Skip to main content

Sharpless-Reeve family papers

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG5-325

Scope and Contents

The collected papers of the Sharpless and Reeve family of New Jersey and Philadelphia. Much of the correspondence is between Edward Sharpless (1831-1894), a New Jersey Quaker minister, and his sister, Anna N. Sharpless, who married John Newbold Reeve in 1857. Their daughter, Mary Offley Reeve, worked as a school teacher when young and became involved in temperance and evangelical Christianity. She shared these interests, reflected in diaries and other writings, with Annie Way Smith, a long-time friend. The collection illustrates Quaker responses to early twentieth century social and religious trends.

Dates

  • Creation: 1852 - 1957

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

Blakey Sharpless and Mary Offley Sharpless were Quakers who married under the care of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in 1820. Blakey taught at Westtown School early in his career and then moved to Philadelphia where he became a partner to Thomas Kimber in a book publishing and selling business. He and his wife retired to Haddonfield, New Jersey, where she lived until her death.

Their children were Daniel, Isaac, Anna N. Martha P., Mary (1828-1834), Edward Sharpless, and Mary (1837-1909). Martha P. Sharpless married Edward Bettle (prominent in New Jersey politics), and Mary (1837-1909) married William Bettle (farmer, near Haddonfield, New Jersey. Anna N. Sharpless (1825-1891) married John Newbold Reeve of Medford, New Jersey, in 1857 under the care of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting. He was the son of John Newbold Reeve and Priscilla W. Sheppard Reeve.

Anna and John Newbold Reeve had three children: Walter S. Reeve, Mary Offley Reeve, and Edward Blakey Reeve. Walter married Adelaide Buzby in 1881 under the care of Burlington Monthly Meeting, New Jersey. In 1891, Edward B. Reeve married Virginia Antrim, a non-Quaker, and they had three children. In 1922, their daughter Mildred married Leon A. Fritchman who worked in Shanghai, China, in the 1930s.

Mary Offley Reeve attended Westtown School and briefly taught school in Medford, New Jersey. After Westtown, Mary O. Reeve lived with various family members in New Jersey and Ohio, and later, in Bedford, Pennsylvania, with her friend Anna Way Smith.

Annie Way Smith was the daughter of Samuel and Jane Wilson Way of Deer Creek Monthly Meeting in Harford, Maryland. Samuel was a farmer, and Jane W. Way was an Elder in the Meeting. They had four children: Annie, Mary, John, and Edwin S. Way. Annie Way married Edmund Landus Smith in 1900. Both had worked as teachers and subsequently Edmund became a family physician, settling his practice in Fishertown, Pennsylvania. Annie Way Smith was widowed in 1932, and the two women continued to live on Julianna Street, Fishertown, until Annie's sudden death in 1938.

Extent

2.5 linear ft. (5 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collected papers of the Sharpless and Reeve family of New Jersey and Philadelphia. Much of the correspondence is between Edward Sharpless (1831-1894), a New Jersey Quaker minister, and his sister, Anna N. Sharpless, who married John Newbold Reeve in 1857. Their daughter, Mary Offley Reeve, worked as a school teacher when young and became involved in temperance and evangelical Christianity. She shared these interests, reflected in diaries and other writings, with Annie Way Smith, a long-time friend and member of Fishertown Monthly Meeting. The collection illustrates Quaker responses to early twentieth century social and religious trends.

Arrangement

Arranged in four series.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchase, Accession 2016.031

Title
Sharpless-Reeve family papers
Status
Completed
Author
Susanna K. Morikawa
Date
January 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

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 repoductions from Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library

Contact:
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore Pennsylvania 19081 USA