The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Miller, Sarah Wistar Pennock, b.1840.                                 

Title:               Pennock-Miller family collection

Dates:             1725-1940

Call No.:         Col. 847

Acc. No.:        09x34, 09x36, 09x39, 09x127, 12x58, 2019x79

Quantity:        7 volumes and 2 rolls

Location:        16 C 6

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Sarah Wistar (Sallie) Pennock Miller was the daughter of Caroline Morris and Dr. Caspar Wistar Pennock.  On March 20, 1861, Sarah Wistar Pennock married William Henry Miller; they had two children, Caroline and Caspar Wistar Miller.  She was living in Media, Pennsylvania, when she compiled her ancestral record.  Her early immigrant ancestors included Christopher Pennock, married to Mary Collett of Ireland, the progenitor of the Pennock family of Pennsylvania; Caspar Wistar who came to Philadelphia in 1717 and later opened a glass manufactory; and Anthony Morris 2d, who came to Philadelphia in the 1680s.

 

William Henry Miller was born on September 7, 1837, the son of John and Hannah Miller.  His Miller ancestors arrived in Pennsylvania in 1714 or 1715.  He attended Haverford College, but after his father died in 1855, he remained at home to help his mother with the family farm.  When he married in 1861, he moved to “Forest Hill,” the farm given to his bride by her parents.  It came to be the model farm in the community.  However, Miller also served in the Pennsylvania militia for a time during the Civil War, and he eventually became president of the First National Bank of Media.  He served on the committee to fix the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Delaware (early 1890s), was a member of the board overseeing the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble-Minded Children, and had served on the commission to locate a state hospital for the insane.

 

Caroline Morris Pennock was the daughter of Caspar Wistar Morris and Elizabeth Giles.  She was born on May 24, 1811, and married Caspar Wistar Pennock on December 17, 1833. 

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection contains genealogical material related to the Pennock and Miller families of Philadelphia and Delaware County, Pennsylvania.  Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller compiled two volumes of genealogical records and wrote an account of a trip to Florida in January and February 1871.  One genealogical album includes information about Sarah Wistar Miller's ancestors, particularly the Pennock, Wistar, and Morris families of Pennsylvania, with some other families mentioned as well, while the other album concerns her husband’s ancestors.  Sarah’s daughter Caroline Miller added a few additional notes at a later date.    

 

Also in the collection are two silhouette albums compiled by Caroline Pennock, a book of poems which had belonged to one of Sarah Wistar Miller’s ancestors, two parts of a chart tracing descendants of Christopher Pennock, and a Miller family photo album, which may have been assembled by Sarah Wistar Miller.  The silhouette albums, which also include a couple of watercolor portraits, contain silhouettes of members of the Pennock, Wistar, and related families.  In one album, most of the subjects are identified, but in the other, only some are.  A number of these silhouettes were executed at the Peale Museum.  Fuller descriptions of all items are found in the finding aid to this collection.

           

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

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

           

 

PROVENANCE

           

Acc. 09x34 (silhouette albums) purchased from Christies.  These items also have Museum accession number 2009.0007.

Acc. 09x36, 09x37, and 09x127 purchased from Timothy Gordon Appraisals.

Accession 2019x79.1-.4: gift of Wendy Cooper [former furniture curator at Winterthur].

 

 

RELATED MATERIALS

 

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has ambrotypes and daguerreotypes of members of the Canby family of Philadelphia.  Elizabeth Morris Canby (1813-1892) was the sister of Caroline Morris Pennock.  Canby silhouettes are found in Mrs. Pennock’s silhouette albums.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Miller, William Henry, 1837-1925.

Miller family.

Morris family.

            Pennock family.

            Wistar family.

 

Topics:

            Peale Museum.

Auctions - Pennsylvania.

            Buttons.

            Textile fabrics - 18th century.

            Textile fabrics - 19th century.

            Textile fabrics - Specimens.

            Wedding costume - Pictorial works.

            Lace and lace making - Specimens.

            Art, Amateur.

            Boardinghouses.

            Coaching - Pictorial works.

            Hotels.

            Log cabins.

            Railroad travel.

            Steamboats - Florida.

            Travel in art.

            Travel literature.

            Voyages and travels.

            Wagons - Pictorial works.

            Wells.

            Women travelers.

            African Americans - Pennsylvania - Delaware County.

            African Americans - Pictorial works.

            Antiques.

            Boundaries, State.

            Boundary stones.

            Collectors and collecting.

Dollhouses.

Outdoor furniture.

Oxen.

Portrait miniatures.

Quarries and quarrying.

Sleighs - Pictorial works.

Toys.

Porcelain - Collectors and collecting - Pennsylvania.

Glass - Collectors and collecting - Pennsylvania.

            Delaware County (Pa.) - Buildings, structures, etc. - Photographs.

            Pennsylvania - Genealogy.

            Florida - Description and travel.

            Florida - Pictorial works.

            Georgia - Description and travel.

            North Carolina - Description and travel.

South Carolina - Description and travel.

Tennessee - Description and travel.

Virginia - Description and travel.

Delaware - Boundaries - Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania - Boundaries - Delaware.

Delaware County (Pa.) - Biography.

Delaware County (Pa.) - Social life and customs.

Black-and-white photographs.

Silhouettes.

Diaries.

Trade cards.

Amateur artists.

Travelers.

 

            Additional titles:

                        Ancestral records.

                        Trip to Florida in 1871.

 

            Additional author:

                        Thomson, James, 1700-1748.  The Seasons.

 

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 16 C 6

 

 

Box 1:

 

09x36: “Ancestral Records, Vol. I,” compiled by Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller

 

This genealogical album includes information about Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller's ancestors, particularly the Pennock, Wistar, and Morris families of Pennsylvania, with some other families mentioned as well.  Sarah’s daughter Caroline Miller added a few additional notes at a later date.  The volume contains a narrative about these families, original letters and documents, copies of original materials, textile samples, silhouettes, photographs, and newspaper clippings.  The text is not merely a list of names and dates, but includes stories about family members and family heirlooms.  The earliest original document is a letter from J. Pennock, Marlborough, Penn., to James Steele, Philadelphia, dated September 9, 1725 [9th day of 7th month], concerning land.  There are other early letters from Pennocks, Wistars, and Morrises, plus signatures removed from documents.

 

Textiles include 18th century plain and damask silks, and samples of silks and laces from wedding dresses of 1833 and 1861.  (There are also photos of these wedding dresses, taken at a later date.)  Several photos show different views of “Forest Hill,” the home of Dr. Casper Wistar Pennock (died 1867) in Delaware County, but most of the photos are of family members.  The subjects of the silhouettes are identified.  Two metal buttons tied to a string are said to have been made by the immigrant Caspar Wistar before he started his glass manufactory.  An advertisement for the sale of the household goods of a later Caspar Wistar, in Pennsbury township, Chester County, dated 1813, lists furniture, household goods, livestock, farm implements, etc.

 

09x127.1: “Ancestral Records, Vol. II,” compiled by Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller

 

This genealogical album includes information about William H. Miller's ancestors, concentrating on the Miller family, but including the Deeble, Levis, Taylor, David Morris, Moore, and David Powell families of Pennsylvania, with some other families mentioned as well.  It is similar in content to the volume above, that is, a narrative about the families, not simply names and dates, with newspaper clippings, coats of arms, documents and letters (originals and copies), photographs of people and family homes, genealogical charts, and textile samples from the 18th and 19th centuries.  It contains a great deal of biographical information about William H. Miller, and a long account of his Civil War service written in 1866 by his wife Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller.  Also included is information pertaining to his service on the commission to mark the boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware, and drawings of the boundary stones which were placed in 1892.

 

 

09x39: “A Trip to Florida, 1871,” by Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller

 

The account of the Florida trip was written and illustrated sometime after Sarah Wistar Miller returned home.  She, Mr. and Mrs. C. [the Colemans?], L. [a woman,], and W. [her husband William] left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by train on January 10, 1871, in search of warmer weather.  Their trip south was partly made by train and partly by steamers, and included stops in Baltimore; Portsmouth, Virginia; Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina (where they visited Fort Sumter); and Savannah, Georgia, before reaching their ultimate destination of Green Cove Springs, on the St. John’s River in Florida.  She wrote comments about the sights seen along the way, particularly the crops, trees, and the log cabins south of Portsmouth, which she first mistook for pig pens.  From Green Cove Springs, they made side trips to Magnolia, Hibernia, St. Augustine (where they stayed several days), Palatka, and Enterprise.  They used various modes of transportation, chiefly river steamers, but they also took a horse-drawn rail car from Tocoi to St. Augustine.  She named the boats plying the St. John’s.  On their river trips, she enjoyed seeing the birds and plants, and the men enjoyed shooting the alligators and other wildlife.  In Florida, she especially enjoyed the fresh fruit and flowers.  For souvenirs, she purchased feathers and strings of palmetto berries and live oak acorns.  On their return trip, they traveled by steamer from Jacksonville to Savannah, and then by rail the rest of the way, stopping in Atlanta, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee (where they were impressed by the view from Lookout Mountain); Lynchburg and Richmond, Virginia (where they visited Civil War prisons); and Washington, D.C.  She also commented on their varied accommodations, and made comments about livestock.  However, she infrequently wrote about the people she met along the way or hardly ever mentioned the food they ate.

 

Mrs. Miller tipped in engravings of some of the hotels in which they stayed removed from hotel stationery, with one trade card, but she added some of her own drawings.  Her illustrations depict: (1) a log cabin and well outside Portsmouth; (2) an ox cart driven by a girl, wagon pulled by horse, which also has a saddle on it; (3) a pig (which looks rather like a dog); (4) men loading trunks onto the steamer in Savannah, Georgia; (5) men loading wood onto the same steamer; (6) a small house, with rooms labeled (Uncle’s room, parlor, Mr. Boss’ room, etc.); (6) hotel [possibly the Union Hotel in Green Cove Springs] with croquet lawn; (7) men pushing a cart laden with trunks and a lady [Mrs. Miller] along the wharf at Tocoi; (8) horse-drawn car (on tracks) which ran between Tocoi and St. Augustine, with passengers, trunks, and woman selling oranges on a station platform; and (9) the descent of the stage coach down a log ramp to the St. Augustine ferry.

 

 

 

Box 2:

 

09x34.1-.2: “Profiles,” the silhouette albums of Caroline Pennock

 

Two albums of silhouettes and other portrait miniatures, both bearing a label which reads “Profiles, Caroline Pennock,” most probably assembled by Caroline Morris Pennock (the mother of Sarah Wistar Miller).  Most of the subjects are identified in the first album, but in the second album, a number are not identified.  The subjects are members of the Wistar, Pennock, Morris, Davids, Franklin, Hartshorn, Wollaston, Byrd, Laing, and other families.  The latest silhouette was of William H. Miller, dated 1895, cut in Atlanta; most of the silhouettes, however, were cut in the early 19th century.  One silhouette is of a woman identified as M. Gratz (this might be Miriam Gratz, the wife of Michael Gratz), and another is of Ella du Pont (possibly Eleuthera du Pont, wife of Thomas Mackie Smith of Philadelphia).

 

Although many of the silhouettes in the second album are not identified, it does include members of the Robertson, Franklin, Hawxhurst, Pennock, Guest, and Morris families, cut in the early 19th century.  Many of the silhouettes are from the Peale Museum.  Several are not mounted, but laid loose into the album. Over half of the pages are blank.  [museum accession numbers 2009.0007.001-.002]

 

 

 

09x127.3: book belonging to Sarah Wistar Pennock

 

The original title page is missing, but on the contents page someone has written “Thomson’s Seasons, 1768,” and the spine has the label “Thomson’s Seasons.”  An engraved portrait of James Thomson is found, as is “An Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. James Thomson,” dated July 28, 1768, and “Ode on the Death of Mr. Thomson, by Mr. Collins.” 

 

Written on the front flyleaf: George Pennock to Sarah W.P. 

Written on the contents page: Sarah W. Pennock book. 

Written on page iii: Sarah Wistar Pennock. 

[Sarah Wistar married George Pennock in 1790.  See Ancestral Records, vol. I, beginning on page 54.]

 

 

12x58: Caroline Morris Pennock catalogue [photocopy], from Jim and Pat Doherty Collection

 

“Catalogue of china, glass, etc. of Caroline Pennock, 1877.”  Caroline Pennock numbered her pieces of china and glass and then described each piece in this catalog.  A date follows many of the entries, but whether this was the date the piece was made or was obtained by the family is not clear.  Often the place of acquisition was noted, with some pieces having descended in the family, while others were gifts or purchases.  A typical entry reads “207.  Smelling bottle from S.W. Morris to S.W. Pennock, 1846.”  Sometimes a piece is more carefully described and even pictured (see, for example, no. 352, Decatur pitcher).  The last number in Caroline M. Pennock’s catalog is 637, a copy of the Portland vase, received from Eliza & R.N. Davids, 1881.  There follows a short list of items received by a descendant in 1949.  Then are found sketches of the designs on some of the pieces of china.    Lastly are a Wayside Gardens flyer and articles from Country Life, 1949. 

 

Restriction on use: Any citations to this catalogue must use the reference “Jim and Pat Doherty Collection.” 

 

 

2019x79.1-4    Photographs of Pennock women.  Although three are labeled as Sarah Pennock, one as Sarah W. Pennock, and all are noted as being “Grandma,” there are three women represented, not the same woman in different ages of her life.  All are probably circa 1860-1870.

 

            .1         cabinet photo, labeled on back as Sarah Pennock, “Grandma,” and with the inscription “for Mary P. Sellers with best wishes of her nephew Thos. H. McCallin.”  The donor identified this woman as possibly being Caroline Morris Pennock (born 1811)

 

            .2         a carte-de-visite photo of the same woman as in.1, possibly Caroline Morris Pennock, although someone identify the woman as “cousin Sarah Pennock, Grandma, born 1812.”   She holds knitting on her lap. The photo was taken at James Cremer’s Portrait Rooms, Philadelphia.

 

            .3         a carte-de-visite photo, identified on back as Sarah Pennock.  She holds knitting in her hands; a fur muff is perched on the table next to her.  The photo was taken by Broadbent & Co., Philadelphia.

 

            .4         a carte-de-visite photo, identified on back as S. W. Pennock, “Grandma.”  She looks like a younger version of the woman in .3, but the dresses are similar in style, so seem to have been taken within a few years of each other.  She holds a book.  This was also taken by Broadbent & Co., Philadelphia.

 

 

 

 

On shelf:

 

09x127.2: photo album

 

Photos of the extended Miller family, taken at “Forest Hill,” the home of William H. and Sarah Wistar Pennock Miller.  Most of the photos are not identified, but one is labeled C. Pennock and S.W. Miller, and Caroline Pennock and her daughter Sarah Wistar Miller may be recognized in other photos as well.

 

The album opens with a sketch of Egypt, with photos of faces superimposed on human figures and the camel in the sketch.  Next are two photos of a quarry, a torn receipt dated 1764 which references Casper Wister (payment for a Palantine boy imported in the ship Chance), and a Christmas card from England dated 1963.  Most of the photos in the rest of the album are of the family, dated 1869-1874.  Many depict groups outdoors, although there is an indoor photo of two women in a bay window with a large plant stand, a table, pictures, and other items.  Some of the photos depict outdoor furniture and a greenhouse, and pet dogs and cats are seen in several photos.  Children’s toys are depicted in some photos: dolls, a rocking horse, a wagon, and a very large dollhouse.  The dollhouse is set up on a porch and an older woman is sitting next to it.  The dollhouse is furnished and peopled with many dolls.  Two photos show a donkey hitched to a sleigh, although there is no snow on the ground.  An African American woman appears in these photos.  In another photo, a man holds a huge book.  On one page are found 4 photos of oxen, two photos show a yoked pair, and the other two show individual oxen; an African American man is in one of these photos.  Three photos show arrangements of collections, one a collection of china (pitchers, plates, tea pots, etc.), one a collection of miscellaneous treasures (watches, medals, statuettes, a fan, miniature paintings, etc., many being souvenirs of trips to Egypt or the Orient), and the third a collection of small statues, many from the Orient, and also two figures of Westerners made from shells.  The album closes with two pictures of Calvary Church in Rockdale, a photo of a Catholic church and convent in Delaware County, and a photo of a fireplace surrounded by tiles and a mantel that includes carved owls.  Also in the room are a Victorian rocking chair and a tea table with ball and claw feet.

 

Some photos had been removed from the album before its receipt in the Downs Collection.

 

 

09x127.4-5: “Map of the Descendants of Christopher Pennock”

 

“Map of the Descendants of Christopher Pennock,” two printed genealogical charts, but only including generations 3-7, so Christopher himself and his children are not shown.  Probably there should be at least one other section of this chart, since only part of generation 3 (children 7-12) is shown.  The different generations are marked with different colors.