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Edward F. Stratton Collected Papers on Ohio Quakers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-142

Scope and Contents

The collection contains historical and biographical information collected by Edward F. Stratton about the Maule, Stratton, Williams, and related Ohio Quaker families, especially those involved in separations in Ohio Yearly Meeting. Of particular interest are Joshua's Maule's diaries and correspondence concerning the Wilburite-Gurneyite and Maulite separations in the Society of Friends and the Williams family correspondence and diaries written while teaching at schools for freed blacks in Mississippi and Texas (1867-1876). Stratton also collected individual items of interest, stored in Series 3, Miscellaneous papers collected by Edward F. Stratton. These papers include Report of the Committee on Indian Concerns, Baltimore Yearly Meeting; Letter to "Brother Quakers" from Sawhe asking for aid (1804) and Account of a conversation between Thomas Gould and Joseph John Gurney (1838),

Organized in three series:

  1. Joshua Maule
  2. Edward Williams family
  3. Edward F. Stratton.

Dates

  • Creation: 1770-1967

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some of the items in this collection may be protected by copyright. The user is solely responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns to reuse, publish, or reproduce relevant items beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to the law. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Society of Friends was divided by a series of unfortunate schisms. Following a division in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1827, four other yearly meetings in the United States were divided into factions known as Orthodox and Hicksite. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Orthodox Quakers were divided again into Gurneyite (later Evangelical) and Wilburite (later known as Conservative) affiliations. This separation was instigated by the English evangelical Quaker, Joseph John Gurney, who visted meetings in America teaching his interpretation of Quaker practice and thought. Other groups of Friends, under the leadership of John Wilbur of New England, followed what they believed was a more traditional form of Quakerism. New England Yearly Meeting (Orthodox) split a second time in 1845. Ohio Yearly Meeting divided in 1854, precipatated by visits of Thomas B. Gould, clerk of the New England Wilburite group, and Eliza Gurney, widow of Joseph John Gurney. Whereas most of the Orthodox Quakers in New England and New York Yearly Meetings sympathized with the Gurneyite view, the conservatives outnumbered the evangelicals in Ohio Yearly Meeting. Many of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Orthodox) were sympathetic to the Wilburite meetings, but to avoid a second schism and to avoid taking sides, that Yearly Meeting ceased formal communication with other yearly meetings for many years.

Ohio Yearly Meeting (Wilburite, later known as Conservative) was split again by two short-lived divisions in 1863 and 1867. The Maulites, or Primitives, were lead by Joshua Maule who rejected a moderate approach to Quakerism. After Maule's death, his version of extreme conservativism faltered.

Edward F. Stratton (1876-1968) was a Quaker from Salem and Barnesville, Ohio. He served as Curator of the Salem Quarterly Meeting records and was Librarian of the Friends Society, Salem, Ohio. In 1964, he moved to The Walton, a Quaker boarding home in Barnesville, Ohio, where he maintained an avid interest in preserving the history of Ohio Quakers. As Curator of Salem Quarterly Meeting Records, Edward F. Stratton was involved with the deposit of Ohio Hicksite and western Pennsylvania Quaker records in Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College in the early 1960s. Salem, Ohio, was the Ohio center of Wilburite Quakerism.

Extent

2.75 linear ft. (5 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Edward F. Stratton (1876-1968) was a Quaker from Salem and Barnesville, Ohio. He served as Curator of the Salem Quarterly Meeting records and was Librarian of the Friends Society, Salem, Ohio. The collection contains historical and biographical information compiled by Edward F. Stratton about the Maule, Stratton, Williams, and related Ohio Quaker families, especially those involved in separations in Ohio Yearly Meeting. Of particular interest are Joshua's Maule's diaries and correspondence concerning the Wilburite-Gurneyite and Maulite separations in the Society of Friends and the Williams family correspondence and diaries written while teaching at schools for freed blacks in Mississippi and Texas (1867-1876).

Physical Location

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

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donor: Edward F. Stratton, 1961-63.

Donor: Frances Stratton Emmons, 1968-69

Related Materials

Transactions and changes in the Society of Friends and incidents in the life and experience of Joshua Maule. With a sketch of the original doctrine and discipline of Friends. Also a brief account of the travels and work in the ministry of Hannah Hall. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott, 1886.

RG5/254, Walton Family Papers, a gift from the same donor

Separated Materials

Advice of Ohio Y.M., 9mo 5 to 10 1831

Two deeds: Abraham Chattin to Thos. Wilkins, May 26, 1750, Woodbury Creek, Deptford Twp., West Jersey. and Borden Stanton & wife Charlotte, to Owen Dewees, 8mo 29 (?) 1807, Belmont, Ohio. Stored in Chart Case.

Processing Information

The papers, memorabilia, and relics were deposited by Edward F. Stratton, unsorted, in a series of gifts 1961 to 1963 and by his daughter after his death.

7/25/1966, a vest and bonnet was returned to Frances Stratton Emmons for Ohio Yearly Meeting Museum at Barnesville Meetinghouse, as previously arranged. It included a note which stated: "Fathers vest, and baby bonnet made of silk like Mother's wedding dress". Made for Robart Plummer, b. 2/25/1813. Son of Robert Plummer and Rachel Talbot, m. 1793.

In the 1960s, the collection was sorted into categories by material type and stored as a Record Group titled Stratton (Maule) Papers, with an item inventory. In 1965, Edward F. Stratton gave to Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College a collection of Walton family papers which were discovered in The Walton boarding home, Barnesville. These were roughly sorted and stored as a separate collection entitled Stratton (Walton), but later added to the other papers given by Edward F. Stratton under a single collection number and name, Stratton-Maule Family Papers.

In 2006, the Walton Papers were removed and restored as a separate collection, RG 5/254. The Stratton-Maule papers were re-sorted into series determined by family group, with the miscellaneous papers collected by Edward Stratton organized as a separate series.

Title
Finding Aid for Collected Papers of Ohio Quakers, 1770-1967
Author
FHL staff
Date
2007
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2020: Updated outdated, harmful terminology related to enslavement, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.
  • 2024: This finding aid was reviewed in order to change or contextualize any outdated, harmful terminology related to Indigenous Peoples, except where it appears in a title, quotation, or subject heading.

Find It at the Library

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