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Diary, 1922

 Item — Box: 1
Identifier:  5

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The John T. White Family Papers consist of diaries, correspondence, business and legal papers, genealogical material, photographs, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and other writings of six generations of a prominent Quaker family in Perquimans and Pasquotank counties in North Carolina and in Henry County, Indiana. The papers document the daily activities of Quakers in business, education, and family life. They also illustrate the relations of North Carolina Quakers with African Americans who had once been slaves of Quaker families, and who continued relations with them after Quakers gave up slaveholding.   The earliest papers in this collection involve Caleb White (1740-1793), a Quaker in Perquimans County, North Carolina. His son Francis White (1764-1813) married Miriam Toms (1773-1855) there in 1790. Many of the letters in the collection are among the children of Francis and Miriam (Toms) White, or are documents relating to land and property in North Carolina, including slaves who had been emancipated by the White or Toms families.   The largest group of papers relates to John Toms White (1801-1879), the son of Francis and Miriam, a Quaker businessman and farmer, born in Perquimans County. In 1829 he married Susannah Morris (1809-1833), a Quaker from Pasquotank County, North Carolina, and a year later they moved to Washington County, Indiana, where Susannah died. Some papers in the collection relate to the affairs of Susannah's father, Mordecai Morris (1782-1847). In 1837 John T. White moved his two sons Francis Toms and Mordecai Morris White to Henry County, Indiana, where in the same year he married Martha Parker (1815-1907), a Quaker and native of Belmont County, Ohio. John T. White became a large landowner ot Raysville in Henry County, where he farmed and operated a store and orchard.   The remaining papers involve descendants of John T. White. His older sons, Mordecai Morris White (1830-1913) and Francis Toms White (1833-1907) inherited extensive property from their grandfather, Mordecai Morris, including slaves whom they emancipated on coming of age. A number of documents involve the settlement of the Morris estate. Francis T. White and Mordecai Morris White both became succesful bankers, the former in New York City, the latter in Cincinnati, and there are numerous letters from both to family members, especially from Francis T. White while traveling in Europe. All of John T. White's children who survived childhood attended Friends Boarding School, later Earlham College, and the collection includes many letters written from the school, including a dozen dating before 1850. Most of the rest of the collection involves Allen S. White (1848-1928), who inherited the family farm at Raysville and lived at nearby Knightstown, Indiana, and his children and grandchildren. In 1877 Allen S. White married Anna (Rathbun) White (1843-1922), a native of New York and the widow of his older brother Joel White (1839-1870). A few documents, including a marriage certificate, relate to the Rathbun family.

Dates

  • 1922

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open without restriction.

Extent

From the Collection: 9 Boxes

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the Friends Collection and Earlham College Archives Repository

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