Barton, Thomas, and William Barton

A fascinating archive of personal and professional papers from the Reverend Thomas Barton and his son, William, comprising autograph, manuscript, and partly printed sermons, letters, surveys, documents, certificates, and other items, ca. 1755–1814, approximately 125 items (including a few duplicates), mostly tipped into an early nineteenth-century album (20¾ x 13⅜ in.; 528 x 340 mm); generally quite good condition, some staining, tears, and other damage.

See Marvin F. Russell, "Thomas Barton and Pennsylvania's Colonial Frontier," in Pennsylvania History (October 1979) 46:4

This album, preserved (with the following twelve lots) in the Barton family, offers a treasury of primary documents regarding two central figures of Pennsylvania's colonial frontier. The Reverend Thomas Barton was born in Ireland and emigrated to Pennsylvania about 1750. He worked as a schoolmaster near Norristown, where he met David Rittenhouse, who he encouraged in his scientific studies; eventually he married Rittenhouse's sister, Esther.

Thomas Barton returned to Great Britain, where he was ordained as a minister in the Church of England. From 1755 onward, he pursued that vocation in Pennsylvania, first under the auspices of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and then as an Anglican priest. He served as a chaplain during the French and Indian War and became close to the Penn family. Later settling in Lancaster, Barton helped organize a library and fire department for the town, and he also devoted himself to the teaching of Native Americans. In 1768, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. But the American Revolution brought Barton's fortunes low: as Anglican rector of Lancaster's St. James Church, he continued to include the collects and prayers for George III and the royal family in his services, and he was soon forced to hold those services in private. He was eventually placed under virtual house arrest for refusing to take the Test Oath of loyalty to Pennsylvania's Revolutionary government, and he was permitted to move to loyalist New York at the end of 1778. He died there two years later.

In the meantime, Barton's son, William, who had been studying the law in England, returned to Pennsylvania with a new enthusiasm for American independence. He had a long and significant career as a lawyer, playing a role in the state's Federal politics and writing a standard biography of his illustrious uncle, David Rittenhouse.

The highlights of the archive include: manuscript declaration signed by Barton stating that he will conform to the liturgy of the Church of England, 29 January 1755; Barton's ecclesiastic commission issued by Thomas, Bishop of London, 29 January 1755; autograph letter signed by W. Smith to Barton, 6 November 1755: "I am heartily grieved for the complicated distresses of the people. It is all owing to our base Quakers, who will not pass a law to arm the country. A militia is a natural force of every country; & why should a few voluntarily defend poltroons?"

A letter from the Society for the Propagation of  the Gospel, 1 July 1757, awarding Barton a £20 gratuity for "good conduct in your very difficult & very dangerous mission. ..."; Barton's diploma from the College of Philadelphia, signed by William Smith, on vellum, with pendant embossed paper seal; Barton's commission as a Chaplain to the 3rd Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot; signed by William Denny, 11 June 1758; 2 autograph letters signed by Barton to his wife, 25 July 1758 and 31 July 1758, both from "Camp at Rays Town," discussing the planned Duquesne Campaign, disputes between Pennsylvanians and Virginians, camp life, and his friendship with Colonel Washington.

Barton's appointment as deputy to Chaplain Nicholson Jackson of the 1st Battalion of His Majesty's 60th Regiment, signed by Henry Bouquet; autograph manuscript by Barton of "Preface to the Catalogue of the Juliana [Penn] Library of Lancaster (Pennsylvania)"; Barton's diploma from King's College, on vellum, with pendant embossed paper seal; autograph letter signed by Benjamin West, 20 March 1779, to Barton and others, accepting the commission of painting a portrait of Juliana Penn for the Juliana Library.

Manuscript document issued by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 17 September 1778, stating that Barton, "having declined to take the oath of allegiance to the state ... is here by permitted to pass into the City of New-York ... not to return. ..."; 2 documents by various church bodies, expressing gratitude to Barton even though "on account of the unhappy conflict in America, [he is] obliged to retire from his congregation," 1778; numerous letters to Barton from Thomas Penn and Juliana Penn; 3 autograph sermon manuscripts by Barton, based on Psalms 103:4, Hebrews 6:12, and Matthew 11:30.

Various appointments of William Barton, including as notary public, 2 August 1781; as clerk of the court of general quarter sessions, Lancaster County, 3 January 1800; as prothonotary of the court of common pleas, Lancaster, 3 January 1800; as clerk of the orphans court, Lancaster, 17 February 1803; and as justice of the peace, Lancaster, 20 October 1808. Printed acknowledgement from the American Antiquarian Society of Barton's gift of a copy of his Memoirs of the Life of David Rittenhouse, 17 December 1813.

A full inventory of the album is available on request.