OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO

A. D. 1770

INCLUDING

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF THE

TRUSTEES, FACULTY, THE FIRST ALUMNI
AND OTHERS

BY

THOMAS HARRISON MONTGOMERY

MEMBER OF THE

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, New York Historical Society,
Chester County Historical Society, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania,

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I think, moreover, that Talents for the Education of Youth are the Gift of God; and
that He on Whom they are bestowed, whenever a Way is opened for the Use of Them,
is as strongly Called as if He heard a Voice from Heaven; Nothing more surely
Pointing out Duty in a Public Service than Ability and Opportunity of Performing it.
Dr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson, 23 August, 1750.

PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO

103-105 SOUTH 15TH STREET

A. D. 1900

COPYRIGHT, 1900,

BY GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO.

The edition of this book is limited to 750 copies,

of which this is No.

68

8

PREFACE.

Some years ago the late Provost, Dr. Pepper, sought my interest in writing a History of the University of Pennsylvania from its beginning to the present generation, and asked me to undertake it. The honor of his urgency in the matter was so flattering that I eventually agreed to respond to his call, and soon made preparations for the work, which was to be carried on within my own time and opportunities.

The progress of

the representatives of the contemporary thought, and moved with influence in those circles which shaped the destinies of the Province, as well also those of the Nation that was then approaching its adult years.

If this picture of those times (for the University was necessarily a part of them) will serve to enlighten and interest its Alumni, and form any inspiration to its Matriculates, in the

PREFACE.

Some years ago the late Provost, Dr. Pepper, sought my interest in writing a History of the University of Pennsylvania from its beginning to the present generation, and asked me to undertake it. The honor of his urgency in the matter was so flattering that I eventually agreed to respond to his call, and soon made preparations for the work, which was to be carried on within my own time and opportunities. The progress of this was a great pleasure to me, and its course proved both entertaining and instructive as the material for its compilation was both rich and ample.

My labors had to be carried on in the interval hours of a busy life, but in a year or two its claims seemed to press; and finally, even after some weeks respite abroad, I found myself unable to proceed beyond the year 1769, when health dictated my arresting the work there.

Complete as it is to this point I now submit it to the friends of the University. These early years of its operations here set forth in full illustrate its formative period, which is the most instructive in its life. The detail, it is hoped, truly portrays the Men and Movements of the ante-Revolutionary period in the Province of Pennsylvania: and as the Movements of that colonial period, all in some degree, shed their light on the colony's greatest educational undertaking; so the Men concerned in it were the representatives of the contemporary thought, and moved with influence in those circles which shaped the destinies of the Province, as well also those of the Nation that was then approaching its adult years.

If this picture of those times (for the University was necessarily a part of them) will serve to enlighten and interest its Alumni, and form any inspiration to its Matriculates, in the