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 45
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In time, as ground became enhanced in value, large encroach- ments were made upon these rural grounds by selling off lots for the theatre, &c., but the mansion, with its court yard upon Chestnut street, long continued a genteel residence in the possession of Judge Tilghman-the last owner preceding the sale to the Arcade Compa- ny, in 1826. The view of the old house, as given in the picture, is a side view, opening on Sixth street, and is a part of the same building retained by Judge Tilghman as the rear part of his residence VOL. I. - 2 X 32*
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CHRIST CHURCH.
3
-Monument of ancient taste, And awful as the consecrated roof- Re-echoing pious anthems."
THIS venerable looking and ornamental edifice was constructed at various periods of time. The western end, as we now see it, was raised in 1727, and having enlarged their means, they, in 1731, erected the eastern end. The steeple was elevated on or about the year 1753-4.
The facts concerning the premises, gleaned from a variety of sources, are to the following effect, to wit:
The first church built under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Clayton, in the year 1695, is specially referred to by Gabriel Thomas' publica- tion of 1698, who says, " the Church of England built a very fine church in this city in the year 1695." The most we should infer from his commendation of it is, that it was probably sufficiently sightly for its then size. We know it was his general manner to extol other buildings, which still remain to convince us that good buildings then are but ordinary in our present enlarged conceptions of beauty and greatness. Such as it was, it was enlarged in 1710.
We know that the Rev. Mr. Clayton was first in charge of it, from the book of the Rev. Morgan Edwards, who has therein left us the record of his letter to the Baptists of Philadelphia of the year 1698, wherein he invites them to a public conference on the merits of their several religions, in hopes thereby to surpass them in argument, and win them over to his faith as proselytes; but they stood firmly to their defence, and the breach was widened.
The original records were accidentally destroyed by fire ; of course, what we can now know must be such as has been incidentally men- tioned in connexion with other facts.
Among the witnesses who had once seen the primitive church, and had been also cotemporary with our own times, was old black Alice, who died in 1802, at the advanced age of 116 years. She had been all her long life a zealous and hearty member of that church. At the age of 115 she came from Dunk's ferry, where she lived, to see once more her beloved Christ Church. She then told my friend Samuel Coates, Esq., and others present, that she well remembered the original lowly structure of wood. The ceiling of it, she said, she could touch with her lifted hands. The bell, to call the people, was hung in the crotch of a tree close by. She said, when it was superseded by a more stately structure of brick, they run up their
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walls so far outside of the first church, that the worship was continued unmolested until the other was roofed and so far finished as to be used in its stead. Facts since brought to light by the present rector, the Rev. Dr. Dorr, seem to show that the original wooden structure must have been a temporary shed, constructed within the walls of brick, and used till the out-walls and roofing could be finished. In some such way Whitfield used his church, (the old Academy,) by preaching in it while the walls were building. Or, the building may have been a frame, found on the premises, when the lot was first taken up, and in which Mr. Clayton may have preached when first visiting the city as a missionary from Jersey, where he was at first engaged.
As early as the year 1698, the Rev. Evan Evans, who appears to have succeeded Mr. Clayton, is mentioned as the church pastor, in a public Friends', journal of the time. He calls him " Church Mis- sionary," and names him for the purpose of saying he had been out to visit the Welsh Friends at Gwyned, in hopes to convert them over to his fellowship .* From his name and visit to Welsh people, we should infer that he was himself a Welshman. About this time the church was served by the Swedish minister, Mr. Rudman, for nearly two years.
The Rev. Mr. Keith, who visited Philadelphia in 1702, as church missionary,; speaks of having then found the Rev. Evan Evans in charge of Christ Church as its first Rector, and said to have been sent out in 1700 by Bishop Comptin of London. That time was probably referred to, because, although he had been here at an earlier time, he may have been in London in 1700 also. Certainly he is men- tioned as there by William Penn himself, in his letter to James Logan of 1709, to wit: "Governor Gookin has presented Parson Evans with two gaudy costly prayer-books as any in the Queen's chapel, and intends as fine a communion table also ; both which charms the Bishop of London as well as Parson Evans, whom I esteem."
It was probably on some such occasion of the presence of the Rector in London that Queen Anne made her present of a service of church plate for the use of Christ Church-the same which now bears the impress of her arms, &c.
We may be justified, we presume, in speaking of all the truth, to say a little of what was called " the church party,"-a name ex- pressive at the time of mutual dissatisfaction between the churchmen and the Friends ; probably not so much from religious differences of opinion, as from dissimilarity in views of civil government, to wit:
In 1701, James Logan writes to William Penn, saying, “ I can see no hopes of getting any material subscriptions from those of the church against the report of persecution, they having consulted
* His diligence and zeal must have been great; for, besides Sunday service in Phila- delphia, he held public prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays-preaching also at Chi- chester. Chester, Concord, Montgomery, Radnor, and Perkiomen, occasionally.
t This George Keith had himself been a public Friend not long before, at Philadelphia
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together on that head, and, as I am informed, concluded that not allowing their clergy here what they of right claim in England, and not suffering them to be superior, may justly bear that name."*
A letter from William Penn, of 1703, says: " The church party with a packed vestry, headed by his enemy, John Moore, [once Attorney General,] complimented by an address the Lord Cornbury, wherein they say, they hope they shall prevail with the Queen to extend the limits of his government over them, that so they may enjoy the same blessing as others under his authority." Penn calls this " a foul insubordination to him."
The " Hot Church Party," as it was called, began its opposition to Friends' rule, about the year 1701-2; (much of it from civil causes,) for instance, James Logan, in writing to William Penn, in 1702, says : " Orders having come to the Governor to proclaim the war, he recommended to the people to put themselves into a posture of defence, and since has issued commissions for one company of militia, and intends to proceed all the government over. Those of the hot church party oppose it to their utmost, because they would have nothing done that may look with a countenance at home. They have done all they can to dissuade all from touching with it," &c.t
When Lord Cornbury was again in Philadelphia, on his second visit, in 1703, Colonel Quarry, and the rest of the churchmen, con- gratulated him, and presented an address from the church vestry, requesting his patronage to the church, and closing with a prayer that he would beseech the Queen to extend his government over this province! Colonel Quarry also said, " they hoped they also should be partakers of the happiness Jersey enjoyed under his go- vernment."
William Penn, after hearing of this act to a mere visiter in his colony, treats it as an overt act of anarchy-a treason against his supre- macy ! He therefore sends a copy of the address (called " Colonel Quarry's packed Vestry's Address,") to the Lords of Trade, to be by them punished as an " impudent" affair. "I offered the Lords, that they should either buy us out, or that we might buy out the turbulent churchmen."
William Penn, Jun., in writing to James Logan, in 1703, says, "I am told the church party are very desirous of my coming over, as not doubting but to make me their property ; but they will find themselves mistaken .¿ I should not encourage a people who are such enemies to my father and the province."
The Rev. Mr. Evans' services to Christ church terminated in
* It was ascertained that Colonel Quarry, who was at the head of Penn's enemies, nad taken over to England secret subscriptions on that subject, intending them there to injure Penn.
+ The reason they assigned was, that they would not engage to defend and fight while Friends could be exempted.
Yet he did, not long after, join the communion of the Church of England.
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1719; he was then succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Vicary-after whom the succession continued downward thus, to wit: The Rev. Mr Cummings was installed in 1726-next, by Rev. Robert Jenney, in 1742,-then by Rev. Richard Peters, in 1762, and by the late Bishop White in 1772-the same who became Rector in 1779 The Rev. Mr. Duche began his services in 1775. From the year 1747 to 1766, the Rev. William Sturgeon, Curate, was assistant minister of Christ church and St. Peter's-at the same time he was in the service of the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." Several other missionaries of that society were also here, to wit : the Rev. William Currie, missionary for Radnor, the Rev. N. Evans, for Gloucester, the Rev. E. Ross, for New Castle, also the Rev. Mr. Barron there, the Rev. Mr. Barton, for Lancaster ; another is also designated for Oxford, in 1758.
In the year 1727 was begun the enlargement of the present venerable Christ church. The occasion was thus noticed in the Gazettes of the day, to wit: April 28th, 1727 .- " Yesterday the Hon. P. Gordon, our Governor, with the Mayor, Recorder, and the Rev. Mr. Cummings, our minister, and sundry gentlemen, laid the first stone of the additional building designed to be made to the church of this city." I regard this to have been the present western end, including the base of the tower-as will hereafter appear more obvious from subsequent facts to be told.
In the year 1729 Thomas Makin's Latin description of the city thus hints at its unfinished state then, to wit:
" Of these appears one in a grander style, But yet unfinished is the lofty pile. A lofty tow'r is founded on the ground For future bells to make a distant sound."
The tower was probably not extended above the first or second story till the year 1753, when they began the present elegant steeple. In the mean time it may have been used for other purposes.
From some incidental facts it appears, in the year 1729, to have been first furnished with an organ, and to have had there a Welsh preacher, of the name of Doctor Wayman-for the Gazette states, that the Welshmen in the city, having formed themselves into a fel- lowship, chose Doctor Wayman to preach them a sermon in the Welsh language, and to give them a Welsh psalm on the organ. This organ I presume to have been at Christ church, for a writer says, " I have subscribed £5 towards carrying on the new church, and 50s. to the organ, and 20s. to the organist."
As soon as they could bring the western end to a finish, by mea- sures adapted to their limited means and resources, they set upon the building of the front or eastern end, which I found more than once ascribed to the year 1731.
For the impressive architectural style of Christ church, (as well as of the State-house also,) we are indebted to the taste and direction
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of Doctor John Kearsley, the elder, an eminent physician of Phila- delphia .* Robert Smith was the carpenter.
The grounds in the rear of the church were originally very differ- ent from the present level appearance. At first the ground along the rear wall of the yard descended into a very extensive pond, reaching from near High street to Arch street-once a place for wild ducks, afterwards a skating place for boys. An aged lady, named Betty Chandler, knew the site when she had gathered blackberries and whortleberries near there, and so described it. Davenport Marrot (he died in 1831 aged 84 years,) had seen the pond open and skated upon ; and the late aged 'Thomas Bradford, Esq., said the site of the church itself is artificial ground, filled in to some extent even out to Second street. In digging in the rear of the lot on the northern side boundary for the foundation of Mr. Haines' house there, they found a very marshy bottom, and at fourteen feet below the present surface they came to the remains of a horse stall once there.
The present alley along the south wall, leading into Church alley from Second street, was originally part of the church burial ground. Samuel Coates, Esq., told me he could remember when the grave- hillocks still existed there; and, in confirmation, when the iron pipes for the Schuylkill water was laid along that alley, they found bones enough to fill a large box, which Mr. North, the druggist near there, had reinterred.
In the year 1727, Robert Asheton, Esq., Recorder and Prothono- tary, died, at the age of 58, and was buried after the English manner of people of distinction, in much pomp, by torch-light, at Christ church ground. He was probably a cousin of William Penn's, as he had cousins of that name in Philadelphia.
In 1741 the churchmen of Philadelphia manifested some disaffec- tion to the alleged supremacy of the Bishop of London, saying, in the case of the Rev. Richard Peters, who was serving as the secretary and agent of the proprietaries, that as the Bishop declined to license him for their church, after they had chosen him, (alleging for his reason, his living by his lay functions,) they would not accept any person whom he might license, they saying, his diocess did not ex- tend to this province. Mr. Peters himself alleged that the right of presentation lay in the proprietaries and Governor. This Rev. Mr. Peters was uncle to our late venerable and respected Judge R. Peters.
Christ church, as it appeared in 1748-9, is described by the Swedish traveller Professor Kalm. Although he speaks of it as " the finest of all then in the city," he, notwithstanding, states that " the two churches then at Elizabethtown surpassed any thing in Philadelphia !" For at that time Christ church had " a little incon- siderable steeple, in which was a bell, and also a clock, (now gone !)
* He died in 1772, at the age of 88 years, leaving three of his houses as a legacy to the poor widows of the church. He was a very popular man, member of Assembly, &c
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which strikes the hours. It had (he says) been lately rebuilt, (by an addition,) and was more adorned than formerly." He mentions that the two ministers to this church received their salary from England ; and that beween forty and fifty years before, the Swedish minister, Mr. Rudman, performed the functions of a clergyman for this con- gregation for nearly two years.
The Rev. Mr. Peters, Secretary, in writing to the proprietaries, in 1749, speaks of "the church" as having "no funds for repairs, although we beg around the town-no steeple-no wall-no gates- no bells."* " The church, too, [as big then as now !] is too little by one half to hold the members, [then the only church,] and there is an absolute necessity for building another church; but as this, (other) when built, [alluding to St. Peter's,] must be a chapel of ease to the present church, it may perhaps promote the finishing the old church with quicker expedition."
The year 1752-3 was very fruitful in expedients for adorning and beautifying the city. The war had ended in 1748, and had given a little time to devise expedients. Several new improvements were started upon lotteries ; among these was that of November, 1752, for aiding in raising a steeple for Christ church. It is called a "scheme to raise £1012, 10s-being half the sum required to finish the steeple to Christ church, and to purchase a ring of bells and a clock." The lottery was drawn in March, 1753. As it was deemed a Philadelphia ornament, it was appropriately enough called " the Philadelphia steeple lottery." The managers therefore say, " We hope that a work of this kind, which is purely ornamental, will meet with encouragement from all well-wishers to the credit, beauty and prosperity of Philadelphia." The vestry had previously at- tempted a subscription, but as it fell " much short" of the necessary sum, it became necessary to resort to a lottery. Two lotteries were instituted for this object, and both for the same amount; the one immediately succeeding the other, to wit: in May, 1753. Each lottery contained four thousand five hundred tickets, at $4 each, making $36,000, and to net £2,025. Jacob Duché was treasurer. The subscriptions amounted to about £1000.
This " Philadelphia steeple" being one of peculiar beauty of symmetry and grace, since deemed worthy to be imitated by the Episcopal cathedral at Quebec, has been thus extolled by Joseph Sansom, Esq., who had seen numerous similar architectural orna- ments abroad, to wit: "It is the handsomest structure of the kind, that I ever saw in any part of the world; uniting in the peculiar features of that species of architecture, the most elegant variety of forms, with the most chaste simplicity of combination."
The steeple was finished in November, 1754, at a cost of £2100,
* This may possibly be a purposed desolate picture, as a begging hint to them, since Kalm then saw the little steeple, heard the bell and clock, and saw some ornaments- still all was much inferior to what we now see them.
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and the bells were purchased in England, at a cost of £900,-they were brought out, freight free, in the ship Matilda, Captain Budden; and as a compliment to his generosity, as often as he arrived in subsequent years, the bells put forth a merry peal to announce their gratitude. 'The whole weight of the eight bells was said to be eight thousand pounds-the tenor bell weighing eighteen hundred pounds. They were cast by Lester and Pack, men of most note in their day. They were hung here by Nicholas Nicholson, a native of Yorkshire, in an entirely new manner.
These bells, heavy as they were in mounting, had to be taken down in the year 1777, by the Commissary General of military stores, to keep them from falling into the hands of the British, for military purposes; they were again returned and hung after the evacuation of the city .*
When the bells were yet a novelty, they excited very great interest to hear them chime and ring tunes. They used to ring the night before markets ; and on such occasions numbers of persons would go from villages like Germantown, half way to the city, to listen to the peals of merry music.
The first time the bells were tolled was long remembered, as being for the occasion of Governor Anthony Palmer's wife, the mother of twenty-one children, all of whom died with consumption! The ringing was also doubly memorable in having caused the death of one of the ringers, by his ignorance and ill-judged management of the bell rope.
Christ church steeple was built by Robert Smith. Its height is one hundred and ninety-six feet eight inches from the base to the mitre. On the mitre is engraved Bishop White's name, as first Bishop. It has thirteen holes in it, for the thirteen original States ; is inscribed, " The Right Rev. William White, D. D., consecrated Bishop of the Episcopal church of Pennsylvania, February 4th, 1787." The mitre is four feet in circumference at bottom, and two and a half feet in length. The vane is seven feet seven inches in length, and two feet two inches in breadth. The four balls are each one foot ten inches in circumference. The extremities of the four balls are three feet ten inches. The big ball measures seven feet nine inches in circumference. These may seem unimportant facts in themselves, if we really saw them as little, as they seem at their elevation ; but it must add to their interest to thus know them as large as they actually measure.
The Hon. Charles Thomson said he well remembered being present when a man fell from a high elevation on the steeple, down to the ground unhurt! While he was up, some commotion occurred in the crowd below, and he, turning his head and body backwards to look, gave occasion to the wind to pass between him and the
* They had been taken with the State House bell to Trenton-another account says to Allentown.
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steeple, and so forced him to let go his hold by the hands, and he fell ! What horrors he must have felt in his terrified thoughts, rapid as his descent! "Mercy he sought, and mercy found," for he fell, providentially and strangely enough, into a large mass of mortar, and his great fall was harmless !
After the steeple had been built some years, it was found it was getting into the same decay at its sleepers as caused the taking down of the steeple of the Presbyterian church, on the corner of Third and Arch streets, and of the State House steeple. On that occasion Owen Biddle, an ingenious carpenter, undertook to sup- ply new sleepers of red cedar, which he got into place, on each of the four angles, by extending ropes with pullies, &c., from the spire into each of the streets a square off, so as to keep the steeple both in place and in check when needful; the fact I had from Owen Jones, Esq., an aged gentleman, who saw the display of ropes in the streets.
The Rev. George Whitfield, though no favourite in the church, was admitted to preach in Christ church to a great concourse in September, 1763, and soon after at St. Paul's also.
The parsonage house has long been disused as such, so much so, that scarcely an inhabitant remains that remembers to have heard of such a building, although it is still existing entire, but altered from a house of double front to the appearance of two or three modern stores. Its position is No. 28, North Second street, was originally a two-story brick building, having five chamber windows in front, placed at about twelve feet back from the line of Second street, and having a grass-plot, shrubbery and a palisade in front ; additional buildings are now added in front to make it flush with the street, but the three dormer windows and roof of the original house may be still seen from the street. It was once the Custom House, under Collector F. Phile. The garden ground originally ran back half through the square. The premises now pay a ground- rent of $300 a year to the church.
The two frame houses south of it, Nos. 24 and 26, were, till lately, the two oldest wooden houses remaining in Philadelphia, and it may be deemed strange that such mean structures should so long occupy the place of better buildings in so central a part of the city.
Since writing the foregoing, I learn that the ancient communion plate of Christ church consists of the following articles, to wit: a Farge silver baptismal font, inscribed as a gift from Col. Quarry, a goblet and two tankards of silver, from Queen Anne, are severally inscribed, " Annæ Anglican æ apud Philad., A. D., 1708." The two latter are decorated with figures of the apostles. Another antique-looking goblet is inscribed, " the gift of Margaret Tresse, to Christ church in Philadelphia." Besides these, might be added the primitive altar-piece of antique character, now disused, and an early library of many and rare books.
The original deed for the ground-plot is from the family of Jones VOL. I .- 2 Y 33
*
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conveyed per Joshua Carpenter, as their agent, for the sum of £150 for one hundred feet of front. The deed being later than the erec- tion of the Church, may possibly lead to the idea that the ground was at first held on ground-rent.
The Rev. Thomas Coombe, the Rector, resigned his place and took refuge with the British in New York, because he could not swear allegiance to the new government of the States: on that occa- sion Doctor Wm. White was made his successor. It was from the family of Mr. Coombe, I believe, that we have derived the name of Coombe's alley. He was an American, and much esteemed.
In the year 1782, stoves, as a new article of comfort, were provided -whereby we may know how our forefathers were wont to endure the cold! They were of the kind called cannon stoves.
At one time, Judge Francis Hopkinson, the poet, was the tempo- rary organist of Christ church, as a volunteer, in the absence of Mr. Bremner, the regular organist.
We may know the fact, that the church originally had little panes of glass set in leaden frames, (most probably made by our celebrated Godfrey, as a plumber and glazier,) by its appearing on record on the minutes, that in June, 1767, there is a call for their repair ; and Mr. Denormandie is engaged to repair the glass, and to new lead the windows for the sum of £12.
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