Title: Pearson-Wierman Family. Letters, 1840-1856
Collection identifier: 180
Primary Creator: Pearson-Wierman Family
Extent: 1.0 folder. More info below.
Subjects: Antislavery movements, Liberty Party (U.S. : 1840-1848), Pennsylvania, Political campaigns, Putnam County (Ill.), Slavery, Society of Friends, Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850, Whig
Forms of Material: Copies, Family papers
In the 1830s and 1840s, several members of the Pearson and Wierman families left Adams County, Penn., for the west. The emigrants were Quakers, and they settled in Putnam County, Ill., where many Pennsylvania Friends had already established a settlement. William C. Wierman worked successfully as a cooper, while several of the women taught school. The Pearsons and Wiermans were active in the abolition movement, originally as Whigs, but later in the anti-slavery Liberty Party.
This collection contains seven photocopies and one typescript of correspondence from the Pearson-Wierman families. Most of the letters are from Illinois to Isaac W. Pearson, who stayed in Pennsylvania, and concern family matters, education and politics. Especially notable are the letters to Isaac from his sister, Charlotte, concerning her impressions of Illinois, and the letter of Susan Wierman, Isaac's aunt, on the Liberty Party, slavery, and the 1848 presidential contest.
John W. Pearson, of North Chevy Chase, Md., donated the collection to the Illinois Historical Survey in 1987.
Antislavery movements
Liberty Party (U.S. : 1840-1848)
Pennsylvania
Political campaigns
Putnam County (Ill.)
Slavery
Society of Friends
Taylor, Zachary, 1784-1850
Whig
Repository: Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
Alternate Extent Statement: 8 items
URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/ihlcsfa/pearson-wierman.pdf
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