Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Elliott CRESSON
He was a Quaker, a merchant, and a philanthropist. Like many Philadelphia Quakers, he was committed to improving the condition of African-American slaves, and advocated the colonization of Liberia. He supported many cultural institutions in Philadelphia; he is the namesake of the Elliott Cresson medal of the Franklin Institute. Recipients of the award, founded in 1848, have included Alexander Graham Bell, Orville Wright, Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford, Wernher von Braun, Pierre and Marie Curie, Tinius Olson, Andrei Sakharov, and John Hays Hammond.
"Appletons' cyclopaedia of American biography, Vol. II, New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1887"
"Cresson, Elliott, philanthropist, b. in Philadelphia, 2 March, 1796; d. there, 20 Feb., 1854. He was a member of the Society of Friends, became a successful merchant in Philadelphia, and devoted his attention to benevolent objects, especially the promotion of the welfare of the Indians and negroes in the United States. He conceived the intention of becoming a missionary among the Seminoles of Florida, but afterward gave his mind to the scheme of colonizing American negroes in Africa, engaged in establishing the first colony of liberated slaves at Bassa Cove, on the grain coast, became president of the Colonization society, and labored as its agent in new England in the winter of 1838-'9, in the southern states in 1839-'40, and in Great Britain in 1840-'2 and 1850-'3. He left in his will $122,00 to various benevolent institutions, and a lot, valued at $30,00, for a home for superannuated merchants and gentlemen. "
Note: Cresson was originally interred in St. Andrew Church Burial Ground.
Burial:
Woodlands Cemetery
Philadelphia
Philadelphia County
Pennsylvania, USA
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