Shipley-Strawbridge Family Papers

Walter Penn Shipley (1860-1942) was a Philadelphia lawyer and Germantown resident. He was a graduate of Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where he graduated in 1883. In addition to his successful career in law, Shipley was a chess enthusiast and competed in amateur competitions. He wrote a chess column for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 34 years. Shipley married Anne Emlen in 1879, and had three sons, including Walter Penn Shipley Jr. He passed away in Germantown in 1942, at the age of 81.

Francis Reeves Strawbridge (FRS) (1876-1965) was the son of Justus Clayton Strawbridge, one of the co-founders of Strawbridge and Clothier, and Mary Lukens. He was born in Germantown and was a graduate of Germantown Friends School and from Haverford College in 1898. He married Anna Estes Hacker in 1902. Francis R. Strawbridge worked at Strawbridge and Clothier, became a partner in 1903 and was named a director in 1922 when he was also elected vice president and secretary. Francis and Anna Strawbridge had 4 children; Mary Dawson Strawbridge, Elizabeth Hacker Strawbridge, Francis R. Strawbridge Jr., and George Stockton Strawbridge. Francis R. Strawbridge was an active member on the boards of the Germantown Hospital, where he served as president for 26 years, and was a member of for Friends of the Wissahickon Valley. After retiring from Strawbridge and Clothier in 1933, he and Anna Strawbridge spent most of their time at their homes of Woodside, in Germantown, and Ship Road Farm. He passed away in 1965.

Anna Estes Hacker Strawbridge (AEHS) (1880-1981) was born in 1880 to J. Barclay and Mary Hacker. She attended Germantown Friends School. Anna Hacker married Francis R. Strawbridge in 1902, and had four children with him. She was a well-known figure in Philadelphia society, and actively took part in many different organizations and groups, including serving as President of the National Society of Colonial Dames . In addition to her involvement in these societies she published several volumes of poetry. After the death of her husband in 1965 Anna Strawbridge continued her active involvement in society, and passed away in 1981 at the age of 101.

Walter Penn Shipley Jr. (1897-1987) was born in 1897 and attended Haverford College, class of 1919. While at Haverford, he was captain of the soccer and tennis teams, a member of the Triangle Society and the Founders Club. Although he did not graduate, he worked in banking and for 20 years and was the business manager of Germantown Friends School. He married Mary Strawbridge in 1927 and had two children, Marianne Dawson Shipley and Paul Emlen Shipley. In 1985, Walter Penn Shipley Jr. received a B.A. from Haverford college, and he passed away in 1987.

Mary Dawson Strawbridge (1906-?) was the daughter of Francis R. Strawbridge and Anna Estes Hacker. She attended Germantown Friends, and graduated from there in 1924. Following this, she enrolled in a school in Paris run by a woman named Mademoiselle Lacarrere. In 1927 Mary Strawbridge married William Penn Shipley Jr., and the couple had two children.

G. Stockton Strawbridge (1913-1997) was the son of Francis R. Strawbridge and Anna Estes Hacker. He attended Germantown Friends, and later Penn Charter, where he graduated in 1933. He began working for Strawbridge and Clothier at the age of 21. He married Mary Lowry in 1935. In 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, G. Stockton Strawbridge left S+C to join the Navy as an aviator. In 1946 he was discharged, and rejoined S+C. He became a director in 1946, and would go on to be vice president of merchandise and publicity, executive vice president, general manager, and finally president. In 1967 he became chairman and chief executive officer, and in 1979 became chairman of the executive committee. He retired in 1989, but continued to be involved in the company. G. Stockton and Mary Strawbridge had six children. He died in 1997.

Strawbridge and Clothier was a department store chain founded in 1868 by two Quakers; Justus C. Strawbridge and Isaac Clothier. Originally located in the downtown Philadelphia building that had once housed Thomas Jefferson’s offices, Strawbridge and Clothier went on to build its own store on the location. Strawbridge and Clothier was a successful department store chain for over a hundred years, concentrated in Philadelphia, Delaware, and New Jersey. It remained primarily a family-run business, and was controlled mainly by descendants of both the Strawbridge and Clothier families. In 1996 Strawbridge and Clothier was bought by May Department stores, despite the objections of G. Stockton Strawbridge.