Jackson-Conard Family Papers

The Jackson-Conard Family Papers include correspondence, journals and commonplace books, estate, property, and financial records, and other miscellaneous materials of a Chester County Quaker family.

The correspondence received by William Jackson (1746-1834) is primarily in support of his travelling ministry. Letters from other ministers and prominent Friends encourage his religious work and contain news of family and friends. Of particular interest is a manuscript map of the Quaker meetings in the Hudson River Valley—with indication of distance between each—drawn on the back of a 1798 letter from Joseph Whitall. Also included is a note from Joshua Pusey discussing the reasons for Friends' avoidance of certain colors in plain dress. Moses Brown makes reference to the activities of the Free Quakers in New England in the early 1780's. Other correspondents include Sarah Brown, David Cooper, Deborah Darby, Thomas Fisher, Edward Garrigues, Ann Harlan, Hannah Jackson, Isaac Jackson, James Jackson, Mehetabel Jenkins, Jacob Lindley, James Mott, Samuel Parsons, John Pemberton, Sarah Rodman, William Rotch, Rachel Rowntree, David Sands, Job Scott, Anne and John Willis, Anne Willson,

John Jackson's (1748-1821) papers include correspondence on the exchange of plants and several albums and lists of plant materials presumably maintained at his home, Harmony Grove, including a fragile herbarium. His son, William's (1789-1864) correspondence falls into two categories, that related to his brief political career in the Pennsylvania State Senate in the late 1830's, and that from relatives and friends, much relating to settlement of family estates for which he served as Executor. Of particular interest is a letter from Benjamin Lundy regarding his proposal to settle African-Americans in Mexico. Hannah Monaghan writes about a visit from the New Harmonists and relates her political views on a variety of issues. Elijah Pennypacker's correspondence contains a lot of information about Pennsylvania State politics from 1834-39. Other correspondents include Joel Jackson, Jesse Kersey, Dr. George Smith, and Benjamin and Catherine Webb

Amie Anna Hughes (1850-1925), also known as Anna A. Hughes, married Milton E. Conard in 1873; Milton earned his doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1891. Milton's father, Everard Conard, married Mary T. Jackson, William's daughter, in 1839. Everard, who died in 1893, was a farmer and taxidermist. Of particular interest in this part of the collection are three journals of Amie Anna Hughes kept during the three years before her marriage, as well as correspondence between the soon-to-be newlyweds while Milton was at Millersville, Pennsylvania, at school.