Series 3: Joseph S. Elkinton Family Papers

Note: Joseph Scotton Elkinton (1830-1905) was the third child and oldest son of Joseph and Mary (Nutt) Elkinton. He was born as Tunasassa; his middle name was given in honor of Robert Scotton a colleague of his father. In 1856 he married Malinda Patterson (1836-1920) of Ohio. They had four children: Mary Patterson, Joseph, William Tilman, Alfred Cope, and Thomas (who died in infancy). Together with his brother Thomas, Joseph S. worked in the manufacturing company established by his father. And like his father, he worked extensively with the Indians of New York State. A Quaker minister, he also took a keen interest in the Doukhobors, African-Americans, Quaker schools, and changes in the Society of Friends. He was active on the Indian Committee and Willets Trust. In 1866 he was acknowledged as a Quaker minister, and in the early 1870s, he passed most of the business responsibilities of the family company to his brother, Thomas, and later to his son, William Tilman Elkinton. His memoirs and diary begins with recollections up to 1854 and conclude with his death in 1905. Some business, family and world events are mentioned but the diary is most interesting in its minutia of the life of a Quaker minister - details of his visitations to meetings and individuals, supplications and testimonies during meetings and elsewhere by him and others, and concerns and changes in Society of Friends. On a personal issue, there is a one year gap in the diary, supposed destroyed, during the time that his daughter married the prominent Japanese diplomat, Inazo Nitobe, in 1891 against the wishes of the family. Elkinton was involved with the prominent Friends of his day, particularly Orthodox and Conservative, but he also visited other denominations and held special meetings in various venues. The Series also contains significant family correspondence, including the Patterson and Walton branches from Ohio.