Image: Receipt for a Library Company share, 1733.

We continue our monthly “Shareholder Spotlight” series by taking a closer look at share #647 and its second owner, Anne Biddle Tatum (b. 1780).

Shareholders have always been the backbone of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Starting with the first group of fifty tradesmen who formed the library in 1731, shareholders have provided crucial financial support each year for our mission to “pour forth benefits for the common good.”

We keep careful track of who has owned each historic share, and our list of 9,800+ shareholders includes signers of the Declaration and Constitution, merchants, doctors, soldiers, scientists, artists, philanthropists, politicians, and much more.

Share #647

This share was first issued to Jacob Parke (1754-1817) on January 3, 1791.

The Library Company had opened its new building near 5th and Chestnut Streets just two days before this share was issued, and Parke had done work for the building.

According to the minutes of the Directors meeting on December 9, 1790, Parke applied for this share because he had furnished “ironmongery” for the new building, and the share was most likely issued as payment or partial payment for that work. Both the 1791 and 1801 Philadelphia directories lists Parke as an ironmonger based on High (now Market) Street.

Image: The December 9, 1790 Directors’ minutes note that “Jacob Parke & Richard Hopkins applied for Certificates for Shares on account of Ironmongery furnished by them all which were agreed to.” Detail from Directors Minutes Volume 3, Library Company of Philadelphia Records (MSS00270), Library Company of Philadelphia.

Image: Jacob Parke Share Certificate (share #647), Library Company of Philadelphia Records (MSS00270), Library Company of Philadelphia.

Parke apparently maintained his Library Company share for the next twenty-seven years.

He supplied ironwork for the Library Company at least once more during that time. A 1797 invoice indicates that he supplied items such as nails, hinges, drawer handles, and padlocks.[i]

After Parke’s death, his executors James P. Parke and Clement Biddle sold the share to “Anne Biddle” on May 24, 1817. It is possible that all three were related to Jacob Parke, but the Library Company’s records do not provide further details about their connections. Executor James P. Parke might be James Pemberton Parke (b. 1783), who was then serving as treasurer of the Library Company.

As for new shareholder Anne Biddle, the Library Company’s records do not provide more information about her until she sells the share on August 12, 1822.

For that transaction, she had a co-seller: her husband John Tatum of Deptford, NJ. And that marriage detail helps us identify Anne as almost certainly the daughter of Owen Biddle (1737-1799) and Sarah Parke Biddle (1742-1794).[ii]

Anne and John were newlyweds when they sold Library Company share #647. They had married in Philadelphia less than two months earlier on June 26, 1822.[iii]

Image: The 1822 share transaction from Anne Biddle to Peter Thomson is recorded as including a co-seller: “…we Joseph [John] Tatum of Deptford township in the County of Gloucester . . . and Anne my wife late Anne Biddle…” Each later mention of Mr. Tatum lists his first name as John. Detail from Share Record Book C. Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270), Library Company of Philadelphia.

Interestingly, Clement Biddle was again involved in Anne’s share transaction, this time as a witness to the share transfer.

Anne and her new husband sold the Library Company share to Peter Thomson, who owned the share for the next twenty-one years. The share has been owned by ten people total in its history.

Not yet a shareholder?

Share #647 is currently available. We work hard to match potential shareholders with historic shares that match their interests, and we would love to match you with Anne Biddle Tatum’s share or another option. To learn more, reach out to our Development Office at [email protected].

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[i] For more details, see Account and Receipt of Jacob Parke for Building Materials (7442.F.19), Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270), Library Company of Philadelphia.

[ii] Henry D. Biddle, “Owen Biddle,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 16, no. 3 (October 1892), 299-329.

[iii] Anne and John’s marriage is listed in Frank H. Stewart, ed. Notes on Old Gloucester County New Jersey: Historical Records Published by the New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania Volume 1 (Camden, NJ, 1917), 219.