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William Baxter Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-011

Scope and Contents

Contains the papers of William Baxter (1824-1886), Quaker businessman who lived in Wayne County, Indiana, and was active in social reform, particularly in the temperance movement. Includes correspondence of William and his wife, Mary Baxter (1830-1918), business papers, essays and speeches on temperance and other social reforms, family memorabilia, and miscellaneous materials including a manuscript account of the early life of William Baxter in Yorkshire, England, in the 1830s and 1840s.

Dates

  • 1840-1942

Creator

Limitations on Accessing the Collection

Collection is open for research.

Copyright and Rights Information

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

William Baxter (1824-1886)was a Quaker Philadelphia-area wool merchant who later settled in Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, and was active in social reform, particularly in the temperance movement.

He was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1824, the son of John and Mary Baxter. He married first Mary Wickett in 1847. She and her infant son died shortly after the family emigrated to Philadelphia. William Baxter married second Mary Ellen Barker in 1856 at Whitewater Monthly Meeting in Wayne County, Indiana. She had attended Westtown Boarding School in Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Lucy V. Baxter, married Percival Brooks Coffin.

Extent

5 Linear Feet (10 boxes)

Language

English

Overview

William Baxter (1824-1886) was a Quaker businessman who lived in Wayne County, Indiana, and was active in social reform, particularly in the temperance movement. The collection includes correspondence of William and his wife, Mary Baxter (1830-1918), business papers, essays and speeches on temperance and other social reforms, family memorabilia, and miscellaneous materials.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into seven series:

  1. Biographical and genealogical
  2. Photographs
  3. Correspondence
  4. Business papers
  5. Essays and speeches
  6. Memorabilia
  7. Reference material

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donor: Mrs. Bennett Cooper, 1961-1969

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Lucy Vincent Baxter (born 1868) was a daughter of William Baxter and his second wife, Mary Ellen. She married Percival Brooks Coffin. The donor, Mrs. Bennett Cooper (Emily Fletcher Cooper), was their niece.

Related Materials

See also:

  1. RG 5/ 029: Coffin Family Papers. Both collections were given to Friends Historical Library by Mrs. Bennett Cooper (Emily Fletcher Cooper) whose aunt, Lucy V. Baxter (her mother's sister), was married to Percival Brooks Coffin.

Separated Materials

The following material has been removed from the collection and recatalogued:

See Chart Case for marriage certificates:

  1. Baxter, Wm. to Mary Wickett, 6/23/1847
  2. Baxter, Wm. to Barker, Mary, 12/3/1856
  3. Evans, Charles to Morgan, Mary, 3/12/1833
  4. Price, Charles Coale to Albertson, Alice Maulsby, 12/8/1896
  5. Price, Charles Coale to Evans, Mary, 10/2/1894
  1. See Chart Case for Whaley-Goffe (Gough) genealogical chart. Includes Underhill-Sutton. Attached: Sutton-Underhill pedigree.
  1. See Misc. MSS ++ for pass for Edward B. Fletcher and wife, 7/30/1888
  1. Christianity As Friends See It, by Edward B. Rawson, n.d., BX 7733.R3C5

William Baxter Family Photographs (4 boxes) removed to PA 144. Inventory in repository.

Processing Information

Previously cited as: Coffin-Baxter Papers

Title
An Inventory of the William Baxter Family Papers, 1840-1942
Author
FHL staff
Date
1969, revised 2000
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
  • Accession information, inventories

Find It at the Library

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