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 21
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How mortified and vexed must Penn have felt on his second ar- rival in 1699, to witness the growing deformity of his city, and to see how far individual interest had swerved his agents from the general good! Logan's letter of 1741, to Penn's son, in explanation of the preceding facts, shows how sensibly Penn regretted the measures so taken, even while his circumstances prevented his reversing and can- celling the things already done; as if he had said: " Mine necessity, not my will, hath done this." Logan's letter says, "Thy father himself acknowledged when here (last) that he owed [as a cause] those high quit-rents for the bank of Philadelphia, and the reversion
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of the third of the value [ground and all] after fifty years, entirely to Samuel Carpenter, who, much against his (Penn's) inclinations had tempted him, with them, to suffer himself [S. C.] and other pur- chasers in Front to build on the east side of that street; and he [S. C.] subscribed with Jonathan Dickinson and others to have a price set in the reversion of the said thirds, which was then done at 20 shillings per foot, now very near forty years since, with a view to raise a sum which was then exceedingly wanted."
'Thus, even Penn, who should have had his equivalent for so es- sential a deformity engrafted upon this city, after all, got not the proffered benefit of fifty years accumulation of value in houses and lots, but a small present sum in lieu; and we have now the entail of their selfish scheme! I feel vexed and chagrined, while I pen this article, to think for what mere personal purposes fair Philadel- phia was so much marred! We were once tempted, to propose the expense of opening a river prospect to the river from Arch to Chestnut Street, or, at least, striving so far to repair the loss sustained, as to make a water promenade under a continued line of trees, the whole length of the river-front. A well paved straight street could be effected along the wharves, by extending some of the present docks, and thereby giving room for ranging the fronts of the stores and trees on the western side in a direct and uniform line, and suffering no kind of buildings in their front.
Since the first publication of the Annals, a writer in Poulson's paper says, that " the proposition of the late Mr. Girard to restore, so far as possible, the spoiled river-front, is so like the suggestion made in Watson's Annals, that it may be curious, now that the subject is likely to invite much public attention, to give your readers an extract from that book. I remember well, when reading it, that I thought, " shall we indeed, ever find persons to adopt the hint," and now, be- hold, we have the measure endorsed by a bequest of half a million to effect the desirable object!" He then quotes the passage in the preceding paragraph, as matter in point.
In September 1832, the Cholera physicians of Philadelphia put forth a memorial to the City Council, urging the advantage of taking down the city front along the river, both for health and beauty.
Soon after there appeared several articles in Poulson's Gazette, recommending and arguing upon the advantages of such a measure, by Philadelphus, Civis, S. P., and others-and finally, in July, 1833, we saw a hint to this effect, saying, " now that we have Committees appointed to consider and report upon the matter of the " Delaware Avenue," we think the time is favourable to introduce the original design of the open River-Front-a topic which has already been under notice in the public prints."
Finally-this thing, we are glad to say, has been partially attended to in the will of Stephen Girard-it is not all that was desired, but it is still an improvement-so far as it goes. It has already cost 200,000 dollars, and would be much improved by a line of trees.
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The progress of Penn's dissatisfaction at his agent's management, and his own reluctant compliances, may be further noticed in James Logan's letter of 1702, and Penn's reply of 1703-4. James Logan says, " For this past year, we have sold but 165 feet of the banks, [perhaps a fact evincing its unpopularity] of which good part is yet unpaid according to thy concession, who, under thy hand, granted two years for the latter moiety. This backwardness was foolishly occasioned by P. Parmiter a few days after thy departure, who affirmed that thy right extended no further than to the edge of the river. This discouraged many." In another place he says, "The bank does in no way answer to sell out ;- only two patents granted."*
In 1703-4, William Penn writes, saying, " I will have no more bank lots disposed of, nor keys yet made into the river, without my special and fresh leave, for reasons justifiable." And this he con- firms soon after, by saying, " Till further orders, I will have no bank lots sold, and never the 20 shilling per lot, on any account. Pray mind this. I have good reasons for it at present."
Among the early favoured persons, who had the indulgence of the bank lots, was Thomas Masters, who, in the year 1702, built "a stately house, five stories from the lower street and three the upper, at the corner of High and Front Streets." And soon after, says James Logan, " T. Masters has built another stately house, the most sub- stantial in town, on Lætitia's Bank Lot, which, for the improve- ment of the place, was sold him for £190 sterling, including the re- version."
In the year 1705, the bank lot owners being required to regulate King Street, their fewness of names and number are only these, to wit: Hugh Codderey, Michael Isbern, Isaac Norris, Edward Ship- pen, Henry Badcock, Smith Carpenter, Isaac Norris, Abraham Buckley, Samuel Powell, Thomas Tresse, Joseph Pidgeon.
From the vague manner in which those few names " are required to enter into measures to regulate King Street" (the present Water Street,) T think we can form a guess how we came to have so ill- concerted and contracted a thoroughfare. With such abundance of earth as they had in the bank lots, it was easy to have determined upon and made a wide and straight street; but the selfish policy which first started the expedient of spoiling the river-front for private aims, conducted the primitive leaders in their measures to the shortest means of personal benefit. Where "all did what was right in their own eyes" only, it was easy to suit themselves for the occasion with a narrow street, and those who came after them had to follow it. The subject presents no point in which we can be gratified, or yield our commendation.
We shall now conclude with some notices of occurrences at or near the bank in early days, to wit:
* In 1701, a letter of Penn's inquired :- " What if I had 12 pence per foot to low water mark forever !"
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In 1701, the Grand Jury present High Street hill "as a great nuisance, and a place of great danger in passing Front Street, and to the utter ruin of said street and public landing there ; and, whereas there are also other breaches, places and landings within the town which require repair, the Governor and Council order that £500 be assessed on the inhabitants for effecting the same."
In 1712, they present the well at the end of High Street near the river-the same wants to be covered,-and King Street, at the same place, to be made cartable. Thus showing, that if the well be near the river, and at the same time on King Street, (Water Street) the river shore was then close to the hill or bank. We know, in proof of this, that the house of Donaldson, at the northeast corner of Water and High Streets, was, for many years after it was built, subject to water in its cellars in times of freshets.
In 1720, an invasion of water " on the common shore," as made into King Street, is noticed : and the Grand Jury present as " a nui- sance, a great breach in the bank, and passing into Front Street above Mulberry Street and below Griffith's new wall,"-meaning his wall to keep up the river bank.
In 1721, the Grand Jury present, as out of repair and dangerous the " Crooked Billet steps," above Chestnut Street.
In 1723, the Grand Jury present " deep gullies from Front Street, where the arch stood, to the arch wharf,"-meaning at the east end of Mulberry Street.
In 1725, the Grand Jury present " the east end of Sassafras Street, the bank being washed away almost across the Front Street; also the Front Street, against the houses late of John Jones, deceased, [now end of Combes' Alley] as hardly passable for horse or cart." They also present "the wall on the common shore in the High Street for want of a better covering."
A. J. Morris, Esq., when 90 years of age, told me that the bank side of Front Street was unbuilt in several places in his youth. He used, like John Brown, to sled down the open hill, opposite to Combes' Alley. From High Street to Arch Street was very open, especially from the bank steps at Clifford's, northward. Below High Street it was full built up; but from Arch up to Vine Street, many places were still open The east side of Water Street was gene- rally built up, and the best families were living there.
In my youth, I saw the only remaining original shore of the city unwharfed; it was called Taylor's Dock, above Vine Street; there numerous horses were daily sent to be swam out and washed. It was a place of considerable width. At the Dock Bridge too, north side, was a similar dock, used for like purposes. At both places shallops brought loads of stone and street pebbles, which they un- loaded into the carts, as the carts backed into the water along side of the vessels.
THE CAVES AND THEIR INHABITANTS .- Page 171.
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The Caves
THE CAVES.
MOST Philadelphians have had some vague conceptions of the caves and cabins in which the primitive settlers made their tempo- mary residence. The caves were generally formed by digging into the ground, near the verge of the river-front bank, about three feet in depth; thus making half their chamber under ground; and the remaining half above ground was formed of sods of earth, or earth and brush combined. The roofs were formed of layers of limbs, or split pieces of trees, over-laid with sod or bark, river rushes, &c. The chimneys were of stones and river pebbles, mortared together with clay and grass, or river reeds. The following facts may illus- trate this subject, to wit:
An original paper is in John Johnson's family, of the year 1683, which is an instrument concerning a division of certain lands, and " executed and witnessed in the cave of Francis Daniel Pastorius, Esq."
On the 17th of 9 mo. 1685, it was ordered by the provincial execu- tive Council, that all families living in caves should appear before the Council. What a group they must have made! This order was occasioned by the representations of the magistrates of Philadel- phia, and enforced by a letter they had received from Governor Penn, in England. No one, however, thought proper to obey the order. The Council gave " further notice" that the Governor's orders re- lating to the caves will be put in execution in one month's time.
In 1685, the Grand Jury present Joseph Knight, for suffering drunkenness and evil orders in his cave; and several drinking houses to debauch persons are also presented. They also present all the empty caves that do stand in the Front Street, " which is to be sixty feet wide," wherefore, the court orders that they forthwith " be pulled down," by the constables, and " demolished;" [terms intimating they were in part above ground,] and upon request of John Barnes and Patrick Robinson, [the Clerk of Council,] who asked one month to pull down their respective caves, it was granted, on condition that they fill up the hole in the street. On another occasion, they are called Caves, or " Cabins," on the king's high way.
The interesting story concerning the cave at the Crooked Billet, at which the ancestors of Deborah Morris dwelt, has been told under the article " Primitive Settlement."
Mrs. Hannah Speakman, when aged 75, told me that she weil remembered having seen and often played at an original cave, called " Owen's Cave." It was in "Townsend's Court," on the south side of Spruce Street, west of Second Street, on a shelving bank
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It was dug into the hill-had grass growing upon the roof part, which was itself formed of close-laid timber. The same man who had once inhabited it was still alive, and dwelt in a small frame house near it. Near the cave stood a large apple tree, and close by, on " Bar- clay's place," so called, she often gathered filberts and hickory nuts. The whole was an unimproved place only 80 years ago; it being, from some cause, suffered to lay waste by the Barclay heirs.
John Brown, and others, told me that the original cave of the Coates' Family, in the Northern Liberties, was preserved in some form in the cellar of the family mansion, which remained till 1830 at the southwest corner of Green and Front Streets.
HABITS AND STATE OF SOCIETY.
Not to know what has been transacted in former times, is always to remain a child ! CICERO.
IT is our intention (so far as facts will enable us) to raise some conceptions of the men and things as they existed in former years, chiefly such as they were when every thing partook of colonial sub- mission and simplicity-when we had not learnt to aspire to great things. To this end we shall here dispose our collections from "narrative old age," and show the state of the past "glimmering through the dream of things that were."
Gabriel Thomas, in his account, of 1698, of the primitive state of society, speaks of great encouragements and ready pay given to all conditions of tradesmen and working men. None need stand idle. Of lawyers and physicians he remarks he will say little, save that their services were little required, as all were peaceable and healthy. Women's wages he speaks of as peculiarly high, for two reasons : the sex was not numerous, which tended to make them in demand, and therefore to raise the price. Besides, as these married by the time they were twenty years of age, they sought to procure a maid-servant for themselves in turn. Old maids were not to be met with, neither jealousy of husbands. The children were generally well favoured and beautiful to behold. He says he never knew any with the least blemish. William Penn also made the remark, on his arrival, that all the houses of the Dutch and Swedes he found every where filled with a lusty and fine looking race of children.
Numerous traditionary accounts attest the fact, that there was al- ways among the early settlers a frank and generous hospitality. Their entertainments were devoid of glare and show, but always abundant
Habits and State of Society. 173
and good Mr. Kalm, when here in 1748, expressed his great sur- prise at the universal freedom with which travellers were every where accustomed to leap over the hedges and take the fruit from the orchards, even while the owners were looking on, without refusal Fine peaches, he says, were thus taken from the orchards of the poorest peasants, such as could only be enjoyed, as he said, by the nobility in his own country! What a golden age it must have ap- peared to him and others!
William Fishbourne, in his MS. narrative of about the same time, says, " Thus Providence caused the country to flourish and to increase in wealth, to the admiration of all people,-the soil being fruitful and the people industrious. For many years there subsisted a good concord and benevolent disposition among the people of all denomi- nations, each delighting to be reciprocally helpful and kind in acts of friendship for one another."
Moral as the people generally were, and well disposed to cherish a proper regard for religious principles, it became a matter of easy attainment to the celebrated Whitfield and his coadjutors, Tennant, Davenport, &c., to gain a great ascendency over the minds of many of the people. The excitements wrought among them were very considerable. He procured in Philadelphia to be built for him one of the largest churches then in the colonies, and his helper, Tennant, another. It is manifest enough now that the ardour of success gene- rated considerable of fanaticism and its consequent reproach .* Whitfield, in 1739, preached to a crowd of 15,000 persons on So- ciety Hill. About the same time he so far succeeded to repress the usual public amusements as that the dancing-school was discontinued, and the ball and concert room were shut up, as inconsistent with the requisitions of the gospel. No less than fourteen sermons were preached on Society Hill in open air, in one week, during the ses- sion of the Presbyterian Church; and the Gazette of the day, in noticing the fact, says, " The change to religion here is altogether surprising, through the influence of Whitfield-no books sell but religious, and such is the general conversation."
Doctor Franklin, describing the state of the people about the year 1752, says they were all loyal and submitted willingly to the govern- ment of the crown, or paid for defence cheerfully. "They were led by a thread. They not only had a respect, but an affection for Great Britain, for its laws, its customs, and its manners, and even a fondness for its fashions,"-not yet subsided. Natives of Great Britain were always treated with particular regard; and to be " an Old England man" gave a kind of rank and respect among us."
The old people all testify that the young of their youth were much
* This is manifest by numerous publications of the day. Rev. Mr. Cummings of Christ Church, and Rev. E. Kinnersly, Professor, among others, published against them. Both Whitfield and Tennant lived long enough afterwards to make their confessions of intemperate zeal
15*
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more reserved, and held under much more restraint in the presence of their elders and parents, than now. Bashfulness and modesty in the young were then regarded as virtues; and the present freedom before the aged was not then countenanced. Young lovers then listened and took side-long glances when before their parents or elders.
Mrs. Susan N-, who lived to be 80 years of age, told me it was the custom of her early days for the young part of the family, and especially of the female part, to dress up neatly towards the close of the day and sit in the street porch. It was customary to go from porch to porch in neighbourhoods and sit and converse. Young gentlemen in passing, used to affect to say, that while they admired the charms of the fair who thus occupied them, they found it a se- vere ordeal, as they thought they might become the subject of re- mark. This, however, was a mere banter. Those days were really very agreeable and sociable. To be so easily gratified with a sight of the whole city population, must have been peculiarly grateful to every travelling stranger. In truth, we have never seen a citizen who remembered the former easy exhibition of families, who did not regret its present exclusive and reserved substitute.
The same lady told me it was a common occurrence to see gen- teel men after a fall of snow shovelling it away from their several doors. She has told me the names of several who would not now suffer their children to do the same.
The late aged John Warder, Esq., told me that in his younger days he never knew of more than five or six persons at most, in the whole city, who did not live on the same spot where they pursued their business,-a convenience and benefit now so generally departed from by the general class of traders. Then wives and daughters very often served in the stores of their parents, and the retail dry goods business was mostly in the hands of widows or maiden ladies.
Mrs. S. N. also informed me that she remembers having been at houses when tea was a rarity, and has seen the quantity measured out for the tea pot in small hand-scales. This was to apportion the strength with accuracy.
In her early days, if a citizen failed in business it was a cause of general and deep regret. Every man who met his neighbour spoke of his chagrin. It was a rare occurrence, because honesty and tem- perance in trade was then universal; and none embarked then with- out a previous means adapted to their business.
Another lady, Mrs. H., who saw things before the war of Inde. pendence, says she is often amused with the exclamation of her young friends, as she points them now to houses of a second or third rate tradesman, and says, " in that house such and such a distin- guished man held his banquets." Dinners and suppers went the round of every social circle at Christmas, and they who partook of the former were also expected to remain for the supper. Afternoon visits were made, not at night,as now, but at so early an hour as tc permit matrons to go home and see their children put to bed.
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I have often heard aged citizens say, that decent citizens had a universal speaking acquaintance with each other, and every body promptly recognised a stranger in the streets. A simple, or idiot person, was known to the whole population. Every body knew Bobby Fox, and habitually jested with him as they met him. Michael Weaders, too, was an aged idiot, whom all knew and esteemed; so much so, that they actually engraved his portrait as a remembrancer of his he- nignant and simple face. See a copy in my MS. Annals in the City Library, page 284.
Doctor Franklin has said, that before the war of Independence " to be an Old England man gave a kind of rank and respect among us." I introduce this remark for the sake of observing, that for many years after that war, even till nearly down to the present day, I can remember that we seemed to concede to English gentlemen a claim, which they were not backward to arrogate, that they were a superior race of men; this, too, from their having been familiar at home with superior displays of grandeur, more conveniences of living, higher perfections in the arts, &c., and, above all, as having among them a renowned race of authors, poets, &c. Their assumptions, in conse- quence, were sometimes arrogant or offensive. And I remember to have felt with others some disparagement in the comparison. If it were only to speak of their grand navy, we felt diminutive when we heard big tales of their "Royal George"-the grandeur of their " great fleet," &c.,-we who had never seen more among us than a single frigate. But the time is now passing off,-we have in turn become renowned and great. Our navy has become respectable ; our entertainments have become splendid and costly. I have lived withal, to find that even we, who before cowered, have taken our turn of being lordly ; which we manifest in the offensive deport- ment of a mother country to our numerous colonies in the west, &c. I only " speak what I do know" when I say, I have seen Philadel- phians and New Yorkers, as metropolitans, assuming airs of im- portance at Washington City, at Pittsburg, at Cincinnati, at New Orleans, &c. Those pretensions of our vanity formerly in those places will subside and pass away ; already they will scarcely be ob- served there, and could hardly have been believed but for this re- membrancer, which shows, indeed, the general state of rising society n this new country.
The tradesmen before the Revolution (I mention these facts with all good feeling ) were an entirely different generation of men from the present. They did not then, as now, present the appearance in dress of gentlemen. Between them and what were deemed the hereditary gentlemen there was a marked difference. "The gentry think scorn of leather aprons," said Shakspeare. In truth, the aristocracy of the gentlemen then was noticed, if not felt, and it was to check any undue assumption of ascendency in them, that the others invented the rallying name of " the Leather Apron Club," -a name with which they were familiar before Franklin's " junta"
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was formed, and received that other name. In that day the trades- men and their families had far less pride than now. While at their work, or in going abroad on weekdays, all such as followed rough trades, such as carpenters, masons, coopers, blacksmiths, &c., uni- versally wore a leathern apron before them, and covering all their vest. Dingy buckskin breeches, once yellow, and check shirts and a red flannel jacket was the common wear of most working men; and all men and boys from the country were seen in the streets in leather breeches and aprons, and would have been deemed out of character without them. In those days, tailors, shoemakers and hatters waited on customers to take their measures, and afterwards called with garments to fit them on before finished.
One of the remarkable incidents of our republican principles of equality, is, that hirelings, who in times before the war of Inde- pendence were accustomed to accept the name of servants, and to be dressed according to their condition, will now no longer suffer the former appellation; and all affect the dress and the air, when abroad, of genteeler people than their business warrants. Those, therefore, who from affluence have many such dependants, find it a constant subject of perplexity to manage their pride and assumption.
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