Researching John Archer

Archer was born near Churchville in the Province of Maryland, and attended the West Nottingham Academy in Cecil County, later graduating from Princeton College in 1760. He studied theology, but owing to a throat affliction, he abandoned his studies in that area and began the study of medicine. He graduated as a physician from the College of Philadelphia in 1768, receiving the first medical diploma issued on the American continent.

In 1769, Archer commenced the practice of law in Harford County. He was a member of the Revolutionary committee from 1774 to 1776, and later raised a military company during the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the first state constitutional convention of 1776, and served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1777 to 1779. During the Revolutionary War, Archer was volunteer aide-de-camp to General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point. On June 1, 1779, Archer was made a captain and subsequently a major in the Continental Army.

Archer was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1801, until March 3, 1807. He founded, with his son Thomas Archer, the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland in 1799. In 1810, Archer documented a case of superfecundation, more specifically called "heteropaternal superfecundation," in which a Caucasian woman gave birth to mixed twins — one Caucasian, one Afro-Caucasian - after having had intercourse with two men of differing race within a few weeks. Archer died at his country home, Medical Hall, near Churchville, Maryland, and is interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery of Churchville.

Historical Note: A descendant of Dr. John Archer, one Henry Wilson Archer and his wife Mary Elizabeth Walker Archer, bought the 65 acre farm "Shamrock" from Ellen Howe Davis in 1850. The farm was retained in the Archer family until 1955 when it was sold to the Sparr Construction Company to become the current development of Shamrock in Bel Air, MD. The mansion on the property, along with 5 acres was purchased by Nicholas J. Bonge, and named the "Christian Bible Center". He had plans of restoring the home for a Christian orphanage. After his untimely death in 1961, it was resold and, sadly, burned to the ground by a contingent of 70 Harford County Firemen in October 1963 to make way for the development.

Born just south of Broadview, Saskatchewan, he was a rural school teacher from 1933 to 1940. During World War II, he served with the Royal Canadian Artillery and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1945. In 1973, he was made an honorary colonel. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1947 and a Master of Arts degree in 1948 from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1949, he received a Bachelor of Library Science degree from McGill University.

From 1951 to 1964, he was the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan librarian and from 1956 to 1961 he was the assistant clerk of the Legislature. From 1957 to 1962, he was the provincial archivist. From 1962 to 1964, he was chairman of the Committee on Continuing Education in Saskatchewan. From 1964 to 1967, he was the director of libraries at McGill University. From 1967 to 1970, he was an archivist and associate professor of history at Queen's University. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Queen's University.

In 1970, he became the principal of the Regina campus of the University of Saskatchewan and became the first president of the University of Regina in 1974 and served until 1976.

In 1980, he wrote the book Saskatchewan A History .

In 1980, he was made an officer of the Order of Canada. In 1987, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. The Dr. John Archer Library, the University of Regina's main library, is named in his honour.

He was married to Alice and had two children: John and Mary.

His major architectural works include Parliament House, Hobart, the Treasury and the Audit Department buildings in Hobart, the Ordnance Stores in Salamanca Place, several buildings at Anglesea Barracks; St John's Church, New Town; the nave of St. George's Church at Battery Point; Old Trinity (the Penitentiary Chapel) in Hobart; St Luke's Presbyterian Church at Bothwell, St Luke's Church of England at Richmond; and parts of the Campbell Street Gaol, Hobart. His major engineering work was the stone bridge which still carries the Midland Highway over the Macquarie River at Ross.