Deeds and Documents

This collection contains records belonging to many different families.

Jonathan Evans was born on a Friday in 1714 to Evan Evans with two siblins, Hannah (? - 1720), and David (1730 - 1800). He married Hannah (Walton) Evans. The two had one child, Jonathan Evans, Jr. Jonathan Evans lived in Philadelphia until his death in 1795.

Born on July 17, 1859, in Burlington, N.J., Amelia Mott Gummere was the daughter of Richard Field and Susan Thomas Mott. She received her education at the Friends’ School in Providence, R.I., where she graduated as a member of the class of 1878. In 1882 she married Francis Barton Gummere and later had three sons. Gummere was a well-known author of works on Quaker subjects including: The Quaker—a Study in Costume, Witchcraft and Quakerism, The Quaker in the Forum, and The Journal and Essays of John Woolman. She served as the editor for the Bulletin of the Friends Historical Association for several years and was a member of multiple local and international Friends Historical Societies. She was a member of the Haverford Monthly Meeting and President of the John Woolman Association. Gummere died on October 7, 1937, in Haverford, PA.

Enos Sharpless was a Quaker born in 1781, the son of Daniel and Hannah Sharpless. He was a farmer on the original Sharpless tract in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and a member of Chester Monthly Meeting. He married Hannah Webster in 1820 and died in 1866.

Thomas Wistar (1765-1851), son of Richard and Sarah Wyatt Wistar, he m. Mary Waln in 1786 with whom he had 13 children. A Quaker, he was an Elder in his Meeting, Philadelphia Monthly Meeting for the Western District. He was also a clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee.

Thomas Wistar (1798-1876), son of Thomas and Mary Waln Wistar, he m. (1) Elizabeth Buckley Morris (d. 1863) in 1822 with whom he had 2 children, and (2) Mary Richardson (d. 1894). Wistar lived at Stanley Farm in Abington near Philadelphia, Pa., which is today known as Fox Chase Farm, a working farm administered by Fairmount Park Commission and the School District of Philadelphia that provides educational opportunities for school children. In 1868, three Friends, Clarkson Sheppard, Thomas Scattergood and Thomas Wistar carried a memorial regarding Native Americans to President-Elect Grant out of which grew President Grant's Peace Policy by which Friends took charge of the Central Superintendency, including the tribes of Kansas, together with the Kiowas, Comanches and other tribes in Native American Territory, as well as the Northern Superintendency, including the various tribes of Nebraska. Thomas Wistar was also appointed 'Indian Commissioner'. Prior to that, Indigenous peoples had been under the care of the War Department. As well as this, with the aid of James Rhoads, later president of Bryn Mawr College, Thomas Wistar formed the 'Indian Aid Society'. Wistar never received any remuneration for his services in this role. He labored for the rights of Native Americans, and was a member of the Free Produce Association Board in the Civil War period.