%eadnotat; ]> 5101jeme An Inventory of the Jesse Merritt Family Papers, 1838-1949 Finding Aid Prepared by FHL staff Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Before 1950 Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, December 2000. ENG Jesse Merritt Family Papers, 1838-1949 FHL staff Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Before 1950 Descriptive Summary Family Papers, 1838-1949 RG 5/101 Jesse Merritt (1889-1957) 2 boxes; 1 linear ft. Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081-1399 U.S.A.
For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog Jesse Merritt (1889-1957) was a Quaker historian of Nassau County, New York, and President of Bethpage Press of Farrnlngdale, N. Y. The Merritt family settled on Long Island, NY, in the mid-18th century. This collection contains the papers of Jesse Merritt including biographical and genealogical material, correspondence, writing, legal papers, and memorabilia. In addition to the information on Nassau County, NY, of particular note is a letter collected by Jesse Merritt from Isaac T. Hopper concerning a young female former prisoner who was looking for work.

Repository:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081-1399

Phone: (610) 328-8496 FAX: (610) 690-5728

 BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

Jesse Merritt (1889-1957) was a Quaker historian of Nassau County, N.Y., and President of Bethpage Press of Farrnlngdale, N. Y. The Merritt family settled on Long Island, NY, in the mid-18th century. The first Jesse Merritt (1767-1843) was the son of Nathaniel and Anna Merritt. He married Mary Cornelius at Bethpage meeting house in 1789 and was a friend and fellow traveler of Elias Hicks, the Quaker minister. Mary was a descendent of Thomas Powell who had been the original proprietor of Bethpage Purchase. Jesse and Mary had three children. Jesse Merritt (1889-1957) was the grandson of their son John C. Merritt.

Jesse Merritt was born in 1889 in Bethpage, Nassau County, NY., the son of Jesse and Pauline Willis, who were members of Jericho Monthly Meeting. In 1918, he married Mabel Witte, who became a Quaker in 1925. The couple settled on Long Island where Jesse Merrit owned and published a newspaper and was involved in local government and history. Their two daughters, Jean and Jessica, attended Swarthmore College, and Jesse Merritt was an honorary curator of Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. He died in 1957.

 SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection contains the family papers of Jesse Merritt including biographical and genealogical material, correspondence, writing, legal papers, and memorabilia. In addition to the information on Nassau County, NY, of particular note is a letter collected by Jesse Merritt from Isaac T. Hopper concerning a young female former prisoner who is looking for work.

 Arrangement

The collection is divided into eight series:

Biographical and genealogical Correspondence, primarily between Jesse Merritt and the staff of Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Writings Printed articles on Jesse Merritt and his daughter Jean Scrapbook on the opening of Bethpage meeting house Legal papers Reference material collected by the family Pictures. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Accession information

Donor: Jesse Merritt, ca. 1936-1943

 Provenance

The collection was given

 Access

Collection is open for research.

 Use Restrictions

Copyright has not been assigned to Friends Historical Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in to the Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Friends Historical Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by reader.

 Preferred Citation

[Indicate the cited item or series here], Jesse Merritt Family Papers, RG 5/101, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

 Processing information

Processed by FHL staff prior to 1967. Correspondence of Alfred A. Merritt, 1893-1905, unrelated to this collection but added to it circa 1959, was removed 4/2000 and placed in a Small Collection.

The following genealogical charts have been placed in the Chart Case, filed as a group under “Merritt”:

Goffe, Whalley. (ms.); Powell, Thomas, founder of Bethpage, N. Y., ancestor of Pres. Chas. DeGarmo and Dean Elizabeth Powell Bond of Swarthmore College. Taken from Mary Powell Seaman Bunkers Long Island Genealogies. (pos. Photostat) Underhill, Capt. John - Elizabeth Feke, of Westchester Co., N. Y. (pos. & neg. photostats) Underhill, Capt. John, m. 1st. Mary Mosely; m. 2nd. Elizabeth Feke. (1 neg., 2 pos. photostats) Whaley, Underhill, Sutton, Goffe(Gough) (2 pos.; 2 neg. photostats; 2 mss.)

The following pictures have been catalogued and filed in Picture Files:

Photostat of Muirhead Bone etching of view from 2nd floor of Fifteenth Street Meeting House, N. Y. Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper, mother of James Fenimore Cooper, from unpublished daguerreotype. (neg., 2 pos. photostats)Hicks Hall (London) c.1750. (photostat); Rotogravure copies of paintings by Thomas Hicks of Stephen Foster, Abraham Lincoln, with attached carbon of letter from Charles F. Jenkins to Jesse Merritt, 10-25-193.; photographs of Thornas Hicks's summer and winter paintings of Westbury L.I., Meeting House, and photostat of section of diary of Mary F. Willitts recording her watching, 1853, Thomas Hicks painting the Meeting House. Also, article from American Collector, June 1942, by Jesse Merritt, re. the two paintings; 2 photostats (large & small) of Howard Pyle's painting “Quaker Wedding”; “Skipper Ireson's Ride”,- Will H. Low's illustration for the Whittier poem. (photostat); 2 photostats of Spencer's engraving of George Fox at Cambridge; Portrait of Anna W. Waln (Rawle)(photographic copy) by Thomas Sully. Original in Brooklyn Museum; Clipping of copy of Swarthmore (Parrish Hall) drawn by Thomas Moran; plate of Thomas Hicks's painting of Westbury Meeting House (summer).

The following printed materials have been catalogued as appropriate:

Another Cry of the Oppressed for Justice:.., London, 1664 A Declaration and an Information from Us the People of God Called Quakers..., Thos. Simmons & Robt. Wilson, Lond. 1660 The Devil Was and Is the Old Informer Against the Righteous, by George Fox. John Bringhurst, Lond., 1682/3 Extracts from the Minutes of the Yearly Meeting of Friends held in N. Y., opened on the 2th of 5th month, 1866. Egbert, N.Y.,1866 The Guide Book to Historic Germantown, prepared for the Site and Relic Society by Charles F. Jenkins, Germantown, 1904 The Hicksite Quakers and Their Doctrines, by James De Garmo. N. Y., Christian Literature Co., 1897 Inward Light, 22, Dec. 1944 The Journal of John Woolman with introduction by John G. Whittier. Boston, Houghton, Osgood & Company, 1879. (Riverside Press, Camb.); Memorial of the Society of Friends in re. to the Indians. Rose & Co., Balt., Md., [c.1867]; Newsletter on Economic Problems, Committee on Economic Problems, Friends General Conference. Jan., Feb., Mar., 1944 A Particular Account of the Late and Present Great Sufferings and Oppressions of the People Called Quakers.... Andrew Soule, Lond., 160. Related Material

See also:

John J. Merritt Papers, RG 5/102, which contains papers concerning another branch of the family descended from Nathaniel and Ann Merritt. SELECTED SEARCH TERMS Materials catalogued separately

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Friends Historical Library (TRIPOD). Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings: Researchers are advised to search by subject and author, when applicable.

Quakers -- New York -- Nassau County Bethpage Meeting House -- Bethpage, N.Y. Bethpage (N.Y.) -- Quakers New York -- Nassau County -- Quakers Nassau County (N.Y.) -- History Genealogies -- Quaker Albertson family Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Hopper, Isaac T., 1771 1852 Merritt, Jesse, 1889-1957 Merritt, Jean DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDS

Note to Researchers: To request materials, please note both the location and box numbers shown below:

 Ser. 1. Biographical and genealogical material Bible of Benjamin Albertson 1

Given to Jesse Merritt by his mother, Pauline Willis Merritt, granddaughter of the original owner. Stored with “Bibles.” Contains genealogical pages between Apocrypha and New Testament, on Albertson family and related families

 Goffe genealogical chart 1 Genealogical notes on Goffe (Gough), Seaman, Sutton, Underhill, Whalley families 1 Binder, stapled sheets, and loose sheets Ser. 2. Correspondence, 1795-1949 General correspondence, largely between Jesse Merritt and members of the staff of the Friends Historical Library 1937-1949 1

Includes letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Jesse Merritt, 1937 4mo 5 (photoprint).

 Special category, collected letters: 1 Dolly P. Madison to I.T. Buckingham 1838 4mo 5 1 ALS Isaac T. Hopper to Hannah Pennock1847 12mo 10 1 ALS

Concerning a young female former prisoner who is looking for work.

 John Greenleaf Whittier to “My Dear friend”June, 1860 1 photostat

Filed in Whittier Mss.

 Extract of letter from B. Chew, Jr. to J. Chew 1795 8mo 28 1 photostats

Includes letter from John Chew to John Galloway 1795 9mo 2

 Ser. 3. Published writings by Jean and Jesse Merritt, 1938-1951, n.d.

Jean was the daughter of Jesse. Writings are chronologically arranged.

 1938 6mo 24 “Walt Whitman and Long Island Quakerism,” by Jean Merritt. Clipping from The Long Islander. 1 1940 5mo 17 Article on Robert Moses, by Jean Merritt. Clipping from The Nassau Daily Review-Star. 1 1941 5mo 22 Letter to the editor, “Don't Throw America Overboard,” by Jesse Merritt, Clipping from The Farmingdale Post 1 August 1941 Article, “Thomas Worth, Humorist to Currier & Ives,” by Jesse Merritt, in American Collector 1 Sept. 1941 “Historical Notes,” by Jesse Merritt, in The Nassau County Historical Journal 1

Jesse Merritt was the news editor.

 Spring 1943 Article, “Thomas Hicks, N. A.," by Jesse Merritt. Clipping from The Nassau County Historical Journal. 1 1943 10mo 7 Article, “The Duke's Laws Adopted In Hempstead at 1665 Assembly Still States' Basic Laws”, by Jesse Merritt. Clipping from The Hempstead Sentinel 1

Includes picture of Jesse Merritt.

 1945 “Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, Physician,” by Jesse Merritt, from “Masonic Miniatures” 1 Autumn 1948 Article, “The Founding of Hicksville," and “Historical Notes,” by Jesse Merritt, in The Nassau County Historical Journal 1

Jesse Merritt was the associate editor and trustee.

 Spring 1950 “Historical Notes,” and “List of Nassau County Markers,” by Jesse Merritt, in The Nassau County Historical Journal 1 Fall 1951 Article, “Thomas Dongan and the Charter of Liberties”, by Jesse Merritt, in The Nassau County Historical Journal. (Jesse Merritt trustee) 1 n.d. Article, “George Washington and a Quaker Friend,” by Jesse Merritt 1 n.d. “The History of Bethpage Meeting House,” by Jesse Merritt. 1

Citing of his address at re-opening of Bethpage Friends Meeting House.

 n.d. Article, “West and Quaker Artists”, by Jesse Merritt? 1 Ser. 4. Printed articles concerning Jesse Merritt, 1923-1941, n.d. 6 clippings: 1923 10mo 5, 1941 8mo 14containing pictures of Mrs. Merritt and daughters Jean and Jessica, and of the Merritt home 1 pos. photostat

Includes 4 undated clippings, one containing a picture of Jesse Merritt.

 Ser. 5. Scrapbook Scrapbook re: re-opening of Bethpage Friends Meeting House 1 Ser. 6. Legal papers, 1712-1802 1729 Feb. 4 Power of Attorney, J. Thomas Young to Samuel Young 1 1758Summons signed by Benj. Chew, Att'y Gen'l, with portrait 1 photostats See also Deeds in Chart Case: 1 pos. photostats

Filed under "M"

 1712, May 30Thomas Willetts, Sr. to Thomas Willetts, Jr., Islip, Suffolk Co., Nassau Island 1 1753, March 6 Benjamin Birdsall and Martha, to Ananias Wording, Oysterbay Twp., Queens Co., Nassau Island 1 1802, 5mo 14 Elias Hicks to Royal Idrich, Jericho, Oysterbay Twp., Queens Co. N.Y. 1 See also MISC. MSS. Samuel Chew's Commission as Clerk of Court, Kent Co., Del Jan. 4, 1771 pos. photostats 1

Filed under "Chew"

 Ser. 7. Reference material, 1755-199? Nathalia Crane's “The Bryant Tree” 199? and biographical sketch of the poet. 2 printed poem and copy Papers re: Benjamin Chew & picture 2 photostats Material re: Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick 2

Includes 11 photostats of items on him. Also includes letter from Dr. Dick to Jarnes H. Howe, 2mo 2 1815.

 "A Treatise of the Materia Medica," by Wm. Cullen, M. D. with Elisha C. Dick's name inside cover. 2 “An Elegy on the Death of John Woolman” anon. verses1788 2 ms.

“For Jane Mott, 1788”

 “History of the Society of Friends in Queens Co...” by Henry Onderdonk, Jr. 1870 2 ms.

Revised 1876.

 Positive photostat of Contents, Preface, and Index 2 Miscellaneous clippings relating mainly to the history of Long Island 2 Roscoe Pound's remarks for the anniversary of Bethpage Friends Meeting 2 “The Rise of Jacob Brown”, by Capt. Joseph I. Greene, from Seventh Regiment Gazette, March 1938 2 Westbury Monthly Meeting, extracts from minutes1755 2 pos. photostats, 2 sheets

Certifying membership of certain individuals. Filed in RG 5++M under Merritt Papers.

 Ser. 8. Pictures, 1853 Gravestone of Job Anthony, grandfather of Susan B. [Anthony] Plate of Mary F. Jillitts's signature 1853 2