John Kearsley Sr. (140)

John Kearsley, Sr. (c. 4 June 1684–11 January 1772) was a surgeon, physician, and public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Greatham, County Durham, England, he trained in medicine before immigrating to Philadelphia in 1711. Upon arriving he began a long and successful career in medicine and devoted his energies to public health issues, in particular advocating for inoculation. Kearsley trained APS members Thomas Cadwalader, Cadwalader Evans, and Thomas and Phineas Bond; and he treated APS members Edward Shippen and Israel Pemberton. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1722 and then re-elected annually through 1740. In addition to medicine and public office, he pursued interests in natural history and astronomy within the intellectual community afforded by the APS and the Library Company of Philadelphia. His life-long passion, however, was Christ Church. Kearsley served as a vestryman there for over fifty years and was instrumental in overseeing the construction of its new building, finally completed in 1744. Upon his death, he left inheritances to his wife, his nephew APS member John Kearsley, Jr., and other family members. But he bequeathed the bulk of his estate to the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peters in order to establish Christ Church Hospital (now the Kearsley Rehabilitation and Nursing Center). (PI)