Edward F. Stratton Collected Papers on Ohio Quakers
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:
- Joshua Maule
- Edward Williams family
- Edward F. Stratton.
Dates
- Creation: 1770-1967
Creator
- Stratton, Edward F., 1876-1968 (Person)
- Maule, Joshua, b. 1806 (Contributor, Person)
- Gould, Thomas B., 1813-1856 (Contributor, Person)
- Gould, Martha S., b. 1813 (Contributor, Person)
- Hall, Hannah, approximately 1836- (Contributor, Person)
- Evans, Charles, 1802-1879 (Contributor, Person)
- Williams, Edward, 1821-1894 (Contributor, Person)
- Williams, Sarah B., 1823-1882 (Contributor, Person)
- Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Committee Appointed for Indian Affairs (Contributor, Organization)
- Maule family (Contributor, Family)
- Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative : 1854- ) (Contributor, Organization)
- Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends (Orthodox : 1828-1854) (Contributor, Organization)
- Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (Orthodox : 1827-1955) (Contributor, Organization)
- Stratton, Edward F., 1876-1968 (Contributor, Person)
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
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.
Subject
- Stratton family (Family)
- Williams family (Family)
- Hall, Hannah, approximately 1836- (Person)
Source
- Stratton, Edward F., 1876-1968 (Donor, Person)
Geographic
Topical
- Church and Social Problems -- Society of Friends
- Church controversies -- Society of Friends
- Church work with African Americans
- Conscientious Objectors
- Indians, treatment of
- Lay ministry -- Society of Friends
- Quakers -- Mississippi
- Quakers -- Ohio
- Quakers -- Race relations
- Quakers -- Social life and customs
- Quakers -- Social service
- Quakers -- Texas
- Society of Friends -- Customs and practices
- Society of Friends -- History -- 19th century
- Society of Friends -- Sermons
- Society of Friends -- Testimonies and concerns
- Society of Friends -- Wilburite controversy
- Spiritual life -- Society of Friends
- 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.
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