Skip to main content

William Sharp Prickett Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-127

Scope and Contents

The collection contains the family papers preserved by William Sharp Pickett (1862-1926), whose family were New Jersey Quakers. It includes biographical and genealogical, family correspondence, school papers relating to Josiah J. Pickett who served on the school committee of Northampton Township, NJ., a minute book (1867-1893) kept by Lewis L. Prickett as Secretary of the Trustees of the New Freedom School, Southampton Township, family legal and financial papers, and memorabilia.

Dates

  • 1716-1932

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 Sharp Prickett (1862-1926) was youngest child of Josiah J. and Emaline B. (Engle) Prickett. The Prickett family were Quakers who lived in the area of Northampton and Southampton Townships, Burlington Co., New Jersey, from 1716, the date of the earliest document in the collection. William Prickett's parents were married out of unity, but his mother, Emaline B. Engle Prickett, retained her membership in Evesham Monthly Meeting and, later, Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting. They lived in or near villages such as Masonville, Easton, and Vincentown, near Rancocas Creek. In later generations most of the children attended or graduated from Westtown Boarding School, as did many of their spouses. The men in this family were farmers, educators, and lumbermen.

William S. Prickett graduated from Westtown in 1879 and served as an assistant teacher for a few months after graduation. He taught at Newark Academy, Delaware, under headmaster Joseph Polk, and in 1888 married Polk's daughter, Mary Wilson Polk. She was not a Quaker, and at that time, William Prickett resigned his membership at Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting. He became an attorney in Wilmington, Delaware, after his marriage and died there in 1926. His correspondence is mainly about family affairs.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language

English

Overview

William Sharp Prickett (1862-1926) was youngest child of Josiah J. and Emaline B. (Engle) Prickett. The Prickett/Prickitt family were Quakers who lived in the area of Northampton and Southampton Townships, Burlington Co.,, New Jersey, from 1716, the date of the earliest document in the collection. They lived in or near villages such as Masonville, Easton, and Vicentown, near Rancocas Creek. In later generations most of the children attended or graduated from Westtown Boarding School, as did many of their spouses. The men in this family were farmers, educators, and lumbermen. The collection contains the family papers preserved by William Sharp Pickett (1862-1926), whose family were New Jersey Quakers. It includes biographical and genealogical, family correspondence, school papers relating to Josiah J. Pickett who served on the school committee of Northampton Township, N.J., family legal and financial papers and memorabilia.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into six series:

  1. Genealogy
  2. Correspondence
  3. Writings
  4. Legal and financial papers
  5. Memorabilia
  6. Reference material

Physical Location

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

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donor: Florence Prickett Hershey, 1984

The collection was given by Florence Prickett Hershey, the daughter of William Sharp Prickett.

Title
An Inventory of the William Sharp Prickett Family Papers, 1716-1932
Author
FHL staff
Date
1984
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

Find It at the Library

Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting or requesting reproductions from Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library

Contact:
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore Pennsylvania 19081 USA