Anna Thomas Jeanes (1822 - 1907)

Born 7 Apr 1822 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Died 24 Sep 1907 at age 85 in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Anna was a Friend (Quaker)

Anna Jeanes is Notable.

Anna, one of the most generous philanthropists in Quaker history, was born 7 Apr 1822 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the tenth and youngest child of Isaiah Jeanes, a merchant and member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and Ann Thomas.^[1][2] Anna spent her entire life in Philadelphia.^[3][4][5][6]

Anna's mother passed away when she was age four. Anna, who wore old time Quaker dress her entire life, received an excellent education, painted with talent, wrote a book of poems entitled Fancy's Flight, read French with ease and studied the world's religions.^[7] None of Anna's siblings had children, nor did she. Her brothers Samuel and Joshua were merchants like their father. Her brother Joseph owned coal and mineral fields; brother Jacob was a medical doctor and homeopathic physician who co-founded Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, later Hahnemann Medical College (now part of Drexel College of Medicine); and sister Mary was a philanthropist and abolitionist.

By age 72, Anna had inherited all of the extensive family wealth which had not been distributed elsewhere and undertook to better humanity. She disliked attention and employed cunning in preserving her anonymity while giving large sums to many causes. Hollis Frissell, president of struggling Hampton Institute in Virginia, penetrated Anna's secrecry and visited her in Philadelphia. His appeal for the institute was rejected, "Yes," said Anna, "I know all about Hampton and won't give money to that." But, she continued, "I want to hear about the poor little Negro-cabin, one-teacher rural schools. Can you tell me about these schools?" The eloquent Yale graduate, Frissell, complied and Anna said, "Thee interests me." She went to her bedroom and wrote Frissell a check for $10,000 which was followed a few days later with an additional $10,000 and then a third check for $200,000. In her will she bequeathed the sum of $1,000,000 prescribed to be devoted "solely to the assistance of Rural Community or Country Schools for Southern Negroes...for the purpose of rudimentary education which shall promote peace in the land and goodwill among men." These funds became known as the Jeanes Fund with its overseers to be chosen by Dr Frissell and Booker T Washington. By 1917 there were 198 Jeanes Teachers in Virginia and by 1932 there were 320 throughout the South.^[7]

She despised the game of football, and once remarked of the sport, "They must be ungodly men who mimic war when there is peace". In her will, she endowed the family's coal properties, worth approximately a million dollars, to Swarthmore College, with the stipulation that the school give up its football program. Swarthmore declined to accept the endowment.^[8]

Anna passed away from breast cancer 24 Sep 1907. Her remains were cremated and the ashes interred next to her siblings at Fair Hill Burial Ground, Philadelphia.^[2][9]

In 2019 the Pennsylvania Historical Commission awarded a historical marker on the grounds of Jeanes Hospital (see below).^[10]

Other Philanthropy

In addition to that mentioned above and much that to this day remains unknown.

• Anna built a boarding home for aged Friends, the second of which was named Stapeley in Germantown, Philadelphia where she herself lived.
• Anna left a generous bequest to build a hospital. Her desire was to establish a hospital specializing in cancer, nervous, and disabling ailments. Jeanes Hospital was established on land that had been the Jeanes family farm in Fox Chase. Following WWII, Jeanes Hospital became an acute care general hospital. Later, consistent with Anna's will, the Institute for Cancer Research and American Oncologic Hospital relocated to the Jeanes campus. These two institutions merged to become Fox Chase Cancer Center. Today, Jeanes Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center are members of the Temple University Health System.
• Anna provided funds to the following: the Houses of Industry; the Penn Asylum for Widows and Single Women; Homes for Destitute Colored Children; Homes for the Aged and Infirm Colored Persons; Firemen's Pension Fund; Pennsylvania Working and Industrial Homes for Blind Men; Pennsylvania Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children; Sanitarium Association of Philadelphia (for sick children); Spring Garden Institute; soup kitchens; and children's nurseries.^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Haverford, Quaker Meeting Records. Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Northern District Births, Deaths and Burials, 1806-1885
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, PA; Pennsylvania (State). Death Certificates, 1906-1968; Certificate Number 93016
3. ↑ US Census, Year: 1850; Census Place: Lower Dublin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M432_808; Page: 40B; Image: 86
4. ↑ US Census,Year: 1860; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 23 Precinct 4, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1174; Page: 623; Image: 189; Family History Library Film: 805174
5. ↑ US Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1172; Family History Film: 1255172; Page: 190B; Enumeration District: 171; Image: 0186
6. ↑ US Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 10, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1455; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0176; FHL microfilm: 1241455
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Worrall, Jr, Jay,The Friendly Virginians, America's First Quakers, Athens (Georgia), Iberian Publishing, 1994, pp 480-82
8. ↑ NNDB.com biography of Anna Jeanes, accessed 26 Dec 2022. The source of this information is not provided.
9. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #7350115
10. ↑ "Jeanes Hospital Founding Benefactor Anna T. Jeanes Receives Historical Marker from State of Pennsylvania". Temple Health.
11. ↑ "The Legacy and Philanthropy of Anna Thomas Jeanes". Friends Journal. 2020-03-01.

See Also:

Anna T Jeanes at Wikipedia

• The Women Who Ran the Schools - "The Women Who Ran the Schools: The Jeanes Teachers and Durham County's Rural Black Schools" from The North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library, North Carolina.