The Townsend Family Volume 3

The Townsend Family Letters Volumes 1 and 2, and The Townsend Sisters of The Townsend Family Volume 3 were written by, or are related to, members of a Philadelphia Quaker family of the 19th century. This family includes the parents: Priscilla Kirk Townsend (1785-1862) and Charles Townsend (1777-1859) as well as the seven of their twelve children that lived to adulthood: Elisha (1804-1858), Edward (1806-1896), Charles (1807-1866), John Kirk (1809-1851), Hannah (1812-1851), Mary (1814-1851) and Elizabeth (1825-1869).

This voluminous output is transcribed from two collections, all originating from members of the same Townsend family. The material in Volume 1 came to us by way of Edward and his descendants. The contents of Volumes 2 and 3, as well as The Diary of Priscilla Kirk Townsend came to us by way of Elizabeth and her descendants. Volume 2 concerns Charles, Priscilla, and their four sons. Volume 3 is comprised of writings by, or related to, the three daughters and a sister-in-law, Elizabeth Fawcett Townsend, wife of Charles Townsend Jr. Due to the quantity of material, Volume 3 has been divided into six parts.      

Rich in poetry, this large collection of writings opens a window into the hearts and minds of four women living during the first half of the nineteenth century. These women were spiritual, well read, and active in the issues of their day, particularly the abolition movement. The Townsend Sisters of The Townsend Family make available an abundance of primary source material for analysis, interpretation, and commentary by researchers and historians.     

Part I features diaries, letters, and poems written by Hannah between 1833 and 1845. Hannah corresponded with friends primarily in rhyme and saved copies of her work. Part I opens with an overview of the Townsend family and includes an 1801 letter by John Adams regarding slavery.     

Part II is comprised of writings of Hannah, Mary, and Elizabeth from circa 1840 to 1851. Part II begins with playful narrative poems written between young women and young men after a picnic outing and ends with Hannah and Mary's Anti-Slavery Alphabet authored and presented for the Anti-Slavery Fair of 1846. The Anti-Slavery Alphabet is reproduced by permission of Swarthmore College.      

Part III contains Elizabeth Townsend's poems and letters written between 1832 and 1852. These include five letters written to Mahlon Kirk II, whom Elizabeth married in 1853.      

Part IV contains Mary Townsend's Life in the Insect World, published in 1844. This charming book about common insects was written by Mary for her four nieces so that they might appreciate the beauty of God's smallest creatures. The transcription includes commentary footnotes by Dr. Arthur Evans, an entomology professor of Richmond, Virginia.      

Part V presents Hannah Townsend's History of England in Verse from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Present Time. As a Quaker, Hannah states in the preface that she has strived to remove the glory from war and to speak against it when she could. She has further endeavored to distinguish between those conflicts which were merely “aggressive” and those which, “though . . . unchristian,” were “for a maintenance of just rights.” This book was published posthumously in 1852 by Lindsay & Blakiston of Philadelphia.      

Part VI provides the transcription of Poems by Elizabeth Fawcett Townsend, published posthumously in 1862 at the request of her friends. The book was published in Philadelphia by C. Sherman & Son, Printers. In the Preface we learn that while suffering from ill health and often racked with pain, Elizabeth sought refuge in a world of beauty through her verse:  

Her compositions were often committed to writing,  not by her own hand,
but by the hands of her children,  at such intervals as it was possible to
mitigate her suffering. 

The setting for these poems is primarily rural Pennsylvania with its fields, woodlands, flowers, and small farms. This area, where Elizabeth Fawcett enjoyed the summers of her youth, provides a picture of pastoral Pennsylvania from the early years of the nineteenth century.

Dana Dunbar Howe
Richmond, Virginia 
July 2017