James Pyle Wickersham (March 5, 1825 – March 25, 1891) was an American educator and author in the state of Pennsylvania. He also served as the US Chargé d'Affaires in Denmark in 1882. Paul K. Adams, "James P. Wickersham on Education and Crime in Nineteenth-Century Pennsylvania." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 104.4 (1980): 411-433
online
Wickersham was born in

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially known as Chesco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the Delaware Valley region of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53 ...

. He was of the fifth generation in direct descent from Thomas Wickersham, who in 1701 settled on a 1,000-acre tract of land in Chester County that had been deeded by

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

in 1682 to his father-in-law, Anthony Killingbeck. The Wickersham family came from the parish of

Bolney Bolney is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester, near the junction of the A23 road with the A272 road. ...

, county of Sussex, England. Wickersham received a good education in the public schools and at Unionville Academy, near his birthplace. When he was sixteen years old he was a teacher in a public school, and in 1845 he became principal of the Marietta (Pa.) academy. He was the first county superintendent of Lancaster County in 1854, and in 1855 he opened the Normal School at Millersville, Pa., which in 1859 became the first state

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

in Pennsylvania. In 1866 he was appointed state superintendent of public instruction, and held that post for nearly fifteen years. He assisted in the organization of the Lancaster county educational association, and became its second president in 1863. He helped to organize the Pennsylvania State Teacher's Association, was its fourth president in 1855, assisted at the organization of the National Educational Association, and was its seventh president in 1865. He was twice elected president of the National Department of School Superintendents. In 1863 he raised a regiment of soldiers for three months' service, and commanded it during the Gettysburg Campaign.

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

gave him the degree of

LL.D Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...

. in 1871. In 1882 he was appointed U.S. minister to Denmark. He wrote on educational subjects for magazines and newspapers. For ten years (1871-81) he was editor of the '' Pennsylvania School Journal''. His ''School Economy'' (Philadelphia. 1864) and ''Methods of Instruction'' (1865) have been translated into the Spanish, French, and Japanese languages. His most elaborate work is the ''History of Education in Pennsylvania'' (1886).

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US Department of State bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickersham, James Pyle Ambassadors of the United States to Denmark 1825 births Millersville University of Pennsylvania American education writers People from Chester County, Pennsylvania 1891 deaths

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