USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume II > Part 11
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In founding his Free School for Mechanical Trades, Mr. Williamson profited by the failure of other philanthropists to have their wishes carried out after their deaths, and avoided hostile litigation by doing it during his life- time. The trustees selected by himself in the foundation deed selected the present site, and but a few days before his last illness Mr. Williamson visited it and expressed in warm terms not only his satisfaction but his pleasure in the choice, this approval being the last business act of his life. Just before the closing of his long, honorable, and useful life on March 7. 1889, he sank into unconsciousness, from which he never rallied. He was eighty-six years of age at his death, but so correct had been his life and so regular his habits that he enjoyed uniformly good health. His physical activity was undiminished and his mental faculties unimpaired almost to the last, his death being due to the debility attending old age rather than to any acute disease. He lived a life of integrity. self-denial, and industry, regarding himself as only a steward of the vast fortune he had acquired. He carefully thought out his plan for the Free School and in his Foundation Deed outlined the method of procedure and operation to the minutest detail, the school being conducted at the present time upon practically the same lines laid down by the founder.
Institute for Colored Youth .- This institution had its origin in a bequest of $10,000 made by Richard Humphreys in 1827, the object of which was defined as "the benevolent design of instructing descendants of the African race n school learning, in the various branches of the mechanic arts and trades. and in agriculture, in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act as teachers." The following will show how thoroughly the terms of the bequest have been followed, and with what highly gratifying results.
In 1837 the Institute was established upon a farm on the York road, and in 1842 a charter was procured from the Pennsylvania legislature. In 1851 the work was located on Lombard street, Philadelphia, and in 1866 was moved to Tenth and Bainbridge streets. There, in 1885, an industrial department was added. and the school was continued with an enrollment of about 350 in the academic department, and 300 in the industrial department, until 1903. In this year the resignation of the principal, Fannie Jackson Coppin, was accepted, and the work was reorganized. In order to best carry out the wishes of the founder, the managers decided to move the school to the country, and to there concentrate the resources of the Institute upon the development of a high grade normal school for negro pupils. This was accordingly done, and the success of the school for the past ten years has more than vindicated the judgment of the managers and the wisdom of their decision. The school, located at Cheyney, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, consists of the three buildings originally erected-Humphreys Hall. Emlen Hall, and the principal's house-together with the Carnegie Library building, the Cassandra Smith cot-
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tage, the Susanna Brinton cottage, and barns and other buildings for the accommodation of the live stock owned by the Institute. A new dormitory costing $30,000 is in the process of construction, the nucleus of the building fund. $5000, having been donated by Joshua L. Baily, on the condition that the other $25,000 be raised before Sixth month 30, 1912.
The Institute offers to the negro who has the true welfare of his race at heart, an education that will prepare him to enter upon a work in behalf of his people which will be of inestimable value to the negroes in raising them to a plane where they will be able to become useful members of American com- inunities. Instruction is given in English, drawing, physiology, hygiene, gym- nastics, wood-working, domestic science, domestic art, iron working, and agri- culture, and the graduates are sent as teachers to colored schools in all parts of the country. Because of the increasing importance of all agricultural matters today, especial stress is laid upon this branch of the curriculum in training young men and women to be able to inspire negro rural communities with the worth and dignity of farm life. The agricultural department has charge of the garden from which much of the produce used in the Institute is procured. Al- though many of the graduates accept positions in the north, where they were born and reared, by far the greater number take up their work in the form- er slave states, where the need for their services is greater because of the lowly state of the negro in those places, caused by the degrading effects of his previous condition of servitude. . All of the graduate teachers keep in constant touch with the Institute, writing for advice on particularly knotty problems in their schools, and receiving helpful suggestions in return. The Institute often offers aid in a much more substantial manner, in many cases sending discarded tools and other apparatus and appliances which have outlived their usefulness at the home institution.
The record of the Institute since moved from Philadelphia to Cheyney has been full of encouragement. In the ten years which have elapsed there have been sixty-nine graduates sent out from the Institute, now engaged in the occupations enumerated below : Teachers, fifty-one : secretarial work, three ; teaching in private institutions, thirty-three; teaching in public institutions, eighteen : pursuing advanced studies, three ; scientific embalmer, one; cabinet- maker. one : postal clerks, two; and dressmaker. one. Thirty-one of these are teaching in the former slave states, of whom thirteen were born and lived in the north.
Too much credit for this great and good work cannot be given to the So- ciety of Friends, under whose direction the board of managers has constantly acted. The board of managers, always guided by the advice and counsel of an advisory educational board, consisting of men of well-known reputation in the educational world of to-day. That the work may have a prosperous continu- ance, that the teachings of the Institute at Cheyney may be world-wide in their effect, and that Divine guidance may direct the efforts of the graduates to the best possible good of the race, is the prayer that should rise from every hearth-
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stone. The task is hard and the road rough, but the goal worthy of all the hardship and toil.
The board of managers consists of George M. Warner. Philadelphia, sec- retary : George S. Hutton, Philadelphia, treasurer: George Vaux, George Vaux Jr., and Walter Smedley, Philadelphia : Walter P. Stokes, Moorestown, New Jersey : James G. Biddle, Wallingford. Pennsylvania ; J. Henry Bartlett. Tuckerton. New Jersey : Davis H. Forsythe, West Grove, Pennsylvania ; Al- fred C. Elkinton. Moylan, Pennsylvania : David G. Yarnall, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania : John L. Balderston, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania: Edward Brinton. West Chester, Pennsylvania : Thomas C. Potts, Philadelphia : Stanley R. Yarnall, Philadelphia, secretary of the board of managers. The Advisory Educational Committee has as its members President Isaac Sharpless, of Hlav- erford College, Pennsylvania : Principal Booker T. Washington. Tuskegee In- stitute . Dcan James E. Russell, Teachers' College, New York City : Professor John Dewey. Teachers' College, New York City; President Joseph Swain. Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. The members of the faculty of the Cheyney Institute for Colored Youth are ( 1912) ; Hugh M. Browne, princi- pal. applied physics and general methods : Evangeline R. Hall, English and ed- ucation ; Naomi B. Spencer : Laura Wheeler, drawing: Clayda J. Williams. physiology, hygiene, and gymnastics; George K. Conway, iron-working : Lew- is W. S. Comegys, wood-working: R. Mabel Moorman, domestic art: Julia Phillips, domestic science : Harriet M. Hodge, applied domestic science : Wil- liam M. Berry, agriculture: Louise P. Walton, matron : Lottie N. Conway. secretary : Thomas L. Harrison, applied domestic science, and assistant secre- tary.
Convent of the Holy Child .- Sharon, now the Convent of the Holy Child. was once the Sharon Boarding School founded by John Jackson, Quaker min- ister. in 1837. The mutual interest which Mr. Jackson and his wife took in the subject of education led him to institute a school in which the usual course of instruction should be combined with a religious training. His own varied knowiedge, his eloquence and governing powers fitted him for the task and his wife's accomplishments and refinement helped the project to its fulfilment. From a little volume. "A Brief Memoir of John Jackson," printed in 1856, after his death, these extracts are taken, proving the sincerity of the man and the deen seriousness which he brought to bear upon his mission :
"11 mo .. 1837. The religious instruction of children has often been to my mind a subject of deep interest and concern. To direct the young mind to the influence of those principles of action which should govern the whole course of human conduct, is, in my view, one of the most effectual and powerful means of preserving them from the tempta- tions of the world. And the improper indulgence of those feelings and propensities which are invariably followed by misery and unhappiness. The command which was given to the Israelites to teach diligently the law which God had given them, is, no doubt, a per- petual obligation binding upon all generations of men. The minds of children should be directed to principles, not to opinions. The soul by obedience advances in righteousness, and is prepared to receive new disclosures of the Divine Will. As the minds of children are directed to the important truths of religion. they learn to cultivate an acquaintance
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with themselves, and understand their relation, as accountable creatures, to the Author of their being." "It was his aim," his Memoir tells us, "not only to cultivate and expand the intellect, but also to imbue the tender minds of the children with the necessity of a life of daily self-denial, in order to enjoy that peace which the world cannot give nor destroy."
It was a worthy object he had in view; it was a high ideal that he set before himself, and imparted to his pupils. That they respected him, and responded to his teaching, their own words prove. One of them, in writing of the influence of Mr. Jackson, said: "I can never tell what I owe to his instruction. How many and what pleasant memories come with his name! I feel that it was no ordinary privilege to be taught by him. I never went with a question to him without having it answered fully, plainly; there was always time, there was always a smile with which to answer every inquiry. And now I cannot look at a pebble, or go in imagination to the farthest extremity of the universe, but I feel that he has led the way, and I follow dimly and afar off, where he has gone shedding light on mystery. Truly can I say that I always felt in those Sharon days that worship was exalted when he mingled in it. Social life was purified when in his presence, and that as a teacher, he led and guided us with fatherly love and care."
Reference is made in this extract to his love of scientific studies. He considered a knowledge of natural science indispensable. "Every page of the great volume of nature," he said. "is full of living and instructive truth. There is a beautiful relation between mind and matter, between the works of God and our capacity to contemplate them. Our intellectual nature is as much a gift of God as the gift of grace, and we are as respon- sible for the culture and improvement of one as for the other. I have no idea that so noble a talent is to be buried in the earth, that it is to be employed merely in procuring food and raiment for these frail temples which are so soon to moulder into dust. Far otherwise! Placed in the midst of a beautiful creation, we are invited to meditate on the workmanship of its Author. Such an exercise of intellect is profitable to us, for it leads to humility, and while it makes manifest the feebleness of inan, and our compara- tive nothingness amidst the immensity of Creation. it exalts our view of the wisdom. goodness, and power of the Creator."
Mr. Jackson was also an eminent astronomer, and had an observatory fitted up for his own use and that of his pupils, with a Framenhoffer equatorial tel- escope, at that time the largest in America. He had a fine collection of fossils and minerals, and an extensive library which was open to all who cared to use it. He was a botanist. and his conservatory contained plants and exotics of different countries. Even to-day the Sharon grounds show, in their rare trees and shrubs. the results of his labor in this direction. Besides being a mem- ber of the Delaware County Institute of Science, John Jackson was continually in communication with the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and his ob- servations and services were an acknowledged help to the Coast Survey Depart- ment of the Government.
It was natural that girls brought up under the care and direction of such a man should develop sterling qualities of mind and heart, and should go forth stamped with the hall mark of gentiineness. Still Sharon life in those days was not without its escapades, its small breaches of discipline, its youthful reaction- ary rashness, its irrepressive mirth, and all the wild, windy outbursts which at- tend the "equinoctial gales of youth." Many old Quaker ladies, who come back from time to time to review the scenes of their school-days shake their heads in reminiscent enjoyment over "scrapes" and "pickles" which once called
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forth the stern rebuke of "Uncle John" and the mild reproach of "Aunt Re- becca" Jackson. After all, these Quakeresses were not so demure and im- movable as we once supposed !
In 1863 the Jackson school was purchased by Father Carter. For the. work of Catholic education, he gave it to the Sisters of the Holy Child, and here the convent was established on the sixteenth of July, 1864.
The first days at Sharon were memorable ones for all. The quaint Quak- er buildings with its peaceful aloofness, seemed to wield an attractive influence upon their children, who ever remain devotedly attached to their alma mater. The atmosphere seemed in every way suitable to the work undertaken, and the school soon became known, not alone for the thoroughiness of the education imparted, but for the stamp of refinement and cultured life upon its pupils, and this in its measure may be claimed as a special characteristic of the work of the society wherever its schools have been established.
The old Jackson house was a three storied building, but the needs of the school, in a few years outgrew these limits. An addition became imperative and a mansard roof was planned. The quaint Quaker house submitted to this first innovation in 1870. In 1877, a chapel was built, which in its turn, was re- placed by the beautiful little Gothic Church in 1899. The Holy Child's School was partially erected in 1890 and used in its unfinished state until 1900 when it was completed.
COURTS AND LAWYERS.
Crude as were the statutes administered, there is no doubt that at Tinicum. in the present county of Delaware, justice was first dispensed in the state of Pennsylvania, and there is little doubt that there was held the first court in the entire Delaware river territory. The Swedish Governor Printz was required, in obedience to instructions given him, to "decide all controversies according to the laws, customs and usages of Sweden." This was a difficult task to impose upon a military man, as the codification of all the Swedish statutes, manners and customs had then but recently been made. There were, fortunately for the peace of mind of the well meaning governor in 1647, but one hundred and thirty-eight souls living under his jurisdiction, yet he often found difficulty in adjusting nice points of law, often also under the embarrassment of acting in the dual capacity of plaintiff and judge. The governor thus describes his own plight : "Again, I have several times solicited a learned and able man to administer justice and attend to the law business. sometimes very intricate cases occurring, in which it is difficult, and never ought to be, that one and the same person appear in the court as plaintiff as well as judge." Governor Printz was clothed with both civil and criminal jurisdiction : he was especially directed to enforce obedience and order, and could punish great offenders, not only with imprisonment, but even with death, "according to the crime." but all must be done under legal forms and in accordance with the ordinance. The records of this Swedish court are very indistinct, and little can be learned of this period, while the Dutch records that follow are hardly more explicit on the subject of early tribunals among the early settlers on the Delaware prior to the English conquest.
Jean Paul Jacquet, who was appointed vice-director. November 29, 1655. was instructed to "administer law and justice to citizens as well as soldiers," while Andrew Hudde, the secretary, was "to book all matters, complaints, de- faults, arrests, with the reasons there." also "all judgments, sentences and deci- sions." The court, where branches of the ordinances were to be tried, was a meeting of the council, which was to be called only by order of the vice-direc- tor, and all cases pending before that body to be decided by a "majority of votes," but, in case of a tie, the vice-director was to have a double vote. This tribunal seems to have exercised legislative as well as judicial powers, as there are ordinances regulating various practices, as early as February 13, 1656, and several arrests for their violation are recorded. Jacob Alrichs, vice-director of the city's colony on the Delaware (part of the Delaware territory from Chris- tiana river to Bombay Hook had been transferred to the city of Amsterdam by the Dutch West Indian Company for moneys advanced) in the latter part of April, 1657, arrived at New Castle. That there then was a court held on the river is proven from the prayer of the Swedish inhabitants that a court mes- senger and provost might be appointed for them, which was done. This court evidently was not in accordance with Director Alrich's ideas of what a court of justice should be, as on March 30, 1658, he writes Governor Stuyvesant.
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complaining of its crudities. But there was a court, and at least one practicing attorney, as, under the same date, he mentions paying certain sums to the "At- torney Schelluyn." On May 8, 1658, the Swedish magistrates at Tinicum pre- sented a petition to Governor Stuyvesant, who was then visiting the Dutch set- tlements on the Delaware, requesting that they might be properly instructed in the discharge of their duties, and that a court messenger or officer should be appointed to serve summons, make arrests and enforce sentences of the courts. From a letter written April 28, 1660, to Governor Stuyvesant by William Beekman, vice-director, a great deal of information is gleaned concerning the customs of the magistrate and something of the people they governed. This letter relates.to the present Delaware county, all the persons mentioned hav- ing resided within the limits of the present county, and is interesting as being conclusive that, at that time, no other court existed within the territory be- longing to the present state of Pennsylvania.
When Sir Robert Carr, in command of the English forces, subjugated the Dutch Provinces on the Delaware, the articles of capitulation dated October. 1684, stipulated that "the schout, the burgomaster, sheriffe, and other inferior magistrates, shall use and exercise their customary Power in Adminis'on of justice within their precinets, or until his Ma'ties pleasure is further known."
Under the terms of this agreement the Dutch magistrates continued in office until April 21, 1668, when Governor Lovelace commissioned Sir Robert Carre schout, and Hans Block, Israel Helme, Peter Rambo, Peter Cock, Peter Alricks, or any two of them, as councillors, "to advise, hear and determine, by the major vote, what is just, equitable and necessary in the case or cases in question." Steadily but slowly, Governor Lovelace from that time began bring- ing the judicial system of England into use, but so gradually that no radical change would be made, and at the same time do no violence to the colony, by unsettling quickly the whole body of ordinances, manners and customs with which the people had grown familiar. The attempted rebellion of the Long Finn in the summer of 1669 afforded the governor an opportunity to make some sweeping changes in criminal procedure, and that case will ever be mem- orable in county annals, inasmuch that for the first time there is undoubted record of a trial on the Delaware wherein the defendant was formally indicted. and a jury of twelve men impaneled, who were subject to challenge on the part of the prisoner, and charged after the testimony was concluded, by the com- missioners, to find "the matter of fact according to the evidence." Governor Lovelace, knowing well the power of pomp and display, hedged the bench with all the pomp and circumstance necessary to impress the citizen of that day with the importance and dignity of the judicial office. In 1671 he instructed Captain Carre, on the Delaware, to set up the King's arms in the court house, and to have the same insignia of majesty borne on the staffs carried by the officers in attendance. The records show a town court was established at New Castle, May 17, 1672, to be presided over by a bailiff and six assistants, to have juris- diction over all cases of debt and damage not to exceed ten pounds, and there is inferential evidence that a similar court was established at Upland. August
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8, 1672. Certain it is, however, that when the English standard was lowered and the Dutch again became masters on the Delaware, the Dutch council at New York, July 30, 1673, established "one court of justice for the inhabitants of Upland, to which provisionally shall resort the inhabitants both on the east and west banks of Kristina Kill and upwards toward the head of the river." At the same time council instructed the inhabitants of the Delaware river ter- ritory, "for the maintenance of good order, police, etc.," to nominate eight per- sons in each of the judicial districts as magistrates, and from the names thus submitted council would select and appoint these officers. These courts were of limited jurisdiction, council ordering that all important cases be sent for trial before the governor general and council. Yet they had legislative powers that inade them of considerable importance in the government. The same docu- ment from the council instructed how persons should be elected to the higher offices, a system that was adopted by the British after the territory again passed under their rule, and was maintained in a large measure even after Pennsylvania had in turn cast off the English yoke. By the terms of the treaty between Great Britain and Holland, the Dutch authority ceased on February 9, 1674, but as Major Edmund Andross, the representative of the Duke of York, to whom the King had reconfirmed the province after it became an English de- pendency, did not take formal control until the 31st of October following, it is to be presumed that judicial matters up to that time were conducted according to the Dutch form of procedure. Two days thereafter the governor ordered that the old magistrates on the Delaware, excepting Peter Alricks, who were in office when the Dutch captured the province in July, 1763, should be "estab- lished for the space of six months, or further orders." On November 4, Cap- tain Edward Cantwell, who had been the former sheriff under the English rule, was reappointed to the same office. The magistrates thus reappointed were : Peter Cock, Peter Rambo, Israel Helme, Lars Andriesen, Wolle Swain : and William Tom was appointed clerk.
The jurisdiction of the several courts on the Delaware river seems not to have been extended so as to give them cognizance of the higher grade of crimes. Hence a special commission was issued by Governor Andross, Febru- ary 21, 1675, for holding a court of oyer and terminer at New Castle for the trial of several prisoners charged with rape, which commission was addressed to five justices of New Castle court, and Justices Cock, Rambo, Helme, An- driesen and Swain, of Upland court, requiring any seven or more of them, as soon as conveniently may be, "to sitt one or more times during the space of one week, if occasion require, for the hearing, trying, giving judgment, and causing the same to be put in execution according to law."
A celebrated case of the period was the trial of James Sandelands, of Up- land, for the death of an Indian forcibly ejected from his house. The case was tried at New Castle, at a special court held May 13, 1675, Governor Sir Edmund Andross presiding in person, assisted by three commissioners-one each from New Castle, from Upland and Whore Kill. "The bench," old docu- ments state, was "called over and placed on the governor's left hand ; Governor
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