Elijah Funk Pennypacker was born on November 29, 1804 in Schuylkill Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Funk) Pennypacker and the descendant of Heinrich (or Hendrick) Pannebäcker, a Mennonite who came from the Low Countries to Pennsylvania before 1699. He was the uncle of Galusha Pennypacker. The family was prosperous,
Elijah Funk Pennypacker was educated at the boarding school of John Gummere of Burlington, New Jersey, where he followed the bent of his master toward mathematics, surveying, and such practical studies.
In his early life Elijah Funk Pennypacker taught for a few years, practised surveying, and devoted himself to farming. Between 1831 and 1836 he served several sessions in the state legislature, where his reputation for uprightness and ability attracted the attention of such men as Thaddeus Stevens and Joseph Ritner. His loyalty to what he thought right must have become irksome at times in legislative halls, for Stevens was once minded to tell him not "to be so damned honest". While in the legislature he served ably in many ways: as secretary to the board of canal commissioners in 1836 and 1837 and a member of that board in 1838, as chairman of the committee on banks, as sponsor for the bill for incorporation of the Philadelphia Reading Railroad, and as collaborator with Thaddeus Stevens in the establishment of the common-school system of Pennsylvania.
A career in politics was undoubtedly open to him, but Elijah Funk Pennypacker declined to continue in this path, being unwilling, as one has said, "to hold office under a government that sanctioned human slavery". After his retirement from public affairs, in 1839, he joined heartily in the abolition movement, serving from time to time as president of the local society and also as head of the Chester County and the Pennsylvania state anti-slavery societies.
Pennypacker's house near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, became one of the stations on the Underground Railroad, and his two-horse wagon was a frequent carrier of black-skinned human freight that sought its way toward the North Star and to freedom. Of the "Railroad" he said, whimsically, when the work was done, that its "stock was never reported in money circles, nor dividends declared, but means were ready as long as necessity required. The Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln dissolved the Corporation".
Elijah Funk Pennypacker was also prominent in the temperance movement and its candidate for state treasurer in 1875. Woman's emancipation and her equal education also found in him a hearty supporter. His character did not fail to impress his fellow citizens. He died on January 4, 1888.
Elijah Funk Pennypacker was a member of the Society of Friends.
Quotes from others about the person
Whittier said of Elijah Funk Pennypacker, "In mind, body, and brave championship of the cause of freedom he was one of the most remarkable men I ever knew", and another declared, "If that is not a good man, there is no use in the Lord writing His signature on human countenances".
Elijah Funk Pennypacker married, first, Sarah W. Coates in 1831. They had no children. In 1843 he married Hannah Adamson, who bore him nine children.
