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Jasper Yeates papers
The Jasper Yeates papers (1733-1876; bulk 1733-1816) contain information on the business affairs of Yeates and his father John Yeates, as well as their correspondence, which further illuminates their professional careers and family matters. Jasper Yeates's legal papers form the bulk of this co...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Collection: | Jasper Yeates Papers |
| Collection Number: | 0740 |
| Format: | Manuscript |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Link to finding aid |
| Item Description: |
Processing Information: As of July 2011, we have been unable to locate the 1718 survey of Richard Hill’s plantation by Jacob Taylor. Once found it will be added to the finding aid.
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| Physical Description: |
19.2 Linear feet ; 50 boxes |
| Access: |
The collection is open for research. |
| Summary: |
The Jasper Yeates papers (1733-1876; bulk 1733-1816) contain information on the business affairs of Yeates and his father John Yeates, as well as their correspondence, which further illuminates their professional careers and family matters. Jasper Yeates's legal papers form the bulk of this collection. His tenure as a lawyer in Lancaster and associate justice of the Supreme Court offers a look into the legal history of Pennsylvania. The collection is divided into three series: Series 1, Business and Financial, which spans from 1740 to 1876, Series 2, Correspondence, spanning from 1733 to 1876, and Series 3, Legal and Miscellaneous, spanning from 1737 to 1831. Despite the divisions of the collections, the subject matter of the series often overlaps, as people and events that appear in Series 1 often appear in Series 2 and 3. Papers in each series are arranged mostly in chronological order.
Series 1 primarily consists of bills, invoices, and receipts concerning Jasper Yeates's clients while he was a lawyer in Lancaster and provides a look into his own personal expenses. This series also contains John Yeates's invoices, bills, and receipts when he was a merchant in Barbados and Pennsylvania. The end of the first series includes minimal material on the business affairs of Jasper Yeates's daughter Catherine Yeates.
Series 2 has a small number of John Yeates's letters from other merchants in the Caribbean which provides a look at commerce with the West Indies. The highlight of this series, however, is its insight into Jasper Yeates's life during the Revolutionary War and the early Republic. It contains correspondence with his wife as well as prominent Pennsylvanians such as Edward Burd, Sarah Yeates's brother and future associate justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as well as James Hamilton, one of the founders of Lancaster. Also included is a rough draft of the Lancaster Committee’s letter to the Pennsylvania Continental Congress, and correspondence concerning the Lancaster militia and the Commission of Indian Affairs. The correspondence and speeches of Yeates's son-in-law Redmond Conyngham and his grandson, Jasper Yeates Conyngham, round out the collection. Other items of interest include the Yeates geneaology, meteorological observations, and a book titled Chronology of the History of the World, from the creation to 1750.
Series 3 contains John Yeates papers as a lawyer in Lancaster and an Associate Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Yeates's Supreme Court papers contain his notes on the arguments, evidence, in legal cases as well as the opinions of his colleagues. The end of the collection contains Redmond Conyngham's legal papers and undated materials.
Jasper Yeates (1745-1817) was a leading lawyer in Lancaster County and associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; the collection contains his notes on trials, evidence, arguments, depositions, and judicial opinions rendered in numerous legal cases. Making up a large portion of the papers is his personal correspondence with noted men such as Edward Burd, Thomas Hartley, Richard Peters, William Tilghman, and others, which deals with political events, public questions, and congressional and administrative affairs. There is also Yeates's personal correspondence with his wife Sarah Yeates. The collection also contains papers of John Yeates that relate chiefly to commerce and shipping between the Middle Atlantic colonies and Barbados, Antigua, and other islands in the West Indies. Other items include Redmond Conyngham letters and essays, Peter Grubb estate papers and accounts, Jasper Yeates Cunningham family papers, the work Chronology of the History of the World, and Yeates family genealogical notes. |