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Manuscript Group 30
BURD-SHIPPEN FAMILY COLLECTION
1704-1900, [undated]
1 cu ft.




James Burd (b. 1726, d. 1793) began his career as a merchant in Philadelphia and served on the commission that planned the extension of the Great Road leading through Carlisle and Shippensburg to the Yohoughiogheny River and the camp at Will's Creek. In 1760 he attained the rank of Colonel but later criticism in the Committee of Safety led him to resign his civil and military employments. He purchased a farm containing two tracts in Paxtang Township, Lancaster County (present day Dauphin County), named Tinian. Later in life he served as a Dauphin County judge until his death in 1793.

This collection contains the papers of James Burd and his wife Sarah Shippen Burd and their sons Edward, James and Joseph, as well as Sarah's father, Edward Shippen, and other relations. Included in the collection are general correspondence, accounts, appointments and commissions, articles of agreement, legal papers, and transcripts. For related materials ee also MG-125, theEdward Shippen Thompson Collection, and James Burd, Frontier Defender, 1726-1793, by Lily Lee Nixon, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.

Individuals represented in the correspondence include:

John Armstrong, Sr., Hugh Henry Brackenridge, William Bradford, Jr., Stephen Chambers, William Churchman, Daniel and George Clymer, William Denny, John Galbraith, James Hamilton, Edward Hand, John Harris, Jacob Hubley, John F. Mifflin, Robert Hunter Morris, James Patterson, Andrew Robeson, Jonathan D. Sergeant, Richard Sheldon, James Sinclair, John Stanwix, Joshua M. Wallace, and Thomas Willing.

Letters pertain to the Board of Property, the Council of Safety, Fort Augusta, the French and Indian War, the Grubb family, Indian affairs, the Penn family, colonial politics, the Revolutionary War, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In addition, there are miscellaneous legal papers, accounts, appointments, and commissions.

Fifteen folders of transcripts are contained in the collection dating from 1704 to 1900. These are handwritten or typed transcripts of original letters. The subjects covered are similar to those found in the general correspondence.



PA State Archives Hours, Directions, & Fees Research Topics Finding Aids for Collections Land Records