A. Accounts. Samuel Chew's account book lists debts owed by individuals in chronological order, with notations regarding the volumes where details of the account were listed. In the credit column of the account book, the line items indicate how debts were paid. Some forms of payment include tobacco, silver, cash, other people’s accounts, chickens, beans, snakeroot, and exchange of work.

B. Correspondence. Though there is only a scant amount of material remaining to illuminate the life and work of Samuel Chew, his correspondence provides some insight into his political affiliations and his personal relationships. A significant portion of this subseries is made up of correspondence with political figures, including Governor George Thomas, Richard Peters, and John and Thomas Penn. Samuel Chew wrote to them about various political appointments he held and legal cases with which he was involved. Thomas and John Penn allude to Samuel Chew's involvement in the suit against Lord Baltimore to settle the boundary dispute, but no substantive information is conveyed in these letters. There are also discussions in these letters about Samuel Chew's disagreements with the Quaker doctrines of nonviolence, and of the advertisement he had published that stated his case. Of a more personal nature are letters from Samuel Chew’s son Benjamin, who discusses his travel to London to complete his legal studies at the Middle Temple. Benjamin writes about his studies and classmates, the state of his health and living situation, as well as political and social events.

C. Estates. Primarily consisting of account records, the most notable item in this subseries is a booklet containing the inventory of Mary Chew’s estate at the time of her death in 1747. In addition to describing in detail the clothing and household goods owned by Mary Chew, the inventory contains descriptions of the slaves held by the Chew family. The inventory includes information on fifty-two slaves, with dollar values assigned to each, some of whom were noted to be children, infirm, or otherwise less valuable.

D. Legal. These papers originate primarily from Samuel Chew’s appointment as the prothonotary of Kent County, with the exception of the survey materials, which are comprised of a warrant to conduct a survey of land in Kent County owned by Samuel Chew and Peter Galloway and the survey itself.

E. Religion. The materials in this subseries provide a clear perspective on Samuel Chew’s religious and political views. After some quarrels with the Duck Creek Meeting over his support of military action against enemy nations, Samuel Chew was excommunicated by the meeting. His excommunication was declared after two speeches he delivered in front of the Grand Jury regarding the ways that military and retaliatory actions can be justified within the Christian faith. Chew’s "Advertisement against the Quakers" is a direct response to actions taken against him, and contains harsh invectives condemning what he saw as the hypocrisy of the Friends: "...once Established [and] Confirmed we too often find that those very People who have contended for Liberty of Conscience [and] Universal Toleration soon become more clear sighted [and] plainly discover the necessity of Uniformity in matters of Religion arrogate to themselves a Right to prescribe to others and even assume a power of Exclusion from Gods Mercy those who differ from them in opinion….having grown Rich [and] powerful and forgetting that they were once a Poor despised Remnant the despised People of God..." (1742).

A. Accounts. These materials include receipts for household goods such as fabric, wood, and grain; receipts for items included in his daughters’ dowries; subscriptions to newspapers; purchases of law books; checks and checkbooks from several bank accounts; receipts for payments received on bonds, loans, and debts; payments for stock certificates, taxes, pew rent, and charitable contributions; and several account books, which record transactions with individuals and banks by name or chronologically. This subseries documents accounts with family members and overseers of Chew’s plantations. Also included here are receipts for purchases and sales of slaves, the purchase of slaves’ clothing, payments related to Chew’s slaves’ work on ships, and wages paid to servants.

B. Bonds and agreements. Benjamin Chew lent a great deal of money to friends, family, and business associates over the course of his life; many of the documents in this subseries trace those loans and the payments received on the money lent, including receipts and correspondence related to the payment of bonds. In addition to financial agreements, this subseries includes a copartnership agreement between Chew, Franklin, and others to deal in pot ash, agreements for rentals and land purchases, an agreement for the sale of wheat, agreements for the production of farm goods, and an indenture of a slave named George.

C. Correspondence.The material in this subseries creates a clear picture of Benjamin Chew’s relationships with his family and friends, and provides insight into his political views as well as the connections he had with the Penn family and other public figures. Benjamin Chew corresponded with judges, lawyers, merchants, and politicians as part of his legal work, and as the chief justice of Pennsylvania; these letters highlight the central role he played in the political culture of Colonial Pennsylvania. William Allen wrote to Chew about legal and political affairs and discussed the iron works in New Jersey that he co-owned with Benjamin Chew's brother in law, Joseph Turner. Henry Bouquet detailed the strategies and tactics employed by the King's forces during the Indian War in 1764-1765. Letters from Thomas Penn reflect Chew’s involvement in negotiating treaties with the Indian nations in Pennsylvania, and his work on the Pennsylvania/Maryland boundary commission. Thomas Penn relayed news about matters important to the Colonial government of Pennsylvania, such as the repeal of the Stamp Act, the arrival of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to complete the boundary survey, Indian affairs, and the possible introduction of paper money.

Benjamin Chew's correspondence is particularly rich during the period of 1777-1778, when he was held as a prisoner at the Union Forge in New Jersey with John Penn. These letters not only describe his separation from his family, but also discuss the state of the nation during the Revolution. Benjamin Chew’s correspondence with political and military figures hints at his ambivalence about the war and discusses the roles of his associates in carrying out military actions. Letters from his wife, Elizabeth Oswald Chew, document the attempts made by his children to visit him at Union Forge, provide updates about the health and welfare of the family, and relay Elizabeth's concerns about Benjamin's comfort and health.

Correspondence between Benjamin Chew and his son Benjamin Jr. is particularly informative. Throughout these letters, father and son write about legal matters, including Benjamin Jr.’s studies at the Middle Temple in London and the Chews’ representation of the Penn family. The two also discuss their opinions of British and Colonial politics. Many of the letters dwell on family and business affairs—the illnesses and deaths that took place during the elder Benjamin’s absence, the disappointing harvests on various plantations, purchases of land, and news about how the war affected the city. These letters reflect Benjamin Chew Jr.’s role as his father’s agent in land transactions and plantation operations, and offer limited details about the Chews' slaves—and reminders of the persistence of northern slavery in the early republic.

In one letter, Benjamin Chew Jr. relates a story about some of the Chew slaves who escaped: "Ned arrived here…in Search of Mr. Bennet Chew’s Negroes. he came up by Permission from Col. Duff….he obtained most of the Negroes [and] has sent some of them to their Plantation, His Fortune was not single, your Man Aaron that went off from my Uncle Samls Tired of his Frolick came voluntarily [and] solicited for his Return to his Master—he was immediately upon my Application discharged from the Service in which he was employed and ordered into my possession, he now waits an Opportunity of going down—Will, I fear has made his Escape to some other Country but the Hardships he must experience from a different Way of living than that in your Employ, will sufficiently furnish his Ingratitude" (January 19, 1778).

In another letter, Benjamin Chew Jr. informs his father about the details of settling his uncle John Chew’s estate: "I found it absolutely necessary to return to this Place which I did last Evening and tomorrow sell off the Remains of any poor Uncle John’s Remnants...I have fortunately succeeded in providing Homes for all but 7 or 8 of the Black People—a Task indeed of the most conflicting Difficulty—I have I believe succeeded in giving the poor Creatures as much Satisfaction as they could have, under a disappointment in not having their Freedom bequeathed to them—they generally thank me for what I have done for them—the Stock of all kinds I have also sold except what is necessary to retain to secure the Crops" (November 15, 1809).

Discussions about the Chew family's slaves appear elsewhere in the correspondence. In 1804, Joseph, a slave on one of the Chews' farms in Kent County, Maryland, wrote to Benjamin Chew asking to be hired out so that he could be closer to his wife, who had been transferred to Baltimore. Correspondence with various overseers provides information about plantation operations and the treatment of slaves. One overseer, William Pearce, wrote to Chew in 1807 about Tom Miller, who had run away from one of the Chews' plantations in Kent County, Maryland. Pearce expressed concern that other slaves would follow Miller's example if he was allowed to escape. A few weeks later, Pearce wrote again to let Chew know that Miller had been caught and seemed to be on good behavior since receiving "a slight chastisement." Other correspondents who were involved in farming and plantation operations include Kensey Johns, George Ford, and Edward Tilghman. Their letters focus primarily on the mundane aspects of farming, such as crop yield, expenses, and weather.

D. Estate. Benjamin Chew made several revisions to his will in the last ten years of his life, most due to his daughters being married or widowed. Several versions of his will and his notes from drafting them are filed here. Benjamin Chew, Jr. administered his father's estate from 1810 until his death in 1844. Inventories taken shortly after Benjamin Chew's death are included here, as are funeral lists and a day book and a ledger recording transactions from 1810-1819, the year that Elizabeth Chew, Benjamin Chew's widow, died. The day book records monies received and paid in chronological order, including payments on bonds and debts and inheritance payments to family members. The ledger lists transactions chronologically within account and includes an alphabetical index in the front of the volume. Accounts in stocks, lands, and cash, with individuals and businesses, and relating to the Chew family's house on Third Street are represented.

Receipts and other records created during Benjamin Chew, Jr.'s administration of the estate are filed in Series IV, Family Estates. Benjamin Chew, Jr.'s notes sometimes include references to his administration of the estates of his brothers John and Samuel Chew, which took place during the same time as the settlement of his father's estate.

E. Legal and Political. This subseries contains materials related to Benjamin Chew’s legal and political work, including his appointments to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Assembly of Lower Counties, and the Provincial Council, as well as his positions as attorney general for Pennsylvania, recorder of wills, register general for Pennsylvania and the Three Lower Counties, and president of the High Court of Errors and Appeals. There are materials related to the registry of Chew’s slaves, various estate cases, land disputes, the conflict between Britain and the Colonies, purchases of weapons for Kent County, and Benjamin Chew’s confinement with John Penn during the Revolutionary War. Document types include a docket from the Supreme Court, case notes and documents related to cases, legal forms and court documents, correspondence, addresses, petitions, agreements, appointments, deeds, and lists of wills probated. Materials related to Chew’s work on the Pennsylvania/Maryland boundary commission can be found in the Pennsylvania-Maryland Boundary Dispute subseries; materials related to Indian affairs can be found in Subseries H, Treaty at Easton.

F. Miscellaneous. These materials include copies of Benjamin Chew's journals during his studies in London; a biographical sketch and portrait of Benjamin Chew; rules for the Overseers of the Poor; genealogical notes; inventories of books; recipes for homes remedies and dyes; spinning and weaving instructions for slaves' clothing; travel logs for trips to Maryland, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth; and certificates of appointment.

G. Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary dispute. The survey of what would eventually become the Mason-Dixon Line began in the 1680s, when surveyor Thomas Holme was appointed surveyor general by William Penn, and given the task of surveying the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland into the western part of the Province. The original patent granted to Lord Baltimore set the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland at forty degrees North. The degree of latitude marking the division traced from a circle twelve miles north of Newcastle, Delaware became the central issue in the dispute between Penn and Baltimore. Two groups of commissioners (one for each province) were appointed to mediate the resurvey of the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, a process which lasted nearly forty years. Most of the records in this subseries cover the period between 1740 and 1768 and document numerous attempts by at least eight separate surveyors to calculate the course of the line. The survey culminated in the hiring of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who completed the survey that settled the boundary dispute in 1768.

Because the boundary dispute lasted so long, the range of materials in this subseries is quite broad. The records here document the boundary commissioners’ and surveyors’ work through correspondence, notes, and proposals for methods of calculating the line. Many of the records pertain to the legal dispute between Penn and Baltimore, and include addresses, affidavits, agreements, complaints, commissions, correspondence, depositions, reports, petitions, testimony, interrogatories, minutes of the Boundary Commission, notes, patents, surveys, and maps. The accounts, correspondence, and surveyor's notes illustrate the arduous nature of conducting the survey, provide details about the relationships between commissioners and surveyors, and document the materials purchased over the course of the survey.

The account records are primarily comprised of receipts for expenses incurred during the surveying of the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. These expenses include food, clothing, instruments, chocolate, tea, large quantities of rum, and the travel costs of the survey teams and the boundary commissioners. There are bills from inns that include food, drink and lodging, as well as fodder and lodging for the team's horses. Because of the number of people involved in the survey, there are long lists of disbursements made to laborers and surveyors. A large portion of the disbursements were managed by Richard Peters, one of the boundary commissioners, who conducted much of the business for the commission. He was responsible for tracking the progress of the survey and making certain that the surveyors and their teams had enough supplies.

The correspondence includes discussions about surveying techniques, the considerable obstacles involved in surveying (including disease, near-starvation, and unfavorable weather conditions), the mathematical calculations necessary to obtain an accurate measurement of the line, the relations with Indian tribes throughout the disputed territory, and the negotiations between the governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Pennsylvania surveyors included Thomas Fairman, James Alexander, John Watson, John Lukens, Archibald McClean, John Ewing, and finally, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who were sent over from London to finish the survey. Mason and Dixon were commissioned in 1763, and completed the survey in 1768. Charles Mason worked as assistant observer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London. Jeremiah Dixon was employed as a surveyor, and had worked previously with Mason.

John Ewing, in his 1766 letter to the Pennsylvania commissioners, provides clear details on the survey process, and discusses the addition of Mason and Dixon to the survey team: "The Surveyors have finished their observations...and can now ascertain with Precision how many Miles make a Degree of Longitude in this Latitude. When we consider, that the Instruments are now in good Order for compleating the work [and] may not be so some years hence, that we now have Gentlemen from England, who are well acquainted with the Business, Chain Carriers, who have been for some years past engaged in Measuring, [and] other Persons used to the work, together with Waggons [and] other Utensils now in order...it may appear advisable to finish the Work at this Time" (John Ewing to Commissioners, November 5th, 1766).

H. Treaty at Easton. Benjamin Chew served as the secretary of the Council on Indian Affairs, which was formed to review and rule on complaints made to the governor by the Delaware Indians and the Six Nations regarding land purchases and procedures in surveying, particularly with respect to the controversial “Walking Purchase” of lands in Bucks County in 1737.

This subseries documents the Treaty hearings that took place in Easton, Pennsylvania during the years of 1756 and 1762. After the first proceedings, the Council of the Committee to Review the Complaints of the Delaware Indians produced a report, to which were annexed copies of the documents referenced during the hearings. The affidavits, depositions, copies of deeds, maps and surveys that were cited as evidence are all included in this subseries, along with the Committee’s report, providing a fairly comprehensive view of the proceedings at Easton, at least from the perspective of the Council. Also included here are complaints made by Teedyuscung, the Delaware chief, and documents related to the Seven Years’ War and the violence that led up to the treaty hearings.

Teedyuscung was the main representative of Indian claims in the Treaty at Easton. The five claims he presented, which are listed in the Council’s report, were that the land was fraudulently taken from the Delaware people; that the deed presented by the Penns was forged; that lands were purchased from tribes that did not actually own them, and the sales were therefore void; that the Walking Purchase was unfairly performed; and finally, that settlers on the land had mistreated them and stopped them from hunting and collecting firewood as was their custom.

I. Turner Estate. Benjamin Chew and Elizabeth Oswald Chew acted as executors of Joseph Turner's estate. Margaret Oswald Smyth, sister of Elizabeth Oswald Chew, was a legatee of Thomas Turner's estate, and later an executor and heir of Joseph Turner's estate. She inherited Wilton Plantation, but was unable to maintain the property, forcing her to rent it to various tenants. After her marriage to Frederick Smyth, the couple petitioned for financial support from the estate through Benjamin and Elizabeth Chew. Their requests for money became so persistent that the case was brought into arbitration. As part of Joseph Turner's estate, Benjamin and Elizabeth Chew also became administrators of Elizabeth’s mother Mary Oswald's estate, as she had appointed her brother Joseph Turner as one of her executors.

This subseries contains accounts, bonds, correspondence, deeds, estate inventories, leases, legal documents, and materials documenting the sale and transfer of several slaves from Benjamin Chew to Margaret Oswald Smyth.

A. Accounts. These materials include receipts for household goods such as fabric, shoes, coffee, tea, dishes, sugar, meat, tools, wood, grain, medicine and medical treatment, liquor, and slaves’ clothing; also included are records of wages paid, receipts for payments received on bonds, loans and debts, and account books, which record transactions with individuals and banks chronologically or by name. There are records of goods purchased for the Chews’ plantations, payments to midwives who probably attended to slaves and a bill of sale for a slave named Joe. In some cases, correspondence about a particular account is included with the bills and receipts recording payments on the account.

B. Bonds and agreements. These materials include lists of Samuel Chew's bonds as of 1789-1790 and several individual bonds, agreements, and notes. One of the folders in this subseries contains agreements with Owen Crow for the rental of Veazey Farm in Sassafras Neck, Cecil County, Maryland. In addition to inventories of stock at the farm, several of these agreements pertain to the slaves on this plantation, and puts the total number of enslaved people at forty-six. The slaves are listed by name, along with their children.

C. Correspondence. Letters to and from family members make up the bulk of Samuel Chew's correspondence. Samuel maintained close relationships with his family, and exchanged frequent letters with Benjamin Chew, Benjamin Chew Jr., and Edward Tilghman. They discussed business, farming, current events, politics, and the activities and health of family members, especially illnesses, their symptoms, and the remedies applied.

While many of Benjamin Chew’s letters to his brother Samuel dwell on the day to day happenings in his household, often reporting in great detail about the health of his family, numerous others touch on significant national and international events. In March of 1793, he wrote about the execution of Louis XVI of France; other letters discuss attacks on ships near Boston [undated], South Carolina’s adoption of the Constitution (1788), trade in the West Indies (1794), and protests against the Jay Treaty that included a march to Kensington where Jay’s effigy was burned (1795). Throughout his letters, Benjamin describes treaty negotiations in Europe, political disputes between the states and among member of Congress, and military actions in America and abroad, sharing his thoughts on these events freely. Other letters focus on the operation of Samuel’s plantations and problems encountered with crops, overseers, and slaves. In several letters written during 1803, Benjamin recounts information he has obtained about some slaves who had escaped from Rich Neck plantation, and beseeches Samuel to treat these escapes seriously. In his letter of June 9, 1803, Benjamin recounts the case of Jacob, who was being brought before the mayor. "I know that he is a Rascal [and] deserves to be made an example of, [and] can have no claim but on your mercy, [and] It behoves you to consider What effect humanity extended to him may have on your other negroes".

Benjamin Chew Jr. wrote in greater detail about the financial aspects of the plantations. In a series of letters during 1801-1803, Benjamin Jr. updates his uncle Samuel about William Pearce’s accounts as overseer, and asks if he has heard word from Mr. Pearce. In addition to financial updates, Benjamin Jr. offers his advice on the timing of crop sales: “A late Arrival from Liverpool with Letters to the 7th July mentions that a Commercial Treaty is in forwardness between Brittain [and] France that the Prospect was of Provision + Flour being low…therefore the Expediency of your selling your Crops this Fall. Wheat is in this Neighbourhood at the Mills from 10/ to 10/4_ the Interuption to poor Philad- must affect the Market on this Bay + River”(25 August 1802).

In some letters, Benjamin Jr. mentions political affairs and his legal work, but the majority of them describe the health problems of family members. He frequently writes about his parents’ health or offers reports about his wife, sisters, and aunts during pregnancy and after childbirth; some letters offer hopeful accounts of the new mothers’ progress toward health, while others raise concern about maternal and infant mortality. In 1795, Benjamin Jr. relayed the news that two of his young children succumbed to the fever that they had struggled against. “I have little other Command of myself to say more to you than that I thank you for the feeling Manner in which you regard the Misery of my present Situation….my Children were my greatest Comfort in Life and were just at a period when they were becoming more and more interesting – but they are gone – ” (April 7 1795). Overall, these letters make clear that illnesses could quickly become fatal, and that medical care was often not enough to stave off fevers and infections.

Other correspondence in this subseries includes letters from Samuel’s wife and daughter, business associates, and debtors, as well as a pass for one of Samuel’s slaves to attempt the retrieval of some slaves who ran away from the plantation.

D. Estate. Inventories taken shortly after Samuel Chew's death, notices of property sales, lists of items sold, and lists of buyers and their payment schedules provide a detailed record of his material possessions. Many of these documents list slaves from the family's Maryland farms (Swan Point, the Great Plantation, Frisby’s Meadows, Veazey Farm) along with their monetary values, notes indicating those who were considered less valuable due to age or other infirmity, and names of spouse, children, and/or other family members. The official inventories of the estate also list provisions sent for use of the slaves, such as bacon, blankets, livestock, and other essentials. A separate file contains records of slaves sold and their buyers, provisions made for aged slaves, and other notes.

Samuel Chew and General Benjamin Chambers owned Morgan's Creek Mill in Kent County, Maryland jointly then sold it to Thomas Murphy in 1808. For many years, Chew's and Chambers's accounts remained unsettled as neither was sure exactly what monies he had paid and received. The Morgan's Creek Mill files record their transactions until the account was finally settled in 1822 by the executors of their estates.

A day book and a ledger record transactions from 1809-1819. The day book lists transactions chronologically, including household expenses, property sold, slaves hired out, payments on bonds and debts, and inheritance payments to family members. The ledger records transactions chronologically within account and includes an alphabetical index in the front of the volume. Accounts in stocks and cash, with individuals, businesses, and banks are inlcuded. Receipts and other records created during Benjamin Chew Jr.'s administration of the estate are filed in Series 4, Family Estates. Benjamin Chew Jr.'s notes frequently include references to his administration of John Chew's estate, which took place during the same time as the settlement of Samuel Chew's estate.

E. Miscellaneous. These materials include documents pertaining to legal cases in which Samuel Chew had some interest, architectural plans and notes, recipes for home remedies and food.

A. Accounts. These materials include receipts for household goods such as food, liquor, fabric, wood, grain, and wages paid to servants and laborers; receipts for payments received on bonds, loans, and debts; annual lists of Benjamin Chew's estimates of the holdings of his estate; records of rents and mortgages paid by tenants for family lands in Maryland and for crops grown on Maryland lands; records of short-term loans with family members; receipts for expenses Benjamin paid for his children; bills of exchange; subscriptions to various publications and in various organizations; receipts for pew rent paid in several Philadelphia and Germantown churches and for a family burial vault built at St. Peter's Church; records of the building of a dam and sluice at Whitehall Meadows in Passyunk Township; checks and checkbooks from several bank accounts; records of materials purchased for the construction of the family's Fourth Street house in Philadelphia; and account books, which record transactions with individuals and banks chronologically and/or by name. Benjamin Chew Jr.’s account and cash books contain highly detailed notes about his transactions, often providing a brief description of each exchange. These books could be extremely useful to any researcher looking to track Chew’s expenditures and receipts, whether for household goods or the labor of slaves.

B. Affiliations and Service. Benjamin Chew Jr. was involved in many philanthropic and political organizations, including the Academy and College of Philadelphia, the Episcopal church, the Indigent Widows’ and Single Women’s Society, the Marine Insurance Company, Philadelphia Common Council, and the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, among others. The materials in this subseries document his contributions, service, and involvement in decision-making in these organizations.

C. Bonds and Agreements. This subseries contains financial agreements, including various forms of loans issued by Benjamin Chew Jr., transfers of land, and purchases of interest in property. Many of the loans that Chew offered were not repaid by the individual borrowers or were delinquent. The files related to individual bonds often contain correspondence, records of payments made, legal actions taken, and other materials aside from the agreements themselves.

D. Correspondence. Benjamin Chew Jr.'s correspondence is rich with information about his family life, business affairs, land purchases, financial transactions, management of the Chews' farms, and transfer of slaves. Chew was a prolific writer, as were many of his correspondents. Many of these letters discuss the mundane events in the daily lives of the Chews and their friends, but there are significant exchanges about legal matters, war and American independence, outbreaks of yellow fever, politics, and slavery. In an effort to create more useful description in this voluminous series of correspondence, many of the folder titles have been enhanced to include a brief description of important topics in that folder.

One of the most significant subjects included in Benjamin Chew Jr.'s correspondence is that of slavery. This series contains detailed discussions about the transfer and sale of many slaves, including information about family groups and the requests made by particular slaves to be placed in specific situations (or their objections to those placements). Among the many exchanges that shed light on the Chews' involvement in the slave trade are the letters of Thomas Buchanan, who was hired to retrieve slaves, William and James E. Barroll and James Scanlan, who acted as agents for some of the Chews' plantations, his uncle Samuel Chew, who ran a plantation in Maryland, and George Vickers, who was an overseer and agent in Maryland. John Chew’s correspondence details transactions on several of the Chews’ Maryland farms, and discusses the slaves who worked on the farms and in Philadelphia. In many instances, John Chew mentions sending messages with a man named “Dick,” who likely worked for Samuel Chew in Maryland. In addition to these letters, there are brief exchanges about particular slaves throughout Benjamin Chew's letters.

Benjamin Jr.'s correspondence with his brother-in-law James Eager Howard covers a wide range of topics, including family news, particularly family illnesses and news of Benjamin Jr.'s sons Benjamin III and Samuel, who attended a boarding school near the Howards' home in Maryland; business affairs such as land dealings; European and American politics and economics; slavery, including discussion of the potential legal consequences of allowing a slave to hire himself out in Maryland; and the affairs of Harriet (Chew) Carroll, for whom Howard served as a joint trustee in Benjamin Sr.'s estate and as an advocate with the Carroll family.

The Chews' legal and land interests are well represented in the correspondence, and reference materials in other subseries, especially Family Estates, Ingram and Bridger Lands, Legal, Nicklin and Griffith, the Penn Family Papers, and Pike v. Hoare.

James Barroll's letters discuss the Tilghman estate, which became the focus of a lengthy legal battle over lands throughout Pennsylvania that were purchased through a trust with Edward Tilghman and others. David and Robert Barclay's correspondence provides insight into Benjamin Chew Jr.’s relationship with the Penns, especially his work for Richard Penn, and touches on other significant legal cases including Pike v. Hoare and ejectments from Turner and Sarah Camac's property.

Chew's land interests were centered in Pennsylvania, where he and his sons Anthony, Joseph, Benjamin III, and Samuel owned numerous farms and tracts of land in Butler, Beaver, Bedford, and Indiana counties. His correspondence with his sons offers advice and admonitions about the management of this property, and discusses various legal disputes with their tenants. These letters also illustrate family disputes about property management, especially in the case of Anthony B. Chew, whose responsibilities as agent were transferred first to his brother Benjamin and then to Christian Buhl. Anthony protested this decision and appealed to his father, who chastised Anthony for his poor management of the land and finances. Christian Buhl's letters address this shift in power, offering an alternate view of the situation in Butler County, and providing a description of Joseph Turner Chew's death and the state of his affairs. Benjamin Chew III's correspondence is rich with details of legal actions related to the land in western Pennsylvania and recounts family discussions and disagreements about land management and various estate interests. Correspondence related to the Chews’ land holdings may also be found in Series 19-23, which contain materials related to land in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and other states.

Benjamin Jr. administered trusts for his sisters throughout their lives, and this relationship is reflected in their letters back and forth. Harriet (Chew) Carroll's troubled marriage to Charles Carroll, Jr. was the subject of several letters between Harriet and Benjamin, Jr. and was discussed with other family members as well. Benjamin Jr. advocated for Harriet in letters to her husband and her father-in-law, insisting that Charles Jr. be prevented from abusing Harriet or their children. John Eager Howard frequently intervened on Harriet's behalf. Correspondence related to the division of property and administration of various estates may also be found in the Family Estates subseries.

In addition to business and estate matters, this correspondence contains a wealth of information about the health and daily lives of Benjamin Chew Jr.’s friends and family. Many correspondents write in great detail about their medical conditions, treatments received from doctors or with home remedies, and the challenges of maintaining wellness.

E. Family Estates.

Benjamin Chew Jr. was involved in the administration of several family members' estates. They are ordered chronologically by death date of the family member. Benjamin Jr.'s estate is also included here because it was so closely intertwined with his father's estate. Benjamin Sr.'s estate was not settled for many years after his death and Benjamin Jr. became very involved in the partition and sale of lands his father owned throughout Pennsylvania. The overlap of their affairs continued in the settlement of Benjamin Jr.'s estate.

Because Benjamin Chew Sr. and his brothers John and Samuel died within a few years of each other and their affairs were often closely linked, Benjamin Chew Jr.'s records of his administration of their estates overlap at times. Within the estates papers of each brother and Benjamin Jr.'s mother, Elizabeth (Oswald) Chew, notes and accounts of more than one of these family members are sometimes present on the same document.

1. Henry Philips (1767-1800) Henry Philips married Benjamin Chew Jr.'s sister Sophia in 1796. Benjamin Chew Jr. assisted in the administration of Henry Philips’ estate after his death in July 1808, along with Philips’ brothers Hardman and James, and his cousin Nathaniel Philips. In addition to his role in settling Philips’ estate, Benjamin Jr. acted as his sister's and niece's attorney and guardian, overseeing Sophia's affairs and finances, until her death in 1841. Benjamin Jr.'s accounts with Sophia and Elizabeth Philips comprise a significant portion of these materials. Other materials included in this subseries are bonds and agreements, accounts of taxes, stocks, and expenditures related to the settlement of Philips’ estate. Correspondence related to matters of the estate is included, as are correspondence, bonds, deeds, and other papers that document the lease and sale of the Philips’ Third and Spruce Street house, and the disposition of lands in Bath County, Virginia, in which Philips invested with several family members and Benjamin Chew Jr.

2. Alexander Wilcocks (1741-1801) Alexander Wilcocks married Benjamin Chew Jr.'s half-sister Mary in 1768. Benjamin Chew Jr. administered his brother-in-law's estate with his cousin Edward Tilghman. Benjamin Jr. was also appointed guardian of his niece Mary (Wilcocks) Ingersoll (b. 1784) and nephew Samuel Wilcocks (b. 1786). This subseries contains correspondence related to the guardianship of Mary and Samuel, correspondence in the case of Wilcocks v. Carlisle and Wilcocks v. Shipley, and a copy of Wilcocks’ will.

3. Philip Nicklin (1760?-1806) Philip Nicklin married Benjamin Chew Jr.'s sister Juliana in 1793. Along with Benjamin Chew Jr., Juliana Nicklin served as administrator of Philip Nicklin's estate. Included in the settlement of Nicklin’s estate are debts owed to Benjamin Chew Jr. and his father by the firm of Nicklin and Griffith. This subseries contains account records, agreements, correspondence, materials related to Chew v. Chew and Nicklin, and records of property sales. The accounts are arranged alphabetically by account holder's last name. They include receipts for household expenses as well as funeral and mourning costs.

4. Philip Nicklin (1760?-1806) Benjamin Chew Jr. administered his uncle's estate which included several plantations in Maryland, where over one hundred slaves were employed. The accounts of Samuel Chew’s estate include records of payments made to Hyland Pennington to care for slaves who were too old or infirm to work, as well as payments made to overseers of the plantations. Other materials in this subseries are estate inventories, accounts of the administrators of the estate, agreements, correspondence, legal papers, and records of property sales. A few estate records are located in Series 3, Estate.

5. Benjamin Chew (1722-1810) Benjamin Jr. administered his father's estate until his death in 1844. Henry Banning Chew then took over as executor, followed by his sons Benjamin and Samuel. The accounts in this subseries pertain primarily to repairs and improvements made to the family's Third and Fourth Street houses and property in anticipation of selling them, first after Benjamin Sr.'s death and again after Elizabeth (Oswald) Chew's death in 1819. Ultimately some of the lots were sold while the Third Street house was rented. The family's expenditures for mourning clothes and funeral expenses are also represented here, as are legacies paid to various family members out of Benjamin Sr.’s estate. Some of the account records also include correspondence related to the account payments. This subseries also includes correspondence, bonds, legal papers related to claims against the estate, and copies of Benjamin Chew’s will.

Benjamin Sr. was heavily involved in land speculation throughout Pennsylvania, as well as in New Jersey and other states. He purchased large quantities of land in several Pennsylvania counties from James Wilson (often referred to collectively as the "Wilson lands") in the late 1790s. Because Benjamin Jr. was also heavily involved in the family's land speculation, it is nearly impossible to separate Benjamin Chew Jr.’s affairs from his father's, therefore some materials pertaining to the family's lands outside of Philadelphia are filed with Benjamin Jr.'s estate records. Other materials pertaining to the administration of Benjamin Chew’s estate are located in Henry Banning Chew’s papers. Materials related to land purchases made by Benjamin Sr. may also be found in Series 18-23.

6. Catherine Chew (1779-1831) Catherine Chew was one of Benjamin Chew Jr.'s unmarried sisters. He acted as her attorney and oversaw her affairs during her life, and administered her estate. Much of the correspondence in this subseries pertains to a dispute between Benjamin Chew, Jr. and Charles Ingersoll over the administration of the estate. Ingersoll began corresponding directly with Henrietta and Maria Chew, questioning Benjamin Jr.'s competency in handling their affairs and their sister Catherine's estate. Other materials represented in this subseries are accounts, bonds, correspondence between Benjamin and his sisters Henrietta and Maria, legal documents, an account of Catherine’s death, and Catherine’s will.

7. Maria Chew (1771-1840) Maria Chew was another of Benjamin Chew Jr.'s unmarried sisters. He acted as her attorney and oversaw her affairs during her life, and administered her estate until his death. Henrietta Chew took over as administratrix until she died in 1848. Harriet (Chew) Carroll took over the administration of Maria's estate after Henrietta's death. Benjamin Chew III disputed the administration of the estate, claiming that his brothers' William White and Samuel Chew's shares of Maria's estate should pass to him after their deaths. This subseries includes account records and inventories of Maria Chew’s estate, bonds, correspondence, legal papers, and documents that relate to the Whitehall estate in Passyunk Township, Philadelphia, which Maria and Henrietta Chew purchased from Benjamin Chew Jr.

8. Benjamin Chew, Jr. (1758-1844) This subseries contains materials related to the administration and settlement of Benjamin Chew Jr.’s estate. These documents include account records, correspondence, land papers, legal case records, and related material.

Benjamin Chew Jr. appointed several executors in his will: his wife Katherine (Banning) Chew, his sons Benjamin Chew III, Henry B. Chew, William White Chew, and his son-in-law James Murray Mason. Conflict developed among the executors soon after Benjamin Jr.'s death. Benjamin III and Katherine disagreed with Henry, William, and James Murray Mason's management of the estate. Benjamin III believed that he should have more influence in the matters of the estate and at times suggested that he should be the primary, if not sole, executor. He instigated many legal battles with the other executors. Within a year after Benjamin Jr.'s death, Henry, William, and James Murray Mason succeeded in removing Benjamin III and Katherine as executors. Benjamin Jr.'s will included a clause stating that the executors should agree amongst themselves, by majority rule if needed, in the management of his estate and that if any executor disputed a decision made by the majority, that person would be disinherited. The executors successfully used this clause against Benjamin III. For a time, Katherine supported Benjamin III, who was living at Cliveden with her. Eventually, she asked that her name be removed from all pending legal action, saying that she loved and supported all of her sons and did not wish to be involved in their conflict any longer.

After Katherine's death in 1855, Benjamin III caused more uproar in the affairs of the estate, as he fought the executors' attempts to sell Cliveden and Benjamin Jr.'s numerous tracts of land elsewhere in Pennsylvania in accordance with his will. This subseries documents a portion of the lengthy legal battle over Benjamin Jr.’s estate, primarily comprising the legal documents and formal actions brought to court. The materials pertaining to the case of Chew v. Chew (1844-1864, undated) include petitions, arguments, and evidence produced by Benjamin III and his brothers until Benjamin III's death in 1864. Another legal case, Chew et al v. Rawle et al (1838-1863, undated), which focused primarily on the land holdings of Benjamin Chew Jr., is also represented in this subseries. Edward Tilghman and Benjamin Sr. had purchased large quantities of land in several Pennsylvania counties from James Wilson (often referred to collectively as the "Wilson lands") in the late 1790s. Henry and the other executors sued Benjamin III along with his partners William Rawle and George Cadwalader in the "Wayne Trust" (also referred to as the "Lycoming Trust") for monies they believed that Benjamin III owed the estate from his work with the Pennsylvania lands. Many of the other legal documents in this section pertain to the several audits of the administrators' accounts and the executors' and Benjamin III's appeals to the auditors. Legal counsel involved in the estate disputes other than the executors included George M. Dallas, Samuel Chew (son of Henry B. Chew), Marcellus Mundy, Eli K. Price, R.C. McMurtrie, and Henry J. Williams.

Benjamin Jr.'s executors devoted substantial time to administering and selling the lands that he and Benjamin Sr. held throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They employed agents in each county with land to be sold and also periodically traveled to each area themselves. Agreements with purchasers, accounts with agents, and discussions with a railroad company regarding the right-of-way near Chewton (Beaver/Lawrence Co., Pennsylvania) are particularly well represented. Records of land sales from the Cliveden estate in Germantown and Anne Sophia Penn Chew's purchase of Cliveden are also included here. Many of the other series in the Chew Family Papers shed light on the family dispute, especially the papers of Benjamin Jr.’s children, series 5-9, and Katherine Banning Chew’s papers in Series 17. The land papers (series 19-23) also contain information relevant to Benjamin Chew Jr.’s estate and the sales of lands after his death.

F. Germantown and Perkiomen Turnpike. Most documents in this subseries relate to the business dealings of Benjamin Chew Jr. while serving as president of the Germantown and Perkiomen Turnpike Road Company. There is correspondence detailing different aspects of the construction of the turnpike: updates by Charles Nice on construction issues and expenses; memos to the Board of Commissioners of Northern Liberties demanding repair of their portion of the road as previously agreed by contract; yearly financial abstracts and reports; surveys; employees requests for salary raises; and reports on toll collections, including public announcements of toll rates. This subseries also includes account records, maps, surveys, minutes, and materials related to the Schuylkill bridge.

Some of the documents describe decisions by state legislative bodies regarding the dispute between the turnpike administration and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1822, the House of Representatives established a committee to work out a way to make all state roads free. The Germantown and Perkiomen Turnpike Road Company opposed the plan, arguing that there was already a "diminution of income [produced by the] continued evasion of toll payment".

G. Ingram and Bridger Lands. Much of the land represented in the cases of Ingram and Bridger was granted to John Bellers of London by William Penn. Thomas Ingram and John and Rebecca Bridger made title claims on various tracts in Cumberland, Morris, Salem, and Sussex Counties in New Jersey, based on the inheritance of Mary Ingram. Materials in this subseries document these claims and the work done by the Chew family for Ingram and the Bridgers. The papers here include records of agents’ accounts, surveyors’s fees, payments by tenants, agreements, bonds, legal papers, correspondence, deeds, and surveys.

After much negotiation, both Benjamin Chew Jr. and Benjamin Chew Sr. agreed to act as attorneys for Thomas Ingram and John and Rebecca Bridger in 1795. They replaced Timothy Hurst who, according to letters written by the Chews, had allowed Ingram and Bridger's affairs in the United States to become scattered. Hurst was seen as an untrustworthy character by many of the tenants on Ingram and Bridger's land, which posed problems for his agency. The Chews executed bonds and agreements and represented Ingram and Bridger in ejectment proceedings in the New Jersey Supreme Court. In addition to legal work, Benjamin Chew Jr. acted as agent for Ingram and Bridger, facilitating sales of land in New Jersey, dealing with tenants on the properties, and managing the finances. Related materials can be found in the Penn Family Papers subseries.

H. Legal. Benjamin Chew Jr. studied law at the Middle Temple in London, and during that time developed close connections to the Penn family. After his admission to the bar, he went to work with his father and Alexander Wilcocks in their firm. Benjamin Chew Jr. took over management of all of the family's lands, and entered into trust with John Adlum and Edward Tilghman in the Wilson land venture. The Wilson land trust became a major source of conflict, which the case of Howard v. Tilghman documents. Benjamin Chew's legal career centered on litigating estate and land cases, the most prominent of which are represented in separate subseries (i.e., Ingram and Bridger, Nicklin and Griffith, Penn Family Papers, and Pike v. Hoare). This subseries includes case files, accounts, notes, and miscellaneous documents generated during Chew’s work as a lawyer in Philadelphia.

I. Miscellaneous. The papers in this subseries are from a broad range of Benjamin Chew’s activities, both personal and public. Included here are architectural drawings by Robert Mills of Chew’s house on Fourth Street, notes, advertisements, catalogues, diaries and other materials created during Chew’s studies at the Middle Temple, essays, reports on his children’s performance in school, inventories, membership certificates, memos, clippings, petitions, recipes, recommendations, and other materials.

J. Nicklin and Griffith. The business partnership of Nicklin and Griffith was formed in 1790 and continued after Philip Nicklin's death in 1806. In addition to their mercantile business, Nicklin and Griffith acted as agents in various conveyances of land. They were involved in procuring land from James Wilson in various counties throughout Pennsylvania, and were heavily invested in the Beaver Creek land trust established through an agreement between James Wilson, Benjamin Chew Sr., John Adlum, and Nicklin and Griffith. In addition to their agency related to the Wilson lands, Nicklin and Griffith were involved in the Ingram and Bridger lands.

The firm accrued many debts, and after Nicklin's death, there was significant overlap between Philip Nicklin's estate and the affairs of the firm. Philip Nicklin's estate was administered by Benjamin Chew Jr. and Juliana Nicklin, and is included in the Family Estates subseries. Nicklin and Griffith borrowed money on bond from both Benjamin Jr. and Benjamin Sr., the non-payment of which resulted in the suit Chew v. Griffith, as well as a separate suit in the Nicklin estate papers, Chew v. Chew and Nicklin. Many of the documents in this subseries are related to legal cases, but there are also account records, correspondence, agreements, and land papers.

K. Penn Family Papers. Benjamin Chew Jr. served as Richard and Mary Penn's attorney from the 1780s until 1812, a year after Richard Penn's death, when Thomas Cadwalader was appointed as Mrs. Penn's attorney. In the 1780s, Richard Penn became entangled with Tench Francis, one of his attorneys, who helped to convince him to make a claim against his brothers for a larger proportion of the land in Pennsylvania than was allotted him by his father's will. This proved to be a contentious decision, dividing the family at a tumultuous time in Pennsylvania's history. When Tench Francis died, the Penns hoped to have their accounts settled with the estate. This appears to have been a lengthy process, which may not have produced a satisfactory result. Discussions of Richard Penn's dilemma with the Francises can be found in correspondence between Richard Penn and Benjamin Chew, which is included in this subseries

In addition to representing the Penns in legal disputes, Benjamin Chew also served as an agent in the Penns' property sales and rentals. Included in this subseries are accounts with tenants, surveys of land, payments for supplies to repair property, deeds, and leases. Among the many areas illuminated by the papers in this subseries are John Penn's estate, land speculation, the Northern Liberties property that was inherited by Mary (Masters) Penn and her sister Sarah (Masters) Camac, and the debts Penn incurred in his business dealings. Some of the papers in this subseries overlap with other parts of the collections because of the Chews' heavy involvement in the Penns' affairs. Related materials may be found in Benjamin Chew Sr.'s correspondence, papers on the Treaty at Easton and the Pennsylvania/Maryland boundary dispute, and in Benjamin Chew Jr.'s papers on the Ingram and Bridger lands.

L. Pike v. Hoare. The defendant in this case, Samuel Hoare, was represented by Benjamin Chew Jr. and Sr. and Alexander Wilcocks. The case centered on Samuel Hoare's claim of ownership of over 10,000 acres of land in Chester County called "Pikeland." Samuel Pike, the legal heir of Richard Pike, challenged Hoare's claim as a devisee of Richard Pike's will. Samuel Pike started ejectment proceedings against Hoare's tenants, and Hoare (via his agents in Chester County) petitioned against these ejectments.

Hoare had contracted with agents T. [and] W. Lightfoot, who were given the power to sell this property, draft and execute deeds, and accept payment for the land. They formed the Pikeland Company and parceled off thousands of acres of land to tenants, who agreed that Hoare had ultimate property rights. The case is complex, but an important element of the claim against Hoare's ownership relates to the fact that Hoare had not gotten payment for property sold to tenants because many sales happened during the Revolutionary War and, therefore, transmission of money to England was prohibited. The entirety of the case is outlined in the copies of the records, including accounts, correspondence, legal papers, deeds, surveys, and maps.

M. Property. The materials in this subseries document some of Benjamin Chew Jr.’s land holdings, including Cliveden, the Wilson lands, a townhouse on Third Street, and miscellaneous tracts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Also included are inventories prepared to calculate taxes owed on property, furniture, gold, and silver. Related materials can be found in series 18 through 23 (Cliveden and Land Papers).

N. Slaves and Servants. This artificial grouping of documents, many of which were formerly housed in old Box 96, creates a sketch of Benjamin Chew Jr.'s activities as a slaveholder. There are agreements, bonds, slaves’ passes, indentures, and manumissions. Also represented here are indentures of individuals who owed debts to Benjamin Chew. This box contains only a brief view of the lives of Benjamin Chew's slaves and servants. Throughout Benjamin Chew Jr.’s correspondence, there are lengthy discussions about the sale and disposition of various slaves, slaves who were unhappy with their circumstances, hiring people out to other families, farms, and ships. Related materials can be found in Series 2 (Benjamin Chew Sr.), 3 (Samuel Chew), and 22 (Delaware Land Papers).

A. Accounts. Benjamin III's accounts include receipts for and records of his household expenses, particularly during the time he lived at Cliveden with his mother, Katherine (Banning) Chew. He took care of his mother's finances for some time after Benjamin Jr.'s death in 1844 and also settled some of his father's outstanding accounts until he was removed as executor. Before Benjamin Jr.'s death, Benjamin III acted as an agent for his father in western Pennsylvania land dealings; materials for these transactions are include both here and in Benjamin III's accounts.

B. Correspondence. A substantial portion of this subseries is made up of letters to Benjamin Chew III from his father, Benjamin Chew Jr., while Benjamin III was living in Pittsburgh. Among the topics they discussed are their reactions to the opinion of the court on Barnett, disease and fever around Cliveden and Germantown, the Perrysville land case, William Parker’s deposition in an ongoing case, the administration and execution of the Wilkins estate, and the best legal strategies to undertake in Chew v. Biddle (see also Series 4 - Legal).

In other letters, Benjamin III and his correspondents frequently discussed lands, business, and legal cases. After Benjamin Jr.'s death in 1844, Benjamin III's involvement in these issues often related to his father's estate. He exchanged letters with Henry B. and William White Chew, James Murray Mason, and Katherine (Banning) Chew about the family's disagreements over the handling of the estate and possession of Cliveden. Benjamin III corresponded with several attorneys about his legal battles with his family and Chew v. Chew, including Eli K. Price, Charles Ingersoll, J. R. Ingersoll, Edward D. Ingraham, and William Rawle. Substantial third party correspondence among these individuals is included below.

C. Estate Administration.

1. William Tilghman (1756-1827) William Tilghman served as chief justice of Pennsylvania from 1805 to 1827. He was a nephew of Edward Tilghman (1713-1785), Benjamin Chew III's great-uncle. Benjamin III married William Tilghman's daughter, Elizabeth Margaret Tilghman, in 1816. He was the executor of William Tilghman's estate, along with Edward S. Burd. The majority of the records below relate to Benjamin Chew Jr.’s dealings with John [and] Anne Tilghman about their bond, which was involved in Samuel Chew's estate (d. 1809) and William Tilghman's estate.

2. Samuel Chew (1795-1841) Samuel Chew was Benjamin Chew III's brother. When he died suddenly in 1841, Benjamin III became the administrator of his estate. Samuel and his brother Henry Banning Chew were agents involved in building a warship, a corvette called the Kensington (or Tepeyac), which was commissioned by the Mexican government in 1826 and built in Philadelphia. Samuel had great difficulty obtaining payment from Mexico. He offered the ship to Spain and Russia while still hoping for payment from the Mexican government. The ship was eventually seized and sold at public auction in Philadelphia in April 1830 to pay his creditors. Henry Banning Chew made a claim on his brother's estate for payment Samuel had promised him for his part in the agency. Henry's claim was complicated by the fact that William Luke, his former business partner, tried to make a claim on that sum for debts he claimed that Henry owed him.

Much of the correspondence that is not related to Henry B. Chew's claim relates to legal cases Samuel Chew was working on at the time he died. Most of these letters are from lawyers involved in the cases requesting documents from Benjamin III.

D. Lands. Benjamin III assisted his father in the family's land dealings, often traveling to western Pennsylvania. He was also involved in the family's partnership and, ultimately, dispute with the Tilghman family over several thousand acres of western Pennsylvania land that Edward Tilghman purchased with Benjamin Chew, Sr. in the 1790s from James Wilson. Included in this subseries are agreements, deeds, inventories, and descriptions of land; surveys; and papers related to the Bird farm in New Jersey. Many of the papers in this subseries are related to land transactions documented in Series 4 (Benjamin Chew Jr.), Series 7 (Henry B. Chew), Series 19 (Pennsylvania Land Papers), and Series 21 (New Jersey Land Papers).

E. Legal. Benjamin III practiced law with his father, Benjamin Jr., and his brother Samuel. The cases in this subseries primarily involve Benjamin Jr.'s and Samuel's estates. Benjamin III's will and other estate documents are included here. He named Mary Bowman, his longtime housekeeper, executrix of his will. Benjamin III also included a provision in his will leaving a substantial portion of his estate to Benjamin Chew Jones, son of his adopted son Alfred H. Jones, provided that Jones would drop his last name within a specified length of time, retaining only Benjamin Chew as his legal name. See Series 4, Family Estates, Benjamin Chew Jr.'s estate for more information.

F. Miscellaneous. Materials included in this subseries document Benjamin Chew III’s involvement in the Pennsylvania Militia, his memberships in numerous organizations (both political and philanthropic), as well as his short political career. Also included here are architectural drawings, notes, genealogical materials, clippings, and directions for his son Alfred Jones’ schooling and upbringing.

G. Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal Company. Benjamin Chew III was involved in the planning of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal as it related to his family's lands in western Pennsylvania, particularly where the canal would connect with the Beaver River. This subseries includes correspondence, agreements, minutes, reports, clippings, surveys, and other materials related to the planning and construction of the canal.

A. Accounts. This subseries includes receipts, bills, checks, records of household expenses, bank books, records related to the accounts of the Wayne County Land Trust, estimates of Samuel Chew’s estate, and other accounts.

B. Correspondence. Samuel Chew's correspondence pertains primarily to legal cases and the management of the Wayne Land Trust. Correspondence with Joseph Jennings and John Torrey center on their agency for the Chews in land deals in western Pennsylvania. Other letters, from his clients and fellow attorneys, relate to cases he was involved in litigating. Letters between Samuel Chew and various family members discuss their day-to-day affairs and their mutual land interests. Many correspondents address Samuel's involvement in the construction of the corvette Kensington and his claims against the Mexican government. Benjamin Chew Jr.'s letters to his son refer to the status of the Kensington, recounting its launch and aspects of the preparation for the launch. Benjamin Chew writes, in less enthusiastic letters, about the state of his finances. In several cases he refers to his stock as being "flat as a pancake" or "flat as a flounder fish".

A significant portion of the correspondence in this subseries is from Samuel’s brothers, some of the most interesting being from Benjamin Chew III. Most of his letters center on land sales and issues with the management of various tracts of land and the tenants on those tracts. There are discussions of coal deposits and gold mining, and of attempts by the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal Commission to seize private property for canal construction. There are also hints of what would emerge as a divisive family dispute over Benjamin Chew Jr.'s estate. In a series of letters written in 1840-1841, Benjamin Chew III, upon hearing of his father's declining health, confides to Samuel his concerns about family members stealing their father's important papers. He cautions Samuel to keep the papers locked up in the event of a serious decline because "the vampires will flock round him under the pretence of rendering assistance..." (19 August 1841). In letters written in the months following his aunt Maria's death, Benjamin Chew III tells Samuel about the secret hiding places where she had kept copies of her will and other important documents. After the codicil of the will was found to be missing, he was convinced that his aunt Henrietta was responsible for its disappearance.

C. Legal. Samuel Chew represented the interests of many individuals and businesses during his legal career. Individual clients included John Adlum, Benjamin Chew III, J.B. Nones, and Joseph S. Snowden. Samuel Chew also represented Kensington Bank and the District of Spring Garden of the City of Philadelphia. His legal work involved many estate claims, land disputes, and business deals. The Tilghman Estate materials center on the land owned by Edward Tilghman primarily in Wayne, Pike, and Lycoming Counties. This land was managed in trust by Samuel Chew and William Rawle Jr., and many claims were made upon any profits from the sales of this property.

This subseries consists primarily of case files, but also includes records of legal fees, notes, correspondence, deeds, and leases. Archivists made every attempt to keep cases together during the arrangement process, but due to the way the papers were stored, much of the order that exists in this subseries was imposed during processing. Many of the cases in these files are interrelated.

D. Miscellaneous. This subseries includes Samuel Chew’s diploma from the University of Pennsylvania, school books, poems and other writings, a pocket diary from the year of his death, ephemera, a commission to the Pennsylvania Militia, and miscellaneous estate papers.

E. Ship Kensington. Samuel Chew was involved in a failed venture to build a corvette for the Mexican government to be used in their war with Spain. The construction of the ship, known as the Kensington (or Tepeyac), was begun by his brother Henry B. Chew, who later transferred responsibility to Samuel. Ultimately, the Mexican government failed to pay the amount they had previously agreed to. Falling into debt, Samuel Chew made repeated attempts to secure the money from Mexico. Eventually, certain individuals involved in the construction and supply of the Kensington took Samuel to court in order to obtain payment for their services. In 1830, the ship was condemned and ordered to be sold at a sheriff’s sale. John Hemphill and Mark Richards stepped in and prevented the sale by purchasing the vessel themselves. These men, along with Samuel Chew, made arrangements to sell the Kensington to the Russian government. Although they had still not paid the balance they owed, the Mexican authorities asserted their claim to rightful ownership of the corvette. The Kensington was finally sold to William Ramsay in 1830. Overall, the matter of the Kensington was an embarrassment to Samuel, who felt that his finances and reputation were damaged by this venture. He expressed his feelings in an 1830 letter to Jose Maria Tornel, where he laments, “the dreadful distress and embarrassments which resulted to myself, to the annihilation of my credit, the ruin of my profession, and occasioning the imminent danger, and almost the loss of my life....” Despite his frustrations, Samuel Chew continued to promise to relinquish the ship to Mexico if the balance was paid.

This subseries contains many invoices from merchants for supplies related to the Kensington. These documents, along with an inventory of the ship that was prepared, provide a great deal of information about the types of goods and materials that went into the Kensington. The correspondence documents the legal and financial trouble that befell Samuel Chew. Most of the correspondents are either Mexican officials or merchants and suppliers attempting to collect payment. Related materials can be found in Series 5 and 7.

A. Accounts. Henry B. Chew's accounts reflect his household expenditures in Philadelphia and at his home, Epsom, in Towsontown (now Towson), Maryland. His involvement in the administration of several family estates, especially his father's and grandfather's, is also represented. The cash books provide detailed records of Henry's farm expenses at Epsom and lists of the slaves he owned including, in some cases, their family relationships. Many entries in these volumes identify black individuals with whom Henry had accounts.

B. Correspondence. Much of Henry B. Chew's correspondence from 1844 until his death in 1866 involves the administration of his father's and grandfather's estates, especially his letters to and from James Murray Mason, William White Chew, Katherine (Banning) Chew, and Samuel Chew (his son). His mother Katherine's letters are particularly emotionally charged, as she initially supported her son Benjamin III's claims in her husband's estate, in opposition to Henry and the other executors. [See Series 4, Family Estates (especially Chew v. Chew) for more information on the family's conflicts and Benjamin III's many complaints against the other executors.]

Before 1844, Henry's correspondence with these and other family members focuses on daily family life and business. Letters to and from his parents, his brother-in-law James Murray Mason, and later his son Samuel, relate information about family members' health, visits, daily life and business, and details about life in the farm at Epsom. He also discusses the slaves who work at Epsom and frequently mentions a quarry they were building. Slaves that he and his first wife Harriet inherited from General Charles Ridgely, Harriet's father, were the source of conflict; several slaves apparently claimed that General Ridgley intended in his will to give them more freedom than Ridgley’s legatees allowed them. In addition to his concerns at Epsom, Henry had an interest in iron production, which he discussed with his father.

Legal disputes involving William Luke, Henry's business partner in Luke [and] Chew in the 1820s, are the subject of his correspondence with his father and brother Samuel, who served as his legal counsel. Henry and his brother Samuel often discussed the ship Kensington (or Tepeyac), in which they both had a financial interest. Henry expected to receive a share in the profits Samuel anticipated from the sale of the ship, which proved difficult to sell. After Samuel's death in 1841, William Luke filed a claim against Henry for the amount he expected from the ship's sale. [See Series 5, Estate Administration and Series 6, Ship Kensington for more information about claims surrounding this ship.]

William White Chew and James Murray Mason often wrote to Henry about the family's land dealings in Pennsylvania. Both expressed concern for the family's finances and about the ability of the family's resources to continue to support their aging parents and their unmarried sister, Anne Sophia Penn Chew. Before Benjamin Jr.'s death, both William and James proposed selling some of the Pennsylvania lands to relieve financial strain on the family; they even traveled to some of the lands in person to assess the problem and look for solutions. Both of them also commented on potential trouble with Benjamin III even before Benjamin Jr.'s death. They believed that his administration of family lands business in western Pennsylvania was unsatisfactory and suggested removing him from the business or restricting his participation.

William wrote to Henry about politics, including his own work with some political figures and news he heard from his connections about the activity of others. He also corresponded with his brother about other family members' estates, especially their aunt Catherine Chew's, and continuing legal matters regarding Luke [and] Chew and the Bank of Pennsylvania v. Chew (see Series 4, Family Estates - Benjamin Chew, Jr.). Finally, William's letters provide insight into life at Cliveden. He reports on the state of their mother after Benjamin Jr.'s death and her interactions with Benjamin III, who he and the other executors considered a negative influence on Katherine. William also relates their brother Anthony's frequent drunken, carousing behavior with much disdain and news of their sister Anne and her interactions with family members during the conflict over their father's estate.

Henry's son Samuel's letters relate mainly to Benjamin Jr.'s estate, as he began to take over its management as his father aged. He was especially involved in administering the family's property throughout Pennsylvania and in Philadelphia. He corresponded with lands agents, tenants, and purchasers and relayed their transactions to his father. His letters include some descriptions of Philadelphia neighborhoods and the reasons property would or would not rent or sell in those locations. Samuel dealt with the continuation of some legal disputes from Benjamin Jr.'s estate, including Rawle, Chew, and Cadwalader (see Series 4, Family Estates - Benjamin Chew, Jr.). Samuel wrote to Henry of his concern for the family's finances, especially his aunt Anne's financial support, and his concerns over Anthony Banning Chew's drinking habits and sometimes crude behavior. He also wrote occasionally of his family and events in the community, such as the laying of passenger rail lines to Germantown in June 1859.

Henry's correspondence with his second wife Elizabeth, though limited, provides a glimpse of the deeply held and evidently emotional Christian faith that they shared. Henry's own lands business and that of his wife and her family is a prominent subject in his correspondence. Robert Ralston, Elizabeth (Ralston) Chew's father and Henry's father-in-law, owned a share in the "Charles Carroll" lands in Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania. After Robert Ralston's death, Elizabeth inherited a share of the lands. Henry navigated the legal process of settling Elizabeth's claim in the matter, corresponding frequently with Robert Ralston, Jr., an executor of the estate, and James Wilson, agent in Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania.

In the outgoing correspondence with index (Box 281), Henry discusses trading business. He shipped goods in a schooner he owned, called the Morgiana, commanded first by George A. Brewer then by Captain Charles H. Shankland. The Morgiana transported primarily flour, cornmeal, sugar, molasses, and coffee between mid-Atlantic, Caribbean, and sometimes European ports, particularly Gibraltar. These letters include commentary on the markets for certain goods, as well as politics and outbreaks of fever that could have an impact on shipping lanes.

C. Diaries and Journals. Henry B. Chew's pocket diaries and journals primarily describe daily events in the form of several short notes for each day. They include notes on the weather, church attendance, farm work at Epsom, births and deaths of family members and "negroes" (in the latter case, there is often a note indicating payment to a "negro midwife"), business conducted, errands run, letters written or received, accounts paid, work on his father's estate, lists of cash accounts, and occasional newspaper clippings. Near the end of Henry's life, his diaries increasingly record his sons' work on his behalf. In addition to these types of information, the blotter or memoranda book (1827-1829, 1834-1837) records the names of slaves, presumably at Epsom, including their family relationships to each other. Many entries in the Journal and farm expenses (Epsom, MD) account book (1831-1833) identify black individuals with whom Henry had accounts. Throughout the diaries and journals, Henry records farm work performed by "hands" or occasionally by "negroes".

Interestingly, despite Henry's and his family's travels between Maryland and Philadelphia, and their interests in the Union and the Confederacy, the Civil War is almost entirely absent from his diary and journal entries. In a cursory manner he noted a few key events, such as the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861 and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April 1865. In Philadelphia at the time, Henry noted that the city was in mourning and business ceased the morning of April 15, 1865.

The Memorial journal on the death of Harriet (Ridgely) Chew (1835-1837) consists of a forty-two page letter from Henry to his mother, lamenting his first wife's death, followed by dozens more pages devoted to poetry reflecting on Harriet's loss, as well as his daughter Priscilla's death in 1837. Most of the poetry appears to be Henry's, while he credited published sources for some extracts. His writings in this journal reflect deep grief for what was apparently a deeply loving relationship. Additionally, the journal contains several black and white drawings of various unidentified monuments and buildings.

D. Lands. These records reflect Henry B. Chew's involvement in administering his father's and grandfather's estates and his own lands business. Many of the materials below are related to what were known as the "Charles Carroll" lands in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Robert Ralston, Elizabeth (Ralston) Chew's father and Henry's father-in-law, owned a share in these lands, part of which Elizabeth inherited after his death. Included in this subseries are legal papers, surveys, and notices. Related materials can be found in Series 19 (Pennsylvania Land Papers).

E. Legal. Henry B. Chew was one of the executors of his father's and grandfather's estate. While most of these records are filed in Series 4, Family Estates, a few files reflect Henry's work on these estates. The materials grouped here include papers about the estate of Thomas Willing Francis (which involved lands in Allegany Co., New York), the estate of Elizabeth (Ralston) Chew, and the estate of Maria Chew. Legal cases included are Luke vs. Chew, Mussen vs. Luke and Chew, Chew v. Glasgow, Chew vs. Hollings, and Chew vs. Johnston, among others.

F. Miscellaneous. Papers in this subseries include poetry, memos and notes, applications for foreign passports, materials related to the Towson Lodge of the International Order of Odd Fellows, and newspapers clippings.

A. Accounts. William White Chew's accounts consist of general household expenses, tailoring, loans from family members, food, drink and lodging during travel, subscriptions to journals and newspapers, memberships, and expenses incurred while he lived in St. Petersburg. Other materials related to expenditures of the US Legation to Russia are grouped with the Diplomatic Service subseries.

B. Correspondence. William White Chew's correspondence covers a wide array of topics--from the philosophical and political to the scandalous. After his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, William White Chew dabbled in writing, traveled, and moved to New York. The early letters in this subseries document his close friendships with other men of his social class. Chew and his friends discuss their studies, ideas about life, travels, families, and quite often, their involvements with women. Firmly embedded in the bachelor culture of his time, William White Chew wrote about his admiration of various women, but rarely seemed interested in marriage or having a family. Letters from both family and friends suggest their anxiety about his unmarried state, with one friend urging him to marry before having to pay the bachelor tax.

Though William White Chew never married, it is clear from these letters that he had many admirers and became involved with numerous women. In 1820, he wrote to William B. Shepard, in uncharacteristic clarity, that a woman had claimed him to be the father of her child, and that he must borrow $300 to pay her off. In many other letters, Chew referred to "affairs" that caused him great pain and disgrace, though he generally failed to elaborate on the source of his problems. In 1828, he wrote to his brother Ben about a dispute with another man, and suggested that they had a duel to settle their conflict. He explained to Ben that he "had been long accused in offensive + irritating manner, of having put a lasting insult + injury upon him who has caused my present situation. The charge was as unfounded, as the injury supposed gross + damning. I, from the first, indignantly + in the most positive terms denied it. It was from time to time persisted in. My word was the only testimony. His secret + deeply rooted error of opinion (for I cannot doubt but it was believed in by him) the only foundation for the charge...[He] has returned to his senses + I trust that he will soon be returned to health" (April 1828).

Though Ben said nothing of William's behavior in writing, other family members scolded and pleaded with him to change his ways. His father suggested "that having recovered yourself from the agitation + excitement that ensued the trying Conflict, you accompany that recovery with a due observance of what is truly right and becoming together with a firm, fixed + unalterable determination to shake off and abjure every association of aberration of every sort from the incidents of which I must presume the late affair has arisen". (6th April 1828) Throughout the 1820s and early 1830s, his father wrote numerous letters advising William to avoid associations with people and activities that would harm his social standing. His sister Eliza expressed her disappointment at his flirtations with married women. It seems, for a time at least, that William attempted follow his family's advice, since he began to pursue a political career in the 1830s, finally serving as secretary to the U.S. legation in St. Petersburg, Russia under George M. Dallas. Because of their family's connections to George M. Dallas and James Murray Mason, letters from his family and friends express great interest in the political climate and give particular attention to party politics. Benjamin Chew Jr.'s letters to William White Chew are particularly rich in their documentation of political events, detailing debates over the Treasury Bill (1837), the outbreak of riots in Harrisburg (1838), and war with the Indian tribes in Florida (1839). Letters from this period in Chew's life document the daily activities and health of his family and friends, marriages and deaths in the family, opinions about political changes in the United States, and discussions of diplomatic affairs.

Upon his return to the United States from Russia, William White Chew moved to Washington D.C., and later stayed with his sister Eliza and James Murray Mason. He returned to Philadelphia between 1842 and 1843, and lived at Cliveden until 1845, when he was ordered to leave by his brother Ben because of a dispute over their father’s estate. Correspondence between William White Chew, Henry B. Chew and James Murray Mason focuses primarily on their roles as executors of the estate. Throughout the correspondence, there are discussions about selling land in Western Pennsylvania, and the need to liquidate property to pay off debts, though they are often thwarted in their efforts by Benjamin Chew III. During this time, Katherine B. Chew wrote to William White Chew frequently, alternately asking for money from her claim on the estate and chastising William for being a terrible son. She longed for her children to bury their differences so that her family and life at Cliveden would again be peaceful.

William White Chew never returned to live at Cliveden, moving between several rooming houses, and at some points living out of the family's office on 4th Street; nor did he settle into another occupation after his retirement from diplomacy. There is some suggestion in the letters that he was in bad health during the last years of his life. He died in November of 1851.

C. Diplomatic Service. William White Chew began his diplomatic service in Russia as part of the legation led by George M. Dallas. Dallas nominated him as Secretary to the Legation in 1837. Chew departed Philadelphia with the Dallas family in 1837, traveling via steam boat through the Atlantic Ocean, stopping for a time in London, and then sailing north to Copenhagen. After their arrival in St. Petersburg, the US Legation was responsible for representing the United States in various diplomatic functions, primarily maintaining ties to important Russian governmental and royal figures, and providing services to American citizens traveling in Russia. William White Chew drafted letters and kept account of expenses incurred by the legation during his tenure as Secretary. After George M. Dallas' return to the United States in 1839, William White Chew was appointed acting Chargé d'Affaires until Charles Cambreleng began his service in 1840. William White Chew returned to the United States in 1840, spending some time in Washington pursuing a career in politics. He later returned to Philadelphia where he maintained his close ties to George M. Dallas, and rallied in support of his friend's candidacy for Vice President in 1844.

Though the majority of this subseries pertains to William White Chew’s work in Russia, there are several folders of documents and a few account books that provide evidence of his functions as Vice-Consul of Colombia in Philadelphia. There are reports of certificates he provided for shipping goods between Philadelphia and Colombia, as well as correspondence and certificates relating to the service of the Vice-Consul who preceded William White Chew.

D. Education. These note books, school exercises, and essays document various aspects of William White Chew's formal studies in the areas of mathematics, language, writing, history and law, including courses he took at the University of Pennsylvania.

E. Ephemera and Printed Material. Covering a wide span of William White Chew's life, these materials consist of publications to which he subscribed, tickets and programs for events he attended in Russia and the United States, and newspaper clippings related to his appointment to the US Legation to Russia, political events, and land sales.

F. Estate Administration. William White Chew was one of the executors of his father's estate, though it appears that he played a fairly minor role in its administration. Many of the papers in this subseries consist of notes and records about claims on the estate, as well as the volatile family dispute between Benjamin Chew III and the rest of the executors. Related materials can be found in the Family Estates subseries in Series 4, as well as in the papers of Benjamin Chew III (Series 5), Katherine B. (Series 17), and Henry B. Chew (Series 7). Included in this subseries are materials related to William White Chew's portion of Catherine Chew's estate.

G. Journals and Writings. William White Chew's journals and other writings provide a more detailed, private account of his thoughts and motivations than does his correspondence, which is often quite veiled and secretive. Many of his journals offer a daily account of events in his life and the depth of his feelings. William White Chew wrote prolifically, in blank books and on scraps of paper. Some of his memos act as daily diaries, listing what he has done and will do. Other entries serve as a place where he can explore ideas and sketch out topics for essays and letters. His essays and notes illustrate his strong opinions about political and social issues. William White Chew's musings on philosophical topics such as truth and death, as well as moral and political issues like slavery and capital punishment offer a vivid perspective of the social mores of the time, and illustrate his own moral and political beliefs. They tell us a great deal about how he spent his time, and the topics that engaged him and ignited his passions.

In William White Chew's early journals, he attempted to lay out a plan for his life, pledging to "extend my field of action" into the world (1830). Some of these writings are extremely optimistic, imagining what is possible for a man of his social stature. Other entries relate a pessimistic sense about his chances for making his life what he wanted it to be due to the overwhelming debt he found himself carrying. During this time of pessimism, William White Chew expressed his dismay to his father, pleading for help in lifting him through such a dark time. His journals of this time also reveal what he calls his "sentiment" for his cousin Mary Bayard, and laments that their love will never come to fruition.

Most of his later journals (1837-1841) chronicle his travels and duties during his appointment in St. Petersburg, and after his return home, family strife at Cliveden (1843-1844). In St. Petersburg, he wrote about his daily activities--who he dined with, where he went, topics of conversation, and feelings he had about his new environment. He recounted conversations with other diplomats about American politics, slavery, and the development of a national bank in the United States. Chew described his close relationship with the Dallas family, with whom he spent a great deal of his time in Russia. After George Dallas requested to be recalled from the Legation to Russia, William's diaries reflect his unhappiness, anxieties, and the feeling that he must simply bide his time until he was either reappointed or sent back to the United States. He longed to return home from the beginning of his appointment in Russia, and, though he engaged in social activities with many people during his stay in St. Petersburg, William always maintained that his place is in the United States with his family. He had a rather fatalistic view of his appointment, constantly worrying that either he or his parents would die while he was away, and that he would never see his family again.

After his return to Germantown, his journals focus almost solely on family life at Cliveden. It was a tumultuous time for the Chew family, with Benjamin Chew Jr. suffering declining health, and Katherine Banning Chew becoming increasingly susceptible to the persuasion of her sons Anthony and Benjamin. William was extremely unhappy, writing about Anthony's intemperance, Anne's enabling of Anthony’s condition, his parents’ blindness to the seriousness of the situation, and Ben's mismanagement of the family's finances. William worried about the public disgrace to the family brought by Anthony's public drunkenness and daily visits to Germantown taverns. Throughout this time, he was also highly involved in the politics of the day, with a possibility of being nominated for a seat in the State Senate. He wrote about clashes he had with Ben because of their competing political ambitions, choosing to work toward the election of his friend George M. Dallas rather than concentrate on his own political career. He continued to keep notes and memos after 1844, but his formal journals trail off after his father's death, when he was consumed with the disputes that erupted in his family.

H. Miscellaneous. This subseries contains materials related to several legal actions taken by Benjamin Chew III against William White and Anthony B. Chew. Also included are drawings, a book of poems, recipes, a lock of his father’s hair, statements regarding the duel of 1828, inventories of clothing and goods from his service in St. Petersburg, and materials related to various individuals' military service.

I. Organizations. William White Chew remained active in politics after his return from St. Petersburg. He concentrated primarily on Democratic politics, keeping records about various elections and events hosted by the Democratic Committee of Germantown. He also served on the Committee of 25, a group interested in the abolition of the death penalty. This subseries also includes materials related to his membership in various local organizations.

A. Accounts. This subseries contains bills and receipts for the purchase of coal, fabric, food, furnishings, building supplies, carpets, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, seeds, silver, soap, candles, tea, and other household goods. Also included are receipts for wages paid to servants, builders, plumbers, steam fitters, doctors, nurses, and others. Many improvements were made to Cliveden during the time that Anne Sophia Penn Chew was its mistress, and these can be traced through the purchases she made during the 1860s-1880s. The memoranda of accounts often read as journal entries, in which Anne details the money she spends over a period of a day or week.

B. Correspondence. This series of correspondence is especially rich, providing significant windows into family life and women's relationships during the latter half of the 19th century. Many of the letters in this series discuss marriages and the birth of children, as well as the health and fortunes of Anne's friends and family members. The Chews' family life is illustrated in great depth, due to the abundant correspondence between Anne Sophia Penn Chew and her siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

In addition to reporting family news, these letters document the numerous disputes and transactions involved in the administration of the estates of Benjamin Chew Jr., Anthony B. Chew, Maria Chew, Samuel Chew and William White Chew. A significant portion of the letters from Anne's brother Henry B. Chew deal with the administration of their father's estate and the management of lands throughout Pennsylvania. Throughout correspondence with her siblings, there are accounts of the difficult relationship with their mother after their fathers' death, discussions of the sale of lots around Cliveden, as well as reports from Anne on the continued maintenance of Cliveden itself. Anne wrote about the financial strain related to improvements and additions to the Cliveden property, especially after her nephew Samuel, his wife Mary and their children took up residence there.

While Anne seemed especially happy to have her favorite nephew and his family at Cliveden, there was ongoing friction between Anne and Mary. In a letter to Mary prior to her marriage to Samuel, Anne warned, "that it is not wise . . . to make him dissatisfied -- discontented -- with one who has his welfare + his happiness much at heart -- who has hitherto been to him, next to his own father, his nearest + dearest friend -- + the most considerate of his interests...If a distance is to be created between us...I shall deeply deplore it -- + pray Heaven that you may be able + willing to compensate him for what he loses in me" (January 15, 1861). By all appearances, Anne and Mary maintained a cordial-enough relationship to share a household and the affections of their beloved Sam and the couple's children, but beneath the surface, there were remnants of the difficulties between them.

In an 1868 letter to her sister Eliza, Anne acknowledged a sense of competition that developed between her and Mary: "Mary is not quite well. . . . The childrens sickness has confined her -- + she has a nurse who is difficult to get on with -- + yet is so competent in some respects that Mary dreads . . . losing her -- for Mary herself is incapable of enduring any fatigue or worriment with the children. . . . One of the silly creature's peculiarities is to be jealous of the children's fondness for me -- + consequently I am obliged to have as little to do with them as possible. Pleasant! is it not?" (April 24, 1868).

Throughout her letters, Anne's candor reveals her strong opinions, as well as her reluctance to fall into a demure, appeasing feminine role. Her correspondents frequently remarked upon these traits. In a letter from Anna M. Rush, in which she enclosed crumbs from Queen Victoria's wedding cake, Rush prefaced her enclosure with the following disclaimer: "I do not know that you will value any thing so trifling as Queen Victoria's wedding cake; but...I beg leave to enclose to you a portion of the crumbs that fell to my share, as a curiosity at least" (March 13, 1840).

Certainly, Anne seemed immune to blind adoration for prominent figures. This attitude is most clearly evidenced in her correspondence with James Murray Mason. In a series of letters written in December of 1860, Anne voiced her opinions about Mason's views and his work in the Senate. She chided, "Mr. Mason, I am ashamed of you -- for pity's sake -- if for no other sake, do not be so infatuated -- Deaf + blind indeed! -- Who could imagine that the South + you in particular could be so wantonly wicked + so foolish -- . . . Let me teach you one thing brother mine -- If South Carolina sees fit to extinguish herself by "going out" as you call it, she no more dissolves the Union than she would resolve the earth to Chaos -- . . . What will her first act of rebellion be? She, as it now appears, is to take the lead in the fatal step -- . . . + then perhaps the rest of the foolish Sisters will rise up in arms -- + take her part-- " (December 1, 1860).

While her next letter of December 4th calls into question whether she actually mailed the letter written on December 1, Anne was clearly troubled enough by a letter that Mason had sent her to pen a second response. She wrote about her concern that Sam not be exposed to Mason's objectionable views, and asked, "Are all the shining lights of our country gone out? Is there not one remaining to offer compromise -- . . . It seems to me that the North + South do not understand each other -- You assert that the election of Lincoln turned upon one issue -- Yet within a few days -- I have heard . . . men opposed to the attack upon slavery -- whose reason for voting for Lincoln hinged upon the tariff -- . . . I am afraid you have gone too far astray to retrace your steps -- but cant a door be opened for mediation -- compromise -- or a grain of common sense to enter?"

Despite her differences with the Mason family's politics, Anne maintained a tender respect for, and a lively correspondence with, her sister Eliza and her family. In 1869, Anne wrote a conciliatory letter to James Murray Mason, welcoming him back to Cliveden after the family's exile in Canada. She poked fun at politicians, and then remarked, "If you can stand it, I can -- + I would be very glad to see you again at Cliveden -- . . . though I cannot promise that you would be invited, as of old to the club suppers -- or be entertained, at the head quarters of the Union League -- But you can learn from me that it is no bad thing to sit + look at the cat all day . . . or doze by the fire -- At least one is out of mischief there --" (May 3, 1869).

Discussions of the Civil War are a major theme throughout this series of correspondence. Henry B. Chew wrote about the devastation in Maryland, and expressed his concerns about having a large wedding for Sam at such a depressed and volatile time in the country's history. Letters from Eliza M. Mason and her daughters Virginia (Jeannie) and Ida praised the Confederate Army's efforts, and detailed the roles the Mason sons played in the war, from the riots at Harper's Ferry to the first Battle of Manassas. James Murray Mason's sister "Teaco" and Mason's daughter Katherine C. Dorsey wrote about the effects of the war on their families and the region. In many of these letters, the authors expressed hatred for "the Yankees" and decried the tragedy that befell the Southern people. After the end of the Civil War, letters from the Mason family discussed their exile in Canada, described their "poverty" and lamented the distance from friends and loved ones. In many of the letters, the Masons asked Anne to visit them in Canada, but she responded with reluctance, citing monetary concerns as a barrier.

While national concerns are discussed throughout these letters, many significant insights can be gained from the deeply personal matters confided by Anne's correspondents. In letters from Anna Ambler, Eliza Blackford, and Salvadora George, they described the conditions of their marriages, concerns about getting married, and recounted marital disputes that arose with their spouses. Henry B. Chew wrote of his loneliness after the death of his first wife, and expressed feelings of pain and rejection in his relationship with their mother, Katherine Banning Chew. Henry's son Benjamin admitted his desire to have a wife to soothe his loneliness, but told Anne that "all my lady friends appear to give me the slip" (October 6, 1870).

Other letters are devoted to health and physical well-being, describing the effects of various illnesses and the deaths that often resulted. Anna Ambler wrote to Anne about her servant Mary, who was suffering from Typhoid fever, and attributed the severity of her illness to "the nature of negroes." (February 3, 1853) Henry B. Chew detailed an array of health problems, including a tumor over his heart. Mary Johnson Brown Chew's letters are filled with reports about Sam's health, as well as descriptions of the various illnesses that their children develop. Mary recounted the death of their servant Eliza and provided details about how her body was treated and laid out (April 1881). Samuel Chew described his own health problems, his son David's foot operation, the effects of vaccination, Mary's illness after childbirth (1 May 1871), and the diseases and deaths of various family members. William White Chew discussed his "confinement" due to illness and his shame about how his prolonged sickness affected his appearance. Katherine Dorsey expressed her fears about Ida Mason's health after she had a lump in her breast that went untreated for years. Letters from Ida and Virginia Mason discuss their mother Eliza's ever-worsening condition.

Health is a major theme in almost all of the correspondence in this series, and there are often details about treatments included in the letters. These descriptions offer an intimate perspective of nineteenth century concepts of illness and mortality, and provide insights into the depth of feeling shared in the Chews' family relationships. Anne's friends and relatives were expressive with her, writing about their hopes and fears, financial woes, love for their children, and, often, a fervent desire to see Anne and hear from her more often. This correspondence paints a portrait of a woman deeply devoted to her family and friends, though sometimes distant. In numerous letters, her friends Mary E. Hart and Margaretta Sergeant refer to Anne's difficult and melancholy life, and offer praise for her service to her family, and their hopes that her suffering will end.

C. Estates. Anne Sophia Penn Chew administered the estates of Anthony Banning Chew (1809-1854) and William White Chew (1803-1851). This subseries includes accounts, agreements, correspondence, legal papers, notes, wills, records of transactions and settlements for both of these estates, as well as materials relating to other family members' estates, and properties that were divided as part of Benjamin Chew Jr.'s estate.

D. Memos and Notes. Anne Sophia Penn Chew made copious notes about events that happened daily, money she spent, her financial situation, work done by her servants, repairs necessary at Cliveden, visitors who came, furnishings and household goods, genealogy and many other subjects. She kept notes about the state of affairs at Cliveden after the death of her father Benjamin, especially regarding her relationship with her mother. Her notes, lists, and journal entries provide a perspective on how Anne managed household affairs at Cliveden and offer a window into her social life and habits.

E. Miscellaneous. Included in this subseries are circulars, clippings, ephemera, notes on a paternity case involving Henry B. Chew, botanical samples, drawings, poetry, recipes, drawings, embroidery templates, and language exercises.

A. Accounts. Samuel Chew's accounts document his purchases of household goods, tack and carriage parts, orthopedic apparatuses (probably for his son David, who had surgery on his foot), clothing, furnishings, coal, paper, tools, seeds, and dues paid to organizations. There are records of travel expenses, doctors' visits, taxes paid on property, as well as bills for work performed at Cliveden and at other locations. The Maryland farm book details the accounts of Epsom with its various overseers (Robert Cairns, John Mason, John C. Stetser and Charles H. Sheridan). Included in the farm book are inventories of equipment, grain and livestock.

The pocket diaries record money paid or collected throughout the year, often with brief notes about seeing a particular individual on the day a payment was made. Many of these transactions relate to rent (collected or paid) and wages paid to workers. In other cases, there are notes about stocks purchased or held, payments from various family estates, and occasionally purchases of goods made on that day.

While many of the bills and receipts in this subseries were loose, and therefore sorted by the individual to whom the payment for goods and services was made, the two receipt books contain a similar array of account types, with the receipts glued to the books' pages.

B. Correspondence. Samuel Chew's correspondence covers a wide range of topics--events in his family and changes in their health and financial situations, real estate transactions, continuing disputes over the estate of Benjamin Chew Jr., his marriage to Mary Johnson Brown, business relations with David Sands Brown, the settlement of David Sands Brown's estate, and significant national events such as the riots at Harper's Ferry and the beginnings of the Civil War in Maryland and Virginia.

The Civil War is mentioned in relationship to personal events; especially interesting are letters from Henry B. Chew regarding Samuel Chew's marriage in 1861. These letters provide Samuel with guidelines regarding the scale of the event, advising that "we shall be compelled to forego much that at any other time under other or former abilities would certainly have led me to provide for the occasion--my wife's sad condition + the deplorable situation of our country, and the financial crisis paralyzing everything + preventing my collecting one cent of money owing to me--all conspire to prevent our indulging the joyous merrymaking otherways would occur... " (June 3, 1861). In a letter later that week, Henry B. Chew reports that Samuel's brother Charles will not be able to attend the wedding, explaining "that it would be almost impossible under all existing circumstances for him to leave home even for a single day as it would be very wrong to leave the house + family + farm without one white man present in case anything should happen here in the absence of all the male members of the family... " (June 6, 1861).

In other letters from 1861, Henry B. Chew reports that Maryland's secession from the Union seems likely and that allegiance to the Confederacy is being enforced. He writes that "[t]he whole state of Maryland appears united in determination for secession to join the Southern Confederacy, and the flag of the Union with the Stars [and] Stripes is not allowed to be displayed any where. It is to be substituted by Either the flag of the Southern Confederacy, or that bearing the Arms of the State of Maryland every where--not a man is allowed to express an opinion or evince, any sympathy, contrary to that proclaimed for the secession [and] battle for Southern rights!! ... The plain fact is that Baltimore [and] its vicinity are now under Military Mob Law--..." (April 25, 1861). Though Henry B. Chew frequently expressed his allegiance to the Union and his desire to return to Pennsylvania, he remained in Maryland because of his wife's ill health and financial difficulties. His letters from 1863-1865 express fears about his sons being drafted into military service, describe the movement of troops in the area and reflect the impact of the war on the lives of Southerners.

In addition to letters from his father, correspondence from Eliza and James Murray Mason, and their daughters Ida and Virginia describe the conditions in the South. There are discussions of the riots at Harper's Ferry, the trial of John Brown, the exile of the Mason family in Canada during the 1860s, and the poverty that affected the South after the end of the war. In one letter, Ida O. Mason describes the state of affairs at their house prior to the execution of John Brown: "We have been having excited times here too--There was a rumor, that poor "old Brown," was certainly to be rescued, + that part of the plan was to kidnap Pa, + hold him as a hostage. But the report gained credence + the whole Town was under a Patrol + an especial Guard appointed....I can truly say, we were never in the least afraid of any personal harm, tho' our friends confidently expected Pa to be taken , + our barn to be burnt" (December 9, 1859).

James Murray Mason's letters do not address this family crisis, nor does he mention his role in John Brown's case. He discusses the events at Harper's Ferry in one letter (18 October 1859), but the majority of his letters relate to his role as executor in the estate of Benjamin Chew Jr. Finally, on April 15, 1861 Mason declares "...War is begun. When or how to end is beyond the ken or the control of man. One thing is certain. The Slave States will never again come under a common government with the Free States unless under a Constitution modified in the form adopted by the Confederate States, + not then, if the President carries out the programme of his Proclamation of this morning".

James Murray Mason continued in political office until the end of the Civil War, and then he and his family moved to Canada, where they found themselves isolated and struggling with the change in their social position. Eliza Murray Mason writes from Niagara, "'Poverty is indeed a weary thing' + I am sometimes shocked, when I find myself attaching so much more importance to Pounds, Shillings + pence than in former days....I have a horror of becoming mercenary. Yet a few more years of Exile, may possibly change my whole nature. You say, that 'you believe a brighter day is about to dawn,' but my dear Nephew, ... I cannot see in the present deplorable condition of political affairs anything to cheer or comfort our Southern hearts. Ruin--irremediable ruin seems the inevitable result of the military despotism to which the South is now subjected" (December 17, 1867).

While shedding light on significant national events, Samuel Chew's correspondence also creates a portrait of his intimate family relationships. Letters between Samuel Chew and Mary Johnson Brown Chew reveal a deep bond and mutual respect between husband and wife. Mary's correspondence also reflects the development of their relationship while they were courting. There are a significant number of letters from his children while they were in boarding school or traveling. David S. B. Chew and Samuel Chew Jr. offer entertaining anecdotes and express affection and respect for their father, creating a sense of the tight bonds that cemented this young family.

Anne Sophia Penn Chew writes to Samuel frequently, expressing her love and devotion to him, as well as inquiring about land sales and division of assets in the estate of Benjamin Chew Jr. In her earlier letters, she asks about his social life, prospects for marriage, and his plans for the future. Though she very seldom talks about the politics of the day, a letter from January 23, 1865 expresses her general sense of uneasiness: "Many events have occurred of late calculated to make us contemplative [and] careful--and the times [and] the state of the country are indeed calculated to render us anxious...it seems impossible to know what to count upon--or how much of the rumors of the day to credit--...." Later letters remind him to take care of his health and discuss the state of things at Cliveden, quite often mentioning Samuel's children, who were frequent visitors there. In one letter, she describes a remarkable event at home: "...I was aroused by Ben, who informed me that Mr. Ward [and] John Dorsey were down stairs--they have not been here very lately. After 2pm I heard a curious rumbling shaking noise--as if a tremendously heavy carriage or wagon was driving up--over an awfully rough road--+ I went to Ben's window to look out ...But--no carriage or omnibus was there--...And after I went down Ward said it was an earthquake--that the shaking lasted for many seconds [and] things rattled. And Jane rushed out of the nursery to know what shook the windows--Ward said he thought it was time to get out of the house--And they all think it was really an earthquake--" (August 10, 1884).

Cliveden was a gathering place for friends and family. Most of the correspondents in this series express their desire to visit the family at Cliveden or recount news of visits while Samuel Chew is away. Especially noteworthy are the letters of John H. Carr and A.B. Weimer. Weimer writes about traveling with Samuel's sons and reports news about friends and acquaintances.

Notable correspondence about the estate of Benjamin Chew Jr. includes that of Samuel's brother Benjamin, Henry B. Chew, James Murray Mason, and Edward Hoops. James M. Mason Jr. and John Mason write to Samuel about their farms, in which Samuel appears to have a financial interest. Samuel Chew's letter books contain correspondence related primarily to financial matters--payments, responses to requests for financial assistance from friends and business associates, matters relating to the settlement of various estates, and business matters, including the management of his farm in Maryland.

C. Estates. Samuel Chew served as executor (along with his brother Benjamin) for the estates of his father, Henry B. Chew (1800-1866) and Benjamin Chew Jr. (1758-1844), as well as for his father-in-law David Sands Brown (1800-1877). This subseries documents the settlement of those estates through account records, correspondence, and legal papers. Materials regarding the administration of David Sands Brown's estate can be found in series 13. David S. Brown and Co.

D. Genealogy. Samuel Chew was one of the first members of the Chew family to collect genealogical material about his ancestors. He was a lifetime member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and took on the task of collecting materials from various sources about the family's history. The material in this subseries is a mixture of printed and hand-copied materials, with correspondence from family members across the United States, describing various branches of the Chew family, as well as providing information about related families. Related materials can be found in Series 27 (Family Genealogy).

E. Legal and Business. Samuel Chew worked as an attorney in private practice, representing various members of the Chew and Brown families. He managed accounts and negotiated agreements for Anne Sophia Penn Chew and Henry B. Chew while he was employed as their attorney. He worked for David S. Brown and Co. in copartnership with David Sands Brown, George Heyl and others in Brown's many business ventures, including Ancona Printing Company, Gloucester Gingham Mills, Gloucester Iron Works, the Gloucester Manufacturing Company and Washington Manufacturing Company. More detailed records related to David Sands Brown and Co. business ventures can be found in Series 13. In addition to his legal practice and work with David Sands Brown, Samuel Chew also held public posts as commissioner of deeds in Pennsylvania for Arkansas, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

This subseries contains appointments and papers related to Samuel Chew's work as Commissioner of Deeds, agreements, accounts and notes related to David S. Brown and Co., deeds and leases, law licenses, legal papers, and materials related to the Great Central and Plymouth Rock Oil Companies.

F. Miscellaneous. This subseries contains drawings and writings by Samuel Chew, along with poems and prose he collected and copied, notes, prescriptions, journal entries, passports, school notebooks and exercises, and other items.

A. Mary Johnson Brown Chew (1839-1927)

1. Accounts. Mary Johnson Brown Chew's account records reflect her status as a society woman and a widow, and offer brief glimpses of her day to day activities. Her 1895 account/daily journal book contains detailed information about her household expenditures, payments made to various family members from estates, as well as brief descriptions of her visits with friends and family, notes about her work at Independence Hall (which she also refers to as the "National Museum"), and information about her children.

2. Correspondence. The majority of the correspondence in this subseries is from family members, though there are individual letters related to business matters and from friends, which are housed in the Miscellaneous folders. Samuel Chew's correspondence reflects his devotion to his family. Samuel traveled to see family members, manage their lands in Western Pennsylvania, and to visit healing springs in attempts to regain his health. His letters are filled with accounts of his many physical maladies, but even through his illnesses, Samuel's love for his family is the primary subject of his writing.

Letters from Mary's sister Martha M. Brown primarily detail her travels throughout Europe with several of Mary's children and Samuel Chew in 1881. They visited Milan, Geneva, Vienna, Heidelberg, Paris, and London, among other cities and towns. She writes in a highly descriptive style, detailing their activities and the sights that they take in as they move from place to place. In contrast to Martha's worldly letters, Anne Sophia Penn Chew writes to Mary about the details of running the household at Cliveden, including assessments of various servants, discussions about modernizing the house to meet Mary's needs, and advice about planting the garden and pasturing the cows. Anne also offers thoughts on childrearing and reports on the children's activities and behavior when they are staying at Cliveden. Mary's children write to her during their travels around the world, describing their experiences and impressions of new places. One notable letter from her son Benjamin offers details about his trip through Jamaica, and includes photographs from the construction of the Panama Canal.

Of all of Mary's correspondents, her daughter Anne and her son Sam are the most prolific. Anne’s marriage to Vere Speke Alston provided her with many opportunities to travel, though most of her letters originate from the couple’s homes in Weymouth, UK and Cairo, Egypt. She writes about her daily life and her travels, offers reports about her and Vere’s health, and discusses visits from friends and family. Many of Anne’s later letters discuss the First World War, and some letters show evidence of having been censored. In addition to discussing the effects of the war on her own life, Anne writes to her mother about Oswald, his wife Ada, and Sam’s volunteer work in France, relaying information about their whereabouts and activities.

Most of Sam’s letters reference his academic progress at St. Paul's School and, later, Harvard, often providing apologies for his poor grades, and pleas for more money to pay the expenses incurred for his provisions, club memberships, and recreational activities. Some of his letters also discuss the family's interest in the Gloucester manufacturing companies that were derivatives of David S. Brown and Co. His easy-going nature and sense of humor come through in the letters, in which he placates his mother's concerns about his behavior with transparent excuses for his performance in school. Throughout his correspondence, he assures Mary that he is not drinking or staying out late. In one letter, he side-steps her accusations by saying "What made you think Jack Mitchell + I had been drinking upstairs—if it was that bottle of whiskey, you may set your mind at rest,—Charlie Wood left that one day by accident,—he had just come up from the seashore, and that was whiskey to rub him down with after bathing, so dear Mamma if you or anyone has been using it for any other purpose—such as drinking you may expect to die at any moment" (September 30, 1890).

Another entertaining letter comes from Nannie Grason during a trip through Switzerland and Germany in 1875. She writes about sight-seeing, describes her difficulties with the German language, and repeatedly mentions her visits to beer gardens. She tells Mary that she is so enamored with them that she has been contemplating starting one in Philadelphia. She quips that either 1716 Walnut Street or Cliveden would be a perfect location for such a venture.

Correspondence from Katherine C. Dorsey focuses primarily on her financial situation, and often includes requests for assistance to augment her income. She encloses advertisements offering rooms for rent to members of Congress and other boarders, and to collect orders for canned fruits, preserves, and pickled vegetables. She describes her domestic projects, including knitting and crochet, which serve as potential income sources. Many of her letters reference her inheritance from various family estates and discussions on sales of lots around Cliveden. Letters from Ida and Virginia Mason include similar discussions of finances and their ongoing poverty. Ida offers Mary a glimpse of the way that poverty has impacted her, and laments her sometimes-poor judgment with the following example: “If ever you ‘have boarders,’ you will know that one of the features of the disease is an abiding dread, worse than any night-mare, that they won't have enough to eat. When this horror seizes me, I have all the chickens killed that can possibly be caught, + then when dinner is over, am shocked at my bad management in having too much--a very bad fault in a house-keeper, who has boarders” (Clarens, August 4th [undated]).

3. Education. This subseries is made up entirely of essays and notes that Mary Johnson Brown Chew copied or composed during her schooling, with the exception of the Natural History notebook in box 421, which contains several recipes and instructions for knitting a child's sweater.

4. Journals. This subseries contains four journals and eight pocket diaries. Mary's journals are reflective and often reference her religious beliefs. Her journal of 1858-1860 chronicles a summer spent at Vanor, during which she laments the distance from her friends, and offers remembrances of friends who have died. She reflects upon the passing year's adventures and trials on each New Year's Eve, and writes of the loss of her youth on her birthday (December 6th). During the latter part of 1860, she begins to make references to a relationship, and though she never names him, announces on September 17th, "I have promised to be his wife." Later in the month, she admits the mixed emotions that she experienced after spending time at Cliveden with Samuel Chew and his family: "I have been received kindly-for his sake-but not as a daughter-not warmly and fondly –not with the love for which my heart yearns-the kisses have been cold and formal and the welcome not from the heart-It is very cutting+hard to bear-" (September 27th).

Her journal of 1861 begins in a similar manner, recounting an interaction with Anne Sophia Penn Chew, which left her feeling hurt. Beginning on April 13th, however, Mary's entries move quickly to a focus on national events; she describes the first conflicts in the Civil War, and expresses the fear and uncertainty that must have gripped the entire country in April 1861. She writes, "So War is indeed in our borders! and we know not how rapidly the hydra headed monster may advance and how soon desolation may be near our own homes!" Later in the month, she describes the situation in Maryland, "Now not a flag of the stars and stripes is visible, Not a Union man dares to Stir-no one Can pass thro' the city unless under Cover of a Secession badge!" (April 25th). Her entry on April 30th ends with the following reflection: "Have been several times to the House of Employment where ladies are collected making clothes for the soldiers- scraping lint making bandages +c +c. How fully these preparations bring the reality before us”.

Mary's reports about the Civil War take a more personal perspective in her May 1st entry. She recounts newspaper coverage that James M. Mason had been visiting Cliveden, which aroused a public cry for his arrest. The authorities were not able to locate Senator Mason in Germantown, and Mary suggests that this story had been fabricated "by Mr. B.C. [Benjamin Chew III] in order to annoy and if possible cause inconvenience to those against whom he holds such inveterate hatred." In this same entry, she notes a shift in her relations with Anne Sophia Penn Chew after a visit to Cliveden. "I spent last Sat. afternoon at Cliveden- very pleasantly- ... It was very lovely- green + Spring-like + I find that I now meet its mistress without trembling .... It is not that I have forgotten the past or recognize the injustice any less- But that I feel myself too erring to judge another, too human to find fault..."(May 1st). The last entry in Mary's 1861 journal looks toward her new role as Samuel Chew's wife with apprehension. "My thoughts are absorbed now by the rapid approach of the greatest event of my life. The day for my marriage is fixed, and a few days will make it the present. ... But oh what a stand point is this which my life has now reached, looking back into girlhood on one side and on the other, on into an unknown future-" (June 12th).

Mary's journal from 1886-1887, records a different kind of uncertainty—that of the loss of her husband. This short chronicle begins in December of 1886, when it is clear that Samuel Chew is critically ill. She writes about their last Christmas together, reflecting on the joys and sorrows of each day, and details Samuel's swift decline. By January 10, 1887, Samuel is dead and Mary faces a "desolate" future. On January 13, the day of his internment at Saint Luke's Church in Germantown, Mary writes "This day our precious one was laid in his last resting place... + I look forward to the dreary years when I must meet all the anxieties + perplexities of life Alone--without his living hand to lead me--but I remember there is another Hand which will guide me if only groping in the darkness and the gloom I can find it--" Her journal from 1894 describes her daily activities, offers some reflection of her thoughts and feelings, and lists her expenditures for the year.

Mary's pocket diaries offer a record of her activities over a broad span of years, prior to her marriage through a few years after Samuel's death. A typical entry from her 1862 diary reads: "Went to town. pd 2 visits did some shopping + went to see Grandmama. 27 cts in RR + P cars- Sent 50 cts to S" (February 21, 1862). Other entries sum up her activities in a narrative form: "At home Bessy playing tricks all day long- David very full of fun." (April 1, 1881) and record events of national significance: "The President died last night." (September 19, 1881). Some of her diary entries list the clothing and household items she purchased, along with their cost. On July 17th, 1862, Mary's purchases included a "Barege dress $4.50, Ruffle to edge neck of dress 50cts., Corsets $1.16." These lists, along with more substantive entries about her daily activities and travels, provide a rough picture of what Mary valued and reflect how she and Samuel Chew spent their money and time.

5. Miscellaneous. This subseries contains address books, circulars, clippings, reports on Samuel Chew Jr.'s performance at Harvard, materials documenting Mary’s involvement with the Colonial Dames and the Valley Green Inn Association, a small gift box of engravings reproducing art at the Tate Gallery, a photograph album comprised of pictures of Ida P. Johnson, several sketch books, and miscellaneous writings.

6. Office files. These files were stored together in a wooden file box, and primarily cover the period of 1903-1906, though some of the files contain earlier or later material. The contents of the files are mostly business-related—from the rental and management of various properties to Mary’s work in the preservation of historic places in Philadelphia, though some of the files focus on genealogy, and a few contain correspondence that mix personal and business matters. The files contain correspondence, bills and receipts, plans for houses and property, financial statements, insurance policies, agreements, legal documents, and information on historic properties.

7. Property. The materials in this subseries relate to property Mary owned with other family members in Radnor Township, Tacoma, WA, Baltimore, lots surrounding Cliveden, and Cold Spring Farm in Towson, Maryland. Included here are agreements, appeals to the tax board to lower property taxes, letters, deeds, lists of lots, memos, plans, receipts, financial statements and tax bills.

Samuel Chew acted on behalf of Mary J.B. Chew in transactions with parties wishing to sell the family lots around Cliveden. After Samuel Chew's death, David S.B. Chew and his brothers handled some of the real estate transfers for Mary J.B. Chew and Martha M. Brown. David S.B. Chew provided regular financial reports to his mother and Aunt Martha regarding all of the family’s real estate holdings; some of these reports are included here, others can be found in series 24 (Chew Estate Office). The materials related to Cold Spring Farm were removed from a scrapbook Mary kept that documented the operation of the farm from 1887-1889. Robert E. Lee de Potestad operated the farm for the Chew family, and corresponded frequently with Mary about expenses and transactions that he handled.

Nine folders of tax bills relate to Cliveden and properties in Philadelphia and Radnor. These receipts were removed from a scrapbook where they were pasted chronologically.

B. Martha Morris Brown (1841-1924)

1. Accounts. Included in Martha Morris Brown's accounts are cancelled checks and checkbooks from the PA Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities, a small group of records related to sales of tenants' property, and receipts for goods and services purchased. The receipts date primarily from 1901-1902, but provide a sample of Martha's expenditures, including items such as meat, butter, eggs, fruit and vegetables, baking supplies, coffee and tea, wine and liquor, cigars and cigarettes, pots, pans and cutlery, hardware, barbed wire, staples, rope, window glass, cement and lime. Her accounts also document payments made for medical services and work done on various properties, including roofing, hanging wall paper, and installation of plumbing.

2. Correspondence. The letters in this subseries are primarily from friends and family, containing updates about their health or the events in their daily lives. Some of the letters describe trips abroad and domestically. Her niece Anne and her nephew Benjamin write to Martha from Europe—Benjamin's letters contain sketches to illustrate discussions about his progress as an artist and the classes he is taking in Paris. Mary Johnson Brown Chew's letters focus on her family life and her ongoing concerns about Samuel Chew's health, with occasional conversations about the property that Martha and Mary own jointly and descriptions of her travels. Several of Mary's letters, written in March 1869 during a family trip through the Southern United States, discuss the devastation in the South after the Civil War, and describe sights of the ruins of Fort Sumpter and a group of houses inhabited by former slaves.

Letters from Martha's friends Sophy G. Coxe, and Lilly Wistar make up the bulk of correspondence from those outside of Martha's family. The two write detailed letters about their personal lives and events of broader significance. Sophy G. Coxe's letters, written mostly from her home in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, offer a perspective on life in one of the state's coal-mining regions, with descriptions of several mine collapses and explosions, and provide a sometimes-philosophical view of the social questions of the day. In one letter, Sophy Coxe writes, "I am beginning to take a rather gloomy view of the labor question, I confess, and often find myself wondering whether I shall live to see communism introduced into this country." (April 14, 1872) In another letter, she describes a trip to Cuba, where she visits a sugar plantation and observes slaves working on a chain gang [undated]. Lilly Wistar's letters from the early 1860s focus on the impact of the Civil War on her family and the country as a whole, especially as her brother rejoins his regiment and is injured in battle. Other friends wrote more sporadically, but their letters offer a wider view of Martha’s social circle, which included Sylvia (Watson) Emerson and her husband William Ralph Emerson, who designed several of the Brown family homes in Radnor.

3. Miscellaneous. This subseries consists primarily of notebooks that relate to Martha Morris Brown's education. Also included in this subseries are two poems or hymns copied in pencil, recipes, architectural drawings of proposed alterations to her properties in Radnor, a record of items she ordered from the butcher, an inventory of her books, and a notebook containing the substance of Martha M. Brown's application to the Colonial Dames.

C. Joseph Johnson (1770-1848) Joseph Johnson, son of Joseph Johnson and Sarah Morgan, worked as a ship chandler out of wharves along the Delaware River. Most of the materials in this subseries are related to outfitting ships, his dealings with merchants, and records of his involvement in shipping goods from Cuba, St. Barts, Spain, and other ports. Johnson owned or co-owned a significant amount of property along Philadelphia's waterways and in Radnor Township, including land inherited from the Jones family through his wife Martha Morris' line.

1. Accounts. This subseries primarily documents expenses incurred in Joseph Johnson's ship chandling work, including rope, paint, tar, and other outfitting supplies. The accounts also describe the goods being shipped—beef, lard, butter, sugar, salt, grain, and jerk beef—on voyages traveling through Cuba and the Caribbean. Included in this subseries are Joseph Johnson's personal accounts, bank books, documents related to rental and repairs of property in Radnor, Greenwich Island, and elsewhere, accounts of clothing purchased, tuition for Johnson's daughter and others, taxes, and other expenses.

2. Bonds and Agreements. This subseries contains materials related to the division of Joseph Johnson Sr.'s estate, financial agreements, forms of indenture, leases, deeds, and other property agreements, and a power of attorney conferred to Joseph Johnson by Mary Pancoast, who owned a share of the Greenwich Island Meadows.

3. Correspondence. The majority of letters in this subseries relate to the purchase and shipment of goods and outfitting of ships, though there are some letters that discuss property that Johnson owned, legal matters in which he had some interest, and records of financial transactions. There is a significant amount of third party correspondence included here, nearly all of which deals with voyages made by various ships and discussions of the goods being transported.

4. Legal. The material in this subseries relates to a legal suit brought by Joseph Johnson against William and Anthony M. Buckley, in a claim that appears to center on a financial dispute. The two volumes and one folder of material related to the Buckley case do not provide a narrative of the claim, but reflect that their account records were investigated for errors. The final folder of material in this subseries contains a group of unrelated materials of a legal nature.

5. Miscellaneous. Included in this subseries are materials documenting the settlement of Joseph Johnson's estate, miscellaneous papers related to Johnson's ship chandling business, and a broadside advertising a reward for Johnson's stolen horse.

D. Elizabeth Garrett (1758-1823) This subseries consists almost entirely of receipts for goods and services paid for during Elizabeth Garrett's lifetime. Also included are two folders of material related to the settlement of her estate, which was administered by Joseph Johnson and John Read. Elizabeth (Jones) Garrett was partial owner of properties in Kingsessing and Moyamensing Townships, and her estate was divided between numerous parties, including Joseph and Martha M. Johnson, Mary Pancoast, Theodore Mitchell, Frances Allison, and others.

E. Martha (Morris) Johnson (1777-1862) The materials in this subseries consist primarily of account records, which show payments for Martha Johnson's household expenses, taxes, rents collected on property she owned, and payments to laborers. The receipt books document the intertwined financial affairs of Martha and Joseph Johnson with other owners of properties in Moyamensing, Kingsessing, and other areas of Philadelphia. Included in the estate papers of Martha Johnson are receipts for funeral expenses and inventories of her household items. This subseries also contains correspondence and the record of Martha Johnson's excommunication from the Philadelphia Quaker meeting due to her marriage to a man outside of her faith.

F. Mary Morris Johnson (d. 1885) This subseries contains records of accounts with Samuel Chew and Gloucester Manufacturing Company, agreements related to a warehouse on Front Street, correspondence, a deed poll for Radnor property along the Pennsylvania Rail Road, and an inventory of Mary M. Johnson's estate.

G. Joseph Johnson Brown (1832-1868) This subseries contains cancelled checks, materials related to Joseph J. Brown's estate and property, a journal and pocket diaries, which document his daily activities in the last few years of his life, and several notebooks of lecture notes from his university studies.

H. Elizabeth (Johnson) Brown (1805-1879) Most of the materials in this subseries relate to Elizabeth Brown's estate and properties; there are also several recipe books and one folder of correspondence.

I. Jones Family The Jones family subseries contains the account records of Matthew and William Jones, as well as miscellaneous receipts, genealogical notes, and family wills.

J. Morgan Family This subseries contains material relating to the estates of John, Magdalane and Samuel Morgan, accounts, correspondence, and agreements for the sale of two slaves.

K. Miscellaneous This subseries contains materials that could not be identified as belonging to a particular individual, consist of too few documents to warrant their own subseries, or relate to the family history in some way. These materials include accounts, bonds, correspondence, estate papers, genealogical notes and a sketch of William Brown's life, papers related to the Morris family, a scrap book, recipes, a pocket diary, and several copies of engraved portraits of David Sands Brown.

L. Properties

1. Darby. This property consisted of five acres of meadow land in Darby, which had been the property of Mathew Jones, and probably bordered on the Jones properties in Kingsessing. There is one folder that pertains to the Darby House; the remaining three folders contain deeds and leases.

2. Delaware Avenue Wharves. These properties include the store numbered 324 and 326 (formerly 77) South wharves (between Spruce and Pine). This property was the site of Joseph Johnson’s ship chandling business. The materials pertaining to these properties include accounts, deeds, plans, insurance policies, and other papers.

3. Dickinson Street Wharves (previously "Dickerson"). These wharves were likely nearby the Delaware Avenue wharves, and were also owned by Joseph Johnson. The documents in this subseries include deeds, agreements, briefs of title, licenses, and specifications for a building.

4. Kingsessing Township. This property consisted of “Meadow Green” on Island Road, ten acres of upland at junction of Island Road and Kingsessing Lane, and thirty acres of meadow land bounded by Lands Creek and the Schuylkill River. Included in these papers is a group of materials documenting William Jones’ claim against the Royal Artillery for pasturing their horses on his meadows, as well as deeds, correspondence, surveys, and agreements.

5. Miscellaneous. Records pertaining to the properties in this subseries were placed here because they were grouped in such a way that they could not be sorted. Included here are an account book and other papers related to the family’s land holdings.

6. Moyamensing. The materials in this subseries were identified as being located in Moyamensing Township, but were not identifiable as being part of either the Greenwich Hall property or the Greenwich Island District. Included here are deeds, leases, a power of attorney from Thomas and Richard Penn, and surveys by John Lukens and John Sellers.

7. Moyamensing/Garlick (Greenwich) Hall. Garlick (or Greenwich) Hall was a property owned by William Jones in the mid-eighteenth century. Later, as Philadelphia began to develop, this property became more industrialized. This property was located along Seventh Street near Pierce, Moore and Watkins Streets. This land may have connected to the Greenwich Island District lots owned by the Johnson family. The documents in this subseries include agreements, briefs of title, deeds, insurance policies, leases, surveys and plans.

8. Moyamensing/Greenwich Island District. These properties, in Philadelphia’s First ward, consisted of farm land, marsh and flat lands along the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. This area now houses the Navy ship yard. Materials in this subseries include agreements, account records, correspondence, deeds and briefs of title, insurance policies, legal papers, and surveys by Nicholas Scull, John Lukens and others.

9. Radnor. The records in this subseries relate to the family’s property in Randnor Township, primarily Vanor and the surrounding lots. These materials provide a comprehensive perspective on the Brown family’s Radnor properties and the development of Radnor Township from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. In addition to deeds, title papers, leases, and insurance policies, this subseries also includes correspondence, accounts, and plans for houses and roads. Louis Rush and W.E. Emerson, who were both prominent architects, designed additions and houses for the Brown and Chew families.

10. Southwark Lots. The properties in this subseries included lots, wharves and flats along Reed, Wharton, and Wheat Streets, between Second and Fifth Streets. These lots were used by David S. Brown and Company for storage and access to Philadelphia’s shipping industry. Most of the documents in this subseries are deeds and related papers.

Samuel Chew (1871-1919) was the son of Mary Johnson Brown and Samuel Chew. He attended St. Paul’s and Harvard and, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, operated a private practice and served as Assistant City Solicitor of Philadelphia.

This series contains fifteen boxes and nineteen volumes. Among the significant groups of materials are accounts, business papers, correspondence, legal documents, and papers related to real estate properties. There are also broadsides related to the 1893 elections and to properties in Germantown, and journals, diaries and personal logs. In the accounts group there are bills, receipts, balance sheets, and financial documents related to Samuel Chew’s finances and to the estate of David Sands Brown. Other papers offer insights into Samuel Chew’s financial matters. In folders titled “Property Taxes”, “Properties” (909 Market Street and 1311 Walnut Street), and “Business and personal papers”, researchers will find information on Samuel Chew’s investments and business ventures, as well as his work as a corporate lawyer and administrator of the family’s assets and Cliveden.

Most of the early correspondence consists of letters from family members and friends to Samuel Chew, while he was attending school in Concorde, New Hampshire and Harvard University. After his school years Samuel Chew’s correspondence deals almost exclusively with business matters and issues related to the estate of the Chew family. Most of these letters are from his mother Mary Johnson Brown, his aunt Martha Morris Brown, and his brother David Sands Brown Chew. Other correspondence refers to Samuel Chew’s efforts to procure military service during the First World War. Letters in this section are addressed to different branches of the military. In 1917, Chew wrote to Theodore Roosevelt to express his interest in joining one of Roosevelt’s military expeditions. Other interesting letters are those written by Austen Riggs regarding Samuel Chew’s psychological treatment sessions in Massachusetts. (Riggs eventually became the founder of the Austen Riggs Center of Intensive Psychotherapy).

Samuel Chew owned several properties around Philadelphia and there are related deeds, mortgages, bonds, accounts of rents collected, tax reports, receipts for repairs, correspondence, surveys, and other miscellaneous papers. From his work as Assistant City Solicitor of Philadelphia and court-appointed legal master for various legal cases there are copies of transcripts, briefs, interrogatories, and other legal documents related to divorce and bankruptcy cases. Also included are files about a murder case (Commonwealth vs. William Epps) in which Samuel Chew was the solicitor in charge of presenting evidence to the Board of Pardons seeking to commute Epps’ penalty from death to life in prison. The documents related to political matters deal exclusively with Chew’s involvement in the Republican Party and the Penrose Republican Club.

Rounding out this series are miscellaneous materials that include school reports, university diplomas, train tickets, newspaper clippings, obituaries, and interestingly, several letters “authored” by a deceased Samuel Chew through a medium.

This series consists of twelve boxes and sixty-two volumes that offer insights into David Sands Brown’s business conglomerate in Camden County, New Jersey. Brown served as director of Girard Bank from 1840-1843, and in 1844 he built and was president and manager of the Washington Manufacturing Company in Gloucester, New Jersey, which manufactured cotton. Washington Mills, owned by the Washington Manufacturing Company, contained both mills and boarding houses for single workers. Following this he established the Gloucester Manufacturing Company for the production of printed calicoes and in 1859 built the Gloucester Gingham Mills. Five years later he established, and became president of, the Gloucester Iron Works. Other companies David S. Brown established include the Gloucester Print Works, Gloucester Land Company, and in 1871 the Ancona Printing Company, which introduced new methods of applying colors which had been successful in Europe but previously untried in the United States.

Documents in this series include bills, receipts, bonds, agreements, correspondence, papers related to legal cases where David S. Brown was involved, and papers concerning the numerous properties owned by David S. Brown, including multiple documents about a storehouse located between Delaware Avenue and Chestnut Street.

The accounts consist primarily of bills and receipts for repairs and services rendered at the companies. There are also balance sheets, financial statements and financial analyses of some of the companies, and documents related to David S. Brown’s stock investments. Accounts of employee’s wages, pipe and boiler construction expenses, and cost of machinery can also be found in this section. Sands Brown also lent money for profit and that is reflected in the numerous folders with promissory notes, bonds, and agreements offering a detailed description of this.

Business papers comprise an important part of this series since they detail the inner workings of corporate administration and contain notes on investments made by David Sands Brown. There are fabric samples, inventories, price lists, promotional printed materials, statements to creditors, papers related to railroad construction, and insurance policies. There are also many volumes that help thoroughly document Brown’s companies, such as ledgers, receipt books, cashbooks, letter books, journals, and minutes of stockholders meetings. There are also daybooks from the Washington Manufacturing Company, Washington Mills, Gloucester Manufacturing Company, Gloucester Gingham Mills, Gloucester Iron Works, Gloucester Land Company and Ancona Printing Company.

Most of Brown’s correspondence is business-related. In addition to information on the day-to-day operations of his companies, some of the correspondence highlights real estate and mortgage investments Brown held with W. J. Barney (of the Western Mortgage Company) in Iowa. There are also letters that refer to real estate investments made by Martha Morris Brown and Mary Johnson Brown with funds from the Davis Sands Brown estate. Samuel Chew’s correspondence deals with the administration of the Brown’s estate, of which Chew was the executor.

The deeds, mortgages, leases and releases in this series trace back the legal standing of properties and real estate connected to Brown’s companies. Folders titled “Estate” contain papers produced after Brown’s death that describe the status of his assets; most of these papers are authored by Samuel Chew, executor of the estate. There are also papers related to disputes and settlements involving Brown’s companies. Papers filed under “Properties” cover most of his assets including the Camden, Gloucester and Mt. Ephraim Railway Company (in part responsible for the design and construction of the train tracks that would help move his production from the Gloucester factories sites to the Delaware River wharves) and his storehouse located on the Philadelphia side of the Delaware River. Also included are documents related to Brown’s properties Gloucester, North Penn Township (part of what today is known as Northern Liberties), Iowa, and Cook County, in Illinois.

Surveys of Gloucester City and ground plans for Brown’s factories give a broad picture of the industrial development of Gloucester, New Jersey, in no small part achieved by Brown’s entrepreneurship. However, under the “Maps and plans” section are maps that Brown may have personally collected. This series also features personal papers related to Brown’s membership in different Philadelphia civic organizations like the Union League, Library Company, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; and miscellaneous documents ranging from newspapers clippings, business cards, train tickets, and poems and songs parodying Brown’s companies.

This series is just a small part of the David S. Brown and Co. documents held by The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. More detailed records may be found in manuscript collection 1586, David S. Brown and Co. records, 1828-1910.

A. Accounts. This subseries primarily contains records of Elizabeth Brown Chew’s personal account with Girard Trust, documented though account statements and checkbook stubs. Among the more unique items include records of how Elizabeth spent checks she cashed from 1933 to 1936 and papers pertaining to the settling of the estates for David Sands Brown and Mary J. B. Chew. There are also reports from the treasurer of the Radnor Realty Company and records of Elizabeth's investments and contributions through the law office of Scott and Burton. Additional material includes a variety of bills and receipts; scattered records property tax records, and miscellaneous material, among which is a 1921 treasurer’s report from the Gloucester Land Company. This subseries also contains one volume in Box 605: a scrapbook in which Elizabeth placed her tax bills from the years 1901 to 1926.

B. Chew Trust. This subseries consists solely of copies of reports and statements from and pertaining to the Chew Trust between roughly 1922 and 1942. During this time, family members acting as agents for the trust included Oswald Chew, Benjamin Chew, Elizabeth Brown Chew, Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston, and David Sands Brown Chew. The reports reveal, in relative detail, discussion between various family members concerning, in particular, land transactions. The statements spell out, in financial terms, the trust’s incomes, expenses, and investments (in real estate and other companies).

C. Cliveden. This small subseries consists of seven folders and two volumes. Among the scant materials are a few bills and receipts for repairs to Cliveden’s interiors; a small group of miscellaneous correspondence; two folders of clippings relaying stories about the house, its history, and the Chew family generally; a few inventories of the house’s furnishings, as well as some of Elizabeth’s own possessions; and a folder of invoices and correspondence from the early 1950s when the house underwent renovations. There are also two guestbooks (Boxes 606 and 607) in which Elizabeth kept track of all of Cliveden’s visitors from 1922 to 1960.

D. Correspondence. In this subseries are letters received by Elizabeth Brown Chew from the late 1870s to the mid 1950s. There are several groups of letters from various family members, notably her mother, Mary Johnson Brown Chew, and sister, Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston. In such letters, researchers will find few insights outside of general observations about family and friends. Although contained with one letter from Jeannie L. Chew of Falls Church, Virginia, is a brief family tree showing her descendants, who branched off from the recognized line at Benjamin Chew’s (1671-1700) older brother Samuel (1660-1781).

Among the non-family members is an interesting selection of letters signed by an individual using the initials “C. K. B,” who apparently was quite fond of Elizabeth. “Will you ever come to know how really precious you are to me?” he asked in a letter dated November 25, 1892. Beyond his professions of love, this gentleman seemed to be well-versed in Philadelphia’s societal and political happenings. In these few letters he offered keen insights into several current events of the late 1800s, including the 118th anniversary of Philadelphia First Troop, which he attended, and the 1892 presidential election. On 3 May 1893, he discussed Boies Penrose’s possible run for mayor of Philadelphia.” Boies is talked of as the next mayor of Philadelphia,” he noted, “but there are many others who are ambitious in this direction too, + as the nomination is a long ways off yet, many changes make[sic] take place in the shuffling of the political cards".

Researchers will find several letters from various individuals that date from Elizabeth’s time in London around 1913. Groups of letters from family and friends have been accordingly filed under those individuals. Single letters have been arranged together and filed as “miscellaneous [letters] to EBC in London".

E. Diaries, calendars, scrapbooks. At the beginning of this subseries are several small diaries Elizabeth kept between 1882 and 1928 (several years are missing). In them, she recounted each day’s events in entries that ranged from brief, “The Shobers—lots of fun, very nice—” [July 7, 1883], to detailed, “Anne, Robbie, + I [in town?] in morn – I missed my train coming out – Anne to Mrs. Wisters – Robby + I were going [ride?] but it rained – talking + reading in library” [Oct. 2, 1887]. This series also contains a postcard album and two scrapbooks, one of which contains early twentieth century inventories of items at both Cliveden and 1716 Walnut Street. Loose material from diaries, album, and scrapbooks have been foldered and removed to Box 602.

F. Miscellaneous. Among the material in this subseries are several of Elizabeth’s address books, ephemera, miscellaneous legal papers, a record book of cricket matches, bible study notes, and a book of inventories of the Chew’s residence at 1716 Walnut Street. There is also a folder of copies of agreements and correspondence between members of the Chew family and Burton Alva Konkle, who produced a biography of Benjamin Chew (1722-1810) in 1932. Other highlights in the subseries include three folders of clippings from the 1860s to the 1950s, in which are reported a range of local and national events, as well as various occurrences (marriages, deaths, etc.) in the Chews’ lives.

A. Accounts. This subseries consists almost solely of checkbooks in which are records Oswald’s accounts with Girard Trust Company and the Pennsylvania Company. Although he may have collected most of these records while working with the Chew Estate Office, they have been placed together in this subseries because that delineation is unclear. Many of the Girard Trust checks were commissions paid to real estate agents or dues to repairmen in connection with various properties owned by the Chews, such as Maidstone, Willow Spring, and Boathouse (Marion, MA). However the Pennsylvania Company however, appear to be of a more personal nature, with most of them having gone to membership dues and general purchases.

B. Cliveden property. Material in this subseries shows the evolution and sale of Cliveden’s property mostly during the 1930s and 1940s. The Cliveden estate once covered a wide swath of land in Germantown, Philadelphia, from Chew Avenue to Germantown Avenue, north and south and Upsal (now East Upsal) Street to Duval (now East Duval) Street, east to west. Beginning in about the 1880s, the family began selling of various portions of the land. Oswald’s papers specifically highlight land dealing on Duval, Magnolia, and Johnson streets; and more generally, show how a few plots were renovated, sold, and built into a playground, apartment complex, and public park. There are legal and financial records, correspondence from lawyers and contactors, a few clippings, and folder of maps showing how and between who the land was divided.

C. Correspondence and miscellaneous. Most of the material in this series pertains to the Chew family’s donation of papers to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) in the 1940s. In addition to general forms and correspondence between family members about the terms of the donation, there is also a copy of an essay on Cliveden written by Elizabeth Brown Chew in 1937, various inventories of the papers (those generated by the family, as well as those given to HSP), and a copy of a memo written by Hampton L. Carson of HSP in 1923 regarding the papers of Chief Justice Benjamin Chew. There is also a copy of “recommendations for organizing the Chew papers.” The author of the recommendation is unknown; however, there is a reference to the Independence National Historic Park, indicating that they may have been written by a related staff member.

Beyond this small group of materials, this subseries also contains a folder of family letters, a mostly empty Radnor Realty stock certificate book, and Oswald Chew’s Croix de Guerre award for his service to France during World War I.

D. Estate. In this subseries are papers from three family estates in which Oswald Chew was involved: his brother, Benjamin Chew (1878-1938); his sister, Elizabeth Brown Chew (and others); and his father, Samuel Chew (1832-1887). Oswald’s papers concerning Benjamin Chew’s estate consist of correspondence from various legal and accounting offices that primarily document the sale of lands and securities. There is also one folder of letters from the Chew Estate Office, as well as a few letters from Oswald to Benjamin’s widow, Anne T. Chew. Additionally, in Box 626 folder 17, there are papers concerning the commercial and railroad development of lands associated with the family’s “Vanor” estate.

Following these papers are two folders of material from the Towson National Bank (Maryland). The Towson account was apparently passed down through several family members (including Mary J. B. Chew, David Sands Brown Chew, and Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston) until it was overseen by Oswald as the acting family agent. There is one folder of account statements and miscellaneous financial papers, as well as a checkbook.

The final group of materials consists of papers pertaining to the Samuel Chew estate. Most of the material is financial in nature and primarily documents the estate’s assets and expenditures during the 1920s and the early 1940s. There is also a small selection of mostly legal and financial correspondence, inventories of the estate, various administrative documents conceding the distribution of the estate, and copies of Samuel Chew’s will. In addition, there are typed notes from the diary of David S. B. Chew from October 1927 to February 1928, which were probably garnered because they contained information on the estate, including financial transactions and land interests. Related materials can be found in series 24, Chew Estate Office.

David Sands Brown Chew was the eldest son of Mary Johnson Brown and Samuel Chew. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Chew established his own private practice in Philadelphia, where he became involved in city politics. He was a member of the First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry, and a long time member of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

This series consists of three boxes and fifteen volumes and primarily covers three aspects of David Sands Brown Chew’s life: business interests, life in the military, and political involvement with the Republican Party in Philadelphia. A smaller group of materials document David’s personal life, which include journals, genealogical research, school papers, scrapbooks, printed materials, and newspaper clippings.

The accounts records contain documents related to David Sands Brown Chew’s involvement with some of his grandfather’s companies (Gloucester Iron Works, Ancona Printing, and Gingham Mills). David’s business papers pertain to Radnor Realty, a real estate company he ran out of the Commercial Trust Building in Philadelphia. Papers related to his interests in the development of the Delaware River wharves can be found in Box 645, Folder 5 (Business papers-dredging). The majority of his papers related to business matters are in the volumes, which include journals, minutes, record books, transfer books, checkbooks, stock reports, and ledgers related to the Radnor Realty Company.

Correspondence during the years 1870 to 1889 is mostly between David Sands Brown Chew and family members (his mother Mary Johnson Brown, sister Anne Sophia Penn Chew, and brother Samuel Chew). Letters from years 1890 to 1899 describe business matters and issues related to the Chew estate.

The military files depict in detail various duties performed by Major Chew while serving as ordinance officer, chairman of military transportation, quartermaster, and acting inspector of rifle practice (First Brigade, National Guard, Philadelphia). The political files contain documents related to David Sands Brown Chew’s political activism; materials in this group document his membership in Philadelphia’s 8th Ward Republican Party and his role as financial officer for Republican senator Boies Penrose. There are also letters related to his service as both a councilman for the city of Philadelphia and as a member of the State House of Representatives in Harrisburg.

A. Benjamin Chew of Epsom (1830-1885). Benjamin Chew of Epsom was one of the sons of Henry B. Chew and Harriet Ridgley. From 1864 to 1865, he worked for his father in various Pennsylvania counties; he was in charge of overseeing the surveying process of lands belonging to Benjamin Chew Jr.’s estate, as well as finding potential buyers for them. Business strategies are discussed throughout the correspondence between father and son, notably there are some letters that discussed the discovery of coal in Crawford, Fulton and other Pennsylvania counties.

Pocket diaries from years 1857 to 1884 contain notes and appointments, both business and personal. Some folders house memos, notes, and maps concerning real estate ventures in Chicago, and investments with an iron and coal company in Ohio. The accounts section contains documents about personal expenses (shoes, wine, etc), receipts, and statements related to taxes in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Germantown Township; and papers with details about bank accounts and stock matters. Most of the correspondence is either between Benjamin Chew of Epsom and agents for the Chew estate, or with Chew family members. The volumes in this subseries consist of journals and diaries with detailed entries about business affairs and personal appointments.

Among the papers not related to business matters, there is a folder with documents related to Freemasonry, including rules and bylaws, and a registry of lodges in the state of Pennsylvania.

B. Benjamin Chew Jr. (1914-1972) Benjamin Chew Jr. was the son of Benjamin Chew (1878-1938) and Anne Thompson and brother of Samuel Chew (1915-1989). He lived in Cliveden and sorted large portions of the family papers. He was also very active in investment ventures with both up-and-coming and established corporations, and was involved with several local charitable organizations and social clubs.

Documents housed under the title A.J. Drexel Cup Tournament reflect Benjamin Chew’s work as treasurer for a group of golf enthusiasts sponsoring a tournament to raise funds for a new golf course called Gulph Mills in King of Prussia. The account portion of the subseries contain bills and receipts for personal expenses, and documents related to accounts of Chew family members including papers related to the estate of Elizabeth Brown Chew. Benjamin Chew Jr. also kept financial records pertaining to the estate of Mary J. B. Chew and Martha M. Brown and the estates of Anne Chew, Arthur R. Spencer, and Caroline B. Thompson. The remaining accounts-related documents deal with tax matters and stock investments (Girard Trust Company, Hooper’s Bay Ltd., Gloucester Land Co., Boulder Mine Company, and Somat Corporation).

Benjamin Chew’s personal papers are related to Cliveden, subjects of interest to the Chew family, and his life in the military. His correspondence consists mostly of interchanges with parties interested in visiting Cliveden, researchers wanting access to papers housed in the mansion, or inquiries about the possibility of acquiring the collection. Other papers of particular interest are notes about genealogical research, biographical notes on various family members, papers related to Cliveden furniture and coaches, newspaper clippings, inventories of books, documents about Richard Allen, the Mischianza, and notes and drafts of speeches about Cliveden. Also housed in this subseries are printed documents of the Civil Defense produced by the United States Government Printing Office.

C. Katherine (Banning) Chew (1770-1855). Katherine Chew’s accounts consist only of one folder of receipts for goods and services. Most of these receipts are for groceries and household goods, including ice, coal, and cloth. Also included are two receipts for payment of wages to Christine Moyer and a listing of a 152-piece set of china purchased by Mrs. Chew from R. Tyndale in 1835.

The greater part of the incoming correspondence is from family members; however there are letters from friends such as Margaretta Sergeant. Most of the letters convey news about her family (their health and activities) and news about mutual friends and neighbors. The letters include warm expressions of affection and expressions of anxiety about Chew family illnesses and sympathy for the deaths of Chew family members. The remaining incoming letters are from members of societies, merchants, servants, and lawyers; there are also invitations and responses to invitations, letters of sympathy, requests for settlement of bills, reports on friends’ health, etc. Outgoing correspondence is scant and routine, except for pleas to officials seeking to stop them from taking two of her sons into custody for unpaid debts. In 1845 and again in 1847, Katherine Banning Chew sent notes to a Mr. Ash asking that he take her security for payment of her sons’ debts and requesting his assurances that they will not be arrested. The estate portion of this subseries contains letters to her children (most notably to Eliza, William, and Henry). Most of these are undated and are highly emotional, emphasizing her distress and her position as an aggrieved widow and mother. There are also several drafts and copies of letters to her grandchildren, and to her solicitors.

D. Anthony Banning Chew. The materials in the accounts records include receipts for household goods; articles of clothing, tobacco, home appliances; building materials and horse tack; receipts concerning various debts; lottery tickets; and bank notes; room and board from various hotels across the country; a hired horse and carriage; and medicinal prescriptions.

Anthony B. Chew's correspondence begins in 1829, when he set off to start working on what would later be known as the Horseshoe Farm. The farm was located in Butler County and built under the supervision of Anthony and Benjamin Chew III, with assistance from their father Benjamin Chew Jr.

Anthony’s letters revolved around business affairs concerning Horseshoe Farm and the people under his charge. Letters with Benjamin Chew III are related to the building and upkeep of Horseshoe Farm and management of their property in Butler and Beaver counties. Anthony had been granted Power of Attorney over Butler and Beaver Counties by Benjamin Chew Jr., and had worked as an agent for his father. Benjamin Chew III felt that Anthony had been mismanaging the land and took over the management of the counties. For most of Anthony's adult life he lived in Pittsburgh and Butler County, but traveled to Baltimore, Cincinnati and New Orleans, among other places. Much to his father's disappointment he fell into debt, and relied heavily on Benjamin Chew Jr. to give him money to pay off creditors. Anthony was also a known alcoholic. Letters from his father are filled with advice and concern, as well as disappointment and anxiety over Anthony's life choices. In letters to his father, Anthony often asked for advice or money.

Materials files under Essays, School Notes and Writings include poetry and essays written by Anthony B. Chew as well as detailed class notes, diagrams, and textbooks from his time at the University of Pennsylvania. Papers included in the Legal section are land papers, court summonses, and a rough draft of Anthony B. Chew’s Will.

E. John Chew (1741-1807). John Chew was the younger brother of Chief Justice Benjamin Chew. He lived –at least in the latter part of his life– in Chestertown and Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked as a shopkeeper and later as a merchant. He was active in the international marketplace, mainly as a trader of wheat and flour though not very successful. His letters include repeated statements of despair and resignation regarding his business failures.

The bulk of the subseries consists of letters received from Benjamin Chew and Benjamin Chew Jr., spanning a period from 1783 to Chew’s death in 1807. The communications cover a wide range of topics; from personal and family matters, to health issues, as well as business dealings. In one dispatch, Benjamin Chew discusses a fever epidemic and the practice of bleeding advocated by Dr. Benjamin Rush. Of particular note are the numerous observations offered by Benjamin Chew Jr. into the national and international politics of the time. These references are often made with regard to how events might affect the price of wheat.

F. Joseph Turner Chew (1806-1835). Consisting primarily of correspondence, this subseries illuminates Joseph Turner Chew’s relationships with his family. His father’s letters express feelings of disappointment in his son’s actions and decisions. His fathers’ disapproval increased when he found out about Joseph’s marriage in 1833, which Benjamin Chew Jr. had pointedly discouraged. In the last few years of Joseph’s life, their correspondence was tense and related primarily to the business of Horseshoe farm. In letters to Joseph T. Chew from other members of his family, the topics range from local gossip and family affairs, to business. His sister Anne’s letters were mostly filled with local news, such as the birth of Eliza’s children, the death of a neighbor, and epidemics of illness such as cholera or influenza. Benjamin Chew III wrote about business, while Anthony B. Chew’s letters were more personal.

Joseph T. Chew’s accounts, which were mainly made up of receipts, show his increasing debt to various people, including Christian Buhl. Most of the receipts are for everyday items such as tea, tobacco, bacon, oats, flour, etc. Others are for a rented horse and gig, postage, books, and boarding. Christian Buhl, introduced to Joseph through his father Benjamin Chew Jr., oversaw many orders and accounts dealing with the everyday items. There are a group of receipts for military items, including uniform parts, supplies, and weapons. These items are from his time in the Pennsylvania Artillery and the Hundred Forty-First Regiment (1828-1829). There are also other documents and correspondence associated with Joseph T. Chew’s military experience.

G. Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston. Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston (1862-1931) was the eldest child of Samuel and Mary Chew. She moved to Cairo, Egypt after marrying Vere Speke Alston in 1898. Among her papers are letters (many between Anne and Chew family members), notes on genealogical research, school notebooks, an inventory of books belonging to the Alstons, diaries, notes and booklets in French, and papers related to various organizations such as Society of Colonial Dames and Guild of Health. There are clippings from English, American, French, and Egyptian newspapers, as well as a letter book related to her wedding.

H. Samuel Chew (1915-1989). Samuel Chew was one of the sons of Benjamin Chew (1878-1938) and Anne Thompson. Married to Barbara Dale Williams, he inherited Cliveden after Samuel Chew’s death in 1919 and with his brother Benjamin Chew Jr. (1914-1972) sorted most of the family papers.

The majority of the documents in this subseries are related to Cliveden and organizations in the Germantown neighborhood around the mansion. Samuel Chew and his wife Barbara renewed Cliveden and entertained visitors and groups interested in seeing the house; Chew also owned an advertisement agency and converted Cliveden’s stable into his office. Items in this subseries include copies of articles on Cliveden published by various magazines (Antiques, Vogue, Interior Design, and National Geographic) as well as correspondence between Samuel Chew and different organizations interested in the mansion (Germantown Academy, Germantown Historical Society, The Philadelphia Museum, and Radcliff College). Of particular interest is the correspondence between Samuel Chew and the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Park Service regarding the transfer of Cliveden to that government agency. A folder with thank-you letters from Cliveden visitors and a guestbook are also part of this subseries.

I. Catherine Chew. Catherine Chew was one of Benjamin Chew Jr.'s unmarried sisters. He acted as her attorney and oversaw her affairs until his death. The majority of the documents in this subseries consist of bills and receipts for personal expenses, but there is also a folder of letters.

J. Charles Ridgely Chew. Charles Ridgely Chew was the son of Henry Banning Chew and Harriet Ridgely. This subseries contain only a few letters, several receipts, and a letter book related to his estate.

K. Elizabeth A. (Ralston) Chew. Elizabeth A. Ralston Chew was Henry Banning Chew’s second wife. This subseries primarily contains accounts between Elizabeth Ralston and the attorney in charge of Robert Ralston’s estate, and correspondence with her brothers, husband, and daughter.

L. Elizabeth Oswald Chew. Elizabeth Oswald Chew was the niece of Joseph Turner and in 1757 became Benjamin Chew Sr.’s second wife. This subseries contains accounts related to her expenses and statements and receipts of monies received by the trustees of Benjamin Chew’s estate. Copies and drafts of her will are also part of the subseries. Most correspondence is between husband and wife with a folder of letters between Elizabeth Oswald and her son Benjamin Chew Jr; her son is also the author of various lists of people attending her funeral. A newspaper clipping of her obituary and Benjamin Chew Jr.’s handwritten account of her death are also included.

M. Harriet Chew Carroll (1775-1861). The eighth of nine children born to Benjamin Chew and his second wife Elizabeth Oswald, Harriet Chew reached adolescence just as the first Washington administration occupied Philadelphia. Considered a part of the “Republican Court,” she was said to be a favorite of the first United States president, visiting with him during a portrait sitting so as to “give his face its most agreeable expression.” Harriet Chew married Charles Carroll Jr. (also know as Charles Carroll of Homewood), son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence and, at the time, one of the wealthiest men in America.

This subseries consists mainly of agreements, correspondence, and wills related to the union between Harriet Chew and Charles Carroll Jr., with documents describing the courtship and family life of the couple, as well as their eventual marital split. Items of particular note include a sequence of communications between Benjamin Chew and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, stipulating the terms on which each would consent to the wished-for “arrangement” between their respective children.

Also of interest is a group of letters documenting the case of Charity Castle (Box 691, ff. 7). This case involved the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery of 1780, which granted freedom to any slave brought into Pennsylvania and retained there for six months. Castle, a slave who Harriet Chew Carroll brought with her to Philadelphia when she separated from her husband, claimed her freedom after spending more than six months in Pennsylvania. Documentation includes a letter between Benjamin Chew Jr. and Charles Carroll of Carrollton describing Castle’s reluctance to return to Homewood and another communication explaining that she could not be taken out of the state due to a severe accident. Among the remaining contents is a deposition attesting to the circumstances of the case, a doctor’s opinion advising against moving the injured woman, and legal opinions submitted on the part of lawyers William Lewis and William Rawle. Additional material related to this case may be found in the correspondence between Benjamin Chew Jr. and the Carrolls in Series 4.

N. Henrietta Chew. Henrietta Chew was one of Benjamin Chew, Jr.'s unmarried sisters. He acted as her attorney and oversaw her affairs until his death. In a codicil to her will dated 1845, Henrietta revoked the bequest of her father's gold watch that she had made to Benjamin Chew III, presumably due to the family argument he had recently instigated by disputing Benjamin Jr.'s will. In the same codicil, Henrietta named her nephew John P. Montgomery sole executor of her will.

O. Anna Maria Chew. Anna Maria Chew was one of Benjamin Chew Jr.’s sisters. At her death in 1812, Col. John Howard (husband to her sister Margaret “Peggy” Chew) was appointed administrator of her estate. All documents in this subseries pertain to her estate.

P. Benjamin Chew (1878-1938). The brother of David Sands Brown, Samuel Chew (d.1919) and Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston, Benjamin Chew married Anne Thompson and was the father, among others, of Anne Chew Barringer, Benjamin Chew Jr. (1914-1972) and Samuel Chew (1915-1989). This subseries consists of a journal, miscellaneous correspondence, and ephemera.

Q. Henry B. Chew [son of Charles Ridgely Chew]. This small subseries consists of business papers related to an oil lease, and miscellaneous accounts and correspondence.

R. Maria Chew. Maria Chew was one of Benjamin Chew, Jr.'s unmarried sisters. He acted as her attorney and oversaw her affairs until his death. This subseries consists of one folder of letters between Maria Chew and other Chew family members.

S. John Chew (1797-1815). The majority of the documents in this subseries are letters between John Chew and his parents, to his friend Alexander Coxe, and other miscellaneous correspondence. A diploma from the University of Pennsylvania is also included.

T. Henry B. Chew Jr. This subseries reflect the early years of the son of Henry B. Chew (Series VII). Papers in the subseries are primarily related to his years in school with scant correspondence that includes a letter mentioning an illness that took him at twenty years old.

U. Anne Chew Barringer. Anne Chew Barringer was the sister of Benjamin Chew Jr. (1914-1872) and Samuel Chew (1915-1989). She helped both of them sort the family papers. The documents in this subseries reflect her interest in the family’s genealogy and the history of Cliveden.

V. Barbara Dale Williams. Barbara Dale Williams was Samuel Chew’s (1915-1989) first wife. She helped with the renewing efforts at Cliveden and coordinated and hosted visits to the mansion. This subseries contains letters and papers about genealogical research.

W. Banning Family. Members of the Banning family included in this subseries are Jeremiah Banning, Henry Banning, and their father Anthony Banning (d. 1787), who lived in Talbot County, Maryland and was also the father of Katherine (Banning) Chew (wife of Benjamin Chew Jr.).

Most of the materials in the Banning family subseries are accounts and correspondence related to their business dealings. There are numerous receipts, invoices, bills of exchange, and statements, as well as a small account book containing brief entries of payments. The accounts of Banning, Spencer, and Banning provide detailed information on goods shipped from London by merchants Capel and Osgood Hanbury in 1769, which included clothing, spices, medicines, textiles, fishing equipment, stationary, glass and stoneware, books, gunpowder, wine, cutlery, and anchors.

Most of the Banning’s correspondence deals with business matters from 1787 to 1789, around the time of Anthony Banning’s death. In these letters, Jeremiah and the other executors of the Anthony Banning’s estate communicate with various individuals, including James Scott and John Lloyd, in order to resolve Anthony Banning’s business affairs. There is also some correspondence between family members, including some letters from Katherine B. Chew to her beloved uncle Jeremiah. In these letters, Katherine discusses events in the family and expresses feelings of sadness at Jeremiah’s failure to write to her; Benjamin also wrote to Jeremiah about family life and about business affairs.

This subseries also contains a copy of Henry Banning’s 1778 appointment as captain of a Maryland battalion of militia as part of the war for independence.

X. Mason Family. Eliza Margaretta Chew (1798-1874) was the sixth child of Benjamin Chew Jr. and Katherine Banning Chew. She married James Murray Mason (1798-1871), the grandson of the American statesman, George Mason IV, who was active in Virginia and national politics during the Revolutionary period. The younger Mason served as both a U.S. representative and senator from Virginia in the years preceding the Civil War. At the time of the War, he sided with the Confederacy and was expelled from the Senate.

The bulk of this subseries consists of personal correspondence between members of the Mason family, along with assorted letters from other relatives, associates, and friends. Almost all of the letters date from 1835 and 1860. There are also letters from family members and others that contain request for patronage and other favors.

Y. Maxcy Family. Virgil Maxcy married Mary Galloway, daughter of John Galloway and Sarah Chew, of Tulip Hill. He served as US Minister for Belgium in the 1840’s and appointed Benjamin Chew Jr. as his attorney. Maxcy was also one of President John Taylor’s cabinet members that died in the explosion of the cannon named “Peacemaker” on board the USS Princeton during a demonstration in Washington. This subseries feature letters between Mary (Galloway) Maxcy, Benjamin Chew Jr. and Catherine Chew, and a power of attorney from Virgil Maxcy naming Benjamin Chew Jr. his counsel at law.

Z. Nicklin Family. Juliana Chew married Phillip Nicklin in 1793; their daughter Sophia Chew Nicklin married George Mifflin Dallas, the son of Alexander J. Dallas, US Secretary of the Treasury (1814-1816) and Vice-President of the US (1845-1849). Along with her brother Benjamin Chew Jr., Juliana Nicklin served as administrator of Philip Nicklin's estate. Philip Nicklin had a business partnership with Robert Griffith and after his death, disputes concerning money Nicklin and Griffith owed to Benjamin Chew, Sr. and Benjamin Chew, Jr. developed into several legal cases. This subseries houses correspondence related to family, estate, and legal matters concerning the family.

AA. Galloway Family. Benjamin Chew Jr.’s half-sister Sarah Chew was married to John Galloway; their daughter Mary Galloway was Virgil Maxcy’s wife. This subseries consists of correspondence between family members, statements of estate estimates, and documents related to inheritance disputes.

BB. Phillips Family. Sophia Philips was Benjamin Chew Jr.'s sister. After the death of her husband, Henry Philips, in 1800, Benjamin Jr. acted as her attorney and guardian, and oversaw her finances and affairs until her death in 1841. He also assisted her in drafting her will. This subseries feature business accounts by Henry Phillips, miscellaneous correspondence, and copies of Sophia Phillips’ will.

CC. Frisby Family. Peregrine Frisby was Samuel Chew’s (1737-1809) father-in-law. Besides miscellaneous correspondence and receipts, this small subseries contain documents with references to Swanpoint plantation in Maryland.

DD. Tilghman Family. This subseries is comprised of letters between Edward Tilghman (married to Benjamin Chew’s sister Elizabeth) and various correspondents.

EE. Miscellaneous. This subseries is comprised of small groups of documents related to members of the Chew family or other persons with connections to the family, including Alexander Murray, Alexander Wilcocks, Harriet Ridgely, J. Dorsey, and James and John Howard, John Ambler, and Margaret (Peggy) Chew Howard.

The Cliveden series offers a history of the mansion that Benjamin Chew built in Germantown, which the Chew family used as a summer home, and to escape the epidemics of yellow fever in the city. Deeds and accounts comprise the majority of the documents in the series; almost the entire history of the mansion is covered, from estimates of construction costs in the 1760’s to transfers of property titles in the 1930’s. Included are deeds and papers related to the sale of the Cliveden estate by Benjamin Chew to Blair McClenachan after the end of the Revolutionary War, as well as documents pertaining to Benjamin Chew’s repurchase of the property. Other deeds describe the selling or leasing of Cliveden lots after the family finances took a bad turn around the 1850’s.

Since Cliveden was also a farm, a portion of the account papers detail different aspects of harvest operations (potatoes, rye, oat, wheat), including information on wages paid to laborers and bills and receipts for services, repairs, and goods needed at the farm. Other accounts are related to Anne Sophia Penn Chew’s role as administrator of William White Chew’s and Anthony B. Chew’s estates, and financial documents produced by John Keyser and A.D. Cash, attorney and agent, respectively, for Henry B. Chew and Samuel Chew, executors of Benjamin Chew’s estate.

The correspondence describes two main aspects of the development of Cliveden: daily administration affairs and estate administration. Most details about ordinary daily events at Cliveden are found in Anne Sophia Penn Chew’s letters. Topics discussed in letters range from money matters, repairs, and her own difficulties restoring and maintaining the house, to her role in selling and leasing some of the Cliveden lots when the estate endured financial trouble in the second half of the nineteenth century. Letters between Henry B. Chew, James M .Mason and A.D. Cash deal almost exclusively with decisions about Cliveden in the context of their job as executors or administrators of Benjamin Chew’s estate.

Broadsides include not only advertisements for public sale of ground lots but also examples of notices published by Benjamin Chew III against the executors when he was disputing their right to administer Benjamin Chew Jr.’s estate.

Miscellaneous documents in the series include lists and inventories of Cliveden furnishings, and papers related to repairs made to the building throughout the years. There is also a folder with photographs of Benjamin Chew’s coaches, and letters from representatives of organizations, Ford Company among others, interested in such vehicles.

Another interesting side of the development of Cliveden can be seen through the many surveys, ground plans, architectural designs and floor plans featured in the series. These depict the mansion in various forms: Cliveden with its surrounding streets, divided in lots owned or leased by different people, designs for the house rooms, and proposals for doors and windows.

This series includes accounts, articles of agreement, bonds, certifications, deeds, lists and description of lands, legislation, legal papers, memos, notes, notices, newspaper clippings, surveys, patents, and warrants. The bulk of the documentation, however, is comprised of correspondence, most of it between the parties administering Benjamin Chew's estate and the agents acting on their behalf in each county.

A. Allegheny County. The Chew family owned thousands of acres in Allegheny County, and this subseries consists of accounts, agreements, correspondence, deeds, patents, surveys, and tax papers. Please note that because the Chews' numerous business dealings often crossed county lines, some papers contain references to nearby counties as well. The bulk of these papers date from the 1820s to the 1830s and relate to the legal and administrative aspects of land management.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, the Chews employed a number of different agents for Allegheny County, including Henry Antes, Benjamin Darlington, Robert Hilands, Charles Israel, and John McDonald. Their correspondence contains discussions about finding renters and buyers for various properties, and details legal disputes with buyers and renters.

B. Beaver, Lawrence and Washington counties. Documents in this subseries feature correspondence and account statements prepared by Edward Hoops, one of the agents for the Chew Estate. Also in this subseries are accounts and correspondence between Henry B. Chew and other agents working on the estate’s behalf. There are deeds, leases, patents, tax statements, and legal documents about land transactions in this part of Pennsylvania. Some documents reflect the interest generated by the possible discovery of oil in tracts owned by the Chew Estate. This subseries also contains surveys and drafts of various tracts of land including some for Chewton (Lawrence County), a town built by the Chews with streets named for different family members.

C. Bedford and Fulton Counties. Most of the correspondence in this subseries is between agents representing the Chew Estate in Bedford and Fulton counties and the executors (Henry B. Chew, James M. Mason and William White Chew). There are legal papers, lists of lands, surveys, and maps of lands in Bedford and Fulton counties. The section labeled Bedford Saltworks contains assorted papers, correspondence, and a salt sample related to salt-extracting operations in Bedford County.

D. Bedford, Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties. Documents in this subseries contain references to more than one county, particularly in cases where lands were registered in a county that later on became a different jurisdiction (as in Somerset formerly Bedford).

E. Butler County. The majority of this subseries consists of accounts, notes, survey drafts, correspondence and legal documents. The older material dates from as far back as 1794 and extends into the 1830s. These relate to Benjamin Chew, Jr.’s procurement or sale of land and consist primarily of legal documents such as patents, deeds, and other agreements. There is also correspondence, agreements, leases, patents, and surveys from Henry Banning Chew, William White Chew, and James Murray Mason (executors of Benjamin Chew Jr.) dealing with the day-to-day supervision and increased efforts to sell lands in Butler County.

F. Centre County. In 1798, three tracts of land were conveyed to Benjamin Chew by his brother-in-law, Henry Philips. These lands were originally in Clearfield County. A dispute erupted over the mortgage related to Henry Philips’ estate. In 1813, the property was sold in a sheriff’s sale and re-purchased by Benjamin Chew Jr. Most of these materials, which date from 1798 to 1814, are related to the legal dispute and later sales of the land. These include the original 1798 mortgage between Benjamin Chew and Henry Philips, copies of deeds and agreements related to the 1813 purchase of the land and subsequent sale to Abraham Keagy, copies of legal documents, and correspondence. Most of the correspondence is between Benjamin Chew Jr. and Charles Huston, an attorney in the case from 1812 to 1813. These letters offer a wealth of information on the details and progression of the case. There is also correspondence with Charles Triziyulny, who accepted a power of attorney from Benjamin Chew Jr. in 1803, “to take into your possession for me in my name the Three Tracts of Land…to prevent…by all legal means any Trespasses upon them.” Mr. Triziyulny seems to have had a close knowledge of the properties and a prior relationship to the Philips family.

G. Chester County. Documents in this subseries consist of deeds, mortgages, and releases of land in Chester County. One patent granting land to a Susanna Cadman is signed by William Penn. Most of the documents in the subseries were drawn up during the early years of Chester County.

H. Clinton County. These papers relate to land purchased by Benjamin Chew in 1775, referred to collectively as the “Sugar Valley lands.” This property included nine tracts, which were originally warranted in 1774 to Joseph Turner, Jabez Fisher, Benjamin Chew, James Humphreys, Phineas Bond, Matthew Clarkson, John Gibson, Miers Fisher, and Thomas Fisher. Most of the materials in this sub-series are related to legal disputes beginning in the 1810s over conflicting claims of ownership. The conflicts began when Benjamin Chew’s heirs attempted to sell the property in accordance with his will, and continued through the 1840s and 1850s. The earliest material in this subseries documents the sale of land to Benjamin Chew, and includes deeds, patents, agreements, receipts, lists of expenses related to the survey and purchase of the lands, and lists of the Sugar Valley tracts, which include the names and dates of the original warrantees, as well as acreages. Correspondence from this period is scant and contains requests for information about, or copies of, official documents, discussions with family and friends about the details of legal cases, and communication with opposing claimants to the properties. There is much correspondence between Benjamin Chew Jr. and Charles Treziyulny, who was a deputy surveyor and acquaintance and assisted with the disputes in the 1810’s, and with Joseph Quay, who played a similar role in the 1830’s. Other materials include legal papers, surveys and diagrams of the plots, and bonds and agreements.

I. Columbia and Northumberland counties. Columbia County was previously part of Northumberland County. Materials in this subseries include surveys, indentures, agreements, deeds, correspondence, accounts, and depositions. Many of papers relate to lands along the Little Fishing Creek and a lawsuit involving Chew filed in 1794. These papers include copies of surveys, copies of depositions from those who worked on the survey, and lists of jurors. There are also several broadsides for land sales (ca. 1845-1848).

J. Crawford County. This subseries contains material related to lands owned by the estate of Benjamin Chew in Beaver and Spring Townships, Crawford County. Most of the papers document either the purchase and sale of property, or the day-to-day administration of lands. The bulk of the materials are dated from 1817 to 1867. These include surveys, account statements, deeds, legal agreements, lists of lands, tax bills, documents related to payments, and correspondence. The bulk of the correspondence is with John Reynolds, who acted as an agent for Benjamin Chew in Crawford County. The letters between Reynolds and Henry B. Chew, executor of the Benjamin Chew estate, dating from 1846 to 1867, deal with similar matters. Other correspondents from this period include Thomas Rehrer, James M. Mason, Benjamin Chew of Epson, H.R. Riddle, who was interested in purchasing land belonging to the estate, and J.B. Sazerac, who was indebted to the estate for land he purchased in 1854. This subseries also includes 14 individual patents dating from 1831 to 1854, six deeds from 1795, a copy of an agreement from 1799, an 1804 copy of a proof of settlement, the 1854 mortgage to J.B. Sazerac, and materials relating to lands sold to Van Ness Forbes.

K. Fayette County. Documents in this subseries consist of accounts, correspondence, deed and warrants, bonds, agreements, legal papers, lists of lands, and surveys of Fayette County. Much of the correspondence is between Benjamin Chew Jr. and Zachariah Connell, agent overseeing business matters for the Chew Estate in that county.

L. Lycoming County. These papers relate to lands owned by the Chews in Lycoming County and cover a period from 1794 to the early 1860s. The oldest materials are related to lands originally owned by James Wilson, and include copies of bonds, summaries of mortgages, lists of lands, and financial records. In 1831, the Wilson lands became part of a trust to which William Rawle, George Cadwalader, and Benjamin Chew III were appointed trustees by the executors of Edward Tilghman’s estate. This subseries contains many materials related to these particular lands, including legal documents, account statements and receipts, lists of lands, and correspondence. Comprising most of the material is correspondence and legal papers relating to the disputes between the trustees of the Tilghman estate and the executors of Benjamin Chew Jr.’s estate. These included the case of Chew et al vs. Rawle et al, where Henry B. Chew attempted to secure money allegedly owed to his father’s estate by the trustees. Most of the correspondence in this subseries is related to land sales and purchases, property taxes, and the legal disputes. There are many letters between the parties involved in the disputes and their attorneys, including M. Mundy, who represented Henry B. Chew and the executors in Chew vs. Rawle. The correspondences with Robert Ralston, F.C. Campbell, Thomas Bell, and George Dallas also relate to the legal disputes.

M. Mifflin, Huntingdon and Cumberland Counties. This subseries contains accounts, agreements, bonds, deeds, legal papers, and surveys. Most of the documents are letters between Benjamin Chew Jr. and different agents working on behalf of the Chew Estate in Mifflin, Huntingdon, and Cumberland counties. This subseries have documents that reflect changes in the counties boundary lines.

N. Northampton County. This small subseries is comprised of patents and deeds related to lands owned by James Wilson.

O. Philadelphia County. This subseries contain accounts, bonds, agreements, deeds, patents, leases, releases, correspondence, and surveys that relate to the Germantown, Passyunk, and Northern Liberties sections of Philadelphia. There are also accounts and other papers related to the Whitehall, Philadelphia, not to be confused with Whitehall Plantation in Delaware, and Wilton plantations, as well as documents pertaining to properties in a part of the city called Black Horse Alley. Surveys in this subseries feature diagrams of various city streets. Also available are broadsides of land sales by the Sheriff.

P. Somerset [formerly Bedford] County. Accounts, agreements, bonds, correspondence, deeds, legal papers, and surveys make up the contents of this subseries. The majority of the correspondence is between Benjamin Chew Jr. and Abram Morrison, agent for the Chew Estate in Somerset County. Most documents in this subseries make reference to both Somerset and Bedford counties since the former was originally part of the latter.

Q. Warren County. These papers relate to lands in Warren County that were owned by Benjamin Chew Jr. and were conveyed to his son, Henry B. Chew in 1839. There were ten tracts of land, which were originally in Allegheny County and were warranted in 1794. This subseries contains official copies of these ten warrants as well as handwritten lists and memos about the tracts, and the 1839 deed to Henry B. Chew. However, the bulk of the materials relate to ejectment suits filed by Henry B. Chew in 1841 for the recovery of properties claimed by settlers. There is much material on the case Lessee of Henry B. Chew vs. Mead, et al. including official copies of entries from the surveyor general’s office, statements of the case and briefs of title, a copy of the interrogations to be made, and lists of relevant papers to be used as evidence. Most of the material in this sub-series is correspondence related to the case. There are letters to and from officials related to requests for official documents, many of which provide summaries of the property disputes and detailed descriptions of the recorded history of the tracts. About half of the correspondence is between Henry B. Chew and his attorneys in the case, Wilson McCandless and Charles McClure, most of which discuss either the status of gathering documentation or the matter of compensation in the case. There is also an 1841 letter from Benjamin Chew Jr. to H.B. Chew in which he provides detailed instructions for his son in handling some of his affairs and draws up a draft of a power of attorney. These papers also contain many surveys, maps, and diagrams of the Warren County lands, most of which were for the eight tracts disputed in Lessee of Henry B. Chew vs. Meade et al.

R. Wayne and Luzerne counties. This subseries consists of account records, correspondence, deeds, legal papers, and memos relating to the Chew family lands in Wayne and Luzerne Counties. There is also a field book, containing the survey descriptions of hundreds of lots in the same counties. The majority of the contents of the subseries involve land management issues such as purchases and sales of land. Jason Torrey, and later John Torrey, acted as the family’s land management agents in both these counties, tending to the details of these transactions. Of note are legal documents, and related papers, referring to the division of Benjamin Chew’s lands between his heirs from the Chew and Tilghman families during the 1820s. Many of these properties were first obtained through mortgages granted by Benjamin Chew to James Wilson in the 1790s. Ostensibly related to this, the subseries includes ten folders of deed polls transferring thousands of acres of land from the original warrantor to Wilson; and, approximately thirty patents in the name of Edward Tilghman or his executors.

S. Westmoreland County. Papers in the Westmoreland subseries pertain to lands belonging to Benjamin Chew, Alexander Wilcocks, and George Morgan.

T. Other counties. The bulk of this subseries contains documents of two Pennsylvania counties, Jefferson and Lancaster, where the Chew’s had business interests. There is also a smaller group of documents belonging to York County. These were probably part of Benjamin Chew’s legal records while working as legal counselor of Richard and Thomas Penn.

U. Miscellaneous. Made up mostly of oversize maps and survey plans, the documents in this subseries are either linked to numerous counties (with a least one mention of a county not included in the rest of the series), or to no county in particular.

This series consists of three boxes divided in four subseries: Baltimore County (including several folders of grants and deeds for land granted by Lord Baltimore, original proprietor of Maryland), Cecil County, Kent County, and Kent County [Swan Point]. There are accounts, bonds, agreements, deeds, leases, patents, mortgages, memos, surveys and wills, and correspondence. Similar to other series covering the land business of the Chew family, most of the letters are between Benjamin Chew and the parties involved in his land transactions, or with agents working on his behalf.

Papers from the Cecil County subseries are mainly related to financial matters. Benjamin Chew kept financial records about his bonds with William Davis and others. In the letters one finds information on the outcome of corn and wheat crops during the 1800’s. Davis and other farmers depended on the sales of their crops to pay the bonds taken from Benjamin Chew; a great number of these letters are remainders to pay monies due. Some of the account papers and letters with John Stoops make reference to the Estate of John Maslin. Letters between Benjamin Chew and Henry Tilghman (working as Chew’s lawyer in Cecil County) deal with land transactions after the Court of Chancery made a decree on William Davis’ land and mortgage. A tract of land called Mercer and business decisions made after what they refer to as “Chew’s Resurvey” are also discussed in the correspondence with Tilghman.

Kent County account papers consist of receipts and bills for repairs but a 1737 bill of sales for negroes have been assigned its own folder. The remaining letters in this subseries describe agent James Ricaud’s efforts to collect rent money on Chew’s behalf and William Tilghman’s, another lawyer working for Chew, discussions about attract of land formerly owned by Robert Foreman. In the correspondence between Benjamin Chew and Thomas Ringgold a reference is made to a bond associated with a Presbyterian Corporation. Benjamin Chew Sr. provided bonds for the development of the Presbyterian Corporation and its later incarnation the Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund.

The Swan Point subseries consists of papers related to a farm owned by Samuel Chew and inherited by his descendants. As executor of Samuel Chew’s estate, Benjamin Chew Jr. was in charge of leasing the farm and distributing the profits among the legatees. In the accounts folder there are financial statements and calculations of shares to be distributed to Maria, Sophia, Henrietta, Julianna and Catherine Chew; some of the accounts are with Henry Holliday, guardian of Anna Maria Chew, another one of the legatees. There are also letters between Benjamin Chew and the sisters discussing different options considered to make Swan Point a more profitable business, as well as the possibility of buying off Julianna’s share in the farm.

Other correspondence includes Benjamin Chew’s letters to his agents in Maryland instructing them on how to handle shipments of wheat seeds to be planted in the farm, and his decisions on offers to buy or rent Swan Point. A number of letters deal with this same issue: people interested in buying or leasing the farm but rejecting Chew’s price tag on the property. Most of the remaining letters describe the business relationship between Chew and individuals renting the farm (John W. Wilmer, William Wilmer, and Arthur Tilghman Jones), exchanges about agricultural matters (fertility of the land), the possible settlement of the Swan Point Estate, and legal issues between Samuel Chew’s heirs and Arthur Tilghman Jones.

The documents in this series pertain to properties held in New Jersey by Benjamin Chew, John Lardner, William Allen and Joseph Turner, and illustrate shifts in land ownership from the 1680s through the 1860s. Included in the series are leases, conveyances, releases, surveys, and deeds, some for properties originally granted to William Penn. Correspondence and account records provide rich details about the daily affairs of real estate management, including lists of rents collected, descriptions of business decisions made during the Revolutionary war, and records of taxes and monies paid to the shareholders of the Andover mine and iron forge. Other materials in this series document legal actions brought against tenants, disputes regarding ownership claims, and claims against the authenticity of land titles. Also of note are papers related to lawsuits brought against the different outfits known as Andover, alternately called Andover Iron Works, Andover Iron Forge, Andover Iron Mine, or Andover Tracts.

As part of their business enterprise, William Allen and Joseph Turner purchased a large tract of land in New Jersey that included forges and furnaces, which had been supplying iron to the Philadelphia region since the 1670s. In 1760, Allen and Turner built an additional furnace called the Union Forge with John Hackett working as their on-site manager and representative; one of the tracts near this forge was divided into plots and leased to laborers and other tenants. Since most of the iron produced by the Allen and Turner furnaces was shipped to England, when the American Revolution began they sided with the loyalists and tried to transfer the titles of their property to third parties. The Board of War, looking for ways to secure a supply of iron and steel for ammunitions, took possession of the mine and furnace during the conflict.

As in other states where the Chews owned land, several agents were hired to oversee and administer the land affairs on their behalf. Archibald Stewart, Amos Grandine, and Robert Taylor were some of the people playing this role for the Chews in New Jersey; Taylor himself became part owner of the Union Tracts and later founded an iron production company.

Folders labeled Spruce Run Turnpike pertain to a legal conflict between Benjamin Chew and neighbors of Kruger Farm. This was a property belonging to Benjamin Chew where the proposed construction of a road provoked disagreements between Chew and the owners of adjacent properties. Among the disputing parties were John Bray and Aaron Vansyckel. Union Tracts/Union Iron Forge was a plot of land divided and then leased to tenants. Robert Taylor was the overseer for Benjamin Chew in New Jersey and wrote to him periodically with reports and updates about the state of affairs in the Union Tracts. Correspondence between Taylor and Chew describe some of the strategies used to sell land according not only to the price per acre but with attention to political situations that could affect real estate values. Andover Mine Bank, in Sussex County, contains descriptions of negotiations between Henry B. Chew, executor of Benjamin Chew’s Estate, and the legal representatives of the rest of the Andover Mine shareholders (John Allen, William Allen, Joseph Turner, John Lardner) and Abram Hewitt. All the remaining interests in Andover were merged into a legal entity called Andover Mine Bank and sold to Hewitt and his associate Edward Cooper. Hewitt went on to play a decisive role in the development and construction of the region railroad system, in no small part due to the use of the iron produced at Andover. Changewater, also in Sussex County, consisted of plots of land in Sussex County that were divided up and leased to tenants. The materials in this subseries provide information about rents collected on these tracts, and highlight legal actions taken against tenants for delinquent accounts.

Related materials can be found in the “Turner Estate” subseries of Series 2, Benjamin Chew (1722-1810) and the “Ingram and Bridger Lands” and “Penn Family Papers” subseries of Series 4, Benjamin Chew Jr. (1758-1844).

In this series are five boxes with documents about Kent, New Castle, and Sussex counties. Two of the boxes contain papers pertaining to Whitehall Plantation, located in Kent County, property of Benjamin Chew and administered by Benjamin Chew Jr.

Kent County documents consist mostly of deeds, leases, bonds, and correspondence regarding the Chew estate administration, business transactions (particularly wheat crops), status of bonds due, the administrative affairs of other estates, and potential real estate transactions (i.e., possible sale of Turkey’s Nest tract). Also of note in this section are wills of various individuals including Andrew Hamilton, former speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (whose will include slaves as part of the property transferred to his heirs).

A small section of the Kent County subseries consists of documents related to a tract of land known as Manor of Frieth, which was dedicated to growing hemp to be used in ship rigging for the Royal Navy stationed in the nearby bay. Samuel Chew and Peter Galloway obtained the land in 1741 from John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, proprietors and governors of Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties. However, part of the tract was also claimed by Lord Baltimore or individuals with titles granted by him. Later on, when Delaware and Maryland established definitive boundary lines, Manor of Frieth was divided between the two states.

The core of the Delaware land papers are the documents related to Whitehall Plantation, a tract of land (approximately four hundred acres) originally owned by Francis Whitwell and bought in 1680 by John Hillyard. Briefs of titles and deeds trace the history of this land from its original owners to Benjamin Chew’s purchase of the property. Broadly, documents in the Whitehall section of the Kent County subseries revolve around three subjects: financial records related to the plantation, instructions on best procedures for daily operations, and discussions about all matters related to the slaves at Whitehall, from shoe sizes and linen for their clothes to proper ways to deal with disobedient slaves. Whitehall’s accounts consist of twelve folders which include Benjamin Chew’s financial notes and records, as well as logs, bills and receipts related to expenses, repairs, crops and slave issues.

Correspondence with George Ford and Joseph Porter, two of the overseers at the plantation, is rich with details about all aspects of the Whitehall administration. Porter served as overseer after Ford ran into problems with Chew for alleged mismanagement of the plantation. Both overseers describe the daily operations, with particular attention devoted to the crops harvested at the plantation. In his responses, Chew enumerates his expectations of the overseers, and advises them on methods to ensure the smooth operation of the outfit and frequently relates the last secured sale of wheat so that they can make decisions accordingly. Chew is very specific on how things should be done: he specifies what part of the barn must be used to store the wheat so it can stay cool and clean, as well as how long the vessels should be delayed at bay while uploading the bushels to be sold. These letters also discuss provisions for the plantation’s slaves, which were transported in the vessels scheduled to pick up the Whitehall crops; these provisions include sugar, molasses, bacon, rice and rum, among others.

Of special note is the correspondence between Benjamin Chew and James Raymond, the latter playing the role of advisor in matters in which Chew did not want to include either Ford or Porter. In their letters Raymond makes arrangements with people who want to hire Chew’s slaves. Raymond also gathered information on slave’s behavior whenever incidents between them and the overseers occurred. Raymond was also in charge of keeping records of cattle and horses at the plantation for possible sale. Another important letter from Benjamin Chew Jr. and his father to Samuel Chew describes the terms agreed upon with George Kennard for the sale of Whitehall and the liberation of the slaves there (Box 773, folder 29).

This section also features documents describing some of the slaves working at the plantation. The folders titled “Lists--Negroes at Whitehall” (Box 775, folder 1) and “Notes on slaves and plantation operations” (Box 775, folder 5) contain inventories with slave’s names and dates of birth. There are also charts with measurements for slave’s shoe sizes. Although not all years are included, detailed memoranda on Whitehall matters between the years 1788 to 1805 can be found in “Memos and Notes” (Box 775, folder 3).

Documents in the New Castle County subseries describe Benjamin Chew’s legal matters, primarily through correspondence between Chew and lawyers working on his behalf in New Castle. Most documents are related to debts owed to Benjamin Chew, particularly notices and accounts of bonds taken by Benjamin Noxon and others, and the efforts made by Benjamin Chew and his associates to recover money due to them. Other papers describe transactions on properties advertised for sheriff’s sales after Court of Chancery decree.

Official papers related to land, such as brief of titles, deeds, releases, patents and surveys, make the bulk of the Sussex County subseries. Also included is a bill of sale for a slave named Hannah and her children.

Documents in this series are related to real estate transactions throughout the United States. States included are represented with one folder each except for Virginia (5 folders plus 2 oversize files). Files about lands in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Wisconsin are related to an Act of Congress granting lands to soldiers from the Pennsylvania militia. All of these documents, mostly deeds and transfers, involve John K. Ewing, a real estate businessman from Uniontown, Fayette County. The connection between Ewing and the Chews is unclear.

The records of the Chew Estate Office provide a detailed look at the financial dealings of Elizabeth Brown Chew (b.1863-d.1958). The estate office managed Elizabeth’s accounts during her later years, and maintained her financial records, as well as many inherited records from the Chew, Brown, and Alston families. The office also managed the Chew and Brown family estates, and secured records from Chew family members who acted as agents of the estates, including Oswald and Benjamin Chew, and Lowry Chew Stephenson.

The bulk of the records in the series pertain to the personal accounts of Elizabeth Chew, the Cliveden estate, stock profits, real estate transactions, taxes, and the estates of Chew and Brown families for the period 1920 to 1960. Original file names were retained when possible.

The account records of Elizabeth Chew detail her expenditures on groceries, flowers, household goods, gifts, and magazine subscriptions in the 1950s. Elizabeth’s munificent donations to children’s aid organizations, hospitals, veterans’ organizations, religious institutions, and historical societies are also well documented. Elizabeth’s tax records, as well as her stock earning statements, are copiously represented in the series. Several companies and banks managed Elizabeth’s and the Chew family assets, but one, the Girard Trust Bank, later named the Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank, appeared to play a key role in the management of the Chew’s finances. Accordingly, much of the correspondence related to Chew-owned stocks was generated by the Girard Trust Bank. Girard Trust Bank checkbooks, containing checks signed by Oswald Chew, John Thompson Chew, and Lowry Chew Stephenson, are included in this series as they appear to pertain to the Chew-Brown Estate, rather than the personal accounts of any individual. Oswald Chew’s personal checkbooks can be found in Series XV.

In addition, the series contains a plethora of records pertaining to property sales and leases for lots near the Cliveden estate, as well as Chew properties in Philadelphia, Villa Nova, Radnor, and Beaver County, Pennsylvania; Camden and Silver Lake, New Jersey; Towson and Tacoma, Maryland; and Dover, New Hampshire. Also included in this series are records relating to Cliveden property, including maintenance bills, household inventories, and employee payment and tax files. The folder, “Cliveden and Chew family notes,” contains histories of Benjamin Chew, including 19th-century notes on Chew family history. Only a small number of records for the Brown family’s Radnor home are present in the series.

Incorporation documents, tax and revenue records, correspondence, and meeting minutes for the Chew-owned Gloucester Land Company are well represented in this series. In addition, a smaller number of records for other Chew-owned businesses, such as the Manufacturer’s Land and Improvement Company and the Radnor Realty Company, are included.

The series also contains estate records and wills for various Chew, Brown, Alston, and Johnson family members, including Anna S.P.C. Alston; David S., Elizabeth J., Joseph J., and Martha Brown; as well as Benjamin, Charles R., David S.B., Elizabeth, Henry, Mary J.B., Oswald, Samuel, and Samuel, Jr. Chew.

This series contains forty-six flat files, four boxes, and 18 oversize rolled items, [some of which are available as digital files, upon request.] The materials in this series represent a wide range of cartographic types, from eighteenth century manuscript and engraved surveys and maps to twentieth century printed atlases and blueprints. Some of the maps were purchased from merchants in London; other manuscript surveys were made to document land transactions in which the Chews may have had a personal or legal interest. A number of the maps relate to the construction of roads, canals, and rail road routes. There are many prominent surveyors and cartographers represented in this collection, including Nicholas Scull, George Heap, Reading Howell, John Churchman, Aaron Arrowsmith, John Reed, Charles de Krafft, John Hills, Thomas Holme, John Melish, and Griffiths Morgan Hopkins. The geographic scope of these maps is also broad. There are surveys of sections of Philadelphia, charts of waterways, maps of cities in the United States and abroad, and maps of continents. Other maps, surveys and plans are located throughout the collection; a large portion of these materials may be found in Series 11 (Brown and Johnson Families), Series 13 (David S. Brown and Co.), and Series 19 (Pennsylvania Land Papers).

This series consists of a motley assortment of items, some of which may have been collected by Cliveden staff members to be displayed at the home. Material has been arranged alphabetically by subject or title, and there are several significant groups, which include booklets and pamphlets, catalogs, newspapers, and serials. Beyond these groups, there are broadsides and posters, examples of Continental currency, clippings, trade cards, calling cards, handbills, maps, menus, programs, novels, and sheet music.

Among the booklets and pamphlets, researchers will find an array of speeches, most given by politicians and lawyers, such as an address on the promotion of agriculture given by William Tilghman, L.L.D. before the Philadelphia Society (1820) and a speech delivered before the U. S. Senate by Reprehensive John Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina on the “Three Million [Dollar] Bill” (1847). There are also several folders of legal booklets that consist of published opinions, judgments, and appeals from scattered court cases dating from the 1800s. Religious pamphlets comprise another significant group, and consist mostly of writings on spiritual guidance and scriptural studies. In addition to these groups, there are also several folders of miscellaneous pamphlets; booklets published in French, German, and Spanish; and a few items highlighting the history of Germantown.

Most of the catalogs in this series date from the 1960s and are from the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York City. It is unclear whether these were collected by Cliveden staff members or the Chew family, but several of them contain annotations concerning auction items relating to the Chews. There are also catalogs from various exhibitions; school, including Princeton University; and other art, book, and map auctions.

Rounding out the series is a large group of serials that range from formal journals to popular magazines, such as Life. The magazines from Philadelphia and several journals, such as The Magazine of American History, were collected specifically for their articles on the Chews or Germantown; however, most of the material bears no relation to the family or the house. At the end of the series are three boxes of newspapers that span in date from the late 1700s through the mid-twentieth century, most of which were published in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, but there are also international publications represented here. In addition to magazines, newspapers and journals, there are small selections of almanacs, miscellaneous newsletters, and newspaper supplements.

This series consists primarily of records the Chews had reproduced in the 1800s for family genealogical reference. Most of these documents are copies of original family trees, birth, death, and marriage certificates, correspondence, wills, significant speeches and land grants, which dated from the late sixteenth through mid-eighteenth centuries. In addition to the reproductions, there are original family trees, several printed genealogical texts, notes and correspondence, as well as Samuel Chew and Mary Galloway’s original marriage certificate. Aside from documents pertaining to the Chew family, there are also family trees and other materials related to the Morris, Frisby, Lloyd, and Cadwalader families.

A. People. The bulk of the Chew family photographs are individual portrait photographs taken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of these are cabinet cards or other small card photograph formats. A smaller number of the photographs show family groups and gatherings, and group photographs of clubs or associations. There are also copy prints of drawings and oil portraits of a number of the Chew family members. Many of the oil portraits are hanging at Cliveden; some of them can be seen in situ in the photographs of Cliveden’s interior which form part of the Architecture subseries. In addition to the photographs of Chew family members, this subseries also includes images of a number of friends and associates of the Chews.

Among the individual portraits, Chew family members who are particularly well represented here are Samuel Chew (1832 - 1887), Mary Johnson Brown Chew (1839-1927), Anne Sophia Penn Chew Alston (1862 - 1930), Elizabeth Brown Chew (1863-1958), David Sands Brown Chew (1866 - 1933), Samuel Chew (1871 - 1919), Benjamin Chew (1878-1938), Oswald Chew (1880 - 1950), Mary Evelyn Chew Stephenson Windsor (d.1949), Samuel Chew (1915 - 1989), and Mary Gabriela Rebecca Cecilia ("Nelly") de Potestad Tilghman.

The photographs are arranged into three sections: portraits of individuals; Chew family group photographs; and photographs of unidentified subjects.

B. Architecture. These photographs provide visual documentation of the interior and exterior of Cliveden, the Chew family home located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Many of the exterior photographs feature the main façade of Cliveden; among these are images from the nineteenth century showing the doors and steps damaged during the Battle of Germantown. Other exterior photographs show the kitchen and laundry dependencies, the carriage house, the front gates, and the pool area. The photographs of the buildings include a series documenting the damage to the carriage house from a fire in 1970. Interior photographs document the architectural detail for which the house is noted, as well as its décor, furniture, and portraits of Chew family members. (The family photographs in the People subseries also include copy prints of many of the oil portraits of Chew family members). This subseries also includes copy prints of charcoal drawings of the parlor created by Joseph Pennell.

There are a number of photographic and lithographic postcards featuring Cliveden. Additionally there are stereoscopic photographs of both the interior and exterior of the house, and photographs of architectural drawings and plans of the house. Aside from the extensive visual documentation of Cliveden, the architectural photographs also include images of other Chew family residences, houses in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, and lands in New Jersey owned by the Chew and Brown families. Finally, this subseries includes photographs of Chew family carriages, views probably taken by family members during vacations to sites in the United States and Europe, as well as commercially produced stereopticon cards of historical sites.

At eight boxes and one flat file, this small series contains a variety of records, from miscellaneous accounts and drawings to legal papers, writings, and recipes. There are two folders of alphabetically-arranged correspondence, highlights of which include a letter dated 24 January 1820 from John Quincy Adams to William D. Lewis, Esq. in which Adams discusses Levitt Harris, U. S. Consul at St. Petersburg, Russia; letters concerning lands in Virginia from George Chambers of Chambersburg to George Thompson, a Philadelphia merchant; and a letter of recommendation for one Mary Church dated May 1733/4 from Andrew Pitt to James Logan. There is an additional folder of letters of which the correspondents are unknown or unidentified.

In this series are also several folders of clippings, most of which were removed from a severely mold-damaged scrapbook. The clippings have been housed in eleven folders in the order in which they were found. The clippings appear to be from mostly local newspapers (i.e. the Ledger and Transcript, the Philadelphia Press, the Evening Bulletin) and date from 1860s. There is no apparent order to the clippings in each folder; there are scattered war stories, recipes and instructions, bank statements, historical sketches, and passenger ship lists.

Box 837, folder 7 contains handwritten transcriptions of letters and a journal from Major John André, a British offer and spy during the Revolutionary War. The letters, dated 1769 to 1770 and housed as a large booklet, are identified as having been “written by Major André at the age of eighteen to his friend Miss Seward.” The transcriber is unknown, although the name “Clapton” is listed at the beginning of the booklet. In the same folder is a transcription in French of a journal entitled “Journal du Sénégal, en 1779. On this booklet is a sticker labeled “Major André facsimiles,” although the connection between this journal and Major André is unclear.

Other items in this series include a portion of an encyclopedia, possibly from the late 1700s; a collection of botanical samples; several folders of photocopies; an anonymous address book; a book of spiritual writings; two account books attributed to a James Angelo; and a soft-cover book that contains large fabric or wallpaper samples