This series, which comprises approximately half of the collection, contains correspondence by and to various members of the Bonsall and Martin families. Most of the letters were generated by or to Edward H. Bonsall (1794-1879) and are personal in nature, although a small number concern Bonsall's career as a conveyancer and railroad industrialist. Substantial correspondence exists between Edward H. Bonsall and his son, Joseph Bonsall (1833-1876); and between Edward H. Bonsall and John Ousley Bonsall, a distant relative living in Ireland. The collection also contains several letters written by or to Spencer Bonsall when he was a student at the Westtown School in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Martin family is represented by several letters between William Martin, Esq. (1797-1862); his wife, Sarah Ann Martin (née Smith); and their daughter, Ellen Crosby Martin, wife of Spencer Bonsall.
This series, which comprises most of the remainder of the collection, contains a broad range of documents relating to several generations of the Bonsall family. The largest portion consists of ancestral wills, land deeds, and other property records, dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Also well represented are genealogical tables and coats of arms. Personal documents, such as poems, calling cards, tickets, and invitations, are interspersed with professional membership certificates, speeches, writings, and general memoranda. Dozens of photographs, tintypes, and silhouettes depict members of the Bonsall and Martin families, some of which have been annotated by William Martin Bonsall, the son of Spencer Bonsall and Ellen Crosby Martin. A small number of documents pertain to individuals with an uncertain relationship to the Bonsall family, while a few others are anonymous. A map of the Denver, Colorado area by Joseph H. Bonsall, dated August 22, 1871, has been moved to the Historical Map Collection.
Box 3 Folder 1
General, 1805-1909
(includes envelopes, poems, tickets, newspaper clippings, a political cartoon, and other miscellaneous documents)
Box 3 Folder 2
Aston, Peter and Hannah--Land Deed to Thomas Guest, 1751
(includes release of claims on Thomas Guest for above indenture by Isaac Greenleaf and Mordecai Yarnall)
Box 3 Folder 3
Bonsall, Benjamin--Copies of Will and Land Deed to Josiah Fearne, 1729-1768
Box 3 Folder 4
Bonsall, Benjamin Say--Printed Jury List, 1833
Box 3 Folder 5
Bonsall, Edward H. (1739-1826)--Land Deed, Will, and Estate Settlement, 1798-1830
Box 3 Folder 6
Bonsall, Edward H. (1794-1879), 1826-1879
((includes business reports, travel accounts, orations, passport, an account of the death of Edward H. Bonsall Jr.(1821-1841), and other personal and professional documents)
Box 3 Folder 7
Bonsall, Eleanor Crosby Martin, 1894-1898
(includes drawings, hair, and religious cards)
Box 3 Folder 8
Bonsall, Ellen C. (Martin)--Receipt, 1877
Box 3 Folder 9
Bonsall, Enoch--Copy of Marriage Certificate, 1717
Box 3 Folder 10
Bonsall, Isaac--Marriage Certificate and Estate Documents, 1786-circa, 1830
Box 3 Folder 11
Bonsall, Jacob, Benjamin and Enoch--Copy of Land Grant from William Penn,, 1703
(includes envelope addressed to Spencer Bonsall, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)
Box 3 Folder 12
Bonsall, James--Will, 1754
Box 3 Folder 13
Bonsall, John Ousley--Poem on the Death of his Wife, 1869
Box 3 Folder 14
Bonsall, Mary (Mrs. John Ousely)--Poem to her Husband, 1860
Box 3 Folder 15
Bonsall, Mary H.--Land Title Brief, 1864
Box 3 Folder 16
Bonsall, Mercy--Poems, 1788-1789
Box 3 Folder 17
Bonsall, Richard--Copy of Will, 1699
Box 3 Folder 18
Bonsall, Spencer, 1827-1889
(includes receipts, copper plates for calling cards, marriage certificate, professional membership certificates, poem transcriptions, and four undated, unsigned letters)
Box 3 Folder 19
Bonsall, Vincent--Property Documents and Will, 1751-1796
Box 3 Folder 20
Bonsall, William Martin, 1867-1911
(includes will, tickets, class rosters, invitations, a court summons, and professional membership certificates)
Box 3 Folder 21
Butler, John--Land Deed to Abraham Scott, 1768
Box 4 Folder 1
Bonsall Family--Photographs, Silhouettes, Tintypes, 1776-1916, undated, 1776-1916, undated
Box 4 Folder 2
Bonsall Family--Genealogical Research and Coats of Arms, 1761-circa, 1870s undated
(includes photocopies gifted by Joseph Colton Bonsall, October 2005)
Box 4 Folder 3
Clarke, John Jr.--Copy of Will, 1731
Box 4 Folder 4
Flower, Samuel--Land Deed to John Butler, 1765
Box 4 Folder 5
Fraelich, Leonard--Mortgage to Christopher Witt, 1759
Box 4 Folder 6
Froth, Henry--Copy of Will, 1836
Box 4 Folder 7
Grand Central Variety Theatre--Playbills, 1874-1875
Box 4 Folder 8
Guest, Thomas--Indenture to Samuel Flower, Land Deed, 1755
Box 4 Folder 9
Hunt, Joseph--Marriage Certificate, 1724
Box 4 Folder 10
Jones, Robert--Land Deed to John Butler, 1763
Box 4 Folder 11
Martin, E--Invitation from Union League Club, 1886
Box 4 Folder 12
Martin, Ellen C.--Certificates of Approbation, 1843
Box 4 Folder 13
Martin Family--Coats of Arms, Genealogical Table, circa, 1860s undated
Box 4 Folder 14
Martin, John Hill--Engagement Cards, Newspaper Subscription, 1859-1876
Box 4 Folder 15
Martin, William (1765-1798)--Receipts, Appraisal of Goods, 1788-1798
Box 4 Folder 16
Martin, William M. (1797-1862)--Justice's Commission, Testimonials on Death of,, 1836-1862
Box 4 Folder 17
Mercantile Library Company, Philadelphia--Library Rules, circa, [1855?]
Box 4 Folder 18
Milhous, Jane--Poem, 1823
Box 4 Folder 19
Pearson, Isaac--Land Deed to Samuel Flower, 1752
Box 4 Folder 20
Penn, William--Coat of Arms, undated
(includes four miscellaneous coats of arms, undated)
Box 4 Folder 21
Pennsylvania Laws and Statues--Extracts from laws passed between 1698 and 1774, undated, 1698, 1774, undated
(includes envelope addressed to Spencer Bonsall)
Box 4 Folder 22
Penrose, Thomas--Deed to Jane Hales, 1777
Box 4 Folder 23
Philadelphia--Wax Seals, 1683-1701
(includes two seals of William Penn and one of the city of Philadelphia)
Box 4 Folder 24
Sandilands, James--Copy of Petition to William Penn, 1700
Box 4 Folder 25
Scott, Abraham--Land Deed to Robert McMin, 1769
Box 4 Folder 26
Wroth, William--Receipt, 1807
Box 4 Folder 27
Yarnall, [Mordecai?]--Transcription from the Third Book of Chronicles, undated
Mapcase 14-P-2
Bonsall, Spencer--Life Membership to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,, 1870
Mapcase 14-P-2
Bonsall, William M.--Membership to the Veteran Corps of the 1st Infantry National Guard of Pennsylvania,, 1894
Mapcase 14-P-2
Crosby, John--Appointment as Judge to the Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County, Pennsylvania,, 1799
Mapcase 14-P-2
Martin, William--Commission as Captain of the Pennsylvania Artillerists of Delaware County,, 1828
The sixteen journals in this series cover a range of topics. Prominent are the travel journals of Edward H. Bonsall (1794-1879) and Spencer Bonsall, which describe voyages to Washington DC, the Ohio Valley, and Calcutta, India. The collection also contains a Civil War journal by Spencer Bonsall, written between March 1 and April 17, 1863 during his service as a hospital steward in the 81st Pennsylvania Regiment. Further additions include a book of genealogical tables, the legal journal of John Crosby (written between 1803 and 1816), and a handful of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century account books containing the costs for such mundane expenses as rent, hair dressing, and laundry. The collection also contains the composition books of Spencer Bonsall, his mother, Lydia McIlvain, and a Rebecca B. Thomson, whose connection to the family is unclear.
This family Bible (Collins's "Quarto" Bible, 3rd ed., NY: printed and sold by Collins and Co., 1814) was owned by Edward H. Bonsall (1794-1879) and lists the marriages, births, diseases, and deaths of his two wives, Lydia Bonsall (née McIlvain) and Mary Bonsall (née Hutchin), as well as his eleven children: Spencer, William Milhous, William, Edward H. Jr., Henry, Jeremiah, Charles, Elizabeth, Jane, Joseph, and Jesse. The Bible is signed and dated at the front: "Edward H. Bonsall 1815," with notes dating 1815-1876.