Benjamin J. Hallowell (1799 - 1877)

Born 17 Aug 1799 in Shoemaker, Cheltenham Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Elgar (Farquhar) Hallowell — married 13 Oct 1824 in Meeting House, Sandy Spring, Maryland

Descendants

Died 7 Sep 1877 at age 78 in Sandy Spring, Montgomery, Maryland, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Christopher Gorman [send private message]

Biography

Historical Overview of the Hallowell Line.

This Hallowell lineage begin with Thomas Hallowell and wife Rosamond Till respectively, in Nottingham and Staffordshire, England. It is presumed that they were Quakers escaping persecution in England. They emigrated separately to Delaware County, Pennsylvania Colony and were married there at the Darby Meeting 12 Jan 1702. They had nine known children, all born at Abington, Chester County.<7> The one of interest is William Hallowell Sr., born 01 Aug 1707 and died 23 Aug 1794 at Abington. He married Margaret Tyson 29 Sep 1729 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Colony. The had 11 known children, all born in Abington, of which William Hallowell Jr is our ancestor. <8> William married Mary Williams on 22 Nov 1764 in Montgomery County, most likely at Abington Meeting. He died 03 Dec 1820 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania They produced seven known children of which Anthony I. Hallowell is the progenitor of the Hallowell-Miller union.<9> He was born 29 Jun 1770 at Abington and died 10 Apr 1820 at Cheltenham, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Anthony married Jane Comly Shoemaker at Abington Monthly Meeting, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on 17 Jun 1793. They had seven known children and son Benjamin is where our detailed biographies begin. <10>

Benjamin was born at Cheltenham, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on 17 Aug 1799. His parents Anthony I Hallowell and Jane Comly Shoemaker were Quakers and attended the Abington Monthly Meeting. On 13 Oct 1824 he married Margaret Elgar Farquhar at the Indian Creek (Sandy Spring) Meeting House, Montgomery County, Maryland.<51> Margaret was from the Pipe Creek Meeting in Caroll County, Maryland. They settled in Alexandria, then part of the District of Columbia. The marriage produced nine children, but four died in childhood. The children were James (1825), Charles (1827), Henry Clay (1829-twin), Mary Jane (1829-twin), Caroline (1831), Benjamin (1834), John Elgar (1836), Benjamin Jr. (1838), and Mary Shoemaker (1839). James, Charles, Mary Jane, and Benjamin died young. Benjamin was a teacher and educator initially teaching school in Westtown, Pennsylvania and Olney, Maryland. He then moved into Alexandria, Virginia and founded the Alexandria Boarding School in 1824.<52> In 1842 he turned over the school to his nephews Caleb and James S Hallowell. After teaching at Columbia College (George Washington University) and a school in Philadelphia, he returned to manage his boarding school in Alexandria, where he stayed until the school was sold in 1858. In 1859 he became president of the newly formed Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland. In 1860, as the war clouds were gathering, he moved his family to Sandy Spring, where they spent the remainder of their lives.<53> Benjamin died 07 Sep 1877 at Sandy Spring (Rockland House) and is buried at the Sandy Spring Meeting House. Margaret passed on 01 May 1875 also at Rockland House and is buried with her husband at Sandy Spring.<54>

Benjamin was a Friend (Quaker)

He was the son of Anthony and Jane (Shoemaker) Hallowell.

He was a famous educator having taught at Friend's School, Westfield, N.J.; Fair Hill School, Sandy Springs, Maryland and Westtown Friend's School, Chester Co., Pennsylvania. He established his own school: the Alexandria Boarding School in 1824.

In 1842, he turned over the school to his nephews, Caleb and James S Hallowell, and moved to Rockland, Maryland, where he became a farmer.

In the fall of 1843 he was asked to fill a vacancy at Columbian College (later named George Washington University), spending three days a week in Washington as Professor of Chemistry in it's medical department. He resigned at the end of the year.

In 1845 was induced by Friend's of Philadelphia to leave Alexandria for a year to go to Philadelphia to establish the institution now known as Friends' Central School. For the school year 1845-6 he became principal of a newly built high school in Philadelphia on Cherry Street.

He resumed management of the Alexandria school in 1846 and ran it until it was sold in 1858.

In 1854 he was invited to lecture on Astronomy at the Smithsonian Institute.

In 1859, he became president of the Maryland Agricultural College and, as it eventually grew into the University of Maryland, is recognized as the first president of the University of Maryland.

Hallowell-384 He styled himself "junior", probably in honor of his deceased older brother of the same name as well as in honor of his grandfather Benjamin Shoemaker, who helped raise him as a child, and because he never knew his father. His father abandoned the family when Benjamin was two and 1/2 years old and his mother took him and his siblings to live with her father.

He was a famously great educator, and had, among others, Gen. Robert E. Lee in his boarding school in Alexandria, Virgina which he opened in 1824 (The Hallowell School). Many influential Quakers, children of dignitaries, and others that could afford boarding school sent their children to his school which was noted for it's expertise in teaching Mathematics.

In 1854 he was invited to lecture on Astronomy at the Smithsonian Institute.

He was the author of several textbooks used throughout America at the time.

After teaching, he was appointed as an Indian commissioner, he visited all the Indian tribes in Nebraska yearly, traveling nearly 6,000 miles in carriages. He retired to Montgomery Co., MD in 1858.

His bust is prominently displayed in the Swarthmore Friends Library near Philadelphia.

Sources

• Autobiography of Benjamin Hallowell, self, Philadelphia PA (1884)

• Source: S302 Record ID Number: MH:S302 User ID: 81BC3AE8-C2DD-4576-B358-BEA279B9719E Author: Nick Farquhar Title: Farquhar Web Site Text: MyHeritage.com family tree CONT Family site: Farquhar Web Site CONT Family tree: 2774595-1 Media: 356963-1 Type: Smart Matching Record ID Number: MH:SC5117 Page: Benjamin J Hallowell Event: Smart Matching Role: 1001144 Data: Date: 30 MAR 2013 Text: Added by confirming a Smart Match Quality or Certainty of Data: 3

• Source: S382 Record ID Number: MH:S382 User ID: 4363647B-1A9C-427C-A7DB-22BB741C7F00 Author: Jesse Hallowell Title: John Hallowell Tree Web Site Text: MyHeritage.com family tree CONT Family site: John Hallowell Tree Web Site CONT Family tree: Roland Hallowell Media: 193561131-3 Type: Smart Matching Record ID Number: MH:SC5118 Page: Benjamin J. Hallowell Event: Smart Matching Role: 3000636 Data: Date: 30 MAR 2013 Text: Added by confirming a Smart Match Quality or Certainty of Data: 3

• Source: S433 Record ID Number: MH:S424 User ID: 51C609A264C3C1EBFD4BED9A4368B428 Author: Willa Lee Bond Title: Bond Web Site Text: MyHeritage.com family tree CONT Family site: Bond Web Site CONT Family tree: Turner Family Tree Media: 125777152-1 Type: Smart Matching Record ID Number: MH:SC6859 Page: Benjamin J Hallowell Event: Smart Matching Role: 1009784 Data: Date: 29 JUN 2013 Text: Added by confirming a Smart Match Quality or Certainty of Data: 3

• Genealogy of the Sharpless family, descended from John and Jane Sharples, settlers near Chester, Pennsylvania, 1682 : together with some account of the English ancestry of the family, including the results of researches by Henry Fishwick, etc. Page 340 [1]

7 James Tipton, "Find-a-Grave", database, Memorial ID 38230655. Birth 6 Jan 1678. Hucknall, Ashfield District, Nottinghamshire, England. Death 14 Dec 1734 (aged 56), Abington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Colony. Burial Abington Friends Cemetery, Jenkintown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Colony.

• U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Ancestry.com, Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Quaker Meeting Records.

8 James Tipton, "Find-a-Grave", database, Memorial ID 116038106. Birth 1 Jun 1707, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Colony. Death 23 Aug 1794 (aged 87), Cheltenham, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Burial Abington Friends Cemetery, Jenkintown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

• U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Ancestry.com, Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Men's Minutes, 1682-1746; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: MR-Ph 4.

9 FamilySearch.org, "Family Tree," database, entry for William Hallowell Jr.(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:9F9F-2K4); contributed by various users. PersonID 9F9F-2K4.

• FamilySearch.org, "Pennsylvania Deaths and Burials, 1720-1999", database,

(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H5XV-PL2M), William Hallowell, 1820.

• U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Ancestry.com, Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Membership Book, 1809-1935; Collection: Quaker Meeting Records; Call Number: MR-PH-3. Death Age: 59; Birth

Date: abt 1741; Death Date: 20 Jan 1800; Death Place: Montgomery, Pennsylvania. Residence Place: Abington; Monthly Meeting: Abington Monthly Meeting; ; Yearly Meeting: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Meeting State: Pennsylvania; Meeting County: Montgomery. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=2189&h=1696771&indiv=try 10 U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, database, Memorial ID 121729516. Birth 29 Jun 1770, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA. Death 10 Apr 1820 (aged 49), Cheltenham, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA. Burial Unknown, Ancestry.com

• U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Ancestry.com, Record for Anthony Hallowell Name: Anthony Hallowell; Event Type: Birth Birth Date: 29 Jun 1770; Birth Date on Image: 29 Sixth 1770. Birth Place: Montgomery, Pennsylvania; Residence Place: Abington. Father: Wm Hallowell. Mother: Mary Hallowell. Monthly Meeting: Abington Monthly Meeting. Religion Sect: Pre-Hicksite. Yearly Meeting: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Meeting State: Pennsylvania. Meeting County: Montgomery. http://search.ancestry.com/cgibin/sse.dll?db=QuakerMeetMins&h=228395&indiv=try.
• Ancestry Family Trees, data base, Record for James Shoemaker Hallowell. https://search.ancestry.com/cgibin/sse.dll?db=1030&h=192162744447&indiv=try.

51 Benjamin Hallowell and Catherine Hallowell Miller, Autobiography of Benjamin Hallowell (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Friends Books, 1883), Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540. Fn 11 [11 William Wade Hinshaw, Marshall, Thomas Worth ed; Brown, Douglas Summers, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy: Volume VI Virginia (1950; Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc, 1993); pg. 765, col 2.] 52 Fn 11

• 1850 U.S. census, population schedule, Virginia, Alexandria, Alexandria, pg. 398 (stamped), dwelling 1318, family 1383, Benj Hallowell. Benj Hallowell (52), teacher & farmer, b. PA; Margraret (51), b. MD; Caroline (19), b. DC; J. Edgar (14), b. DC; Benj (12), b. DC; Mary (11), b. DC. Phebe Farquar (45), b.NARA microfilm publication M 432, roll 932; digital image, Ancestry.com

53 1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Maryland, Montgomery, 5th District, pg. 72, Post Office Sandy Spring, dwelling 491, family 492, Benjamin Hallowell. Benjamin (70), retired teacher; Margaret (71); Henry C. Hallowell (40), farmer, b. VA; Sarah M. Hallowell (33), b.VA; Cornelia (11), b. MD; Edith (19), b. MD; Francis M. (8), b. MD; Robert (5), b. MD; Mary (2), b. MD; Eliza (8/12), b. MD. Bridget Murry (47), domestic, b. Ireland; Juliana Budd (17), domestic, b. MD; Emmaline (18), domestic, b. MD.; NARA microfilm publication M 593, roll 591; digital image, Ancestry.com 54 William Henry Farquhar, Annuals of Sandy Spring Volume I (Baltimore, Maryland, Cushings & Bailey, 1884), pg. 193. "Ninth month, 7th, Benjamin Hallowell closed his long and useful life.".

• James Tipton, "Find A Grave", database, Memorial ID 94505656. Birth 17 Aug 1799, Abington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA. Death 7 Sep 1877 (aged 78), Sandy Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. Burial Sandy Spring Friends Meeting House Cemetery, Sandy Spring, Montgomery County,

Maryland, USA. Plot Row E, Plot 11, Site 1.

• William Henry Farquhar, Annuals of Sandy Spring Volume I (Baltimore, Maryland, Cushings & Bailey, 1884), pg. 159. ". . .at Rockland, Fifth Month, 1st, Margaret Hallowell, wife of Benjamin Hallowell (and sister of the writer), closed a long, useful, and precious life, wanting a few months of seventy-seven years.".

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Christopher Gorman for creating WikiTree profile Hallowell-49 through the import of Gorman 2013-09-07 1526.ged on Sep 14, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Christopher and others.