Fisher, W. L. (William Logan), 1781-1862

In March, 1772, Thomas Fisher married Sarah Logan, uniting two of the most prominent families in American Quaker society. Following in the footsteps of his father, Joshua, Fisher established himself early in life as a merchant, engaging in trade with Britain and her West Indian coloniesuntil the time of the Revolution. Imprisoned and deported from Philadelphia as a suspected loyalist during the Revolution, Fisher nevertheless survived the experience with his business concerns intact, and soon renewed.

His interests in shipping and brewing, and gained a reputation for his generous philanthropy. When the Yellow Fever epidemic struck Philadelphiain 1793, Fisher and his wife retreated to Wakefield, a property near Germantown that they had inherited from William Logan. They decided to remain at Wakefield permanently, erecting a house in 1795.

The Fisher's third child, William Logan Fisher, was born in Philadelphia in 1781. Twice married, first to Mary Rodman in 1801, with whom he had three children, and second to Sarah Lindley, with whom he had an additional three children, Fisher lived most of his life at Wakefield. From his early twenties, Fisher distinguished himself as an industrious manufacturer and merchant, assuming a brisk trade in wool and woolen products, and promoting the indigenous manufacture of gloves, stockings, woolen.

Apparel, and broad cloth. The most important and longest lasting of Fisher's commercial partnerships was one with a brother-in-law, Charles W. Morgan (Morgan's wife, Sarah Rodman, and Fisher's first wife were sisters). The two worked together in the wool trade and as partners in the Duncannon Iron Works, a major operation in Clark's Ferry, Pa., that included a blast furnace, rolling mill and nail manufactory.

In the 1820's, the Society of Friends entered a period of crisis, experiencing a series of schisms over doctrinal and social issues and over the influence of the "new" evangelism. Fisher and Morgan were committed to the "liberal" social ideas and doctrinal beliefs typically associated with the Hicksites, and were generally opposed to the evangelically-influenced, narrowly scripture-centered doctrine that predominated in the New England Yearly Meeting and that was present in a sizable minority in.

Philadelphia. Later in life, Fisher became well known as a Quaker controversialist, authoring books on Owenite socialism, the history of Sabbath observance, and laws and history of the Society of Friends. Fisher died in Philadelphia in 1862.