Sharpless, Joshua

This copy of an account from 1798 and 1799 was written in an unknown hand likely in the latter half of the 19th century. The volume describes Isaac Coates, Joshua Sharpless, and John Pierce's travel to Native American reservations on behalf of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee, and the work they did while there.

This collection is comprised of the handwritten correspondence and a handwritten copy of the manuscript "Some Account of my Journey Among the Seneca" by Halliday Jackson.

Letters, accounts, diaries, and journals of members of the interrelated Sharpless and Kite families, including the papers of Joshua Sharpless (1746/7-1826) and letters of Mary Kite (1792-1861) as well as the papers of Edward G. Smedley, ca. 1836-1908, dealing with his experiences as a conscientious objector during the Civil War, 1863-1866.

The biographical manuscript of Joshua Sharpless describes Sharpless's early life, the influence of Quakerism in his life, his travels as a missionary to Indigenous nations in 1798, and a biographical description of his first wife, Edith Yarnall Sharpless.

This collection is comprised of the single volume manuscript describing Joshua Sharpless's visit to Native American tribes in New York state with John Pierce and Henry Simmons. The inside cover includes the signature of Aaron Sharpless, and it appears that he may have copied the manuscript from the diaries of Joshua Sharpless.

Entries describe Sharpless's travel to, and time spent in, Cornplanter's village during 1798.

Joel Swayne's diary entries describe his journey to the Seneca nation and the two years he spent there. Swayne provides detailed descriptions of Cornplanter (Gaiänt'wakê), the chief, his family, the village and villagers, cultural differences between the Quakers and the Senecas, the difficulty of the language barrier, and discussions between Quaker missionaries and Seneca members.