Theologian and doctor: He was born in England of French Huguenot refugees, the last of 9 children. Both parents died while he was a child and he was taken in by a friend of his mother and his godmother, Queen Anne of England, and was later cared for by an uncle. He was sent to sea at the age of 12, when a trip to Africa would change him for life. He came back to Europe and began preaching what would later become the Universalist faith. He was arrested in France and narrowly missed beheading for heresy and was granted a pardon by King Louis XV, while actually on the executioner's scaffold, due to his noble upbringing. He travelled to Germany and Holland before arriving at Philadelphia about 1741 in search of religious freedom. He befriended many Native Americans and eventually produced a "cross-referenced dictionary" of Native American, German and English languages. While with the "Indians", he learned their healing methods through the use of medicinal herbs and plants. He moved to Bristol Township, PA in 1757. where he practiced medicine and ran an apothecary in Philadelphia. Although he supported the "colonists", he treated casualties at the Battle of Germantown and offered his family burying ground to Gen. Howe for the burial of Gen. Agnew and his aide who were killed in the battle. He later produced a 140-page book (the Pennsylvanian Physician) that is kept at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. Amongst its pages are notes on the treatment of Gen. George Washington. He is best known as the founder of the Universalist Church in America, and more than a dozen books from 1791 to 2003 make references to Dr. DeBenneville.
Theologian and doctor: He was born in England of French Huguenot refugees, the last of 9 children. Both parents died while he was a child and he was taken in by a friend of his mother and his godmother, Queen Anne of England, and was later cared for by an uncle. He was sent to sea at the age of 12, when a trip to Africa would change him for life. He came back to Europe and began preaching what would later become the Universalist faith. He was arrested in France and narrowly missed beheading for heresy and was granted a pardon by King Louis XV, while actually on the executioner's scaffold, due to his noble upbringing. He travelled to Germany and Holland before arriving at Philadelphia about 1741 in search of religious freedom. He befriended many Native Americans and eventually produced a "cross-referenced dictionary" of Native American, German and English languages. While with the "Indians", he learned their healing methods through the use of medicinal herbs and plants. He moved to Bristol Township, PA in 1757. where he practiced medicine and ran an apothecary in Philadelphia. Although he supported the "colonists", he treated casualties at the Battle of Germantown and offered his family burying ground to Gen. Howe for the burial of Gen. Agnew and his aide who were killed in the battle. He later produced a 140-page book (the Pennsylvanian Physician) that is kept at the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. Amongst its pages are notes on the treatment of Gen. George Washington. He is best known as the founder of the Universalist Church in America, and more than a dozen books from 1791 to 2003 make references to Dr. DeBenneville.
