Hutchinson

ber of the American Philosophical Society and
a fellow as well as one of the incorporators of
the College of Physicians. He also served two
terms on the medical staff of the Pennsylvania
Hospital (1777-78, 1779-93). He was twice
married: first to Lydia Biddle and after her
death to Sidney Evans Howell. In 1793 Phila-
delphia experienced a severe epidemic of yellow
fever. Hutchinson's exertions in this emergency
were beyond his strength and he fell a victim to
the disease himself. His abilities as a physician
and teacher were universally acknowledged and
he was one of the outstanding citizens of his
time in Philadelphia. He took an active part in
local politics to the end of his life, was an influ-
ential member of the Whig party, and several
times refused election to office.

ITrans. of the Coll. of Physicians of Phila,, 3 sen,
vol. IX (1887) ; Henry Simpson, The Lives of Emi-
nent Philadelphia/vis (1859); J« T. Scharf and T.
Westcott, Hist, of Phila. (1884), vol. II; T. G. Morton
and F. Woodbury, The Hist, of the Pa. Hospital (1895) ;
G. W. Norris, The Early Hist, of Medicine in Phila.
(1886); J. L. Chamberlain, ed., Universities and Their
Sons, vol. I (1901) ; Pa. Archives, vols. VTI-X (1853-
54) ; Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of Pa.,
vols. XI-XVI (1852-53); J. S. Howell, A Memorial
Hist, and Geneal. Record of the John Howell and Jacob
Stutzman Families (1922) ; F. A. Virkus, The Abridged
Compendium of Am. Geneal.t vol. I (1925).]

J.H.F.

HUTCHINSON, THOMAS (Sept. 9, 1711-
June 3, 1780), royal governor of Massachusetts
Bay Colony, was born in Boston, the son of
Thomas and Sarah (Foster) Hutchinson, and
the great-great-grandson of William and Anne
(Marbury) Hutchinson [#.z/.] who came from
Lincolnshire to Massachusetts in 1634. From
the North Grammar School he entered Harvard
at the age of twelve, graduated in 1727, and three
years later received the degree of M.A. for a
"thesis" entitled "Is a College Education of
Service to One Who Travels?" Upon gradua-
tion he entered his father's commercial house.
His assertion that until about twenty-two he
"spent too much of his time with gay company/*
may well be doubted, since during these years
he studied Latin and French sufficiently to be-
come "well versed" in both, and carried on that
systematic and serious reading which gave him
in time an unusually wide and exact knowledge
of British and colonial history and literature.
Besides, even in these early years he exhibited
those traits of thrifty and cautious conscien-
tiousness that were so characteristic of the man.
"All the time he was in college [this is his own
account] he carried on a little trade by sending
ventures in his father's vessel, and kept a little
paper Journal... and entered in it every dinner,
supper, breakfast, and every article of expense,

Hutchinson

even of a shilling, which practise soon became
pleasant; and he found it of great use all his
life, as so exact a knowledge of his cash kept
him from involvement, of which he would have
been in great danger" (Diary and Letters, 1,46).
Little wonder that at the age of twenty-one he
had amassed four or five hundred pounds and
was part owner of a ship. At all events, the "gay
company," whatever it was, ceased in 1734, when
on May 16 he married Margaret, the second
daughter of "Mr. Sanford, a gentleman of New-
port," R. L To them were born three sons,
Thomas, Elisha, and William (Billy), and two
daughters, Sarah and Margaret (Peggy). The
union was a singularly happy one: the prema-
ture death of his wife in 1753 was "the loss of
more than dimidiam animae suae, and the re-
membrance of her alone was sufficient to pre-
vent him from all thoughts of another marriage"
(Diary and Letters, I, 54). Throughout his life
Hutchinson devoted himself with meticulous
care to the welfare and comfort of his family,
and to amassing a fortune adequate to provide
his children with that competence suitable to
those whose station was among the "better sort."
With his wealth, abilities, and family connec-
tions it was a matter of course that Hutchinson
should enter public life. His grandfather had
been a member of the Council and judge of com-
mon pleas; his father was a member of the Coun-
cil (1719-39). He himself was chosen select-
man of Boston in 1737, and in the same year
elected to the House of Representatives, of
which he was continuously (save for the year
1739) a member until 1749, serving as speaker
for three years (1746-48). During these years
his name was associated chiefly with two
questions, the boundary controversy with New
Hampshire and the paper-money dispute. In
1740 he was sent to England to represent the
claims of the province against New Hampshire.
Accomplishing nothing, owing to the failure of
certain persons to furnish evidence, he remained
in England, "longing to return to his native
country, and to his family," until 1741. At that
time the question of paper money had long been
an issue. Since 1690 the government had issued
bills of credit, which had depreciated in value to
the advantage of debtors and the disadvantage
of creditors and persons living on fixed in-
comes. As early as 1736 Hutchinson had pub-
lished a pamphlet in which he argued with abil-
ity the cause of "hard money." Like most men
of "good estates/' he was strongly opposed to
the unsound private Land Bank (established in
1740, dissolved by Parliament in 1741) of which
one of the directors suffering heavy losses was

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