Manuscript Group 1222, Edmund Willets (b. 1800), Quaker Diary, November 10 – December 25, 1820
Archives Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs
Manuscript Group 1222, Edmund Willets (b. 1800), Quaker
Diary, November 10-December
25, 1820, 0.1 linear feet / 1 volume
Call Number: MG 1222
Journal of travel to Society of Friends’ meetings in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, including descriptions of visits to George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Virginia and of the public buildings in Washington, D.C.
Gift of Lt. Col. William L. Howard, 1985.
Edmund Willets (b. 1800) was a Quaker who lived in Westbury, Nassau County on Long Island, New York.
This diary was donated by Lieutenant Colonel William L. Howard in 1985.
This collection consists of the travel diary of Edmund Willets kept on a trip through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Delaware from November 10-December 25, 1820.
Throughout the diary, Willets notes miles traveled, people met, Society of Friends meetings attended, and towns passed through. He often supplies further details, for example, his summary of Fredrickstown (now Frederick), Maryland reads, “3 churches, 2 banks, a market house, court house, and gaol surrounded by a good country.” He travels through the larger cities of Trenton, Philadelphia, Washington, and Baltimore, and often takes in museums and local architecture, such as the Capital building, the Houses of Congress, and Mount Vernon. He also visits mills, schools, and factories, and throughout the diary notes such things as land prices and teacher’s salaries.
Manuscript Group 837, Bellangee Family (Little Egg Harbor, NJ) Papers
Processed by Kim Charlton, January 2000 as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
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