History of Willow Grove, (Lawrence County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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John Gummere, educator, was born in Willow Grove, Pa., in 1784; son of Samuel and Rachel (James) Gummere; grandson of John Gummere, and a descendant of Johann Goemere, a Huguenot immigrant from French Flanders, who arrived in America before 1700, and died in Germantown, Pa., in 1738. He acquired his education in Westtown, Pa.; was a teacher at Rancocas, N.J., in the Westtown, Pa., boarding school (afterward Haverford school, and finally Haverford college); established in 1814 and conducted a boarding school at Burlington, N.J., 1814-33; was professor of mathematics at Haverford school, 1833-43, and principal of that institution 1834-43 and then resumed his boarding school at Burlington in connection with his eldest son Samuel J. Gummere. He was married to Elizabeth Buzby. His brother, Samuel R. Gummere, author of "Treatise on Geography" and other popular text books, was principal of a successful boarding-school for young ladies in Burlington, N.J., 1821-37. John Gummere was elected a member of the American philosophical society in 1814. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the College of New Jersey in 1825 and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1826. He is the author of: Surveying (1814; 14 editions); and Elementary Treatise on Theoretical and Practical Astronomy (1822; 6 editions). The last named work was highly commended by Nathaniel Bowditch, Alexander Dallas Bache and others. He died in Burlington. N.J., in June, 1845.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Willow Grove, (Lawrence County) Pennsylvania

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