David Jackson (delegate)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Jackson (c. 1730– September 17, 1801) was an American apothecary and physician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1785.
David was born in Oxford, Pennsylvania, the son of Samuel Jackson. He attended the Philadelphia City College (now the University of Pennsylvania) and graduated in 1768 with a Bachelor's degree in Medicine. He settled in Chester, Pennsylvania and practiced there before opening a practice in Philadelphia.
Jackson was forced to leave Philadelphia when the British forces occupied the city in 1777. He had earlier served in Pennsylvania's rebel militia. Now he joined the Continental Army as a surgeon, serving with them until 1779. Then he returned to Philadelphia to resume his medical practice and also open an apothecary shop.
In 1785 Jaackson was named as a delegate to the Continental Congress, 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 did serve as a trustee of the University of the State of Pennsylvania, continuing through its merger into the University of Pennsylvania.
David 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.
Jackson died in 1801, at his home in Oxford 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 American Philosophical Society and Philadelphia's Democratic Club.
