Some Quaker Family Histories

This book is in three parts: 1. A collection of family letters, which passed among various Hunt and Roberts family members between 1790 and 1880. 2. A facsimile of Down the Years from 1848, a book of recollections by Elizabeth Hooton Roberts (Granna) Richie. Originally printed in 1937 and distributed to her family. 3. A facsimile of Gently, Sister, Gently, a book of reminiscences written by Mary (May) Stokes Roberts Taylor in 1975. May Roberts Taylor was the great-great granddaughter of Joshua Hunt and Esther Roberts. Taken together, these materials provide an unusual first-person insight into the daily lives and thoughts of ordinary American Quakers in the 19th Century and into the first half of the 20th Century.

This book is in three parts: 1. The Hunt / Roberts family letters, which passed among various Hunt and Roberts family members between 1790 and 1880. In the Fall of 2022, Esther (Terrie) Hunt Thompson Cornell and David Roberts Richie, II (DRR) further edited and digitized the letters. Terrie and DRR are second cousins, and great-great-great-great grandchildren of Joshua Hunt and Esther Roberts. 2. A facsimile of Down the Years from 1848, a book of recollections by Elizabeth Hooton Roberts (Granna) Richie, who was the great -granddaughter of Joshua Hunt and Esther Roberts, and the great-grandmother of Terrie and DRR. Originally written in 1936 , printed in 1937 and distributed by Granna Richie to her family, it was reprinted around 1974 by DRR's father, Russell Warner Richie, and redistributed then. This will likely be its third printing. 3. A facsimile of Gently, Sister, Gently, a book of reminiscences written by Mary (May) Stokes Roberts Taylor in 1975. May Roberts Taylor was the great-great granddaughter of Joshua Hunt and Esther Roberts. Taken together, these materials provide an unusual first-person insight into the daily lives and thoughts of ordinary American Quakers in the 19th Century, our country's expansive years, and into the first half of the 20th Century. We learn, sometimes directly, but sometimes by inference, of their joys and sorrows, births, deaths, illnesses, child-rearing styles, and education. We read of their daily household, personal and business activities, their financial successes or reverses and amusing family anecdotes. In the letters, especially, we read much of their activities and faith as Quakers. Now and again we even see a little politics and current events. In particular, we can infer they enjoyed a considerable degree of material prosperity for the times. They engaged in the skilled trades (apparently including shoemaking) and farming, and were able to grow, make or buy everything they needed for comfortable life (no luxuries, mind you; these were Quakers!), with enough wealth to invest in modern technology. In a few more decades they even became developers of an important early Atlantic City, New Jersey, resort hotel. Yet, their prosperity never exempted them from hard labor. Every family member, from the youngest to the eldest, pitched in. Their physical strength waned in their older years, but they were expected to and did continue to do all they could to support and run the household.

Elizabeth Hooton Roberts Richie (1848-1940) was born in Moorestown, New Jersey. Her parents were Elisha Roberts and Elizabeth West Hooton, and she was a great granddaughter of Joshua Hunt and Esther Roberts. In 1871 she married Edward B. Richie and they had five sons and one daughter. The last son was born after his father had died in 1887. She raised the family at a home called Orchard Lawn in Moorestown, which still stands in 2023. As a Westtown School graduate in 1866, she made sure that her children were all graduates as well. In the natural world, she was fond of ferns, especially maidenhair, and could identify stellar constellations at any season of the year. Her autobiography, Down the Years From 1848, was published in 1937. She died in 1940, and is buried in Moorestown, New Jersey.