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 47
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The present beautiful manner of binding books in cotton embossed cloth grew out of a case of necessity, induced by the war of 1812. The great deficiency of leather for book-binding induced those who made cheap spelling books and Testaments, and other small works, to put them up in cheap and coarse muslin. At first it was used for the backs only; finding them well received for their well-wearing, and exemption from mould, they began to use fine stuff and more tasteful colours, and as the favour to them increased, they went on producing better and better, until they have now become an elegance
VOL. II .- 3 A 34*
1.12
Statistic Facts.
STATISTIC FACTS.
AN attention to the following facts, may serve to show the progress of society, by marking its increase in population, houses, exports, Szc., at successive periods, to wit :
1683 .- William Penn's letter of that year, says, " I mentioned in my last account, that from my arrival, in 1682, to the date hereof, being ten months, we have got up fourscore houses at our town, and that some villages were settled about it. From that time to my coming away, which was a year within a few weeks, the town ad- vanced to three hundred and fifty-seven houses, divers of them large, well-built, with good cellars, three stories, and some balconies." 'T'hus settling the fact, that they built three hundred and fifty-seven houses in the first year !
1685 .- Robert Turner, in his letter to William Penn, of this year says, " The town goes on, in planting and building, to admiration. both in the front and backward ; and there are about six hundred houses in three years' time."
1707 .- Isaac Norris, in a letter to William Penn, says, "The province consumes, annually, of produce and merchandise of Eng- land, 14 to 15,000 pounds sterling. The direct returns were in to- bacco, furs and skins ; the indirect, in provisions and produce, via the West Indies, and southern colonies. In 1706, about eight hundred hogsheads of tobacco went from Philadelphia, and about twenty-five to thirty tons of skins and furs."
1720 .- The taxables are stated by Proud, at 1195 persons, in city and county.
1723 .- The imports from England were £ 15,992 sterling.
1728-9 .- There were frozen up in the docks this winter, about the city, fourteen ships, three snows, eight brigantines, nine sloops, two schooners, besides shallops, &c. The whole number of churches then was but six.
1730 .- The imports from England were £ 48,595 sterling.
1727 to '39 .- From an account of the highest and lowest number of votes given at the elections, and known by the return of members of Assembly, we ascertain the votes for the county of Philadelphia to have been as follows, to wit:
Election -- 1727, Highest number, 787
Lowest number, 482
1728,
do.
971
do.
487
1730,
do.
622
do.
365
1732,
do.
904
do.
559
1734,
do.
821
do
441
1735,
do
1097
do.
517
1736,
do.
719
do 439
Statistic Facts.
403
Election -1737, Highest number, 904
Lowest number, 497
1738, do. 1306
do. 736
1739, do. 555
do. 332
1737 .- The imports from England were, this year, £ 58,690 ster. ing .- Vide Proud.
1740 .- The taxables are stated by Proud, at 4850 persons, in city and county.
1741 .- We are indebted to a friend for the subsequent statemen: of the number of taxable inhabitants of the city and county of Phila- delphia for this year. They have been copied from the books of his venerable ancestor, who was assessor, &c., for several years
Statement of the number of Taxable Inhabitants of the City and County of Philadelphia, in the year 1741.
[The city was then divided into ten wards, and the county ex tended to the southern limits of Berks county, and embraced the whole of the county of Montgomery.]
Number of Taxables in the City in 1741.
1. Dock Ward, 183
Brought over, 880
2. Lower Delaware,
115
7. Upper Delaware, 99
3. Walnut,
98
8. High Street, 151
4. South, -
105
9. Mulberry, - 309
5. Middle,
236
10. North, 182
6. Chestnut,
143
City total,
1621
Carried over,
880
Number of Taxable Inhabitants in the County in 1741.
[The County then contained forty-seven townships.]
Amity, -
70
Brought over, 935
Abington,
92
Franconia,
59
Allamingle,
37
Frankford and
87
Byberry,
52
N. Hanover,
Bristol,
64
Frederick, -
76
Blockley,
72
Germantown,
168
Creesham,
60
Gwynned, -
93
Cheltenham,
67
Hanover, Upper,
97
Colebrook Dale,
85
Horsham,
80
Douglass, -
58
Kingsess,
59
Dublin, Lower,
125
Limerick,
59
Dublin, Upper,
77
Moreland Manor,
125
Exeter, -
76
Montgomery,
54
Carried over,
935
Carried over 1892
-
404
Statistic Facts.
Brought over,
1892
Brought over, 2762
Maiden Creek,
75
Passyunk and Moy-
78
Merion, Upper,
52
amensing,
Plymouth, 46
Menatauny,
111
Roxborough,
38
Northern Liberties, -
151
Sulford,
174
Norrington,
25
Springfield,
29
Oxford,
78
Towamensin, 55
Ouley,
58
Whippan,
56
Providence,
146
White Marsh,
89
Perkiomen and
Worcester,
70
Skipake,
Wayamensing,
25
Carried over,
2762
County total, 3422
Comparative Statement.
City Taxables, In 1741, 1,621. In 1826, 11,120. Increase, 9,499.
1742 .- The imports from England this year, were £ 75,295 ster 'ing.
1744 .- A. letter from Secretary Peters, to the proprietaries, states the population of. the city, as estimated at 13,000 people, and 1500 houses. The same is confirmed in the same year, by the Minutes of the City Council.
1747 .- The imports from England this year, were £ 82,404 ster- ling.
1749 .- This spring the houses in the several wards were counted by the following named gentlemen, and amounted to 2076 in num- ber, to wit :
In Mulberry Ward,
- 488, by Dr. Franklin.
Dock Ward,
245,
Joseph Shippen.
Lower Delaware,
110,
William Allen.
Upper Delaware,
-
109,
T. Hopkinson.
South,
117,
Edward Shippen.
High Street Ward,
147,
T. Lawrence, jun.
Walnut,
104,
James Humphries.
Chestnut,
110.
J. Turner.
North,
196,
William Shippen.
Middle,
238,
William Coleman.
1864,
South suburbs,
150,
Edward Shippen.
North do.
62
William Shippen.
2076 houses.
At the same time (1749) the places of worship were these, to wit:
1 Episcopalian,
1 Dutch Calvinist, 1 Baptist,
2 Friends,
1 Roman Catholic, 1 Dutch Lutheran,
1 Swedish, 2 Presbyterian, 1 Moravian.
-
101
Merion, Lower,
-
-
-
73
-
40
Statistic Facts.
The same year (1749) Proud states that twenty-five large ships arrived with Germans, bringing 600 persons each, making together 12,000 souls in one year, and that nearly as many came annually from Ireland, so as to people whole counties from those two nations.
1751 .- Tne imports from England this year were £190,917 ster- ling .- Vide Proud.
1752 .- Dr. Franklin stated before the House of Commons, that 10,000 hogsheads of flaxseed had been in that year exported from Philadelphia-making 70,000 bushels, and that all the flax that grew with it they manufactured into coarse linen. On George Heap's map, the exports are detailed thus, viz. : 125,960 barrels of flour, 86,500 bushels of wheat, 90,740 bushels of corn, 249 tons of bread, 3431 barrels of beef, and 4812 barrels of pork.
1753 .- There were ascertained by the assessor to be 2300 houses. including the city and suburbs.
1760 .- There were ascertained by the same assessor to have been in the city and suburbs 2969 houses, and 8321 taxables in the city and county. It was also officially reported that there were then 5687 taxable inhabitants in the whole county of Philadelphia, and their county tax was laid at £5653 19s. 6d. The city tax was laid at £5633 13s. on 2634 taxables. At the same time were reported, as within the county, the following mills, to wit :- 83 gristmills, 40 sawmills, 6 papermills, 1 oilmill, 12 fullingmills, 1 horsemill, 1 wind- mill, and 6 forges.
1766 .- Dr. Franklin, when examined this year before a com mittee of the House of Commons, respecting the repeal of the Stamp Act, stated the following facts, to wit :
He supposed there were in Pennsylvania about 160,000 white inhabitants, of whom one-third were Quakers, and one-third were Germans.
The taxes were then laid on all estates, real and personal-a poll tax -a tax on offices and professions, trades and businesses, accord- ing to their profit-an excise on all wine, rum, and other spirits, and £10 duty per head on all negroes imported.
The tax on all estates, real and personal, was 18d. in the pound, fully rated, and the tax on the profits of trades and professions, &c., made about 2s. 6d. in the pound. The poll tax on unmarried men was 15s. per head. All the taxes in Pennsylvania then producea about £20,000 per annum.
He said he thought our people increase faster than in England, because they marry younger and more generally, and this they did because they may easily obtain land by which to raise their families. He said the people had by general agreement disused all goods fashionable in mournings.
The imports from Great Britain he presumed to be above £500,000 per annum, and the exports to Britain he supposed did not exceed £40,000 per annum.
$06
Statistic Facts.
1767 .- The exports of Philadelphia for one year were thus offi cially stated, to wit : 367,500 bushels of wheat, 198,516 barrels of flour, 34,736 barrels of bread, 60,206 bushels of corn, 6645 barrels of pork, 609 barrels of beef, 882 tons of bar iron, 813 tons of pig iron, 12094 hogsheads of flaxseed, 1288 barrels of beer.
1769 .- In December of this year the assessor gave in the follow ing list of houses then ascertained, to wit :
In Mulberry Ward, 920
Upper Delaware,
234
North,
417
High street,
-
-
166
Middle,
358
Chestnut,
112
South,
147
Walnut,
105
Lower Delaware,
120
Dock, -
739
3318
In the Northern Liberties or northern suburbs to Second street. bridge, over Stacy's run, (Cohocksinc,) 553-and in Southwark or southern suburbs to the north side of Love lane 608-making to- gether 4474 in the city and suburbs, of dwelling-houses exclusively.
1770 .- This year the number of houses was ascertained to have been --
Within the city bounds, - 3318
In the Northern Liberties, - 553
In Southwark, 603
4474-estimated to
contain 25 to 30,000 souls.
At the same time the number of churches was ascertained to have been 16, to wit:
3 Episcopalians,
1 Methodist,
4 Presbyterians,
2 German Lutheran,
1 Baptist,
1 German Calvinist,
1 Moravian,
[ Swedish Lutheran,
2 Papists,
1771 .- The taxable inhabitants are stated, by Proud, as being 10,455 in number for the city and county, of whom 3751 were of the city. The exports of Philadelphia, in the same year, were con- veyed in 361 square-rigged vessels, and 391 sloops and schooners- making in all 46,654 tons, of which there were 252,744 barrels of flour, 259,441 bushels of corn, and 110,412 bushels of flaxseed.
1772 .- The following comparative facts of several years, down to this year, have been given by R. Proud, and may serve still further to illustrate the statistics of those early days, to wit:
407
Statistic Facts.
Of Exports.
In 1731, when wheat was at 28. 6d., and flaxseed 4s. 8d., they amounted to £62,584
1749,
do. 58. 3d.,
do. 10s. 8d.,
do.
148,104
1750, do.
4s.
do. 10s.
do.
155,174
1751, do.
38. 10d., do.
63. 6d.,
do.
187,457
1765,
do.
58. 3d., do. 98. 3d.,
do.
422,614
1772.
do.
5s. 6d., do. 88.
do.
571,050
I have before noted the amounts of several annual imports from England, under their several years. The last which I stated, in the year 1751, made the amount to be £190,917 sterling ; but from and after the year 1761, they sank greatly. No cause is assigned by Proud, who states the following annual amounts. to wit :
Imports of 1761, 38,099£ sterling.
1762, 88,228 do.
1763, 36,258
do.
1764,
25,148 do.
1765, 26,851 do.
As the war with France began in 1756, and ended in 1763, the trade may have been so embarrassed as to have diminished much both the ability and the safety of importation. After the peace, we know that the agitated question of "taxing America," made the people of set purpose use domestic fabrics in lieu of foreign supplies. so as by all means to diminish the trade of England with us.
1777 .- In October of this year, General Howe being then in possession of Philadelphia, and many of the inhabitants gone off because of the war, or the dread of the British, an accurate census was taken by order of General Cornwallis, to wit :
Houses in the city, 3508
in Southwark,
781
in the Northern Liberties, 1170
5470
Five hundred and eighty-seven of the houses were found un tenanted. There were 287 stores; there were also found to be 21,767 inhabitants, exclusive of the army and strangers.
Years. City contained
N. Liberties
Southwark.
Total.
In 1790, 28,522 souls 8333
5661 42,516
1800, 41,223
16,097
9621
67,811
1810, 53,722
21,558 13,707 S8,987
William Sansom, Esq., who has been for several years a minute observer of the progress of the city in its increase of buildings, has furnished the following data, to wit :
In 1802, new houses erected were 4647 The detail of these houses, 1803, do, 385 1804, do. 273 showing in what streets they were built, may be consulted on p. 518 of my MS. Annals, in Historical Society.
1809,
do.
205
an the next year the total number of buildings was ascertained and found to be 20,260-say 8874 in the city, 2998 in the Northern
Statistic Facts.
Liberties, and 2301 in Southwark, and their inhabitants 88,988. If we should pursue this data, it is deemed reasonable to conclude that in the last eighteen years, from 1809 to 1827, the new buildings may have averaged 600 in each year, thus producing an increase of 10,800 to be added to the former 20,260, and thus forming an aggre- gate of about 31,000 buildings, and a probable total of 133,000 in- habitants in 1827. I deem this estimate high enough, but the next census will check it.
In the year 1823, the churches were ascertained to be eighty in number, to wit :
13 Presbyterian, 5 Friends,
10 Episcopalian,
4 Papists,
8 Bantist,
26 of all other denominations.
14 Methodist, (Vide Poulson's paper of 24th March.)
Philadelphia, as a great commercial city, kept a proud pre-emi- nénce of the cities in the Union, until about the year 1820. In the year 1796, the exports of Philadelphia were above one-fourth of the whole United States, being then 17,613,866 dollars, but as quickly as the year 1820, she became as low as the seventh state in the grade of the Union! The exports of New York, in 1792, were but 2,930,370 dollars, but in 1820, they were $13,163,244! Thus, as Philadelphia has been sinking, New York has been rising, and her great canal will give her still more decided advantages, until we in turn derive our increase from our purposed inland improvements. Even the exports of Baltimore, in 1820, recent as has been her growth, were 865,825 dollars more than ours!
I since find the following facts concerning the number of burials occurring in the city about a century ago, to wit :
In 1722, the Gazette began first to record the death and burials of the month, to wit: In February, 1722, for one month, it was three of the Church of England-Quakers four, and Presbyterians, none.
In 1729 to '30, the interments in one year from December to December, were 227 in number, to wit: In Church ground 81-in Quaker 39-in Presbyterian 18-in Baptist 18-and in Strangers' ground (the present Washington Square, an adorned grave ground now for them!) 41 whites and 30 blacks. In some weeks I per- ceived but one and two persons a week, and in one week none. It is worthy of remark, that although the influence of Friends was once so ascendant as to show a majority of their population, yet it seems from the above, that the Churchmen must have been then most numerous. In the week ending the 15th of July, 1731, I noticed the burials of that week were "none !"
The tabular statement of the auditor general gives the total ad- i' sted valuation of Pennsylvania in 1841, viz. :
The real estate in the several counties, $245,673,402
Personal property as valued, - 48,835,784
Making a grand total of
- $294,509,18€
409
Statistic Facts.
Resources of Pennsylvania-1841, the population is 1,724,033 -- in 1790 it was but 431,373.
We have 28,000,000 acres of land under better cultivation tnas any other state, and worth - $701,000,000
300,000 houses, worth on an average, 300,000,000
Barns, stores, furnaces, forges, factories, mills, - 200,000,000
1000 miles of canals, and 700 miles railroads, 100,000,000
$1,300,000,000
The Schuylkill mines now produce 500,000 tons-the other mining districts about the same-say 1,000,000 tons a-year-nearly half of this is for exportation. Three thousand vessels a-year visit Schuylkill river to carry it away, and yet all this is in its infancy.
The Schuylkill is capable of producing four times its present quantity. The Swatara can produce as much as the Schuylkill- so can those of the Lehigh, the Shamokin and the Susquehanna.
We have, besides our anthracite, more bituminous coal (according to our state geologist) than all Europe! While Europe contains 2000 square miles, Pennsylvania has 10,000 square miles.
The western bituminous coal-field of Pennsylvania is estimated to contain three hundred thousand millions of tons-being ten thou sand times more than all in Great Britain !
In one year (1838) two millions of bituminous coal was mined and used westward of the Allegheny mountains. Much more will be.
The quantity of iron produced in Pennsylvania is estimated at one-third of the product of the whole union. The amount of bar and pig iron produces $14,000,000.
The real estate of Pennsylvania as shown above, is one thousand three hundred millions of dollars-if taxed but three per cent. would pay off the whole state debt of thirty-five millions in one year.
The annual production of the state is ascertained to be one hundred and sixty millions five hundred thousand dollars-and if taxed but one per cent. would pay the interest annually of the state debt.
Who is not proud of such a state! She has all the resources of a great nation within herself-for happiness in peace, for power in war. She is capable of maintaining thirty millions of people, and feeding and clothing them herself. We produce one-sixth of all the wheat in the union. Our grain produces thirty millions of dollars a-year. Our water power is equal to the labour of four hundred millions of men! [See North American, August 12th, 1841.]
There are no people in the world who have so many advantages with so few burdens.
Colonial Statistics of New York and Philadelphia, &c., com- pared .- In 1769, the imports of Pennsylvania were £400,000 ster- ling, and of New York was but £189,000 sterling. All the New VOL. II .- 3 B 35
410
Remarkable Incidents.
England colonies was £561,000, and South Carolina £555,000. Virginia was the greatest of all, being then £581,000 sterling! They kept in the same relative proportion till the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789.
In 1791, the imports change thus, viz. : New York leads off at $3,222,000. Virginia is $2,486,000, and South Carolina is $1,520,000.
In 1821, the imports change thus, viz. : New York leads off at $23,000,000. Virginia is $1,000,000. South Carolina $3,000,000
In 1832, New York is $57,000,000. Virginia is $500,000. South Carolina is $1,250,000.
REMARKABLE INCIDENTS AND THINGS.
" A book wherein we read strange matters."
THE present chapter is intended to embrace a variety of miscel- lanea, of such peculiarity or variety in their occurrence as to afford some surprise, to wit :
Wild Pigeons .- The late aged Thomas Bradford, Esq., told me of hearing his ancestors say they once saw a flock fly over the city which obscured the sun for two or three hours, and were killed by hundreds, by people using sticks on the tops of houses. Mr. Bradford himself used to see them brought to the Philadelphia mar- ket by cart-loads. The aged T. Matlack informed me he once saw a full wagon load knocked down. A Captain Davy, who was in Philadelphia at that time, (described above,) went afterwards to Ire- land, and there describing what he had seen, and giving the data for their numbers by giving breadth and time of passing, &c., some of the calculators declared they could not find numerals whereby to estimate their aggregate! They therefore declared it was a whap- ping lie, and ever after they gave to Captain Davy the name of Captain Pigeon.
Thomas Makin's poetic description of Pennsylvania in 1729, in Latin verse, says,
" Here, in the fall, large flocks of pigeons fly, So numerous, that they darken all the sky."
In 1782, Hector St. John, of Carlisle, describing the country scenes he had before witnessed there, says, twice a year they ensnared numerous wild pigeons. They were so numerous in their flight as to obscure the sun. He has caught fourteen dozen at a time in nets, ana has seen as many sold for a penny as a man could carry home
411
Remarkable Incidents.
At every farmer's house they kept a tamed wild pigeon in a cage at the door, to be ready to be used at any time to allure the wild ones · when they approached.
In 1793, just before the time of the yellow fever, like flocks flew daily over Philadelphia, and were shot from numerous high houses. The markets were crammed with them. They generally had nothing in their craws besides a single acorn. The superstitious soon found out they presaged some evil ; and sure enough sickness and death came !
Fire Flies .- The first settlers and all subsequent European settlers have been much surprised with our night illuminations by our nume- rous phosphorescent summer flies. Makin thus spoke of them in his day-
" Here insects are which many much admire,
Whose plumes in summer evenings shine like fire."
Bees .- These, in the time of Kalm, who wrote of them in 1748, says they were numerous and must have been imported, because the Indians treated them as new comers, and called them, significantly, English flies. Hector St. John, at Carlisle, at and before 1782, speaks of the bees being numerous in the woods in that neighbour- hood, and gives some humorous stories of their manner of finding the place of the cells, and the means of procuring the honey from hollow trees. No worms were ever known among beehives before the year 1800.
Rarities sent to Penn .- Among the presents sent to William Penn, by his request of the year 1686, were these, to wit : he saying, " Pray send us some two or three smoked haunches of venison and pork. Get us also some smoked shad and beef. The old priest at Philadelphia had rare shad. Send also some peas and beans of the country. People concerned ask much to see something of the place. Send also shrubs and sassafras," &c. In another letter he asks for tame foxes and Indian ornaments. In another he calls for furs, for coverlets and petticoats, and also some cranberries.
Flies and Martins .- I have often heard it remarked by aged peo- ple, that the flies in Philadelphia were much more numerous and troublesome in houses in their early days than since, especially in Market street. The difference now is imputed to the much greater cleanliness of our streets, and the speedier retnoval of offals, &c. It is said too, that the flies and flees were excessive in the summer in which the British occupied Philadelphia, caused then by the ap- pendages of the army.
Mr. Thomas Bradford, who had been for seventy years a curious observer of the martens, has noticed their great diminution in the city, which he imputes to the decrease of flies, their proper food. In former years they came annually in vast numbers, and so clamorously as in many cases to drive out the pigeons from their proper resorts. Now he sees boxes which are never occupied. A late author In
412
Remarkable Incidents.
Europe has said martens decrease there as flies and mosquitoes diminish.
Hector St. John, in 1782, speaks of his means of ridding his house of flies, in a manner sufficiently alarming to others. He brings a hornet's nest, filled with hornets, from the woods, and suspends it in lieu of an ornamental chandelier or glass globe, from the centre of his cariour ceiling ! Here, being unmolested, they do no harm to any of the family, but pleased with their warm and dry abode, they catch and subsist on numerous troublesome flies. These they con- stantly catch on the persons, and even the faces of his children !
Locusts .- 1749, June 1st-Great quantities then noticed-again in 1766, in 1783 and in 1800-in this last year they appeared first on the 25th May.
Sturgeon was remarkably abundant in the Delaware and Schuyl- kill rivers, and was formerly much more valued as diet among us, and especially by foreigners. The old newspapers often advertised it for sale by the city agent of one Richards, who pickled them in a rare manner at Trenton. We know from history that Sir Samuel Argal, the deputy governor of Virginia, first visited that colony in 1609, to trade and fish for sturgeon to be conveyed to Europe. Formerly there were but few families in the country but what put up one or two sturgeons every year at the shad time. In Penn's time they could be counted by dozens at a time, leaping into the air and endangering the boats '
Noxious Insects .- Several of these have appeared among us as new comers-such as destroyed perpetually the leaves of our fine elms once in the State-house yard, made their passage to this coun- try about the year 1791, and began their wasteful career on like trees near the corner of Pine and Front streets. They were supposed to have gotten their passage in some foreign vessel making her discharge of cargo in that neighbourhood. They since destroyed like trees at Chew's place in Germantown.
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