Image: Receipt for a Library Company share, 1733.

We continue our monthly “Shareholder Spotlight” series by taking a closer look at Share #493 and its first owner, Sarah Wistar.

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 #493

This share was first issued to Sarah Wistar on January 23, 1787. The Library Company Directors minutes simply report, “Sarah Wistar applies for leave to purchase a Share, which the Board approves.”

Image: Detail from January 4, 1787 minutes, Directors Minutes Volume 3, volume 165, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).

Unfortunately, it’s hard to know more about Sarah’s life. The name “Sarah Wistar” was not unique in Philadelphia in the late 18th century, and the related Wüster / Wistar / Wister families complicate our ability to untangle the already scarce historical records that survive. In Library Company records alone, another Sarah Wistar had been approved to purchase share #386 eighteen years earlier, in 1769. She still owned it when this share was acquired, so the Library Company apparently had two Sarah Wistars as shareholders for a time.

So who was the Sarah Wistar who acquired share #493?

According to the Philadelphia directories, Sarah might have been the “gentlewoman” who lived on Chestnut Street. That Sarah Wister/Wistar lived at that location for at least twenty-five of the thirty years she was a shareholder.[i] Her next-door neighbor as of 1791 was Richard Wistar, who was listed as a merchant.

Sarah had passed away by the time the share transferred to the next owner in 1817. One of her executors, “Luke W. Morris,” sold the share on September 23, 1817 to “Israel W. Morris.” (The transaction was not recorded by the Library Company until November 11, 1817.)

This is almost certainly Luke Wistar Morris (1768-1830), and his brother Israel Wistar Morris (1778-1870). Given the Wistar middle names, it seems likely that the brothers were related to shareholder Sarah, but the exact connection is unclear.

Israel owned share #493 for the next forty-three years.

On December 6, 1861, just a few months after the start of the U.S. Civil War, he sold the share to his daughter Hannah Morris (1809-1892). On the same day, he also sold Library Company share #291 as executor for his deceased sister Catharine Wistar Morris (1772-1859). (Both of those share transfers were recorded by the Library Company a few weeks later, on January 3, 1862.)[ii]

Image: Israel W. Morris sold two Library Company shares on the same day: his own share and one owned by his sister’s estate. Both transfers appear on the same page in Share Record Book D, volume 174, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).

As for Hannah, she maintained her Library Company share for the rest of her life. Her executor, George W. Bacon, eventually sold the share to Hannah’s sister Jane Morris (b. 1813) on June 2, 1892. After several more owners, share #493 finally passed out of the Morris family in the 20th century. The share has been owned by eleven people total in its history.

Not yet a shareholder?

Share #493 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 Sarah Wistar’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] The 1791 Philadelphia directory lists a “Wister, Sarah, gentlewoman,” at 108 Chestnut Street, and the 1816 Philadelphia directory lists “Wistar, Sarah, gentlewoman” at the same address.

[ii] Israel was likely executor to Catharine Wistar Morris (1772-1859), whose sewing case is now part of the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For more on Israel’s family, see Mary Hollingsworth Jamar, Hollingsworth Family and Collateral Lines of Cooch-Gilpin-Jamar-Mackall-Morris-Stewart (Philadelphia, 1944), courtesy of AncestryLibrary.com.