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Sharples-Paschall 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
Nathan H. Sharples (1779-1828) married Martha Price (1785-1852) in 1804 under the care of Birmingham MM. They had six children born in West Chester, Pennsylvania: Hannah married Edward B. Darlington in 1831; William P. married Anne G. Pennell in 1848 and secondly Sarah J. Leedon in 1850; Philip Price married Mary A. Paschall; Henry P. married first Harriett Price and second Hannah Martin; Ann (1816-1883) married Stephen Paschall; Alfred married Elizabeth Cope Sharples; and Samuel Emlen Sharples married Martha Serrill Ash. Family members variously spelled the surname Sharples or Sharpless.
William P. Sharpless (1808-1879), the oldest son of Nathan and Martha Sharples, was a Quaker minister and successful Philadelphia businessman. He first operated general store in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in partnership with John W. Townsend. He subsequently moved to Philadelphia where he became a manager of the Philadelphia-West Chester Railroad.
His brother, Philip Price Sharples (1810-1902), was a superintendent of the West Chester Railroad and a major supporter of the Borough of West Chester and High Street Friends Meeting. He was involved with peace concerns and prohibition as well as the Price School in West Chester. He married Mary A. Paschall (1815-1885), daughter of Thomas and Anne Price Gibson Paschall of Darby Monthly Meeting. Anne P. Paschall was a Quaker minister, and she had married second Halliday Jackson, a prominent Quaker minister, in 1833. Philip P. and Mary A. Sharples' children included Stephen Paschall Sharples who married Abbie M. Hall, Alfred D. Sharples who married Rachel Roberts, and Ann Price Sharples (1846-1925). Alfred Roberts Sharpless (1888-1955) was an electrical engineer and physicist. He married Clara V. Broadbent and resided in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. His brother, Henry R. Sharples, married Esther B. Foulke and was active in Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
Henry P. Sharples (1813-1890), brother of William and Philip, was a successful West Chester merchant and builder, active in civic affairs and a member of Birmingham Monthly Meeting. His son, William Penn Sharpless married three times, Sallie A. Marshall, Frances Linton, and Elizabeth Black. He was a banker, a founder of Chester County Hospital, travelled widely and was an active member of West Chester Friends Meeting.
Ann Sharples (1816-1883) married Stephen Paschall, son of Thomas and Ann Price (Gibson) Paschall. She was the author of children's books and in late life returned to West Chester. Their son Alfred Paschall graduated from Swarthmore College, and his son, Irvin Francis Paschall, married Edith Lane Verlenden. Another son, S. Edward Paschall married Elizabeth Roberts and moved to Washington State.
Contains collected papers of the Sharples-Paschall family, Quakers of Philadelphia and Chester County, Pennsylvania. The family descended from Nathan H. and Martha (Price) Sharples and Thomas and Anne (Price Gibson) Paschall. The collection includes deeds, estate and other legal papers, and a small amount of family correspondence compiled by Alfred D. Sharples and his son, Alfred Roberts Sharples. The legal records include apprenticeship agreements, deeds relating to Rees, Price, and Sharples/Sharpless properties in Chester County, and the notarized 1837 freedom paper for Nancy Laws. The correspondence includes letters written by a Sharples relation serving on the gunboat U.S. Delaware in 1862.
Arranged in three series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Legal and financial; 3. Miscellaneous.
The papers were compiled by Alfred D. Sharpless and his son, Alfred Roberts Sharples.
Gift of Charles L. Cherry, 2017.054
The papers were included in a gift of books to Friends Historical Library from the same donor who gave related papers to Chester County Historical Society. Photographs, largely not identified, are stored in Series 3, Miscellaneous.
Correspondence of General Isaac D. Barnard (1791-1834) transferred to West Chester Historical Society which holds his papers. A West Chester lawyer and politician, Barnard served in the War of 1812 and as a U.S. Senator.
Ambrotype of Henry Price Sharpless (son of Nathan Sharples and Martha Price Sharpless) removed to PA 107, Cased Photographs. Note enclosed in case: "Cousin Will's Father;" Cousin Will was William Penn Sharpless.
Workbook, Nathan H. Sharples, circa 1796-1799 was returned to the donor at the donor's request in 2022.
People
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- Susanna Morikawa
- Finding Aid Date
- 2019
- 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
A note which recounts confiscation of goods, etc. The author was identified by Philip P. Sharples in 1892 as likely John Price, son of Rees and Elizabeth (Ellis) Price.
Regarding property in South Carolina, Estate of Rees Price
Three letters from nephew Robert, written from gunboat "U.S. Delaware," Goldsborough Squadron, off Newport News, Fort Monroe, and Roanoke Island.
Printed postcard notifying vendors that his brickyard ceased operation in 1907. Miscellaneous notes and sketches. Congratulations on their anniversary. Letters from sons A. Roberts and Henry R. Sharples. From cousin Philip S. Darlington?
Son of Alfred D. Sharples. He was an electrical engineer, contributed to the Sharples/Sharpless genealogy. He married Clara Broadbent in 1912. They had one surviving child, William B. Sharples
Mary A. Sharples, daughter of Alfred D. and Rachel Shaples. Unmarried, active in West Chester Preparative Meeting, Birmingham Monthly Meeting. She corresponded with cousin Patience L. Paschall.
Son of Stephen and Ann (Sharpless) Paschall. He moved to Bremerton, Washington. His letters include information about family history and the family home on Dean Street, West Chester
Mary A. Sharples and Patience Paschall from the family home, "Indian Ranch," Bremerton, Washington, including her response to an inquiry if they wished to remain on books of Chester Monthly Meeting. Mary mentioned her correspondence with Edith Paschall. Patience was a daughter of Samuel Edward Paschall and supplied Paschall family information for the Sharples/Sharpless genealogy.
Indentures, deeds, wills, financial
Physical LocationWhere noted within inventory, oversized deeds are stored in FHL Chart Case, oversize RG5
Benjamin Darlington, with consent of guardians Jacob Haines and William Sharpless, apprenticed to Abraham Lower, cabinet-maker, four years six months
Rees Price and son to Richard Jones and others for school. Lower Merion, near meeting house. Release of claim to property in 1830 because school no longer necessary, with Lower Merion Academy fulfilling need.
1705: Agreement, Robert Roberts and Edward Rees.
1775: William Sharpless loan, Goshen Township, 1775
1806: Isaac Wells to Edward Hicks. Goshen
1807: Rees Price to Joel Davis for loan.
1812: Joseph Evans and others to Lloyd Jones and Thomas Price. Lower Merion
1813: Article of Agreement between Mary Evans, Willistown, and William Hoskins for work on her estate.
1821: John Taylor loan from William Herdeman
1827: Mortgage of Israel Jones from John Evans.
1841: Confirmation of survey of property sold by Stephen Paschall to Lodge Straddleman and Company.
1852: John Donovon and wife to Patrick Mullin. East Brandywine.
1857: Patrick Mullin and wife to Henry Ruthven
1872: Brief of title, Rees E. Price. Lower Merion.
Includes list of subscribers
Also copy of 1753 indenture
Notarized that William Weston's wife understood the transaction and signed with her mark
Account book kept by John Price.
Includes plot plan of his property
Edward Price, 1792 and inventory of goods, 1791, Lower Merion; Rees Price, 1816; Ann Price, 1881; and others
Philip P. Sharples account book. Philip P. Price, brother-in-law, and married to sister of widow of Stephen Paschall.
Her daughter and son-in-law and daughter, Mary A. Paschall Sharpless and Philip Price Sharpless, were Executors.
Ann Price Sharples, William Penn Sharpless
Identified with inscription on front page by their son, Alfred D. Sharples, 1904
Thomas Paschall (1717) Rees Price (1777, 1778)
Public house in Northern Liberties, signed by John Penn
Separation in the Society of Friends
1830 release to Isaac Price of schoolhouse property adjacent to Merion Meeting House, no longer useful as school because Lower Merion Academy is convenient for students.
Signed testimony by William Polk, Bridgeville, Sussex County, Delaware. Laws had been held in slavery until she turned twenty-nine years of age. Notarized.
Small hand-stitched notebook contains entries on property, finances, etc. Passage of his son Edward Price on Packet boat to North Carolina, cure for burns, order from Sarah Wilson to Joseph Price to build a walnut coffin for her son, 1812.
William Brinton quit rent, Birmingham, 1709, signed by James Logan; Affidavit concerning steel-making furnace in Philadelphia belonging to Stephen Paschall; Proposed canal on Brandywine Creek subscribers form, 1794.
Includes: Miscellaneous receipts; notes on finances of Pilots Society; William Haines and Townsend Haines political appointments; 1870 receipt from Smithsonian Institution for Indian relics received from Philip P. Sharpless. Jefferson Davis autograph.
Signatures, mounted on linen
Compiled by A. D. Sharples
Carbon typescript, addressed to folks at home and members of the Round Table; real estate map for lots adjacent to Elm Station, Merion. Clippings and miscellaneous
Includes manuscript catalog of Lower Merion Library Company, 1851
Alfred Roberts Sharples married Clara V. Broadbent. Childhood photographs.
William Penn Sharpless enjoyed travel which included a road trip to Seattle to visit the Samuel E. Paschall family at Hidden Ranch in 1929. Photographs of the trailer and photographs taken from a dirigible trip. Includes a photo Christmas card sent by William P. Sharpless and his second wife, Frances Linton Sharpless, 1904. Also identified snapshots of Hidden Ranch, 1945, the "Hidden Ranch" and Remy houses.
Collected greeting cards from generations of Sharples: Mary A (Paschall) Sharples, Alfred D. and wife Rachel Sharples and sister Ann P. Sharples