Biography

07/20/1797 - 11/14/1884

Eli Kirk Price, Sr. (Whig1) Philadelphia City 1854 (W1) Philadelphia (old city) 1855-1856  

Early Life:

Eli Kirk Price, Sr., born July 20, 1797, East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania; son of Philip and Rachel Price; locally educated; entered the shipping-house of Thomas P. Coke, 1815; married, Anna Embree, 1818, children, Rebecca E. Price Withers, John Sergeant Price, Sybil Embree Price Nichols; abandoned merchandise for law; studied law, John Sergeant, admitted bar, 1822; real estate lawyer; elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1853-1855; author; founder, Fairmount Park Commission, 1856-1867; chairman, Fairmount Park Commission, 1867-1884; died, November 14, 1884 (aged 87), Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interment, Woodlands Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Studied, law, with John Sergeant, American politician, United States House of Representatives. Then the National Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee, presidential election, Senator Henry Clay, 1832.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Member, American Philosophical Society; president, University Hospital; Pennsylvania Colonization Society; Numismatic and Antiquarian Society; vice-president, American Philosophical Society; trustee, University of Pennsylvania.

Authored:

Eli Kirk Price wrote, and with the aid of his brother Philip Jr., printed and circulated the Memoir of Philip and Rachel Price (1852), reprinted at Glasgow in The British Friend.

The Family-Discourse on the Family as an Element of Government, Position of Eli Kirk Price, on the Liquor Question, Defined by the Facts, (1854).

Speech of Eli K. Price, of Philadelphia, in the Senate of Pennsylvania, April 6th and 7th 1855, on the Bill to Restrain the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors.

Rebecca Memorial of Our Daughter for Her Child (1862).

The Diary of John Pemberton: For the Years 1777-1778 (1867).

Penn Squares (1867).

The History of the Consolidation of the City of Philadelphia (1873).

The Glacial Epochs (1876).

Sylviculture (1877).

Biographical sketches of James Embree, Philip Price and Eli K. Price for the History of Chester County (1881).

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1st district, Philadelphia City, 1854.

Elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1st district, Philadelphia (old city), 1855-1856; legislation, consolidation of the city and county of Philadelphia into one metropolitan unit, known as, Consolidation Act of 1854, tripled the size of Philadelphia, making it the largest territorial city, United States; rewrote Pennsylvania's real estate laws, strengthen married women's rights to property, established building inspectorate in Philadelphia, secured the real estate for Fairmount Park.

Speech, Senate of Pennsylvania, April 6th-7th 1855, Restrain the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors.

Legacy:

His ancestors, came to this country with William Penn, settled on a tract of 1,000 acres, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Great-Great-Grandson of Roger and Elizabeth (Duck) Kirk.
Great-Grandson of Alphonsus and Abigail (Sharpley) Kirk.
Grandson of William and Mary (Buckingham) Kirk.

The Eli Kirk Price fountain at Eakins Oval, Philadelphia is named in his honor. 

Great grandson, Phillip “Phil” Price, Jr., Pennsylvania State Senate, Lancaster County 1979-1982.

Philip "Phil" Price Jr. - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov) 

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members P". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Eli Kirk Price Sr. (1797-1884) - Find a Grave Memorial