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 48
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" There filthily bewray and sore disgrace
The boughs on which are bred th' unseemly race."
Kalm, in 1748, speaks then of the peas being so destroyed by the bug that they then abandoned the cultivation of them, although they had before had them without such molestation in great abund ance. They had to send to Albany for their annual seed, who would still use them, because the insect which also overspread New York neighbourhood, had hitherto exempted those at Albany.
It is curious, that while the worms to the peach trees, now so an- noying and destructive to our trees, were formerly unknown here, they were in Kalm's time making general ravages on the peaches af Albany. Now Albany is again, I believe, in possession of good fruit. In the summer of 1750, a certain kind of worms, (so say the Ga zettes) cut off almost all the leaves of the trees in Pennsylvania
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avoiding only the laurel bush, the leaves of which are poisonous te some animals.
Mr. Kalm made frequent mention of the excessive annoyance of the wood lice every where abounding in the woods. They were constantly brushed upon the clothes, and if you set down upon a stump or fallen tree, or upon the ground, you were speedily covered by a host of them, insinuating themselves under as well as above your clothes.
He speaks of locusts coming, as now, in every seventeen years. Caterpillars too came occasionally in such numbers as to destroy entire forests. Some such places he saw, where trees were growing up amidst the bare stalks of the old dead ones, destroyed by the worms.
Norious weeds .- It occurs to me to mention some facts respecting some very prevalent weeds which have been introduced among us, to our prejudice, from foreign countries. The " Ranstead weed," or Anterrinum lineria, now excessively numerous in some fields around Philadelphia. It came first from Wales, being sent as a garden flower for Mr. Ranstead of Philadelphia, an upholsterer, and a Welshman.
The yellow and white daisy, or Chrisanthemum lucanthemum, also the day-wakers and night-sleepers, or star-hyacinth, botanically called Ornythegelum umbellatum. These also originally came out as garden flowers, where they multiplied, and their seed afterwards getting abroad in manure, produced a general diffusion of those per- w cious plants. On one occasion, they came out in some straw pack- to old Mr. Wistar, and from inoculating his farm, proceeded to eners. The late introduction of the Merino wool, has brought the seed of another weed, which is multiplying rapidly among us.
Earthquakes .- In October, 1727, shocks of an earthquake were felt at night, at Philadelphia, and at New York and Boston, which set the clocks to running down, and shook off china from the shelves The 7th December, 1737, at night, a smart shock was felt at Phila- delphia, and at Conestogoe, New Castle, &c. When John Penn first arrived, on a Sunday, a strong earthquake was felt as he stepped ashore at High-street wharf. It raised some superstition, and it was, therefore, long remembered ; and besides that, when he went home, a dreadful thunder-storm arose ; and, finally, when he next time re- turned here as proprietary, a fierce hurricane came !- March 22, 1758, a smart shock was felt between 10 and 11 P. M. April 25, 1772, a slight shock felt, about 8 A. M. November 30, 1783, an earthquake felt in the city ; and again, on the 1st December, a strong one was felt. January 8, 1817, the river was much agitated by the. earthquake to the southward, tossing about the vessels, and raising the water one foot.
Aged Animals .- In 1823, month of June, there died on the plan tation of Joseph Walmsley, of Byberry, a horse which was thirty 35*
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seven years of age. The table of " longevity of animals," states the life of a horse at twenty-five to thirty years only.
In 1824, the Pittsburg Mercury of January, declares, there is a horse then working at the brewery there, full thirty-one years of age, of full health and vigour. For the last fourteen years he has been at the brewhouse, and hauled 50,000 barrels of beer. One of thirty- one years of age is now in New York city, in a cart, and can draw 3000 lbs .- the property of John Cornish.
Two geese are now alive at Greenwich village, town of Horse- neck, eighty-five years of age each. They were hatched on the same place, and are still laying eggs .- J. Mead, owner.
John Kinsey's strange Death .- In the year 1748, died, at Phila- delphia, John Kinsey, a young man, son of Judge Kinsey. His death was very singular. He was killed by his own gun, whilst resting the but of it on the bottom of a boat, in which he and his friends, on a shooting party, were crossing the Schuylkill, at Gray's ferry, on their return home. The piece, from an unknown cause, went off, and shot the load into his cheek, and thence it ascended into the brain, and he died without uttering a word. But what is peculiarly memorable is, that he had a remarkable premonition, the evening before, of his catastrophe ; and he was then abroad, seeking to dissipate, by exercise and novelty of objects, the sad impressions which the occurrence had had upon his spirits.
He dreamed his cousin Pemberton had come to him, and told him to prepare to change worlds : while he talked, he thought he heard an explosion like thunder, and a flash of fire struck his cheek, [there was no thunder at the time,] and he awoke in great perturbation. The sense of the shock was deeply impressed upon his spirits. He, however, composed himself again to sleep, and was again, as he thought, (in dreaming,) visited by many spiritual beings, all of whom seemed to him to intimate his death. The influence of all these things upon his spirits was very great the next day. He communi- cated the facts to his family, and endeavoured to dissipate the depres- sion of his spirits, and the constant thought of the past night, by cheerfulness. His companions were sent for to aid him in this ob- ject, and it was soon proposed to take a ramble in the woods with their guns. The mother endeavoured much to dissuade him from taking his gun ; but it was overruled. They crossed the middle ferry, and in pursuing the game, he sometimes said, " I hope no accident will befall any of you, or me :" he often complained that his spirits were sad. At length, after some miles of such exercise, and when on their return, the fatal accident, above related, terminated his life! I have seen, in the possession of Mrs. D. Logan, a letter from John Ross, Esq., of the year 1748, [John Ross afterwards lived in the house next to the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank, eastward,] to his familiar friend, Dr. Cadwallader Evans, in which he details all the foregoing facts. He asserts he knows all the parties ; and although greatly dis
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inclined to superstition, he is compelled to suoscuse to the truth of them, as indubitably true.
Varieties from the Gazettes, & c .- 1726 .- On the last day of De cember, Theophilus Longstreet, of Shrewsbury, of sixty years of age, met with seven swans flying over a meadow, and shot down six of them at the same shot-a shot never surpassed.
1728 .- We have the following surprising, though authentic ac- count of rum imported into Pennsylvania, during the year 1728, to wit :- 224,500 gallons. In that day no other kind of spirits was used.
1735 .- Some fishermen took a shark, seven feet long, above the city ; the same year (March 4) great quantities of codfish were taken off the capes.
1753 .- In this year the citizens of Philadelphia employed Cap- ain Swain to go to Hudson's bay, to endeavour to find a north-west passage. He repeats his voyage the next year-both without any important result.
În 1754 .- Month of June, a waterspout appeared on the Dela- ware, opposite to Kensington, which was carried up Cooper's creek, and supposed to break on the shore, where, it is said, considerable damage was done. A school-house was beat down, a roof blown off, and a new wherry was lifted up and broken to pieces by the fall : many trees were torn up by it.
In 1748, Christopher Lehman records, that on the 4th of May it rained brimstone! Soon as I saw this fact, I inferred it must have been the floss from the pines in Jersey ; and now I lately saw a simi- lar occurrence at Wilmington, North Carolina, from the same cause, and exciting much surprise there.
1758 .- I saw a MS. letter, from Hugh Roberts to B. Franklin, then in London, which states a rare thing, saying, " Our friend, Phi- lip Syng, has lost his excellent son John, strangely. He had been poking a stick into a kitchen sink, and holding a lighted candle in the other hand, when a vapour therefrom took fire, and so penetrated him that he lost his senses, and died in a few days.
Ruinous Speculations .- Philadelphia, in common with her sister cities, has been occasionally the victim of speculating mania. Six memorable instances have already occurred among us since the es- tablishment of our independence. The facts concerning them seve- rally, though too long for the present object, have been preserved in my MS. Annals, in the City Library, pages 94 to 97. Suffice it here briefly to say, speculation first began, soon after the peace, in soldiers' certificates -- changing hands several times in a week, and constantly gaining !
The scrip of the Bank of the United States was a memorable event. It changed hands hourly, and went up from 25 to 140 dol- lars, and then fell suddenly ; “ It went up like a rocket, and fell like its stick !"
The great land speculation of Morris and Nicholson, in the interior
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lands of our state, was a most engrossing scheme of aggrandizement: very few gained any thing, and many fortunes were ruined. They themselves were desperately ruined, and for the great financier him- self it provided a jail.
The public may form some idea of the extent of Morris and Nichol- son's great land speculation, in the fact, that the debts unpaid by Nicholson are said to amount to twelve millions of dollars-an im- mense amount, certainly, for an individual in those early days !
Of the extent of those landed possessions, often bought at a few cents the acre, some conception may be formed, from the fact, that his brother Samuel reported to the government of Pennsylvania, in 1806, that the lands to which he had indisputable title, covered one seventh of the surface of the state ! He told of one single operation of ransfer of land in Georgia, for between one and two millions of acres.
Nicholson was the comptroller-general of the state of Pennsylva- nia, from 1782 to 1796, and in some way used the public funds to carry on his purchases. Two years after he had ceased to be comp- troller, he began to show his embarrassments, and to excite a down- hill preponderancy. In 1800 he died, and then the whole concern exploded. His promissory notes became virtually as nothing. Be- ing a great debtor to the state, his lands lay under its liens. Many of these have since been relieved by compromise ; but still, more than a million of acres remain encumbered thereby, and rendering, as a committee of the legislature declare, " titles doubtful and uncer- tain, retarding improvement, and keeping all concerned in endless suspense."
To remove these embarrassments, "Nicholson's Court" has been instituted, with plenary powers to relieve liens, and to adjust con- flicting claims, &c. As a part of its operations, almost all the lands in Erie county is decreed to pass under its attachments ; and in Bea- ver county, some two or three hundred tracts, exceeding 100,000 acres of the best land, and equal to one fourth of the county, are un- der similar process of action. Thus, at the end of forty years, does the all-grasping cupidity of one man disturb the peace and welfare of whole communities.
After the peace of 1783, deep speculation and great losses were sustained by excessive importations of British goods, beyond the means of the country to consume them, prompted by an unparalleled success in sales in a preceding year.
A deep and general speculation occurred in 1813-14. It was be- gun among the grocers, and, finally, influenced most other branches of business-ultimately recoiling, as it was all artificially excited, on all concerned.
In 1825, occurred deep speculations, and ruinous losses eventually, in the purchase of cotton intended for the English market. The wounds then inflicted, will long be remembered by some. It was an excited mania of gambling in the article, nc all warranted bv the real want or deficiency of the article thus speculated upon.
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"How oft has speculation, dreadful foe ! Swept o'er the country-laid our cities low! The bold projector, restless of delay,
Leaves, with contempt, the old and beaten way Of patient labour-slow and certain gain, The fruit of care, economy, and pain : But soon, reverses this conclusion bring, Credit and ruin are the selfsame thing!"
Amusing Facts .- Some items partaking of singularity, and some- times of amusement, in the contemplation, are here set down, to wit:
In 1720, Edward Horne, by advertisement, offers English saffron, " by retail, for its weight in silver !"
Same year is advertised, " best Virginia tobacco, cut and sold by James Allen, goldsmith." This union of two such dissimilar pur- suits of business, strikes one as so incongruous now.
Tobacco pipes, of " long tavern size," are advertised as sold at four shillings per gross, by Richard Warder, pipe-maker, where foul pipes are burnt for eight pence per gross !
1722 .- I meet with a strange expression-" For sale by inch of candle, on Monday next, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, at the Coffee- house, a lot on Society hill," &c.
1723 .- Josiah Quinby, of West Chester, New York, a Friend, advertises that he has discovered perpetual motion, and to be moved by the influence of the North star, &c. !! and to be combined with the influence of a well of water, over which his machinery should work !
1724 .- Andrew Bradford, printer, offers a reward of £15, for ap- prehending John Jones, a tall, slender lad, of eighteen years of age, who stole five or six sheets of the 5 shilling and 20 shilling bills, which said Bradford was printing. He escaped after capture, from the constable, by slipping out of his coat, and leaving it in the con- stable's hand! He wore a light bob wig.
In 1728, some wicked fellows, in a neighbouring Presbyterian church, in lieu of another functionary, set up a large sturgeon in the pulpit, in the hot days, and the church being shut up, it was not known until it became so putrid as to compel the congregation to leave the house, and worship in a neighbouring orchard.
1729 .- The Welsh having formed themselves into a fellowship appointed Dr. Wayman to preach them a sermon in their own lan- guage, and to give them a Welsh psalm on the organ-then a novelty. But their crowning rarity was, that after sermon, on the Lord's day, they went to drinking healths and firing cannon, to Davis' inn, at the Queen's Head, in Water street, each man wearing at church and in the procession leeks in his hat, &c .- " So did not St. Paul !"
1731 .- A certain stone-cutter was in a fair way of dying the death of a nobleman, for being found napping with his neighbour's wife ; the husband took the advantage of his being asleep, to make an at- tempt to cut off his head .- The wit which follows, in the reflections VOL. II .- 3 C
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on the case, though showing the coarse taste of the readers then, i harmlessly left for the curious on page 118 of my MS. Annals, in the City Library.
1734 .- A widow, of Philadelphia, was married in her shift, without any other apparel upon her, from a supposition prevalent then, that such a procedure would secure her husband in the law, from being sued for any debts of his predecessor. Kalm, in 1748, confirms this fact as a common occurrence, when her husband dies in debt. She thus affects to leave all to his creditors. He tells of a woman going from her former home, to the house of her intended husband, in her shift only, and he meets her by the way and clothes her, before wit- nesses, saying, " he has lent them."
1737 .-- A curious writer gives a long list of tavern expressions, used to express drunkenness among the tipplers ; some are-" He has taken Hippocrates' elixir ;" " he's as dizzy as a goose ;" " his head is filled with bees;" " he's afflicted ;" "he's made an Indian feast ;" " he's sore footed ;" "he clips his English ;" "he sees two moons ;" " has eat his opium ;" "he walks by starlight ;" " has sold his senses ;" ." has lost his rudder."
1754 .- Is advertised, as just published, " The Youth's Entertain- ing Amusement ; or a plain Guide to Psalmody : being a choice col- lection of tunes, sung in the English Protestant congregation in Phi- ladelphia, with rules for learning ; by W. Dawson." I give this title as a curious inadvertency, which expresses, with much simplicity of judgment, an unwary fact-that the youth, and too many of their abettors, too often resort to psalmody (which should be worship and adoration, if any thing) for mere entertainment and amusement.
1765 .-- There died this year, in the Northern Liberties, at the age of sixty, Margaret Gray, remarkable for having had nine husbands !
I sometimes hear anecdotes which I choose to suppress, because of their connexion with living names. I think of one which contains much piquancy and spirit, which I shall here put down as illustrating a fact which often occurred in the sudden transitions of men's condi- tions in the Revolution, from obscurity to elevation and renown, where accompanied with valour and ambition .- A celebrated Friend, a preacher, met an old acquaintance in the streets of Philadelphia, who had been of Friends' principles, with a sword girt on his side .- " Why, friend," said he, " what is this thou hast bedecked thyself with ? not a rapier !" "Yes," was the reply ; " for ' liberty or death' is now the. watchword of every man who means to defend his pro- perty." "Why, indeed," rejoined the other, "thou art altered throughout ; thy mind has become as fierce as thy sword : I had not expected such high feelings in thee. As to property, I thought thee had none; and as to thy liberty, I thought thee already enjoyed that by the kindness of thy creditors !"-The patriot alluded to was con- spicuous in the public measures of the war; and although he never used his sword in actual combat, he directed those who did, and
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from that day has been a successful candidate to public offices ; and finally, has raised himself a respectable name and estate.
I notice in the old MSS., that they originally called a portmantear (as we now call it) a portmantle-certainly an appropriate name, as it was originally used as an intended cover for the necessary cloak or mantle, in travelling on horseback. The present word knapsack, I also found was originally spelled snapsack --- an expressive name when we consider it, as it was, a sack which fastened with a snap- spring, or lock. As it was in itself a convenient pillow for the travel- ler when obliged to sleep abroad in the woods, it must have received the nickname of nap among the soldiers. The words portmantle and snapsack may be found used in Madame Knight's Journal, of 1704 .- I think I have discovered the origin of the name of "Blue stockings," applied to literary ladies .* I find that, a century ago, it was a mark of lady-like distinction to wear coloured stockings, with great clocks-blue and green colours were preferred. The ladies who then formed literary clubs, being, of course, the best educated, and coming from the upper class in society, were those, chiefly, who could afford the blue stockings .- A pair of those stockings, of green silk, and broad red clocks, I have lately seen in possession of Samuel Coates, Esq. They were the wedding ones of his grandmother, in Philadelphia, and are double the weight of the present silk hose.
Sweating of Gold Coins .- The Saturday Bulletin, of the 29th of January, 1831, republishes a long article from the Lancaster Gazette, called " Reminiscences of Philadelphia :" the same is managed with considerable humour, and is intended to show, that the house of N and D., and the silversmith, Mr. D., were considerably engaged in money-making, as a matter of commerce, by sweating gold coin, and making it lighter thereby, for the West India trade, &c. This was during the time of the operation of Jay's treaty, which opened an extensive commerce with the British West India islands. It hav- ing been noticed that the half johannes was taken there by tale, the process of sweating was resorted to, by which fifteen to twenty per cent. of its value was retained. This answered sundry merchants for a time; but it becoming dangerous and disreputable as it became known, another expedient was resorted to-to make dies to construct a coin of alloyed gold. A Mr. Timothy Bingham, a die-sinker, and a Mr. Armitage, were employed in this service by sundry merchants, to whom they made their plans known. At the same time, Mr. D., the silversmith, also conceived the plan of making them, for his own market, so as to make his pieces, of six pennyweight, pass in the West Indies for eight dollars. He quit his employment as a silver- smith, it is said, and moved into fashionable display, in the hopes of his splendid fortune ; but a disaster at sea sunk his gold, and buried all his golden dreams at once .- [I knew the man, but I never heard of these circumstances.]
* Lady Montague's story seems too modern to account for it, and looks like a forced explanation.
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This gold-sweating was done at New York, before the Revolution. without shame or reproach, for all gold going to the West Indies. An old gentleman told me, that he saw it often done there, when he was a lad, seventy years ago. It sweat off like water.
Potatoes .- This excellent vegetable was very slow of reception among us. It was first introduced from Ireland, in 1719, by a colony of Presbyterian Irish, settled at Londonderry, in New Hampshire. They were so slow in its use in New England, that as late as 1740, it was still a practice with masters to stipulate with some apprentices that they should not be obliged to use them! The prejudice was pretty general against them, that they would shorten men's lives, and make them unhealthy ; and it was only when some people of the better sort chose to eat them as a palatable dish, that the mass of the people were disposed to give them countenance. At about the same time, fine salmon were so plentiful in Connecticut river, that appren- tices in New England, stipulated not to eat them more than twice a week !
Big Oak Tree .- Such a tree, little noticed, is now standing on the farm of the Almshouse, near- Philadelphia, probably the largest in Philadelphia county. It measures fourteen feet seven inches in cir- cumference at the base, two feet above ground ; and twelve feet eight inches at six feet from the ground. Its diameter, at one foot above the ground, is five feet four inches. The height of the tree is about fifty feet, and it has four big limbs, extending thirty-four, forty, forty-three, and forty-six feet, respectively. It appears to have increased by its annual rings, one eighth of an inch, and thus to indicate the tree to be two hundred and forty years of age. It is now, in 1837, in a state of decay, having the trunk or body of the tree hollow; but it may last as a venerable relic of days bygone, for several years to come.
Penn's Arms on Mile-stones .- There are now but few persons who are aware of these old mile-stones, made of sandstone. They stand on the Gulf road, and on another parallel road, probably the Haverford, marked 12 miles from the city-[2]in front, and on the back [00. The three balls have always been called " the apple- dumplings." The stones on one of these roads were placed there by the Mutual Assurance Fire Company, as a price for their charter from the Penn family. It was a tradition of simple folk, that Penn was feasted with dumplings by King Tamany, at the Treaty-tree, and so gave rise to the balls as Penn's arms !
Ancient Coin found .- Ten pieces of silver coin, about two hun- dred years old, were recently ploughed up on B. C. Timmins' farm, at Chester, Burlington county, N. J. They are about the size of a dollar. No. 1, dated 1647, coined under Fred. Henry, prince of Orange : motto, " Confidens in Domino, non movetur"-(those who trust in God, shall not be moved.) No. 2, dated 1677, coined under William III., prince of Orange, with the same motto.
Milch Cows and Cowherd .- There used to be a regular gather
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ug of cows, by a cowherd, in Philadelphia, in Dock street near Se- cond, which was continued down to the year 1795. Every morn- .ng, early, he stood at that place and blew his horn. Then all the housekeepers let out the cows in the neighbourhood-some two or three dozen, which would go directly to the point of assemblage, all standing still till the whole were gathered ; then they went off with the cowherd to their field or commons for the day. In the evening he went for them and returned to the same spot; then the cowherd blew his horn, to warn the housekeepers of their return, when they opened their gates. At a signal understood, he blew his last blast, and they all dispersed to their several homes.
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