Editing John Sellers (surveyor)

{{Short description|American scientist and politician (1728–1804)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 | name               = John Sellers
 | image              = 
 | alt                = 
 | caption            = 
 | state_senate       = Pennsylvania State
 | district           = [[Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Delaware County]], [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia County]] and the [[Philadelphia]]
 | term_start         = 1790
 | term_end           = 1794
 | predecessor        = 
 | successor          = 
 | office2             = Member of the<br>[[Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly]]<br> from [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]]
 | term_start2        = 1761
 | term_end2          = 1771
 | predecessor2       = George Ashbridge, Nathaniel Pennock, John Jacobs, Charles Humphreys, Isaac Pearson, [[Joshua Ash]], John Minshall, [[Jonas Preston]]
 | successor2         = Charles Humphreys, Isaac Pearson, John Morton, John Jacobs, John Minshall, [[James Hockley (politician)|James Hockley]], George Ashbridge, [[Benjamin Bartholomew]]
 | alongside2         = [[Isaac Person]], [[Charles Humphreys]], [[George Ashbridge]], [[John Minshall]], [[Jonas Preston]], [[John Jacobs (Pennsylvania politician)|John Jacobs]], [[Nathaniel Pennock]], [[John Crosby (Pennsylvania politician)|John Crosby]], [[John Morton (American politician)|John Morton]]
 | birth_name         = 
 | birth_date         = {{birth year|1728}}
 | birth_place        = [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania|Upper Darby Township]], [[Province of Pennsylvania]]
 | death_date         = {{death date and age|1804|2|2|1728||}}
 | death_place        = Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
 | resting_place      = Darby Friends Cemetery
 | party              = [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]
 | spouse             = 
 | children           = 
 | education          = 
 | alma_mater         = 
 | occupation         = {{hlist|Politician|surveyor|engineer}}
 | signature          = 
}}

'''John Sellers''' (1728 – February 2, 1804) was an American scientist, politician and surveyor from Pennsylvania. He served in the [[Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly]], then a [[unicameral]] legislature, representing [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]] from 1767 to 1771. He became a member of the [[Pennsylvania State Senate]] after its creation, representing [[Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Delaware]] and [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia counties]] and the city of [[Philadelphia]] from 1790 to 1794. He was a founding member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] and observed the [[Transit of Venus]] in 1769.

==Early life==
John Sellers was born on September (or November) 19, 1728, at [[Sellers Hall]] in [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania]], to Sarah (née Smith) and Samuel Sellers. His grandfather Samuel Sellers worked as a weaver and emigrated from [[Derbyshire]].<ref name="pa">{{cite web |url=https://www.library.pasen.gov/people/member-biography?id=5440 |title=John Sellers |website=Pennsylvania Senate Library |access-date=2023-11-25}}</ref><ref name="portrait">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalport00garn/page/304/mode/2up |title=Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Comprising A Historical Sketch of the County |year=1893 |last=Wiley |first=Samuel T. |editor-last=Garner |editor-first=Winfield Scott |publisher=Gresham Publishing Company |pages=305–306 |via=[[Archive.org]] |access-date=2023-11-25}}{{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKBKSiIICH8C&q=john+sellers+patriot+improvers&pg=PA500|title=Patriot-improvers: 1743-1768|first=Whitfield Jenks|last=Bell|date=11 November 1997|publisher=American Philosophical Society|isbn=9780871692269|accessdate=11 November 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Career==
===Surveying career===
Sellers worked as a weaver.<ref name="pa"/> He was appointed surveyor by the governor to run a line from Schuylkill to Lancaster to prepare for the [[Strasburg Road]]. He was appointed as road commissioner of the Strasburg Road. He was appointed as a surveying engineer of the [[Union Canal (Pennsylvania)|Union Canal]]. He was also involved in the Schuylkill-Susquehanna canal study of 1783 and the boundary commission for the newly created [[Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Delaware County]] in 1789.<ref name="pa"/><ref name="paroots">{{cite web|url=http://www.pa-roots.com/index.php/delaware-county/86-history-of-delaware-county-pennsylvania/757-historyofdelawarecountychapter10|title=History of Delaware County Pennsylvania - Chapter 10 - PA-Roots|first=Nathan|last=Zipfel|website=Pa-roots.com|accessdate=11 November 2018}}</ref>

===American Philosophical Society===
Sellers was one of the original members of the [[American Philosophical Society]]. He joined the organization in 1768. Sellers and [[David Rittenhouse]] and others were members of the society's committee that observed the [[Transit of Venus]] in 1769 and reported their observations for the benefit of science.<ref name="pa"/><ref name="paroots"/>

===Political career===
Sellers was a [[Federalist Party|Federalist]]. He was a member of the [[Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly]] (later the [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives]]), representing [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]], from 1767 to 1771.<ref name="portrait"/><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chestercountyits00thoms/page/436/mode/2up |title=Chester County and Its People |editor-last=Thomson |editor-first=W. W. |year=1898 |publisher=The Union History Company |page=436 |via=[[Archive.org]] |access-date=2023-11-25}}{{Open access}}</ref> He was appointed one of the Boston Port Bill Committee and was a deputy in the first Provincial Conference of Representatives at Philadelphia on July 14, 1774. These activities on behalf of the Revolution and particularly Sellers' role in signing the Continental currency led to his disownment by the Society of Friends.

He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1789, representing [[Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Delaware]]. He served in the first session of the [[Pennsylvania Senate]]. He represented Delaware and [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] counties and Philadelphia from 1790 to 1794.<ref name="pa"/><ref name="portrait"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.duq.edu/academics/gumberg-library/pa-constitution/texts-of-the-constitution/1790 |title=Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - 1790 &#124; Duquesne University |access-date=2018-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428071202/http://www.duq.edu/academics/gumberg-library/pa-constitution/texts-of-the-constitution/1790 |archive-date=2018-04-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=5440&body=S|title=John Sellers|first=Legislativate Data Processing|last=Center|website=The official website for the Pennsylvania General Assembly.|accessdate=11 November 2018}}</ref> He was appointed by Governor [[Thomas Mifflin]] as associate judge of the Delaware County Court, but declined the appointment.<ref name="pa"/>

==Personal life==
Sellers grandson James Sellers was an inventor and had a wire weaving business. His great-great grandson James C. Sellers was a Philadelphia lawyer.<ref name="portrait"/>

Sellers died on February 2, 1804, in Upper Darby. He was interred at Darby Friends Cemetery.<ref name="pa"/><ref name="portrait"/>

==Further reading==
*Andrew Dawson, ''Lives of the Philadelphia Engineers: Capital, Class, and Revolution'' (2004).
*George Eschol Sellers, ''Early Engineering Reminiscences'' (1965).
*Dominic Vitiello,  ''Engineering Philadelphia: The Sellers Family and the Industrial Metropolis'' (2013).
*Anthony F.C. Wallace, ''Rockdale'' (1978).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellers, John}}
[[Category:1728 births]]
[[Category:1804 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Chester County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:American weavers]]
[[Category:American surveyors]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania state senators]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Federalists]]
[[Category:18th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:18th-century American scientists]]
[[Category:Surveyors from the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:18th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly]]