Abraham L. Pennock

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Abraham L. Pennock
Abraham L Pennock.jpg
Born
Abraham Liddon Pennock

(1786-08-07)August 7, 1786
DiedMay 12, 1868(1868-05-12) (aged 81)
Occupation(s)Abolitionist, inventor
Organization American Anti-Slavery Society

Abraham Liddon Pennock (August 7, 1786 – May 12, 1868) [1] was an American abolitionist, inventor, and businessman who was a prominent voice in the free produce movement and served as vice president of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. A Pennsylvania state historical marker was dedicated in Pennock's honor in Upper Darby Township on October 24, 1985.

Contents

Life and business

Pennock was born in Philadelphia on August 7, 1786, to George and Mary Liddon Pennock. [1] [2] He inherited a gristmill and other wealth from family members and participated in various business enterprises, investing in dry goods and co-owning the Philadelphia Hose Company, which manufactured riveted leather hose. Invented by Pennock and James Sellers and first used at Pennock's mill, this hose remained in widespread use until the development of rubber hose. The company also constructed fire engines. [3] Such was the strength of the hose that the US government hired the firm to manufacture all mail bags used in its service. In 1840, he retired from business and moved to Haverford Township and then to Upper Darby Township in 1845. [1]

In 1829, Pennock was the lead plaintiff in Pennock v. Dialogue , in which the Supreme Court of the United States voided his patent on a method of making riveted leather hose and dismissed an infringement claim filed by Pennock and his co-inventor and business partner James Sellers, who had invented the hose in 1811 but filed for a patent belatedly in 1818. [4]

Social activism

Pennock was a devout Quaker who supported women's suffrage and temperance as well as the abolition of slavery. He was active in the Underground Railroad and was a founding member of the Free Produce Association, a network of businesses that sold cotton and other products untainted by enslaved labor beginning in 1827. [5] He voted in elections for the Free Soil Party and Republican Party, breaking from fellow Quakers who opposed slavery with "moral persuasion" rather than the ballot box. [6] Pennock co-founded the Non-Slaveholder, the only periodical devoted to the free produce cause, and co-edited the paper from 1846 through 1847 (lack of subscribers caused the paper to fold in 1850). [7] Friends and frequent visitors to his home included George Thompson, James Russell Lowell, Theodore Dwight Weld, and John Greenleaf Whittier. [8]

Pennock resigned as vice president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1841. The society had dispatched a delegation of both men and women to an international convention hosted by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, which admitted male delegates only. When the British society rejected the American society's female delegates, the Americans passed a resolution declaring the British behavior "arbitrary and despotic." Pennock rejected this heated rhetoric and resigned. [6] He believed that the movement needed to focus its efforts on abolitionism and not complicate its efforts with controversies around women's equality. [9]

Pennock served as secretary (equivalent to president) of the board of managers of Haverford College, a private liberal arts college with Quaker origins just outside Philadelphia, from May 14, 1835, to May 8, 1837. He served as a member of the board of managers from 1830 to 1841 and again from 1844 to 1852. [10]

Personal life

Abraham L. Pennock House (2017) Abe Pennock House old Sellers Library Upper Darby DelCo PA.jpg
Abraham L. Pennock House (2017)

In his later years, Pennock lived at Hoodland Farm, a large house and property built in 1823 and willed to Pennock's wife, Elizabeth, by his father-in-law, John Sellers II. The farmhouse is located in Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. [3]

Pennock married Elizabeth Sellers on June 7, 1810. The couple had nine named children: George, Mary C. John S., Joseph L., Sarah, Ann, Casper, Abraham L., and Isabella. [1] Abraham Pennock died at Hoodland in Upper Darby on May 12, 1868. [1] Elizabeth Pennock, who had been born in Philadelphia on August 26, 1791, died two years later at Hoodland on June 17, 1870. [1] [8]

A Pennsylvania state historical marker was dedicated in Pennock's honor at Hoodland on October 24, 1985. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware County, Pennsylvania</span> County in Pennsylvania, United States

Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the fifth-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the third-smallest in area. The county was created on September 26, 1789, from part of Chester County and named for the Delaware River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darby, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

Darby is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is located along Darby Creek 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Center City Philadelphia. The borough of Darby is distinct from the nearby municipality of Darby Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania</span> Neighborhood in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States

Drexel Hill is a neighborhood and census-designated place (CDP) located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,181 at the 2020 census, an increase over 28,043 in 2010, and accounting for over one-third of Upper Darby's population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania</span> Place in Pennsylvania

Haverford Township is a home rule municipality township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Haverford is named after the town of Haverfordwest in Wales, United Kingdom. It is a commuting suburb located due west of Philadelphia and is officially known as the Township of Haverford. Despite being under a home rule charter since 1977, it continues to operate under a Board of Commissioners divided into wards, as do "First Class" townships that are still under the Pennsylvania Township Code. Haverford Township was founded in 1682 and incorporated in 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millbourne, Pennsylvania</span> A borough located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States

MillbourneBorough is a self-governing municipal borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population is 1,212. Millbourne borders Philadelphia along Cobbs Creek. The name "Millbourne" comes from the word Mill and "bourne" meaning creek. Millbourne, at over 17,000 people per square mile, is the most densely populated incorporated place in Pennsylvania, and 24th in the entire United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania</span> Home rule township in Pennsylvania, United States

Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the township had a total population of 85,681, making it the state's sixth most populated municipality after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Reading, and Erie. Upper Darby borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city, and it is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area, the nation's seventh-largest metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haverford College</span> Private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania

Haverford College is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Haverford began accepting non-Quakers in 1849 and women in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia Main Line</span> Collection of suburban communities in Pennsylvania, United States

The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's once prestigious Main Line, it runs northwest from Center City Philadelphia parallel to Lancaster Avenue, also known as U.S. Route 30.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Havertown, Pennsylvania</span> Unincorporated community in Pennsylvania, United States

Havertown is a residential suburban unincorporated community in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located approximately 9 miles west of the center of Philadelphia. Havertown's ZIP Code is 19083 and "Havertown" is a postal address. The name "Havertown" was coined by the U.S. Post Office and came into use on January 1, 1946. Before then, each constituent community was known by its local name: Bon Air, Brookline, Penfield, Beechwood, Llanerch, Manoa, Oakmont, Coopertown, and Ardmore. Under William Penn's land divisions these communities were part of the Welsh Tract and comprised the area known as Harford, a Welsh contraction of Haverford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobbs Creek</span> River in Pennsylvania, United States

Cobbs Creek is an 11.8-mile-long (19.0 km) tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It forms an approximate border between Montgomery County and Delaware County. After Cobbs Creek passes underneath Township Line Road, it forms the border between Philadelphia County and Delaware County. It runs directly through the two sides of Mount Moriah Cemetery which spans the border of Southwest Philadelphia and Yeadon, Pennsylvania. It later joins Darby Creek before flowing into the Delaware River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Garrett</span> American abolitionist

Thomas Garrett was an American abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad movement before the American Civil War. He helped more than 2,500 African Americans escape slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Hopper</span> American Quaker abolitionist (1771–1852)

Isaac Tatem Hopper was an American abolitionist who was active in Philadelphia in the anti-slavery movement and protecting fugitive slaves and free blacks from slave kidnappers. He was also co-founder of Children's Village with 23 others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends meeting house</span> Meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Martin Broomall</span> American politician

John Martin Broomall was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district from 1863 to 1869. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the Delaware County district from 1851 to 1852.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newtown Square Branch</span> Former railroad in Pennsylvania, United States

The Newtown Square Branch was a branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) that diverged from the West Chester Branch in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, and ended in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. The rail line is mostly overgrown and few bridges remain, with the bridge over Baltimore Avenue located at the Upper Darby/East Lansdowne border having been removed in 2003. The only known presence of rails is at the junction just west of the SEPTA's Fernwood-Yeadon station. Through Upper Darby Township the former right-of-way follows PECO's high tension power lines from Fernwood to the Upper Darby/Haverford border at Lansdowne Avenue and Township Line Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Route 2005 (Delaware County, Pennsylvania)</span>

State Route 2005 is a major 9.3 mile (15 km) long road, running in a southeast–northwest direction in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at Pennsylvania Route 320 in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania. Its eastern terminus is at a Cobbs Creek bridge in Darby, Pennsylvania. Past this bridge is State Route 3023, which continues into Philadelphia. SR 2005 is known as Darby Road in Haverford Township, Lansdowne Avenue from U.S. Route 1 to Darby, and Main Street in Darby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llanerch, Pennsylvania</span> Unincorporated community in Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Llanerch is an unincorporated community on the border of Haverford Township and Upper Darby Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Llanerch is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 1, Pennsylvania Route 3, and Darby Road.

The Sellers family of Philadelphia and Delaware County, Pennsylvania, are a family of scientists and engineers. More members of the Sellers family and the closely related Peale family have belonged to the American Philosophical Society than any other family in the history of the United States, and the same is true of the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sellers Hall</span> Historic house in Pennsylvania, United States

Sellers Hall, completed in 1684, is one of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania and is the ancestral home of the Sellers family of scientists and engineers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Mendenhall</span> American farmer and abolitionist (1806–1882)

Isaac Mendenhall was an American farmer, abolitionist, and station master on the Underground Railroad in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Isaac and Dinah Mendenhall aided several hundred fugitives to escape to freedom. Prosperous farmers, they lived at the estate of Oakdale, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. A Pennsylvania state historical marker was dedicated in their honor on November 10, 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cope, Gilbert; Ashmead, Henry Graham (1904). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania. Vol. 2. New York: Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 577–578.
  2. Lockhart, Keith. "Darby Friends Cemetery Index". Delaware County History. Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  3. 1 2 Hotchkin, Samuel Fitch (1897). Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: G.W. Jacobs & Co. pp. 322–325, 344.
  4. Post, David (2012-07-22). "Memo: A Note on Pennock v. Dialogue". Harvard Law School Library H2O. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  5. Baily, Joshua L. (1918). "Address at the Centennial Celebration of the Erection of Twelfth Street Meeting-house, Tenth Month 25, 1912". Bulletin of Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia. 8 (2): 58. ISSN   2330-8079. JSTOR   41945098 via JSTOR.
  6. 1 2 Sturge, Joseph (1842). A Visit to the United States in 1841. Boston: Dexter S. King. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  7. Nuermberger, Ruth Ketring (1942). The Free Produce Movement: A Quaker Protest Against Slavery. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p. 105.
  8. 1 2 Sellers, Sarah Pennock (1928). David Sellers [and] Mary Pennock Sellers. Philadelphia: Press of Innes & Sons.
  9. Densmore, Christopher (2010). "Radical Quaker Women and the Early Women's Rights Movement". Bryn Mawr Colleges Archives & Special Collections. Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  10. Thomas, Allen C., ed. (1900). Biographical Catalogue of the Matriculates of Haverford College, Together with Lists of the Members of the College Faculty and the Managers, Officers and Recipients of Honorary Degrees, 1833-1900. Philadelphia: Printed for the Alumni Association. pp. xi–xii.
  11. "Abraham L. Pennock". PHMC Marker Search. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. 1985-10-24. Retrieved 2022-12-03.