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Note: istory, religion and philosophy at Swarthmore College, a Quaker College in Pennsylvania (named for Swathmoore Hall, the ancestral home of the Fell family). He was a colorful character who raised many a ruckus in his day. This was fortunate, because it means he left more of a paper trail than any of his colleagues. And one of the main forks of this trail was a wide swath blazed by him through the first four decades of Friends General Conference. Jesse Herman Holmes was also a Socialist and a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania.
An extensive archive of his papers, writings and sermons is housed at Swarthmore College, a description of which begins with this biographical and historical note:
"Jesse Herman Holmes was born in 1864 in Iowa, the son of Jesse and Sara Morgan Paxton Holmes. He attended Nebraska State University and John Hopkins University, where he received a Ph.D. in Chemistry. He married Rebecca S. Webb, daughter of William B. and Rebecca [Turner] Webb in 1892. Holmes taught school in Washington D.C. and then George School in Bucks Co., PA until 1899, when he set sail for Oxford to prepare to teach philosophy at Swarthmore College. He became Professor of the History of Religion and Philosophy at Swarthmore College in 1899 and Professor of Philosophy in 1922. He continued to teach at the college until 1937. After his retirement, he became professor emeritus. Holmes was an active participant in the AFSC (a Quaker organization) relief after World War I, traveling to oversee work in reconstruction throughout Europe. Holmes was the president of the national Federation of Religious Liberals and an active member of the Socialist party."
A biography of Jesse H. Holmes was written by Albert J. Wahl and published by Friends United Press, Richmond, Indiana, in 1979. Although a few early genealogy claims made in that book are confused and incomplete, a few more facts from the 400+ page biography that I found to be interesting include: In the 1880s, Jesse H. Holmes, worked as a railroad surveyor in Colorado during a summer vacation, and for later vacations, he collected botanical specimens in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona for the United States Herbarium, Department of Agriculture. Jesse and his wife, "Rebe", traveled around the world in 1925 and 1926. They had a daughter and two sons.
His nickname was "Ducky" and Ducky Holmes is still a remembered as a beloved member of the Swarthmore faculty. A fine portrait painting of him in dressed in his doctoral robe used to hang on the wall of the dean's parlor in Parish Hall on Swarthmore campus (I was informed it has since been put into storage after the renovation of Parish Hall). --NMS (I visited Swarthmore twice in 2001.)
Note: Jesse H. Holmes (1864-1942) was a long-time professor of chemistry, h
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