John Gummere
Born in 1784, John Gummere was a prominent
Quaker educator and author of
textbooks throughout the early nineteenth century. In 1814, he was
elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, and published
his Treatise on Surveying. 1814 also saw the founding of
the Gummere Academy on East Union Street in Burlington, a boys' school
offering classical education, with John as its president. In 1821, he
published a textbook on astronomy.
In 1830, Gummere donated the original building
used by Burlington's first African Methodist Episcopal church. In 1833,
along with his brother Samuel R.
Gummere, John's son Samuel J. Gummere, and Dr. John Griscom,
formerly schoolmaster of the Burlington
Friends' School, John
was instrumental in the founding of Haverford College, where he served
as president and taught mathematics from 1834 to 1843.
In 1843, Gummere returned to Burlington, and again served as president
of the Gummere Academy until his death in 1845. His Treatise on
Surveying outlived him, serving as the standard surveying text for
students and professionals alike until the Civil War, and remaining in
print until 1917.
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