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Stabler Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-234

Scope and Contents

Organized in six series, divided by marital units. Most of the collection is correspondence and journals/daybooks. Correspondence is organized by recipient, then by correspondent, and then by date.

Organization: Series 1: Biographical and genealogical material; Series 2: Field-Stabler; Series 3: Tubby-Stabler; Series 4: Stabler-Parker; Series 5: Stabler-Brooks; Series 6: Miscellaneous.

Dates

  • 1835-1955(bulk)

Creator

Limitations on Accessing the Collection

Collection is open for research.

Copyright and Rights Information

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/.

Biographical / Historical

Field-Stabler Family: Louisa Merritt Field (1826-1914) married Edward Hartshorne Stabler (1813-1877) in 1859. He was the son of Edward Stabler (1769-1831), an Alexandria, Virginia, druggist, by his second wife, Mary Hartshorne. Edward H. Stabler was the third child of this second marriage, and like his father and brothers, became a druggist. His uncle, William Stabler (1767-1806) married Deborah Pleasants (ca. 1763-1854), a Quaker minister, and their family removed to Sandy Spring, Md. His older sister, Mary, married John Leadbeater who succeeded his father-in-law in the Alexandria drug store. Edward H. Stabler established a drug company in Baltimore, Md.

Edward H. Stabler married first, in 1833, Mary Jefferis (1813-1857), and there were two children by this marriage, Lydia (1834-1883) and Edward J. Stabler, who died in infancy. Lydia did not marry, served as assistant clerk of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Women Friends (Hicksite), and corresponded with her young half-siblings. Edward H. Stabler married secondly, in 1859, Louisa M. Field; she was 32 at the time of their marriage, and he was fourteen years her senior. They lived in Baltimore, Md., until they removed to Brooklyn in 1866. They had three children: Mary Cope (1862-1869), Edward Lincoln Stabler (1865-1959) who married Elizabeth Tubby, and Louise M. Stabler (1868-1954) who married George Howard Parker. Edward H. Stabler died in February 1877 when his youngest daughter was only eight. His widow, Louisa, lived until 1914.

Louisa M. Field was the daughter of Richard Field (1793-1875) and Deborah Merritt Field (1797-1875) of New York Monthly Meeting. Her older brother, Charles M. Field, married Anna Cromwell. Louisa's parents lived on Willow Street in Brooklyn, and that is where Louisa and Edward H. Stabler lived after 1866. Louisa was descended from the Fields of Purchase Monthly Meeting. Her grandfather, Aaron Field (1764-1844), married Jane Haviland. Aaron's grandfather, Robert Field, manumitted Cuffy (an enslaved person) the slave in 1776. The family owned extensive property in Greenwich, Connecticut. Richard Field built the house on Willow Street in 1838, and the house remained in the family until 1922 when Edward H. and Louisa's son, Edward L. Stabler, and his family moved to Greenwich.

Louisa had four maiden aunts (Sarah, Ann, Eliza, and Hannah) who lived at Pine Cottage, Port Chester, West Chester Co., N.Y. Eliza Field (1801-1871) was a lifelong invalid, and her sisters wrote an account of her illness and travails. Sisters Sarah Field (1797-1879) and Hannah Field (1804-1903) kept daybooks from 1857-1879, and their niece, Louisa M. (Field) Stabler, continued this habit, maintaining daybooks from 1851-1899 and 1907-1912.

Tubby-Stabler Family: In 1890, Edward Lincoln Stabler (1865-1959), the middle child and only son of Louisa M. and Edward H. Stabler, married Elizabeth Tubby (1866-1951) in 1890. Both had been students at Friends' Seminary, Brooklyn. He was a graduate of Columbia University and worked at Manhattan Life Insurance in New York. She was the daughter of Josiah T. Tubby (1828-1909) and Phebe Anna (Bunker) Tubby (1832-1922), also of Brooklyn.. Phebe Anna was born in Boston, but was part of the Bunker family of Nantucket, the daughter of Paul and Almira (Starbuck) Bunker. Josiah T. and Phebe Anna spent several years in the late 1850s in Des Moines, Iowa.

Elizabeth Tubby was the second of their six children. Her older sister, Almira B. Tubby (1860-1926) and a younger sister, Elsie, were particularly close to the family, and Elsie Tubby maintained a close friendship with Louise M. Stabler, Edward L's sister. Elsie died suddenly in January1893 shortly before her planned marriage to Charles Woodbridge.

Edward L. and his sister Louise, or Lulu, visited their much older sister Lydia Stabler (1834-1883), who lived in Baltimore, Maryland, indicating a continuing relationship with the Maryland branch of the Stabler family. Edward L. and Elizabeth Stabler maintained an active correspondence with their children and grandchildren.

Stabler-Parker Family: In 1894, Louise M. Stabler (1868-1954), the youngest child of Louisa M. and Edward H. Stabler and nicknamed "Lulu" as a child, was married to George Howard Parker (1864-1955). Louise was in the first graduating class of Barnard College, and her husband was a pioneer in experimental zoology and professor at Harvard. George Howard Parker was born in Philadelphia and educated at Harvard. He was a founder of the Woods Hole Laboratory. Louise kept detailed journals before her marriage, from 1886-1895, and the couple corresponded regularly, receiving letters from family members. They had no children and traveled widely. Their home in Cambridge, MA, was a gathering place for students and family, and they generously funded the educations of their nieces and nephews. Louise was active in civic affairs and an expert horticulturalist.

Stabler-Brooks Family: Edward L. and Elizabeth (Tubby) Stabler had four children. The eldest of these was Eleanor Merritt Stabler (1892-1986) who in 1914 married Charles Franklin Brooks (1891-1958), who became a professor at Clark University in Massachusetts and then Harvard University. He was the director of the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in Milton, Mass. The Brooks family lived in Milton, Mass., and summered in Silver Lake, New Hampshire. Eleanor and her parents, together with her siblings, Anna B. (ABS), Howard Parker, who married Margaret van Alstyne, and Edward Russell Stabler who married Amna Cope, maintained an active correspondence.

Eleanor and Charles had seven children, Edward M., Margaret, Sylvia, Barbara, Edith, Norman, and Frona. Their second child, Margaret, was born October 23, 1917, and died December 31, 1997. She was married June 21, 1941, to Philip Weber Morse. They had three children; their daughter Eleanor Lincoln Morse is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the donor of the collection.

Extent

16 Linear Feet (29 boxes (4 boxes of pictures, one relic, oversized items))

Language

English

Overview

Contains the papers of the Stabler family of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Greenwich, Ct., and their collateral lines. The collection spans six generations of a Quaker family and includes diaries, daybooks, albums, pictures, and voluminous correspondence concerned primarily with family issues. Louisa Merritt Field (1826-1914) married Edward Hartshorne Stabler (1813-1877) in 1859. He was the son of Edward Stabler (1769-1831), an Alexandria, Virginia, druggist, by his second wife, Mary Hartshorne. They had three children: Mary Cope (1862-69), Edward Lincoln Stabler (1865-1959) who married Elizabeth Tubby, and Louise M. Stabler (1868-1954) who married George Howard Parker. Louisa M. Field was the daughter of Richard Field and Deborah Merritt Field of New York Monthly Meeting. Her father built the house on Willow Street, Brooklyn, in 1838, and the house remained in the family until 1922 when Edward H. and Louisa Stabler's son, Edward L. Stabler, and his family moved to Greenwich, Ct. Louisa had four maiden aunts who lived at Pine Cottage, Port Chester, West Chester Co., N.Y. Sisters Sarah and Hannah kept daybooks from 1857-1879, and their niece, Louisa M. (Field) Stabler, continued this habit, maintaining daybooks from 1851-1899 and 1907-1912. In 1890, Edward Lincoln Stabler (1865-1959), the middle child and only son of Louisa M. and Edward H. Stabler, married Elizabeth Tubby (1866-1951). He worked at Manhattan Life Insurance in New York. She was the daughter of Josiah and Phebe Anna (Bunker) Tubby, also of Brooklyn. In 1894, Louise M. Stabler (1868-1954), the youngest child of Louisa M. and Edward H. Stabler and nicknamed "Lulu" as a child, was married to George Howard Parker. Louisa was in the first graduating class of Barnard College, and her husband was a prominent zoologist and professor at Harvard. Edward L. and Elizabeth (Tubby) Stabler had four children. The eldest of these was Eleanor Merritt Stabler (1892-1986). In 1914 she married Charles Franklin Brooks, who became a professor at Clark University in Massachusetts and then Harvard University and director of the Blue Hill Meteorology Observatory. The Brooks family lived in Milton, Mass., and summered in Silver Lake, New Hampshire.

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Libraries' online catalog: http://tripod.brynmawr.edu

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, Eleanor Lincoln Morse, 2002, 2003, and Elizabeth Stabler, 2003.

The bulk of the collection was given by Eleanor Lincoln Morse, a Swarthmore College graduate and direct descendent of the Stabler family. Her mother and grandmother compiled the collection. Additional material mostly concerning Louise Merritt Stabler Parker and Edward L. and Elizabeth T. Stabler, was received from Elizabeth Stabler. This material was part of the estate of her father, Howard Parker Stabler, the oldest son of Edward L. and Elizabeth T. Stabler and executor of their estate.

Gift, Barbara Brooks Kerner, 2003 (2003-015)

In 2003, a small amount of Stabler-Tubby correspondence and a file on E.Russell Stabler's peace activism was received as part of the Brooks Family Papers, given to Barbara Brooks by her sister, Edith Brooks Allison.

Related Materials

Eleanor Stabler Brooks donated several individual items in 1974. This is detailed in her correspondence with Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College in Series 5.

George Howard Parker's papers have been deposited in the Harvard University Archives. Papers of Charles Franklin Brooks (primarily lecture notes, bibliographies) also deposited in Harvard University Archives. According to the family, additional papers were given to the Brooklyn Historical Society. Eleanor Stabler Brooks' papers were deposited in the Radcliffe Archives in 2002. Additional Brooks family material has been given to Friends Historical Library.

Separated Materials

Pearl Street meeting house financial records, 1774-1776 (1 bound volume) removed to RG2/NY/New York Monthly Meeting.

Mahogany sewing box removed to Relics.

Miscellaneous Quaker documents removed to New York Monthly Meeting -- Miscellaneous Papers: William Thorne acknowledgement, 1705; Thomas Leggett certificate of transfer, 1787; Joseph Grellet disownment (copy?), 1804.

Books to FHL general collection: Problems of Quakerism, by D. Elton Trueblood (1931); The Life of William Penn, by Samuel M. Janney (1852); Life of George Fox with Dissertations on His Views, by Samuel M. Janney (1853). Belonged to Edward H. Stabler. Acc. 2003-024.

Miscellaneous printed Quaker material transferred to reference files for better access. Including: Proceedings, First-Day School Association, NYYM, 1880; London Yearly Meeting Epistle, 1787; Sermon, Edward Stabler, at Green Street Mtg, Phila., 1829; Friends' Seminary, New York, Decennial Catalogue, 1871, with listing of students, faculty, history; Friends' Seminary, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1876-1877.

Six Cased Photographs removed to PA 107: Bunker, Matthew; Parker, Martha (Taylor); Bunker, Phoebe Gifford Leggett (second wife of Paul Bunker and step-mother of Phebe Anna Bunker who married Josiah Tubby; Unidentified man (Ambrotype); Unidentified man (daguerreotype) fine condition; Unidentified man (daguerreotype) very faded and poor condition .

Photographs removed to PA 119: Stabler Family Pictures (Except where indicated by *, person's last name is the same as group heading.)

1. Gummere, 1897-1898: Samuel J.; Francis B. (2 photos); Richard Mott.

2. Charles Starbuck Bunker, Nov 2nd 1902

3. Field: Deborah Merritt (2 photos); Hannah (4 pictures); Silhouette of Hannah Field (removed from sewing box); Lydia Haviland; John L. and Phoebe V. Platt* (farmers for Hannah Field) (3 photos); Manning, Dec. 1 1891, Dec. 1 1892 (2 photos); Richard; Mary Quimby; Herbert and [Nina?]; Harry Griffen (cousin on Field side)*; Fannie Field Griffin*; Herbert Haviland; Anna Cromwell; Unidentified woman (tintype from Hannah Field's sewing box).

4. Mary Hartshorne Stabler (5 identical photos)

5. Stabler: Edward H.; Francis (Edward H.'s brother)

6. Stabler: Mary Cope; Lydia C.

7. Actuarial Society, 1893 (incl. Edward Lincoln Stabler)

8. Lousia M. Stabler (5 photos, 4 identical)

9. Parker (with exception of first two, Acc. 20003-024): Louise Merritt [Stabler] (7 photos); George Howard (16 photos, 3 drawings); Wedding photograph, Louise Parker, 1894; Two formal Knarfographs, Louise, early 1890s; small photos, snapshots of Louise; school graduation of Louise; 50th Anniversary of founding of Barnard, with first graduating class, 1939: May Pullman, Jessica Cosgrove, Mrs. Pollitzer, Louise M. Parker; photo album, "Evolution Illustrated," 1892 gift from Louise to George Howard Parker.

10. Parker: Mary Catherine (1 photo, possibly 3 slides?); Bertha Taylor (1 photo, possibly 2 photos?); Catherine; Martha (4 photos).

11. Stabler (many bound together in albums): Louisa Merritt (1 photo); Edward Lincoln (15 photos, 2 identical); Louise Merritt (2 photos); Mary Cope (4 photos); Elizabeth Tubby (3 pictures); Elizabeth Underhill*; Charles Underhill*; Joshua Underhill*; Hannah Underhill*; Oliver Matthews*; Mary Matthews*; Anna Kuler*; James Sutton*; Carrie Field* and Lottie*; Anna C. Field*; Charles Field*; Freddie Field*; Anna Lyon*; Lydia [?]* and the Haviland children; Howard Griffen*; George Passost[?]*.

12. Tubby: Almira Bunker(8 photos); Elsie (3 photos, 2 identical); Josiah Thomas, 1848, 1878 (2 photos); Josiah Thomas Sr. (6 photos); Unidentified woman, wife of John Tubby, mother of Josiah Thomas Tubby Sr., came from England about 1832; Phebe Anna, 1867, 1871 (4 photos); Mary; Will; Unidentified Tubby (2 photos); Aunt Clara Tubby (wife of Will Tubby, older brother of Elizabeth Tubby Stabler);

13. Tubby: Print, done by Josiah Thomas Tubby Jr.

14. Stabler: Eleanor (later Eleanor Stabler Brooks) (9 photos, 6 identical, plus 10 mini-pictures, 1 photo with Charles F. Brooks and George Howard Parker); Anna Bunker (6 photos); Howard Parker (2 photos); Edward Russell (2 photos); Edward Stabler: Peace Activities.

15. Brooks: Frona M.(silhouette); Frances (silhouette); Edith (silhouette); Frona (silhouette); Eleanor Stabler (silhouette); Mary Cooper*; Elizabeth Tubby Stabler?*; Charles Franklin; Mrs. Benjamin. F?; Charles Franklin's birthplace, Holly Avenue, St. Paul, Minn.

16. Miscellaneous: Moses[?] Brown; John D. Hicks; Dorothy Barbour; d. Lucia Knapp; Mrs. K. S. Novak; 10 unidentified; list of contents of Lousia Merritt Stabler's photo album (but without actual album).

17. Photo album of Eleanor Stabler Brooks, including her children, her husband, her parents, and friends from college and elsewhere

18. Silhouettes: Lydia S. H. Field, 12/20/81; Aaron Field, 12/22/81; Helen Hicks; Charles M. Field, Jr.; Carrie Field, 12/2/81; Emily Cromwell, 12/2/81; Edward L. Stabler, Dec. 1900; Edward Stabler Field; Elizabeth T. Stabler, Dec. 1900; Eleanor M. Stabler; Charles M. Stabler; Alice Hicks; Caroline H. Hicks; William D. C. Field; Charles M. Field; Anna C. Field, 12/2/81.

Places: 1. Greenwich and Greenwich Ave. (3 pictures); 2. Pine Cottage (mostly 1902, 18 photos) ; 3. 135 Willow Street; 4. Golf Club Road, Conn. (4 pictures); 5. Photo album of George Howard and Louise Merritt Parker's house in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Processing Information

Richard Field built the house on Willow Street, Brooklyn, in 1838, and the house remained in the family until 1922 when Edward H. and Louisa's son, Edward L. Stabler, and his family moved to Greenwich. Family correspondence and papers were ultimately descended to the donor's grandmother, Eleanor Stabler Brooks. Her daughter, Margaret Brooks Morse, sorted and organized the papers.

Much of the correspondence was sorted by recipient, and that basic order has been retained and adapted into family series. Major groups of correspondence have been arranged chronologically and then by sender. An exception is the group of letters of Louise M. Stabler to her mother, Louisa M. Stabler, while Louise was touring Europe in 1892. These have been stored with Louise's other diaries rather than with correspondence.

Queen Street meeting house records removed to RG 2, Quaker Meeting Records, as have a small number of miscellaneous Quaker papers. Photographs have been removed to the FHL Picture Collection, PA 119, and Hannah Field's mahogany sewing box removed to Relics. Two books removed to FHL, general collection. Title and inscription photocopied and placed in Series 6. Pamphlets on the Friends Seminary removed to FHL reference collection, Schools (PG 2).

In May 2003, one box of additional material was added to the collection. This included earlier correspondence of Josiah T. and Phebe Anna Bunker, photographs, and additional early Stabler family correspondence.

In October 2003, two boxes of material were received from Elizabeth Stabler, who is the daughter of Howard Parker Stabler. This included diaries (1882, 1886), photographs, and related material concerning Louise Merritt Stabler Parker, and daybooks, marriage certificates and other papers primarily concerning Edward Lincoln and Elizabeth Tubby Stabler. A complete inventory of this material is filed with administrative papers for the collection. The additional material was integrated into the appropriate series.

In 2003, a small amount of Stabler-Tubby correspondence and a file on E.Russell Stabler's peace activism was received as part of the Brooks Family Papers, given to Barbara Brooks by her sister, Edith Brooks Allison.

Title
Stabler Family Papers, 1760-ca.1988
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2020: Updated outdated, harmful terminology related to enslavement, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.

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