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John Dickinson papers, Bulk, 1753-1808, 1676-1885

Title: John Dickinson papers Bulk, 1753-1808 1676-1885

John Dickinson (1732-1808), a Philadelphia lawyer and politician, was a major figure in colonial Delaware and Pennsylvania governments and during the early national period. He was an active presence and prolific writer during the American Revolution and early Republic from the passage of the Sugar Act (1764) until the Jefferson presidency (1801 to 1809). He also served in the military as colonel, private, and brigadier general. He married Mary Norris in 1770. John Dickinson died in Delaware in 1808. The John Dickinson papers contains incoming and outgoing correspondence; drafts and original manuscript documents from the revolutionary and early national government, Revolutionary War, Delaware and Pennsylvania government; land papers; legal papers; bills and receipts; collected essays, notes and commonplace books; and estate material. The papers provide a clear picture of the way in which colonists envisioned their new country and how these new Americans worked, compromised and adapted in order to achieve their visions. Mary Norris Dickinson is documented in two volumes: one of letters and one of poems.

ArchivalResource: 5.2 Linear feet; 13 containers, 5 volumes

http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?id=PACSCL_LCP_LCPDickinson View

Logan family papers, Bulk, 1670-1872, 1638-1964

Title: Logan family papers Bulk, 1670-1872 1638-1964

The Logan family was a prominent Philadelphia family dating back to 1699, when James Logan, the family patriarch, arrived in Philadelphia to serve as the first secretary of the Pennsylvania colony. Through work in agriculture and politics, Logan and his descendants were intimately involved in the development of the Pennsylvania colony and, later, the fledging United States. James Logan's prominence resulted in connections, both professional and familial, with other prominent colonial families, including the Norris and Dickinson families. The Logan family papers, 1638-1964 (bulk 1670-1872), documents James Logan’s personal and professional life, as well as that of several generations of his descendents. There are papers documenting the lives of his son William, his grandson George Logan, his great-grandsons Albanus Charles Logan and Algernon Sydney Logan, and the subsequent relationships with the Dickinson and Norris families. John Dickinson, who married one of James Logan's descendents, is well documented in this collection as are his activities with the Pennsylvania and Delaware governments and his legal practice. This collection is rich in the history of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Delaware, the formation of the colony of Pennsylvania, the relationship of early colonials with the Native Americans, the bid for independence and the later formation of the United States of America. Included in the papers are correspondence, legal records, estate records, financial records, land and property records, diaries, and writings. Not only are prominent political figures (James Logan, George Logan, and John Dickinson) well documented in this collection, but women are also well documented, largely thanks to Deborah Norris Logan who kept a diary for most of her adult life. Her diaries and letters and those of some of her female relations reveal a glimpse into the lives of educated and prominent women in the Philadelphia area during the 18th and 19th centuries.

ArchivalResource: 34.8 Linear feet; 65 boxes, 79 volumes

http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?id=PACSCL_HSP_HSP0379 View

Loudoun. Papers, 1696-1939 (inclusive), 1760-1895 (bulk).

Title: Papers, 1696-1939 (inclusive), 1760-1895 (bulk).

A large collection of papers accumulated by several generations of residents of Loudoun, a mansion in Germantown, PA built in 1801 by Thomas Armat, a Philadelphia merchant. Included are papers of five related Philadelphia area families: Armat, Skerrett, Logan, Norris, and Dickinson. The bulk of the Armat family section consists of the business papers of Thomas Armat. The most significant part of his papers is for the years, 1784-1804, when Armat was a prominent merchant trading in goods, especially with Great Britain. The papers for the merchant years contain the business records of Thomas Armat, his son Thomas Wright Armat, and two Armat partnerships: Thomas Armat & Son, 1795-1797, and [Thomas] Armat & [James C.] Copper, 1799-1806. After 1800 Thomas Armat turned increasingly to other business enterprises, especially dry-goods merchandizing and real estate, and from about 1820 he was known simply as Thomas Armat, gentleman. The Thomas Armat business papers include incoming correspondence and loose financial records, 1779, 1784-1820, 1831; letterbooks, 1781-1798; journals, 1782-1800, 1818 (14 v.); ledgers, 1781-1805, 1818; receipt books, 1779-1829; miscellaneous account books, including four volumes relating to his property holdings; pocket diaries, 1790-1818; household journal, 1817-1829; and estate papers. Among the Armat ? Thomas Armat ? Thomas W. Armat business records consist of a letterbook, 1798-1801, journals, 1798-1799, receipt books, 1796-1807, and a journal of Thomas W. Armat's estate, 1806-1808. Also in the Armat section are: papers, 1780-1851 of Ann Smart Armat, Thomas Armat's fifth wife, Elizabeth Smart Rooker, Ann's sister, and James Rooker, Elizabeth's husband and pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Germantown, including incoming correspondence, loose financial records, and account books; James Rooker diary, 1811-1827 pertaining to church activities; Presbyterian Church of Germantown record book, 1818-1827; Thomas Armat, treasurer of St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Germantown, correspondence and financial records, 1817-1826; St. Luke's pew rent books, 1821-1825; Protestant Episcopal Association of Germantown subscription book, 1815-1816; St. Luke's Contingent Fund, 1922; business correspondence and financial records, 1800-1803 of Ashbury Dickins, Philadelphia bookseller. The Skerrett family section, 1805-1877, includes: family and personal correspondence, 1821-1849, of Jane Caroline Armat Skerrett, daughter of Thomas W. Armat and wife of James J. Skerrett, gentleman; her expense book while in Europe, 1836-1837; account book of Jane and James Skerrett concerning their real estate holdings, 1830-1860; Jane Skerrett estate papers, including financial records regarding rents collected from houses occupied by black tenants, 1856-1868. The larger portion of this section consists of James J. Skerrett financial records, 1805-1877 and estate papers. The Logan family section, 1768-1939, contains four generations of Logan family papers, begining with Deborah Norris Logan, collector of historical records. Her papers include outgoing family correspondence, 1768-1836; loose financial items; 1822 memoir of her husband George Logan, physician and legislator; commonplace books; and estate records. Other Logan family papers include: James Logan medical receipt book, n.d.; loose financial records, 1808-1848, and account book of Sommerville Farm, 1818, of Albanus Charles Logan, physician; personal correspondence, 1792-1844 of Maria Dickinson Logan; Charles F. Logan ledger, 1823-1825; incoming correspondence, 1830-1871, loose financial records, miscellaneous account books, and ledger, 1861-1863, of Gustavus George Logan, gentleman; incoming correspondence and loose financial records, 1858-1895, of Anna Armat Logan; her receipt book, 1870-1895, miscellaneous account books, address book, desk book diaries, 1874-1894, fragments of a diary, ca. 1864-1867, relating to her separation from Gustavus George Logan, and estate papers; loose financial records and account books, 1852-1854, pertaining to building Restlerigg Hall on Stenton farm; incoming correspondence, loose financial items, account books and desk book diaries, 1874-1929, of Albanus Charles Logan, gentleman; his Stenton Stock Farm records, 1876-1886, containing horse and boarding records; incoming correspondence and loose financial records, 1880-1939, account books account book of wages paid Loudoun servants, 1884-1895, Loudoun cash book, ca. 1899, and commonplace book of Maria Dickinson Logan. The Norris family section, 1706-1855, include a few papers, ca. 1761-1766, of Isaac Norris [II] relating to his property holdings; correspondence, 1759-1766, financial records, 1804-1809, and estate papers of Charles Norris, brother of Deborah Norris Logan; and miscellaneous Norris family papers. The Dickinson family section, 1760-1856, includes: John Dickinson, lawyer and statesman, incoming official and personal correspondence, outgoing family correspondence, especially to his wife Mary Norris Dickinson, and loose financial records, 1760, 1780-1804; Mary Norris Dickinson, incoming and outgoing family correspondence, 1794; their daughter, Sarah Norris Dickinson's financial papers containing correspondence, deeds, and bonds relating to her property holdings, 1794, 1810-1834, 1856. Other Loudoun records include: broadsides; deeds; photographs; account book, 1760-1765, of William Hicks of Staten Island; estate papers of Richard Hill, Philadelphia merchant, legislator, and judge, 1730 ff.; Mordecai Lloyd loose financial records, ca. 1730-1750; G. Roberts Smith journal of the estate of Benjamin Gerhard, 1864-1866; G. Roberts Smith miscellaneous accounts, 1835-1845; G. Roberts Smith and Alexander H. Smith, guardians of Harry M. Smith, journal, 1842-1846; John J. Smith ledger, 1806-1822; Joseph Wharton, Philadelphia merchant, loose financial records, 1728-1772. Of special note are a few papers of Jonathan Dickinson, an importing merchant and landowner of Philadelphia and Jamaica, including incoming correspondence, 1698-1713, relating principally to his mercantile pursuits. Eighteen of the letters are from John Askew, his factor, friend, and business associate in London. Also included is an incomplete manuscript of the "Jonathan Dickinson Journal," 1696: "A Journey of the Travels of Several Persons and their Sufferings being cast-away in the Gulph among the Cannibals of Florida," a narrative describing a shipwreck experienced by Dickinson, his family, and ten of his slaves on a journey from Jamaica to Philadelphia.

ArchivalResource: ca. 1,9000 items.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122489656 View

Norris, Joseph, 1699-1733. Miscellaneous writings of Joseph Norris, 1723-1776.

Title: Miscellaneous writings of Joseph Norris, 1723-1776.

A ledger containing miscellaneous writings by Joseph Norris penned between 1723 and 1733. After his death, the book was apparently taken over and continued by his brother Isaac Norris (1701-1766), and then by Isaac Norris's daughter Mary Norris Dickinson (1740 - 1803). Joseph Norris's writings consist of verses, devotional poetry, notes on church history and doctrine, etc. Also included are drafts of his letters to "Fair Maid," (1723, July 21); "My Esteemed Friend" (1723, Oct. 23,), "Dear Susy" (1723, Sept. 13), and Isaac Norris (1731, May 18). Miscellaneous poems, notes, etc., written most likely by Isaac Norris between 1736 and 1762. Included are: "Obitum Josephi Norris" (In Latin); a poem satirizing the Pennsylvania Assembly ("State House," ca. 1740), verses on the death of Patrick Gordon (May 5, 1736) and "G. George" (1737), "Soliloquy: Verses occasioned by a Letter in ye Pennsylvania Gazette. Printed ye Mercury 1737," and a note describing a visit to John Bartram's "greenhouse" (March 1762). Also included are the poems by Hannah Griffiths (1727- ca. 1809), a Quaker poet who wrote under the pseudonym Fidelia: "The Wish" (1754), "To Isaac Norris, Esq. on his return from Indian Treaty at Albany July 1754," "To the Honorable Society of Informers" ( Feb. 1776), "Stability. Alluding to the 13th Psalm" (1776, Nov.), and "On the anniversary of the 4th of July 1776." According to the attached note by George Washington Norris (1808-1875), "the leaves which are missing I tore out & destroyed, believing that my father had he looked it over have done the same."

ArchivalResource: 44 leaves, 40 cm., bound ledger.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/670138653 View