[Quaker farmer's diary]

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Peirce, Jacob, 1761-1801, author.

Contributor:

Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, donor.

Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quakers--Pennsylvania--Chester County--Diaries.

Farmers--Pennsylvania--Chester County--Diaries.

East Marlborough (Pa. : Township)--History--18th century--Sources.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

Diaries.

Manuscripts, American -- 18th century.

Manuscripts, English -- 18th century.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Walkabout Books (Curtis, Washington) to the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting Agriculture, 2022.

Gift of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting Agriculture, 2022.

Physical Description:

24 leaves : paper ; 325 x 200 mm.

Place of Publication:

[East Marlborough Township, Pennsylvania], 1797-1800.

Biography/History:

Quaker farmer whose farm was a part of the land that his grandfather George Peirce purchased from William Penn in 1701 and included the modern Longwood Gardens. Jacob Peirce married Hannah Buffington in Kennett Meeting in 1767.

Summary:

Sewn gathering from a diary of brief entries recording farm work with crops, livestock, and fence and building maintenance; physical ailments; medical assistance to neighbors such as bloodletting and drawing teeth; weather; visits with family and friends; and attendance at various local Quaker meetings (Kennett, Bradford, New Garden) and participation in the organization of a Quaker school. The diary also records occasional travels to Philadelphia, Wilmington, Lancaster County, southern New Jersey, and Baltimore. Leaves with text are probably missing before and after the extant gathering.

Notes:

Ms. gathering.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Collation: Paper, 24; 1²⁴; modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto, [1-24].

Layout: Brief entries with the day of the month written in the left margin and the number of the month, according to Quaker usage, in the left margin with the day of the month before the first entry of the new month. Sundays have a dominical letter, as appeared in farmers' almanacs (1797 A, 1798 G, 1799 F, 1800 E), in the left margin with the day of the month. The year is written in the upper left corner of each page.

Script: Written in cursive script in the hand of Jacob Peirce.

Origin: Written in East Marlborough Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, from 24 November 1797-24 March 1800.

Another diary of Jacob Peirce with entries from 1789 to 1796, location unknown, is described by Walter Peirce, "A farmer of the early Republic," Bulletin of Friends Historical Association 19.1 (Spring 1930), p. 7-15.

Cited as:

Jacob Peirce, [Quaker farmer's diary] (Oversize Ms. Codex 2079). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1341474494