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Travilla-Speakman 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.
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Martha Ellison Newport Travilla (1828-1884), an acknowledged Quaker minister, was the daughter of Jesse W. Newport and Elizabeth Ellison, members of Green Street Monthly Meeting. In 1855 she married Jonathan Travilla (1823-1913), a farmer and West Chester, Pennsylvania, merchant. He was a member of Birmingham Monthly Meeting, and Martha transferred her membership from Green Street in 1857. They had four daughters: Elizabeth N. (1858-1921), Mary (1860-1947), Margaret (1865), and Anna (1866-1945).
Elizabeth Newport Travilla ("Bessie") (1858-1921) was unmarried and lived with her father and sisters in West Chester. She died in Friends Boarding Home.
Mary Travilla (1860-1947) attended the Swarthmore Preparative School. By 1920, she lived in Pasadena, California, alternating with a cottage in Buck Hill Falls,, Pennsylvania. She was well-known in Quaker circles as a powerful preacher. In her last years she resided in the Hickman in West Chester and died at the age of 86.
The youngest daughter, Anna (1866-1945), attended Swarthmore College in 1887 and in 1890 married William William Speakman (1865-1930), a prominent Philadelphia ophthalmologist. The Speakmans settled in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, members of Swarthmore Monthly Meeting. Anna also was a recognized minister. They had two daughters: Martha Travilla Speakman (1892-1970) who married L. Hollingsworth Wood in 1925, and Janet Speakman (1895-1971). William and Anna were founding members of Buck Hill Falls, a private resort community in the Pocono Mountains established in 1901 by a group of Quakers from Philadelphia.
The Speakmans were good friends of the Jenkins, Clothiers, Hayes, and other prominent Philadelphia area Quakers. John Russell Hayes (1866-1945) was a Quaker educator, poet, and Librarian of Swarthmore College, 1906-1927, and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, 1927-1935. He was born in 1866, the son of William M. and Rachel (Russell) Hayes, and was descended from a long-time Chester County, Pa., Quaker family. He spent much of his childhood on the Hayes family farm on the Brandywine River. He married Emma Gawthrop of Wilmington, Delaware, in 1892. Both were graduates of Swarthmore College, Class of 1888.
The collection is composed largely of correspondence and related papers of Anna Travilla Speakman and her husband William Williams Speakman, Quakers of Swarthmore and Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania. Also represented is Anna's mother, Martha Newport Travilla, a Quaker minister who corresponded regularly with Samuel Willets. The Speakmans had a wide circle of friends in the extended Quaker community, particularly in Swarthmore College. The collection contains family photographs, some diaries, and albums.
Arranged in four series.
Gift of James Wood, Acc. 2021.040, grandson of William W. and Anna Travilla Speakman.
Travilla-Speakman papers were received as part of the gift the Janet Speakman Papers. Sorted and filed, the original order was largely preserved.
Two cased photographs removed to PA 107. Daguerreotypes of Martha E Newport and Elizabeth Newport. Same image, 6th plate and half plate.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- Susanna Morikawa
- Finding Aid Date
- 2024
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research
- Use Restrictions
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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/.
Collection Inventory
Leters sent to family and friends, including husband and daughters
From friends and siblings. A letter from Sarah Willets mentioned that Samuel's work continued at Sing-Sing.
A letter referred tp a poisoning episode?
Willets mentioned his work with prisons and respect for her ministry. Noted that a memoir to be written about her mother, Elizabeth Ellison Newport. Water damaged.
In May Willets visited Swarthmore College for the Board of Managers meeting and Committee on Instruction. He coordinated his travel with Martha's visit to New York Yearly Meeting and the ministry following. He wrote that he was distributing pamphlets for the College which had opened 9 month 2 of the preceding year. In 9 month 1873, Willeets wrote that the was cancelling his trip to Indiana Yearly Meeting because of "anticipated financial excitement." In 10 month he attended meetings on Indian affairs, and Sarah Hunt visited his home. Water damaged.
Written after recent death of brother Edward Parrish.
Including papers regarding estate of John Speakman. An 1854 agreement between Elizabeth Newport and Martha Newport to lease a house to Jonah Gutiman [?]
Cakes and knitting instructions
Including scraps of poetry, etc.
Letters to her sisters and mother. Includes a letter dated 1868-2month-26, New York, from her grandmother, Elizabeth Ellison Newport. Both Elizabeth and sister Mary attended the Preparative Department of Swarthmore College in 1870s and neither married.
Mary Travilla (1860-1947) letters received. An signed letter dated 1898-01-22, Swarthmore, from William I. Hull described in great detail a "Quaker dinner held at Ballytore mansion, home of Isaac Clothier in Wynnewood, Pa."
Mary lived in Paadena, California, and vacationed at the family cottage in Buck Hill Falls, moving to the Hickman in her final years. In 1944 she suffered a broken hip.
Includes a chatty typed letter signed J[anet] from New York City to Aunt in which Janet mentioned speaking at a Meeting which Mildred Olmsted attended. Also includes a letter from Hannah Hull to Janet Speakman addressed to Mary at Buck Hill Falls.
Concerning her income from the Estate of Alice M. Hicks, trust account
Letters received before Martha's 1890 marriage to William W. Speakmn. from Swarthmore College friends and family. Includes a letter from her mother, 1872-12-1, and letter from Edward Magill and Elizabeth Powell Bond.
Letters received before her marriage, friends from Swarthmore College and family. Anna was in the Class of 1887.
Congratulations on birth of their daughter, Martha Speakman
Includes letters from her father. Also, mention of Swarthmore's return to regular events including ladies meeting in Mrs. Bond's parlor
1905-11-7 letter from Elizabeth Powell Bond referred to challenge in her life dealing with changes in her life as she approached retirement as Dean. A letter datef 1 month 1907 refers to sudden death of Dr. Smedley. William Smedley was a physician and neighbor in Swarthmore. His widow subsequently married Clarence Hoadley, son of Swarthmore College professor George Hoadley.
Includes notes from Isaac and Hannah Clothier, "Ballytore," and Virginia Wilhelm, a practitioner of Christian Science
Condolences on death of her husband
Includes typed letter signed from her doctor Claus Jordan which recommended that she winter in a warm, dry climate for her arthritis. Anna joined her sister in Pasadena, California, until the summer of 1945.
Correspondence to husband and family. Birthday tribute to her longtime friend Hannah Clothier Hull which mentioned that they shared working for Sleighton Farms, National Urban League, women's suffrage, and Women International League, All Friends Conference in London. Anna's correspondence illustratess the breadth of her activities and friendships.
Letters from J. Russell Hayes, friend of both Anna and William
Includes cCorrespondence concerning the sale by Anna Travilla of the lot with West Hill water tower, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, to W. M. Foote in 1917,
Courtship letters to Anna Travilla
Courtship letters to Anna Travilla
Letters to his wife and daughter Janet. Also a farewell telegram to the Hulls, 1907, from on board the Kron Prinz Wilhelm, Hoboken.
Loving letters to his wife and daughters.
Verse and photograph, wedding invitation. Identified on image as mother of William W Speakman.
The wedding took place on 1890-10-5 at the High Street Meeting House, Philadelphia. The newspaper clipping described the service and noted that this was the first marriage to take place in the meeting house since the Separation. Also receipt for Anna's dress and photocopy of their wedding certificate.
1825 Chestnut Street, for Dr. W.W. Speakman
Includes typed prepared remarks for a speech at the Swarthmoore Club with faculty, alumni, and President Swain attending. Humorous remarks about the personalities and the pleasure of living close to the College.
Informal rhymes for family and friends, anniversaries and other events, parties such as Christmas at Hannah Hull's home in Swarthmore, thoughts on division amongst Friends, etc. Handwritten and typed versions. Also poems by Charles F. Jenkins, Edward Jenkins, Emma Gawthrope Hayes, Anna Speakman, etc.
In verse, carbon copy. Also Speakman's opening remarks at Hahnemann Hospital
Notes concerning Buck Hill Falls, scripts for skits, Buck Hill Falls was established in 1901 as a Quaker resort in Monroe County in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains by Philadelphia Hicksite Quakers. Lots were quickly developed with "cottages," and in 1926 a large stone structure designed by Quaker architect Walter Smedley replaced the original simple hotel. Smedley had also designed Pocono Manor, a Quaker resort founded by Orthodox Quakers.
Miscellaneous bank statements
Ophthalmological topics
Speakman died 1930-2nd month-28. Will and trusts for his sister-in-law Mary Travilla and Edmonia Jackson. Will is dated 1927, Executor Charles F. Jenkins.
The service at Swarthmore Friends Meeting on the College campus. Among speakers were his friends William I. Hull, Jesse H. Holmes, J. Russell Hayes, Paul M. Pearson and others.
Anna died on October 27, 1945, following declining health and surgery. Will and inventories. The Will included a bequest to her sister Mary Travilla and to Edmonia Jackson for her service to the family. Personal items to be divided between her daughters, and a trust for her grandson James Wood. Bequests to various Quaker organizations and the residual to be divided equally between her daughters. Signed Dec. 4, 1936
Childhood note, etc.
Including 1910 newspaper The Swarthmore
Housekeeper's Weekly (Philadelphia) and Children's Friend (Edited by Esther K Smedley, West Chester, Pa.)
The album is inscribed "Elizabeth Newport Jnr from Uncle William... Philadelphia." First entry dated 1841. Poems and prose addressed to "Lizzie" including essay signed by John Jackson, Sharon Boarding School, 1846.
Gift of her husband, 1853
Leather bound booklet with a few addresses, pages cut. Drafts, etc. 1867 address book includes an account of a death, unknown author.
West Chester Friends High School. Anna Travilla (1866-1945), daughter of Martha Ellison Newport and Jonathan Travilla . She married William Speakman in 1890. Also a small dictation book, 1881
Only entries in 1906 and 1907. Mary was a respected Quaker minister and spoke often at Meetings.
The cover is embossed Dr. William W. Speakman but apparently a diary kept by his wife, Anna T. Speakman. Socialized with Hulls, visited elder daughter Martha Wood in Mont Kisco, New York, and France where daughter Janet worked in a maternity hospital,
Clippings and family memorabilia retained for her grandson James Wood. It includes clippings concerning her ministry and family events, compiled while visiting Pasadena, Californis where her sister Mary lived.
Guests included J. Russell Hayes, L. Hollingsworth Wood, Carolena Wood, and other prominent Friends.
"To William W. and Anna Travilla Speakman from their Friend Mary C. Clothier." Autographs included Frank Aydelotte, William I. Hull, etc. The original cottage had been gutted by fire.
Autographs include Frank Aydelotte, Hannah Hull, Charles Pickett, Martha and L. Hollingsworth Wood. Janet Speakman wrote that she hoped to always live in the cottage. [Note: Anna Speakman divided her estate equally between her two daughters which caused a rift between Janet and family and friends, documented in the related Janet Speakman Papers.]
Final entry, August 16, 1941. Anna spent the first part of the year in California.
Martha served March 8-19 with Friends Mission in Vienna and then visited other European cities. Rather than documenting her work with refugees, the album contains commercial images of places she visited.
Twin portraits photographs of Anna Travilla Speakman's parents.. See also PA 107 for daguerreotypes of Martha Ellison Newport and her sister Elizabeth Newport.
Anna and William Speakman firste lived in a Queen Anne-style house on Vassar Avenue. Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, from 1890 to 1892. In 1892 they moved to 302 South Chester Road adjacent to the Swarthmore College campus. Pictures of the Vassar house are interior views, labeled by Anna who noted her mother's picture on the wall. Also a snapshot of the ruins of the original Hemlocks cottage, April 1925, at Buck Hill Falls which was destroyed by fire.
Mothers of Anna Travilla and William Speakman
Sister of Anna Travilla Speakman
Younger daughter of William and Anna Speakman
Includes an informal group photographs posed at the Gwynedd meeting house pre-1890: Anna Jenkins, Emma Gwthrop, Anna Travilla, Florence Jenkins, Arthur Jenkins, W.W. Speakman
Arthur Stanley Cochran, Swarthmore architect, was part of the Speakman's circle of friends. He died in 1921. Other individuals are not identified. Three unidentified tintypes of young women also stored in file.