David Jackson (1747 – September 17, 1801) was an American apothecary and physician from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He was a delegate for Pennsylvania to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

in 1785. Jackson was born in Newtown-

Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the son of Samuel Jackson. He attended the College of Philadelphia in an institution now named University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine graduating in first class of its medical department in 1768 with a degree in medicine. He settled in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester is ...

and practiced there before opening a practice in Philadelphia. In 1776, following the outbreak of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Jackson worked on behalf of the Continental Congress as a manager of a lottery held to raise funds for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. He also served as paymaster for the

Pennsylvania militia The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 per ...

. He was forced to leave Philadelphia when British forces occupied the city in 1777. In 1779 he briefly served in the field with the militia as a surgeon and quartermaster. Afterwards he returned to Philadelphia to resume his medical practice and also open an apothecary shop. After the war, Jackson was named as a delegate to the

in 1785, and attended the session from April to November that year. Leaving public service, he also gave up his medical practice and concentrated on his pharmacy business. From 1789 to 1801 he served as a trustee of the University of the State of Pennsylvania, continuing through its merger into the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Jackson was married twice; first to Jane Mather Jackson, his brother Paul's widow. After her death he married Susan Kemper, the daughter of Jacob Kemper. David and Susan had nine children: David, Susan, Samuel, Mary, Jacob Morton, Sophia, William Brown, John, Martha. David Jr. would take over his father's apothecary while Samuel became a physician and for thirty years was a professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1792, Jackson was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in Philadelphia. Jackson died in 1801, at his home in Oxford, Pennsylvania and is buried in the Oxford Cemetery in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was survived by his wife Susan and all nine children. He was a member of the

and Philadelphia's Democratic Club.

References

Biographical Directory of the US Congress
(unlike other sources, lists his birth year as c. 1730) *Purcell, L. Edward. ''Who Was Who in the American Revolution''. New York: Facts on File, 1993. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, David 1747 births 1801 deaths People from Limavady Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Physicians in the American Revolution Continental Congressmen from Pennsylvania 18th-century American politicians Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni 18th-century American physicians People of colonial Pennsylvania Members of the American Philosophical Society Burials in Pennsylvania