blind in one eye and had difficulty judging distance but continued in his active life in retirement. During the American Civil War from 1861–1865, Whitall helped poor blacks who had escaped from the South. He and his wife Mary started a First-Day School for adult religious instruction, teaching reading and interpretation of the Bible, and hiring teachers to help instruction. Whitall funded the entire school, paid stipends of money and coal to those scholars who attended consistently, and covered the rent for the Methodist Church, where the First-Day School convened. The church was located on St. Mary's Street so the school was termed St. Mary's Street School. Over the following 10 years, attendance rose consistently. By 1871, there average attendance was 175. The attendance continued to increase and Whitall continued his oversight of the school until 1874, when he had a slight stroke and became weaker. In 1876, he was unable to continue and continued to weaken until his death in 1877. References External links John M. Whitall: the Story of His Life, by his daughter Hannah W. Smith. Philadelphia, 1879. https://web.archive.org/web/20070927130740/http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=911 http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/nj2/chap5.htm http://www.sha.org/bottle/References.htm Glass makers 1800 births 1877 deaths American Quakers People from Haddon Township, New Jersey People from Millville, New Jersey Businesspeople from Philadelphia People from Woodbury, New Jersey American sailors 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople