Biography

03/12/1767 - 08/15/1848


THACKARA, James, a Clerk from Philadelphia County; born, March 12, 1767 in England; engraver (1786-1833); proprietor, Thackara & Vallance, engravers (1790-1797); elected, commissioner, Philadelphia County (1797); book binder and publisher (1797-1807); proprietor, book and stationary store (1799-1803); member and chair, New Market Ward Democratic Committee; unsuccessful campaign, common council, Philadelphia (1800); assistant clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1801-1802); unsuccessful campaign, Inspector General of Elections, Philadelphia (1805, 1806); unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1806, 1816, 1817); elected, Chief Clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (December 3, 1807-December 7, 1810); elected, Inspector General of Elections, Philadelphia (1808, 1810); curator, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1816-1828); unsuccessful campaign, Chief Clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1817); elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1818-1820); member, Commission to Erect a State Penitentiary within the Bounds of the City and County of Philadelphia (1821-1833); died, August 15, 1848 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interred, Saint Peter’s Episcopal Churchyard, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

 

Bibliography

Thackara, James.  Drawing Book for the Amusement and Instruction of Young Ladies and Gentlemen in the Pleasant and Elegant Art of Drawing.  Philadelphia: James Thackara & Son, 1816.

 

Archival Collections

Sherman Thackera Collection, Digital Library @ Villanova University, Villanova University Archives, Villanova, Pa. 


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