This collection (11 items) contains correspondence and documents related to Reverend Richard Peters and his nephew, also named Richard Peters, who both lived in Philadelphia in the mid- to late 18th century. The material pertains to Pennsylvania property and Cumberland County boundaries, Arlington sheep, finances, and politics. The collection includes a certified copy of a map of property belonging to Peters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (copy dated March 17, 1810), an account book kept by the younger Richard Peters from 1785-1789, and a letter that the younger Richard Peters wrote to William Rawle about his uncle's biography (September 22, 1825).
Richard Peters was born in Liverpool, England, in 1704, the son of Ralph Peters and Esther Preeson. Before he was ordained in 1730, Peters studied law at the Inner Temple in London. He had married as a teenager and, erroneously believing his first wife to be dead, remarried in 1734. His first wife's reappearance led Peters to immigrate to North America around 1735. He settled in Philadelphia, where he was a preacher and a public servant, working as a provincial secretary, a councilman, and an Indian agent. He left his post at Philadelphia's Christ Church in 1775. Reverend Richard Peters July 10, 1776.
Richard Peters, nephew of Reverend Richard Peters, was born near Philadelphia on June 22, 1744. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1761, he practiced law in Philadelphia. He served as a Continental Army captain, secretary for the Board of War, speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate, and a district court judge; Peters was also a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He died on August 22, 1828.