Completely by happenstance, I peeked into a box in our vault this week and was delighted to find two lovely large format photographs from 1893. Upon closer inspection, the box was one of five boxes -- part of collection MSC 859: Swartzlander and Delp family papers, 1796 - 2013.
I haven't had time to delve too deeply into their stories, but the 11"x14" images were too nice not to at least scan and touch up, and then post here. Here's what I know so far:
This woman, I believe, is Alfaretta Morris, called "Retta" by her friends. She was born in 1876, making her about 17 in these photos. In six years, Retta would go on to marry Henry Ross Weisel, son of Hannah Eliza Delp (1840-1909) and Anthony Fretz Weisel (1836-1912). Retta and Henry had two daughters: Beatrice and Grace Weisel. The Weisel family home was on Old Easton Road, in Doylestown Township.
I haven't yet identified the other people in these pictures, but the scope and content of the collection in our online catalog is promising:
This collection contains folders of genealogy, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, personal writings, ephemera, notebooks, and published works related to the Bucks County branches of the Swartzlander and Delp families
Examples of some correspondence include sympathy cards, funeral invitations, and postcards.
Some photographs are formal portraits in the form of cabinet cards or tintypes. A few folders contain more recent photographs of homes some family members lived in or their headstones.
My coworker, Assistant Collections Manager Annie Halliday, is the one who processed this collection initially, and her catalog entry also includes a very nice synopsis of the families contained therein. She writes:
Phillip Swartzlander came to the United States around 1752. Around 1774 his son Gabriel married widow Salome Stout Freed who owned land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Gabriel and Salome lived on this land from 1811 to 1879. The land passed to their son John Swartzlander who married Mary Overpeck (1785-1867). The land passed from them to their daughter Deborah Swartzlander (1811- 1890) who married Abraham Delp (1802-1878). Deborah and Abraham had at least three daughters, Sarah C. Delp, Hannah Eliza Delp (1840-1909), and Mary Delp. Sarah C. Delp died young. Abraham Delp was also the guardian to Henry H. Kephart and Barbara Anne Kephart.
Abraham and Deborah Delp's daughter Hannah Eliza Delp (1840-1909) married Anthony Fretz Weisel (1836-1912) in 1868. Anthony's parents were Tobias Weisel (1799-1861), who was from Scotland, and Anna Weisel. Anthony and Hannah lived in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania and primarily in the "Weisel House". This house was located on old Easton Road in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It was along old route 611. Hannah Eliza Delp was an avid letter writer and wrote many letters to Swartzlander cousins and friends who fought in the Civil War. Anthony Fretz Weisel ran Maplehurst farm and worked with horses. He also was the hotel keeper at the Cross Keys Hotel. Anthony and Hannah had three children; Deborah Delp Weisel (1868-1950), Frances Augusta Weisel (1884-1939), and Henry Ross Weisel (1872-1965). Deborah Delp Weisel was an art teacher and never married. Frances Augusta Weisel married Louis Tobias Klauder. They had a son Louis Thorton Klauder. Henry Ross Weisel married Alfaretta (Retta) Morris (b. 1876) in 1899 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. They had two daughters Beatrice W. Weisel and Grace E. Weisel.
Other members of the Swartzlander family tree include Lydia Swartzlander (d. 1928) who married Abraham Gayman. Also Mary Swartzlander (d. 1902), who married Henry S. Zigenfuss.
Annie, you're great. Sorry I was all weird around you for a while.
Also interesting is this graffiti that appears on the left-hand side of the second image, carved into the beams of the wooden shelter:
We have to accept that we'll almost certainly never know. Or try to accept it, anyway.
All images from the Collection of the Mercer Museum Library of the Bucks County Historical Society
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