The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture was founded in 1785. Richard Peters, one of its founding members, headed the organization from 1805 until his death in 1828 (Simon Baatz, “Venerate the Plough”: A History of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 1785–1985 [1985], 4, 16, 51; Minutes of the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, from its Institution in February, 1785, to March, 1810 [1854], 1, 78).

Roberts Vaux (1786–1836), Quaker philanthropist, established a dry-goods store as a young man in his hometown of Philadelphia. The death of a beloved sister in 1812 and his mother two years later, however, convinced him to give up business and devote himself and much of his considerable inheritance to philanthropic endeavors. Vaux was involved in a host of charitable and educational organizations, including the American Philosophical Society and the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, which he joined in 1812 and served as secretary. In addition, he argued against slavery and in favor of free public education, temperance, penal reform, and the better treatment of the blind, deaf, mute, and mentally ill. A staunch opponent of the Second Bank of the United States, Vaux was also a member of the Philadelphia Common Council, 1814–16, president of the Philadelphia school board, 1818–31, and a judge on the local court of common pleas from 1835 until his death (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Joseph J. McCadden, Education in Pennsylvania, 1801–1835, And Its Debt to Roberts Vaux [1937; repr. 1969]; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Minutes, 15 Jan. 1819 [MS in PPAmP]; Baatz, “Venerate the Plough,” 42; Philadelphia Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, 8 Jan. 1836).