Large Manuscript Archive of the Farquhar Family, Quakers of Union Bridge, Baltimore, Maryland and Richmond Indiana, 1827-1952 Large archive consisting of over 285 letters, approximately 685 pages, with over (Farquhar Family Papers)

Large archive consisting of over 285 letters, approximately 685 pages, with over 200 related items, printed and manuscript ephemera, deeds, bills, invoices, receipts, manuscript petitions, legal and estate papers, poetry, photographs, et cetera. The archive follows this Maryland Quaker family west to Richmond, Indiana, through pioneer conditions in Ohio and Indiana, the financial panic of 1837, the sectional crisis, the Civil War and reconstruction, as family members engage in business, politics and education in Indiana and Baltimore, Maryland. The Farquhar Family Allen Farquhar purchased a tract of land on Little Pipe Creek in what was then Frederick County, Maryland. In 1735 he gave this tract of land to his son William, who then moved from Pennsylvania, with his wife Ann, and he became one of the earliest settlers in what would become Union Bridge, Maryland. Many Quakers settled in this District before the Revolution and formed a particular meeting. They held meetings for worship at the Farquhar residence by permission of the Fairfax Monthly Meeting. In 1768 William Farquhar petitioned Lord Baltimore for permission to have the land adjoining his estate, Mount Pleasant , surveyed, in order to purchase it, as he wished to donate the land to the Society of Friends on which to erect a Meeting House. Thus, the Friends Meeting House near Union Bridge was built in 1772. During the Revolution and for some time afterwards the neighborhood was known as the Pipe Creek Settlement. William and Ann Farquhar had nine children. James William Poultney (1781-1831), Allen, Mary, George, Samuel, Elizabeth, Susanna and Moses. William P. Farquhar was born September 5, 1781, and died December 26, 1831.He was the son of Moses Farquhar and Sarah Poultney. He was a prominent member of the community and took an active part in the affairs of Union Bridge. He was a member of the Maryland Legislature several times and was interested in all matters relating to his county, then Frederick County. He was a captain during the War of 1812, taking part in the battle of Bladensburg, and was at Camp Hampstead Hill, September 1814, and aided in the Defense of Baltimore. William P. Farquhar was deeply interested in getting the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad through the Maryland legislature. He also aided elderly soldiers of the Revolutionary War obtain their pensions. William P. Farquhar married Mary Messler (1787-1842), and they had five children: George Augustine (1806-1876), Eleonora (1808-1891), Frederick A., (who died in infancy), William Lingan (1816-1887), and John Hanson Thomas (1818-1873) Farquhar built the house in Union Bridge known as Mount Pleasant circa 1815, it is still extant and on the National Historic Register. Shortly after building the house Farquhar sold it to the Clemson family. The Farquhar s emigrated west and settled in the Quaker settlement of Richmond Indiana circa 1830, William P. Farquhar died in Indiana in 1831. George A. Farquhar tried to establish a mercantile business first in Ohio and then in Indiana, first selling goods as an itinerant peddler. He then entered into a partnership with a merchant named Adams. Farquhar maintained business connections with Baltimore merchants traveling east each year to purchase the goods that comprised his inventory. George Farquhar s business did not survive the Panic of 1837, and he returned to Baltimore where he established himself as a dry goods merchant. George Farquhar had previously had an appointment as a Committee Clerk in the Maryland House of Delegates in the 1820 s, he later served as postmaster of Union Bridge. Eleonora, William P. Farquhar s only daughter, married John Haines in the Friends Meeting House in Union Bridge. The couple emigrated in the 1830 s to Richmond Indiana where they ran a farm before establishing a boarding school on their property