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 16
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The Rev. Hugh David, who was a respectable Welshman, that had come over with William Penn, in his second visit in 1700, came from his home at Gwynned in 1732, to make his visit of respect to Thomas Penn, then lately arrived; for that purpose he had prepared some verses to present him, complimentary to him as descended of William Penn, who was himself before descended of the royal house of Tudor,-" a branch of Tudor, alias Thomas Penn." The in- tended verses were, however, withheld, and have fallen since into my hands, occasioned by the cold and formal deportment of the Governor; for, as Hugh David informed Jonathan Jones, of Merion, in whose family I got the story and the poetry, he spoke to him but three sentences, which were,-" How dost do?"-" Farewell."- " The other door."
It would seem, however, he was sufficiently susceptible of softer and warmer emotions, he having, as it was said, brought with him to this country, as an occasional companion, a person of much show and display, called "Lady Jenks," who passed her time "remote from . . y," in the then wilds of Bucks County; but her beauty, ar-
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Penn's Descendants.
complishments, and expert horsemanship, made her soon of notoriety enough, to make every woman, old and young, in the country, her chronicle; they said she rode with him at fox-huntings, and at the famous " Indian Walk," in men's clothes, (meaning, without doubt, their simple conceptions of the masculine appearance of her riding habit array) garbed, like a man in petticoat.
Old Samuel Preston, Esq., to whom I am chiefly indebted for facts concerning her, (often, however, confirmed by others) tells me it was well understood there, that she was the mother of Thomas Jenks, Esq.,* a member of Friends,-a very handsome, highly es- teemed, and useful citizen, who lived to about the year 1797, and received his education and support through the means supplied by his father, Thomas Penn. Indeed, Thomas Penn was so much in " the style of an English gentleman," says my informant, that " he had two other natural sons by other women, which he also provided for, and they also raised respectable families." From the great age at which Thomas Jenks died, (said to have been near 100 years) I presume he was born in England, and from his bearing the name of his mother, she must have first arrived as the widow Jenks and son.t When E. Marshall, who performed the extraordinary Indian walk, became offended with his reward, " he d-d Penn and his half-wife" to their faces.
In 1734, October, John Penn (called the " American," because the only one of Penn's children born here,) made his landing at New Castle, and came on to Philadelphia by land. At his crossing the Schuylkill he was met and escorted into the city, and " the guns on Society Hill" and the ships fired salutes. It states, the escort con- sisted of a train of several coaches and chaises. The Governor and suite alighted at his brother Thomas' house, where an elegant enter- tainment was given. Their sister, Mrs. Margaret Freame, and hus- band, also arrived with him. This of course brought over all the then living children of Penn, save his son Richard, then youngest.
In 1751, November, Thomas Penn, aforenamed, was announced as marrying Lady J. Fermer, daughter of the Earl of Pomfret. He died in 1775, and she lived to the year 1801.
In Weems' Life of Penn, he is extremely severe on the cupidity and extortion of the Penn family. I am not able to say where he finds his pretexts. Complaints were made about the year 1755-6, by Tedeuscung, at the head of the Delaware Indians, that they had been cheated in their lands, bought on one and a half day's walk along the Neshamina and forks of Delaware, back 47 miles to the mountains; and I have seen the whole repelled in a long MS. re-
* His son, Thomas Jenks, was a Senator at the time of the formation of the State Constitution,-a very smart man.
t There is some confusion and incoherency of dates. Jenks was born in 1700, and she may have joined herself to Wm. Penn, jr., when he arrived in 1703. There was certainly a Lady Jenks, whose name was Macpherson. She afterwards married Wig. gend, of Bucks County, and left a son who has now many descendants in Bucks Co.
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port to Governor Dennie, by the committee of Council, in which all the history of all the Indian treaties are given, and wherein they de clare that till that time (1757) the Penn proprietaries had more than fulfilled all their obligations by treaties, &c .- paying for some pur- chases, to different and subsequent nations, over and over again. The paper contained much reasoning and arguments to justify the then Penns. If they indeed, " bought low, and sold high," who, without sin in this way, "may cast the first stone!" In the statute sense, the land was theirs before they bought it. It was their an- cestor's by grant of the Sovereign, and as good as the Baronies of England by the grant of the Conqueror. Yet I plead not for such assumptions,-I relate the facts.
Having had the perusal of several letters, written by Thomas Penn in England to his Secretary, Richard Peters, dated from 1754 to 1767, I was constrained to the impression that they were honourable to the proprietaries, as showing a frank and generous spirit, both in relation to sales and collections for lands. They were mild, too, in remark- ing upon unkindness to themselves from political parties and ene- mies. They, in short, (and in truth,) breathed a spirit very free from selfishness or bitterness. In them, Thomas Penn showed great affection for church principles-offering £50 per annum, out of his own funds, to continue Mr. Barton as a missionary at New Castle, &c. In 1755, he proposes to allow any disappointed lot holders upon Schuylkill a privilege to exchange them for Delaware lots near the Centre Square. In 1760, he is very solicitous to have John Watson of Bucks County, (whom Logan also commends,) to be in- duced to accept the office of Surveyor-General. He speaks of an intention to write to Hannah Watson, whom he knew when a little boy.
It is sufficiently known, however, that Thomas and Richard Penn rendered themselves quite unpopular, by instructing their Governors not to assent to any laws taxing their estates in common with the people. This induced Franklin's son William, (it is said) to write the Historical Review of Pennsylvania, as published in 1759, he esti- mating their estates then as worth ten millions sterling.
One of Thomas Penn's letters, of 1767, speaks of the government manifesting an inclination to buy him out as proprietary, saying, " It is the ill-natured project of Benjamin Franklin," then in London as agent for the colony. "They would agree (says he) to give us, by the hints of the minister, ten times the money they offered our father. I have declined, and intimated we are not to be forced to it, as Mr Franklin would wish it."
1763, November, John Penn and Richard Penn, brothers, and sons of Richard, before named, are announced as arrived in the pro- vince-the former, being the eldest, is called the Lieutenant Go- vernor. His commission as Lieutenant Governor is read from the balcony of the old Court House as usual. Their father, Richard was then alive in England, having lived till 1771.
Owen Jones, Esqr., told me he remembered to have seen Richard
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Penn's Descendants.
Penn land at Judge Allen's house, in Water Street below High Street, corner of Beck's Alley, and thence go in procession to the old Court House, and, standing out on the balcony there, made an address to the people in the street.
The present aged Mrs. Speakman, tells me that when John Penn landed at High Street, there was a strong earthquake, as he stept ashore; when he went home, a dreadful thunder storm arose; and when he next returned as proprietary, a fierce hurricane occurred !
In 1767, died in London, Springett Penn, grandson of William Penn by his first wife,-being, as the Gazette stated, the last male issue by that lady.
My friend J. P. N., describes those gentlemen thus, viz : John Penn, son of Richard, owner of one-fourth of the province, was twice or thrice Governor ; he married a daughter of Judge Allen, of Philadelphia,-was in person of the middle size, reserved in his manners, and very near-sighted. He was not popular,-died in Bucks County in 1795, aged 67 years. He was buried in Christ Church ground, and afterwards was taken up and carried to Eng- land ; thus adding to the strange aversions which the members of the Penn family generally showed to remaining among us, either living or dead. He built here the place called Landsdown House.
Richard Penn, his brother, was Governor a little prior to the Revo- lution,-a fine portly looking man-a bon vivant, very popular,- married our Miss Polly Masters,-died in England in 1811, at the age of 77 years, and left several children. His wife died August, 1829, aged 73 years.
John Penn, the eldest son of Thomas, and who had one-half of .he province, was in Philadelphia after the Revolution. He had a particular nervous affection about him. He built the place called Solitude, over Schuylkill. He has written to me on Philadelphia subjects occasionally. He has in his possession a great collection of his grandfather's (William Penn) papers. These will some day be brought to light to elucidate family and civil history. He was till his death the wealthy proprietor and resident of Stoke Pogis park in the country, and of the mansion house at Spring Garden, London.
When J. R. Coates, Esq., was lately in England, in 1826, as he informed me, he there saw that all the cabinet of original papers of the founder were in fine preservation, all regularly filed and en- dorsed. Some branches of the family had applied, it is understood, to John Penn, to have their use, to form some history from them ; but the proprietor declined to give them, alleging he purposed some day to use them for a similar purpose himself. It is gratifying thus o know that there are still existing such MS. materials for our early history His letter to me of 1825 says, he would very freely com- municate to me any thing among them in my way, as he may come across them.
In June 1834, John Penn L. L. D., died at Stoke Park in Bucks, England, " formerly Proprietor and Hereditary Governor of the
11*
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Penn's Descendants.
Province of Pennsylvania." This gentleman had intended to make a hall in his mansion to be called " the Pennsylvania Hall," and wherein he had intended to hang up original pictures and paintings of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania subjects. As many as two dozen of such pictures of parlour size, had been executed for that object before he died, and are now unused in my possession.
" He was the eldest surviving son of the Hon. Thomas Penn, Esq., by Lady Juliana, fourth daughter of the Earl of Pomfret. In conse- quence of his maternal descent, he was received as a Nobleman at the University of Cambridge."
During the American war, the family of Penn endeavoured to act as mediators between Great Britain and her colonies ; and, being settled in England, they in 1790 received a grant from Parliament of an annuity of £4000, in part compensation of their losses.
In 1789 Mr. Penn pulled down the old mansion at Stoke Park, which the father had purchased in 1760, and erected a new house. A view of it is given in Neales' Seats.
In 1796 Mr. Penn published a Tragedy entitled " the Battle of Edington, or British Liberty." In 1798 he published his Critical, Poetical, and Dramatic works in 2 vols. 8vo. In 1802, he printed 2 vols. of Original works, imitations and translations,-and also two volumes of Poems, mostly of reprints. The same year he was made member of Parliament for Helton.
Grenville Penn, Esq., F. S. A .,-brother to John, has distinguished himself by several able and critical works, and a life of his great grandfather, Sir William Penn, the distinguished Admiral, and of Richard Penn Esq., formerly M. P. for Lancaster, and not less remark- able for his classical attainments and wonderful powers of memory
Their sister Sophia Margaret Juliana was the wife of the late Hon. and most Rev. William Stuart, Archbishop of Armaugh.
The present proprietor of Stoke Pogis park, now in his 82d year is a fine Christian poet, as may be judged by his address to Lord Byron, in some 16 or 18 stanzas, one of which thus apostrophizes that fine but unbelieving poet, saying, viz :
But Harold " will not look beyond the tomb," And thinks " he may not hope for rest before :" Fie! Harold, fie ! unconscious of thy doom, The nature of thy soul thou know'st not more: Nor know'st-thy lofty mind which loves to soar, Thy glowing spirit, and thy thoughts sublime,
Are foreign on this flat and naked shore ; And languish for their own celestial clime,
Far in the bounds of space, beyond the bounds of Time.
Thomas Penn Gaskill, of Philadelphia County, who married in Montgomery County, in 1825, became in 1824 the rich proprietor of the Penn Irish estate. On his visit to that country, to see it and to possess it, he was received with all the pomp and circumstances of Lordship, which a numerous tribe of tenants and mansion house menials could confer
PENN LANDING AT CHESTER .- Page 127.
PENN LANDING AT BLUE ANCHOR -Page 130.
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The Landing of Penn at Chester.
THE LANDING OF PENN AT CHESTER.
THERE are several facts of interest connected with the ancient town of Chester; none more so, than the landing there of William Penn, and the hospitable reception himself and friends received at the " Essex House," then the residence of Robert Wade. His house, at which the scene of the landing is laid, stood about two hundred yards from Chester Creek, near the margin of the Delaware, and on a plain of about fifteen feet above tide water. Near the house by the river side, stood several lofty white pines, three of which remain at the present day, and thence ranging down the Delaware stood a large row of lofty walnut trees, of which a few still survive.
Essex House had its south east gable end fronting to the river Delaware, and its south west front upon Essex Street; its back piazza ranged in a line with Chester Creek, which separated the house and farm from the town of Chester; all vestiges of the house are now gone, but the facts of its location and position have been told to me by some aged persons who had once seen it. The iron vane once upon it was preserved several years, with the design of replacing it upon a renewed building once intended there.
Robert Wade owned all the land on the side of the creek oppo- site to Chester, extending back some distance up that Creek; the Chester side was originally owned wholly by James Sanderland, a wealthy Swedish proprietor, and extending back into the country a considerable distance ; he appears to have been an eminent Episco- palian, and probably the chief founder of the old Episcopal church there of St. Paul, as I find his memory peculiarly distinguished in that church by a large and conspicuous mural monument of re- markably fine sculpture for that early day; the figures in fine relief upon it is a real curiosity, it represents him asdying in the year 1692, in the 56th year of his age. None of the family name now remain there
On the same premises is a head stone of some peculiarity, "in memory of Francis Brooks, who died August 19, 1704," and in- scribed thus :
" In barbarian bondage and cruel tyranny Fourteen years together I served in slavery After this, mercy brought me to my country fair ; At last, I drowned was in the river Delaware."
In the same ground stands a marble, commemorative of the first A. M. of Pennsylvania, to wit :
" Here lieth Paul Jackson, A. M. He was the first who received a degree in the College of Philadelphia,-a man of virtue, worth and knowledge. - Died, 1767, aged 38 years."
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The Landing of Penn at Chester.
I might add, respecting him, that he was the ancestor of the pre sent Dr. Samuel Jackson of Philadelphia, had been a surgeon ir the Braddock expedition, was a brother-in-law of the Honourable Charles Thomson, and one of the best classical scholars of his time.
The brick house is still standing, now a cooper's shop, owned by John Hart, in which, it is said, was held the first Assembly of Penn- sylvania. It is a one and a half story structure of middle size, close by the side of the creek. The oaken chair, in which William Penn sat as chief in that Assembly, is said to be now in the pos session of the aged and respectable widow of Colonel Frazer,- a chair to be prized by us with some of that veneration bestowed on the celebrated chair in Westminster Abbey, brought from Scone to help in the investiture of royal power.
At the mill-seat up the Creek, now belonging to Richard Flowers, was originally located, near thereto, the first mill in the county; the same noticed in Proud's history as erected by Richard Town- send, who brought out the chief of the materials from England. The original mill is all gone ; but the log platform under water still remains at the place where the original road to Philadelphia once passed. The iron vane of that mill, curiously wrought into letters and dates, is still on the premises, and is marked thus :
W. P. S. C. | C. P. 1699.
The initials express the original partners, to wit : William Penn, Samuel Carpenter, and Caleb Pusey.
Close by the race stands the original dwelling house, in which it is understood that Richard Townsend once dwelt, and where he was often visited by the other partners ; it is a very lowly stone building of the rudest finish inside, and of only one story in height. Such was their primitive rough fare and rude simplicity ; yet small as was this establishment at the head of tide water, it was of much importance to the inhabitants of that day.
Not far from this, at Ridly Creek mills, is a curious relic-an en- graving upon a rock of "I. S. 1682," which marks the spot against which John Sharpless, the original settler there, erected his temporary hut, immediately after his arrival in that year.
The Yates' house, now Logan's, built about the year 1700, was made remarkable in the year 1740-1, (the season of the " cold winter,") for having been visited in the night by a large black bear, which came into the yard and quarrelled with the dog. It was killed the next day near the town.
There is in the Logan collection at Stenton a small folio volume ,
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The Landing of Penn at Chester.
of manuscript court proceedings at Upland, chiefly respecting lands along the Delaware, at Shackamaxon, &c., while under the Duke of York's patent, and subject to the New York Governors, from 1676 to 1681.
The original expectations of Chester were once much greater than since ; they once thought it might grow into a shipping port. In an original petition of the inhabitants of Chester of the year 1700, they pray, that " Whereas, Chester is daily improving, and in time may be a good place, that the Queen's road may be laid out as direct as possible from Darby to the bridge on Chester Creek."* This paper was signed by ninety inhabitants, all writing good hands. Vide the original in my MS. Annals in the City Library.
Besides this, Jasper Yates, who married Sanderland's daughter, erected, about the year 1700, the present great granary there, having the upper chambers for grain and the basement story for an ex- tensive biscuit bakery. For some time it had an extensive business, by having much of the grain from the fruitful fields of Lancaster and Chester Counties; but the business has been long since dis- continued.
When the first colonists, (arrived by the Factor) were frozen up at Chester, in December 1681, and these being followed by several ships in the spring of 1682, before the City of Philadelphia was chosen and located, they must have given an air of city life to the Upland Village, which may have well excited an original expecta- tion and wish of locating there the city of brotherly love. It was all in unison with the generous hospitality afforded at Wade's house and among all the families of Friends previously settled there from Jersey ; but Chester Creek could not compete with Schuylkill River, and Chester was rivalled by Philadelphia; "so that it seemed appointed, by its two rivers and other conveniences, for a town."
At this late day it is grateful to look back with "recollected ten- derness," on the state of society once possessing Chester. My friend, Mrs. Logan, who once lived there, thus expressed it to me, saying, she had pleasure in her older years of contemplating its society as pictured to her by her honoured mother, a native of the place. Most of the inhabitants, being descendants of the English, spoke with the broad dialect of the North. They were a simple hearted, affectionate people, always appearing such in the visits she made with her mother to the place. Little distinction of rank was known, but all were honest and kind, and all entitled to and re- ceived the friendly attentions and kindness of their neighbours in cases of sickness or distress. Scandal and detraction, usual village pests, were to them unknown. Their principles and feelings were too good and simple, and the state of the whole was at least "a silver age."
* The road below Chester was called the King's road.
VOL. I .- R
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The Landing of Penn at the Blue Anchor Tavern.
THE LANDING OF PENN
AT THE
BLUE ANCHOR TAVERN.
Here memory's spell wakes up the throng Of past affection-here our fathers trod !
THE general voice of mankind has ever favoured the consecration of places hallowed by the presence of personages originating great epochs in history, or by events giving renown to nations. The land- ing place of Columbus in our western world is consecrated and honoured in Havana ; and the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth is commemorated by festivals. We should not be less disposed to emblazon with its just renown the place where Penn, our honoured founder, first set his foot on the soil of our beloved city. The site and all its environs were abundantly picturesque, and facts enough of the primitive scene have descended to us,
" E'en to replace again The features as they knew them then."
Facts still live, to revive numerous local impressions, and to con- nect the heart and the imagination with the past,-to lead out the mind in vivid conceptions of
" How the place look'd when 'twas fresh and young."
Penn and his immediate friends came up in an open boat or barge from Chester; and because of the then peculiar fitness, as " a landing place," of the "low and sandy beach," at the debouche of the once beautiful and rural Dock Creek, they there came to the shore by the side of Guest's new house, then in a state of building, the same known in the primitive annals as " the Blue Anchor Tavern."
The whole scene was active, animating and cheering. On the shore were gathered, to cheer his arrival, most of the few inhabitants who had preceded him. The busy builders who had been occupied at the construction of Guest's house, and at the connecting line of " Budd's Long Row," all forsook their labours to join in the general greetings. The Indians, too, aware by previous signals of his ap- proach, were seen in the throng, or some, more reservedly apart, waited the salutation of the guest, while others, hastening to the scene, could be seen paddling their canoes down the smooth waters of the creek.
Where the houses were erecting, on the line of Front Street, was the low sandy beach ; directly south of it, on the opposite side of the creek, was the grassy and wet soil, fruitful in whortleberries; beyond
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The Landing of Penn at the Blue Anchor Tavern.
it was the "Society Hill," having its summit on Pine Street, and rising in graceful grandeur from the precincts of Spruce Street,-all then robed in the vesture with which nature most charms. Turn- ing our eyes and looking northward, we see similar rising ground, presenting its summit above Walnut Street. Looking across the Dock Creek westward, we see all the margin of the creek adorned with every grace of shrubbery and foliage, and beyond it, a gently sloping descent from the line of Second Street, whereon were hutted a few of the native's wigwams, intermixed among the shadowy trees. A bower near there, and a line of deeper verdure on the ground, marked " the spring," where " the Naiad weeps her emptying urn." Up the stream, meandering through "prolixity of shade," where " willows dipt their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink," we per- ceive, where it traverses Second Street, the lowly shelter of Drinker, the anterior lord of Dock Creek; and beyond him, the creek disap- pears in intervening trees, or in mysterious windings.
That scenes like these are not fanciful reveries, indulged without their sufficient warrant, we shall now endeavour to show from sober facts, deduced from various items of information, to wit:
Mr. Samuel Richards, a Friend, who died in 1827, at about the age of 59, being himself born and residing all his days next door to the Blue Anchor Tavern, was very competent to judge of the verity of the tradition concerning the landing. He fully confided in it; he had often heard of it from the aged, and never heard it opposed by any. His father before him, who had dwelt on the same premises, assured him it was so, and that he had heard it direct through the preceding occupants of the Inn. All the earliest keepers of the Inn were Friends; such was Guest, who was also in the first Assembly; he was succeeded by Reese Price, Peter Howard, and Benjamin Humphries, severally Friends All these in succession kept alive the tradition that "when Penn first came to the city he came in a boat from Chester, and landed near their door." It was then, no doubt, the readiest means of transportation, and would have been a highly probable measure, even if we had never heard of the above facts to confirm it.
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