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Emlen Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-038

Scope and Contents

Contains papers relating to the Emlen family, residents of Middletown, Pennsylvania. Chiefly correspondence (1817-1849) of Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen (1787-1849), Quaker minister, relating to her travels to visit Friends' meetings in England, Ireland, New England, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia, as well as similar journeys made by her husband, James Emlen (1792-1866). Also biographical data, reference materials, and memorabilia. Includes material relating to Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in Chester County, Pa., where both Emlens taught; the Hicksite-Orthodox separation; and the free produce movement. Correspondents include Moses Brown, John Churchman, Samuel Emlen (ca. 1765-1837), Josiah Forster, Samuel Fothergill, Isaac Hadwen, Thomas Kite, Thomas Shillitoe, Esther Tuke, Joseph Whitall, and John Wilbur.

Dates

  • Creation: 1740 - 1886
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1817 - 1849

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

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/.

Biographical / Historical

Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen was born 4mo 27, 1787, the daughter of Cadwalader and Phebe Foulke of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Her parents moved frequently, and her mother died when she was 15. Her father died in Ohio County, Virginia, in 1809. In 1809 she married William Farquhar under the care of Short Creek Monthly Meeting, Ohio. He died in 1811, and their infant son died the following year. Supporting herself as a teacher, Sarah Farquhar taught at the Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1811-1816. In 1816, she married James Emlen (1792-1866) under the care of Concord Monthly Meeting. He was the son of James and Phebe Peirce Emlen; his father was an Elder at Middletown Monthly Meeting, Chester Co., and served on the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee as well as Westtown Committee. Like his father, James Emlen served as an Elder and on the Westtown Committee and traveled as a companion to Quaker ministers. About 1814, he moved to a farm in Middletown, Chester Co., where he operated a school for boys. In 1835, the family moved to Westtown where James Emlen worked as a teacher at the Boarding School School. Sarah Emlen began her ministry at a young age and was recorded as a minister by Chester Monthly Meeting in 1828. She travelled extensively in the U.S. and Great Britain. In 1831-1832, in the company of Esther Lewis and Henry Hull, she visited the southern States, and in 1844-1845 she visited Great Britain and Ireland. Sarah and James had seven children: James (1816-1827); Mary (1818-1893 married Chalkley Bell; Phebe (1820-1887) married three times; Sarah Cresson (1822-1904) married William P. Bangs, a Delaware merchant; Ann (1824-1905) married Joseph Howell; Susan (1826-1887) unmarried; and Samuel (1829-1920) who married Sarah Williams and was a recorded minister. Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen died 7mo 27, 1849

Extent

0.75 linear ft. (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Contains papers relating to the Emlen family, residents of Middletown and West Chester, Pennsylvania. Chiefly correspondence (1817-1849) of Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen (1787-1849), Quaker minister, relating to her travels to visit Friends' meetings in England, Ireland, New England, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Also correspondence of Quaker ministers 1740-1790, copybooks, and memorabilia. Includes material relating to Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in Chester County, Pa., where both Emlens taught; the Hicksite-Orthodox separation; slavery, the free produce movement and other Quaker concersn. Correspondents include Moses Brown, John Churchman, Samuel Emlen (ca. 1765-1837), Josiah Forster, Samuel Fothergill, Isaac Hadwen, Thomas Kite, Thomas Shillitoe, Esther Tuke, Joseph Whitall, and John Wilbur.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in into four series:
  1. Correspondence sent by Sarah Emlen
  2. Correspondence received by Sarah and James Emlen
  3. Miscellaneous correspondence
  4. Miscellaneous papers

Custodial History

The papers apparently were preserved by Samuel Emlen (1829-1920), son of Sarah and James Foulke. His son, George W. Emlen, married Eleanor Cope in 1877 and lived in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa. Their son, George William Emlen, Jr., marrried Eleanor Clark. George W. and Eleanor C. Emlen, Jr., donated the Sarah Emlen correspondece and journals to FHL in 1965. In 1969, they donated the additional Quaker correspondence and miscellaneous papers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Emlen, 1965, 1969

Related Materials

James Emlen, Journal (photocopy), 1794. MSS 003/051

Separated Materials

The following material has been removed from the collection and recatalogued:
  1. “Anthony Benezet to His Friend Ann Emlen”, 1784; “Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge”; Appendix.
  2. Journals of Sarah Foulke Farquhar Emlen, 1811-1845. See Journals MSS 003/052

Related Names

Subject

Subjects

Record Groups

Administrative Information

Title
An Inventory of the Emlen Family Papers, 1796-1866
Status
Completed
Author
Susanna K. Morikawa
Date
2017
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2017: This finding aid was revised in September 2017 by Susanna K. Morikawa to provide better detail and access.
  • 2020: Updated outdated, harmful terminology related to enslavement, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.
  • 2024: This finding aid was reviewed in order to change or contextualize any outdated, harmful terminology related to Indigenous Peoples, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.

Find It at the Library

Find It at the Library

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