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 18
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As every thing relative to this hallowed place, by reason of the Treaty Tree, once there, is to be deemed interesting, we have concluded since the first edition, to add the following additional items, to wit :
The Shackamaxon locality has long been a mooted point, and we had before entertained the belief that it began at "Pleasant Point," in Kensington, (a place already effaced and changed as a point, but once sufficiently plain as a gravelly strand on the north side of the mouth of Cohocksinc,) and therefore, to be in effect. con- sidered as beginning at Cohocksinc Creek, and extending along the River to Gunner's Creek. I have lately found a fact in the Minutes of the Friends' Meetings at Abington, which goes to prove that the Friends' Meetings were originally held at Shackamaxon at the house of Thomas Fairman, (miscalled Fairlamb, in Proud and others,) to wit: "on the 11 of 2 mo. 1682, it was mutually agreed that a meeting be at William Cooper's at Pyne Point, (N. J.) the 2d first day of 3 mo. next, and the next meeting be at Thomas Fairman's at Shackamaxon, and so in course," and " at a monthly Meeting the 8th of 9 mo. 1682-at this time Governor William Penn and a multitude of Friends arrived here and erected a City called Philadelphia, about half a mile from Shackamaron, where Meet-
" There was once a low place of boggy marsh, into which high tides flowed, now all Glied up, about one square westward of the treaty tree.
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The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion.
ings, &c., were established, &c. Thomas Fairman, at the request of the Governor, removed himself and family to Tackony, where there was also a Meeting appointed to be kept, and the ancient Meeting of Shackamaxon removed to Philadelphia, from which meeting also other meetings were appointed in the Province of Penn- sylvania."
From the premises it is to be inferred, as very natural to have made the Treaty at the Treaty Tree, when it was also the ample house, and the head quarters, of the Friends and their meetings.
On page 130 of my MS. Annals, it will be seen respecting " Fair- man's Mansion," that by a letter of Robert Fairman of London, of 1711, he speaks of the house at the Treaty Tree, built of brick in 1702, (and taken down in 1825,) as the locality of the said Thomas Fairman's former house-he having been dead some time, and his widow being then (in 1711) on the premises.
Robert Venables, the aged black who died in Philadelphia in 1834, aged 98, told me that he had always heard that it was at the Treaty Tree that William Penn held his treaty. He had never heard a doubt of it in his long life in Philadelphia. He heard it often so said by the aged and by his own parents, who were blacks from Barbadoes. He said it was the current report that the "three balls" on Penn's arms represented three apple dumplings,* and were in- tended to commemorate the fact of Penn being treated at the Treaty by king Tamanee with three such-then a great rarity to Penn. ['This, though erroneous, tests the popular confirmation of the treaty there in early times.] He said also as the popular story of the aged in his youth (and he had seen several persons who had seen Penn !) that the treaty was made under the Great Elm on the 1st day of May, and that for that cause, they kept May days with great re- joicings as King Tamanee's day.
In the year 1836, there was published some notices of the gift I had made to the Town House in Kensington, acknowledging the welcome reception of two elm trees which I had planted in the front court yard of that house, as mementos of the Treaty Elm :- they being of the same species and transplanted from the premises once Richard Townsends, where he had erected the first mill in Philadelphia County, now the same place called Roberts' Mill, near to German- town. It had also the additional interest of being the same place once owned by Godfrey the inventor of the quadrant, and where his body, now taken to Laurel Hill Cemetery, was for many years in- terred. It may be mentioned also, that a similar Elm, from near his grave, was also taken and planted by his new grave at that cemetery, and a like Tree has been planted and now flourishes before my own house, in the Main Street in Germantown.
The Commissioners of Kensington, too, with commendable good
* These are so called also by the people, on the Penn arms, on the old mile stones on the Gulf and Haverford roads.
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The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion.
feelings, have constructed for their Town Hall, a great arm chau of relic wood formed of the real Treaty Tree, and sundry other woods designated in a secret drawer attached, so as to perpetuate the facts intended to be consecrated to posterity by the enduring pre- sence of the elegant chair. All this showed most commendable feelings for the honoured founders of the State, and was in just keeping with their own local relation to the historical incidents of the country. Long may it be preserved as a memento of the past, and long may the trees, so planted, endure to link one generation with another,-to stand like living monuments speaking forth their solemn and soothing lessons, as from fathers to sons and the sons of sons.
Having made a communication to the Historical Society in De- cember, 1835, since printed, concerning "the Indian Treaty for the Lands near the site of Philadelphia and the adjacent country," I hereby repeat some of the remarks then made, to the effect that there has been a misconception of the nature and object of the ad- mitted assemblage of Penn and the Indians under the Great Tree. It was emphatically true that under that ample Elm,
" Was shadowed once The rever'd Founders of our honour'd State, Met, with forest chieftains and their vanish'd tribes.'
But it was not a Treaty for lands to be then purchased, but was a great meeting of verbal conference and pledge, popularly called the Treaty, in which presents were bestowed, mutual civilities exchanged, and reciprocal promises of friendship and good will were severally made. Made in the name and form (as will be shown) of " a league and chain of friendship." To this fact, the testimony of tradition has also been unceasing and unchanging. It has been told and believed from the beginning, or from a time, as the civilians say, " in which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary."
If this, my assumption or position, be true, it will then sufficiently account for the hitherto strange fact, that in so important a matter as the deed and title to the lands which we now, as Philadelphians, and even as Pennsylvanians, occupy, we have no original Treaty- formed at the Treaty Tree, to show! We have hitherto been look- ing for an alleged instrument of writing, which had no existence at that time, because it was not then necessary, nor then executed. But the fact is, as the records which I inspected at Harrisburg lately, will show, that the actual treaty for the lands of the present Philadelphia and adjacent country, out to Susquehanna, was made in the year 1685, by Thomas Holme as President of the Council, in the absence of William Penn, who was then returned back to England.
The Treaty so made, on the 30th day of the 5th mo., 1685, was formed with Shakkoppoh, Secane, Malibore, and Tangoras, Indian Sakamakers, and right owners of the lands lying between Macapa- nackan, alias Upland, now called Chester River or Creek, and the
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The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion.
River or Creek of Pemapecka, now called Dublin Creek, begin- ning at a hill called Conshohocken (at present by Matson's ford) on the River Manaiunk or Skoolkill, &c., &c. ; . . . then to go north-westerly back into the woods-to make up two full days' journey, as far as a man can go in two days, from the said station of the parallel line at Pemapecka, [thus going or extending in effect back to the Susquehanna River, and no further, at that time, and in that Treaty.] & For, and in consideration, [we feel almost ashamed to name it!] of 200 fathoms of wampum, 30 fathoms of duffels, 30 guns, 60 fathoms of strawed waters, 30 kettles, 30 shirts, 20 gunbelts, 12 pair of shoes, 30 pair of stockings, 30 pair of scissors, 30 combs, 30 axes, 30 knives, 20 tobacco tongs, 30 bars of lead, 30 pounds of powder, 30 awls, 30 glasses, 30 tobacco boxes, 3 papers of beads, 44 pounds of red lead, 30 pair of hawks' bells, 6 drawing knives, 6 caps, 12 hoes : Do by these presents grant, bar- gain and sell, &c., all right, title and interest, that we or any others shall or may claim in the same,-hereby renouncing and disclaim- ing for ever any claim or pretence to the premises, for us, our heirs, and successors, and all other Indians whatsoever. The whole is signed by queer marks and witnessed by seven Indians and eight white men-citizens.
It may possibly be urged that the Treaty made on 23d of 4 mo. 1683, when William Penn was still here, between William Penn and Kings Tamanen and Metamequan, for their lands, from " near Neshemanah Creek, and thence to Pemapecka," may have been treated for under the Treaty Tree. This certainly appears to have been the earliest land Treaty on record ; but as Philadelphia was then already located as a city, it could not have been necessary for that object. There is still another view of this subject to be con- sidered-which is, that Capt. Sven, then resident near Swedes' Church, south end of the City, was then proprietor of part, if not all of Philadelphia land, under a grant of gift from his own sove- reign Queen Christiana-and it is already matter of history that he yielded his land to Penn, in consideration of other lands bestowed upon him up the Schuylkill.
A Treaty made at Conastogae the 26th of May, 1728, stated in the Minutes of Council at the time, between Governor Gordon and Captain Civility and other Chiefs, makes direct reference to the first Treaty in nine items, concluding that amity and friendship was to exist between them for ever, or-" as long as the Creeks and Rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure," " and lastly, that both Christians and Indians should acquaint their children with this league and firm chain of friendship now made, while Creeks and Rivers run, &c.
From the preceding I have arrived, as I conceive-by consulting in connexion Proud's History-at the confirmation of the fact, that the aforesaid nine articles were a part of " the league and chain of friendship," first made by William Penn himself at the time of his
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The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion.
arrival, when made under the Treaty Tree in 1682, to wit ;- Proud's History, vol. 1, p. 212 says, "it was at this time (1682) when he first entered personally into that lasting friendship (not land purchase,) with the Indians, which ever afterwards continued between them; and for the space of more than seventy years, (say till the time of Braddock and the French war,) was never interrupted." "A firm peace (not a treaty for land) was, therefore, now reciprocally concluded between William Penn and the Indians ; and both parties mutually promised to live together as brethren, (as one of the articles said, as members of " one body,") this was solemnly ratified by the usual token of a chain of friendship and covenant never to be broken so long as the sun and moon endure." In the same vol. 1, p. 215, in stating the case of the Indian Treaty at Albany in 1722, Go- vernor Keith, then present, is made to say to the Indians, " that he desired that this visit and the Covenant chain, which is hereby brightened, may be recorded in everlasting remembrance, and to last as long as the mountains and rivers, and while the sun and moon (former words) endure," and this he especially said, as "the repetition of the former treaties which they made with William Penn." I conclude, therefore, that although the original of " the League and chain of friendship," made at "the conference at the Treaty Tree in 1682, is not now to be found, (unless at Stoke Pogis-the Penn residence in England,) we have the " nine articles" aforesaid, being all of " the main heads" of that memorable and venerable Treaty Tree instrument.
I have endeavoured to repress the expression of the feelings I cannot but feel in the contemplation of the premises, that such lands as we now possess, should have been bestowed for such very incon- siderable reward ! I feel it as a stain upon our escutcheon of honour, that while
" They, to greet the pale faced stranger Stretch'd an unsuspecting hand,"
we should have been so unmindful of our own duties, as to over- look the recompense due-
Entrapp'd by Treaties, driven forth to range The distant west in misery and revenge!"
The only abatement I know, is to say that Penn in fact deemed the land his own by grant from the Crown even before he came among them ; as his letter to the Indians from London sets forth, on the 18 of 8 mo., 1681, saying, even to themselves openly, that his king hath given him a great Province, (i. e. their lands !) which he, how- ever, " desires to enjoy with their love and consent."
" Then redmen took the law of love As from a brother's hand, And they blessed him while he founded This City of our love."
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The Treaty Tree and Fairman's Mansion.
And now, in memory of the Tree which has been the cause of the present chapter, we here add a poetic effusion, as well to glorify the Tree, as to perpetuate the poetic talent of a valued and deceased citizen-namely, Judge Peters-to wit :
PENN'S TREATY-ELM.
BY JUDGE PETERS.
Let each take a relic from that hallowed tree, Which, like Penn, whom it shaded, immortal should be. As the pride of our forests, let Elms be renown'd, For the justly priz'd virtues with which they abound.
CHORUS.
All hail to thee, highly favoured tree, Adorning our land,-the home of the free ! Most worthy was he Who first honour'd thee, And thou, like him, immortal shalt be.
Whilst the natives our forests in freedom shall roam, Thy remembrance they'll cherish, thro' ages to come. Tho' sorrows their bosoms should oft overwhelm, With delight they'll reflect on good Onas's Elm. All hail, &c.
For that Patron of Justice and Peace there display'd, His most welcome good tidings, beneath its fair shade, And furnish'd examples to all future times, That Justice and Peace may inhabit all climes. All hail, &c.
The Oak may be fam'd for its uses in war, Or wafting wealth's idols to regions afar ; But the Elm bears no part in such objects as these, Its employment is solely in fabrics of peace. All hail, &c.
When Daphne, 'tis fabled, eluded Apollo, And he found it in vain her footsteps to follow ; He fix'd the coy nymph-to avenge a love quarrel- In th' evergreen form of the bright shining Laurel. All hail, &c.
But her chaplets bedeck the grim warrior's helm, Who'd more worthily shine in the shade of the Elm; And there cause all wars and their horrors to cease, And, like Penn, spread the blessings of safety and peace. All hail, &c.
Of Avon the Bard and his Mulberry tree, In song have long lived with the votaries of glee. His fame of his tree has prolong'd the renown ; Our tree, with Penn's fame, will to ages go down. All hail, &c.
Let the Bard be encircled with laurels e'er green, As the chief in the choir whereof Fancy's the Queen VOL. I .- T 13
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The Swedes' Church, and House of Sven Sener
Yet truth and just laws all fictions o'erwhelm : And these Penn secur'd in the shade of the Elm. All hail, &c.
Let our Poets still sigh for Bay wreaths, without scars, And the Laurel hide wounds of the champions in wars : But the branch of the Olive its office should cease, And the branches of Elm be the emblems of Peace. All hail, &c.
The Olive abounds where stern despots bear rule, And their slaves pluck its products in Poverty's school ; But the Elm delights most in the mountains and dells, Where Man is ne'er shackled, and Liberty dwells. All hail, &c.
Tho' time has devoted our tree to decay, The sage lessons it witness'd survive to our day. May our trustworthy statesmen, when call'd to the helm, Ne'er forget the wise Treaty held under our Elm, All hail, &c.
THE SWEDES' CHURCH, AND
HOUSE OF SVEN SENER.
" The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep !"
THE Swedes of the hamlet at Wiccaco, at the present Swedes' Church in Southwark, having been the primitive occupants, near the present site of Philadelphia, (before the location of our city was de- termined,) will make it interesting to glean such facts as we can con- cerning that place and people. There they once saw the region of our present city scenes-
" One still
And solemn desert in primeval garb !"
Mr. Kalm, the Swedish traveller, when here in 1748, saw Nils Gustafson, an old Swede, then 91 years of age, who told him he well remembered to have seen a great forest on the spot where Philadel- phia now stands; that he himself had brought a great deal of timber to Philadelphia at the time it was built. Mr. Kalm also met with an old Indian, who had often killed stags on the spot where Philadelphia now stands !
It appears from manuscripts and records that the southern part of our city, including present Swedes' Church, Navy Yard, &c., was
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The Swedes' Church, and House of Sven Sener.
originally possessed by the Swedish family of Sven, the chief of which was Sven Schute,-a title equivalent to the Commandant ; in which capacity he once held Nieu Amstel under charge from Risingh. As the Schute of Korsholm fort, standing in the domain of Pas- saiung, he probably had its site some where in the sub-district of Wiccaco,-an Indian name, traditionally said to imply pleasant place *- a name highly indicative of what Swedes' Church place originally was. We take for granted that the village and church would, as a matter of course, get as near the block-house fort as circumstances would admit.
The lands of the Sven family we however know from actual title, which I have seen to this effect, to wit : " I, Francis Lovelace, Esq., one of the gentlemen of his Majesty's Honourable Privy Coun- cil, and Governor General under his Royal Highness, James, Duke of York and Albany, to all to whom these presents may come, &c. Whereas, there was a Patent or Ground brief granted by the Dutch Governor at Delaware to Swen Gonderson, Swen Swenson,t Oele Swenson, and Andrew Swenson, for a certain piece of ground lying up above in the river, beginning at Moyamensing kill, and so stretching upwards in breadth 400 rods, [about 1} mile wide] and in length into the woods 600 rods, [nearly 2 miles] in all about 800 acres, dated 5th of May, 1664, KNOW YE, &c., that I have rati- fied the same, they paying an annual quit rent of eight bushels of winter wheat to his Majesty." This patent was found recorded at Upland, the 31st of August, 1741.
The Moyamensing kill above mentioned was probably the same creek now called Hay creek, above Gloucester Point, and the 600 rods, or 2 miles of length, probably extended along the river.
We know that Penn deemed their lines so far within the bounds of his plan of Philadelphia and Southwark, that he actually extin- guished their title by giving them lands on the Schuylkill, above Lemon hill, &c.
The Rev'd. Dr. Collin has ascertained from the Swedish MS. records in his possession, that the first Swedes' Church at Wiccaco was built on the present site in 1677, five years before Penn's colony came. It was of logs, and had loop-holes in lieu of window lights, which might serve for fire-arms in case of need. The congregation also was accustomed to bring fire-arms with them to prevent surprise, but ostensibly to use for any wild game which might present in their way in coming from various places.
In 1700, the present brick church was erected, and it was then deemed a great edifice, and so generally spoken of ; for certainly nothing was then equal to it, as a public building, in the city. An elderly gentleman informs me that he had cause to know that the
* So old Mr. Marsh told me he had heard from the oldest settlers there.
+ This Swen Swenson appears to have been in the first jury named at Chester, called by Governor Markham.
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The Swedes' Church, and House of Sven Sener.
Swedes' Church was built mostly by subscription. Some paid in money and some in work and materials-the then parson carried the hod himself. The bell is said to have some silver in it, and to give a disagreeable sound.
The same gentleman informed me that he had seen a view of the first church engraved on a curiously shaped silver box, which had come from an old Swede. It had become at last a lip-salve box.
The parsonage house, now standing, was built in 1737. The former parsonage house was in the Neck. There were originally 27 acres of land attached to the Wiccaco Church. These facts were told me by Dr. Collin. At my request he made several extracts from the Swedish Church-books to illustrate those early times ; which he has since bestowed to the historical department of the Philoso- phical Society.
The original log-house of the sons of Sven was standing till the time the British occupied Philadelphia; when it was taken down and converted into fuel. It stood on a knoll or hill on the N. W. corner of Swanson Street and Beck's Alley. Professor Kalm visited it in 1748 as a curiosity, and his description of it then is striking, to wit: " The wretched old wooden building, (on a hill a little north of the Swedes' Church) belonging to one of the sons of Sven, (Sven's Sæner) is still preserved as a memorial of the once poor state of that place. Its antiquity gives it a kind of superiority over all the other buildings in the town, although in itself it is the worst of all. But with these advantages it is ready to fall down, and in a few years to come it will be as difficult to find the place where it stood* as it was unlikely, when built, that it should in a short time become the place of one of the greatest towns in America. Such as it was, it showed how they dwelt, when stags, elk, deer and beavers ranged in broad day-light in the future streets and public places of Philadelphia. In that house was heard the sound of the spinning wheel before the city was ever thought of !" He describes the site as having on the river side, in front of it, a great number of very large sized water-beech or buttonwood trees; one of them, as a solitary way-mark to the spot, is still remaining there. He mentions also some great ones as standing on the river shore by the Swedes' Church-the whole then a rural scene.
It was deemed so attractive, as a " pleasant place." that Thomas Penn when in Philadelphia made it his favourite ramble ; so much so, that Secretary Peters, in writing to him in 1743, thus complains of its changes-saying, " Southwark is getting greatly disfigured by erecting irregular and mean houses ; thereby so marring its beauty that, when he shall return, he will lose his usual pretty walk to Wic- caco."
I ascertained the following facts concerning "the old Swedes'
* I could tell an amusing tale to prove how difficult I found it was to meet with those who remembered it as "the Swedes' house."
The Swedes' Church, and House of Sven Sener. 149
house," as they called the log-house of the sons of Sven. Its exact location was where the blacksmith's shop now stands, about 30 feet north of Beck's Alley, and fronting upon Swanson Street. It had a large garden and various fruit trees behind it. The little hill on which it stood has been cut down as much as five or six feet, to make the lot conform to the present street. It descended to Paul Beck, Esqr., through the Parhams, an English family.
The wife of the late Rev. Dr. Rogers remembered going to school in the Sven House with her sister. They described it to me, as well as a Mrs. Stewart also, as having been one and a half story high, with a piazza all around it, having four rooms on a floor, and a very large fire-place with seats in each jamb. Beck's Alley and the "improve- ments" there had much spoiled the former beauty of the scene along that alley. There had been near there an inlet of water from the Delaware, in which boats could float, especially at high tides. There were many very high trees, a ship yard, and much green grass all about the place. Now not a vestige of the former scene remains.
Although my informants had often heard it called "the Swedes' house" in their youth, they never understood the cause of the dis- tinction until I explained it.
The Sven family, although once sole lords of the southern domain, have now dwindled away, and I know of no male member of that name, or rather of their anglified name of Swanson. The name was successively altered. At the earliest time it was occasionally written Suan, which sometimes gave occasion to the sound of Swan, and in their patent, confirmed by Governor Lovelace, they are named Swen. By Professor Kalm, himself a Swede, and most competent to give the true name, they are called Sven's-Sæner, i. e., sons of Sven. Hence in time they were called sons of Suan or Swan. and afterwards, for euphony sake, Swanson.
I found in the burial place of the Swedes' church a solitary me- morial; such as the tablet and the chisel have preserved in these rude lines, to wit:
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