Joshua Francis Fisher (February 17, 1807 – January 21, 1873) was an American writer and philanthropist.

Biography

Fisher was born in Philadelphia. He graduated in 1825 from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1829, but did not practice. He became an incorporator of the

Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind The Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was established in 1832. Its present site, in the city's Overbrook neighborhood, was acquired in 1890. Along with the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, the Western Pennsylvani ...

and studied questions of American, in particular of Pennsylvanian, history. He married Elizabeth Powell Francis, who died during the birth of their only child, Joshua Francis Fisher, who was brought up by relatives. In 1833, Fisher was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he sympathized with the Confederacy.

Works

* ''The Private Life and Domestic Habits of William Penn'' (1836) * ''The Degradation of Our Representative System and Its Reform'' (1863) * ''Reform in Our Municipal Elections'' (a pamphlet, 1866)

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Joshua Francis 1807 births 1873 deaths Harvard College alumni Historians from Pennsylvania 19th-century American writers Writers from Philadelphia Philanthropists from Pennsylvania 19th-century American philanthropists Burr family