Name/Title
Pennsylvania Hospital. Small Book of Subscribers' Promissory Notes, 1764-1772Description
34 bonds on pages 1 to 52.
A small book covering the last years of Hugh Roberts's long treasurership and the first of Thomas Wharton's. Two campaigns account for most of it. On 26 April 1768 the Managers took a run of large pledges from the rising merchants of the city, led by Joseph Potts at one hundred pounds. In February 1772 Wharton gathered a second run, nearly all witnessed by the Manager Jacob Lewis. One undated note is payable to Dr. Samuel Preston Moore, the only bond in the collection made out to him as Treasurer.
This is the generation that made the Revolution. Francis Hopkinson signed in 1768, eight years before he signed the Declaration. Christopher Ludwick, the German gingerbread baker who became Baker General of the Continental Army, signed in 1765. Beside them are John Bayard, Blair McClenachan, Sharp Delany, Joseph Shippen, and Dr. Samuel Duffield, a member of the first medical class graduated in America. The brewer Isaac Howell paid his ten pounds in beer. The note of Dr. Joseph Watson of Bucks County was witnessed by Rachel Wharton, the Treasurer's wife, one of the very few women to sign any of these bonds.General Notes
Note Type
Cataloging NoteNote
Christopher Ludwick (1720-1801). Page 6. Baker General of the Continental Army. Benjamin Rush wrote and published his biography.
Richard Budden. Page 7. The ship captain who carried the State House bell to Philadelphia in 1752.
Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791). Page 29. Signer of the Declaration, first pupil of Franklin's Academy, and an executor of Franklin's will.
John Bayard (1738-1807). Page 32. Colonel, Speaker of the Assembly, member of Congress.
Joseph Shippen Jr. (1732-1810). Page 39. Secretary of the Province and patron of Benjamin West.
Samuel Duffield (1732-1814). Page 44. One of the ten first medical graduates in America (1768) and a founding Fellow of the College of Physicians.
Blair McClenachan (d. 1812). Page 52. Privateer owner, financier of the army in 1780, later congressman.
Joseph Potts. Page 12. Probably the brother of Dr. Jonathan Potts, Rush's companion at Edinburgh.
