Joseph Galloway Papers: Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Olga Tsapina, September 1, 2010.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Manuscripts Department

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, California 91108

Phone: (626) 405-2129

Email: reference@huntington.org

URL: http://www.huntington.org

Overview of the Collection

Title: Joseph Galloway Papers

Dates (inclusive): 1717-1874

Bulk dates: 1770-1803

Collection Number: mssHM 36839-36895

Creator: Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803.

Extent: 64 items in 1 box.

Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, California 91108

Phone: (626) 405-2129

Email: reference@huntington.org

URL: http://www.huntington.org

Abstract: This collection contains the papers of American British loyalist and statesman Joseph Galloway (1731-1803) and his wife, Grace Growden (1727-1782), daughter of wealthy Pennsylvania landowner Lawrence Growden, Jr. (1694-1770). Many of the documents relate to the Growden estate, as well as Galloway and Growden social life, business affairs, family matters, Pennsylvania real estate transactions, Life in exile following the American Revolution, and Napoleon.

Language: English.

Access

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Joseph Galloway Papers., The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Provenance

Purchased from Sotheby's, November 20, 1972.

Biographical Note

Joseph Galloway (1731-1803), was born at West River, Anne Arundel County, Md., son of Peter Bines Galloway and Elizabeth Rigbie, Maryland Quakers. In 1740, Galloway moved with his father to Kent Pa. In the late 1740s, Galloway began practicing law in Philadelphia; in 1748 he became member of the Schuyhill Fishing Company.

In 1753, he married Grace Growden (1727-1782), the younger daughter of Lawrence Growden, Jr. (1694-1770), one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in colonial America. Although Grace and her elder sister Elizabeth were brought up by the Friends, she joined the Church of England and was married in Christ Church. Her elder sister Elizabeth had married Thomas Nickelson, an English Quaker merchant, and lived in Poole.

Following the Quakers’ withdrawal from the Pennsylvania assembly in the spring of 1756, Galloway was elected, with the Quakers’ support, to the Assembly. With Benjamin Franklin, he became one of the leaders of the anti-proprietary faction. Galloway held his Assembly seat from 1757 to 1766 and from 1766 to 1775 was the speaker of the House of Representatives. As the Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774, he signed the non-importation agreement, but refused to sign the Declaration of Independence.

In December 1776, Galloway joined Howe’s army in New York and was appointed civil commissioner and superintendent of policy in the British government. In 1778, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania convicted him of high treason and confiscated his estates, including the family home on the south-east corner of the 6th and High Street, which was seized and sold at an auction, in accordance with the state Assembly's Act of Attainder (1778) in September 1778. (It was appropriated by the state of Pennsylvania as the residence of the President of the Supreme Executive Council and later sold to Robert Morris.)

In October 1778, Joseph Galloway and the couple’s only surviving child, Elizabeth, fled to England. In the spring and summer of 1779, he gave damaging testimony against Howe for the House of Commons inquiry and worked on the loyalists’ claims for compensation. His own claim was settled in 1790 when he was allotted annual pension of 500 pounds.

Grace Galloway remained in Philadelphia to ensure that the properties that she had inherited from her father would remain in the family. Two prominent Philadelphia Quakers, Abel James (1724-1790) and his son-in-law John Thompson (1744-1819), acted as legal representatives for the family. Following her eviction from her home in March 1779, she stayed with Deborah Morris, a Quaker friend; she died in 1782.

The Growden estate was settled only after Galloway’s death in 1803. The Pennsylvania properties were legally inherited by the children of Grace Galloway and Elizabeth Nickelson and their families. The beneficiaries were Grace’s daughter Elizabeth Galloway Roberts(d. 1815)and her daughter Ann Grace Galloway Burton (d. 1837), and Elizabeth Nickelson’s daughters Elizabeth who married John J. Jeffery; Hannah whose second husband was Joseph Metford, and Ann, wife of Ellis Button Metford (d. 1820), a physician of Taunton, England, and their son William. John Thompsons’s son Jonah and grandson John James Thompson (1815-1875) represented them in Philadelphia.

Scope and Content

This collection contains the papers of American British loyalist and statesman Joseph Galloway (1731-1803) and his wife, Grace Growden (1727-1782). The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, legal instruments, plans, surveys, appraisals, accounts and other documents related to the Growden legacy; including the shares in Durham Iron Works, the properties in Durham, Bensalem, and Richland Townships, an upper lot of the Delaware River, and houses in Philadelphia. The materials cover the 1773 partition of the Growden estates and their fate after Pennsylvania Act of Attainder (1778) and the death of Joseph Galloway.

Correspondents include: Joseph Galloway, his brother-in-law Thomas Nickelson and their Philadelphia representatives Abel James and John Thompson; Nickelson's sons-in-law Ellis Button Metford and John Jeffery; Grace Galloway's granddaughter Ann Grace Roberts Burton; John Thompson's grandson John James Thompson (1815-1875); and others.

Personal correspondence of Grace Galloway and her family, including her daughter Elizabeth Galloway Roberts (d. 1815) and Ann Collier, an English cousin and a Quaker who lived in Topsham, Devon. In the letter of November 6, 1753, to her sister, Grace Galloway gives an account of her wedding and decries the "ceremonious farse" of society's demands on the new bride. The letter to her daughter and husband (1779, May 17 and 22) vividly describes the privations and distress of a British loyalist woman in the revolutionary Philadelphia. Ann Collier's correspondence contains local and family gossip, news from America, particularly from Philadelphia, and inquiries regarding American Quakers, including the descendants of William Penn. There is also the letter from Deborah Morris, a close friend of Grace Galloway's, to Joseph Galloway that recounts Grace's last days.

Also included are copies of newspaper publications regarding the trial of Abraham Carlisle and John Roberts convicted of treason in 1779, a note about "a party of Rebel Troops" raiding Joseph Galloway's house in 1779, and a newspaper clipping related to Sir William Howe's attack on Joseph Galloway (1780, Nov. 11). Also included are contemporary copies of accounts of Napoleon's voyage to St. Helena onboard of the Northumberland (1815): "An extract of letter to a particular friend", by Charles Bayne Hodgson Ross, and an anonymous "Remarks of Buonaparte" [sic].

Some letters bear notes and remarks by William S. Metford.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.

Subjects

Abel, James, -1790 -- Correspondence.

Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803 -- Archives.

Galloway, Grace Growden, -1789 -- Correspondence.

Growden, Lawrence -- Family -- Archives.

Growden, Lawrence -- Estate.

Metford, Ellis Button -- Correspondence.

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Captivity, 1815-1821.

Nickleson, Thomas -- Archives.

Durham Iron Works.

American loyalists -- Pennsylvania -- Archives.

Executors and administrators -- Pennsylvania -- Archives.

Marriage customs and rites -- Pennsylvania -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.

Quaker women -- Correspondence.

Quakers -- Correspondence.

Women -- Pennsylvania -- Correspondence.

Bucks County (Pa.) -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.

Pennsylvania -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.

Philadelphia (Pa.) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Sources.

Philadelphia (Pa.) -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Personal narratives.

United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Sources.

United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Foreign public opinion, British -- Sources.

Forms/Genres

Family papers -- Pennsylvania.

Estate records -- Pennsylvania.

Land surveys -- Pennsylvania.

Letters (correspondence) -- Pennsylvania.

Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain.

Additional Contributors

Abel, James, -1790.

Collier, Ann, active 1779-1782.

Galloway, Grace Growden, -1789.

Thompson, John, 1744-1819.

Thompson, John James, 1815-1875.

Metford, Ellis Button.

Nickleson, Thomas.

Roberts, Elizabeth Galloway.

Ross, Charles Bayne Hodgson.

Galloway family.

Growden family.

Indexing: Subjects

Bensalem (Pa. : Township)

Survey of Trevose and other estates in Bensalem Township (ca. 1773) HM 36895

Bucks County (Pa.)

Joseph Galloway letter (1770, Apr. 5) to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36848 Joseph Galloway letter (1770, Nov. 25) to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36850 Joseph Galloway, Accounts between Thomas Nickelson and Abel James and John Thompson (1773-1791). HM 36853

Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, Marquis, 1738-1805

Elizabeth Galloway Roberts, letter (1781, Oct. 22) to Ann Collier. HM 36875

Durham Iron Works

Joseph Galloway letter (1770, Nov. 25) to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36850

Durham (Pa. : Township)

Joseph Galloway letter (1770, Nov. 25) to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36850 Thomas Chapman. A Valuation of the Durham lands (1773, May 1). HM 36839 General accounts of the Durham lands (ca. 1773) HM 36889 (a & b)
John De Normandie, Survey of Durham land as divided among several owners by Deed of Partition [c.1773]. HM 36887

Galloway, Grace Growden, -1789

Elizabeth Galloway Roberts letter (1781, Oct. 22 and 1782, Feb. 6) to Ann Collier. HM 36875 and HM 36876
Deborah Morris letter (1782?, May 29) to Joseph Galloway HM 36871 Joseph Galloway, letter (1782, July 19) to Ann Collier. HM 36847.

Growden, Lawrence – Death and burial

Joseph Galloway letter (1770, Apr. 5) to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36848

Hilltown (Pa.)

Hill Town Tract survey’d Feb. 1772 by John De Normandie. HM 36841 (a & b)

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Captivity, 1815-1821

Between 1815 and 1821. Remarks of Bonaparte (ca. 1815-1821). HM 36891
Charles Bayne Hodgson Ross letter (1816, Dec. 13) to a “Particular friend.” HM 36878

Marriage customs and rites – Pennsylvania

Grace Growden Galloway letter (1753, Nov. 6) to Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36845

Pemberton, John, 1727-1795.

Elizabeth Galloway Roberts letter (1783, Mar. 6) to Ann Collier. HM 36877

Penn, William, 1644-1718 – Family

Ann Collier letter (1778, Aug. 24) to Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36840

Penn, John (1729-1795)

Ann Collier letter (1778, Aug. 24) to Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36840

Peters, Richard, 1704-1776

Grace Growden Galloway letter (1753, Nov. 6) Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36845

Philadelphia (Pa.) – History – Colonial era, ca. 1600-1775.

Grace Galloway Growden, letter (1753, Nov. 6) Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36845

Philadelphia (Pa.) – History – Revolution, 1775-1783

Grace Growden Galloway letter (1779, May 15 and 22) to Elizabeth Galloway Roberts and Joseph Galloway. HM 36846

Quaker women

Deborah Morris, letter (1782, May 29) to Joseph Galloway. HM 36871 Elizabeth Galloway Roberts letter (1782, Feb. 6) to Ann Collier. HM 36876

Richland (Bucks County, Pa. : Township)

Samuel Foulke, Survey (ca. 1774). HM 36843

Topsham (England)

Subject in: Ann Collier letter (1778, Aug. 24) to Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36840

United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Foreign public opinion, British.

Ann Collier letter (1778, Aug. 24) to Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36840 Elizabeth Galloway Roberts letter (1781, Oct. 22) to Ann Collier. HM 36875

Warwick (Bucks County, Pa. : Township

John De Normandie, survey [ca. 1773]. HM 36842

Box 1

mssHM 36839-36895

1717, Apr. 25. Rowlandson, R-----. Answers to questions about the bequest of land from Lawrence Growden and Joseph Growden to Lawrence Growden. HM 36879 (a & b)

Annotations in other hands. Also a second questionnaire regarding the same land.

1720, Sep. 21. Hooper, William. Bond for discharging the legacy left to Jenifer Hooper, Martha Hooper, Elizabeth Hooper and Grace Hooper by Lawrence Growden. Attested by John Hooper and Jonathan Lobb? HM 36857

1753, Nov. 6. Galloway, Grace Growden, -1789. 1 letter to Elizabeth Growden Nickelson. HM 36845

1770, Apr. 5. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. 1 letter to Thomas Nickelson. Annotations in the hand of William S. Metford. HM 36848

1770, May 1. Growden, Lawrence. Last Will and Testament. Attested by William Hicks. HM 36856.

1770, June 7. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. 1 letter to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36849

Enclosure: Suppositious estimate (1770, June 7, HM 36854).

1770, June 7. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. Suppositious estimates of the value of the real and personal estates of Lawrence Growden and of the annual income thereof. HM 36854

Enclosed in: Galloway letter to Thomas Nickelson (1770, June 7, HM 36849).

1770, Nov. 25. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. 1 letter to Thomas Nickelson. Annotations in another hand. HM 36850

1772, Feb. De Normandie, John. Survey of Land in Hilltown Township. Also: draft of same. HM 36841 (a & b)

1773, May 1. Chapman, Thomas and Chapman, Benjamin. A Valuation of the Durham Township Lands. HM 36839

1773-1791. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. Accounts of transactions between Thomas Nickelson and Joseph Galloway…. HM 36853

[Approximately 1773]. De Normandie, John. Survey of Durham Township Land. HM 36887

Note

In Map Cabinet.

[Approximately 1773]. De Normandie, John. Survey of Delaware River tracts belonging to Thomas Nickelson and Joseph Galloway. HM 36892

[Approximately 1773]. De Normandie, John. Survey of land in Warwick Township. HM 36842

[Approximately 1773]. General Account of the Durham Township Lands. HM 36889 (a & b)

Also: copy.

[Approximately 1773]. Survey of land in Bensalem Township. HM 36893

Note

In Map Cabinet.

[Approximately 1773]. Survey of Trevose and other estates in Bensalem Township. In Map Cabinet. HM 36895

1774, July 3. Survey of Land in Falls Township and of Goat Island adjoining the Delaware River. Also: second survey of same. HM 36894 (a & b)

Note

In Map Cabinet.

[Approximately 1774]. Foulke, Samuel. Survey of Land in Richland Township owned by the late Lawrence Growden. HM 36843

1778, Aug. 24. Collier, Ann, active 1779-1782. 1 letter to Elizabeth Nickelson. HM 36840

1779, May 15. Galloway, Grace Growden, -1789. 1 letter to Elizabeth Galloway Roberts. HM 36846

Following the above: letter from Galloway to Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803, 1779, May 22. Annotations in the hand of William S. Metford.

1781, Oct. 22. Roberts, Elizabeth Galloway. 1 letter to Ann Collier, active 1779-1782. HM 36875

Note: contains a passage quoted from a letter from Grace Growden Galloway, -1789.

1782, Feb. 6. Roberts, Elizabeth Galloway. 1 letter to Ann Collier, active 1779-1782. HM 36876

Annotations in another hand.

1782?, May 29. Morris, Deborah. 1 letter to Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803. HM 36871

Annotations in the hand of William S. Metford.

1782, July 19. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. 1 letter to Ann Collier, active 1779-1782 HM 36847

1783, Mar. 6. Roberts, Elizabeth Galloway. 1 letter to Ann Collier, active 1779-1782. HM 36877

[Approximately 1783]. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. An Account of the Administration of the Estate of Lawrence Growden. HM 36852

Enclosure: Abel James’ second valuation of the lands owned by Joseph Galloway and Thomas Nickelson, before 1803.

1784, Apr. 2. Galloway, Joseph, 1731-1803. 1 letter to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36851

Annotations in another hand.

1785, June 3. James, Abel, -1790. General Account of Lands sold for account of Thomas Nickelson by Abel James, -1790 and John Thompson, 1744-1819. HM 36858

1785, June 20. Thompson, John, 1744-1819. 1 letter to Thomas Nickelson. HM 36880

1789, Sep. 14. James, Able, -1790, and Thompson, John, 1744-1819. 1 letter to John Jeffery and Ellis Button Metford. HM 36859

1789, Sep. 16. Garland, George. Certificate attesting to the legality of deeds of lease and release between Ellis Button Metford and his wife on the one part of Abel James, -1790, and John Thompson, 1744-1819 on the other. Also signed by H. Y. Stephens and John Willis. HM 36844

Preceding the above: fragment of copy of said deed.

Before 1790. James, Able, -1790. Abel James’ second valuation of lands owned by Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803 and Thomas Nickelson. HM 36888

Enclosed in: Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803, An Account of the Administration of the Estate of Lawrence Growden, c.1783 (HM 36852).

1794, Nov. 29. Thompson, John, 1744-1819, and Shoemaker, Edward. 1 letter to John Jeffery. HM 36882

Following the above: letter from Thompson and Shoemaker to Ellis Button Metford.

1802, June 2. Thompson, John, 1744-1819. Record of the sale and rental of lands owned by Thomas Nickelson and his wife. HM 36881

[1803?]. Notes regarding debts to the estate of Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803. HM 36890

1815, Dec. 13. Ross, Charles Bayne Hodgson. 1 letter to “a particular friend.” HM 36878

Between 1815 and 1821. Remarks on Buonaparte’s [sic]. HM 36891

1816, Dec. 24. Burton, Ann Grace Roberts. 1 letter to Ellis Button Metford. HM 36873

1816, Dec. 26. Metford, Ellis Button. 1 letter to ----. HM 36861

Following the above: draft of letter from Metford to John Thompson, 1744-1819.

1817, Aug. 25. Metford, Ellis Button. 1 letter to Anne Grace Roberts Burton. HM 36860

1817, Oct. 9. Burton, Ann Grace Roberts. 1 letter to Ellis Button Metford. HM 36874

1817, Oct. 13. Metford, Ellis Button. 1 letter to John Thompson, 1744-1819. HM 36862

Following the above: draft of letter from Metford to Thompson, 1819, Mar. 30.

1824, Dec. 4. Metford, William. 1 letter to Joseph Metford. HM 36863

1829, Sep. 19. Thompson, Jonah, 1786-1861. 1 letter to Ellis Button Metford. HM 36886

Also: related piece.

1846. [Metford, William?]. Genealogical chart showing heirs to lots in Philadelphia owned by Lawrence Growden. HM 36866

[1846]. [Metford, William?]. Sketch and description of six lots in Philadelphia owned by heirs of Thomas Nickelson and Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803. HM 36869

1851, May 6. Thompson, John James, 1815-1875. 1 letter to William Metford. HM 36883

1851, May 6. Thompson, John James, 1815-1875. Record of lots in Philadelphia owned by heirs of Thomas Nickelson. HM 36885

1851, June 3. Metford, William. 1 letter to John James Thompson, 1815-1875. HM 36864

Following the above: miscellaneous computations.

1851, June 20. Grogan, Edwin. Last Will. Also signed by E. A. Metford? ----- Foot? HM 36855

1851, Aug. 2. Thompson, John James, 1815-1875. 1 letter to William Metford. HM 36884

1851, Oct. 11. Metford, William. 1 letter to John James Thompson, 1815-1875. HM 36865

Annotations in the hands of William Metford and William S. Metford.

1859, Aug. 2. Place, Frances G? 1 letter to “My Dear Cousin.” HM 36872

Also: letter from Place to “My Dear Cousin,” 1859, Sep. 1 fragment.

1869, Dec.? [Metford, William?]. Record of the estimated value of lots in Philadelphia owned by the heirs of Thomas Nickelson and Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803. HM 36867

1869, Dec. Metford, William. Record of the sale of lots in Philadelphia owned by the heirs of Thomas Nickelson and Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803. HM 36868

1874, Jan. Metford, William S. Note regarding the Thomas Nickelson and Joseph Galloway, 1731-1803 properties in Pennsylvania. HM 36870

Also: two related pieces.

Ephemera.

Physical Description: 12 pieces.