Library Company share #10 was first issued to John Sober on November 10, 1731.
By 1731, he was obviously acquainted with Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and his fellow Junto members. That group drew up “Articles of Agreement” on July 1, 1731 to found a library, and Sober was among the first group of shares issued four months later. These subscribers each invested forty shillings and “promised to pay ten shillings a year thereafter to buy books and maintain a shareholder’s library.”[i]
Sober was a merchant and served as a common councilor under William Penn’s charter. He was also one of the managers of the Second Philadelphia Lottery held in 1748, which was held to raise funds for strengthening the city’s defenses.[ii]
He was apparently deceased by 1754, when his widow Sarah Sober entered into a trust agreement with Library Company shareholders Franklin and Richard Peters (1704-1776) serving as trustees.[iii]
Sober’s estate must have continued to pay to maintain the share after his death, because Library Company records indicate his share was not forfeited until May 1784.
The share then remained dormant for the next 150 years.
In 1934, the share was reissued as share #1331. Anna Ingersoll (1887-1980) acquired the share on February 1, 1934.
Image: Photograph of Joseph Sacks, Portrait: Miss Anna Warren Ingersoll (1915). Photograph. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Ingersoll came from a very wealthy family. She had never married, and lived with her parents at their home at 1815 Walnut Street in Philadelphia as well as at their country home in Penllyn in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Her father Charles E. Ingersoll (1860-1932) had died just two years before she acquired this Library Company share.
Ingersoll herself was an artist as well as an art collector. She had studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), among others, and her painting Black Afternoon is now part of PAFA’s permanent collection.[iv]
The Library Company’s records provide no further information about Ingersoll’s involvement.
The share was reissued as share #10 by 1991.
Share History:
- John Sober, acquired share #10 on November 10, 1731
- Reissued as share #1331, Anna Ingersoll (1887-1980) acquired it on February 1, 1934
Shareholders who acquired this share after 1950 are not displayed for privacy reasons.
Learn more about Library Company shareholding today.
[i] “At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin”: A Brief History of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 2015), 5.
[ii] “Sarah Sober to Richard Peters and Benjamin Franklin: Trust Agreement, 25 June 1754,” Founders Online, National Archives https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0099 (accessed September 19, 2024). Michael Schreiber, “Plans for a Nature Preserve: The Natural History of Wicaco (Old Swedes’ Church,” Philahistory.org https://philahistory.org/2017/06/28/plans-for-a-nature-preserve-the-natural-history-of-wicaco-old-swedes-church/ (accessed September 19, 2024).
[iii] “Sarah Sober to Richard Peters and Benjamin Franklin: Trust Agreement, 25 June 1754,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0099 (accessed August 1, 2024).
[iv] Finding Aid for the Anna Warren Ingersoll Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/anna-warren-ingersoll-papers-10158 (accessed September 19, 2024).