loudoun County.
Asa M. Janney served as executor
"True copy" signed by the Clerk
Power of attorney to Richard H. Stabler of Alexandria
Forest Mills
Physical Description1 volumes
Receipt signed for Asa M. Janney for one share of Swarthmore College stock
Account of the guardianship for his sisters, Cosmelia, Thamsin, and Lydia Neal Janney concerning the estate of Phineas Janney
Thomas Brown, Swarthmore College Class of 1888, class notes.
Notebook containing family genealogy, history, and anecdotes. Includes memoirs of cousin Edward Haines settling in Virginia in 1758, a copy of letter sent to Lydia from her sister Thamsin at home in Loudoun Co., Va., describing a Confederate raid in 1862, and memoirs of the War and family anecdotes. Newspaper article on Circleville published in the Loudoun Times-Mirror in 1976 was largely based on this notebook.