Descriptive Summary
Biographical Note / Administrative History
Henry Safford, Presbyterian minister, home missionary, and agent and superintendent for the American Tract Society in Georgia and Florida, received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1817, and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1820. He married Eliza Burr in 1826, and ministered to churches in South Carolina, New York, and Georgia, where he also taught at Oglethorpe University, 1834-1843. Henry Safford's grandfather, John Searl, was a minister in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Anna C. Safford, born in 1837 to Henry and Eliza Safford, was a Presbyterian educator and missionary to China. From 1860 to 1873, she was principal of a school for girls in Midway, Georgia. In 1873, she was appointed by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) Executive Committee of Foreign Missions as a missionary to China. Apart from a year spent in the U.S. recovering from illness, she served in Soochow from her appointment until her death in 1890. She founded a school for girls and home for single women in Soochow. Fluent in Chinese, Safford was a respected translator and educator.
Another of Henry and Eliza Safford’s children was Mary Janette Safford, who married William Horton Thompson, a Presbyterian minister. Thompson graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1846, and was ordained by Hopewell Presbytery in 1849. He served as stated supply and pastor in churches in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama. Thompson's grandfather, Calvin Ingals, and great-grandfather, Ezra Horton, were Congregational ministers.
Aleathea Thompson Cobbs, daughter of William Horton Thompson and Mary Safford Thompson and niece of Anna C. Safford, was a pioneer of women’s work in the PCUS and was instrumental in developing the Church’s presbyterial and synodical bodies and the Women’s Auxiliary. Cobbs was women’s page editor of the Gulf States Presbyterian, 1910-1914, and author of Presbyterian Women of the Synod of Alabama, U.S. and other publications issued by the Department of Christian Education and Ministerial Relief.
Collection Overview
This collection contains the personal papers of members of the Safford family, 1794-1943, primarily documenting their work in ministry in New England and the Southeast; in mission work, especially in China and Alabama; and in women's work. To a lesser extent, the collection also documents the Safford family's experiences during the Civil War.
The collection includes Henry Safford's family correspondence, 1823-1869, and manuscript sermons, 1833-1850. Other family papers include Civil War-era correspondence between two of Henry and Eliza Safford’s children, William Safford and Mary Safford Thompson, 1855-1870; a letter, 1806, and sermons, 1794-1819, of Calvin Ingals; and a diary fragment and sermons of John Searl.
Papers of Anna C. Safford include biographical materials; family correspondence, 1864-1891; a diary, 1861-1878; an index to the diary; notes about Soochow, China, 1881-1883; several printed items in Chinese; and a charcoal portrait of Safford.
The papers of Aleathea Thompson Cobbs include biographical materials; correspondence, 1943; literary manuscripts; and printed materials, clippings, and papers related to Government Street Presbyterian Church (Mobile, Ala.), the Alabama School of Missions, the Women's Auxiliary of the PCUS, Thomas A. Bracken, Elijah Huffman Gregory, and Frannie Robbins, a home missionary in Kentucky.
The papers of William Horton Thompson include a biographical sketch; family correspondence, 1831-1891; one volume of Civil War medical records (possibly from Tennessee), 1861-1862; a diary, 1843-1844; sermons, 1849-1896; and one volume of lecture notes, 1845, recorded while Thompson was a student at Columbia Theological Seminary. The 435 pages of lecture notes on theology are based on lectures delivered by Dr. Aaron Whitney Leland.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection is divided into four series:
SERIES I: HENRY SAFFORD AND FAMILY PAPERS, 1794-1870
SERIES II: ANNA C. SAFFORD PAPERS, 1861-1891
SERIES III: ALEATHEA THOMPSON COBBS PAPERS, 1847-1943
SERIES IV: WILLIAM HORTON THOMPSON PAPERS, 1831-1896
Administrative Information
Received from Aleathea Cobbs in 1934, from James Marshall in 1938, from Irene Howell in 1958, and from Theodosia Hogan in 1962.
A preliminary inventory is provided in this guide. Guide revised in 2009 by Jennifer Barr, Archives Intern.
Preferred Citation
Safford Family Papers, RG 446, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Catalog Headings
Collection Inventory
| Box | Folder | Description | |
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| SERIES I: HENRY SAFFORD AND FAMILY PAPERS, 1794-1870 | |
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1 | 1 | Biographical sketches of Henry Safford and Eliza Burr Safford | |
1 | 2 | Correspondence of Henry Safford with Eliza Burr Safford, 1823-1826 | |
1 | 3 | Correspondence of Henry Safford with parents, 1829 | |
1 | 4 | Correspondence of Henry Safford with Mary Thompson, 1831, 1859-1869 | |
1 | 5 | Correspondence of Eliza Burr Safford with Mary Thompson, 1853, 1856, 1859, 1864 | |
1 | 6 | Correspondence of Eliza Burr Safford with William Safford, 1860 | |
1 | 7 | Correspondence between William Safford and Mary Thompson regarding the Civil War, 1855-1870 | |
1 | 8 | Correspondence between Mary Thompson and Eunice Scudder, 1862 | |
1 | 9 | Correspondence, miscellaneous family, 1853-1855 | |
1 | 10 | Correspondence of Calvin Ingals with Mary Ingals, 1806 | |
1 | 11 | Printed materials | |
1 | 12 | Henry Safford sermons, 1823-1850 | |
1 | 13 | Calvin Ingals sermons, 1797-1819 | |
1 | 14 | Calvin Ingals sermon, 1794 | |
1 | 15 | John Searl sermons and diary fragment, undated | |
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| SERIES II: ANNA C. SAFFORD PAPERS, 1861-1891 | |
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1 | 16 | Biographical materials on Anna C. Safford | |
1 | 17 | Correspondence with Mary Thompson, 1861, 1865, 1867-1868, 1870 | |
1 | 18 | Correspondence from China to Mary Thompson, Eunice Scudder, and Willie Safford, 1873-1880, 1884, 1887-1890 | |
1 | 19 | Correspondence from missionaries in China regarding death of Anna C. Safford, 1890-1891 | |
1 | 20 | Diary, 1861-1866 | |
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2 | 1 | Diary, 1868-1869 | |
2 | 2 | Diary, 1873 | |
2 | 3 | Diary, 1874-1877 | |
2 | 4 | Diary, 1877-1878 | |
2 | 5 | Index to published articles and letters | |
2 | 6 | Notebook about Soochow, with index, 1883 | |
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3 | 1 | Notes about the city of Soochow, 1881-1883 | |
3 | 2 | Notes about addenda to Soochow notebook, undated | |
3 | 3 | Notes on China, with index for diaries, undated | |
3 | 4 | Printed materials in Chinese | |
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6 | 4 | Charcoal portrait of Anna C. Safford | |
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| SERIES III: ALEATHEA THOMPSON COBBS PAPERS, 1847-1943 | |
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3 | 5 | Biographical sketches of Aleathea Thompson Cobbs and Anna C. Safford | |
3 | 6 | Certificate, 1943 | |
3 | 7 | Correspondence with S. M. Tenney regarding plans to write a history of women's work in the Synod of Alabama, 1943 | |
3 | 8 | Literary manuscripts, 1924-1925 and undated | |
3 | 9 | Notebook and photograph of Women's Auxiliary 20th anniversary meeting held at Montreat, 1932 | |
3 | 10 | Photograph of Aleathea Thompson Cobbs, undated | |
3 | 11 | Printed materials and clippings, 1847-1938 and undated | |
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| SERIES IV: WILLIAM HORTON THOMPSON PAPERS, 1831-1896 | |
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4 | 1-6 | Valedictory address, undated; Sermons, 1855-1894 and undated; Record of receipts, 1873-1881 | |
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5 | 1 | Medical records, possibly related to the Civil War | |
5 | 2 | Biographical sketches of William Horton Thompson and Mary Thompson, undated | |
5 | 3-11 | Correspondence of William Horton Thompson, Mary Thompson, and other family members, 1831-1891 and undated; Miscellaneous letters, calls, and deeds, 1848-1883 | |
5 | 12 | Lecture notes, circa 1845 | |
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6 | 1 | Sermons, 1884-1896 | |
6 | 2 | Sermon delivered at ordination of William Horton Thompson, 1849; Pictures and photographs, undated | |
6 | 3 | Diary, 1843-1844 | |
6 | 5 | Lecture notes from Columbia Theological Seminary, 1845 |