He graduated as a physician from the College of Philadelphia on June 21, 1768, receiving the first medical diploma issued on the American continent.

[1] During the Revolutionary War, Archer was volunteer aide-de-camp to General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point.

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.

The mansion on the property, along with 5 acres was purchased by Nicholas J. Bonge, and named the "Christian Bible Center".

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.[citation needed] John Archer School, a special education school built in 1971 in Bel Air was named after Archer.