Manuscript Location

Swarthmore College, McCabe Library, Special Collections, Friends Historical Library

Place of Origin

United States ➔ New Jersey ➔ Pilesgrove Township

Date of Composition

ca. 1810s-ca. 1840s

Description

The author of this recipe book, Hannah Lawrie Robbins, was the second wife Nathaniel Robbins, Jr., a Quaker who belonged to the Pilesgrove Monthly Meeting (Hicksite). The couple had three children, Nathaniel (1826-1914), Annie Lawrie (1828-1916), and Joseph (born 1830). The family lived in the Seven Stars Tavern, near Woodstown, New Jersey, which had been purchased by Nathaniel Jr.'s father around 1805. The family did not operate the tavern but instead farmed the property. The children, Nathaniel and Annie, never married and continued to live on the property until their deaths, whereupon the house remained vacant until 1927, when it was purchased by John Bourne. Built in 1762 and part of the lore of the American Revolutionary War, the tavern was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It is currently a private residence.