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. II > Part 4
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And they reproach you with their might, The pious, proud and free- The wise in council, strong in fight, Who never bow'd the knee. And those gray churches only stand As emblems of that hardy band.
Then pull them down and rear on high New-fangled, painted things, For these but mock the modern eye, The past around them brings. Then pull them down, and upward rear A pile which suits who worship here.
The Lutheran Church .- It is not accurately known when this was built, but it had an addition of its front part made to it in 1746. It is certain, too, that there was a church in Germantown before the first one in Philadelphia, which was erected in 1743. The first or- dained minister, Dr. H. M. Muhlenburg, came to Philadelphia in 1742, and of course before that time their services in Germantown were conducted by their schoolmaster, as is their practice in similar cases. In 1754 a lottery of five thousand tickets, at $2 each, was drawn in Philadelphia, to net £562 to purchase a messuage and lot of ground in Germantown for the minister of the Lutheran church and school house, &c., for the benefit of the poor of the society, the minister to instruct the poor children. In 1761 the Lutheran church at Barren-hill was also built by a lottery.
Nothing but German was preached in the Lutheran and German churches till of late years, and the present Presbyterian church was formed by the seceders from those churches, because the other mem- bers would not agree to have English preaching for half the time. They built their stone church in 1812, under the patronage of the Rev. Dr. Blair.
The Methodists began to preach in Germantown about the year 1798, and in 1800 they built their stone meeting house, in the lane opposite to Mr. Samuel Harvey's house. In 1823, their former church being too small, they built a new and larger meeting house.
The Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Luke was built in the year 1819 : the first Rector was the Rev. Charles Dupuy : previously the society assembled for worship at the house of James Stokes, at the corner of the church lane.
The lower burying ground of half an acre was the gift of John Streeper, of Germany, per Leonard Aret; and the upper one was given by Paul Wolff. The potter's field in Bowman's lane was bought in 1755 for £5 10s. containing one hundred and forty perches.
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The first grist mill set up in Philadelphia county was that now called Roberts' mill, in Church lane, just one mile north-east from the mar ket square. Roberts' mill was erected as early as 1683, by Richard Townsend, a public Friend, who brought the chief materials from England. Some years afterwards, in his printed address to Friends, ne speaks of this mill and his early difficulties, and the kind provi- dence extended to him there, which are very interesting. He states that his was the only mill for grain in all the parts ; and was of great use to the inhabitants. That they brought their grist on men's backs, save one man, who had a tame bull which performed the labour. That by reason of his seclusion in the midst of the woods, he had but little chance of any supply of flesh meat, and was sometimes in great straits therefor. On one occasion, while he was mowing in his meadow a young deer came near to him, and seemed to wonder at his labour ; it would follow him up while he worked, but when he stopped or approached it, it skipped away ; but an accident made him stumble, and so scared the deer, that he rushed suddenly aside against a sapling, and being stunned, he fell and was taken alive and killed, to the great relief of the family. See Appendix, p. 511.
The first paper mill in Pennsylvania was built by Garret Ritten- house. It stood about a hundred yards higher up the stream than where old Martin Rittenhouse now lives, at C. Markle's. It was carried off by a freshet. William Penn wrote a letter soliciting the good peo. ple to give some aid in rebuilding it with their money. The grist mill, now Nicholas Rittenhouse's, on Wissahiccon, below Markle's, was built without the use of carts, or roads or barrows.
The Academy .- There were numerous scholars here in the Ger- man school, sixty-five years ago ; now there are none taught. The public school now called the Academy was first commenced in build- ing in 1760, by a subscription chiefly raised in Philadelphia; but it not being likely to be finished thereby, in 1761 they made a lottery to draw in Philadelphia, of 6667 tickets, at $3, to raise $3000 at 15 per cent. to finish it. In 1821 the legislature granted $1000 to help it out of debt. Their first teacher was Dove, distinguished in Philadelphia as a scholar : and he had considerable fame as a satirical poet in political controversies. He used to send a committee of boys vith a lantern and candle in day time, ringing a bell, to find absent scholars, and bring them with shame to school. His name was David I. Dove. He differed with the trustees, and built the house next to the Aca- demy as an opposition seminary, and found himself unsuccessful and mortified. Pelatiah Webster succeeded him ; all that time there was also a German master and scholars, and all the education there was at 10s. per quarter, and now English is $5, and the lan- guages $10.
The market house and prison was built in 1741. The ground was granted for that purpose by James de la Plaine ir 1701; the said De la Plaine lived in and owned James Stokes' house. There was once a pound in the market square at the south-east end, and near it
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stood a small log prison, in which one Adam Hogermnoed was im- prisoned for a small offence of intemperance. His friends pried it up at one corner and let him out at night. Some time after he made the prison his free house, for when the charter was lost, it was sold to him and he moved it to where it now forms part of Joseph Green's group of houses.
In 1761 Jacob Coleman began, from the King of Prussia Inn, the first stage with an awning, to run to Philadelphia, three times a week, to the George Inn, south-west corner of Second and Arch streets. He afterwards ran a stage to Reading.
I have not seen any ancient inhabitant who had a correct know- ledge respecting the terms on which they once held court. They had a tradition that they held courts here before it was done in Philadelphia ! But I have seen the record of the original patent, from which I abstract as follows, viz .- A patent of William Penn, dated London, August 12, 1689, and on the back thereof, this endorsement, viz .: " 12 8mo. 1689, let this pass the great seal. To Thomas Lloyd, keeper thereof, in Pennsylvania. (Signed) William Penn." On the inside was affixed, " passed under the great seal of the province of Pennsylvania, on the 3d day of the 3d mo. 1691." This therefore marks the period, I pre- sume, at which they began to live subject to the laws of a borough town. The patent grants "that Francis Daniel Pastorius, civilian, and J. Tellner, merchant, Dirk Isaacs op den Graeff and eight other free- men of Germantown, (named,) shall be a body corporate by the name of the bailiff, burgesses and commonalty of Germantown, in the
county of Philadelphia. To have perpetual succession, and at all times thereafter shall be able and capable in law with a joint stock to trade, and with the same to take, purchase, &c., messuages, lands, &c., of a yearly value of £1500 per annum. To have and to use a common seal. That there shall be elected one bailiff (Pastorius) and four burgesses and six persons committee-men, all from the aforesaid eleven nominated corporation, which shall constitute 'and be called the General Court of the Corporation of Germantown.' The then appointed corporation to continue in office till the 1st De- cember next ensuing, and from thence UNTIL there be a new choice of other persons to succeed them, 'according as therein directed.'
The bailiff and the two eldest burgesses for the time being shall be justices of the peace. The bailiff and the oldest burgesses, and the recorder for the time being, shall hold and keep one court of re- cord, to be held every six weeks for hearing all civil causes according to the laws of the province. And also to hold and to keep a market every sixth day, in such places as the provincial charter doth direct."
[Recorded at Philadelphia, 13th 3d month, 1691.]
The government of Germantown began the 6th of 8mo. 1691, and terminated 25th of 12th mo. 1706-7, being fifteen years. .
The borough and court records of Germantown were ordered to the Recorder's office in Philadelphia, by an act of the General As- zemhly in 1769. From those records I have extracted the following
GREEN'S HOUSE, GERMANTOWN .- Page 28.
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primitive and "simple annals" of that beginning era of seulement and civilization, to wit :
The Records of the Courts of Record held in the Corporation of Ger-
mantown, from the 6th day of 8th month, anno 1691, [the year of their getting their charter from William Penn,] and thencefor- ward from time to time ;- thus transcribed by order of a general court held at the said Germantown, the 26th day of 10th month, in the year 1696.
Anno 1691. The 6th day of the 8th month the first court of record was held at Germantown, in the public meeting house, [of Friends,] before Francis Daniel Pastorius, bailiff, Jacob Tellner, Dirk Isaacs op den Graef, and Herman Isaacs op den Graef, the three eldest burgesses. Isaac Jacobs van Bebber, recorder ; Paul Wolf, clerk ; Andrew Souplis, sheriff; Jan Lucken, constable. Proclamation being made by Andrew Souplis, the charter was read, and the officers attested. Caspar Carsten and his wife, who were both bound over to this court for menacing the constable, when about to serve a war- rant upon them, were called, and, submitting to the bench, were fined two pounds, ten shillings. The court adjourned until the 17th of November next.
1692, the 29th day of 9th month. John Silans (upon Jacob Schumacher's complaint) promised before this court to finish the said Jacob Schumacher's barn within four weeks next coming. [Observe there are no fines or penalties in the case-only a promise of better action !] Walter Simons and James de la Plaine, for themselves and in behalf of their neighbourhood, protested against the road from the Mill street towards Thomas Rutter's, as not being laid out by the governor's order.
1692-3, the 21st day of 12th month. By reason of the absence of some, for religious meeting over Schuylkill, this court was ad- journed till the 4th of 2d month, 1693. [How considerate and accommodating !]
1693, the Sth day of 6th month. Francis Daniel Pastorius, as attorney of the Frankford Company, delivered unto Wigart Levering a deed of enfeoffment containing fifty acres in Germantown. James de la Plaine, coroner, brought into this court the names of the jury which he summoned the 24th day of 4th month, 1701, viz .- Thomas Williams, foreman, Peter Hearlis, Herman op den Graef, Reiner Peters, Peter Shoemaker, Reiner Tissen, Peter Brown, John Unslett, Thomas Potts, Reiner Hermans, Dirk Jolinson, Herman Turner. Their verdict was as followeth : We, the jury, find that through carelessness the cart and the lime killed the man; the wheel wounded his back and head, and it killed him.
1701, the 20th day of 11th month. Reiner Peters, for calling the sheriff, on open street, a rascal and liar, was fined 20 shillings.
1703, the 28th day of 12th month. When the cause of Matthew Smith against Daniel Faulkner being moved, the plaintiff, by reason
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of conscience, viz., that this day was the day wherein Herod slew the innocents, as also that his witnesses were and would for the aforesaid reason not be here, desired a continuance to the next court of record to be held for this corporation ; which was allowed of, provided the said Daniel Faulkner do then appear and stand to trial.
1703-4, the 8th day of 12th month. George Müller, for his drunkenness, was condemned to five days' imprisonment. Item, to pay the constable 2 shillings for serving the warrant in the case of his laying a wager to smoke above one hundred pipes in one day.
[At this place there seems to be a stoppage of court proceedings, until the next opening in 1706-7, which was then made final. A letter of Pastorius to Wm. Penn, when in Philadelphia in 1701-2, which I have seen, says, he believes there will be a difficulty to get men to serve in the general court, "for conscience sake"-meaning the oaths.]
On the 17th of 12th mo., 1701, the general court of Germantown present to Wm. Penn, their " honourable and dear governor," newly arrived, "the petition of the Germantown corporation"-to the effect, " that seventeen years preceding they had laid out the town- ship in lots and more compact settlements than elsewhere had been done, so that some dwelling so near each other, had not enough of timber to make their separate fences, whereby they were com- pelled to fence in four quarters-[meaning, it is believed, on the four angles of the oblong square, on the outside only]-consequently re- quiring much care, lest by carelessness of one or other, the rest [within the enclosure] should suffer harm or injury."
They also represent, " that by reason of the charter of 1689, granted unto Germantown-construing the same most beneficially to the grantees, they have hitherto refused to pay those taxes, levies and impositions, which the county courts do lay upon those under their jurisdiction-for being by the said charter exempted from the county court of Philadelphia, and having our own court of record, as well as our general court, we cannot but believe that we are freed from all charges towards the said county-seeing that it would be rather a burthen than a privilege to pay both the county taxes and the taxes of our own corporation. [Just the very thing which citizens of Philadelphia now do.] As to the provincial taxes we make no exceptions, and are willing to bear our share, as good and loyal sub- jects should."
" We implore thy benevolence, that thou wilt so defend and sup- port our township, by way of explanation to thy aforesaid charter, that our corporation may be exempted from all and every county tax; and whereas, we before represented a difficulty of finding per- sons to serve in the corporation, for conscience sake, we hope it may be remedied, as it is already in part, by arrivals of new comers among us."
1706-7, the 11th day of 12th month, (January,) before Thomas Rutter, bailiff, &c. The court was opened ; the queen's attorney
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George Lowther laid the following points before this court : 1st, that the general court of this corporation did lay taxes, &c. ; 2d, that the justices wanted their qualifications ; 3d, that this court did clear by proclamation, &c., and 4th, bind over to the peace, and not to the Philadelphia county ; 5th, that Johannes Kuster married a couple without the limits of the corporation ; and [he, the said queen's attorney,] desired the court's answer to the government : whereupon this court adjourned till two o'clock in the afternoon, and having given their answers to the said attorney-general, further adjourned to the 25th day of this instant.
N. B. The said attorney-general promising then to procure the government power to qualify them himself-the which, nevertheless, he did not, though often required and well paid ; and therefore, from thence, no more courts were kept at Germantown! And the above charged points being partly false, and the others sufficiently answered, convinced the said attorney-general, as by his own hand- writing, hereunto affixed, may appear.
Old Mr. J. W., about the year 1720, purchased five hundred acres of land at 2s. per acre, adjacent to where his descendant now lives ; when he afterwards sold much of it at £3 per acre, he thought he was doing wonders; some of it has since been worth $200 to $300 per acre.
The price of labour in and about Germantown, sixty years ago, was 3s. a day in summer, and 2s. 6d. in winter. The price of hickory wood was 10 to 11s. per cord, and oak was 8 to 9s. Hickory now sells at $8, and oak at $6, and has been $2 higher.
In 1738 a county tax was assessed of 1}d. per pound on the city and county, (including Germantown,) for " wolves and crows de- stroyed, and for assemblymen's wages," at 5s. per day.
The blackbirds formerly were much more numerous than now ; a gentleman mentioned to me that when he was a young man, he once killed at one shot (with mustard seed shot) one hundred and nineteen birds, which he got ; some few of the wounded he did not get ; they had alighted in an oat-field after the harvest, and he was concealed in a near hedge, and shot them as they rose on the wing. There was a law in 1700 made to give 3d. per dozen for the heads of blackbirds, to destroy them.
A person, now 80 years of age, relates to me that he well remem- bers seeing colonies of Indians, of twenty to thirty persons, often coming through the town and sitting down in Logan's woods, others on the present open field, south-east of Grigg's place. They would then make their huts and stay a whole year at a time, and make and sell baskets, ladles, and tolerably good fiddles. He has seen them shoot birds and young squirrels there, with their bows and arrows. Their huts were made of four upright saplings, with crotch limbs at top. The sides and tops were of cedar bushes and branches. In these they lived in the severest winters; their fire was on the ground and in the middle of the area. At that time wild pigeons
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were very numerous, in flocks of a mile long ; and it was very com. mon to shoot twenty or thirty of them at a shot. They then caught rabbits and squirrels in snares.
The superstition then was very great about ghosts and witches. " Old Shrunk," as he was called, (George S., who lived to be 80,) was a great conjuror, and numerous persons from Philadelphia and else- where, and some even from Jersey, came to him often, to find out stolen goods and to get their fortunes told. They believed he could make any thieves who came to steal from his orchard " stand," if he saw them, even while they desired to run away. They used to consult him where to go and dig for money ; and several persons, whose names I suppress, used to go and dig for hidden treasures of nights. On such occasions, if any one " spoke," while digging, or ran, from "terror," without " the magic ring," previously made with incan- tation around the place, the whole influence of the " spell" was lost. Dr. Witt, too, a sensible man, who owned and dwelt in the large house, since the Rev. Dr. Blair's, as well as old Mr. Frailey, who also acted as a physician, and was really pretty skilful, were both U-e doctors, (according to the superstition then so prevalent in Europe,) and were renowned also as conjurors. Then the cows and horses, and even children, got strange diseases; and if it baffled ordi- nary medicines, or Indian cures and herbs, it was not unusual to consult those persons for relief ; and their prescriptions which healed them, as resulting from witchcraft, always gave relief! Dr. Frailey dwelt in a one-story house, very ancient, now standing in the school house lane. On each side of his house were lines of German poetry, painted in oil colours, (some of the marks are even visible now); those on one side have been recited to me, viz. :
Translated thus .
Lass Neider neiden, Lass Hasser hassen ; Was Gott mir giebt Muss mann mir lassen.
Let the envious envy me, Let the hater hate me; What God has given me Must man leave to me.
An idea was very prevalent, especially near the Delaware and Schuylkill waters, that the pirates of Black Beard's day had depo- sited treasure in the earth. The fancy was, that sometimes they killed a prisoner and interred him with it, to make his ghost keep his vigils there and guard it. Hence it was not rare to hear of per- sons having seen a sphoke or ghost, or of having dreamed of it a plurality of times, which became a strong incentive to dig there. To procure the aid of a professor in the black art, was called Hering ; and Shrunk, in particular, had great fame therein. He affected to use a diviner's rod, (a witch-hazel) with a peculiar angle in it, which was supposed to be self-turned in the hands, when approached to any minerals ; some use the same kind of rod now to feel for hidden waters, so as to dig for wells. The late Col. T. F. used to amuse himself much with the credulity of the people. He pretended he
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown. 33
could hex with a hazel rod ; and often he has had superstitious per- sons to come and offer him shares in spoils, which they had seen a sphoke upon ! He even wrote and printed a curious old play,* to ridicule the thing. Describing the terrors of a midnight fright in dig- ging, he makes one of the party to tell his wife,
" My dearest wife, in all my life Ich neber was so fritened; De spirit come, and Ich did run, 'Twas juste like tunder, mid lightning."
Mr. K., when aged 78, and his wife nearly the same age, men- tioned to me, that in their youthful days they used to feel themselves as if at double or treble the distance they now do from Philadelphia, owing to the badness and loneliness of the roads ; they then regarded a ride to the city as a serious affair. The road before it was turn- piked was extremely clayey and mirey, and in some places, espe- cially at Penn's creek, there was a fearful quicksand. Several teams were often joined at places along the bad road to help out of mires, and horses were much injured, and sometimes killed, thereby. Rail stakes used to be set up in bad places to warn off.
In those times the sleighing used to continue for two or three months in the winter, and the pleasure parties from the city used to put up and have dances at old Macknett's tavern, where his son since lived. It was then very common for sailors to come out in summer to have frolics, or mirth and refreshments at the inns. The young men also made great amusement of shooting at a target. They used no wagons in going to market, but the woman went, and rode a horse with two panniers slung on each side of her. The women too carried bas kets on their heads, and the men wheeled wheel-barrows-being six miles to market! Then the people, especially man and wife, rode to church, funerals and visits, both on one horse ; the woman sat on a pillion behind the man. Chairs or chaises were then unknown to them ; none in that day ever dreamed to live to see such improve- ments and luxury as they now witness.
The first carriage of the coach kind they ever saw or heard of be- longed to Judge Allen,t who had his country seat at the present Mount Airy College ; it was of the phaeton or Landau kind, having a seat in front for children, and was drawn by four black horses : he was of course a very opulent man, a grandee in his generation- such phaetons cost £400. The country seats then were few. Pen- ington had his country house where Chew's now stands, and the present kitchen wings of Chew's house sufficed for the simplicity of gentlemen of those days. Another country house was Samuel Shoemaker's, a mayor of Philadelphia, and is the same now a part
* A copy of it is in the Atheneum Library.
t There were three or four earlier carriages in Philadelphia, viz .: Norris, Logan, and Shippen's.
VOL. II .- E
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of the house of Mr. Duval's place, and enlarged by Col. T. Forrest In their early days, all the better kinds of houses had balconies in the front, in which, at the close of the day, it was common to see the women at most of the houses sitting and sewing or knitting ; at that time the women went to their churches generally in short gowns and petticoats, and with check or white flaxen aprons. The young men had their heads shaved, and wore white caps; in summer they went without coats, wearing striped trowsers, and barefooted ; the old Friends wore wigs.
In their day every house was warmed in winter by " jamb stoves," and Mr. Sower, of Germantown, (the printer,) cast the first stoves per- haps thus used in the United States. They were cast in Lancaster ; none of them are now up and in use, but many of the plates are often seen lying about the old houses as door steps, &c. A jamb stove was set in the chimney jamb, (or side,) in the kitchen fire-place; it was made something like the box form of the present ten-plate stoves, but without a pipe or oven, and it passed through the wall of the chimney back into the adjoining sitting rooms, so as to present its back end (opposite the fire door) in that room. The plate used to be made sometimes red hot; but still it was but a poor means of giving out heat, and could not have answered but for their then hardy constitutions, and the general smallness of their rooms in that day.
Mr. K. remembers very well, that when he was a lad, there was yet a little company of Delaware Indians, (say 25 or 30 persons,) then hutted and dwelling on the low grounds of Philip Kelley's manufactory ground. There was then a wood there through all the low ground, which now forms his meadow ground and mill race course. Some of the old Indians died and were buried in Concord burying ground, adjoining Mr. Duval's place. After they were dead the younger Indians all moved off in a body, when Keyser was about 14 or 15 years of age. Indian Ben among them was cele- brated as a great fiddler, and every body was familiar with Indian Isaac.
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