Miers Fisher, a birthright Quaker, was a prominent lawyer, legislator, merchant, philanthropist, and scientist in early Federal Philadelphia. The son of Joshua and Sarah Rowland Fisher, his birth was noted in the records of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting on 4mo 10 1748. Miers married Sarah Redwood, daughter of William and Hannah Redwood, late of Newport, Rhode Island, at High Street Meeting in Philadelphia on 2mo 17 1774. Over the next 27 years, Sarah Redwood Fisher gave birth to sixteen children, nine of whom lived past a year of age.

Miers Fisher attended the Latin School in Philadelphia in 1756 and 1757. Before beginning the study of law with Benjamin Chew Esq., Attorney General of the Province of Pennsylvania, he was employed by Gilpin & Fisher, flour factors, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Fisher was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1769.

During the Revolution, Fisher was a member of a group of Quaker merchants who were exiled to Winchester, Virginia. In 1783, Miers temporarily abandoned the practice of law to join the mercantile firm of Thomas, Samuel, and Miers Fisher. In 1789, he was elected as one of the Common Councilmen for the City of Philadelphia and, in 1792, became a member of the House of Representatives of the State of Pennsylvania. During this period, Fisher also served as a Director of the Insurance Company of North America and of the Bank of North America.

In 1805, he formally retired from trade and moved to Ury, his country house. In 1818, Miers Fisher moved back to Philadelphia and died at his residence on Arch Street on March 14, 1819 at the age of 72 years.

Jabez M. Fisher (1801-1876), the youngest son of Miers Fisher and Sarah Redwood, was perhaps the least fortunate of Miers' children. Although he worked as an Engineer, little is known of his education. In 1817, his father noted in his account book that he paid for Jabez' attendance at Burlington Boarding School.

In 1832, he wed Nancy Andrews (1808-1866) and was disowned by Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Western District) for marrying “out of unity.” Nancy was the daughter of Robert Andrews and Margaret Eliza Nancy (Mason). The Fishers had eight children who survived to adulthood: Robert Andrews, Miers Jr., Morton Coates, Eliza Andrews, Redwood, Jabez Maude Jr., Nancy Andrews, and William Redwood.

By 1836, the young family had moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and a year later to Urbana, Ohio, where they remained until Jabez' employer, a railroad company, went out of business in 1842. They subsequently moved to Pottstown and then to Providence, Rhode Island, three years later. In 1861, he was appointed Naval Officer to the port of Providence. A year later, Jabez and Nancy moved to Denver, Colorado Territory, to be with their sons. He had hoped to receive a Federal appointment there, but this was apparently unsuccessful. They had returned to Philadelphia by 1865, and Nancy died in 1866. Following the death of Lizette in childbirth in 1867, the surviving daughter, Nanny, suffered a “severe attack of will,” and had to be institutionalized. In 1869, Jabez M. Fisher traveled to England to be with his son, Morton, who had established a company, “Fisher & Parrish, Street Tramway Contractors.” in London. For the next four years he traveled in England and on the Continent, probably returning to Philadelphia in 1874, where he died at the age of 78 years.

The correspondence is particularly strong in two areas, viz. life in the Colorado Territory in the early 1860's, and in Europe during the early 1870's. Letters exchanged between Jabez Maud Fisher and his sons detail much of the early history and culture of the intermountain west, including building, cattle roundups, farming, gold mining, and the politics of the era. Later correspondence between Jabez Maude Fisher and his niece, Sallie Warner Lewis, from 1869-74, provides extraordinary insight into the lives of American expatriates in Europe. Fisher writes in detail about sightseeing, local customs, and current events--from the Crystal Palace to the Franco-Prussian War. Travels include Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

Lydia Fisher Warner was the daughter of Miers and Sarah Redwood Fisher. She attended Westtown School from 1799 until at least 1801, and married Benjamin Warner (1786-1821)in 1814, after he joined the Society of Friends “on Request.” Her husband died in Richmond after only seven years of marriage, leaving her with four small children, viz. Miers Fisher Warner, John Warner, Redwood Fisher Warner, and Sarah Warner. Lydia continued as a member in good standing of the Society of Friends (O), obtaining a certificate of removal to Philadelphia Northern District in 1842 and to Southern District in 1846, four years before she died.

Joseph Warner served as guardian to his brother's orphaned children. He had become a member by request in 1814 of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, and transferred to Green Street in 1817. Warner served as Clerk of Green Street Monthly Meeting and of the Committee on Indian Affairs (H). As one of the originators of the Philadelphia Hose Company, Watson's Annals described him as “a character beyond reproach for sterling qualities of mind and heart and the most practical and enlarged benevolence.” Joseph Warner died unmarried on 11mo 1 1859 at the age of 76.

Sarah Warner, daughter of Benjamin and Lydia, was disowned for her marriage to Morton Lewis in 1860, and her brother, Redwood Fisher Warner, was disowned for marrying a first cousin in 1849. Miers Fisher Warner died unmarried in 1878. John Warner married “out of unity” (with Friends) Anna Jane Lewis in 1868; their only child was Lydia Fisher Warner who assembled this collection. Lydia lived in Philadelphia for most of her life and died unmarried in the 1940's.