John Sellers (1728 – 1804), was an American scientist, engineer, and legislator, who was born at

Sellers Hall Sellers Hall, completed in 1684, is one of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania and is the ancestral home of the Sellers Family of Scientists, Sellers family of scientists and engineers. Samuel Sellers (1655-1732) arrived in Philadelphia in 1682 ...

Upper Darby Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a Home Rule Municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule Township (Pennsylvania), township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the List of United States cities b ...

, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1728. Sellers was one of the original members 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 ...

and with

David Rittenhouse David Rittenhouse (April 8, 1732 – June 26, 1796) was an American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society ...

and others was one of the committee of that organization that observed the

Transit of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...

in 1769 and reported their observations for the benefit of science. He was a skilled surveyor and engineer and played a part on numerous public works, including the construction of the Strasburg road in 1772, the Schuylkill-Susquehanna canal study of 1783, and the boundary commission for the newly created Delaware County in 1789. Public spirited and capable, Sellers played an important role in political affairs throughout his life, first in the colonial Assembly from 1767, and then in efforts on behalf of American rights and eventually Independence. He was appointed one of the Boston Port Bill Committee and was a deputy in the first Provincial Conference of Representatives at Philadelphia on July 14, 1774. These activities on behalf of the Revolution and particularly Sellers' role in signing the Continental currency led to his disownment by the Society of Friends. Sellers represented Delaware County in the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1790 and was elected to the first Pennsylvania State Senate. He died at Sellers Hall on February 2, 1804. *Andrew Dawson, ''Lives of the Philadelphia Engineers: Capital, Class, and Revolution'' (2004). *George Eschol Sellers, ''Early Engineering Reminiscences'' (1965). *Dominic Vitiello, ''Engineering Philadelphia: The Sellers Family and the Industrial Metropolis'' (2013). *Anthony F.C. Wallace, ''Rockdale'' (1978).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellers, John 18th-century American scientists 18th-century American politicians 18th-century American engineers 1728 births 1804 deaths