Image: Receipt for a Library Company share, 1733.

We continue our monthly “Shareholder Spotlight” series by taking a closer look at Share #671 and its third owner, Anne Bond Travis Erskine (circa 1792-1851).

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 #671

This share was first issued to Frederick Heiz on January 31, 1791. This may be the Frederick Heisz listed as a grocer in the 1791 Philadelphia directory.

Heiz became a new shareholder the same month that the Library Company opened its new building at 5th and Chestnut Street. The Library Company had begun issuing new shares two years earlier to help raise funds for that new building.[i]

Heiz maintained his Library Company share for the next few years, eventually selling it to Waller Phillips on July 8, 1796. For an unknown reason, the transaction was not recorded in Library Company records until January 14, 1797.

The same month Phillips purchased his Library Company share, he ran multiple newspaper advertisements looking for his lost dog, Don. It is unclear if his dog was ever returned.

Image: The same month Waller Phillips became a Library Company shareholder, he ran multiple advertisements looking for a lost dog. “Lost,” Gazette of the United States & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser, July 19, 1796.

Waller maintained his Library Company share for about six years. His attorney John Travis sold the share to Anne Bond Travis (circa 1791-1851) on April 4, 1803. Given the matching surname, John was almost certainly a relative of Anne’s, and most likely her father John Travis (d. 1803), who was a successful merchant. Her father died just a few months later.[ii]

Anne was apparently a teenager when she became a shareholder, and she remained unmarried for most of her life. Her father had emigrated to Philadelphia from Britain; her mother’s side of the family included connections to several prominent Philadelphia families, including the Bonds, the Cadwaladers, and the Moores.[iii]

The death of Anne’s father no doubt caused hardships, but her mother’s side of the family was established and wealthy. For instance, Anne’s maternal grandfather, Dr. Phineas Bond (1717-1773), had helped to found Pennsylvania Hospital and a number of other institutions, including the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). Her loyalist uncle Phineas Bond (1748-1815) long served as Britain’s consul general. Several members of her family, including her mother Elizabeth Bond Travis (1771-1820), had their portraits painted by noted artist Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828).[iv]

In 1810, when Anne was 18 years old, she accompanied her loyalist uncle Phineas and his family to Britain. Another aunt, Williamina Bond Cadwalader (1753-1837) was already in Britain, as was Williamina’s daughter and Anne’s first cousin, Frances Cadwalader Erskine (1781-1843).[v]

Image: Library Company shareholder Anne Bond Travis Erskine was a cousin to the first Mrs. Erskine, depicted here in 1809. After her cousin’s death, Anne became the second Mrs. Erskine in 1843. Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin, Frances Cadwalader Erskine (1809). Engraving on paper. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.

Anne maintained her Library Company share for twenty-seven years, though it is unclear how much of that time was spent in Philadelphia.

Anne’s attorney Thomas Cadwalader finally sold her Library Company share to a new owner in 1830. This Thomas was most likely Anne’s cousin Thomas Cadwalader (1779-1841).

Long after Anne sold her Library Company share, she eventually married the Honorable David Montagu Erskine (1776-1855), who was the 2nd Baron Erskine. His first wife had been Anne’s first cousin, Frances Cadwalader Erskine. Her cousin Frances passed away on March 25, 1843, and Anne married David four months later on July 29, 1843.[vi]

Share #671 has been owned by eleven people total.

Not yet a shareholder?

Share #671 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 Bond Travis Erskine’s share or another option.

You can become a Library Company shareholder with an initial gift of $500. To learn more, visit our website or reach out to our Development Office at [email protected].

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[i] See June 1, 1789 minutes, Directors Minutes Volume 3, volume 165, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).

[ii] “[John Travis death notice],” Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, October 14, 1803.

[iii] Joanne Loewe Neel, Phineas Bond: A Study in Anglo-American Relations, 1786-1812 (Philadelphia, 1968), 155-156.

[iv] Stuart’s portraits of Anne’s mother Elizabeth Bond Travis (1771-1820) and cousin Frances Cadwalader Montague (Lady Erskine) are now part of the collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her uncle Phineas Bond’s portrait by Stuart was still in family hands as of 1968 when it was reproduced on the frontispiece of Loewe Neel, Phineas Bond: A Study in Anglo-American Relations, 1786-1812 (Philadelphia, 1968).

[v] Neel, 156.

[vi] R. G. Thorne, “Erskine, Hon. David Montagu (1776-1855), of Butler’s Green, Suss.” The History of Parliament https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/erskine-hon-david-montagu-1776-1855 (accessed June 17, 2025).