Menu•SiteMap | Biography



John Nelson Darby
<> Revised Version <>
by Max S. Weremchuk

Copyright © 2005 by Max S. Weremchuk – Used by Permission

 
Introduction
1. Beginnings
- Family Tree
- Leap Castle

- The Darbys and the Vaughans
- Marriage
- Westminster
 




INTRODUCTION

The English edition of 'John Nelson Darby - A Biography By Max S. Weremchuk' was published in 1992 by the now defunct firm of Loizeaux Brothers.

In the meantime Max has done a great deal of research which has yielded

G.A.R.

NOTE: The chapter presented below has been revised as of May 2018. An updated version appears on Michael Schneider's website at bruederbewegung.de




1. BEGINNINGS

Family Tree

"Birth. On Wednesday morning, Mrs. Darby, of Great George Street, Westminister, of a son."

So read the small announcement in the lower right hand comer of a page in the London Times in November 1800. The baby, John Nelson Darby, born 18 November, 1800, was Mrs. Darby's sixth son and eighth child.[1] (Her last child, a daughter, would be born in 1802).

John Nelson Darby descended from the Darby family connected with Leap Castle in Ireland, but the early history of the family is somewhat of a mystery. (See appendix A for the Darby family tree.)

In the first English publication of my biography in 1992 I had written:

"The Darbys were an old family. Records in England go back to the fifteenth century and to Gaddesby (near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire). The church in Gaddesby contains an altar tomb from the fifteenth century with graven figures of the knight William Darby and his wife."

This information needs to be corrected. The book "Leap Castle. A Place and Its People" written by Marigold Freeman-Attwood (a Darby descendant), has cleared up a number of discrepancies in the family history. Contrary to what one may find elsewhere, John Nelson Darby's family line does not appear to have any connection with the Darby family of Gaddesby, Leicestershire, which died-out in the mid-1300s.

Charles Darby (a descendant of JND's brother George Darby) and his wife Glenys of New Zealand have been most helpful to me in my new research into JND's background. They have investigated the Darby family history by accessing contemporary records and original material from the times under study. They have come to the conclusion that the published records of the past 120 years are in error on key points. These conclusions are based upon original evidence which they viewed in person and they were able to identify unproven aspects of family history as such. Though Gaddesby can now almost certainly be eliminated as the homeland of JND's family prior to the mid-1500s, the actual family homeland remains a mystery. Nevertheless, extensive circumstantial evidence does suggest that the family origins lie in East Anglia rather than in the Midlands, at least from the 12th to the 16th century.

Charles Darby wrote to me:

"The belief that the Darby family of Leap Castle (and later Sussex) originated from Gaddesby, Leicestershire, stems from the Burke's 'Landed Gentry' publications. However, there is no evidence to support this belief and much to refute it. There was indeed a Darby family of Gaddesby, but they died-out long before the time of John Darby of Leap and there is no evidence of any connection between the two families.

  "So if JND's family did not come from Gaddesby, where did they come from? There is much circumstantial evidence suggesting that his family originated in the southern Lincolnshire villages of Leake, Leverton, Wrangell and Bennington, and that in the 13-14 centuries parts of that family moved to Norfolk, Suffolk and possibly elsewhere."

 

Page Top

Leap Castle

In my original biography I had written:

"The connection between the Darby family and Ireland began in the sixteenth century when a John Darby, son of Edmund Darby, served under the Earl of Sussex as a Captain of Horse in his campaigns there, either in the year 1557 or 1559. The Earl besieged the castle of Leap [2] belonging to the family of the O'Carrolls of Eile in the part of Ireland later known as "King's County" but today as Offaly."

Charles Darby wrote:

"Although very little evidence survives from those days before the formality of church records, a document in the British Museum provides an important clue. A John Darby is named in 'Officers Commanding the Queen's Forces, Anno 1569', a list of 'The Names of the Principal Officers and Captaynes' of an army commanded by the Earl of Sussex (who, despite his title, was from East Anglia). Also named are a number of John Darby's fellow-officers from the same area of Lincolnshire where the Darby family is believed to have originated. Although the John Darby connection with Leap Castle is not confirmed by this document, it does prove that there was indeed a Captain John Darby in the 'army' of the Earl of Sussex in the mid 1500s, and that he probably came from East Anglia. Further, if he had gone to Ireland with the Earl in 1557, he must have returned to England by 1567. This ties-in with the fact of the O'Carroll family returning to Leap after 1557.

… "the Earl of Sussex was a major player (if not the main player at army-commander level) in the intensifying English occupation of Ireland that took place during Queen Elizabeth's reign.

"There is an alternative theory that the first Darby to reach Leap was a soldier with Oliver Cromwell's forces, and that he may have received the Leap estates in lieu of pay. Again, this theory is not proven, and indeed Cooke in his History of Birr (1875) casts doubt on it by recording that the Darby family of the time 'appear to have remained faithful to the King' and 'valiantly resisted Cromwell's forces'. Unfortunately, since Cooke's evidence for this assertion is not quoted, it carries no greater authority than does the 'Gaddesby theory'."

A legend remains in the Darby family connected with Leap Castle. Yes, it is a legend, but legends are usually based on some historical fact. Returning to the siege of Leap Castle mentioned above the story goes that during one of the attacks on the castle John Darby was captured and held prisoner in the castle in a room measuring four by seven feet. Food was passed to him through a hole in the wall. This was the duty of O'Carroll's young and beautiful daughter Finola. Not surprisingly this contact led to their falling in love with each other. When Finola discovered that her father planned to hang John Darby she helped him to escape by unbarring his door. As Darby was racing down the stone stairs to expected freedom he was confronted by Finola's brother, who sounded the alarm. Darby turned and ran back up and out onto the battlements. From there he jumped into the branches of a large yew tree and escaped. The siege of Leap Castle continued and ended in its finally being taken by the English forces. John Darby later married Finola O'Carroll, the heiress of the castle, and through her acquired a part of the Leap estate.[3]

Concerning this connection to Leap Castle Charles Darby remarked in contrast to Marigold Freeman-Attwood's book:

… "like us, Marigold had concluded that the Gaddesby origin was not supported by any evidence whatsoever and thus she dismissed that part of the Burke's publications as a fabrication. In that situation, she settled upon the earliest 'official' records as being indicative of the time that a Darby first went to Leap, i.e. the presence of High Sheriff Jonathan in the time of Oliver Cromwell, and his demise in 1684. While that may be correct, it is not evidence that Jonathan was the first Darby at Leap.

"Where we differ from Marigold is that, given the proven existence of Captain John Darby in the militia of the Earl of Sussex in 1567, we believe that the story of a John Darby going to Ireland with the Earl of Sussex in 1557 cannot be dismissed, especially as the O'Carrolls are known to have re-occupied the Leap estates after 1557."

Once again, in my original publication I had written:

"The greater part of the estate remained in the possession of its Irish proprietor. John Darby died in 1608. The Irish portion of Leap was later confiscated for the use of the English King James I (1603-1625), but the Darby part remained in the Darby family. In the rule of Charles II (1660-1685) the confiscated portion was sold to a certain John Holland. The Darbys later bought this part from him and so the entire Leap estate passed into Darby hands."

Charles Darby had some helpful insights here as well:

"This is interesting. I have seen a reference to the effect that the Leap estate (or part of it) was mortgaged to John of Holland, not sold to a Mr J. Holland.

"Remember here that 'Holland' was the generic name for that part of low-lying, swampy southern Lincolnshire because it resembled the nation that we now call Holland.  And all of our research indicates that our Darby family originated from that part of Lincolnshire once known as Holland, spreading into Norfolk and Suffolk and possibly also elsewhere in the 13-14C. 

"So if Leap was mortgaged to John of Holland (rather than simply to a certain Mr Holland), that provides another bit of evidence linking the Leap Darbys with Lincolnshire."

In 1745 the owner of Leap, Jonathan Darby (the eldest son was always named Jonathan), married Susannah Lovett. In the course of their marriage they had eight sons and one daughter. Their third oldest son, Henry d'Esterre (born 1749), joined the navy and won a name for himself through his gallant conduct as the captain of the ship Bellerophon in the battle of the Nile in 1798. He was a very distinguished man, said to be Lord Nelson's favorite commodore. In 1819 Henry became an admiral and was later knighted.[4] The inheritance of Leap Castle fell to him after the death of his oldest brother Jonathan (Robert, the second oldest, had died earlier, in 1764).

Page Top

The Darbys and the Vaughans

Henry d'Esterre's younger brother of three years was John Darby (born 9 December, 1751). He married Anne Vaughan and seems to have spent most of his life in England. John and Anne were the parents of John Nelson Darby. When working on the first edition of my biography years ago I could find nothing on Samuel Vaughan the father of JND's mother. Since then I've been swamped with material. Many people have been very helpful in supplying information and material or pointing me in right directions. I have already mentioned Charles Darby and his wife Glenys, but I must also mention Philip McNair, Danny D. Smith and Timothy Stunt.

From Charles Darby I have copies of letters written by Jonathan Darby (JND's grandfather) from Ireland to his son John (JND's father) in the 1770s. These letters convey the impression of a concerned and loving father. John was in apprenticeship in London at that time. The address there from at least May 1770 to May 1780 was "Messrs Read & Rigby's, Merchants, Old Jewry, London." Apparently John's younger brother Christopher was with him or at least nearby as father Jonathan often asks of his wellbeing and is very concerned that he begins in some profession. To John himself he gave the following advice in a letter dated 27th of July, 1771: "Yet there is one thing I would if I could guard you against, which is a too hasty a desire of being rich. The sure and certain mode is industry, perseverance and a mode of acquiring something by degrees."

Jonathan often mentions Samuel and Benjamin and John Vaughan as good friends of his in the letters referred to above. (These were apparently all brothers.) Jonathan Darby often asks John to greet John Vaughan (Samuel's brother) and his family.

Samuel Frier Vaughan was a wealthy merchant in London[5] (who also had a residence in Jamaica), who was born in Ireland on 23 April 1720 as the 4th and youngest son of Benjamin and Ann (Wolf) – their 12th and last child. He was apprenticed to his brother William – who was a broker – on 27 September, 1736. On 12 October, 1744 he became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Scriveners (professional copyist or writer, from "scribe") and on 29 July, 1746 a Liveryman (able to take part in the election of the Lord Mayor of London).[6] He was appointed to the Court of Assistants (the governing body of the company) on 20 November, 1765 and was Master of the Company from 1771 to 1772.[7] According to Sally V. Eagle[8] Samuel Vaughan was sent to Jamaica via Boston by his company to attend to the export business there. While in Boston he married Sarah Hallowell (born 26 February 1727) on 1 February 1747 (New South Church, Boston, Massachusetts by Rev. Joseph Sewall D.D.) and together they had 11 children. Sarah Hallowell was the daughter of Benjamin Hallowell (1699-1773), the King's Naval Commissioner, who was a major shareholder in a land company owning 1½ million acres in central Maine in America. The newlyweds then went to Jamaica where son Benjamin was born in January, 1751. (He was raised in London and educated at Cambridge and Temple Inn. At university, he became associated with the group including Joseph Priestley, Benjamin Franklin, Jeremy Bentham, and William Petty, the Earl of Shelburne.)

From 1736 to 1752 Samuel Vaughan was mainly in Jamaica after which the family went to London where he opened his own merchant-banking firm[9] and obtained his own sugar plantations in Jamaica and eventually owned 300 slaves. Anne, the Vaughans' 5th child, was born on October 24th, 1757. The Vaughans were Unitarians[10] and not Church of England. Two of the sons, Benjamin and William, were tutored by Joseph Priestly[11] at Warrington Academy (an Arian academy established in 1757). Anne Vaughan was baptized in Crutched Friars, a Dissenting Church in London.[12]

Samuel returned to America with his wife and three daughters in 1783 and arrived in Philadelphia on 8 September. He was elected one of the Vice Presidents of the American Philosophical Society there in May 1784. In September 1786 his wife and daughters returned to London while he remained in America for some time. He went to Jamaica in 1787, then back to America in 1789 and finally to England in 1790.

As mentioned above Samuel Vaughan and his family were Unitarians and he seems to have been more interested in architecture and gardening than religion. Samuel left his mark in many ways in America through his friendship with George Washington and others. He even commissioned a portrait of Washington which is apparently the only one showing him with his natural teeth and sent him a marble mantel piece from his home in London. His involvement in gardening extends from landscaping Independence Square (then known as "State House Yard" or "State House Garden.")[13] to being instrumental in the publication of "Arbustum Americanum: The American Grove, or, An Alphabetical Catalogue of Forest Trees and Shrubs, Natives of the American United States, arranged according to the Linnaean system" by Humphry Marshall.[14] The following can also be found: "George Washington and Samuel Vaughan, 'Serpentine Double-Row Tree Allée,' Plan For Mount Vernon, Virginia (1787)" and "Samuel Vaughan, Plan for a Public Garden, Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia (1785-1787)."[15] Nevertheless religious matters were not completely uninteresting for him. In George Willis Cooke's "Unitarianism in America – A History of its Origin and Development" under the heading "King's Chapel becomes Unitarian" we find:

… "Rev. William Hazlitt, the father of the essayist and critic of the same name, who had been settled over several of the smaller Unitarian churches in Great Britain. In the spring of 1783 he visited the United States, and spent several months in Philadelphia. He gave a course of lectures on the Evidences of Christianity in the college there, which were largely attended … He gave in Boston his course of lectures on the Evidences of Christianity, and it was received with much favor by large audiences. The winter of 1784-85 was spent by Mr. Hazlitt in Hallowell, Me., in which place was a small group of wealthy English Unitarians, led by Samuel Vaughan, by whom Mr. Hazlitt had been entertained in Philadelphia."[16]

Much more can be said about the Vaughan family which is very interesting and intriguing - especially the lives of some of Samuel's sons, (some are mentioned in the Dictionary of American Biography and American National Biography) but that would detract here where it does not have direct relevance to JND and his immediate family.

Page Top

Marriage

When the Vaughan and Darby friendships are taken into account together with the fact that John Darby and the family of Samuel Vaughan lived in London it is only probable that John Darby and Anne Vaughan knew each other from London.

The Darby Archives in East Sussex make mention of a trip by John Darby's to America ("during his absence in America"), but without any exact dates.[17] Archives in America have helped. Besides an extensive exchange of letters between Samuel Vaughan and his sons with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin which I have come across during my research there is also one letter written by a John Darby to George Washington from Boston dated 2nd August 1783.[18] John Darby mentions letters of introduction and letters from friends for Washington and his own wish to meet him personally. This John Darby is very probably JND's father.

This American reference is of importance. I had never been able to find John and Anne Darby's marriage papers. Other researchers efforts had been just as futile. We were all looking in the wrong places. Danny D. Smith came to my help and supplied the necessary information: John Darby and Anne Vaughan married in America, not Great Britain. Following this lead I was able to find more information.

John Darby was married to Anne Vaughan on 21 July 1784 by the rector of Trinity Church Parish New York, New York Rev. Samuel Provoost.[19] (Its sister Church is St. Mary-Le-Bow, in Cheapside, London very close to Old Jewry where John Darby lived. Today this area belongs to the parish of St. Mary-Le-Bow, but it didn't in 1784.) A newspaper account indicates the marriage took place in Flushing, New York, on Long Island.[20] Very probably at St. George's Parish.

Was John Darby in America on business only or had the marriage in New York been planned in advance? If John Darby was in America at least from August 1783 (as the letter to Washington proves) it could be that the decision to marry was made during his stay. The time from August 1783 to July 1784 would have been sufficient to make the necessary arrangements. Anne Vaughan brought a dowry of £2,500 with her into the marriage.

I have been able to trace some Darby family letters American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Among them is a letter by Anne Darby from 1787 to her sister Rebecca who was staying with the well known Unitarian Dr. Priestly at the time in Fair Hill (Birmingham). It contains advice on proper feminine behaviour. At the close Anne mentions her daughter Susan who must have been 2 years old at the time.[21]

Whereas Anne's 1787 letter gives one the impression that she had a detached attitude to religion at that time in her life - she advices her sister not to over do it in religious matters and tells her to seek Priestly's recommendation on which books to read – her children Jonathan and Susan seemed to have been very religious.[22]

Whatever Unitarian influences there had been in Anne's life she was later very definitely Church of England. Through Philip McNair I have learned that letters existed which she wrote to her son John Nelson Darby after he had left the Church stating that she could well defend the Anglican position against the one he had taken. John and Anne's first three children, Susanna (1785), Jonathan (1787) and William Lovett Henry d'Esterre (1788) were all baptized in St. Olave Jewry.

John Darby moved from Old Jewry to a large house at St. John's, Cambridge Heath, Hackney in rural Middlesex. He had his business at 7 Russia Row, Milk Street, in Cheapside. At first as John Darby & Co., merchants and later as John Darby, Gibb & Co., merchants.[23]

Page Top

Westminster

In 1800 the family, then numbering seven children, moved to a house in Westminster (London), number 9 Great George Street,[24] which they leased from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey. Great George Street was a private speculation by James Mallors who obtained Parliamentary powers to have it built. The first houses were erected in 1755.[25] Number 9 was not occupied until 1761 and the Darbys were the 9th occupiers. The building no longer exists, but photos and a description in "Survey of London – 1926" (pages 30-31) still do.

"The general exterior of the premises is of plain brickwork, relived at the level of the third floor by a modillion cornice, while plain flat bands indicate the levels of the first and second floors. The entrance doorway has side lights, with a semi-elliptical fanlight over.
    [24] In 1825 the street was renumbered and 9 was changed to 10.

    [25] "Westminster and Pimlico Past", by Isobel Watson, pages 41 and 49.

The main staircase walls at the first-floor landing are decorated with plaster panels enriched with foliated scrolls and swags of fruit and flowers, while the line of the modillion cornice is continued around the well with a moulded stringcourse enriched with foliated scrolls. The tracery treatment at the head of the panels is interesting, and records the Gothic motifs in use at this period. The main cornice to the stair-well below the elliptical lantern-light is heavily moulded, and has a coved frieze with a scroll ornament. The back staircase has turned balusters and moulded close strings.

The front room on the first floor contains a moulded and carved white mantelpiece with fluted Corinthian columns. The wood skirtings, chair-rails and linings are moulded and carved with a fret.

The back room to this floor contains a decorative plaster ceiling in low relief, which is now intercepted by a partition."

It was here, on 18 November, that John Nelson Darby was born. John Nelson Darby was baptized fifteen weeks later on March 3, 1801, at St. Margaret's Church, according to the rites of the national church. In 1874 he wrote, "The circumstances of my own baptism, though done bona fide, and in the main with right intentions, were not such as I should wish, but I do not think it can be repeated.”[26]

His first name John was in keeping with a long tradition of "Johns" in the family. His middle name, Nelson, certainly was given to him because of his uncle's connection with the man by that name who at the time was the active head of the navy and hero of the British people. No evidence has of yet been found, but from earliest accounts of his life it was said that Lord Nelson was JND's godfather. If he was, he was not present at the baptism. One Darby biographer claimed that Nelson held the baby over the baptismal font himself. Besides the fact that Nelson at the time had only one arm, having lost the other at the battle of Teneriffa, he was on his ship, the St. George, at Spithead on March 3, 1801; the St. James Chronicle reported him to have been at Yarmouth on March 4, and not in London at all. Yet this does not mean that Lord Nelson could not have been Darby's godfather. William Kelly, a close friend of J. N. Darby in later years, stated this as a fact in one of his letters dated June 22, 1899. Nelson was probably represented by a sponsor at the actual baptism, which was permitted then as it is today.

One interesting piece of information supplied to me by Danny D. Smith is the account of a cousin of JND's from America who visited his relatives in England in 1801. He mentions JND's mother and his getting along quite well with JND's brother Jonathan and sister Susan (Susanna).

[Family Tree from Robert Hallowell to Anne Vaughan not reproducible.]

From "Early Recollections of Robert Hallowell Gardiner 1782 – 1864", White & Horne Company, Hallowell, Maine, 1936.

Pages 48 to 50:

"Immediately after taking my degree, my name was entered as a student at law in the office of Mr. John Lowell, and I went to spend the summer in Kennebec. My health had been delicate from infancy, and it was feared that the same disease which had carried off my mother and sisters was commencing its ravages upon me. Instead, therefore, of going into a lawyer's office I was advised to travel in Europe till I should attain my majority, when my presence would be necessary here. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for foreign travel. I could read French but was unable to speak any language but my native tongue, and I had little knowledge of the literature, manners, or customs of continental Europe. My letters of introduction were only to merchants and might be considered merely as bills of exchange for a dinner. And tho' I became acquainted in England with a few country gentlemen and their families, this acquaintance was quite limited, and I was introduced to no literary or scientific society. I went to England with the family of Mr. Dickerson, an English merchant who had made a large fortune in this country, to which he had become attached, and would not have left it but for the urgent solicitations of his father.

"On my arrival I went immediately to Mr. Wm. Vaughan's,[26] [1752-1850, Director of Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation from 1783-1829] who kept bachelor's hall in London. He received me into his house in the most friendly manner and after a few days dispatched me to his mother, my, aunt, [Sarah Hallowell/Vaughan] who spent part of the year at Brighton with her aged husband and two unmarried daughters. She had a fine understanding and great dignity of character, and that Christian kindness and courtesy which are superior to all artificial polish of manners, and was strongly endued with that most useful of all qualities, common sense.

[26] (Note of R.H.G. 2nd.: Father used to tell us that when he first arrived in London and was staying with Mr. William Vaughan, he suggested to Mr. V. that as he had two or three months at his command, he would like to go into his counting room and learn bookkeeping. Mr. V. answered "learn bookkeeping in three months! Why you could not think of doing it under seven years, and that would be scarcely time enough." And to this father added to us the remark, Mr. Vaughan kept five distinct sets of books, and contrived to bookkeep away the whole of his own and the family estates, and died a bankrupt.)

"I arrived there at tea time and was received with the cordiality to be expected for the only son of a beloved brother [Robert Hallowell]. After many enquiries about my health and habits, finding that I did not wear flannel, without saying anything to me on the subject, she had a suit made up that evening and placed at my bed side ready to put on in the morning. Mrs. Darby [Anne Darby], the oldest daughter of Mrs. Vaughan, was staying at the same time at Brighton with some of her children, and I there first became acquainted with them. Mr. Darby belonged to an Irish aristocratic family possessed of valuable estates, but as a younger son he was without fortune. Disregarding the prejudices of his class he established himself in London as a merchant, and from his own character and the standing of the family, he became the principal agent of the extensive linen manufacturers in the neighborhood of the family estates and acquired a handsome fortune. He had a family of eight children, with several of whom I subsequently became intimate.

"When I was staying with them at my aunt's at Hackney, I formed a particular friendship with Susan [Darby], the oldest daughter, an uncommonly fine woman, who subsequently married Mr. Pennyfether [Edward Pennefather], an eminent Irish barrister, who became Chief Justice of Ireland with the title of Baron Pennyfether [the Baron reference is incorrect, that was Edward's brother Richard]. The oldest son, Jonathan [Darby], was a young man of most excellent character but died soon after I left England. Mr. Darby's oldest brother, an Admiral in the British navy [Henry d'Esterre Darby], was never married, and upon his death the extensive Irish estates descended to Mr. Darby's son, William Henry, being then the oldest."

Pages 54-55:

"Upon my return to London I spent some weeks among my relations in the vicinity of that city. At my Aunt Vaughan's, I renewed my intimacy with the Darbys, one or more of the children being constantly with their grandmother. With Jonathan, a young man of high principle and with Susan, afterwards Mrs. Pennyfether [Pennefather], I became on the most friendly terms."

We do not know enough about John Nelson Darby's parents to be able to accurately describe the atmosphere that ruled in the house. In the past I had even less information on John Darby than what I have now. That led me to reach the rather hasty conclusion that John Darby was not a pleasant man. But this was based mainly on his business letters or business dealings. For example, while still living in Hackney he leased six small houses adjoining his premises "for the express purpose of not permitting improper persons to get into possession of them." He allowed a man by the name of William Griffin to live in one of these houses and asked him to collect the rent from those living in the other houses. In 1816 Mr. Griffin himself was behind in paying his rent. Even against the advice of his solicitors, Darby had this man arrested and sent to prison. Viewed superficially, that appears to be very hard and uncompassionate. But I have been able to obtain somewhat more information on the case and it appears that Mr. Griffin was not a very trustworthy person.

One mistake we are all in danger of, is applying our feelings and opinions of the 21st century to the 19th. Doing so we will misunderstand many things. John Darby may not have been a father prone to romping about the livingroom with his children, but that need not make him to be an unconcerned or unloving father either.

James Butler Stoney, a close friend of J. N. Darby's, once noted an interesting incident: "When J. N. D. was a young man, and exposing the defects of others, his father said to him: 'I say John, improve the world by one man.' "[27]

Among the Darby letters at the American Philosophical Society mentioned above there is one from From Anne (Vaughan) Darby to her brother Benjamin Vaughan dated 4 March 1806 in which she writes: "I can add with pleasure that our children are generally esteemed wherever they are known and none of them deficient in abilities."[28]

Copyright © 2005 by Max S. Weremchuk - Used by Permission