The Winterthur Library

 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:          Savery family                           

Title:               Papers

Dates:             1767-1858

Call No.:         Col. 500

Acc. No.:         76x141.1-.10 and others (see detailed description)

Quantity:        10 items

Location:        34 K 4

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Two men named William Savery lived in Philadelphia at the same time, and both are represented in this collection; their relationship to each other is unknown.  One was a joiner and chair maker who worked in Philadelphia in the second half of the 18th century, dying in 1787.  The other William Savery was a tanner in the Northern Liberties; he died in 1804.  Thomas Savery, the son of the joiner and chair maker, was a carpenter in Philadelphia.  Other Savery family members include Mary, Elizabeth, and William III.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

This small collection contains items pertaining to the Savery family dating between 1767-1858.  These include several wills, estate papers, letters, elegies, receipts for work done by William (d.1787) or Thomas Savery, an account book documenting Thomas Savery's work as a carpenter, and three marriage certificates.  Also, there is a photostat of William Savery's account with Joseph Pemberton 1774-1775, listing items repaired or made, and a photograph of a label or bookplate bearing William Savery's name.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

The collection is divided into marriage documents; wills; account book and receipts; and photocopies.  Within each category, the items are in chronological order.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

 

 

PROVENANCE

           

Purchased from Batchelder.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Savery, William, 1750-1804.

 

Topics:

            Letters.

            Business records - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

            Decedents’ estates – Pennsylvania – Philadelphia.

            Elegies.

            Furniture making - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

            Dwellings - Maintenance and repair - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia.

            Wills.

            Marriage certificates.

            Account books.

            Receipts.

            Joiners.

            Carpenters.

 

Added authors:

            Beck, Jacob.

Savery, Thomas.

            Savery, William, 1721 or 22-1787.

 

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 34 K 4

 

[note: accession numbers begin with 76x141, unless otherwise indicated]

 

 

Folder 1: marriage certificates

 

.5         Friends marriage certificate, John Scattergood, and Elizabeth Head, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 13, 1767.

            John is described as a tanner in the Northern Liberties, the son of Joseph Scattergood (deceased), from Burlington, New Jersey.  Elizabeth is the daughter of John Head of Philadelphia.  Signed by witnesses.

 

.3         Friends marriage certificate. Thomas Savery, and Rebecca Scattergood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1791.

The document describes Thomas as a resident of Philadelphia, a house carpenter, and the son of William and Mary Savery.  Rebecca is the daughter of John and Elizabeth Scattergood of the Northern Liberties.  Both fathers were deceased.  Document signed by witnesses.  [see .5 for the marriage certificate of Rebecca’s parents.]

 

.4         Friends marriage certificate, partially printed form. William Savery, [III] and Elizabeth H. Cresson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1828.

            William is from Philadelphia, the son of Thomas (deceased) and Rebecca Savery.  Elizabeth is the daughter of John H. and Rachel Cresson of Philadelphia.  Document signed by witnesses, including members of the Cresson, Savery, and Scattergood families.

 

 

Folder 2:  wills

 

.1         Will (copy). William Savery, joiner and chairmaker, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The copy was made in 1804, but the original will was dated September 8, 1783.

            Mentions wife Mary, sons William and Thomas, daughters Ann (Mrs. John Poultney) and Elizabeth.

            This William Savery died in 1787.

 

.9         Letter, to “Dear Friend,” [probably in London], from unknown person, [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1804].

Writer has been asked by cousin Sarah to send the correspondent an account of the death of William Savery, a tanner.

            Penciled on back: on death of Savery, the tanner. 

This William Savery died in 1804.  See also Doc. 260, Benjamin Johnson Travel Diary, for information on a trip to Europe undertaken by Savery.

 

.10       Poem on the death of William Savery by Jacob Beck, a German Methodist, [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania].  Savery died June 19, 1804.

 

.8         Administrative papers. Estate of Mary Savery, decd. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1804.   Mary had made a nuncupative will, and there are various sworn statements about her expressed desires.  Mentions son Thomas, daughter-in-law Sarah (widow of her late son William), and granddaughters, the children of her late daughter Ann Poultney.

           

.6         Will. William Savery, [III]. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1858.

Names sons Thomas, John C., and William and brother Thomas as executors.  Also mentions daughter Rebecca.

 

.7         Will, Elizabeth Savery, Pennsbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1860.

            Names nephews John C. and William Savery and Thomas F. Scattergood as executors.  Mentions sister Mary Scattergood, brother Thomas Savery, sister-in-law Hannah Savery, nieces Sarah, Mary W., and Elizabeth Savery, Sarah S. Scattergood, and Rebecca W. Savery, and various friends.

 

 

Folder 3: account book, receipts

 

.2         Account book. Thomas Savery, house carpenter. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1781-1782.

Includes charges for making a closet; laying a floor; putting up shelves; making and hanging doors, windows, and shutters; making a plank bench; , etc.; plus charges for supplies such as boards and hinges.

           

[an index to this document is attached to this finding aid]

 

81x228            receipted bill, Isaac Howel paid William Savery for chairs, August 11, 1765

 

62x43  part of a page from an account or receipt book, probably for Mary Coates;

obverse: received money on February 27, 1771, from Margret [sic] Coats for mending chairs, signed William Savery;

reverse: received money on April 13, 1771, from Margaret Coates and sisters, executors for estate of mother Mary Coates, signature cut off

 

62x44  receipted bill, Debrah [sic] Morris paid William Savery for making a mahogany coffin for Grace Galoway [sic], February 8, 1782

 

68x25.6           part of a page from an account or receipt book, probably of Isaac Harvey;

Obverse: received money of Isaac Harvey on March 27, 1811, for paper hanging and mending done to his house, for Caldeleugh(?), Thomas & Self, signed Jno. Ruse;

Reverse: received money of Isaac Harvey on May 13, 1811, for measuring carpenters work, signed Thomas Savery

 

 

Folder 4: photocopies

 

Ph 1043           photograph of a book label or trade card with the name William Savery printed within a border of stars; a number appears as well as the inscription “for Mrs. [illegible] of New Orleans”

                        Also additional information about Savery labels

 

Ph 141-142      photostatic copy of account of Joseph Pemberton with William Savery, 1774; Savery performed such tasks as mending various pieces of furniture, bottoming a rocking chair, adding a rocker to a mahogany cradle, mending a hobby horse (two charges), taking down and putting up a bedstead, making a bed cornice with pulleys, making a plain mahogany bedstead, making a coffin for Pemberton’s Negro, etc.  Original document at Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

 

 

 

Index to acc. 76x141.2, account book of Thomas Savery, house carpenter

 

Allibone, Thomas 21

Armat, Mary 5

Armat, T. 15

Armat, Thomas 6, 10, 19, 34

 

Baker, Saml. 17

Benezet, Philip 30

Blackham, Richard 14

Bowman, Roger 36

Bradford, Willm. 13, 23, 36

Bryant, Thos. 10

Burge, Saml.  11

 

Conrad, John 6

Cooper, Hannah 12

Cruckshank, Joseph  2, 24, 27, 31

 

Daw[e]s, Jonathan 16

Duffield, (Dr.) 13, 29, 36

Duncan, Ann 1, 22, 25

Dupuy, D. 13, 32

 

Eddy, Mary 9

 

Garret, Nathan 21, 32

Grandum, John 18 [Grandham?]

 

Harland, John 15, 23, 27-28

Harris, Francis 27

Hartshorne & Large 35

Haydock, Robert 4

Head, John 9, 26

Henry, Hugh 1, 9, 31

Howard, John 13, 20

Howard, Thomas 7, 14, 19

Hu[t]chinson, Mahlon 26

 

Large (of Hartshorne & Large) 35

Lusby, Joseph 34

 

Maddox, (Widow) 13

Masterman, Thomas 8

Mifflin, George 30

Mifflin, John 22, 31

Morgan, Benja. 8

Morris, Joseph 28

 

Norton(?), T. 12

Olden, John 21-22, 25

 

Peters, Kitty 33

Poultney, John 3, 25

Poultney, Thomas 5, 7, 11

 

Raguet, C. P. [Racquet?] 6

Richardson, Joseph 29

 

Savery, Wm. (jr.) 20, 35

Smart, Eliza.  28

Smith, William (Dr.)  4

Sparhawk, John 3, 18, 32-33

Steel, Rebekah 30

 

Taylor, Saml. 32

Taylor, Thomas 36

Thomas, Richard 29

Turner, Joseph 12, 16-17, 35

 

Wallace, John 11

Wallace, Joshua 36

Williams, Thomas 2

 

Yarnall, Elis 5

 

Zane, (Widow) 28

 

OCCUPATIONS:

 

[Doctor] 4, 13

[Ironmonger] 5, 7, 11

Merchant] 6, 21-22, 25

[Tavernkeeper]  30

[Printer] 2, 24, 27, 31

[Watchmaker] 4