Estates, 1838-1914

Series II.A. consists of inventories, appraisements, and settlements of estates. It also includes indentures, summonses, receipt books, wills, leases, charters, and affidavits. The materials document the proceedings of Townsend and Price in private practice and within the Pennsylvania court systems including, the Supreme Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the High Court of Justice-Chancery Division, and the Orphan’s Court of the City and County of Philadelphia. The series also includes the last wills and testaments of Joseph B. Townsend and his wife Ada E. Townsend. Joseph Brevitt Townsend and Eli K. Price were the executors of the will of Philadelphia lawyer Edward Shippen Burd (1779-1848), whose estate records include various construction agreements for the Burd building (now demolished) on Ninth and Chestnut Streets. The Burd Building estate records include letters from prominent Philadelphia architect John McArthur, Jr. regarding the building’s use of marble. Other notable estate records include documents relating to Woodlands Cemetery which was purchased by Eli Kirk Price in 1840. The series also includes the last will and testament of Francis Darley, who bequeathed an “original study of Victoria, Queen of England,” as well as other original works by his grandfather, artist Thomas Sully, to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.