The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur
Museum, Winterthur, DE 19735
302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Gilpin, Thomas, 1776-1853
Title: Inventories, deeds, and letters
Dates: 1738-1852
Call No.:
Acc. No.: 67x5, 69x222.1-.15, 88x90;
05x25
Quantity: 34 items
Location: 34 K 4, and map case 1,
drawer 6
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Thomas Gilpin (1728-1778) was a Quaker merchant and
manufacturer. Born and raised in
Thomas Gilpin (1776-1853), the son of the elder
Thomas Gilpin, was born in
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
Contains an estate inventory for Isaac Gilpin dated
1745, an inventory of items owned by Thomas Gilpin taken between 1839 and 1850;
an invoice listing glassware, bookcases, and books, purchased by Joshua Gilpin
in 1801; and property deeds relating to members of the Gilpin family. The volume containing Thomas Gilpin's
inventory opens with a table of contents listing packages, the inventories of
the packages, a list of furniture and other articles, and items sent to various
individuals. The inventory documents
such possessions as paintings, drawings, lithographs, copper plates, and other
types of art; letters, ledgers, journals, and other business records; books,
maps, and pamphlets by title; paper on hand at Brandywine, 1839; clothing with
information on the date each article was made and its condition; napkins, table
cloths, sheets, blankets, and other household linens; silver, crockery, dishes,
china, glassware, and other housewares; and deeds, patents, and other private
papers owned by Thomas Gilpin. An 1844
inventory of financial holdings and a list of books lent in 1843 are also
included. The volume closes with a room
by room inventory of the furniture in Catherine Hubert's cottage. The invoice of goods purchased by Joshua
Gilpin in 1801 also includes three pencil drawings of caskets or decorative
boxes.
Property deeds record purchases of lots and houses
by Thomas Gilpin in
The letters are to or from the younger Thomas
Gilpin. Some of them concern business,
some family news. He writes about his
efforts to pen a Gilpin family history and to obtain illustrations for it.
ORGANIZATION
The items are in accession number order. Oversize deeds are in a map case drawer.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Purchases and gifts from
various sources.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Gilpin family.
Gilpin, Thomas, 1728-1778.
Gilpin, Joshua, 1765-1840.
Gilpin, Isaac, d. ca. 1745.
Topics:
Real property, Exchange of -
Real property, Exchange of -
Inventories of decedents' estates -
Clothing and dress.
Household linens.
Furniture.
House furnishings.
Kitchen utensils.
Household supplies.
Porcelain.
Silverware.
Glassware.
Private libraries.
Art - Collectors and collecting.
Watermarks.
Inventories.
Deeds.
Invoices.
Estate records.
Letters.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 34 K
4, and map case 1, drawer 6
67x5 Thomas
Gilpin’s Inventory book, 1839-1850.
Includes lists of packages
and boxes and their contents and “account of paper on hand Brandywine Jany.
1839.” The boxes held a wide variety of
household goods, clothing, art prints, and books. The titles of the prints and books are
given. The clothing is described, e.g.
“green silk diamond pattern waistcoat.”
On page 131, two pieces of furniture were not only described, but small
drawings were also included. On page 137
are drawings of shafts and screws. The
volume includes a list of books loaned to others. Several bills and an inventory of financial
documents, take
69x222.7 Plot of the store and wharf, by scrivener
Goldsmith E. Ffowell, 5th mo. 20, 1748. A draft of Shipley’s part of store house.
Gives description and map of
location of lot purchased by
69.222.12 Invoice of glassware, bookcases, and
books, purchased in
Among the types of
glassware purchased were tumblers, goblets, liqueur and wine glasses, water and
jelly glasses, butter boats, lamps, flower vases, and dishes. Brief titles of the books are listed. On the last page are three pencil drawings of
caskets or decorative boxes, which have nothing to do with the inventory.
05x25.1 receipted bill from Mr. Duval,
The letterhead includes
an advertisement for Mr. Duval’s lithography business.
05x25.2 Letter, Samuel Breck, to Thomas
Gilpin,
Thanks
Gilpin for sending him a copy of “The Exiles in Virginia During the
Revolutionary War.” The bad weather is
keeping him in.
05x25.3 Letter, Jno. Jay Smith, to Thomas
Gilpin,
Asks Gilpin if he would
like to be a subscriber to a dinner being given for
With note on back:
05x25.4 Letter, Thomas Gilpin,
Mentions Louis Kossuth’s
visit to
05x25.5 letter, Samuel Breck, to Thomas
Gilpin,
Enjoyed reading the book
about the exiled Philadelphians; comments how a man fighting tyranny sometimes
becomes a tyrant himself
05x25.6 note, Joseph [illegible], Brandywine
Mills, to Thomas Gilpin,
check enclosed
05x25.7 note, William Wells(?),
about a judgment in the
case of Gilpin against Peregrine F. Cooper
05x25.8 note, T. Gilpin,
encloses note from his
cousin about the tournament [this note is no longer with the letter]; suggests
that Benjamin Smith be invited to the tournament in lieu of his father Daniel
B. Smith of
05x25.9 receipt, Kay and McNichol,
received payment for
carpentry work
05x25.10 letter, Thomas Gilpin,
Encloses a copy of his
diagram of the Penn family; has copyrighted the work but grants Dixon
permission to use it in his history of William Penn; the Society of Friends has
been misrepresented in histories of the United States, and this led him to
write about those members (including his father) who were unfairly exiled
during the Revolution.
05x25.11 letter, Thomas Gilpin,
Would like to have 100
impressions of the plate that reads “Gilpins Mills on
Includes a diagram of
how he wants the printed sheets laid out
05x25.12 letter, Thomas Gilpin,
Glad that she and Ann
Maury like the picture of Kentmere; please don’t talk about his secret family
enterprise – he isn’t sure it will succeed [may be referring to the writing of
the Gilpin family history]; encloses a likeness of Bernard Gilpin; is sending
her a copy of Henry’s speech at the Webster memorial meeting; love to Matthew
Maury who deserves to have a planet named for him; joke about General
Washington [a postage stamp] not being able to carry anymore news
[note: Daniel Webster
died on
05x25.13 letter, Thomas Gilpin,
encloses a Gilpin
genealogy, an engraving made from Ann Maury’s drawing of Kentmere, and an
engraving of Bernard Gilpin; news of his brother’s family.
05x25.14 letter, Thomas Gilpin,
Has had printed and
encloses a few copies of his history of the Gilpin family, although his
research is not yet complete
05x25.15 note, R. Fisher,
requests Gilpin to
obtain several tickets to the
05x25.16 untitled poem about children
05x25.17 list of names, dates, amounts of money,
no year
05x25.18 envelope addressed to Thomas Gilpin,
probably from Granville Penn, whose initials appear in the lower left corner.
Red wax seal on back
shows the word
Oversized deeds:
69x222.1 deed, Thomas West, yeoman, and his wife
Susanna; William West, cordwainer, and his wife Mary; James Robinson, tanner,
and his wife Eleanor (or Elinor); and John Staples, cooper, and his wife
Rachel; Elizabeth West, spinster; and Joseph West; to Thomas Gilpin, yeoman,
September 4, 1746; by scrivener Goldsmith E. Ffowell
for a lot in
69x222.2 deed, William and Elizabeth Shipley of
for store and wharf in
69x222.3 deed, William Shipley, yeoman of
for a lot in
69x222.4 deed, Ann Caldwell Gilpin, widow of
for a lot in
9x222.5 deed, George Gartrill, blacksmith, of
for a lot in
69x222.6 deed, Simeon Hutton, hatter of
for a lot in
69x222.8 lease for 2000 years, vestrymen of the
for a lot of land in
Christiana Hundred
69x222.9 deed, John Brady of Northumberland
County and James Dickinson of Philadelphia, to Thomas Gilpin, Thomas Fisher,
Samuel Fisher, Miers Fisher, and Jabez Maud(?) Fisher, all of
for lands in
69x222.10 deed and schedule for lands in
Westmoreland and Bedford Counties, Pennsylvania, between Thomas Gilpin
(merchant of Philadelphia) and wife Lydia, Thomas Fisher (merchant of
Philadelphia) and wife Sarah, Samuel Rowland Fisher (merchant of Philadelphia),
Miers Fisher and wife Sarah Redwood, March 12, 1777
attached to the deed is
a “schedule containing a list of the warrants and applications for land taken
out of the Land Office of Pennsylvania for the use of the parties to this
indenture”
69x222.11 Indenture, Henry D. Gilpin
(attorney-at-law) and wife Eliza, to Richard A. Gilpin, conveying two tracts of
land in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, February 16, 1849
the land was along the
Crooked Creek; deed includes information about previous owners and a plat map
of the property
69x222.13 Indenture, lease of land belonging to Thomas
Willing and wife Catherine, to Thomas West, June 19, 1738; by scrivener
Goldsmith E. Ffowell [father of John Ffowell]
the land was in
Willingtown [later called
69x222.14 deed,
William West (cordwainer) to John Staples (cooper), August 15, 1752
for house and lot in
69x222.15 deed, John Staples (cooper) and wife
Rachel, to Ann Caldwell [also spelled Cordwall], November 8, 1754
for lot in
Oversized
paper:
88x90a-b two sheets of paper made by Gilpin’s
paper mill; one bears the watermark: T Gilpin & Co,