Thomas Fisher

32. Thomas Fisher 4 (Joshua 3 , Thomas 2 , John 1 ), b. May 6, 1741 ; d. Sept. 6, 1810 ; m. Mar. 17, 1772, Sarah Logan, b. JSTov. 6, 1751 ; d. Jan. 25, 1796 ; dau. of William Logan f and Hannah Emlen, his wife.

Children :

• 97. Joshua Fisher, b. Aug. 27, 1775; d. Oct. 28, 1806; m. Elizabeth Powell Francis.
• 98. Hannah Logan Fisher, b. Nov. 6, 1777; d. June 25, 1816; m.James Smith.
• 99. William Logan Fisher, b. Oct. 1, 1781 ; d. Sept. 24, 1862; m. 1st, Mary Rodman ; 2d, Sarah Lindley.
• 100. James Logan Fisher, b. Oct. 5, 1783; d. Aug. 23, 1814; m. Ann Eliza George.
• 101. Esther Fisher, b. Dec. 14, 1788; d. Oct. 13, 1849, unm

Thomas Fisher was one of the exiles to Virginia in 1777. " On the re-establishment of peace he was the head of his family and of his firm. He seems to have been fully worthy of the respect and love which were bestowed upon him by his family and by the community in which he lived. All who have spoken of him to me describe him as a kind- hearted gentleman. His father's example was before him as a guide. He had as good an education as the schools of his day afforded. He had, too, the advantage derived from a somewhat prolonged visit to his mother country and an association with many intelligent people. He had seen something of France, having been captured on his way to Europe and taken to that country as a prisoner.

He had  what was perhaps still more an advantage, — the experience  and trials of civil war, the which are apt to strengthen and  enlarge the mind; and if he preserved strong prejudices in  favor of England and her institutions and customs, these  may indicate a fear of untried democratic institutions and  aspirations for social and intellectual enjoyments which his  native land did not afford.

He was a handsome man, of  easy manners, and very choice and elegant in his attire. As  such I recollect him. He was a liberal man, too, taking  part in many public charities. He was one of the founders  of Weston School [probably Westtown Boarding School, of  which he was the first treasurer, elected Oct. 3, 1794], man-  ager of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and one of the original  members of the American Philosophical Society. 

" From the time of the peace his life was without incident and there is no story of it to tell. He purchased a house on Second Street, below the Governor's (Edward Shippen's?) mansion. In this he died. He built the house at Wake- field on part of his wife's inheritance, and had the good taste to preserve the noble forest trees which are now its pride.

His wife was a cultivated woman of cheerful nature. She was the grand-daughter of James Logan. Her father was a well-educated man, and the library of Stenton gave oppor- tunity for the cultivation of a literary taste which she did not neglect. Her manuscript extracts, diaries, and reflections prove this. Her correspondence with her husband in his exile gives a good impression of her character. She re- mained in Philadelphia with her infant son, my father, dur- ing the whole period of his absence, residing ' in Second Street below the Bridge.'

" The following advertisement of a reward for her own and her infant's dresses — which were stolen from her house, it was supposed, by a British soldier — is curious, marking a style of dress which I should suppose rather unusual at any day in the Society of Friends :

" ' Stolen, etc. — the following articles — One white Satin petticoat quilted with flowers, one rich pearl-colored Satin gown lined with cream-colored Persien, also sundry yards of the same cream-colored Satin : one white Mantua gown, a blossom-colored Satin cloak lined with white Mantua : a baby cloak of purple and yellow changeable Mantua lined with white Mantua : a number of aprons and handkerchiefs of cambric muslin and holland, all marked S. L. : and sev- eral frocks, etc., belonsnnE' to a child : also, a o-old watch with a steel chain and crystal seals set in gold with engraved arras. Ten guineas are offered for the recovery of the same, or five guineas for the watch alone.' "

The following description of his brother Thomas Fisher's character is taken from the journal of Miers Fisher, under date Aug. 10, 1810 : " I went with my daughter Lydia this afternoon to see my beloved brother Thomas, at Wakefield. He has been long in a very feeble state of body and mind. I knew him one of the most handsome, lively, easy, cheerful young men of the city and after a settled gravely pleasant companion of middle and advancing life, now fast advancing into the Valley of the Shadow of Death — he has supported thro life among people of all ranks a character as amiable as any one known to me. I have lived with him upon my memory nearly sixty years, in all which time I cannot recol- lect that we have had a spar that continued a minute nor that he ever had a serious misunderstanding with anyone resulting from a defect in his temper."

.