Elliott Cresson was an American merchant and philanthropist. He was a partner in Cresson, Wistar & Company from 1818 to 1824. He was generous to many charities, both in his lifetime and in his will.
Background
Elliott Cresson was born on March 02, 1796 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A representative member of a family of successful merchants and valued citizens, he was in his generation noted more for the distribution of his wealth than for activities in attaining it. The family trace descent from Pierre Cresson, Huguenot refugee from France to Holland and later to New Amstel on the Delaware River in 1657. Elliott Cresson was the eldest son of John Elliott and Mary (Warder) Cresson, and was brought up in the influence of a Quaker home.
Career
Cresson became a partner in Cresson, Wistar & Company at 133 Market St. , Philadelphia, and resided at 30 Sansom St. (above Seventh) with his mother, who outlived him. Through the grave exterior of a “plain” Friend there could be seen in his countenance a character of kindly sympathy. From the teachings of the Society of Friends he had come to have an interest in the oppressed races, the American Indian and the African Americans, even thinking at one time of becoming a missionary to the Seminole Indians. His devotion, however, was chiefly given to the cause of colonization.
He was one of the organizers, in 1834, of The Young Men’s Colonization Society of Pennsylvania. In addition to liberal gifts to the cause himself and helping to buy land for the colony at Bassa Cove, Liberia, he made a trip to New England in the winter of 1838-1839 as agent of the American Colonization Society to raise funds and to arouse the spirit of colonization, which had become dormant in those regions. He made similar visits to the South and to England.
His interests covered a wide range. In addition to gifts during his life and bequests to relatives by his will, he left to the American Sunday School Union, $50, 000; to the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, $10, 000; to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, $10, 000; for a monument to William Penn, $10, 000; for Episcopal missions, schools and college, at Port Cresson, Liberia, $10, 000; to the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, $5, 000; to the City of Philadelphia, for planting trees, $5, 000; to the University of Pennsylvania, to endow a professorship in the fine arts, $5, 000; for founding a Miners’ School in Pennsylvania, $5, 000; to the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, $5, 000; to the Protestant Episcopal Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia, $5, 000; and to the Athenaeum, Philadelphia, to the Widows’ Asylum, Philadelphia, to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, to the House of Refuge, to the Colored Refuge, to the Refuge for Decayed Merchants and to the Pennsylvania Colonization Society, $1, 000 each. He also left land valued at over $30, 000 to found and support a home for aged, infirm or invalid gentlemen and merchants.
Another line of interest is shown in his founding the Elliott Cresson medal, awarded annually by the Franklin Institute “for some discovery in the Arts and Sciences, or for the invention or improvement of some useful machine, or for some new process or combination of materials in manufacturing, or for ingenuity, skill or perfection in workmanship. ”
Achievements
Religion
Cresson was a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
Views
Cresson advocated the colonization of Liberia.
Membership
Cresson was a member of the American Society for Colonizing the Poor People of Color of the United States and a member of Franklin Institute.