Richard Peters (138)

Richard Peters (c.1704–1776) was a clergyman and public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Liverpool, England, he began an extensive formal education early. He studied law at the Inner Temple before following his preference for divinity. He was ordained as a deacon in the Anglican Church in 1730, studied at Wadham College in Oxford, and earned a  Doctor of Divinity degree from Oxford University in 1770. Upon his arrival in Philadelphia in 1735, Peters began preaching at Christ Church and by 1736 was appointed its assistant rector. Internal feuding, however, prevented Peters from advancing to another position within the church, and in 1737 he accepted the more lucrative appointment as Secretary of the Land Office of the Province. In this office, which entailed handling land grants, collecting quitrents, and surveying local and state boundaries, Peters profited while he represented the interests of the Penn family. He continued his public service, acting as secretary and clerk of the Provincial Council for almost twenty years beginning in 1743 and becoming a member of the Council in 1749. Through these positions Peters was involved frequently in Indian affairs and attended important conferences held at Lancaster (1744), Easton (1758), and Fort Stanwix (1768). In the lead-up to the French and Indian War, Peters attended the 1754 Albany Congress where he formally submitted one of many competing plans to unify the colonies in a defensive union. He was president of the board of trustees of the Academy and College of Philadelphia from 1756 to 1764. After resigning the post of Provincial and Proprietary Secretary of the Land Office in 1762, he returned to Christ Church, this time as rector, a position he held until poor health forced him to resign in 1775. (PI)