Samuel McPherson Janney was born 11 January 1801 in Loudoun County, Virginia, to Abijah Janney (1775-1842) and Jane McPherson Janney (1777-1813). After receiving some schooling, Janney was apprenticed at age fourteen to his uncle Phineas Janney (1775-1852) of Alexandria, Virginia, a commission merchant and iron importer. Janney later worked as a clerk and merchant. In 1828, he helped found a cotton factory at Occoquan, Prince William County, Virginia. However, it failed and Janney returned to Loudoun County and opened a girls' school called Springdale Boarding School in 1839. Janney retired about 1854 and devoted himself full time to the ministry, literature, and philanthropy. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) appointed him Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Superintendency, a position which Janney held until 1871. Janney was a member of the Hicksite division of the Society of Friends, although he was on friendly terms with orthodox Quakers. Janney was an antislavery spokesman from the 1820s until the Civil War. He married Elizabeth Janney (1802-1893) 9 March 1826, and they had at least five children. Janney died in Loudoun County 30 April 1880.
From the guide to the Papers, 1790-1922, (Library of Virginia)
