Jones (Henry) Diaries, 1837-1871

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Summary

Title:
Henry Jones diaries
Dates:
1837-1871
Creators:
Jones, Henry, 1816-1910
Abstract:
Diaries of Henry Jones, a Quaker farmer and abolitionist, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania from 1837-1871.
Extent:
1 Linear Feet (1 box) and 10 Items
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

HM 83955-83964, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of seven diaries kept by Henry Jones from 1837-1871. Jones' daily entries, often accompanied by philosophical reflections, sentiments, and opinions, begin in November 1837 and continue largely uninterrupted until the end of 1858. Entries for the year 1860 consist of only a few in December. The diary resumes in 1864 and continues until July 1870, when Jones departs for Nebraska. In his diaries, Jones' presents a detailed account of his personal life and his relationship with friends and family, along with the life of the Quaker communities in Gwynedd, Upper Dublin, Montgomery Township, and other villages in Pennsylvania. He relates information on the antebellum and Civil War era because of his frequent trips to Philadelphia, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. Also included are three cartes-de-visite: one of Henry Jones and two of Mary Yerkes Shoemaker.

Jones meticulously documents the local, state, and national abolitionist meetings, conventions, lectures, including women's organizations, that Jones attended for almost 30 years. He writes about his ties with Hicksite Quaker preachers, leading non-Quaker abolitionists, and social reformers, including Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and John Mercer Langston. He describes political meetings and conventions between 1838 and 1896, including temperance meetings, festivals, the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1838, the Whig, and then Republican party nominating conventions. He reveals his opinions on economic and political issues, revivalism, phrenology, "animal magnetism," telegraph, alternative medicine, and spiritualism. He also lists books read, including the writings of Frederick Douglass, Lydia M. Child, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Biographical / historical:

Henry Jones (1816-1910) was a Quaker farmer and abolitionist from Upper Dublin, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Jones' parents, Henry Jones and Jane Lewis, were descendants of Welsh Quakers who settled in the area in the 1680s. Jones was the youngest of four boys, born five months after the death of his father in October 1815. His brothers were: Lewis (b. 1806), Clement (b. 1808), and John L. (b. 1811). In 1821, the family relocated to Mrs. Lewis' parents' three farms in Three Tuns in Montgomery County. After their mother's death in 1840, Lewis took over his father's homestead and the other brothers remained in Three Tuns, dividing the three farms between them. Henry in partnership with his brother, Clement, managed the Upper Dublin farms, operated a mill, and kept a general store in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania. In the late 1850s, Henry gave up the store and devoted himself to farming; he later sold the farm. He married Margaret Yerkes Shoemaker (1828-1896) in 1850. The couple had no children. As a committed abolitionist, Jones regularly attended anti-slavery meetings. He was also a member of the Hicksite Society of Friends. In 1870, he obtained an appointment to run a trading post in Nemaha, Nebraska and returned to Pennsylvania in the mid-1870s, where he remained until his death.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Michael Brown Rare Books, LLC, October 2019.
Processing information:

Processed by Gina C Giang in February 2020.

Arrangement:

The diaries are arranged chronologically, followed by the cartes-de-visite.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Gina C Giang
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2020-02-07 09:54:55 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

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

Terms of access:

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:

HM 83955-83964, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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