242 
Life  of  Robert  Bridges,  M.  D. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1884. 
married  a  second  wife  in  Rotterdam,  Cornelia,  the  second  daughter  of 
Thomas  Culpeper,  of  Kent  county,  England.  By  her  he  had  four 
children.  Edward,  their  third  son,  settled  in  Philadelphia,  and,  in 
1739,  was  established  at  a  corner  of  Front  and  Walnut  streets,  in  the 
dry  goods  trade.  His  place  of  business  was  commonly  called  "the 
Scales."  He  left  three  sons  :  Edward  John,  who  was  born  in  Rotter- 
dam, in  1736,  and  died  in  Jamaica,  Surgeon  of  the  Africa,  a  sixty- 
four  gun  ship;  Culpeper,  who  died  a  midshipman  on  board  of  the 
Northumberland,  at  the  siege  of  Louisburg,  Cape  Breton,  1758,  and 
Robert,  who  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  November  18,  1739,  and  mar- 
ried, in  1769,  Jemima  Sheppard,  of  Bensalem  township,  Bucks  county, 
Pa.  He  had  five  sons,  Barnsley,  Robert  (who  probably  died  young), 
Culpeper,  Robert  and  Edward ;  and  five  daughters,  Cornelia,  Mary, 
Sarah,  Harriet  and  Emily.  Robert  Bridges  was  a  sailmaker.  His 
residence  was  at  (old  number)  259  South  Front  street,  and  his  sail- 
loft  was  on  the  wharf,  Delaware  avenue,  north  of  Lombard  street. 
James  Forten,  an  almost  "  colorless  colored  man,"  was  his  foreman, 
and,  in  1800,  when  Robert  Bridges  died,  succeeded  him  in  business. 
Culpeper  Bridges,  the  third  son  of  Robert,  the  sailmaker,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  December  21,  1776,  and  died  December  29,  1823.  He 
was  trained  to  be  a  merchant  by  John  Leamy,  whose  "counting- 
house"  was  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Walnut  and  Third  streets.  He 
married,  February  21,  1804,  Sarah,  the  fifth  daughter  and  eleventh 
child  of  William  Cliffton,  of  South wark,  a  blacksmith  and  machinist, 
and  had  two  sons,  William  Cliffton,  and  Robert,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  who  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  March  5,  1806. 
This  outline  of  lineage,  which  is  purely  English,  implies  that  the 
ancestors  of  Dr.  Bridges,  were  vigorous,  enterprising,  intelligent,  indus- 
trious and  respectable. 
Both  sons  were  liberally  educated ;  both  were  pupils  in  the  Univer- 
sity Grammar  School.  William  Cliffton  graduated  from  the  depart- 
ment of  arts  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1821.  Robert  was 
for  a  short  time  one  of  the  sophomores  of  the  University — there  was 
no  freshman  class  at  that  period — and  then,  for  no  assigned  re'ason, 
entered  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1824.  In  July  of  the  same  year  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Societas  Philosophise  Consociata  of  the  College. 
Immediately  after  his  return  to  Philadelphia  he  became  a  pupil  of 
Dr.  Thomas  T.  Hewson,  and  remained  under  the  instruction  of  that 
