Jacob Duché Sr. (252)

Jacob Duché, Sr. (26 April 1708–28 September 1788) was a civil, military, and ecclesiastical officeholder and a member of the American Philosophical Society via his 1768 election to the American Society. Born in Philadelphia into a Huguenot family known for creating stoneware, he was elected to the Common Council in 1755, as alderman in 1757, and as mayor of Philadelphia in 1761. In the summer of 1755 his home was requisitioned as a hospital for soldiers arriving in the wake of General Braddock’s defeat. And the following spring, as troops were organized to defend the province against the French and their native allies, Duché was named colonel of the Philadelphia Regiment of Foot. He later served as a street commissioner and a justice of the peace. Duché was also active in religious affairs, serving as a vestryman of Christ Church and promoting the founding of St. Peter’s Church and St. Paul’s. He was present at the meeting of the vestry on July 4, 1776 when the church resolved to discontinue its customary prayers for the king in accordance with the recent congressional independence resolution. Duché was a director of the Library Company and served on the board of managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital. He was also a donor to the Academy and College of Philadelphia and a subscriber to the Silk Society. He signed the Non-Importation Agreement of 1765 but played no active role in the American Revolution. In 1777 his son, APS member Jacob Duché, Jr., was branded a traitor and departed for England. Seven years later Duché, Sr. joined him in Lambeth, London, where he died in 1788. His father-in-law Benjamin Duffield was an APS member. (PI)