474 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



chased land in Edgemont, became a 

 resident of that township. Having re- 

 ceived a better education than was 

 usual in his day, he, for many years, 

 held the situation as clerk for Chester 

 Monthly Meeting of Friends, of which 

 he was an exemplary member. He 

 ■was also much emi)loyed in civil affairs, 

 especially where good penmanship was 

 needed, and in 1710 he represented 

 Chester County in the Provincial As- 

 sembly. His children were John, 

 Joseph, Nathaniel, Josiah, Samuel, 

 Ephraim, Mary and Rachel. His death 

 occurred in 1723, at the age of nearly 

 seventy-five years. 



J.\CKS0N, JoHX. an eminent minister 

 of the Society of Friends, was the son 

 of Halliday and Jane Jackson of Darby, 

 near which place he was born, on the 

 29th of September, 1809. His religious 

 training was as careful and guarded as 

 surrounding circumstances would per- 

 mit, and at a very early age, it became 

 evident that his inquiring mind was 

 exercised on the doctrines and practi- 

 ces of his forefathers. His natural 

 temperament was ardent and impetu- 

 ous, and he had much to contend with 

 in bringing himself under the teach- 

 ings of the "still small voice within :" 

 but this he accomplished at a very 

 early age. In 1835, his father was re- 

 moved by death, an event that produced 

 a strong impression on his mind, and 

 at his grave he appeared in supplica- 

 tion. At the age of twenty-five years, 

 he married Rachel T., the daughter of 

 Isaac Tyson of Baltimore. His wife 

 being possessed of a thorough educa- 

 tion, after proper reflection, they deter- 

 mined to establish a boarding school 

 for girls. In this determination, the 

 well known •' Sharon Boarding School" 

 had its origin. He was a land surveyor, 

 and made himself useful in settling 

 disputed lines. In 1840, with the 

 approbation of his meeting, he paid a 

 religious visit to the West India Islands 

 in company with Thomas B. Longstreth 

 and George Truman. But theological 

 studies did not occupy the whole of his 

 attention. In 18:i4, he became a 

 member of the Delaware County Insti- 

 tnte of Science, and from that time, the 

 study of Philosophy and the Natural 

 Sciences, engrossed a share of his time 

 and constituted his chief recreation. 

 His school was supplied with extensive 



cabinets of minerals and fossils, and its 

 Astronomical observatory with the best 

 and most costly instruments. He de- 

 livered popular courses of lectures on 

 Philosophy, Chemistry, Geology and 

 Astronomy, which his natural fluency 

 of language rendered attractive. His 

 health, never robust, and doubtless im- 

 paired by overtaxing his mind, gradu- 

 ally became more and more feeble, till 

 the close of his earthly career, on the 

 14th of April, 1855. As a preacher of 

 the Gospel, he has had few superiors 

 in eloquence, and the strict upright- 

 ness of his character, was never ques- 

 tioned by any one who knew him. 



James, James, was an early Welsh 

 settler in Radnor. He was married to 

 Jane Edward of the same township in 

 1692. He settled in the southwest part 

 of Radnor, but after a time removed to 

 Haverford, where he died in 1708. In 

 his will he names three children, 

 George, David and Sarah, and a son- 

 in-law, David Lewis. 



James, Howell, was from Pontmoel, 

 in Monmouthshire, England. His cer- 

 tificate is dated, 5th rao. (July) 1684. 

 The meeting from which it emanated, 

 was held in a court in front of the 

 meeting-house, that had been locked 

 up more than a year. He settled in 

 Radnor, where his wife Gwenlin died 

 in 1686, and from the record, would 

 appear to be the first corpse buried in 

 the graveyard at Radnor Meeting. In 

 1690, he contracted a second marriage 

 with Maudlin Kinsey, a widow, and in 

 1698, made a visit to his native country. 

 He took a very active part in the meet- 

 ing affairs of the Society of Friends, in 

 which he was held in much esteem. 



James, David, with his wife Margaret, 

 arrived in Pennsylvania in August, 

 1682. They were Friends, but having 

 neglected to bring the usual certificate 

 with them, one was forwarded the next 

 year, which names a daughter Mary, 

 and informs us that they came from 

 the parish of Llangeley or Llandegley 

 and Glascum, in Radnorshire, Wales, 

 and that " they owned the truth several 

 years." This certificate is signed by 

 John Jarman, David Meredith and other 

 early settlers of Radnor, and was pro- 

 bably brought over with them. Tra- 

 dition says, a son named Evan was 



