Collection of Bringhurst Family Correspondence

The Bringhursts of Philadelphia, Pa., were a prominent Quaker family, active in the civic life of the City and in the Society of Friends. Several were involved in the establishment of Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society.

Circa 1701, Rosina Bringhurst, widow of Quaker John Bringhurst of London, and her four children emigrated to Philadelphia. Her son, John Bringhurst (1691-1750) was apprenticed as a cooper and worked as a seaman and merchant. In 1718 he married Mary Claypoole, who died in 1761.

John and Mary Claypoole had eight children, five of whom survived to maturity. Mary (1720/21-1798) married Judah Foulke (1722-1776) of Gwynedd, Pa., in 1743/44 under the care of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. John (1722-1789) and Elizabeth (1723/24-1790) did not marry. The fourth child, James (1730-1810) married first Anne Pole; secondly, Hannah Peters; and third, Ruth Barker. He was a wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, active in the American Philosophical Society, Pennsylvania Hospital, and Carpenter’s Hall. He owned a country estate at Gray's Ferry, now part of Philadelphia, which his first wife, Anne Pole (1705-1755) inherited from her father, also a Philadelphia merchant. In 1779, he married Hannah Peters, who died in 1782 at the age of 31. In the last two years of his life, he moved to Tiverton, Rhode Island, which was the home his third wife, Ruth, and where they often spent summers. James and Anne (Pole) Bringhurst had seven children, five of whom survived to maturity. One of his sons, Joseph Bringhurst (1767-1834) , was a prominent Philadelphia and Delaware physician and close friend of John Dickinson. In 1799, he married Deborah Ferris (1733-1844), sister of Benjamin Ferris of Wilmington, Delaware.

James Bringhurst corresponded regularly with John Murray (1758-1819), a prominent New York Quaker, with whom he shared common interests. Murray was the son of Robert Murray and Mary Lindley Murray and married Catherine Bowne. They had three children, including Lindley Murray born in 1790. John's brother was Lindley Murray (1745-1826), the Quaker author and grammarian. John Murray retired from a successful business life and served as governor of New York Hospital. In 1785 he was a founder of the “Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and for protecting such of them as have been or may be liberated.” He was also involved with prison reform, improving public education and the condition of Indians, founding the New-York Historical Society and the Society for the prevention of Pauperism, as well as being active in New York Monthly Meeting.

Joseph (1732/3-1811), the youngest surviving child of John and Mary (Claypoole) Bringhurst, did not marry. Like his father, he was trained as a cooper and then became a successful merchant. A contributor to Pennsylvania Hospital and a member of the American Philosophical Society, he took an interest in his extended family, and in particular, the children of his widowed older sister, Mary (Bringhurst) Foulke. In 1810, he moved to Wilmington, Delaware, which was the home of his nephew, Dr. Joseph Bringhurst.

Mary (Bringhurst) Foulke had five children and was widowed in 1776. Her daughter, Elizabeth Foulke (1758-1820) traveled in the ministry, and the family was active in the affairs of the City of Philadelphia and the Society of Friends.