Israel Pemberton (69)

Elected to the revived American Philosophical Society.

Israel Pemberton (19 May 1715–22 April 1779) was a wealthy merchant, philanthropist, activist, and public official and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born into an influential Philadelphia family, he followed his father into the mercantile business. Finding success, he took an active role in public affairs. A devout Quaker, he served as clerk of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting from 1750 to 1759. He was also a founder of the Pennsylvania Hospital and Philadelphia Contributionship, a member of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and clerk of the Overseers of the Friends Public School. An energetic opponent of slavery, he joined the Quaker Samuel Fothergill on an antislavery preaching tour of the southern colonies, assisted the Quaker abolitionist John Woolman with one of his publications, and helped found Philadelphia’s first abolition society, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. During the French and Indian War, Pemberton sought to reconcile settlers and Native American communities. His diplomatic efforts as the leader of the Friendly Association for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures made him a reviled symbol of Quaker pacifism among frontiers people and put him in mortal danger when the Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia in 1764. He also served in the Pennsylvania Assembly, where he opposed Benjamin Franklin’s efforts to transform Pennsylvania into a royal colony. Pemberton joined in protests against British taxation but remained neutral during the American Revolution. The revolutionary government was suspicious of Quaker motives, however, and in 1777 Pemberton and nineteen others were exiled without trial to Virginia, where three of them died. The ordeal undermined his health, and he died the year after his return. His brother James Pemberton was an APS member. (PI, ANB, DNB, DAB)