Manuscript Group 423
LUCY ROBBINS COLLECTION
1684-1906
(47 items)
The collection contains primarily legal and family papers of the Baldwin-Williams-Swain
family of Bucks County and Philadelphia. Lucy Robbins of Fort Bragg, California,
donated this collection to the State Archives in 1989. She had been given the
papers by a family member who had received them upon the death of her friend,
Walter Ernest Docker. Mr. Docker had been given the documents by his mother, Esther
Jane Docker (b. 1877 - d. 1957). While the connection between the Docker Family
and the Baldwin-Williams-Swain Family is unclear, it is known that Esther Docker
did have a brother who worked as a hotel man in Pennsylvania, possibly explaining
the transfer of the documents to California.
The Collection includes such items as the deed to a lot in Philadelphia dated
1684 which still bears the state seal, a draft for tracts of land on the Delaware
River showing Pennsbury Manor, and a letter dated 1 November 1775 dealing with
shipping and the war. Other items include marriage documents, materials detailing
land transactions, correspondence, and newspaper clippings. Information is found
relating to the following individuals: John Baldwin, Joseph Baldwin, Margaret
Baldwin, Richard Baldwin, Sarah Baldwin, Edwin A. Barber, Stephen Blacketts, Swan
Boon, George H. Burr, James Claypoole, Mrs. H. C. Davis, O. S. Fowler, Lewis Lanoir,
Isaac Milnor, S. G. Morton, Robert Ouldham, Anna Parry, Elizabeth Parry, Thomas
Parry, Benjamin Swain, Dr. Edward Swain, Henry Tomlinson, Charles Williams, and
Hezekiah Williams.
Baldwin Family Papers, 1722-1782, undated. (15 items) {#423m.1}
Swain Family Papers, 1726, 1803-1839. (6 items) {#423m.2}
Williams Family Papers, 1762, 1775, undated. (6 items) {#423m.3}
