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 2
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Captain Kornelis Jacobus Méy, a Dutchman, must be regarded as the first explorer of our bay and river, because it is recorded of him that, as early as 1623, he was among those first settlers who formed a village at Gloucester point, and there built Fort Nassau for its defence
From him, thus pre-eminent at least by precedence of name, our prominent points of port entrance derived their names Thus our Cape May retains his surname ; and the inner cape of the southern
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side of the bay once bore his baptismal name-Cornelius. The name of Hinlopen was at the same time bestowed upon the outer cape, in honour of a Dutch navigator of the name of Jelmer Hinlopen. The bay itself was called Zuydt baai, but oftener Goodyn's bay ;- the latter in honour of Samuel Goodyn, one of the partners of the purchase of Cape May county, from the Indian chieftains, in 1630.
The Indian name of the bay was Poutaxat. The river they called Lenape Wihittuck; which means-the rapid stream of the Lenape. It also bore the names of Mackerish Kitton, and Arasapha. The name of Delaware bay and river, conferred by the English, is manifestly derived from Lord Delaware, (i. e. Sir Thomas West,) but whether from his arrival at it on his way to Virginia in 1610, or because of his death off the place on his return home in 1618, is uncertain, as both causes have been assigned. The Swedes called it New Swedeland stream, and the country Nya Swerige, or New Swedeland.
The year 1630 must ever be regarded as the year peculiarly fruitful in expedients with the Dutch to colonize and engross the advantages of our river Delaware. Several merchants of Amster- dam, including Samuel Goodyn aforenamed, sent out in this year Captain de Vries with two vessels to execute their projects. They designed to raise tobacco and grain, and to catch whales and seals. The little colony of about three dozen persons, with their cattle and implements of husbandry, made their settlement up a creek* two leagues from Cape Cornelius, which they named Swaenendael (Swandale,) or the Valley of Swans, because they were then nume- rous there." The ill-natured conduct of an inferior officer in com- mand in De Vries' absence having caused the destruction of the colony by the Indians, and the whalery not being sufficiently en- couraging, we hear little more of the Dutch on the Delaware until several years afterwards, when, being grown into power and conse- quence at New York, they made their approaches as conquerors, to the occasional terror of English or Swedish settlers.
From the absence and long silence of Dutch incidents on the borders of the Delaware, subsequent to the loss of De Vries' colony and abandonment, we are the readier prepared to believe the report of some of the historians, that when the Dutch on the South River perceived the superior advantages gaining by their countrymen on the North River, they abandoned the little possessions they had acquired near the Delaware. We think too, the general absence of Dutch settlers among us is strongly corroborated by the fact of so few names of Dutch origin being ever to be met with in our earliest land titles and records, except that several occur in Bucks County, near
* Now Lewistown creek, I presume.
t This was the same place called the "Hoer creek," by the Dutch, and Sinknasse, by the Indians. As Acrelis speaks of the Dutch having a fort at the Hoer Kill, in 1638, the probability is that they had then resumed their settlement there. The English once called it Deal. and also "Whore creek." It may have been originally Horen, as a horn is crooked. Horen nook is a place near New York.
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the Delaware, whereas the names of Swedish settlers are numerous, and their descendants are plentiful among us even to this day. In- deed, what few did remain on our shores must have been about the lower and bay part, as was expressed by William Penn, in his let- ter to the Marquis of Halifax, of 1683, saying, " the Swedes having had the upper part of the river, and the Dutch the lower and all the bay " **
The Swedes claim our notice from and after the year 1631, as the une of their arrival assigned by their historian, Campanius. At that time they laid out the present New Castle, under the name of Stock- holm .; They also built their first fort for another settlement at Christiana, į on Minquas creek, called also Suspecough. At the island of Tenecum, (written-Tutæ æ nung Tencho and Tenna Kong,) they built a fort called New Gottenburg. With it they con- nected several of the best houses, a church,§ and the governor's house, called Printz's hall. Numerous are the other places named or held by the Swedes, as set down in the old maps of Campanius and Lindstrom; such as Mocoponaca-the present Chester, Ma- naiung-a fort at the mouth of the present Schuylkill, Chincessing, (now Kingsessing township,) Korsholm fort-a fortress in Passaiung supposed to be the same originally at Wiccacoa, (now Swedes' church neighbourhood,) where Sven Schute|| was in command. They had other names not far from the present Philadelphia, such as Nya- wasa, Gripsholm, Finlandt, Meulendael, Karakung, Lapananel, &c .- not to omit the settlement of Olof Stille's place, ancestor of a present wealthy city family of that name, at a place called Techo- herassi
The numerous forts, so called under the government of the Swedes, very probably often mere block-houses, indicate the state of their apprehensions from enemies. Whether their Dutch neighbours gave significant signs of intentions eventually to supplant them is not now so obvious; but it is matter of record that the Dutch, as early as 1651, built Fort Kasimir, and called the place Nieu Amstel, at the present New Castle. As it had before been a Swedish town under the name of Stockholm, the Swedish governor, Printz, did what he could to prevent it by solemn protest, &c. The fort being but small, the Swedish commander, Risingh, succeeded some time afterwards to make it his own by stratagem.
Mutual jealousies being thus fully awakened, and their "high
* On another occasion he says :- "The first planters were Dutch. Soon after the Swedes and Fins came. The Dutch trafficked, and the others turned to husbandry near the freshes of the river." See also the same idea in his letter of August, 1683, to the " Free Society of Traders." Gabriel Thomas, in 1698, says, "soon after them (the Dutch) came the Swedes and Fins."
t New Castle has been peculiarly fruitful in names,-it having been called Sandthock, Nieu Amstel, and Fort Kasimir, by the Dutch; and Delawaretown, in 1675, by the English.
# The present Wilmington. § Consecrated in 1646.
I The name of the original proprietor of the site of Philadelphia.
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nightinesses" sufficiently powerful at New York to sustain an expe. dition, we see, in 1655, that Governor Stuyvesant, with half a dozer. vessels and 700 men, embarked from the then New Amsterdam, to subdue the power of the Swedes on the Delaware. Such a force in that day was too imposing to be successfully resisted, and the con - sequence was the entire surrender, after some resistance, to the Dutch conqueror. They destroyed all the public buildings, including the fort on Tenecum island, and carried off the chief people to New York, and afterwards to Holland. But the common people and such as were not subjects of jealousy remained in the country, under the dominion of the Dutch laws.
But whatever was the triumph or the severity of the Dutch at their success, whatever were their projects and dreams of hope, from the future employment of their control and resources on the Dela- ware, they were but of short enjoyment; for they in turn were doomed to be for ever set aside by the conquest of the British power!
In 1664, King Charles II., whose claim to New England gave him powers to claim to the southward, being unwilling to sanction the prosperity of the Dutch as a separate community, granted a patent to his brother James, duke of York and Albany, of lands in America, including all the Dutch then held as their New Netherlands. As this was doubtless a most unjust pretension in the judgment of the officers of their " high mightinesses" at New Amsterdam, it required all the usual "logic of kings" to enforce it; wherefore, a force was thenceforth sent out from England to put the duke in possession To such arguments the Dutch reluctantly submitted, and thenceforth New Amsterdam was named, after the conquering duke, "New York," and the Jerseys and the western shores of the Delaware were forthwith transferred to the British rule .*
The Duke of York, thus possessed of the Jerseys, granted it to Sit George Carteret, with an intention to call it Nova Cæsaria, in honour of Sir George's family, which came from the isle of Jersey ; but the people, more attached to the name which they could read and under- stand, soon abandoned the classical appellation, and adopted the thing intended, to wit,-the Jerseys.t
In 1675, the west part of Jersey was sold out to one Edward Byllinge, a Friend, to whom William Penn, the founder, soon after- wards became a trustee. This seemingly unimportant and inciden- tal connexion became the primum mobile, or fulcrum, to a lever whose force may continue to operate on our destinies as long as Pennsylvania shall endure! Penn, in his efforts to settle the estate of Byllinge, became so well acquainted with the region of Pennsyl . vania and colonial settlements, as to be afterwards induced to pur- chase that for himself, by receiving it as an equivalent for claims due to his father, Admiral Penn.
* The Swedes and Dutch on the Delaware, in 1683, are given by Oldmixon as equal to 3000.
t The Indian name of the Jerseys was Scheyichbi.
VOL. I .- B
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The leading facts concerning New Jersey, bordering on the Dela- ware, are so blended with the proper history of the settlements on that river, that it may be deemed appropriate to notice such.
The first English colony that came out under the sale to Byllinge went into Salem creek, which they so named, and there began the present existing town of Salem. The neighbourhood had been previously settled by the Swedes, who had near there a fort which they called Elsingburgh.
In 1677, the ship Kent arrived at New Castle with 230 passengers, mostly Friends of good estates. They landed at Raccoon creek, where they found some Swedish houses: but not being well accom- modated, they with the commissioners who came in the ship, went up to Chygoe's island, (now Burlington,) so called then after the name of the Indian Sachem who dwelt there. The town plot was pur- chased and called New Beverly. Directly afterwards a fresh supply of inhabitants went there from Wiccacoa.
The first ship that ever visited Burlington was the Shield, of Stockton, from Hull, in 1678. Then the site of the present Phila- delphia was a bold and high shore called Coaquanock, but more properly spelt Kúequenáku. The ship in veering there, chanced to strike the trees with her sails and spars. It was then observed, (as the historians have preserved the tradition,) that the passengers were induced to exclaim, " what a fine place for a town!" A fine coinci- dence considering that none then purposed a Philadelphia city there!
Other vessels continued to follow to Jersey. In 1682, as many as 360 passengers came out in one vessel. Thus Burlington and the adjacent country settled rapidly, the settlers fully believing it would " become a place of trade quickly," none then foreseeing the possi- bility of an overwhelming rival in the future Philadelphia.
It appears from the records of Friends' yearly meetings, that some Friends were settled on the western side of the Delaware before Philadelphia was laid out. Some are named as at Shackamaxon, the present Kensington, where they also held meetings at the house of one Fairlamb, most probably Thomas Fairman, who built at the Treaty Tree. The titles of several Swedes in that neighbourhood, derived from the British Governors at New York, are as early as 1665-6, and of those at Tacony as early as 1676. The sons of Sven, (i. e. Sven Sener,) holding the southern part of the site of Philadelphia, had their original title of 1664 confirmed to them by Sir Francis Lovelace. Besides these facts, we know that as early as 1642, the Dutch Governor, William Keift of New Amsterdam, fitted out two sloops to drive the English out of Schuylkill. These were properly Marylanders, who, it may be observed, early pretended to claim Pennsylvania as a part of their patent,-a dispute which was not settled with Pennsylvania till 1732.
In 1675, some Friends settled at Chester, probably from the Jersey colony. At Robert Wade's house there, (a distinguished Friend, often afterwards in the Assembly,) they held their Meetings
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THE "SHIELD" PASSING THE SITE OF PHILADELPHIA .- Page 10.
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So too, some Friends from Jersey or from New York were settled near the Falls of Delaware, called Sankicans by the Indians. There they had regular Meetings. Their titles they derived from Sir Edmond Andros, the Governor of New York.
But of all the settlers prior to Penn, I feel most interested to notice the name of Jurian Hartsfielder, because he took up all of Campington, 350 acres, as early as March, 1676, nearly six years before Penn's colony came. He settled under a patent from Governor Andros. What a pioneer, to push on to such a frontier post! But how melancholy to think, that a man, possessing the freehold of what is now cut up into thousands of Northern Liberty lots, should have left no fame, nor any wealth, to any posterity of his name. But the chief pioneer must have been Warner, who, as early as the year 1658, had the hardihood to locate and settle the place, now Warner's Willow Grove, on the north side of the Lancaster road, two miles from the city bridge. What an isolated existence in the midst of savage beasts and men must such a family have then expe- rienced ! What a difference between the relative comforts and household conveniences of that day and this! Yea, what changes did he witness, even in the long interval of a quarter of a century before the arrival of Penn's colony! To such a place let the anti- quary now go to contemplate the localities so peculiarly unique!
It was a signal and blessed providence which first induced so rare a genius, so excellent and qualified a man as Penn, to obtain and settle such a great tract as Pennsylvania, say 40,000 square miles, as his proper domains. It was a bold conception; and the courage was strong which led him to propose such a grant to himself, in lieu of payments due to his father. He besides manifested the energy and influence of his character in court negotiations, although so un- likely to be a successful courtier by his profession as a Friend, in that he succeeded to attain the grant even against the will and influ- ence of the Duke of York himself,-who, as he owned New York, desired also to possess the region of Pennsylvania as the right and appendage of his province.
This memorable event in history, this momentous concern to us, the founding of Pennsylvania, was confirmed to William Penn under the Great Seal on the 5th of January, 1681. The cause of the name, and the modesty of the founder, in finding it imposed on him as a family distinction and honour, is so characteristic of that great and good man as to deserve a few lines of extension to explain it. It is expressed in the simplicity and frankness of private friendship. saying, (vide his letter to Robert Turner,) " This day my country was confirmed to me by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the King would give it, in honour of my father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country; but Penn, being Welsh for a head, -- as Penmanmoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in England,-they called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or head woodlands, for I pro-
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posed (when the Secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales,) Sylvania, and they added Penn to it; and though I much opposed it, and went to the King to have it struck out and altered, he said, 'twas past, and would take it upon him; nor would twenty guineas move the under Secretaries to vary the name,-for I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as it truly was, to my father, whom he often mentions with praise."* If the cause was thus peculiar in its origin, it is not less remarkable in its effect, it being at this day per- haps the only government in existence which possesses the name of its founder.
Penn, being thus in possession of his province, forthwith proceeded to allure the good people of Europe to its settlement and improve- ment. He published terms, at 40 shillings per 100 acres, and one shilling per 100 acres for quit rent. He did not sell such small par- cels himself, but in "shares" of 5000 acres each for £100. How little this seems for lands now bringing from 100 to 300 dollars an acre, and yet how great is the consideration that he possessed 26 mil- lions of such acres !
These generous terms soon caused many purchasers in Europe. Thus was formed in London, Bristol, &c., the " Free Society of Traders," of which Nicholas Moore, Predt, and J. Claypoole, were conspicuous members and also residents of Philadelphia.
They bought at first 20,000 acres; and their appurtenant city lots " was an entire street, and on one side of a street from river to river,"t comprising therein 100 acres, exclusive of 400 acres besides in the Liberties. Contemplate the value of all this ground now, in com- parison of its original cost of only £400 then! What a result in 160 years! They set up a glass-house, a tan-yard, a saw mill, and a whalery. A society of Germans was also formed at Frankfort, in Germany, with a view to send out settlers. These took up German- town township, Manatawny, &c.
In consequence of his numerous applications for sales, he, in July, 1681, gave out his " Deeds of Settlement," wherein he states at large the terms of their residence, and their privileges as his colonists.
The first colony, the venturous pioneers to this new State, left England in August, 1681, in three ships; and the first arrival was the ship John and Sarah, from London, Captain Smith! The name of this vessel, and of this captain, and of those who were passe! 's therein, became memorable in the future city,-as they came in Line to be designated as " the first landers," &c., by the succeeding gene- rations. When they had lived to see the rising importance of the
* It will be shown in its appropriate place, that Penn himself professed to have de- scended of the house of Tudor, in Wales; one of whom dwelling on an eminence in Wales, received the name of John Penmunnith. He going afterwards to reside in Lon- don, took the name of John Penn, i. e., " John on the hill."
t Its location was from near Spruce to Pine street, and from the river Delaware to the Schuylkill. Their lands there gave name to " Society Hill."
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growing city they must have felt themselves ennobled by their identity with its primitive existence. Among those primitive names was Nathaniel Allen, (a name conspicuous in the Annals of Philadel- phia,) John Otter, Edmund Lovett, Joseph Kirkbride, &c. This little colony was the more memorable, because the other two ships were prevented for some time from increasing their population. For one, the Amity, Captain Dimon, from London, was blown off to the West Indies, and did not land her disappointed passengers in Penn- sylvania until the next spring; and the third ship, the Factor, Cap- tain Drew, from Bristol, having made as high as Chester on the 11th of December, was frozen up the same night, and so made their winter there. What a cheerless winter it must have been! How different too from their former comforts and homes !- There several of them had to crowd into little earthy caves and huts constructed for the emergency.
It is a prevailing and general mistake to suppose that the primitive emigrants made their way direct to Philadelphia. Such a place was not known before their departure from England. Therefore, those who arrived first and did not purpose to locate as farmers in the country had to wait the choice of a site and a survey. This we learn from several incidental facts, such as these, viz .- Penn's letter of February, 1681, to Robert Turner, says, " care is taken already to look out a convenient tract of land for a first settlement," and "they who first go will find inhabitants able to yield them accommodation there." Penn's "instruction to his commissioners," of the 14th of October, 1681, designating the natural advantages to be sought after in their selection of a city plot, is evidence that the choice was left to their discretion after arrival. That the city was not surveyed and laid off as soon as some of the emigrants needed, is indicated both by tradition and the fact that the first intended surveyor, William Crispin, died in England, and that Thomas Holme, his successor as surveyor general, did not arrive in the province until the end of June, 1682. Penn's letter, wrote when at Philadelphia in 1683, speaks thus exultingly of the site at length chosen, as if it had been before a matter of much anxiety and search, saying, " Philadelphia, the expectation of those concerned in this province, is at last laid out to the great content of those here." Then the pre-eminent local ad- vantages are thus strikingly portrayed, saying, " Of all the many places I have seen in the world, I remember not one better seated ; so that it seems to me to have been appointed for a town,-whether we regard the (two) rivers, or the conveniency of the coves, docks,* springs, the loftiness and soundness of the land and the air," &c.
I infer from the premises, that as the primitive comers knew not of such an appointed plot as Philadelphia, but were aware, through Penn's previous correspondence with Jersey, that the then existing small village of Upland (now Chester) was peopled by Swedes and
* By docks (natural ones,) I think he intended no separate wharves.
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some Friends from Jersey, they therefore would be predisposed, as I conceive, to make their first landings at that place. So, in fact, Mrs. Sarah Shoemaker, who died in 1825, at the age of 92, assured me she was expressly told by her grandfather, James Lownes, who was one of the emigrants who so tarried for a time at that place. As we know that many vessels arrived with passengers during the year 1682, (say 23 ships,) we must conceive the great influx into Upland of the earlier part of them, and how very natural it should have been to many of them then who had begun to make it a kind of home, to wish the intended city to be located there. We suppose from this cause, though we have no records to that effect,* that the tradition, so often repeated, has come down to us, that Chester was once purposed as the great emporium of our State.
The town and borough of Philadelphia was located we know in the latter end of 1682, "having a high and dry bank next to the water, with a shore ornamented with a fine view of pine trees grow- ing upon it."
The way the first purchasers or adventurers made their settlements was, first to make their caves or shelter in which to place their fami- lies and effects,-then to get warrants of survey, and go out and wander about for their choice of localities. In doing this they had no paths or roads to direct them, save near the river side. All was a wilderness, and without the marks of travellers, except occasional Indian paths from their abodes. Old inhabitants, who have con- versed with their grandparents, have told me, that the intercourse from Germantown to Philadelphia was only a foot or horse path for some time after the first settlement there.
The very name of Philadelphia is impressive, as importing in its original Greek sense-brotherly love: thus giving to the original place the peculiar characteristic trait of unity of interests and pur- poses, i. e., the " City of Brotherly Love." Long may its society constitute a brotherhood never to be broken,-clinging together in mutual interests and combined efforts for the general and enduring good ! If it had in its origin that love among its members, which so distinguished the fraternal regard of Attalus and Eumenes, as to give the name of Philadelphia to the place honoured by their mutual attachment,-so may it also be blessed, with the ancient church of its name, in ever having its civil and religious privileges inscribed in divine sanctions as free as hers, to wit: "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it!"
William Penn did not embark with his first colonists, but he sent out his cousin, captain William Markham, as his first deputy governor,
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