USA > Delaware > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 22
USA > New Jersey > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 22
USA > Pennsylvania > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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of another Crop of Barley, having good Ears tho the Straw be shorter. I did plant an Hopp-Garden this Spring, which is now exceeding full of Hopps, at which all English People admire. Richard Collet 1 and Samuel Carpenter,' etc., hav- ing had some Fields of Rye the last Summer, and plowed the Stuble in order to sow other Corn, by some Casualty could not sow their Fields; yet have they had considerable Crops of Rye, in the said Fields, by what had been shed on the Ground in Harvest time. I have had seventy Ears of Rye upon one single Root, proceeding from one single Corn; forty five of Wheat: eighty of Oats; ten, twelve and fourteen of Barley out of one Corn: I took the Curiosity to tell one of the twelve Ears from one Grain, and there was in it forty five Grains on that Ear; above three Thousand of Oats from one single Corn, and some I had, that had much more, but it would seem a Romance rather than a Truth, if I should speak what I have seen in these things.
Arnoldus de la Grange® hath above a Thousand Bushels of English Grain this year, there is indeed a great increase every
1 Richard Collett (d. 1717), yeoman, of Byberry Township, Philadelphia, a neighbor of Doctor More, was a son of Richard Collett, husbandman, of Binton- on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire, but had lived for a time prior to his emigration in Fenchurch Street, London, as serving man to William Mead.
" Samuel Carpenter held land not far from Dr. More.
: Arnoldus de la Grange (c. 1650-c. 1694), Labadist, had a considerable tract of land on Christiana Creek in New Castle County, Delaware, where evidently the grain mentioned was raised. Near by on the same stream was a mill owned by him in partnership with two Swedes. Doubtless born of a Huguenot family sometime resident in Holland, he was living with his wife Cornelia née de la Fontaine as a shopkeeper in New York in 1679 when visited by Labadist mis- sionaries who describe him as "dressed up like a great fop as he was." He seems to have made frequent business trips to the Delaware, as early as the later date, holding title to several tracts of land, along with a claim, through an in- complete purchase by his father, to Tinicum Island. In the latter part of 1681, apparently, he located with his family in New Castle, having in that year built a windmill for grinding grain in the town. The following year he was one of the residents of New Castle to welcome William Penn to the new domain on the Pro- prietor's first landing at the town, and was thereupon constituted one of the jus- tices of the court of New Castle and naturalized. In 1684-1685 he was concerned in the purchase from Augustine Herrman of over 3000 acres of land on Bohemia River in Bohemia Manor in southern Cecil County, Maryland, for the commu- nistic settlement of the Labadists, and by 1692 he was a regular inmate of that community.
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where. I had the last year as good Turnops, Carrots and Par- snops as could be expected, and in no wise inferior to those in London, the Parsnops better, and of a great bigness; my Children have found out a way of Rosting them in the Em- bers, and are as good as Barbadoes-Potatoes, insomuch that it is now become a dish with us. We have had admirable English Pease this Summer; every one here is now persuaded of the fertility of the ground, and goodness of the climate, here being nothing wanting, with industry, that grows in England, and many delicious things, not attainable there; and we have this common advantage above England, that all things grow better, and with less labour. I have planted this Spring a Quickset, of Sixscore Foot long, which grows to admiration; we find as good Thorns as any in the World.
We have had so great abundance of Pigeons this Summer, that we have fed all our Servants with them. A Gentlewoman near the City, which is come into this Province since you went for England (Mrs. Jeffs1 from Ireland) Cured Sturgion the last year, and I have eaten some this Summer at her House, as good as you can get in London; Some Barbadoes Merchants are treating with her for several Barrels for the Barbadoes, and will give her anything for them. We are wanting of some more good Neighbours to fill up the Country. There is a French Gentleman' who made the last Year some Wine of the wild Grapes, which proved admirable good, and far above the best Mader as that you ever tasted, a little higher colour'd. And one thing I must take notice of that we strove to make Vinegar of it, but it is so full of Spirit that it will not easily turn to Vinegar; a certain evidence of its long keeping. Your Vig[n]eron' had made a Barrel of the same Wine, resolving to keep it for your Entertainment; I being one day there, and speaking of what I had tasted at Monsieur Pelison's," he shewed me a Barrel, which he said was of the same sort that he had
1 Mary Jeffes (d. 1709), wife of Robert Jeffes. They lived at this time in Frankford or Oxford in a house rented from Thomas Fairman in 1684, shortly after their arrival from Ireland. Later they removed to the Falls, in Bucks County, where he died in 1688. In 1702 she was living in Philadelphia.
" Monsieur Jacob Pellison, of Philadelphia, who was legatee of the will of Charles de la Noe, in 1686.
· Andrew Doz.
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taken a great deal of care to secure from being meddled with, he tapping the head, it sounded empty, at which the man was so amased, that he was ready to Faint; afterwards look- ing about, it had leaked underneath, to about two Quarts; I tasted it, and it was yet very good Wine, so I left the poor man much afflicted for his loss. But I must acquaint you with one thing, that he having planted some French Vines, the twenty fourth of March, the last year, the same Vines have brought forth some Grapes this year, and some of them were presented to President Lloyd' the 28th of July, fully Black and Ripe, which is a thing unheard of, or very extraordinary. I thought that this short account of our present State and Con- dition, and Improvement would not be ill news to you, con- sidering that you know me not forward to put my hand to Paper slightly; wherefore I hope that your Lady will not despise what I do here report, as being the very truth of things; and if I could contribute thereby to her full Satisfaction, I should have my end, as being willing to see you and her in this place, where I shall not fear being rebuked for mis-repre- senting things, I shall conclude,
Green-Spring the 13th of September, 1686. Your truly affectionate Friend and Servant, NICHOLAS MORE.
Governor,
Madame Farmerª has found out as good Lime Stone, on the School-kill, as any in the World, and is building with it; she
1 Thomas Lloyd (1640-1694), the highest officer in the province, then presi- dent of the provincial council, which included the deputy governorship, 1684-1688, and 1690-1691. He also served alone as deputy governor, 1691-1693. Born of the gentle family of the Lloyds of Dolobran, Montgomeryshire, Wales, he was graduated with the degree of B. A. from Jesus College, Oxford, in 1661, and be- came a practising physician. Joining the Quakers he suffered persecution and imprisonment. He brought his family over for settlement in Philadelphia in 1683, on the voyage having the congenial companionship of another university man, the learned Francis Daniel Pastorius, with whom he conversed in Latin.
" Mary Farmar (d. 1687), widow of Major Jasper Farmar (d. 1685). They migrated from Arderolaine, County Tipperary, Ireland, to Philadelphia in 1685 and settled on a large tract of 5000 acres of land, on the east side of Schuylkill River at a place they called Farmars Town, in what is now Whitemarsh Town-
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offers to sell ten Thousand Bushels at six Pence the Bushel, upon her Plantation, where there is several considerable Hills, and near to your manner of Springfield.1 N. M.
In a Letter from the Governors Steward,' Octob. 3, 1686.
The Gardiner is brisk at Work. The Peach-Trees are much broken down with the weight of Fruit this Year. All or most of the Plants that came from England grow, (being about four Thousand.) Cherries are sprung four and five Foot. Pears, Codlings and Plumbs three or four Foot. Pears and Apple Grafts, in Country Stocks, and in Thorns, are sprung three and four Foot. Rasberries, Goosberries, Currans, Quinces, Roses, Walnuts and Figs grow well. Apricocks from the Stone four- teen or sixteen Inches sprung, since the Month called April. Our Barn, Porch and Shed, are full of Corn this year.
In a Letter from the Governers Gardiner,' dated the 14th of the Month, call'd May, 1686.
As for those things I brought with me, it is much for People in England to believe me of the growth of them; some of the Trees and Bulbes are shot in five weeks time, some one Inch, some two, three, four, five, six, seven, yea some a eleven
ship, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The tract, which even yet is among the most important for limestone and lime burning in the vicinity of Philadelphia, is almost the eastern terminus of that underlying belt of limestone that stretches away continuously southwesterly through the Chester Valley of Chester County, and spreads out into the great limestone area of central Lancaster County.
' The proprietary manor of Springfield, to the east of the Farmars' tract.
2 James Harrison (c. 1628-1687), Quaker minister, speaker of assembly, and provincial councillor, had been appointed steward at Pennsbury on Penn's de- parture from the province in 1684 and held that office until death. Born near Kendal, Westmoreland, England, he learned the shoemaker's trade, joined the Quakers, became a minister, and travelled in that service all over England, ex- periencing imprisonment and distraint of property. Living some years at Stiall Green, Cheshire, he removed, in 1668, to Bolton-in-the-Moors, near Manchester, thence in 1682 migrating with his family by way of Maryland to Pennsylvania and settling in Bucks County between the Falls and Pennsbury House.
' James, the second gardener for Pennsbury-Ralph Smith, the first gardener, having died in 1685-was a Scotchman bred in Ireland. His surname is un- known. "A good gardner," writes Penn to the steward at Pennsbury in sending James over from England the latter part of 1685, "counted a rare Artist at it, lett him have at least three hands, for he will put things, I hope, in a very good
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Inches; some of them not ten days set in the Ground before they put out Buds. And seeds do come on apace; for those Seeds that in England take fourteen days to rise, are up here in six or seven days. Pray make agreement with the Bishop of London's Gardiner or any other that will furnish us with Trees, Shrubs, Flowers and Seeds, and we will furnish them from these places; for we have excellent Trees, Shrubs and Flowers, and Herbs here, which I do not know I ever saw in any Gardens in England.
In a Letter from Robert Turner, a Merchant in Philadelphia and one of the Councel, the 15th of October, 1686.1
I also advise, that, blessed be God, Corn is very cheap this Season; English Wheat sold here, to carry for New-England at three Shillings six Pence per Bushel, and much Wheat- Flower and Bisket for Barbadoes. Things prosper very well, and the Earth brings forth its encrease; God grant we may walk worthy of his Mercies. Of other Grains, plenty. As to the Town, Building goeth on. John Readman? is building one Brick House for Richard Whitpain,' of sixty Foot long, and fifty six Foot wide. For the Widow Farmer, another Brick House. For Thomas Barker and Samuel Jobson two
method, thou wilt have the tryall of him." "Thou Knowst his country:" he adds, "he must be kept to the Seed, for if he be lett up, they want not for head. The man has lived well." The gardener was indentured for three years, having his passage paid, and was to receive a month to himself each year and at the end of his term £30 and 60 acres of land.
1 See his previous letter, pp. 268-273, supra.
" John Redman (d. 1713), bricklayer, of Philadelphia.
* Richard Whitpain (c. 1631-1689), Quaker butcher, of St Leonards, East- cheap, London, remained in London, but his sons John (b. 1663) and Zachariah (b. 1665) came over to Philadelphia; in 1690 there is mention of "the great house they Live in." "Taking into consideration the great expense of Richard Whit- pain," writes Penn, in 1687, "to the advancement of the province, and the share he taketh here (in England) on all occasions for its honour, I can do no less than recommend to you for public service his great house in Philadelphia, which, being too big for a private man, would provide you a conveniency above what my cot- tage affords." In 1695 the assembly met there. The house stood on the bank or bluff on the east side of Front, below Walnut Street.
Thomas Barker (d. 1710), wine merchant, of London, and Samuel Jobson, fellmonger, of St Mary Magdalen, London, sent over Jacob Chapman to act as their agent in Pennsylvania, in 1685.
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Brick Cellars, and Chimnies for back Kitchings. Thomas Duckett is Building a Brick House at the Skulkil, forty eight Foot long and three Stories high; there are two other Brick Houses to be built this Summer.
In a Letter, of the 2d of October [1686], from David Lloyd,' Clerk of the Peace, of the County of Philadelphia.
I shall only add, that five Ships are come in since our ar- rival, one from Bristol, with 100 Passengers; one from Hull with 160 Passengers; one from New-England for Corn, and two from Barbadoes; all of them, and ours (of above 300 Tun) had their loading here, ours for New-England, and the rest for Barbadoes; and for all this, Wheat (as good, I think, as any in England) is sold at three Shillings six pence per Bushel, this Country Money, and for three Shillings ready Money (which makes two Shillings five pence English Starling) and if God continues his blessing to us, this Province will certainly be the Grainary of America. The Governours Vineyard goes on very well, the Grapes I have tasted of; which in fifteen Months are come to maturity.
1 Thomas Duckett (d. 1699), Quaker minister, a bricklayer, from Wiltshire, England, came over to Philadelphia in 1683 and settled on the west side of the Schuylkill, opposite the town.
' David Lloyd (1656-1731), the Welsh Quaker lawyer, destined a few years later to become one of the great lawgivers and agitators for popular rights in the early history of the American colonies, had been a resident of the province but a little more than two months, having arrived with his family at Philadelphia, in the ship Amity, from London, July 15, 1686, to take up his duties as attorney general of Pennsylvania. A native of the parish of Manoron, in Montgomery- shire, Wales, he was a kinsman of the most prominent man in the province, Governor Thomas Lloyd. He probably received his legal training at the Inner Temple in London and-so Governor Gookin stated in 1709-"under my Lord Chancellor Jefferies." He lived for some years in Philadelphia and then about 1700 removed to Chester. He was a member of the provincial council, 1695-1700, but accomplished his most important work thereafter as a member of assembly, serving for more than a quarter of a century, frequently as speaker. He was the leader of the popular party in that body, tenaciously contending for the privileges and liberties of the common people in opposition to the proprietary interests as defended by James Logan, the proprietary secretary and agent. To him "liberal government in Pennsylvania," says Pennypacker, "owes more than to any other man among our early lawgivers, unless we except Penn himself." In 1718 he was made chief justice and served until death.
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In a Letter, of October last [1686], from Thomas Holmes1 Surveyor General.
We have made three Purchases of the Indians, which, added unto the six former Sales they made us, will, I believe, be Land enough for Planters for this Age; they were at first High, and upon their Distances; but when we told them of the Kindness our Governour had always shown them; that the Price we offer'd far exceeded former Rates, and that they offered us the Land before we sought them, they agreed to our last Offer, which is something under three hundred Pounds sterling. The Kings salute our Governour; they hardly ever see any of us, but they ask, with much affection when he will come to them again; we are upon very good terms with them. I intend to send the Draughts for a Map? by the first-
In a Letter from James Claypole' Merchant in Philadelphia and one of the Councel.
I have never seen brighter and better Corn then in these parts, especially in the County of Chester. Provisions very cheap; Pork at two Pence, and good fat fresh Beef at three half-pence the Pound, in our Market. Fish is plentiful; Corn cheap; Wheat three and six pence a Bushel; Rye half a Crown; Indian Corn two Shillings, of this Money: And it is without
1 For Thomas Holme, see p. 242, note 1.
" This was Thomas Holme's well known wall map of Pennsylvania (32}x55 inches), the most important of the early maps of the province, giving the south- eastern part with the streams, counties, townships, towns, the individual surveys or plots containing the owners' names and the like. It was engraved by E. Lamb, and published without date in London. But the date was 1687, for William Penn on his way from London to Bristol Fair in September of that year stopped at Marlborough in Wiltshire and exhibited a "Mapp" showing lands in Penn- sylvania.
James Claypoole (1634-1687), a native of London, son of a justice and member of Parliament, and brother of John Claypoole, who married Oliver Cromwell's daughter Elizabeth, was a prosperous Quaker merchant. Previous to his migration he had lived in Scots Yard, in Bush Lane, London. Having social, religious, and business relations with William Penn he became actively concerned in the Pennsylvania project from its beginning, purchased 5,000 acres of land in the province, was elected the first treasurer of the Free Society of Traders in 1682, and in the following year came over with his family to settle,
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doubt that we shall have as good Wine as France produces. Here is great appearance of a Trade, and if we had small Money for Exchange, we should not want Returns. The Whale- Fishery1 is considerable; several Companies out to ketch them: There is one caught that its thought will make several hundred Barrels of Oyle. This besides Tobacco and Skins, and Furs, we have for Commerce.
arriving at Philadelphia in the ship Concord in October. He located on his lot at the southwest corner of Front and Walnut streets, and during the remaining four years of his life was busily engaged in attending to his duties as treasurer of the Free Society and promoting his private trading enterprises, at the same time holding important public offices as justice of the courts, register general, assembly- man and provincial councillor. His manuscript letter-book (1681-1684), printed in part in the Pennsylvania Magasine, X. (1886), is a valuable historical source for the period.
1 "I have been 3 weeks from home," Claypoole writes from Philadelphia, 2 Mo. (April) 4, 1684, "about 150 miles of [off] whare they take the whales, they took 2 while I was there, they had killed about 12 in all and lost 3 of them and they intend to stay till the end of this month and may expect to gitt 5 or 6 more they fish for the Society [Free Society of Traders] but must be pd. the Markett prise for § of the oyle and bone besides some other Charges we are at so we are like to gett no great Matter by it this time, this is the first year of their fishing and they were not provided with Nessesarys in time else they might have made 100lb each man, here being great plenty of whales and very easy to take them here is abundance of Sturgeon and other fish."
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A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF PENNSILVANIA BY RICHARD FRAME, 1692
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INTRODUCTION
IN 1692, William Bradford, the Quaker printer, of Philadel- phia, published a small quarto (62x4} inches) of eight pages en- titled A Short Description of Pennsilvania. This little book is in verse and is believed to be the first metrical composition printed in Pennsylvania. The only known copy of the work is in the Ridgway Branch of the Library Company of Phila- delphia, to which it was bequeathed by Charles A. Poulson some sixty years ago.
An element of uncertainty hangs over the authorship of the verses. The title and last page of the book assign them to one Richard Frame. Yet strange to say a thorough search of all Pennsylvania sources likely to be fruitful of results has failed to reveal a single reference other than these citations in the book itself-to substantiate the existence of a person of this name here at that time.
It is true that some of the public and many private records for the period have perished or are otherwise defective; never- theless those that survive are so full and of such a varied character that it is rare indeed to find entries lacking of settlers of even the most humble position. The observing intelligence discernible in this writer would seem to raise him far out of the obscurity of the latter class. The suggestion that the author may have made only a brief sojourn here and so have escaped record or chronicler finds no support from the internal evidence, which indicates an extended acquaintance with the province. This absence of data, then, respecting the presence of Richard Frame raises the question whether this was not an assumed name.
Be that as it may, we are confined to the book itself for
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biographical facts as to its author. From it may be deduced the somewhat scanty conjectures that he was a native of Eng- land, that he had come to Pennsylvania at the beginning of the Penn era, had actively participated in the felling of the forests and the clearing of the land, and had joined in the pioneer farming of which he writes so familiarly. Despite his manifest defects of education he was a man of sense and good powers of observation. He seems to know whereof he writes, evidently having a personal acquaintance with the settled part of Pennsylvania proper.
His verse, to be sure, falls far short of poetry; it will never find a place in the American Anthology: yet what it lacks in poetical form it makes up in the quaint interest and valuable information of its content. It conveys a truthful and not un- pleasing impression of the state of Penn's colony-of its flora, its fauna, products and the like-after a decade of prosperous growth.
Granting that Richard Frame was the author's real name, he may have been related to the family of Fream or Freame of Gloucestershire, England. A Thomas Fream, from Avon, in that county, was a settler in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; his will dated September 5 was probated October 10, 1682, being the first will recorded in Philadelphia. Again, a Robert Freame, of Cirencester, supposed to be Penn's First Purchaser of this name in 1681, was the father of Robert and John Freame, prominent Quakers, of London, in the latter part of the seven- teenth century. Both the latter held shares of stock in the Pennsylvania Land Company of London. Thomas Freame, son of Robert, jr., married William Penn's daughter Margaret in 1727 and lived for a time in Pennsylvania.
A Short Description was reprinted in a small edition (118 copies) by Samuel J. Hamilton (Dr. James Slack), at the Oak- wood Press, a private press, in 1867, with an introductory letter by Horatio Gates Jones. The present issue is from a
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careful copy of the unique original book compared by the editor. The title-page is worn and broken in places and the first page of the text has been trimmed so closely for binding that the first one or two letters of each line have been cut off; a tear also appears in the sheet. These defective parts have been supplied in brackets as well as may be from portions of letters remaining, or from the obvious sense. Doubtful words are so indicated.
A. C. M.
A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF PENNSILVANIA, BY RICHARD FRAME, 1692
A Short Description of Pennsilvania, Or, a Relation What things are known, enjoyed, and like to be discovered in the said Province. [Presen(?)]tted as a Token of Good Will [to the People(?)] of England. By Richard Frame. Printed and Sold by William Bradford in Philadelphia, 1692.
A short Relation of what things are Known, Enjoyd, and like to be Discovered in the Province of Pennsilvania.
TO all our Friends that do desire to know, What Country 'tis we live in, this will show. Attend to hear the Story I shall tell, [N]o doubt but you will like this Country well.
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We that did leave our Country thought it strange, [T]hat ever we should make so good Exchange: [I(?)] think 'tis hard for me for to express, [H]ow God provideth in a Wilderness, [ torn Jarge a wo[torn]
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