The first of the Pike family to settle in Randolph County were John Pike (1803-1869) and his first wife Mary (Pickett) Pike (1803-1834), who arrived from North Carolina in 1831 with their sons Benjamin and William. John Pike deeded the land for the Jericho meetinghouse and burying ground, and Mary Pike was one of the first burials. After Mary Pike's death, John Pike married as his second wife a Quaker widow, Margery (Buckingham) Mendenhall (1802-1993), the widow of Moses Mendenhall (1800-1934). By her first marriage, Margery had sons John and Thomas and a daughter Rachel Mendenhall, who are represented in the collection. John and Margery Pike had four children: Nathan S. Pike (1838-1879); Hannah Pike (1839-1859); Margery Pike (1842-1901), who married first Ebenezer Martin and second John Durham; John B. Pike (1844-1913). Most of the correspondence in the collection was written to a few family members. Benjamin Pike (1825-1905), who was a farmer in Randolph County, married Rachel Cox (1826-1888) in 1848. Their daughter Sallie, born in 1857, was also the recipient of numerous letters. After 1880, many of the letters involve John B. Pike, his wife Sarah (Brannen) Pike, and their daughters Lillie (1874-1950), who married Elmer Turner; and Etta (born 1888), who married Earnest Jessup. Some Jessup family letters are also included in the collection.

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