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Gc 974.802 P53wat v. 2 1507836
M.C
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02237 2004
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/annalsofphiladel02wats_0
TP. RAVEI BY-BANISTER.
PAIN'YRD BY B.WEST'
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. II.
Bekt All
"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.
1507836
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
Olden Time Affections and Researches,
Pennsylvania Inland :
Germantown,
16
Frankford, 72
Byberry, - 75
Gwynedd, in Montgomery County, -
78
Norristown, 79
Chester County,
80
Chester,
92
Bucks County, 95
Pennsburv, 101
Historical Notices of Lancaster and Lancaster County, - 108
Harrisburg, &c.
113
Wyoming and its Massacre, 123
Pittsburg and Braddock, 127
Frorrier Towns, - 147
Indians. 151
The Pirates, - 212
The Swedes, 227
The Germans, - 254
The Irish, 259 -
Negroes and Slaves, 261
Redemption Servants, 266
The Stamp Act resisted, - 269
British Duties and Tea Act resisted, - 271
The Governors of Colonial Days, . 273
-278
Occurrences of the War of Independence,
Alliance Frigate, - 338
The Federal Procession, 341
Seasons and Climate 347
Medical Subjects, 370
The Post, . 391 -
V
vi
Contents of Vol. II.
Gazettes and Printing Press,
394
Statistic Facts, 402
Remarkable Incidents and Things, 410
Curiosities and Discoveries, 422
Whales and Whalery, 428
Grapes and Vineyards,
Beasts of Prey and Game, 433
Culture of Silk, 436
438
Paper Money, 440
Lotteries, 443
Steamboats,
- 446
Waterworks, 457
Anthracite Coal,
458
Watering Places,
- 462
Canals, Railroads, Turnpikes,
- 465
River Delaware, 470
River Schuylkill, 475
Country Seats, *
477
Miscellaneous Facts,
- 481
Relics and Remembrancers, 500
List of Unpublished Papers, - 505
Appendix,
51
Final Appendix of the Year, 1856
587
Variety of Passing Brief Facts,
.
614
- 430
Ships and Shipbuilding,
LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS
IN VOLUME II. And Directions to the Binder.
Penn's Treaty with the Indians. (Frontispiece.)
Shoemaker's First Farm, Germantown, 23
Market Square and Church, Germantown, 23
Harris' Frontier House, Harrisburg, 23
Green's House, Germantown, 28
Scene on the Wissahiccon, 42
Block-house and Log-house Settlers, 147
Nedowaway leaves the Susquehanna, -
147
Indian Treaty, 156
The Meschianza at Philadelphia,
- 290
The Alliance Frigate,
338
Fitch's Steamboat, - - 338
Oliver Evans' Car, 446
Fulton's Steamboat,
- 446
Schuylkill Waterworks,
457
Centre Square Waterworks,
- 457
Watering Place-Seashore,
462
Gray's Ferry (Steel), -
- 476
Stenton, Logan's Country Seat,
480
British Defences of Philadelphia,
- 610
Anthony's House, 618
The Willing House, -
- 619
(vii )
ANNALS
OF
PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA.
OLDEN TIME AFFECTIONS AND RESEARCHES.
OUR love of antiquities,-the contemplation of by-gone days,- is an impress of the Deity. It is our hold on immortality. The same affection which makes us reach forward and peep into futurity, prompts us to travel back to the hidden events which transpired be- fore we existed. We thus feel our span of existence enlarged even while we have the pleasure to identify ourselves with the scenes of the emotions of our forefathers. For the same cause relics are so earnestly sought and sedulously preserved,-" they are full of local impressions," and transfer the mind back to " scenes before."
As Americans, we see in a short life more numerous incidents to excite our observation and to move our wonder, than any other peo- ple. The very newness of our history and country ministers to our moral entertainment, and increases our interest in contemplating the passing events. A single life in this rapidly growing country, wit- nesses such changes in the progress of society, and in the embellislı- ments of the arts, as would require a term of centuries to witness in full grown Europe. If we have no ruins of Pompeii and Hercula- neum to employ our researches, no incomprehensible Stonehenge, nor circle of Dendara to move our wonder, we have abundant themes of unparalleled surprise in following down the march of civili- zation and improvements,-from the first landing of our pilgrim fore- fathers to the present eventful day !
The wealth and ambition of a potent prince may have accom- plished a magnificent city in shorter time upon the banks of the Neva ; but in this country we have many equal wonders by the energies and resources of a people, until lately " no people." The wisdom of our free institutions has made our land the desired asylum of the op- pressed. Here human life is not wantonly wasted in ambitious broils for sovereignty ; we therefore behold our population quadrupled in a term of forty years; and our hardy pioneers subduing the soil, or ad- vancing their settlements from the Atlantic to the Pacific wave. Ca- nals, rivaling in magnitude the boasted aqueducts of imperial Rome, Vol. II .- A 1
2
Olden Time Affections and Researches.
are in successful operation. By these and rail roads, inaccessible dis- tricts are brought nigh ; mountains charged with metallic treasures are entered, and their deposits of iron, coal, and lead, &c., lavished over the land. Cities, towns, and villages, arise in the west, as if by enchant- ment. Many of their present inhabitants redeemed their soil from a waste howling wilderness. In less than twenty years our exports have grown from twenty to eighty millions. Our navy, from " cock-boats and rags of striped bunting," has got up to power and renown. Our private law, commercial code, and bold diplomacy, have grown into a matured and learned system. Our inventions and improvements in the arts, which began but yesterday, make us, even now, " a won- der unto many ;" and our vapour vessels, while they crowd our wa- ters and overcome the rapids of the Mississippi and Missouri, are ac- comodating and enriching the old world by their adoption and imita- tion. Here we have no lordly potentates in church, " lording it over the conscience of the people ;" no standing armies to endanger their liberties : no despots to riot in the oppression of the subject. Nay, so exalted are our privileges as a self-governed people, that the fact of our example and happiness is bidding fair to regenerate other na- tions, or to moderate the rigour of despotic government throughout the world !
If topics like these,-which enter into the common history of our growing cities, may be the just pride and glory of an American, must not the annals, which detail such facts, (and to such these pages are specially devoted,) be calculated to afford him deep interest ; and should it not be his profit, as well as amusement, to trace the succes- sive steps by which we have progressed, from comparative nothing- ness, to be " a praise in the earth !"
There are minds, feeling and cultivated, which can derive rich mo ral pleasure from themes like these, for
" Is there a man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said- This is my own, my native land !"
Such views and such feelings impressed and imbued the mind of the author, else he had never attempted these pages. His stimulus was purely con amore; recompense he did not contemplate, and time he could ill spare from other engagements; wherefore, indulgence for casual imperfections is but justly due from the considerate reader. He wrote at first for his sole gratification, never intending his collec tions for the public eye, nor does he encounter that ordeal but by the encouragement of those friends who are willing to accept the perform- ance by their sense of his limited means to perfect it. If it should stimulate others to add to these materials, it will be a grateful service And if the example, thus set to the sister cities of New York, Boston, &c., should engage minds of kindred feelings and adequate industry to make similar collections of their domestic history, the usefulness
3
Olden Time Affections and Researches.
of the present publication will be still more felt and acknowledged ; and the eventual aim of the author still more accomplished.
We should not forget these things: our land and our fathers have been the subject of many heaven-descended mercies. They who love to contemplate the cause of the numerous effects, so indicative of our blessings as a nation, will regard it not less a duty of piety than of patriotism to thus preserve their memorial.
"Go call thy sons,-instruct them wnat a debt They owe their ancestors, and make them vow To pay it,-by transmitting down entire Those sacred rights to which themselves were born!"
In writing these memorials of the times by-gone, I have often felt the suggestion pressed upon my mind, whether I was indeed pursu- ing inquiries and preserving facts which will have the sympathies and countenance of others, or am I so peculiar, as to be only amus- ing myself. I have thought the contemplation of time past has something inherently attractive; not indeed in the notice of our per- sonal waste of years, when sufficiently old to see our sun declining, but in the recollections of the exhilarating sunshine beams of our youth. Not that, when the past was the present, we were all satis- fied with our situations and ourselves, but that vexations have been forgotten in the lapse of years, and we remember pleasures alone ; as, in looking back on the landscape we have passed over, the rude hills become softened by distance, and the cliffs, that were so difficult to surmount, seem dissolving in the purple sky. For this reason, the recollections of childhood are so captivating to every unperverted mind, though to him whose soul is stained with crimes, they are fraught with pain and remorse.
The causes which operated to induce me to form the present mu- seum of incidents of " men and manners" are curious even to my- self. The resolution to execute them, was only a concern of a few years ; but the love to such objects in general was as early as my childhood, and has indeed " grown with my growth and strengthened with my strength." I may now say, I feel gratified that my mind has been thus led to chronicle incidents. Many of them ought to be preserved as the eventful facts of a land peculiarly favoured of Hea- ven, and as destined, perchance, to future renown. We should not forget these things ; and the record of them, in such manner as I have adopted, should be deemed a generous service to all those who, with grateful hearts, love to consider the causes of their blessings. Piety and patriotism equally cherish such sentiments.
I have had frequent occasions to lament that this kind of inquiries was not instituted sooner, even by myself; they might have been advantageously begun much earlier, by still older persons. In now recollecting the aged of my early days, of whom I might have in- quired, how many are remembered from whom nothing was attempt- ed! To illustrate these ideas, what a treasure might Dr. Franklin
4
Olden Time Affections and Researches.
have imparted of all he had seen or knew, from the years 1723, to 1790, when he died ! He was remarkably qualified to have given us the materials for such a history as I have attempted in these pages He must have been familiar with the traditions of the primitive set- tlers ; must have seen many who saw Penn, &c. But his mind ap- pears never to have been drawn to the consideration of their value to us, their posterity. The truth is, very few minds are so abstracted from the daily concerns of life, as to perceive that the things which at any given moment every man knows, may, thereafter, become highly interesting. Another reason may be, that Franklin never saw, at any period, any such astonishing improvements, as, since his death, every where arrest attention. Colonial things were too uni- form and tame to arouse the mind. All things, in his day, were regu- larly progressive, gliding to their end with the smoothness of a stream But if a person of my inquiring mind had had opportunities of draw ing from such an observing mind as Franklin's, what a fund of en. tertainment and information could have been derived for posterity !
For reasons like the above, I, who am but little past middle aged, am better qualified to ask various questions which would never occur to the mind of much older men. To me, the field was all new and unexplored, and therefore, with the eagerness of a child which asks questions about every thing, I felt constantly awake to inquiries on topics which would not affect the minds of old persons ; things in which they had long ceased to be curious. Owing to this faculty of the mind, the most interesting travels, like Silliman's, are those which record every new thing which most surprises or pleases it. Then such a writer must speak feelingly enough for those who, like himself, have never seen what he so discovers to them. And even to those who have, he refreshes their memories in a way most grateful.
About twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago, I desired to see some such work as the present effected. Not thinking to attempt it myself, I suggested some such scheme to a friend. It met the approbation of the late Mr. Delaplaine, who set upon it with great ardour. My ideas were expressed in the form of a prospectus, which procured a subscription list, it was said, of four thousand subscribers, before the book was even written. With such a patronage, there was a defect of labour of enterprise in producing the materials, and Dr. Mease was resorted to as composuist, to bring out something to answer the claims of the subscribers. It received the name of "The Picture of Philadel- phia,"-but how far like my present result, the reader must judge. The doctor has managed his materials unexceptionably ; but the de- fect was, that he had not the proper staple to weave into his fabric. Had he succeeded better in what were my aims, I should never have made this attempt ; but, untouched as my scheme had been, I have made at last, though thus late, my own efforts, although subject to the disadvantage of residing six miles from the city, about which my inquiries and observations are employed, and being withal fettered
5
Olden Time Affections and Researches.
with daily official duties, and cares of paramount consideration. From reasons like these, those who know me best will be readiest to ex- cuse imperfections, whether of style or selection,-and critics, if they deign to notice such labours, did they know the irregular hours and intervals in which fragments of time were seized for the purpose might rather wonder it has been so well, than that it should have been so ill executed. To judge beyond this may savour of ill nature,
" Which taught them still to say, Whate'er was done, might have been better done !"
To such I need only say,-" What is writ, is writ,-would it were worthier."
Many of my selections of local facts were derived from a very great mass of court papers, and had to be hunted out among files of petitions, recognisances, special presentments for assaults, batteries, felonies, tippling and disorderly houses, &c., being the usual accom- paniments of "quarter sessions," as is well known to those in any degree acquainted with the criminal docket. Most probably, such a search they have not had before, since packed away as the lumber of office, and such another, I presume, they will never have again ! Some local notices may appear too trivial for notice ; but who knows what future discoveries may be made, in digging into some of the former "fillings up?" as, for instance, the late discovery of sub-ter- rane logs in Chestnut street, by Hudson's alley, (the remains of the old bridge, &c.,) which no living persons could explain from memory ! If a jewel, or some pieces of coin, (as may occur !) should hereafter be dug out of some of the " breaches" of Front street, (afterwards filled up,) some of the foregoing facts may tend to elucidate the cause of their deposit there. As Boswell said, in an apology for his minute mention of the " oak cudgel,"-it was because it might afterwards become the hero of a good tale, in the hands of so interesting a cha- racter as Johnson! Johnson's Rambler, too, justly remarks, " nor can it be always safely determined, which should be rejected or re- tained ; for they may sometimes unexpectedly contribute to the illus- tration of history, and to the knowledge of the natural commodities of the country, or of the genius and customs of its inhabitants."
Poulson's paper of March 6th, 1821, contains an article by me, entitled " Old Times" of 1769, &c. It requests others to commu- nicate similar facts. I thus tried to set others at this kind of service. and to exempt myself ;- but none heeded my counsel,-and after- wards I made my own attempt. Fame or reward never entered into my motives. Like quaint John Bunyan,
"'Twas mine own self to gratify !"
The service was sufficiently pleasing in itself, to be a positive re creation and amusement, furnishing its own reward by the way :
1.
6
Olden Time Affections and Researches.
"For having my method by the end. Still, as I pulled, it came ; Till at length it came to be, For size, the bigness which you see !"
If I were to give the history of my troubles or profits in the pub- lıshing of my three books, it might startle some and discourage others. 'The Annals went off heavily, and allowed a profit equal to the pay of a copyist, if I had used such a help; and the two books of His- torical Tales produced nothing for authorship. It had been a pity, indeed, if their readers had not been obliged or benefited, since their author was not.
I have deemed it my duty, in many cases, to support my facts with the names of the credible relators. Not that they alone men- tioned them to me, for it was my practice to confirm surprising facts by concurrent testimony, so far as the things told were susceptible of being known to others. Several authorities too, deemed awkward or indelicate to introduce into the printed text, may be found in their connexion, in the original MS. Annals, in the City Library, and in the Historical Society.
There is another remark concerning names which might be ap propriately mentioned here, as showing that I was aware that names and personalities are sometimes too sensitive to bear the touch. Yet I found it needful to retain them in general, and especially in my MS., as my necessary proofs and vouchers, in case of dispute or reference. Some that I designed only in initials, the inadvertency of the printer sometimes retained. In other cases, the names were sanctioned by the informants or persons themselves-and finally, as an imposing reason, some names occasionally became a necessary appendage to the story.
Searching for some of these facts was like seeking for the " liv- ing among the dead." Only a few of the very aged, as by ac- cident, had preserved their memory. And very often, persons equally old, or even older, dwelling on the spot of interest or inquiry, knew nothing, or nearly nothing, about it. The comparative intelli- gence of different men of equal ages was often very dissimilar. To exemplify this, I have only to say, that not one aged man in fifty, now in Philadelphia, could tell me where was " Guest's Blue Anchor tavern, in Budd's long row"-nor the "Barbadoes lot,"-nor the " Swamp,"-nor the adjoining " Society hill,"-nor "Bathsheba's bath and bower,"-the "Schuylkill baptisterion,"-the " old Hos- pital,"-Hudson's orchard,"-" Penny-pot landing,"-" Penn's cot- tage,"-the " Swedes' house,"-and many other things spoken of in these pages. I came at them by reading ancient papers, and then, by recalling forgotten things to their memories, their minds were ena- bled to seize on long forgotten facts. Sometimes, when I have asked ancient persons to tell me what they knew of antiquity, such would seem to have nothing to relate : all seemed a blank to them. But when I have transported myself back to the cotemporaneous occur-
7
Olden Time Affections and Researches
rences of their youth, and warmed their imaginations with recitals, with which they were once familiar, I have been rewarded, by re- ceiving many of the lively images of things which my conversation had generated. Without vanity, I may say that I have often made my company agreeable to the aged, and have seen them quickened to many emotions younger than their common feelings or their years. On other occasions I have visited such as were past sensibility,-the body enfeebled and the memory decayed ; I Jabotirea in vain to re- vive the expiring spark of life. They were looking for their "ap- pointed change," and this not unwisely engrossed ail their thoughts. Finally, earlier questions might have been more successial. and any thing later than my attempt would have been absolutely fatal! What I rescued was " trembling on the lips of narrative old age," or " tum- bling piece-meal into the tomb." My regret is, that some of those of whom, or from whom, I write, will scarcely stay to have the chance of reading some of these pages. I might perhaps pertinentty nint at my being fully aware of occasional repetition of facts in sub- stance, though not in language,-this necessarily occurred occasion- ally from the design of making given chapters more complete on given subjects.
In connexion with the foregoing, it may not be inappropriate to add, that many of the little histories of places and things set down in this book have been often since used in substance, by publishers and orators, as a part or parcel of their own explorations and insight into the past,-not even hinting at the source whence derived. It gives me no offence, since I wished them to be known,-but it is but justice to myself to here suggest, in self-protection, that I came not at them, from their discoveries and researches, but as the results of my own industry.
With some I shall doubtless need an apology for the little estima- tion in which they may regard some of my collections; I am con tent to say, I have only written for kindred minds. Such affections as mine have had precedents enough in feeling minds ; for instance, " the oak," immortalized by Cowper's muse, became so precious that the owner, the Marquis of Northampton, to keep it from its fre- quent pious thefts, was obliged to enclose it by a strong fence, and to affix to it a notice of prohibition. The chair in which the poet Thomson composed, is exhibited at his commemorative festivals. How many pious thefts have been made upon Shakspeare's mul- berry tree ; and cups made from that, and from the "royal oak," have sold at great prices. Learned doctors still deem it an honour to shroud themselves in Rabelais' old cloak at Montpelier. The taking of the sword of Frederick the Great, by Buonaparte, from Ber- .in to Paris, while it shows his estimate of relics, is treated by Scott and the world as a heinous offence to all other men. Of all such things, says Edgeworth, and truly too, " we contemplate such with deep curiosity, because they are full of local impressions, and by the
Olden Time Affections and Researches.
eid of these we create the ideal presence." They connect the hean and the imagination with the past.
We may take as another evidence of the appreciation of relics, the fact of the late proceedings of congress, upon receiving from the heirs of Washington, the gift of his sword and the cane of Doctor Franklin-called " two most interesting and valuable relics connected with the past history of our country,"-and saying of them, that " associations are linked in adamant with their names, and with those sacred symbols of our golden age." The sword was a plain hanger, with a green hilt and silver guard, ınade at Fishkill, in 1757,-the same which he had worn first as colonel in the Virginia service in Forbes' campaign, and afterwards through the whole period of the Revolutionary war.
Among the encouragements to such reminiscences, I may men- tion such evidence as results from public celebrations of fetes in- tended to revive and cherish such recollections. They prove to me that my anticipations from such records as the present have not been vain.
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