Miller, Dickey, and Cross families papers

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Abstract

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Cross.

Creator

Dickey.

Creator

Miller.

Title

Miller, Dickey, and Cross families papers

ID

4368

Date [inclusive]

1805-1889

Extent

1.8 Linear feet ; 5 boxes

Author

Finding aid prepared by Susan Kearney

Language

English

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Abstract

This collection of family papers sheds light on several different 18th and 19th century regional families, particularly the Miller family of Philadelphia (through Scottish immigrants John and Margaret I. Miller) and the Cross family of Baltimore. The Millers are primarily represented through letters written by the younger sisters of Jane Miller, who married Ebenezer Dickey of Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1805. Jane Miller Dickey had three sisters, and there are letters from each of them in the collection: Helen M. McClean, Margaret M. Finney, and Julia R. M. Junkin. Notably, Jane and Ebenezer's son, John Miller Dickey, was one of the founders of The Ashmun Institute, later known as Lincoln University, the nation's first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

The Cross family of Baltimore became connected to the Millers through marriage. Two of Jane M. Dickey's daughters married two Cross brothers in the mid-1800s: Mary J. Dickey married Richard J. Cross, and Margaret I. Dickey married Andrew B. Cross. The Cross material in the collection consists of letters written from members of these families to the Dickeys in Oxford, Pennsylvania.

In addition to correspondence, the collection also contains photographs, several small volumes, genealogical notes from Jane Cross Preston, and a few legal documents. The collection spans the bulk of the 1800s.

Two small volumes of note by Richard J. Cross (Box 1, Folder 33) are particularly noteworthy. In these, he chronicles his travels to England and Ireland in 1847, the darkest year of the Irish Potato Famine. The comments and observations made by Cross during his visit to Ireland reflect the views of a well-to-do Protestant American as he views firsthand one of Ireland's greatest tragedies. He calls Ireland's sons "high-coloured" and notes his heart "feels sad" to see the contrast between the beauty of Nature and "the deep degredation of [Ireland's] inhabitants" and notes "the ruining influence of Popery and Church establishments . . . that keep this beautiful Island behind all other Protestant Countries." His comments upon seeing a typical Irish poor house again constrasts the physical structure and those poor humans forced to inhabit the buildings. He notes a Poor House "built of fine, blue stone, and good work . . . quite an ornament as well as useful, the outside looks well, but within it is filled with the wretched and miserable that fill . . . to overflowing." Additionally, Cross gives a detailed description of the Irish poor man's cottage: "a plain cottage, with two rooms on the ground floor, which is truly 'the ground floor' for a floor, a large chimney for turn opposite the entrance door which is in the middle of the long side, at the fire the old man was sitting stirring meal into a pot of mush, it was yellow Corn meal from out Country." At another point in his travels, he engages in a heated discussion about the institution of Slavery in his country versus what he views as a different form of slavery imposed upon the British peoples by its monarchy.

The collection was originally housed in four boxes with notes about each box's contents. This order was maintained and the original outline for each box preserved as Folder 1 in the corresponding box. Within each box, genealogical material was placed first, followed by photos, notebooks, letters, and miscellaneous materials.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2023.

Access restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Gift of Thomas M. Dickey, 2019.

Accession number 2019.112.

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Controlled Access Headings

Personal Name(s)

• Dickey, J. M. (John Miller), 1806-1878.
• Dickey, Thomas M.

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Collection Inventory