Will of Joseph Trimble, 1785 February 9

This collection consists of two major divisions: 1) Family Correspondence and Personal Papers and 2) Family Legal and Financial Papers.

The first division includes correspondence, diaries, and miscellaneous items. The correspondence mainly revolves around Hannah Mary Trimble, her immediate family, and her close friend Mary Wallace. The majority of the letters are incoming to Hannah Mary and discuss such affairs as the death of Rachel Ann Trimble, family health and activities, the life of a school teacher (Mary Wallace), and religion.

There are four journals/diaries. Two pocket journals, kept by Hannah Mary when she was attending West Chester Female Boarding School, lists mainly the names of her schoolmates. A diary kept by Hannah Mary contains a wealth of information on everyday life as well as a record of the various family and friends prominent in her life. She lists visitors; discusses books, speeches, and other past times; describes viewing Baltimore album quilts; and reports on illnesses, funerals, and Quaker meetings. Read entry by entry, the diary gives a broad glimpse of the life of a young, single Quaker woman in Antebellum Maryland. She mentions everything from who came to dinner and what they did for entertainment to cutting and sewing carpets. Much of the diary is a release for Hannah's religious fervor as she struggles within herself to live by the Christian principles of her Quaker faith.

Uriah Brown, Sr. was the maternal grandfather of Hannah Mary. His letterbook/journal is a combination of letters, records, finances, prose, and includes a broadside. Apparently around 1816, Brown was contracted by several Baltimore businessmen, among them John Trimble, to investigate various matters in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Brown leaves a detailed account of the various businessmen for whom he was working, the places where he found records of land transactions, the people with whom he dealt, and the finances of the trip.

The second division includes the family legal and financial papers such as deeds, wills, contracts, promissory notes, indentures, cargo insurance policies, and stock certificates (1748-1872). These papers involve family matters as well as dealings with outsiders.