Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Harrison, Sarah

HARRISON, Sarah, Quaker preacher, b. in Delaware county, Pa., about 1748; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 29 Dec., 1812. She was the daughter of Rowland Richards, and after her marriage to Thomas Harrison settled in Philadelphia. She first preached in the Quaker meetings during the Revolution, and was acknowledged a minister in 1781. Accompanied by Mary England she attended the yearly meeting of Friends in Virginia in 1786, and was afterward liberated by her monthly meeting to attend the meetings of Friends in the southern states. In 1787 she attended the North Carolina yearly meeting, in which the question of slavery was discussed, and a committee appointed to visit slave-holders. She returned to Philadelphia in 1788, and in 1792 visited London and Dublin and travelled on the continent of Europe, where she was held prisoner for several days by the French on suspicion of being an English spy. — Her son, John, manufacturer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 17 Dec., 1773; d. there, 19 May, 1833. His early education was obtained in Philadelphia, after which he spent two years in Europe, devoting his attention to acquiring a knowledge of the processes used by chemists in manufacturing, and also in studying chemistry under Dr. Joseph Priestley. In 1793 he began in Philadelphia the manufacture of chemicals, and was the first successful maker of sulphuric acid in the United States. He had a lead chamber capable of producing 300 carboys, and in 1807 so increased his plant that an annual output of 3,500 carboys was possible. The use of glass retorts for the concentration of the acid was then prevalent, and Dr. Eric Bollman, who was familiar with the metallurgy of platinum, constructed for Mr. Harrison the first platinum stills that were used in the United States in connection with the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Subsequently the plant was again increased by the building of white-lead works, resulting in the production of various lead compounds and other chemicals. Mr. Harrison is credited with doing more to influence the establishment of chemical industries in Philadelphia than any man of his time. The business is now carried on by his grandsons. From 1821 till 1824 he held the office of recorder of deeds in Philadelphia.