Warder Cresson

Warder Cresson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1798 - Jerusalem November 6, 1860) was the first U.S. Consul to Jerusalem. He was appointed in 1844.

Warder Cresson (later Michoel Boaz Yisroel ben Avraham) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Quaker family. He was descended from Pierre Cresson, one of the settlers of Harlem, NY, whose grandson, Solomon, migrated to Philadelphia in the early 18th century. Warder Cresson's father, John Elliott Cresson (1773–1814), married Mary Warder in 1795.

In 1830 he published a pamphlet entitled Babylon the Great Is Falling! The Morning Star, or Light from on High, in which he deplored the extravagance and evil tendencies of the times, and exhorted all Quakers to lead a better and less wayward life. He went through a period of strong religious upheaval, joining a series of sects that appeared to him to represent true religion.

In 1840, he met Isaac Leeser and he became deeply interested in Judaism. Cresson was also influenced by the writings of Mordecai Manuel Noah, who believed that the Jews would soon return to live in Palestine, their national homeland.

On May 17, 1844, he was commissioned consul at Jerusalem, the first person to hold this office. However, the commission was recalled before he arrived in Jerusalem, unbeknownst to him. He speaks of his departure for Jerusalem as follows:

"In the spring of 1844 I left everything near and dear to me on earth. I left the wife of my youth and six lovely children (dearer to me than my natural life), and an excellent farm with everything comfortable around me. I left all these in the pursuit of the Truth, and for the sake of the Truth alone."

Previous to his departure he had been engaged in agriculture at Gwynedd, a suburb of Philadelphia.

He was much affected by the surroundings of Jerusalem, became more inclined toward Judaism, and assumed the name Michoel C. Boaz Israel. In 1844–1848, he was a frequent contributor to Isaac Leeser's magazine, The Occident, in which he criticized the missionary tactics of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews.

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