Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-12
COLONEL JOHN NIXON, PATRIOT
Memorial to the Man Who Publicly Read the
Declaration After the Signing.

ON THE site where the Declaration of In
~ dependence was first proclaimed to the
people, a memorial bearing the name of
Colorel John Nixon is to be erected. Colonel
Nixon was the man whose voice carried the
st mig message of that great charter of
liberty into the very soul Of the listening
assemblage According TO tradition of
the reasons why he was chosen for this func-
tion was the fact that his voice was of un-
usual clearness and power and it is written
that the multitude which assembled at 9Th
and Chestnut streets heard every word. But
before July of that fateful year of 1875
this Philadelphian had already earned dis
tincton in the colony and beyond its
borders.
He wa S one of the signers of the Decara-
tion which he himself read in public. Back
in 1855 he had put his signature to the nom
importation agreement in resistance to the
stamp act From that time he was one of
the leaders In the opposition to the tyranny
of England. He was deputy to the con-
vention of the provinces in 1774-75. In April
of 1775 when the "Assocators for Home De-
fcnse," Of which his father had been one of
the founders years earlier, was again called
into service, he was made a lieutenant colonel
of tho 81 Battalion, known otherwise as "the
SILK Stockngs."
A year later he took charge of the defenses
Of the Delaware at Fort Island, and in July
became commander of the Guard of the City.
Following the signing of the Declaration OF
Independence, the Committee of Safety of
which Colonel Nixon was a member. ordered
that the Declaration be proclaimed ON the
State House on Monday, July 8, at noon. The
document was read by Colonel Nixon from a
wooden observatory erected for the use of
Or. David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, an
other great Philadelphia to whom a me
mortal may be erected. The observatory was
built by the American Philosophical Society
and torn down soon after the Revolution A
wooden tablet marks the site at present. The
Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the RevoIu-
tion, viii replace it, probably with one of
bronze. The inscription has not been de-
cIded on.
Colonel Nixon served the Colonies in battle
and in helping to supply the money and
credits without which the war would have
been failure. Succeeding John Cadwalader
as colonel of the Sd Battalion, in December
1916, he Joined Washington's army at Tren-
ton, and took part in the Battle Of Princeton
He was at Valley Forge in '7S. In 1850 he was
member OF the committee which formed a
bank for financing the supply Of provisions
for tho army. He helped organize the Bank
of North America, still fiourshing institu-
tlon In this city. In recognition OF this work
he was made its second president in 1892.
holding the post until his death in 1908.
Throughout the war he was constantly ac-
tive. furthering in one way and another the
interests Of the revolutionists
Richard Nixon, father of the Colonel was
closely associated with the pre-revolutionary
history Of Philadelphia. He came to this
country from Wexford County. Ireland, near
the close OF the 18th century, and was one
of the large shipping merchants of the city.
Richard Nixon was member OF City Coun-
ellis in 1874. During the excitement incident
to the French and Spanish War he helped
organize the Associators and became captain
OF the Dock Yard Company.