Jonathan Edwards collection
GEN MSS 151
Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, Some Thoughts Concerning the Revivals, and A Treatise Concerning
Religious Aections.
Edwards eventually became alienated from his Northampton congregation, and was dismissed after a
protracted controversy over qualifications for church membership. In 1751 he became a missionary to the
Mahican and Mohawk Indians at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and minister to the English congregation
there. While at Stockbridge he continued writing treatises that expounded his theology, including Freedom
of the Will, Original Sin, The Nature of True Virtue, and The End for Which God Created the World. In
1757, he accepted an oer to become the president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University.
In March 1758 he received a smallpox innoculation which proved to be infected, and died.
For more information on Edwards's life, see Perry Miller, Jonathan Edwards (New York: Sloan, 1949); Ola
E. Winslow, Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758: A Biography (New York: Macmillan, 1941); and Iain H. Murray,
Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Carlisle, Penn.: Banner of Truth, 1987). Readers should also consult
The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957-ongoing) for further definitive
information on Edwards's life and writings.
JONATHAN EDWARDS FAMILY
Note: The people listed here are represented prominently in the collection, and are therefore mentioned in
the Description of the Collection.
Timothy Edwards (1669-1758) m. (1694) Esther Stoddard (1672-1771)
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) m. (1727) Sarah Pierpont (1710-1758)
Jonathan (1745-1801) m. (1770) Mary Porter
Mary m. James Hait [Hoyt?]
Jonathan Walter m. Elizabeth Tryon (daughter of Moses Tryon)
Jonathan
9 other children
Jerusha m. Calvin Chapin
Ten children
Hannah (1713-1773) m. (1746) Seth Wetmore (1700-1778)
Lucy (1749-1826) m. (1770) Chauncey Whittelsey (d. 1812)
Nine daughters
Scope and Contents
The Jonathan Edwards Collection consists of writings, correspondence, documents, printed materials,
photographs, and artifacts documenting the lives and work of Jonathan Edwards and his family. The
collection spans the years 1696-1972, but the bulk of the material dates from 1726-1758, during the
years of Jonathan Edwards's ministry. The collection contains the great majority of Edwards's surviving
manuscripts, and as such is a particularly rich resource for examining the man and his theology.
The Collection is housed in 38 boxes and is organized in ten series: Writings of Jonathan Edwards,
Jonathan Edwards Correspondence, Church Papers, Edwards Family Writings, Edwards Family
Correspondence, Genealogical Notes and Other Family Papers, Printed Material, Visual Material,
Artifacts, and History of the Collection. Box 38 contains Oversize items.
Page 5 of 125