The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Drawyers Presbyterian Church

Title: Records

Dates: 1870-1940

Call No.: Col. 39

Acc. No.: 77x646, 77x647

Quantity: 3 boxes

Location: 9 A 3

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Drawyers Presbyterian Church was organized in St. Georges Hundred, Delaware in the early 1700s. Their first building had been constructed before 1736, as it was then enlarged. Another building, this time of brick, was constructed on the same site in 1773. The congregation moved into another new building in Odessa in 1861. Their old (1773) church building was left unused for some time.

The Friends of Old Drawyers was organized in 1895 in order "to care for, repair and preserve the ancient building known as Old Drawyers Presbyterian Church in St. Georges Hundred, New Castle, Delaware...," to preserve the surrounding cemetery, to collect and preserve oral, manuscript, and printed records relating to the church and its member families, and "to make the Church and surrounding grounds a place where men and women shall again meet for their common good....” [Constitution of the organization, Article III]

The society was able to achieve its goal of restoring the building and cemetery. This building was later described as "surely among the most elegant Presbyterian churches built in colonial America. Like its neighbor St. Anne's, Old Drawyer's [sic] is a rectangular building laid in Flemish bond, featuring two tiers of windows. But the entrance, midway along a five-bay side, with its columns and pediment, reflects a greater elegance, architectural sophistication, and costliness than can be seen at St. Anne's. That is not surprising, because the congregation of Old Drawyer's [sic] was very strong during the Revolutionary period, and the architect for the building was Robert May, who had already demonstrated his command of the Georgian idiom in his design of the nearby Corbit House." [Carol E. Hoffecker. Delaware: A Bicentennial History, 1977, p. 83-84] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February 1973.

Other activities of the Friends of Old Drawyers included annual commemorative services that attracted hundreds back to the site. It also republished the Rev. George Foot's An Address, Embracing the Early History of Delaware, and the Settlement of its Boundaries, and of the Drawyers Congregation, with all the Churches Since Organized on its Original Territory: Delivered in Drawyers Church, Del., May 10, 1842 .... [Philadelphia: printed at the Office of the Christian Observer, 1842; reprinted by John M. Rogers Press, Wilmington, DE, 1898. Winterthur call number: F167 F68]

A moving force behind the organization was Lewis C. Vandegrift (1855-1900). Some letters directed to him are included in the papers, and his name is frequently mentioned in the other letters and documents here. After Vandegrift's death, there was an effort to have one of the Craven brothers of Salem, New Jersey take over the presidency of the organization, but this responsibility eventually was shouldered by Daniel W. Corbit of Odessa.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection consists of a congregational treasurer's book, 1870-1900, and records of the Friends of Old Drawyers. The latter records include constitutions, letters, clippings, and financial records that, taken together, describe the annual reunion services held, and the early preservation work done.

ORGANIZATION

The papers divide into several distinct series. The first includes only one item: the treasurer's book from the "new" Drawyers Church, Odessa, Delaware, 1870-1900. The other series are all papers of the Friends of Old Drawyers: correspondence regarding the society; documents (handwritten, typed, and printed) related to the society; and financial documents of the society.

PROVENANCE

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James A. Finley, Jr.

ACCESS POINTS

Topics:

Friends of Old Drawyers.

Historic buildings - Delaware - Saint Georges - Conservation and restoration.

Church buildings - Delaware - Saint Georges - Conservation and restoration.

Presbyterian Church - Delaware - History - Societies, etc.

Odessa (Del.) - History.

Odessa (Del.) - Genealogy.

Letters.

Clippings.

Bills.

Receipts.

Letterheads.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 9 A 3

Box 1:

Folder 1: New Drawyers Presbyterian Church, Odessa, DE: Treasurer's book, 1870-1900.

Folder 2: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, Blank pictorial letterhead stationery, after 1900

Folder 3: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, to Miss S. Cornelia Bowman, Wilmington, DE, 1845-1899

Folder 4: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, to Miss S. Cornelia Bowman, Wilmington, DE, 1900-1918

Folder 5: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, from Mrs. Wm. F. (Jessie Reed) Brown, Hilkinsburg, PA, 1939

Folder 6: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, to and from Francis de H. Janvier, Wilmington, DE, 1931

Folder 7: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, to Mr. George Janvier, Middletown, DE, 1899, 1910, 1939

Folder 8: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, to Mrs. Dilworth Vandergrift [i.e. Vandegrift], Middletown, DE, 1939 (includes trade catalog for permanent cemetery markers)

Folder 9: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, to Mr. Lewis C. Vandegrift, Wilmington, DE, 1895-1896

Folder 10: Friends of Old Drawyers: Correspondence, from Mr. Justin C. Wells, Jamaica, NY, 1924

Folder 11: Documents, Address, "State Loyalty," by John P. Nields at Old Drawyers, 1909

Folder 12: Documents, Address, untitled, by J. O. Wolcott at Old Drawyers, 1913

Folder 13 Documents, Alphabetical list of burials before 1895

Folder 14: Documents, Annual corporation reports to secretary of state, 1935-1940

Folder 15: Documents, Constitution for Friends of Old Drawyers, 1895-1896

Folder 16: Documents, Constitution and By-Laws, Roll of Membership, 1896-1938

Folder 17: Documents, Executive Committee minutes, 1938

Folder 18: Documents, Friends of Old Drawyers early years, 1895-1898

Folder 19: Documents, Key to planting plan by Thomas Meehan & Sons, 1918

Folder 20: Documents, Membership cards, 1922

Folder 21: Documents, Memoir of John Dusha Dilworth by James Dilworth, 1896-1899

Folder 22: Documents, Memoir of Rev. Thomas Read by Henry C. Conrad, 1896

Folder 23: Documents, Newspapers, early 1900s

Folder 24: Documents, Notices of annual services, 1924-1933

Folder 25: Documents, Report for the first year of Friends of Old Drawyers, S. Cornelia Bowman, secretary, 1896

Folder 26: Documents, Report on "Fourth reunion of the 'Society of Old Drawyers'

Box 2:

Folder 1: Documents, Scrapbook of newspaper clippings on Friends of Old Drawyers, 1895

-1920

Folder 2: Finances, Auditors' report, 1938

Folder 3: Finances, Bank books, deposit slips, checks, 1895-1940

Folder 4: Finances, Bank book, deposit slips, check book, New Castle County National Bank of Odessa, 1937-1940

Folder 5: Finances, Bank checks, 1895-1909

Folder 6: Finances, Crawford legacy, 1922-1939

Folder 7: Finances, Receipted bills, 1937-1940

Folder 8: Finances, Sales of George Foot's History of Old Drawyers, 1898-1934

Folder 9: Finances, Security Trust Company statements, 1939-1940

Folder 10: Finances, Treasurer's ledger, 1895-1938

Box 3:

Folder 1: Finances, Receipts and bills, 1895-1936, A-C

Folder 2: Finances, Receipts and bills, D-G

Folder 3: Finances, Receipts and bills, H-J

Folder 4: Finances, Receipts and bills, K-L

Folder 5: Finances, Receipts and bills, M

Folder 6: Finances, Receipts and bills, N-P

Folder 7: Finances, Receipts and bills, Q-R

Folder 8: Finances, Receipts and bills, S

Folder 9: Finances, Receipts and bills, T-V

Folder 10: Finances, Receipts and bills, W-Z

Folder 11: General correspondence, 1895-1930, A-B

Folder 12: General correspondence, 1895-1930, C

Folder 13: General correspondence, 1895-1930, D-E

Folder 14: General correspondence, 1895-1930, F-G

Folder 15: General correspondence, 1895-1930, H-J

Folder 16: General correspondence, 1895-1930, K-M

Folder 17: General correspondence, 1895-1930, N-P

Folder 18: General correspondence, 1895-1930, Q-S

Folder 19: General correspondence, 1895-1930, T-V

Folder 20: General correspondence, 1895-1930, W-Z

Folder 21: General correspondence, 1931-1939, A-B

Folder 22: General correspondence, 1931-1939, C-D

Folder 23: General correspondence, 1931-1939, E-G

Folder 24: General correspondence, 1931-1939, H

Folder 25: General correspondence, 1931-1939, I-L

Folder 26: General correspondence, 1931-1939, M

Folder 27: General correspondence, 1931-1939, N-P

Folder 28: General correspondence, 1931-1939, Q-R

Folder 29: General correspondence, 1931-1939, S-T

Folder 30: General correspondence, 1931-1939, U-Z