American Philosophical Society
Member History

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1Name:  Samuel Bowen
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
   
2Name:  Richard Brooke
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
   
3Name:  Landon Carter
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  8/18/1710
 Death Date:  12/22/1778
   
 
Landon Carter (18 August 1710–22 December 1778) was a planter, public officeholder, and slaveholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1769. Born the son of a planter-merchant and member of the King’s Council in Lancaster County Virginia, Carter went to England while young to begin schooling. He returned to Virginia in 1726 to study at the College of William and Mary before leaving to assist his aging father in his tobacco planting business. In 1732, Carter’s father died, leaving his son with a large inheritance with which he settled in Richmond the following year. Within no time he became justice of the county court, then vestryman of his parish, then colonel in the militia, all through his high-born, well-educated, and wealthy status. Starting in 1752 he represented his county in the house of Burgesses as an elected legislator. Carter always advocated for colonial self-governance while still maintaining a strong belief in the English monarchy. Apprehensive of the more radical factions of the American Independence movement, he supported independence nonetheless. In his political writings, he enforced the Whig view that noble gentry were natural rulers, and merchants and workers were untrustworthy as leaders. This also reflects the themes of his famous journals, in which he mingles feudal English sentiments and folklore with the happenings at his plantation: swapping serfs and servants for slaves and lord for patriarch. His diaries also consist of scientific reports regarding the keeping of his farmland and the health conditions of the enslaved people working there. He died of an edema in his country residence, Sabine Hall. (ANB, DNB)
 
4Name:  Daniel Clark
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1766
 Death Date:  8/13/1813
   
 
Daniel Clark (1766–13 August 1813) was a merchant, slaveholder, and diplomat, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1769. Born in Ireland to a wealthy family, he was educated in England before hard times hit Ireland, and the Clarks moved to Germantown, Pennsylvania. Thereafter, Daniel Clark took up a position in his wealthy uncle’s counting house in New Orleans, Louisiana. Quickly earning a partnership in the firm and becoming a respected member of French society, Clark was able to build a relationship with the provincial Spanish government. His political connections enabled him to circumvent strict Spanish trade regulations and greatly benefit both him and his American trading partners. In 1798, he became vice-consul to New Orleans, sending reports to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison about the goings-on in the provincial Spanish government. When the Spanish cut off New Orleans’ port to American traders, he advocated for immediate American intervention to secure Louisiana's planned transfer to the French. Utilizing his connections with the French elite there, he was able to do just that. During this turbulent time, he grew suspicious of William Charles Coles Claiborne, governor of the Mississippi Territory. He refused service on the governor's council in 1804, which was taken as an insult by Claiborne. Clark and Claiborne’s feud escalated: grievances regarding Claiborne’s leadership were submitted to Congress and led to the establishment of an elective legislature for Louisiana, which seemed only to worsen the gridlock between Clark and Governor Claiborne. In spite of Claiborne, the Louisiana legislature elected Clark as a delegate to Congress in 1806, wherein he advocated for Claiborne’s removal. Thereafter, Governor Claiborne challenged Clark to a duel and was subsequently wounded by the victorious Clark. Clark’s political career would end not long after that; his criticism of General James Wilkinson and association with Aaron Burr led to his condemnation by Thomas Jefferson. He continued to run his merchant business until retiring to one of his plantations and dying shortly after that. (ANB)
 
5Name:  Myles Cooper
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  2/19/1737
 Death Date:  5/20/1785
   
 
Myles Cooper (bap. 19 February 1737–20 May 1785) was an educator, clergymen, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1769. The son of William and Elizabeth Cooper, he was born in Lancashire in Northwest England. He was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he was awarded a Bachelor’s degree in 1756 and a Master’s degree in 1760. He later became a chaplain of the college, serving until his ordination as a priest of the Church of England. In 1762, Reverend Edward Bensom of Christ Church recommended Cooper as a successor to Samuel Johnson as president of King’s College in New York. Cooper stood out as a candidate for the job, not because of any particular qualifications, but because of his willingness to leave the comfort of Oxford and travel to America. He began his presidential tenure in 1765, and worked with the governors of the college to make it resemble Oxford in its customs, values, and environment. The college improved during his tenure: attendance increased, the faculty grew, and a medical school opened. Cooper remained loyal to the British crown throughout the American Revolution, but he was not alone. Many of the students and faculty of King’s College were socially and politically conservative and supported the British cause. However, Cooper’s prominent public position made him the target of threats, and on May 10th, 1775, he was driven by a mob out of his home in the middle of the night. Half-dressed, he took shelter at a friend’s house and then fled to a British warship. He returned to England as soon as possible. Cooper never married, but in his later years cared for several orphaned children. He was outgoing, affable, and appreciated the material comforts of the world: food, wine, and company. He died at a luncheon in Edinburgh in 1785. (ANB, DNB)
 
6Name:  John Jones
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  5/10/1729
 Death Date:  6/23/1791
   
 
John Jones (10 May 1729–23 June 1791) was a physician, surgeon, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1769. Born in Long Island to Quaker parents, Jones studied medicine under his father, a physician, and then his cousin in Philadelphia. In 1750, Jones went to London to further his studies, attending lectures and observing surgeries. He received his M.D. from the University of Rheims the following year. Shortly thereafter, he returned to New York to establish his own medical practice and served as surgeon with provincial troops in the French and Indian War (1754–63). Notably, he treated the injuries of a captive French general. In 1767, he successfully petitioned King’s College (now Columbia University) alongside his colleagues for the establishment of a medical department and became the department’s first professor of surgery. During the Revolutionary War, Jones examined military surgeon candidates and wrote a manual for their instruction, Plain, Concise, Practical Remarks on the Treatment of Wounds and Fractures (1775). When New York fell to the British in 1776, Jones left the city to attend to wounded soldiers elsewhere, leading to his election to the New York assembly the same year. Very little of his library, papers, and anatomical collections survived the British occupation, which caused Jones to lose much of his income. Due to this and his failing health, Jones moved to Philadelphia in 1779. In Philadelphia, he received many honors, such as becoming a physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital (1780), and the first Vice President of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1787). He also treated high-profile patients such as Benjamin Franklin and performed surgery on President George Washington in 1790. Jones died the following year in Philadelphia. (ANB)
 
7Name:  Carolus Linnaeus
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  International
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  5/23/1707
 Death Date:  1/10/1778
   
 
Carolus Linnaeus (23 May 1707–10 January 1778) was a taxonomist, naturalist, gardener, physician, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected 1769. Born in Råsult, Sweden to pastor Nils Nicolaus Linnaeus and his wife, Christina Broderzonia, he began schooling in a nearby town before beginning his medical studies at the University of Lund, later transferring to Uppsala University in 1728. He moved to the Netherlands in 1735 and earned his medical doctorate later that year, after which he moved to Leiden and published his first work Systema Naturae with the help of doctor and botanist Johan Gronovius and doctor Isaac Lawson. He moved to England in July of 1736. Though initially met with skepticism from his peers, his system of sex-based plant-classification proposed in Systema Naturae slowly won over much of the academic circles in London and Oxford, and later, so too would his system of binomial nomenclature which he elaborated on in his Fundamenta Botanica of 1736 and Classes Plantarum of 1738. That same year Linnaeaus opened a medical practice in Stockholm, Sweden and quickly earned a reputation that landed him as Physician to the Admiralty and the first president of the Academy of Science of Stockholm. In 1741 he began teaching at Uppsala University and managing the gardens there. Meanwhile, the Linnaean system became widely accepted among his peers and Linnaeus was elected to the Royal Society of London in 1753. Gradually, his system grew to become the universal scientific standard for taxonomical classification and in 1788 the Linnaean Society of London was founded. In his final years, he suffered two strokes and died of an ulcerated bladder in early 1778. (DNB)
 
8Name:  John Lorimer
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
   
9Name:  John M. Otto
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Death Date:  4/29/1793
   
10Name:  Ebenezer Prime
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
   
11Name:  Samuel Shoemaker
 Year Elected:  1769
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1721
 Death Date:  10/10/1800
   
Election Year
1769 (11)