The Wills hospital of Philadelphia : the influence of European and British ophthalmology upon it, and the part it played in the last 100 years in developing ophthalmology in America / by William Campbell Posey and Samuel Horton Brown.

  • Posey, William Campbell, 1866-1934.
Date:
[1931], ©1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Wills hospital of Philadelphia : the influence of European and British ophthalmology upon it, and the part it played in the last 100 years in developing ophthalmology in America / by William Campbell Posey and Samuel Horton Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Meeting in Philadelphia show that “James Wills, his wife Hannah and son James requested admission to meeting in 1802, and that Hannah was deceased between 1802 and 1809.” With his son in the firm, their place of business was moved in 1800 to 84 Chestnut Street, then above Third Street, which was considered to be at the very edge of the rapidly growing business neighborhood. In fact, this move was regarded by his business contemporaries as not devoid of considerable risk, as being “too far out.” Wills also purchased 82 and 86 Chestnut Street but resided in 84, where his business was located. He and his wife and son carried the plain living of the Friends into every fea¬ ture of their daily life, so that when they died but few of their acquaintances knew of the degree of prosperity which they enjoyed. The elder Wills died in 1821 or 1822, leaving his entire estate to his son, James, Jr., his wife having died earlier. The son lived a bachelor’s existence and followed out the precepts and the example of his father. His frugality is attested by the tradition that his yearly expenses were $400, while his benefactions amounted to $1500. (S. D. Risley.) It is unfortunate that there is no likeness of James Wills, Jr., extant. So far as is known, no portrait of him was ever painted. It was thought for years that a male portrait which hung in the Board room at the Hospital was a portrait of him, but the question arising a few years ago as to the ground for this belief, the matter was investi¬ gated and the interest of Mr. John F. Lewis, president of the Academy of Fine Arts of Philadelphia excited, who, after a careful study of the portrait, discovered that it was not of Mr. Wills at all, but of Mr. John Wright, a bene¬ factor of the Hospital. James Wills, Jr., died January 22, 1825, a few years