USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
-1.4
Gc 974.802 P53wat v. 1 1507835
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02237 1998
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/annalsofphiladel01wats_0
ENGRAVED BY JOHN SARTAIN.
AGED CZ
PHINPER PROM LIFE IN THE YEAR 1966.
ANNALS . /
OF
PHILADELPHIA, AND PENNSYLVANIA,
IN THE OLDEN TIME;
BEING A COLLECTION OF
MEMOIRS, ANECDOTES, AND INCIDENTS
OF THE
CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS,
AND OF THE
EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS OF THE INLAND PART OF PENNSYLVANIA;
INTENDED TO PRESERVE THE RECOLLECTIONS OF OLDEN TIME, AND TO EXHIBIT SOCIETY IN ITS CHANGES OF MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, AND THE CITY AND COUNTRY IN THEIR LOCAL CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS.
BY JOHN F. WATSON,
MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK, AND MASSACHUSETTS.
ENLARGED, WITH MANY REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS, BY
WILLIS P. HAZARD.
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
web + 200
"Oh! dear is a tale of the olden time !" Sequari vestigia rerum.
" Where peep'd the hut, the palace towers ; Where skimm'd the bark, the war-ship lowers ; Joy gaily carols where was silence rude, And cultured thousands throng the solitude."
PHILADELPHIA: LEARY, STUART & CO., 9 SOUTH NINTH STREET. 1909.
-
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by ELIJAH THOMAS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Copyright, 1877, J. M. STODDART & Co.
1507835
ADVERTISEMENT.
" I pray you, let us satisfy our eyes With the memorials and things of fame That do renown this City."
THIS work, dedicated to the Historical Society of Penn sylvania by one of its members, and specially recommended to the public by one of its official publications, is designed to revive the recollections and the peculiar traits and cha- racteristics of the olden time ;- to give to the present race of Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians, curious and amusing facts from by-gone times, of which few or none have had any proper conception. It is an effort to rescue from the ebbing tide of oblivion, all those fugitive memorials of un- published facts and observations, or reminiscences and traditions, which could best illustrate the domestic history of our former days. As such a work is without example for its imitation, it may be deemed sui-generis in its execu- tion. It has, however, powers to please apart from its style and composition, because it is in effect-a museum of whatever is rare, surprising, or agreeable, concerning the primitive days of our pilgrim forefathers, or of the subsequent changes by their sons, either in the alterations and improvements of given localities, or in the modes and forms of " changing men and manners." It is a picture of the doings and characteristics of a buried age. By the images which their recitals create in the imagination, the ideal presence is generated; and we talk and think with men of other times.
VOL. I .- b.
(1x)
X
ADVERTISEMENT.
Herein the aged may find ready assistance to travel back in memory to the scenes and gambols of their sportive in- nocent youth; and the youth of our country may regale their fancies with recitals as novel and marvellous to their wondering minds, as the Arabian tales-even while they have the gratification to commingle in idea with the plays and sports of their own once youthful ancestors. The dull unheeding citizen who writes nil admirari on the most of things, may here see cause "to wonder that he never saw before what he shows him, and that he never yet had felt what he impresses !" To Philadelphians and Pennsyl- vanians, settled in distant countries, and longing for visions of country and home, herein is presented the best gift their friends at home could send them.
It is presumed the day is coming, if not already arrived, when the memorabilia of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and of their primitive inhabitants, so different from the present, will be highly appreciated by all those who can feel intellectual pleasure in travelling back the vale of years, and conferring with the "mighty dead." Such will give their thanks and their gratitude to labours humble as these ;- for I have not aimed to give them that " painted form" which might allure by its ornaments of rhetoric. I have rather repressed the excursive fancy, which sometimes I could not but feel. My object has not been to say all that could have been adduced on every topic, but to gather up the segregated facts in the several cases which others had overlooked or disregarded, or to save fugitive scraps, if published, which others had neglected. In this way, I have chiefly aimed to furnish the material by which better or more ambitious writers could elaborate more formal history, and from which as a repository, our future poets, painters, and imaginative authors could deduce their themes, for their own and their country's glory. To such materials, fiction may some day lend its charms to amplify and consecrate facts ; and "Tales of Ancient Philadelphia and the Coun-
X1
ADVERTISEMENT.
try," may be touched by genius and made immortal ! Al. ready such efforts have been made : and " Meredith, or the Meschianza," and " A Tale of Blackbeard the Pirate," go to show that this hint is not neglected.
The author is fully aware that his pages must show a broken and disjointed form-as well from their necessary divisions into numerous heads and chapters, as from the fact that the varieties written, had to be done in snatches of time, just as he could catch the thought or possess the occasion-and never with the advantage of a second writing for its improvement. Critics may possibly find occasion to condemn this, who may not in their whole lives contri- bute even a tythe of such labours to the public stock of olden time reminiscences.
The reader will please observe, that this work having bcen closed in its Manuscript, in 1842, that therefore, all reference to any given number of years back, respecting things passed or done so many "years ago," is to be understood as counting backward from the year 1842.
CONTENTS OF VOL. 1.
CHIEFLY CONCERNING PHILADELPHIA CITY
General Introductory History,
Epitome of Primitive Colonial and Philadelphia History, 6
The Primitive Settlement and its incidents,
35
Facts and Occurrences of the Primitive Settlement,
42
Fragments of the Primitive History,
77
The Penn Family-and facts concerning them,
105
Penn's Descendants-notices of them,
121
The landing of Penn at Chester, -
127
The landing of Penn at the Blue Anchor Inn,
120
The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion there,
134
The Swedes' Church and House of Sven Sener,
146
Penny Pot-house and Landing, 153
Poole's Bridge and its incidents,
156
Penn's Cottage in Letitia Court,
158
Slate-roof House-Penn's residence,
163
The River-front Bank-and how its original purpose was changed,
- 166
The Caves-and their inhabitants,
171
Habits and State of Society in Colonial Times,
. 172
Apparel-Former Dresses,
183
-
Furniture and Equipage in Olden Time,
- 203
Changes and Improvements in public and domestic comforts and con-
veniences,
- 211
Changes in Residences and Places of Business,
224
Local changes in Streets and Places,
230
Innovations and new modes of Conducting Business, 238
Progress and state of Society,
243
Changes in prices of Diet, &c.
260
Superstitions and Popular Credulity,
265
-
Sports and Amusements,
276
V
Contents of Vol. I.
City Dancing Assembly, 283
Education in Early Times, - 28€
Primitive Courts and Trials, - 298
Crimes and Punishments, - 307
The Excellencies of Penn's Laws, 311
Philadelphia Bar in Colonial times, - 315
Militia and Colonial Defence, 323
Duels in olden Time, 333
The Drawbridge and Dock Creek, - 336
The Old Court House, and Friends' Meeting, 350
High Street Prison and Market Shambles, - 356
The Stone Prison, S. W. corner of Third and High streets,
360
Market Houses in Primitive Days, 362
The Arch Street Bridge at Front Street, 364
Shippen's Great House, - 368
Benezet's House and Chestnut Street Bridge,
371
Clarke's Hall, &c .- Chestnut Street, - 374
Carpenter's Mansion,
376
Christ Church-its early history, - 378
Friends' Bank Meeting, Front Street,
390
Friends' Meeting at Centre Square, - 391
The London Coffee-house, -
393
State House and Yard-in its beginning,
396
State House Inn,
403
Washington Square in former days, - 405
Beek's Hollow,
407
Norris' House and Garden,
408
Robert Morris' Mansion, 409
Loxley's House, and Bathsheba's Bath and Bower,
- 411
Duché's House, &c. -
413
Bingham's Mansion,
- 414
The British Barracks, 415
The Old Academy, 416 - -
Carpenters' Hall, and First Congress there, - 419
Office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, - 423 -
Fon Wilson, corner of Third and Walnut Streets,
425
Friends' Alms House,
426
XV
Contents of Vol. I.
Whitpain's Great House,
428
Wiggleworth's House, 428
The Old Ferry, 429
Offly's Anchor Forge, - 430
Baptisterion-on the Schuylkill, 430
Fort St. David, - - 431
Bachelor's Hall, 432
The Duck Pond, corner Fourth and High Streets, 433
Pegg's Run, &c .- Early notices and changes there, 436
Specimens of the best Houses, - - 443
Rare Old Houses, 445
Churches-their early history, - 447
Hospitals-their early history, 460
Poor Houses-earliest ones, 462
Libraries-their early history, 462
Taverns in former days, - 463
Theatres-their origin, 471
Custom Houses-earliest ones, -
474
Banks-in their beginning, - 475
North End,
477
South End and Society Hill, 482
Western Commons, &c., 485
Springs-in earliest days,
489
Gardens notices of earliest ones, 493
Ponds and Skating Places, -
495
Fires and Fire Engines-early notices, - 496
Friends-in early times, 499
Persons and Characters, - 511
Aged Persons,
597
Childhood and its Joys, - - 609
LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS IN VOLUME I.
And Directions to the Binder.
Portrait of Penn. (Frontispiece.)
The " Shield" passing the Site of Philadelphia in 1678, - 10
Two Portraits of Penn-as Governor and Young Cavalier, - 111
Penn landing at Chester, 127
Penn landing at Blue Anchor, - 127
The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion, 134
The Swedes' Church and House of Sven Sener, - 134
Penny Pot-House and Landing, - 153
Sloop of War wintering in Pegg's Run, - 156
Penn's Cottage in Letitia Court, 158
Slate-Roof House, Penn's Residence, 158
The Caves and their Inhabitants, 171
Head-dress Fashions for 1800, 183 -
The Drawbridge and Dock Creek, -
336
Old Court House and Friends' Meeting House, - 350
High Street Prison and Market Shambles, 350
Walnut Street Prison, - 350
Stone Prison, Southwest Corner of Third and High Streets, 360
Friends' Bank Meeting House, - - 360
The Arch Street Bridge at Front Street, 364
Shippen's House, South Second Street, - 368
371
Clarke's Hall on Chestnut Street,
371
Carpenter's Mansion,
376
Christ Church,
376
The London Coffee House,
393
State House and Congress Hall,
- 393 409
Loxley's House, South Second Street,
- 411
Washington's House, High Street, -
411
Bathsheba's Bath and Bower, 411
Duche's House, South Third Street, 413
British Barracks, Northern Liberties, - 413
Carpenter's Hall, the Place of First Congress, 419
419
Friends' Almshouse, Walnut Street, 427
427
Baptisterion on the Schuylkill, 430
Fort St. David, · 431
Duck Pond, Corner of Fourth and High Streets, 433
Pegg's Run, Northern Liberties, - 436
Nicholas Waln, 507
Logan's and Franklin's Busts, - 523
John S. Hutton and James Pemberton, -
( xvi ) 527
Benezet's House and Chestnut Street,
Robert Morris' Mansion, Chestnut Street,
Office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, South Sixth Street, -
First Presbyterian Church, High Street,
ANNALS
OF
PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA.
GENERAL INTRODUCTORY HISTORY.
" My soul, revolving periods past, looks back, With recollected interest on all The former darings of our venturous race."
BEFORE proceeding to the proper object of the present work (" The Annals of Philadelphia, &c.,") it may be profitable to occupy a few lines in a preliminary and brief survey of the successive efforts made by kings, discoverers, and founders, to settle colonies in our hemisphere.
The earliest English claim to sovereignty in America was based upon the discoveries of John Cabot, accompanied by his son Sebas- tian. These, acting under the commission and for the service of Henry VII., in the year 1497, ran along the line of our coast, from the 38th to the 67th degree of north latitude ; - thus making their discoveries only five years later than those by Columbus himself in lower latitudes.
But great as were such discoveries, and important as have been their consequences, since developed, they then excited no effectual spirit of adventure and colonization. It was not till upwards of a century, that any nation of Europe made any effective establish- ments in our country. In 1608 the French, conducted by Samuel Champlain, founded their colony in Canada ;- about the same time, the Dutch planted New York, and the British, Virginia. The few earlier attempts at colonization made by England and France, were virtually nothing, as they were abandoned almost as soon as begun.
When we contemplate the present wealth and resources of our country, once open to the aggrandizement of any respectable adven- turer who had energies sufficient to avail himself of its advantages, it is matter of surprise, that a period of eighty years should have elapsed in England, before any of her subjects should have made any effort to possess themselves of the benefits of their proper discovery! France with less pretension, did more; for Cartiers, in 1534, made some ineffectual attempts at plantation in Canada. This was under the discoveries imputed to Verranza, who, only ten years before, VOL. I .- A 1 (1)
2
General Introductory History.
while sailing under a patent from Francis I., ranged the coast from North Carolina to the 50th degree of north latitude, and called the country New France.
At length the attention of the English nation was called to the subject of colonization, by the genius and enterprise of Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1578, he procured a patent for settlement for the use of his half brother, Sir Humphry Gilbert. 'I'he latter, however, made no endeavour to execute it till 1583, when it soon proved abortive in his attempts to a settlement in Newfoundland. It was not, from its very nature, the land to allure and cherish strangers. Another expedition quickly succeeded, under a direct grant in 1584 to Sir Walter Raleigh himself. He committed the enterprise to Sir Richard Greenville, under two divisions of vessels, (the first, as it is said, under Captains Amidas and Barlow,*) both of which made the land at Roanoke, in North Carolina, in the years 1584 and '5. Disaster and dissatisfaction soon broke up this colony; for, losing 108 of their number, in an enterprise wherein their fate was never known, the remainder willingly availed themselves of an unexpected chance to return home with Sir Francis Drake's fleet. They were hardly gone, In 1586, before Sir Walter himself arrived to join his colonists ; but finding all had gone, he returned home immediately, much chagrined with his non-success .; Still, however, two other colonies succeeded under Captain White in 1587 and 1590. The first were supposed to have been destroyed ; and the latter, being much distressed by a storm on the coast, resolved on a return home. Thus ended the disastrous and nugatory efforts of Sir Walter and his associates ! They were indeed enough to repress and break the spirits of any individual projector.
The spirit of adventure slumbered for a season, and no further attempts of Englishmen occurred until 1602, when the enterprising Bartholomew Gosnold (a name since much appropriated to New England history) made his discovery of Cape Cod and the neigh- bouring regions, although he then proposed a voyage to the former ill-fated Roanoke. He was succeeded in the two following years by Captains M. Pring and George Weymouth. In 1607, Captains George Popham and R. Gilbert built Fort George, at the place where now stands the city of Boston. These all contented themselves with making short stays for purposes of trade and traffic. They sought not colonization, nor cared to seek after the abandoned Roanoke.}
Sir Walter having forfeited his patent by attainder, King James I. was pleased to grant another patent for all our territory from the 34th
· Bennet's MS, History does not regard Amidas and Barlow as a part of Greenville's expedition, as other historians do; but that they arrived in 1584, and Greenville's in 1585. He also asserts, as if relating it from data, that the former took home two natives, named Wanchese and Mateo, and also the first specimens of tobacco.
t It has long been held uncertain, whether Sir Walter ever visited his colony, but Bennet's MS. History asserts that he did.
# Roanoke is the Indian name for Wampum.
3
General Introductory History.
to the 45th degree, (that is, from North Carolina to Nova Scotia,) under the general name of Virginia,-a name previously conferred on Sir Walter's patent, as a compliment to the reign of the virgin queen, Elizabeth. The South Virginia division extended from the 34th to the 41st degree, or, from Cape Hatteras to New York city, and the first colonization of any of the new patentees, destined however for Roanoke, was effected in 1607, at Jamestown, Virginia. Thus giving place to the idea, often expressed in modern times, of the " Ancient Dominion," so claimed for Virginia among her sister states, although better historical reasons can be assigned for her distinction .* The North Virginia division, if we except the alleged intrusion of the Dutch on the Hudson river, or of Captain Popham's relinquished attempt to settle at Boston, was not permanently colonized until 1620, when it was made for ever memorable by the landing of the Plymouth colony of Puritans in Massasoit, or Massachusetts.
In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman,t in the service of the Dutch East India company, having fruitlessly sought a north-west passage to India in the high northern latitudes, resolved to repair the losses of his ineffective labours, by extending his voyage more southerly for the purpose of traffic. In returning thence from the bar of Virginia, he discovered our bay of Delaware, and soon after the Hudson river. From this last discovery, certain traders from Holland came out in 1614, under a patent from the States General, and made their first establishment at Fort Orange, (Aurania,) near the present city of Albany. Of this fort they were dispossessed the same year by Captain Argal, acting under Governor Dale of the South Virginia province. But after his return to Virginia, the traders reassembled and formed a new establishment at the mouth of the Hudson, on the island Manahattan, the present New York, where they built a fort, which they called Nieu Amstel, or New Amsterdam. This event is said by some writers to have been in 1615 ; bn: Go- vernor Stuyvesant's letter of 1664, of the surrender of the place to the British conquerors, speaks of it as occurring "about 41 or 42 years preceding," thus affixing it to the years 1622-3 ;- the same period assigned by Professor Kalm.
About that time, the States General appear to have enlarged their schemes of profit from the country, by an attempt at colonization ; for they grant, in the year 1621, their patent " for the country of the Nieu Nederland, to the privileged West India Company." From this time the Dutch began to progress southwardly over the lands bordering on
* It is a fact on record, that Virginia resisted Cromwell's rule, and treated with his naval commander as an " independent dominion." King Charles II. afterwards quar- tered Virginia with his arms, having the motto, "En dat Virginia quartum." Vide- Encyclopædia Britannica. See also those arms and motto engraved on a Virginia £5 bill in my MS. Annals, p. 276, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
t Wm. Hudson, an English clergyman from Barbadoes, who was a primitive settler at Philadelphia, and has left several descendants among us, was a near relative of Hud- son, the discoverer, perhaps his nephew. He became a Friend, and was employed much in civil offices.
General Introductory History.
both sides of the river Delaware, which they then called the Zuydt or South river, in contradistinction to their Noordt or North river. To protect their settlers, they built, in 1623, their first fort on the Dela- ware, and probably made their first village, at the place since known as Gloucester point, in New Jersey, at a little distance below the present Philadelphia. This was of course the proper " Ancient Do- minion," to us ! The fortification was called " Nassau." The place was known to the Indians by the name of Arwanus," and by the ancient Philadelphians, by the less poetical name of Pine point.
In 1629, the country of New Netherland became of consequence enough to deserve and receive a governor ; and Wouter van Twiller, the first governor that our country, in common with New York, ever possessed, came out to Fort Amsterdam, (called New York, after 1664-5,) where he ruled in the name of their " high mightinesses and the privileged West India Company."
In 1631 the Swedes and Fins, allured by the publication of Wil- liam Usselinx, a Dutch trader, effected a colony under the patronage of their government at Cape Henlopen,t (called afterwards Cape James, by William Penn,) at a place near the present Lewestown which they called Point Paradise.
In 1631, also, the Swedes laid out Stockholm (New Castle) and Christiana, (now Wilmington,) on Minquas creek. They thence spread themselves further along the Delaware.
In 1632, Lord Baltimore obtained from Charles I. his patent fo: the Maryland colony, and forthwith began his colony there.
In 1640, the Puritans from New Haven, under the name of Eng- lish people, desirous of planting churches "after a godly sort," and " to trade and traffic with the Indians" along the Delaware bay, made a purchase of soil for £30 sterling, transported thither about fifty families, and erected trading houses; from all of which they were ejected in 1642, by orders from Keift, the Dutch governor.
It is a matter of curiosity and wonder to us of the present day to contemplate the vagueness and contradictions with which our coun- try was at first lavishly parcelled out and patented. First, the Span- iards would have claimed the whole under their general grant fron: the pope! Then, Henry VII. of England, and Francis I. of France, would each have claimed the whole of our coast : the former under the name of Virginia; the latter under the name of New
* Called also Tekaacho.
t I have assumed the time given by Campanius, both because he was among the ear- liest historians of our country, and also dwelling among us as a Swede. He speaks thus, " when the Swedes arrived in 1631," &c. Proud, deriving the time from Smith's Nova Cæsaria, has given the year 1627 as the time ; but this is a mistake easily accounted for, as being the year, as the state paper shows, in which the king and diet of Sweden gave their sanction to the colonization. There are, however, several reasons assigned for thinking that 1638 was the year of their first arrival and settlement, and the facts are well told in Moulton's History of New York; it should be consulted by the curious in this matter. James Logan's letter of 1726 to the Penns, to be found elsewhere in these pages, says, "there was also a prohibition (from the New York government) to the Swedes, between the years 1630 and '40.
5
General Introductory History.
France. While the English are actually settling in Virginia proper, the Dutch take possession of New York, and claim it as New Netherlands ; the French at the same time, under their claim of Canada, encroach upon New York. The limits of North and South Virginia are confusedly made to include New York in both of them. The charter for Maryland is made to invade that for the New Netherlands; and the charter for Connecticut is made to encroach upon New York and Pennsylvania both, and to extend in effect to the Pacific ocean. These conflicting charters and interests go far to prove the great deficiency of geographical records and information, or the trifling estimation in which lands thus cheaply attained or held were then regarded.
EPITOME
OF
PRIMITIVE COLONIAL
AND
PHILADELPHIA HISTORY.
" Push enquiry to the birth And spring-time of our State."
OUR country having been successively possessed by the Dutch the Swedes, and the English, at periods preceding the colony of Penn and Pennsylvania, it will be a useful introduction to the proper history of Philadelphia and the pilgrim founders, to offer such notices of the early colonial history as may briefly show the times, places and manner of the several attempts at dominion or colonization within our borders. When this is accomplished, articles of more general acceptance and more varied and agreeable reading will follow.
The Dutch were undoubtedly the first adventurers who endea- voured to explore and colonize the countries contiguous to our bay and river. So far as precedence of time could confer supremacy, the Dutch had it by actual occupancy. But although they so aspired to possess and rule the country in the name of their " High Mighti- nesses," it was not conceded by others; for the Swedes in 1631, and the English from New Haven in 1640, severally essayed to be- come colonists under their own laws. These based their claims on their actual purchases from the Indian Sovereigns; of whom they alleged they had each acquired their titles. That the Sachems did so sell to them is perhaps pretty good inferential evidence that the Dutch had not so acquired their title before them, unless for special places where they designed to settle ;- so they certainly procured their title for Cape May, the deed for which is still extant in the archives of state at Albany.
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