USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Celebration of the two hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the landing of William Penn in Pennsylvania held at the Washington house, Chester, Pa., Saturday, October 26th, 1912 by the Colonial society of Pennsylvania, in association with the Swedish colonial society > Part 1
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CELEBRATION OF THE TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDING OF WILLIAM PENN IN PENNSYLVANIA
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01200 0490
Celebration of the Two Hundred
and Thirtieth Anniversary
of the landing of
William Penn in Pennsylvania
held at the
WASHINGTON HOUSE
Chester, Pa.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26th, 1912 by the
COLONIAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA ʻ
in association with
THE SWEDISH COLONIAL SOCIETY
Published by the COLONIAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA
1912.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/celebrationoftwo00colo 1
1652523
EXERCISES.
At a special meeting of the Council of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, held in the building of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania, Thirteenth and Locust Streets, Philadelphia, on the afternoon of Wednesday. September 25, 1912, the subject of the observance of the Two Hundred and Thirtieth Anniversary of the landing of William Penn in Pennsylvania, was discussed at length, it being a custom of the Society to recognize annually that anniversary by a gathering of its members in commem- oration of that momentous event in the history of this Province and Commonwealth. It chanced that the precise date, October 28, fell this year-1912-on Monday; and after a thorough discussion, it was decided that the func- tion should be arranged for the afternoon of Saturday, the 26th, since that would most likely insure a large at- tendance of the members at the exercises. It was also determined that the meeting should be held at the old Colonial Inn, now the Washington House, in Chester, lo- cated only a short distance from the actual spot where William Penn landed, two hundred and thirty years ago. To make all arrangements for the observances of the day, a committee comprising Harold Edgar Gillingham, Henry Heston Belknap and Henry Graham Ashmead was ap- pointed, clothed with full power to act.
The twenty-sixth of October proved to be a delightful Autumn day. A large number of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania members, as well as those of the Swedish Colonial Society, who had been invited to participate in the ceremonial observances of Penn's Landing, gathered in the Washington House, comprising a representative body whose proceedings on that occasion will enter into and find a prominent place in the annals of Chester. The ancient hostelry was tastefully decorated with the red and white colors of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and with the blue and gold colors of the Swedish Colonial Society. The room in which Washington wrote his report of the Battle of Brandywine, where the guests gathered, presented the same color scheme, with "Old Glory" here and there ap-
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propriately displayed. The dining room, similarly decor- ated, was divided by four tables running lengthwise of the apartment, with a table at the head, at which, during the exercises, sat Hon. Davis Page, President of the Colonial Society, with Hon. William Ward, Jr., Mayor of Chester, at his right, and Garnett Pendleton, Esq., at his left. Hon. William Cameron Sproul, State Senator from Delaware County, and Brigadier-General Davis, United States Army, retired, a descendant of John Morton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, who had come from Syracuse, New York, to attend the exercises, were among others who were given places at this table.
In addition to the large number of members of the Swedish Colonial Society who are also members of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, the following members of the former Society were present on this occasion by invitation: Brigadier-General Charles L. Davis, U. S. A., (Retired), Count Adam de Trampe, Hon. William C. Sproul, Hon. William B. Broomall, Col. Charles A. Converse, Col. Frank G. Sweeney, Captain Alfred J. Erikson, Hon. David M. Johnson, Howard Edwards, Douglas R. Faith, Samuel Garrett, LeRoy Harvey, Harold Perot Keen, Edward W. Keene, Charles P. Keith, Josiah Marvel, Levi Mattson, Henry D. Paxson, Dr. Francis J. Roth, Ewing Stille and Isaac C. Paxson, Dr. Francis J. Roth, Ewing Stille and Isaac C. Yocum, Hiram Hathaway, Sr., John B. Hannum, Sr., guests of Hiram Hathaway, Jr., Dr. Frank E. Johnson, James Hanna, guests of Dr. John Welsh Croskey, and William A. Irving, guest of Col. T. Edward Clyde.
The menu served comprised :
Celery Olives Almonds
Martini Cocktail
Oyster Cocktail
Cream of Tomato
Baked Blue Fish En Malelotte
Roast Filet of Beef
Stuffed Peppers Potatoes Rissole
Lettuce and Tomatoes Roquefort Cheese Dressing Neapolitan Ice Cream Fancy Cakes Coffee Cigars
WASHINGTON HOUSE, CHESTER, PA.
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The menu was printed on the central pages of a booklet, whose cover displayed the colors of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and those of the Swedish Colonial Society- in which was told the following:
STORY OF THE WASHINGTON HOTEL.
While the claim that the Washington House, in Chester, Pennsylvania, is the oldest hostelry in actual duration, in the original thirteen colonies is not advanced in this sketch as a well established historical fact, certain it is that it takes rank well to the fore as one of the most ancient public houses in the United States. Built in 1747, in the one hun- dred and sixty-five years that are included within its story, it has never been put to other uses than an inn or tavern- for the descriptive word " hotel " is of comparatively mod- ern application to buildings used as public houses for the entertainment of the traveling public. When Aubrey Bevan erected this building, George II had for almost twenty years ruled England and her dependencies; less than two years before Culloden had seen the cause of the House of Stuart sink in hopeless defeat; Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution was a mere lad of twelve; Washington, a youth of fifteen, still attending school; John Morton, the signer, was a stripling of twenty; Wayne, " Mad Anthony," the Prince Rupert of the Revolution, was a prattling infant of less than two; Benjamin Rush, the Father of American Medicine and a signer of the Declaration, was a babe in long dresses, and twenty-two years had yet to come and go before the birth of Napoleon the Great.
The plot of ground upon which the "Pennsylvania Arms " was erected was originally part of the grant of land by the Swedish Crown to Joran Kyn (George Keen) and on March 31, 1686, was patented by Penn's Commissioner to James Sandelands, the son-in-law of Keen. At his death the property descended to his second son, Jonas Sandelands, who in 1720 sold it to John Wright. The latter is distin- guished in our State annals as the founder of Lancaster County. Wright in 1727 conveyed the land to William Pennell, who in turn sold it to James Trigo. In the parti- tion of the latter's estate, the tract was allotted to James
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Trigo, his son, who early in 1746 conveyed it to Aubrey Bevan, to whom reference has already been made. During the French War in 1747, the company commanded by Captain Shannon, which had been recruited in New Castle and Chester Counties, was cantoned in Chester, and part of the company was quartered for a brief period at the Pennsylvania Arms, the cost of which the county had to pay. Aubrey Bevan died in 1761 and by will he devised the tavern and curtilage to his daughter Mary, who had intermarried with William Forbes. Forbes was the landlord of the inn on November 7, 1764, the day Benjamin Franklin came to Chester where he was to embark for England, whither he went as the Commissioner of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to present to George III the grievances of these colonies. On that occasion Franklin was accompanied from Philadelphia by a cavalcade of more than three hun- dred men of affairs in that city. The London packet, as was then not unusual, was to receive its distinguished passenger at this place and the leading men of the city and Province had accompanied the then greatest man in all the Colonies thus far, to wish him "God speed " in his voyage and mission. The "Pennsylvania Arms," as the Washington House was then named, was crowded with the friends of " Poor Richard," and until the bustling scenes of the Revolution came to obliterate its impress, the day when Franklin boarded the London packet at Chester was a theme for reference and remembrance.
Another incident connected with the old hostelry is not without interest, particularly to the bench and bar of Phila- delphia. On August 15, 1768, the Supreme Provincial Court was in session in the old building just across Market Street. Chief Justice William Allen (for whom Allentown is named and later attainted of treason) and his associates, Thomas Willing (who as a member of the Continental Con- gress voted against the adoption of the Declaration of Independence) and John Lawrence, a lawyer of prominence, presided at the trial of John Dowdle and Thomas Vaughn, who were indicted for the murder of Thomas Shay, in the preceding March. It chanced that day a tall gangling lad of seventeen, attired in the smock frock which farmers and field hands then wore, had brought a load of hay from
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Edgmont township to deliver to William Forbes, at the "Pennsylvania Arms." When the stripling had unloaded the wagon he strolled across the street and timidly glanced in at one of the windows. Benjamin Chew, the Attorney- General, was haranguing the jury. The awkward lad listened with awe-struck attention and at last inquired from a bystander whether he could enter the court room. He was told it was open to everyone, whereupon he shame- facedly entered and took a seat near the door. Enrapt, he lingered until the case was ended, the men convicted and the sentence of death imposed. Next morning at break- fast, for he did not reach home until a late hour of the night, amid the laughter of the family he announced that he was determined to be a lawyer and sway juries. He did both, for fifteen years later William Lewis was a leader of the Philadelphia bar, all due, he believed, to his visit and delivery of the load of hay to Mine Host Forbes at the " Pennsylvania Arms."
April 1, 1772, Forbes sold the tavern to William Kerlin. The troublesome times at the eve of the Revolution were at hand. Kerlin, a wealthy man for that day, was an ardent Whig, and his house during all the war was a designated post for the reception and dispatching of intelligence for the patriots. On Christmas, Saturday, 1774, Richard Riley, whose dwelling on the water front at Marcus Hook was also a post, sent word to Kerlin that the tea ship "Polly," Captain Ayre, was following another ship up the Delaware, for no pilot in the then heated condition of the public mind dare venture to bring the "Polly " up the river. The peculiar dark patches in her sails disclosed her identity. From the "Pennsylvania Arms " Kerlin dispatched two express riders on fleet horses to Philadelphia to notify the committee that the long-expected vessel was on her way to that port. It was late in the evening of Wednesday, July 3, 1776, when a mud-bespattered horse and rider stopped at the " Pennsylvania Arms " and a tall man with a green patch over his right eye to conceal a cancer, alighted. It was Caesar Rodney who was making his noted ride of eighty odd miles to cast his vote for the Declaration of Independence. The day had been one of sweltering heat; in the afternoon a heavy thunder storm had visited Delaware, but Rodney,
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the delegate, had never slackened rein, but urged the high- mettled roan mare he rode through the deluge of falling water, covering himself and his horse with mud. Here Rodney refreshed himself, and baited his roan pacer. The night was well advanced for those days, when people retired early, before he resumed his ride to Philadelphia, where what he did the next day, July 4, 1776, is part of the history of this nation.
It was the evening of August 24, 1777, a sultry Sabbath day, when the American Army, sixteen thousand strong, on its southward march to meet General Howe, encamped in and around Chester. The hillsides were illuminated with their campfires. That night Washington established his headquarters at the "Pennsylvania Arms," while Lafayette was entertained at the house of Caleb Coupland, an old dwelling which until recently adjoined the " White Swan " Inn, at Fourth and Market Streets, to the south. Eighteen days later, Tuesday, September 11, 1777, the same army, defeated that day at Brandywine, from early eve until long after midnight straggled into Chester and assembled to the east of Ridley Creek, extending along the old Queen's highway up and beyond what is now known as Leiperville. Washington, as before, made his headquarters at the " Pennsylvania Arms," where, at midnight, in the east room in the second story of the old hostelry, he wrote the only report of that battle he ever made to Congress. The ancient mahogany chairs which were part of the furniture of the room that night and at other times when he was a guest, are still preserved among the descendants of William Kerlin.
Sixty-eight days later Tuesday, November 18, 1777, the " Pennsylvania Arms " presented a scene of unwonted activity. The day was cool and raw. Lord Cornwallis that morning, with three thousand troops, comprising the Fifth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Thirty-third and Fifty-sixth Regi- ments, as well as a battalion of Hessians and Light Infantry, together with twelve pieces of artillery, several howitzers and a train of baggage, had marched from Philadelphia, which he had left the day before. His design was to cross the river at this point and reduce Billingport, N. J., in which he succeeded. Major John Clark, of General Green's staff, (who had been assigned by Washington on secret service,
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without the knowledge of Green, and who reported Clark to the Commander-in-chief.as a deserter), stood on the second- story porch of the " Plow and Harrow," the tavern kept by Mary Withy, then standing where is now the Cambridge Trust Company's building, watching the movements of the troops.
Cornwallis made his headquarters at the "Pennsyl- vania Arms," where, surrounded by his brilliant staff, he was the observed of all observers. The grandfather of the writer, then a young man of nineteen, remembered the bustling scene which in advanced years he would describe to his children. Cornwallis, then in his thirty-ninth year, as grandfather remembered him, was short and stocky in figure, his prematurely gray hair, unpowdered, was worn in a queue, his features were regular, but he suffered from an affection of his left eyelid, which caused it to blink in- cessantly, detracting somewhat from his appearance. He was excessively nervous and his habit of raising his hand to change the position of his hat every few minutes, was very noticeable that day. Major Campbell, " handsome Mad Archey," of his staff, was in excellent humor, as he always was when battle was in the air. His bearing that day was as reckless as it was three years later, when by a threat to kill the lady, the clergyman and himself, he compelled Rev. Edward Ellington, rector of the little English church at Goose Creek, South Carolina, to perform the marriage ceremony between the lovely Pauline Phelps, of Charleston, and himself, an incident which has furnished a chapter or two for William Gilmore Simms' novel " Katharine Walton."
It required nearly eight hours for the troops to be transported from Chester to the New Jersey shore. The eighty British men-of-war and transports lying off this place furnishing the boats for the troops, while floats in tow of launches from the vessels, carried the horses, artillery and baggage wagons. Cornwallis and his staff were among the last to embark, hence for half a day the " Pennsylvania Arms" was absolutely in control of the ablest British soldier entrusted with the command of an army in all our war for Independence. Some of the overzealous Whigs later charged Kerlin with disloyalty because, as they alleged, that day he had furnished food supplies to the soldiers and
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sailors of the enemy. But nothing further came of this complaint.
It was at this hostelry that Washington, on Wednesday, September 5, 1781, while hastening with the Continental forces and the French auxiliary to Yorktown, "received the agreeable news of the safe arrival of the Count de Grasse in the Bay of Chesapeake with 28 sail of the line and four frigates, with 3000 land Troops, which were to be immediately debarked at Jamestown and form a juncture with the American Army under the com- mand of the Marquis de la Fayett." Cyrus Townsend Brady in his " American Fights and Fighters" in the article " Yorktown," (page 150) says that " Washington was so de- lighted with the news that he rode back to Philadelphia and informed Congress and Rochambeau." That Washing- ton sent an express from Chester informing Congress and the French general of the great news he had received agrees with the tradition of the event in the Kerlin family, but that he rode personally to Philadelphia is open to grave question, inasmuch that the following day he wrote from the Head of Elk, Maryland, to Count de Grasse, acknowledg- ing the receipt of "Your Excellency's favor of the 2d instant, and do myself the pleasure to felicitate you on the happy arrival of so formidable a fleet of his Most Christian Majesty in the Bay of Chesapeake under your Excellency's command."
The war cloud having passed, the citizens of remote parts of Chester County renewed their efforts to remove the County Seat to a more central location, and during that agitation, Joseph Hickman, an ardent removalist, penned a doggerel ballad entitled, "Lament Over Chester's Mother," in which Kerlin is thus referred to:
" And then poor helpless Billy cries- 'Oh, how shall I be fed ? What shall I do if Mamma dies ? I cannot work for bread.
' These little hands have never wrought, Oh, how I am oppressed !
For I have never yet done aught, But hang on Mamma's breast.'"
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On Monday, April 20, 1789, Washington, then on his way to New York to be inaugurated the first President of the United States, reached Chester at 7 o'clock in the morn- ing. He was accompanied by General Thomas Mifflin, Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania; Judge Richard Peters, the Speaker of the Assembly, and First Troop of Philadelphia as a guard of honor, who had met the President-elect at Naaman's Creek, the State line, whither he had been escorted by the authorities of Delaware. Washington traveled to Chester in a coach and four, attended by Col. David Humphreys, his aide, and Charles Thomson, "the perpetual secretary of Congress," who had been dispatched to Mount Vernon to officially notify the General of his election to the Presidency. Thomson was well known in Chester, his first wife, Mary, being the daughter of John Mather, a noted resident of the town in the eighteenth century. The inhabitants of this place flocked to the inn as the distinguished guests alighted at the "Washington House," for Kerlin had changed the name of the tavern to the one it has now borne for one hundred and thirty years. All the urchins gazed with admiration as the troops rode into the yard of the inn; the jingling of swords, the champing of the bits by the horses, the showy uniforms of the men, and the blare of the trumpet, combined to produce a picture in the memory of the onlookers that was never effaced. After Washington had broken fast, the leading citizens of the town assembled in the travelers' waiting room, now the bar room, where Washington hearkened to the address of welcome delivered by Dr. William Martin, then Chief Bur- gess of Chester. His speech, which has been preserved, is as follows :
" To His Excellency, George Washington, Esq., President of the United States :
"Sir: The inhabitants of the town of Chester, im- pressed with the liveliest sentiments of esteem and veneration for your Excellency's character, congratulate themselves upon this opportunity being afforded them to pay their respects to, and assure you of unfeigned joy that swells their bosoms, while they reflect that the united voices of millions have again called you from the bosom of
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domestic retirement to be once more the public guardian of the liberty, happiness and prosperity of the United America. From this event they entertain the most pleasing expectations of the future greatness of the Western world: indeed they cannot but observe to your Excellency that the torpid resources of our country already discover signs of life and motion, from the adoption of the Federal Constitu- tion. Accept, sir, our fervent wishes for your welfare- may you be happy; may a life spent in usefulness be crowned with a serene old age; and may your future reward be a habitation not built with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Washington made a brief and unostentatious response, after which a number of the then prominent residents were presented to the President-elect. A delegation from Darby followed in a formal presentation of a beautiful white steed, which Washington accepted and rode during the rest of his journey to New York, and during much of the exercises in that city.
William Kerlin did not remain mine host of the Wash- ington House until his death, for his will, proved April 29, 1805, in his devise of " the tavern house " to his daughter, .Sarah Piper, he states it was then " in the tenure of Isaac Tucker," of whom I have no definite knowledge. Sarah Piper, or Sarah Odenheimer, for she was a blooming widow, noted for her figure and expert horsemanship, when Joseph Piper first met her was riding, so that he saw her at her best. The chanced visitor to Chester, for he was then em- ployed in the Custom House of the Port of Philadelphia, was presented to the attractive woman. He wooed and won the dashing Widow Odenheimer. When the lease to Issac Tucker expired, Joseph Piper resigned from the Custom service and assumed direction of the Washington House. Mine Host Piper was accorded the title of Major, and the family tradition states that he had been an officer in the War of the Revolution, but as he was a child of less than ten years when that struggle ended, if he won that title by service, he must have been in the Whisky Insurrection. He died in 1829 and for nearly four years his widow carried on the business, until 1833, when she leased the tavern to Evan S. Way, who for one year had kept the Providence
ROOM IN WHICH WASHINGTON WROTE ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF ERANCYWINE
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Inn in Nether Providence township. Way was a politician and while conducting the Washington House was nominated and elected Sheriff of Delaware County. He succeeded Major Samuel A. Price in that office. A peculiar incident was that Major Price succeeded Way as landlord of the hostelry in Chester in 1837. The latter had conducted a hat manufactory in this city, was an influential and genial gentleman, and in early life was reputed to be a strikingly handsome man. In 1840, after William Henry Harrison had received the Whig nomination for the Presidency, the old general, accompanied by a number of gentlemen from New York, in returning from Washington, stopped to dine at the Washington House, and while here received the congratula- tions of our citizens. After dinner had been served, the cloth was drawn, wine, as was usual on such occasions, was placed on the table, and several toasts were drunk. It was observed that Harrison drank only water, and being thereupon urged to take wine, he arose and said: " Gentle- men, I have refused twice to partake of the wine cup, that should have been sufficient; though you press the cup to my lips not a drop shall pass the portals. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoid strong drink, and I have never broken it. I am one of a class of seventeen young men who graduated, and the other sixteen fill drunk- ards' graves, all through the habit of social wine drinking. I owe all my health, happiness and prosperity to that reso- lution. Will you urge me now ?"
This incident and the remarks made by " Old Tippe- canoe " were related by one of the gentlemen present on that occasion nearly forty years thereafter, hence the language used by Harrison at this dinner at the Washington House may not be strictly accurate in words, but the substance of what he then said is doubtless correctly rendered.
Sarah Piper, in her will probated September 13, 1841, directed that "the tavern house and thereto belonging, be sold within one year after my decease." In compliance with that provision, although a longer time than one year did intervene, her executors sold, April 2, 1844, the premises to Henry L. Powell, an ardent temperance advocate, who declared that at the Washington House no intoxicating
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liquors should thereafter be sold to its patrons. On October 11, of the same year Powell conveyed the property to Edward E. Flavill, who was also active in the cause of tem- perance in Delaware County. Samuel West, an earnest temperance advocate, engaged Edward Hicks, a Quaker artist, to paint a swinging sign-one side delineating The Landing of Penn at Chester and the other Penn's Treaty ( ?) with the Indians at Shackamaxon, which when completed, West presented to Flavill. The sign was first hung in jaws which crowned a high pole planted near the curb at the driveway to the stables in the courtyard. Early in June, 1845, the sign was put in place with imposing ceremonies. It was Saturday afternoon and temperance lodges from many of the townships in the county were present in regalia, with banners, and in some instances accompanied by bands of music. Rev. Anson B. Hard, Associate Rector of St. Paul's, and Rev. Isaac R. Merrill, pastor of the Methodist Church, conducted the religious exercises, while the oration was delivered by John Wayne Ashmead, my father. Mr. Band recently has had the old sign hung from the second story of the porch on Market street, so that each side can be seen by persons in the street.
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