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Loudoun Mansion (Germantown) papers
A collection of papers accumulated by several generations of residents of Loudoun, a mansion in Germantown, built in 1801 by Thomas Armat, Philadelphia merchant. Included are papers of five related Philadelphia area families: Armat, Skerrett, Logan, Norris, and Dickinson. The bulk of the Armat fami...
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| Collection: | Loudoun Mansion (Germantown) Papers |
| Collection Number: | 1971 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
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| Physical Description: |
51.0 Linear feet 51 linear feet, 93 boxes, |
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| Summary: |
A collection of papers accumulated by several generations of residents of Loudoun, a mansion in Germantown, built in 1801 by Thomas Armat, Philadelphia merchant. Included are papers of five related Philadelphia area families: Armat, Skerrett, Logan, Norris, and Dickinson.
The bulk of the Armat family section consists of the business papers of Thomas Armat. The most significant part of his papers is for the years 1784-1804, when Armat was a prominent merchant trading in goods, especially with Great Britain. The papers for the merchant years contain the business records of Thomas Armat, his son Thomas Wright Armat, and two Armat partnerships: Thomas Armat & Son, 1795-1797, and [Thomas] Armat & [James C.] Copper, 1799-1806. After 1800 Thomas Armat turned increasingly to other business enterprises, especially dry-goods merchandizing and real estate, and from about 1820 he was known simply as Thomas Armat, gentleman.
The Thomas Armat business papers include incoming correspondence and loose financial records, 1779, 1784-1820, 1831; letter books, 1781-1798; journals, 1782-1800, 1818; ledgers, 1781-1805, 1818; receipt books, 1779-1829; miscellaneous account books, including four volumes on his property holdings; pocket diaries, 1790-1818; household journal, 1817-1829; and estate papers. Among the Armat & Copper records are a letter book, 1801-1806, journals, 1799-1804, and an inventory book, 1801; Thomas Armat & Son records are limited to journals, 1795-1797; Thomas W. Armat business records consist of a letter book, 1798-1801, journals, 1798-1799, receipt books, 1796-1807, and a journal of Thomas W. Armat's estate, 1806-1808.
Additional Armat family papers include: papers, 1780-1851 of Ann Smart Armat, Thomas Armat's fifth wife, Elizabeth Smart Rooker, Ann's sister, and James Rooker, Elizabeth's husband and pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Germantown, including incoming correspondence, loose financial records, and account books; James Rooker diary, 1811-1827, pertaining to church activities; Presbyterian Church of Germantown record book, 1818-1827; Thomas Armat, treasurer of St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Germantown, correspondence and financial records, 1817-1826; St. Luke's pew rent books, 1821-1825; Protestant Episcopal Association of Germantown subscription book, 1815-1816; St. Luke's Contingent Fund, 1922; business correspondence and financial records, 1800-1803, of Asbury Dickins, Philadelphia bookseller.
The Skerrett family section, 1805-1877, includes: family and personal correspondence, 1821-1849, of Jane Caroline Armat Skerrett, daughter of Thomas W. Armat and wife of James J. Skerrett, gentleman; her expense book while in Europe, 1836-1837; account book of Jane and James Skerrett on their real estate holdings, 1830-1860; Jane Skerrett estate papers, including financial records for rents collected from houses occupied by black tenants, 1856-1868. The larger portion of this section consists of James J. Skerrett financial records, 1805-1877, and estate papers.
The Logan family section, 1768-1939, contains four generations of Logan family papers, beginning with Deborah Norris Logan, collector of historical records. Her papers include outgoing family correspondence, 1768-1836; loose financial items; 1822 memoir of her husband George Logan, physician and legislator; commonplace books; and estate records.
Other Logan family papers include: James Logan medical receipt book, n.d.; loose financial records, 1808-1848, and account book of Sommerville Farm, 1818, of Albanus Charles Logan, physician; personal correspondence, 1792-1844 of Maria Dickinson Logan; Charles F. Logan ledger, 1823-1825; incoming correspondence, 1830-1871, loose financial records, miscellaneous account books, and ledger, 1861-1863, of Gustavus George Logan, gentleman; incoming correspondence and loose financial records, 1858-1895, of Anna Armat Logan; her receipt book, 1870-1895, miscellaneous account books, address book, desk book diaries, 1874-1894, fragments of a diary, ca. 1864-1867, on her separation from Gustavus George Logan, and estate papers; loose financial records and account books, 1852-1854, on building Restlerigg Hall on Stenton farm; incoming correspondence, loose financial items, account books and desk book diaries, 1874-1929, of Albanus Charles Logan, gentleman; his Stenton Stock Farm records, 1876-1886, containing horse and boarding records; incoming correspondence and loose financial records, 1880-1939, account books account book of wages paid Loudoun servants, 1884-1895, Loudoun cash book, ca. 1899, and commonplace book of Maria Dickinson Logan.
The Norris family section, 1706-1855, includes a few papers, ca. 1761-1766, of Isaac Norris [II] relating to his property holdings; correspondence, 1759- 1766, financial records, 1804-1809, and estate papers of Charles Norris, brother of Deborah Norris Logan; and miscellaneous Norris family papers.
The Dickinson family section, 1760-1856, includes: John Dickinson, lawyer and statesman, incoming official and personal correspondence, outgoing family correspondence, especially to his wife Mary Norris Dickinson, and loose financial records, 1760, 1780-1804; Mary Norris Dickinson, incoming and outgoing family correspondence, 1794; their daughter, Sarah Norris Dickinson's financial papers containing correspondence, deeds, and bonds relating to her property holdings, 1794, 1810-1834, 1856.
Other Loudoun records include: broadsides; deeds; photographs; account book, 1760-1765, of William Hicks of Staten Island.
Of special note are a few papers of Jonathan Dickinson, an importing merchant and landowner of Philadelphia and Jamaica, including incoming correspondence, 1698-1713, primarily on his mercantile pursuits. Eighteen of the letters are from John Askew, his factor, friend, and business associate in London. Also included is an incomplete manuscript of the "Jonathan Dickinson Journal," 1696: "A Journey of the Travels of Several Persons and their Sufferings being cast-away in the Gulph among the Cannibals of Florida," a narrative describing a shipwreck experienced by Dickinson, his family, and ten of his slaves on a journey from Jamaica to Philadelphia. |