Pennsylvania Photos and Documents

Approximately 150 handwritten letters and notes by Colonel Samuel Miles related to his business activities in Pennsylvania. Dates range from February 1802 to November 1805. Colonel Samuel Miles (soldier, business entrepreneur, and public servant) made his mark in Pennsylvania history serving the province and state and the city of Philadelphia, creating the iron industry in Centre County, PA, and founding the town of Milesburg, PA named for his family. He died in December 1805.

Compositions on abstract concepts created by a young Mary E. D. Wilson of Bellefonte, PA and written while attending the Lawrenceville Female Seminary in New Jersey circa 1851 and 1852. Concepts include: twilight, intemperance, ignorance, falsehood, liberty, peace, sad and dreary, friendship, sunset, evening, childhood, night, love, the importance of a well-spent youth, the life of man, sadness and mirth, and home. Also includes daguerreotype and B&W photographs of Mary E. D. Wilson and several of her report cards from the school.

History of the Miles-Potter-Humes House in Bellefonte, PA from 1815 to the present and of its owners through photographs, other images, and documents.

Original handwritten version of John Blair Linn's trip with new transcription; each of the 19 objects collected on the battlefield, with a description of what the object shows or represents (and its connection with the John Blair Linn journal) with explanatory notes giving the other story, and with transcriptions of letters (with proper recognition of the original creator).

The diary of Chester County travels undertaken by Thomas L. Montgomery (the “Dragon”), John Thomson (“St. George”), Edward J. Nolan (“General Wheeler”), and Clarence Kates (the “Cherub”) consists of 79 scanned pages and dates from July 8-15, 1899. In the journal, the men refer to themselves by the nicknames indicated in the parentheses above. Thomas Lynch Montgomery (1862-1929) was a librarian. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his parents were Catherine Gertrude Lynch and Oswald Montgomery. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1884 and worked as librarian at the Wagner Free Institute of Science prior to his 1903 appointment as State Librarian. After retiring from that position, he became the librarian and corresponding secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He also served as a trustee of the Free Library of Philadelphia. His first wife was Brinca Gilpin; after her death he married Susan Kelm Savage, the widow of William Lyttleton Savage. He was a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and in 1899, the Montgomery family either owned or rented a farm in Green Hill, Chester County. John Thomson (1835-1916) was also a librarian. He was born in England in 1835 and married Mary Ann Faulkner, a poet and hymn writer. They had a number of children and immigrated to the United States around 1881. He was the private librarian for Jay Gould (railroad magnate and financier in New York City) and for Clarence H. Clark (banker and property developer in Philadelphia), and he produced printed bibliographies of the libraries of both these men. Thomson then became head librarian of the Free Library of Philadelphia and oversaw the opening of its first branch at the Wagner Free Institute, where Thomas L. Montgomery also worked. Edward James Nolan (1846-1921) was a physician and librarian. His parents were from Ireland, and he was born in either Ireland or New York, as indicated in different census records. In 1862, he became library assistant at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, but then studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1867, he returned to the Academy as librarian and remained there until his death in 1921. In 1909, his history of the Academy was published and the diaries of his European travels were reported to be held by the American Catholic Historical Society. Clarence Sears Kates (1870-1922) was born in Philadelphia, the son of Julia May Smith and Horace Nicklen Kates. After graduating from Episcopal Academy and the University of Pennsylvania (1889), Kates married Mary Avil, and they had two sons. Kates had an interest in farming/agricultural enterprises and forestry, and he was a friend of forester Gifford Pinchot. He was a member of a number of organizations, including the Pennsylvania State Grange, the Rural Progress Association of Pennsylvania, Chester County Farmers Club, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Corn Exchange National Bank, the University Club, the Undine Barge Club (one of Philadelphia’s rowing clubs), and the Philobiblian Club (a group of book lovers). In the early 1900s, Clarence Kates purchased the old Coxe farm in Glen Loch, West Whiteland Township, Chester County, and there worked to establish a model farm. He named the property Swedesford Manor and remodeled the old house to resemble Haddon Hall, a distinguished house in England. He joined the local St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. After the Reverend Charles Wesley Shreiner established the Church Farm School for boys on an abandoned farm in Glen Loch, Kates, a trustee of the school, worked with the students to clear the land. After Kates’ death in 1922, his farm was rented by the school. The travel diary begins with the men meeting at Dr. Montgomery’s Glenwood Farm, in Green Hill, north of West Chester. Along the way, some observations are made about landscape and plants, and places where they ate or lodged. However, much of the diary is used to record snippets of their discussions. They also document fantastical tales about some of the people they meet. For example, a beautiful waitress in Parkesburg is said to be the daughter of Aida and Rhadamas (characters in the opera Aida). In another tale, two workers (with Irish names and accents) at the Falls of French Creek are supposedly the twin sons of a German prince. They spend their first night in Downingtown, where they attend a baseball game. On July 9, they travel through Loag’s Corner, over Welch [sic, i.e. Welsh] Mountains, to Springfield [i.e. Elverson], through St. Mary’s and Knauertown, and lodge that night at the Falls of French Creek [now St. Peters Village]. After visiting the granite quarry there, they drive to Honey Brook. On July 11, they travel through Parkesburg, Cochransville, and Russellville, and spend the night in Oxford. Their travels on July 12 take them through Lewisville, Landenberg, Avondale, Toughkenamon, and Kennett Square. They view Cedarcroft, the home of Bayard Taylor, but not liking the hotel in Kennett, they return to Toughkenamon for the night. On July 13, they travel to Chadds Ford, but find that students from Drexel Institute have taken all the rooms, so they proceed to Wilmington, Delaware, for the night. While there, they take a trolley to Brandywine Springs Park, a nearby amusement park. On the 14th, they eat lunch in Chadds Ford, where they see artists drawing costumed models. These are students of Howard Pyle, although he is not mentioned by name. After lunch, they pass the Birmingham school and the new county alms house, and spend the night in Coatesville. Their journey ends on July 15 with their return to Glenwood Farm. Several typed transcriptions of the original diary were commissioned by Mrs. Thomas L. Montgomery in 1930. A few passages from the original, however, were not included. The locations of the original diary and the other typed copies are not known. The entirety of this transcript, which also includes photographs of the four men, is housed and available for research use at the Chester County History Center.

The digitized papers of Charles J. Pennock consist of a small number of letters, most by or addressed to Charles J. Pennock; two bird log books; a manuscript copy of a bird book by Charles L. Bonaparte; and a notebook of geology notes. Materials date from 1791 to 1927, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1860 to 1927. Charles John Pennock was an ornithologist who lived most of his life in Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Pennock was born to a Quaker family in 1857, the son of Deborah Yerkes and Samuel Pennock. He was married twice, and had two sons and two daughters. He was a tax collector, magistrate, and businessman in Kennett Square, but his chief love was for birds. Pennock collected specimens and took notes on the birds he spotted around Chester County. He was a member of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, serving as president 1901-1903; the American Ornithologists’ Union (A.O.U.); and the West Chester Bird Club. He also studied birds in Delaware and was named its state ornithologist. He amassed a significant collection of books about North American birds, and his collection of birds and eggs was given to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. After attending an ornithological meeting in Philadelphia on May 15, 1913, Pennock did not return home. Police were alerted and a search for him was instigated, but he was not located. However, in 1919, Dr. Witmer Stone, curator of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, believed that notes various ornithologists were receiving from a John Williams in St. Marks, Florida were similar to notes Pennock had written. Stone’s suspicions were enough aroused that he alerted one of Pennock’s relatives, Dr. Richard J. Phillips. Phillips journeyed to St. Marks to investigate and discovered that John Williams was indeed Pennock. With his identity discovered, Pennock returned to his wife in Kennett Square and died there in 1935.

This collections represents all extant records of the Chester County Board of Relief from 1861 through 1865. The Chester County Board of Relief was set up by the Act of May 15, 1861 P.L. 749, entitled "An Act to Create a Loan and to Provide for Arming the State" to aid local families of Civil War soldiers. Funded by state appropriations, its members included the County Commissioners and Court of Common Pleas Associate Judges. Township boards of relief were set up individually without legal precedent when townships felt the County Board did not meet the need for aid. Townships could petition the Board to assist their families although the Board did not always agree to help and the township boards assisted families without assistance from the county. The materials in this collection document the actives of the Board of Relief and provides detailed information on the families who sought its assistance. This collection is divided into four record series: account books, applications, correspondence, and administrative records. A full index to the account books, applications, and correspondence can be found here: https://www.chesco.org/1702/Board-of-Relief-1861-1865.

This selection of digitized diaries by David Evans dates from 1835 to 1879. In these diaries, Evans notes his early studies in school; his experiences as a teacher, farmer, and surveyor; his interests in geology, botany, and history; his attendance at Quaker and Anti-Slavery Society meetings; and the daily lives of his family and friends. From the late 1830s to the early 1850s, many of Evans’ entries provide names and details of aid he provided as a member of the Underground Railroad. There is also one volume by David’s brother, Josiah Evans, dating from March to December 1838, which documents Josiah’s time in Ohio. Early entries describe the passing environs en route to Ohio, and, once there, focus on daily life, visits with family and friends, and his attendance at Quaker and Anti-Slavery Society meetings. David Evans was born in 1818, the son of Nathan and Zillah Maule Evans of Willistown Township, Pennsylvania and died, age 80, on July 4, 1898. He had one brother and four sisters: Josiah, Catharine, Anne, Elizabeth, and Mary. Evans married Eliza W. House on March 21, 1861. Eliza died, most likely of breast cancer, in 1875, age 45; David did not remarry. Although young family members resided with David and Eliza, the couple was childless. In addition to living in Willistown, Evans resided in Malvern, Pennsylvania, a town he helped develop from the 1860s into the 1890s. Primarily an off-and-on school teacher and a farmer, Evans followed many interests, including his Quaker faith, the abolition of slavery, reading, farming, surveying, temperance, architecture, traveling, and rock formations. He was a member of the Willistown Library and the Willistown Literary Society. In March 1853, Evans was elected to a three year term as a Willistown Township school director. Six years later he was appointed township auditor. As a businessman, Evans operated a lumber yard. He wrote in his diary that he had “commenced business in the line of lumber coal feed flour etc. at the W. Chester Intersection R.R. January 1, 1866.” In Willistown, David Evans, with his father, Nathan, was part of a network of sympathizers who organized stations in the Underground Railroad. Additionally, he was involved in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, serving as a delegate after the organization had been re-established in 1837. Even though Evans was a staunch abolitionist, he refused to serve in the Union army, instead registering as a conscientious objector.

This digitized volume is a copy of John Churchman’s survey work of the Nottingham Lots. The location of the original is unknown. Gilbert Cope, a Chester County, Pa. historian and genealogist, obtained access to Churchman’s personal papers and copied the volume from 1868 to 1873. John Churchman (1753-1805), a native of East Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pa., was a noted 18th-century surveyor and cartographer. Together with other members of his family, he is credited with compiling this volume recording information about the Nottingham Lots. For many years, Churchman held the official post of surveyor for Chester, Delaware, and parts of Berks and Lancaster Counties, Pa. In addition, he was a self-taught scientist, investigated magnetic phenomena in determining seafaring longitude, and was a member of the Society of Friends. Because Churchman eventually deviated from the Quaker “path of simplicity” and became involved in such assorted business activities as real estate investments and mining, he was dismissed from the Nottingham Monthly Meeting. Churchman’s publications include Variation Chart or Magnetic Atlas and a map of the Delmarva Peninsula (1778), which he dedicated to the American Philosophical Society. Churchman corresponded internationally; visited Copenhagen, Denmark, London, England, and St. Petersburg, Russia; and was elected to membership in the Royal Society of Arts (U.K.) and the Imperial Russian Academy. Churchman died at sea as he sailed home to America, having earlier suffered illness in London. The Nottingham Lots, consisting of 18,000 acres, were originally located in Southeastern Pennsylvania. They were created in 1701 by William Penn, who wanted both lands he could control and a settlement along the border separating Pennsylvania and Catholic-friendly Maryland. Penn's original tract was divided into 37 lots, each approximately 500 acres. It is believed that prospective owners made their selections by drawing lots; hence, the use of that descriptive word. Eventually, property ownership was disputed by Penn and his descendants and by Maryland’s Lord Baltimore and his descendants, chiefly over the location of the southern border of Pennsylvania and the northern border of Maryland. Much of this volume of 306 pages records handwritten text and precisely drawn maps relating to ownership of the Nottingham Lots, including owner’s names, lot locations, surveying data, and information dating from 1681 to 1875. Additionally, there are six other informative sections in the volume: - List of Nottingham Warrants (owners by surname) (pp. 128-149) - Contributors to Lancaster Meeting House (1759) (pp. 218-219) - Newlin Township (deeds, surveys, landowners, etc.) (pp. 242-248) - East Bradford Township (landowners) (pp. 251-254) - 4th Battalion, Chester County (1776) – militia list, etc. (pp. 292-299) - Chester County landowners (pp. 300-306) This volume was once part of the Gilbert Cope Historical and Genealogical Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In November 1952, it was deaccessioned and transferred to the Chester County History Center. Evidence suggests that prior to 1921, the volume was in the possession of two West Chester residents, William B. McCullough and Slater Russell. In addition to Churchman’s surveys, the digitized material includes a 16 page index of landowner names and locations mentioned in the surveys. Related records on the Nottingham Lots can be found at the Chester County Archives.

The digitized reminiscences recorded by John Hill Brinton consist of five volumes (three original and two typed transcripts) and date from 1856 to 1868. Found within the collection are descriptions of early Chester County people, places, and historical events dating back to the late 1600s. John Hill Brinton (1811-1893) was born in Thornbury, Pennsylvania on June 2, 1811, the son of Thomas Hill and Catharine Odenheimer Brinton. He attended Strode’s Academy, West Chester, Pennsylvania and Germantown Academy in Philadelphia. Brinton then studied law for three years with William H. Dillingham and was admitted to the Chester County bar on October 6, 1832. He practiced law in West Chester, and was the oldest member of the county bar at the time of his death. Active in politics and a self-identified Jacksonian Democrat, Brinton was a compelling speaker. Though he was never elected to office, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General—the equivalent of District Attorney—for Chester County, serving from April 1847 until July 1848. Brinton was also a local historian interested in his family genealogy, as well as early Chester County history. In 1873, he traveled to Europe in part to learn about his family’s origins. Additionally, beginning in the 1840s, he interviewed Chester County residents about their families and recorded their memories about the county’s past. Brinton died, aged 81, unmarried and childless, after a brief illness on February 5, 1893. The collection consists of three handwritten volumes and two volumes of transcriptions that document the history of Chester County, Pennsylvania from the late 1600s to the mid-1800s through the reminiscences of residents interviewed by Brinton. After Brinton’s death, the original manuscript was held by the Ogier family for many years before being returned to the Brinton family at which point handwritten indexes were added. In 1915, Francis D. Brinton underwrote the manuscript’s typed transcription and the two volumes of transcripts were bound by Fahr and Johnson of Philadelphia in 1950. The only typed index is in the first transcribed volume, leaving readers to refer to the original manuscript volumes for handwritten indexes to Book 2 and Book 3. Book 1 is described by Brinton as “Conversations held with old people respecting former times—some of them relatives, some of them friends, some acquaintances—and residing generally in Chester and Delaware Counties and Birmingham and Thornbury Township.” The volume begins with a 23 page index followed by 240 pages of Brinton’s handwritten synopses. These recollections include many members of the Carr, Darlington, Dilworth, Downing, Hickman, Hoopes, Mendenhall, Sharpless, and Taylor families. Brinton notes that these conversations were recorded as soon as they took place, though in cases of multiple conversations with single individuals, manuscript notations were consolidated into a single record. Topics discussed include the Revolutionary War and the Battle of Brandywine, the growth and development of Chester County, the changing appearance of the county’s land and trees, house and road construction, Quaker meetings, family genealogies, local mills, property ownership, politics, legal precedents, and etc. In addition, Brinton family members and the building, renovation, and general appearance of the 1704 Brinton House are discussed at length. Book 2 begins with a 32 page index followed by 231 pages of handwritten recollections, which cover topics similar to those in Book 1. In addition, Brinton records his visit to Europe, which he undertook in part to trace his family’s history and origins. Book 3 begins with a 14 page index followed by 174 pages of notes. The first section, “Notes of Conversations held by me with old inhabitants about the early settlement in Penn’s Colony,” covers events relating to Chester County’s earliest European inhabitants. The second section, “Some account of William Brinton one of the early settlers in Penn’s Colony of Pennsylvania and of His Descendants,” is an essay on the life of William Brinton, who settled in America in the 1600s.

The two digitized diaries of Lewis White Williams consist of 102 scanned pages and date from July to August of 1857. Found within the diaries are descriptions of geologic formations, plants, animals, rivers, and minerals sighted during a wagon road survey of the southwest commissioned by the U.S. Government and under the command of Lt. Edward Beale. Lewis White Williams (1804-1873) was born to Richard and Martha Good Williams in East Goshen Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. A teacher by profession, Williams was also a well-regarded expert in local geology and mineralogy, and was one of the earliest members of the Chester County Cabinet of Natural Sciences. In amassing mineral samples for his personal collection, Williams traveled widely at home and abroad, arranging personal expeditions to all fifty states and territories, as well as China and Japan. In addition, Williams is credited with discovering corundum deposits near Unionville in Newlin Township, Chester County. A variety of Serpentine gemstone, named Williamsite, is also named for him. In 1857, Williams was appointed by President Buchanan’s administration to join a survey expedition organized by Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale to reconnoiter a wagon trail from New Mexico to California. As the Assistant Geologist and Naturalist for the “Camel Expedition,” White was tasked with noting the geologic formations encountered during the expedition, which used 77 camels to carry gear to Fort Tejon, California. Upon the successful completion of the survey, the Beale Road was used by the U.S. Army and settlers traveling west, and portions of the route’s corridor have been incorporated into Route 66 and Interstate 40. The first diary notes the expedition’s departure from the Gulf city of Indianola, Texas on June 6, and covers the group’s first 35 days of northwest travel to Leon Springs, Texas, just north of San Antonio. Entries in the second diary cover the expedition from July 15 to August 12 as the surveyors continued towards Las Cruces, New Mexico, and ends on Day 63 when the party passes through Albuquerque, New Mexico. In both volumes, Williams notes the daily activities of the camp, miles traveled per day, and the distinct geologic and botanical features of the rivers and valleys the group travels through. In addition, he includes notes on fossil and native plant specimens, local news, Native Americans, and individuals the party encounters during the journey, including rangers and local townspeople. The entirety of the Lewis White Williams Diary Collection is housed and available for research use at the Chester County History Center.

This digitized volume contains the meeting minutes of the Liberty Cornet Band dating from 1920-1932 and 1937, and includes the names of appointed officers and members of the band. The Liberty Cornet Band was an African-American musical group established in 1867 in West Chester, Pa. The band enjoyed a lofty profile in Chester County and the surrounding counties where they headlined concerts, performed at parades and sporting events, serenaded residents in surrounding communities, and played at Republican Party rallies and other political gatherings. Three prominent restaurateurs, Moses Hepburn, 1832-1897 (Magnolia House), Charles Burns, 1855/56-1917 (Burns’ Great Oyster House), and James Spence, 1843?-1925 (Spence’s Restaurant), were early band leaders. At its high point in January 1912, the band counted 50 members. In addition, the band performed farther afield, including Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic states. In 1897, the band was invited to take part in William McKinley’s presidential inauguration ceremony, and in 1901, it played at Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration. The band also gave benefit concerts, such as one in 1880 for the widow Abbey Smith of Media, Pa. In 1901, showing its patriotism, the band played at two events celebrating the return of American soldiers, including three African-Americans, from the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American War. Not unexpectedly, the band enjoyed a banner reputation among West Chester’s African-American community. In an 1888 newspaper article, a reporter wrote, “West Chester yesterday belonged to the colored people, it being the date of the Liberty Band’s picnic.” The Liberty Cornet Band was active from its founding in 1867 to at least 1931. As with many organizations, the band had its ups and downs, adding members in good years and losing members in challenging times. For example, in August 1889, a significant number of members left to follow a religious revival; the band subsequently had to reorganize. In the 1920s, membership dropped from fifty to number in the thirties. The organization’s records reveal that there were no concerts or other activities, except practice sessions, after 1931. Undoubtedly, the depression of the 1930s contributed to the band’s collapse, as one member noted in 1931 that “we need to do something worthwhile immediately because of the critical condition of the band.” By 1937, the band in all likelihood folded. In February of that year, due to lack of funds, its officers authorized the disposal of its property at West Chester’s Masonic Hall. In addition to documenting specific motions and actions taken by band members, the volume records paid membership dues/fees, voting results, plans for future performances, mention of committee reports, personnel issues (i.e. fines to band members), administrative costs, performance venues, and concert ticket sales/costs. An index to the band’s cash accounts is listed on the verso of the front cover, and these cash account inventories include the band’s monthly receipts and expenses. Noted band members in this volume include the following three Presidents: Alfred Bowman (1923), Jacob Milby (1924-1930), and Herman Ray (1930-1932). William H. Burton, a teacher at West Chester’s Gay Street School and later a professor at Cheney University, served as the band’s Secretary from 1927 to 1932.