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 57
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About sixty-five years ago, many hundred persons went out to the Schuylkill to see a man cross that river in a boat carried in his pocket! He went over safe, near High street. B. Chew, Esq., saw it, and told me of it, and my father saw the same at Amboy. It was made of leather-was like parchment-was about five feet long-was upheld by air-vessels, which were inflated, and seemed to occupy the usual place of gunwales. For want of a patent office, the art is probably lost. The fact gives a hint for light portable boats for arctic explorers, and suggests a means of making more buoyant vessels on canals.
The increase of public exhibitions is greater every year. We have not long since had the greatest and finest managerie of wild beasts ever before seen here, being equal to twenty animals in one collec- tion, and containing lions, tigers, elephants, camels, &c. In 1824, we had even a mummy brought among us, from ancient Thebes, and soon after came two Roman urns, repositories for the ashes of the dead for two thousand five hundred years and more. Why do people visit such, but for their interest in relics, as a means to con- nect the imagination and the heart. Their heart feels the question rising like this, viz. :
" Statue of flesh, come, prithee tell us,
Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumber'd,
What hast thou seen-what strange adventures number'd !"
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Miscellaneous Facts.
We have also a growing practice among us, of adventurers coming from Europe-as players, singers, dancers, lecturers, and " catafeltoes wondering for their bread!"
Leathern Apron Club.
This was Franklin's club, which took the name of the Junta. In 1728, J. Logan speaks of these as being the tools of Sir William Keith's " baseness and falsehood," saying, "they are to send thee a petition, calling themselves the Leathern Apron Men, and they solicit favourable sentiments towards their master, Sir William Keith, who has raised deep contentions here"-for when he was elected into the assembly, after being no longer governor, he was escorted into town by eighty men on horseback, and guns were fired in triumph, &c. Perhaps Keith's use of the club, and Franklin's in- fluence there, although then but young, and only a resident of the city four or five years, may present some clue to Sir William's strange seduction of Franklin to follow him in his fortunes to England, where Sir William joined "the ghosts of departed governors," as hangers on.
North-west Passage.
In 1753, the citizens of Philadelphia, especially the merchants, employed Captain Swaine, in the schooner Argo, to seek a north-west passage. At his return he got credit for his exertions, although as unsuccessful as Captain Parry's late royal enterprise.
In May, 1754, he again makes another unsuccessful voyage. The particulars of both voyages may be read on page 381 of my MS. Annals in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, too long for insertion here ; his report was, that the winter had not been so severe there for twenty-four years before. The Argo got through the ice into the mouth of Hudson strait, as far as the island Resolution, on the 26th of June; but was forced out again by ice, to sea. She cruised off with some Hudson bay ships-twenty days trying to get in again- but could not. She ran down the ice from 63º to 57º. Then went over to the Labrador coast, and discovered it plainly from 56° to 65°. Finally returned home all well, &c.
Magistrates.
Until the year 1759, it had been an occasional practice for jus- tices of the peace to hear and decide causes at public inns; as it had a demoralizing effect in bringing so many people to drinking-places, the governor in this year publicly forbids its longer continuance. Even courts themselves, before they had a court-house, had been held there, for I see by James Logan's MS., that in the year 1702 the court at Philadelphia sat in Hall's public house.
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Miscellaneous Facts.
It has been a general and frequent remark, made to me by the aged, that magistrates were, in olden time, a much more dignified and honoured class of persons than now. They were also chosen as men of the first fortune, influence, and wisdom ; so that wherever they went they carried reverence, and were effectively "a terror to evil-doers." Their occasional voice, heard in the street, could in- stantly repress " wrong and outrage" among men, or frolic and mis- chief among boys. They were at the same time effective " peace- makers ;" for as they never served from motives of personal gain, their fortunes being above it, they generally strove to return the par ties under some mutual agreement. I can still see some of those dignitaries in my mind's eye as they remained even in my early days-a person bearing a port of authority, cocked hat, powdered hair, and a gold-headed cane, ruffles over the hand, and bowed to with reverence by all who passed them, as " His honour, the Squire."
The Dutch Riot
About the year 1782-3, a riot was formed by numerous Dutch women, headed by Mammy Swivel, an old woman of prodigious size. It excited great interest and commotion in the northern end of the city, at the time, and led to several small law-suits. The case was this :- The square from Callowhill to Brewer's alley, and from Third to Fourth street, then lay in a field of grain, into which some hogs made their entry and depredations. The owner, for his revenge, shot three of the animals. Upon this occurrence, the German women in the neighbourhood, " called to arms." They soon gathered in strength, and fell upon the owner and beat him so severely, he had to be taken to the inn, then at the north-east corner of Brewer's alley and Fourth street, where he lay some time. In the mean time, the women, to the number of several hundreds, fell to work and tore up all his post and rail fences, making thereof a great pile, casting thereon the dead hogs, and making of the whole a grand conflagration, in the presence of great crowds of spectators- none of whom attempted to arrest their progress. It was a high exertion of female power and revenge, and long " Mammy Swivel" bore the reputation of the heroine.
Riots-There is entirely a new era in our country in this matter of riots, beginning 1834, and continuing still. It is a new spirit, waked up by the example of foreigners. They have already been so frequent, that one can scarcely preserve their remembrance. I try now to retrace them-August, 1836, to wit :
The great election riots in New York city, of 1836. Then the mob concerning the Abolitionists, and the destruction of the meeting house, &c.
The burning of the nunnery, at Charleston, near Boston.
At Philadelphia, the election of 1836, in the Northern Liberties, by an attack on the whigs-afterwards, at another election, killed
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Miscellaneous Facts.
one man-afterwards, burned Robb's houses, and kept the firemen off. Next a riot because of the blacks, in Moyamensing-houses and furniture destroyed.
Riot at Hamburgh, for wages along the canal, 1835.
At Natchez-the case of the man who was tried for ill-treating his wife, and acquitted, and thence taken from the court, tarred and whipped, and driven away.
The case of the two blacks at Alabama; condemned for killing children, to be hung, but the people took them from the court and burned them !
The case at Vicksburgh, in July, 1835, of hanging five gamblers.
The case at Livingston, in Mississippi, of self-constituted commit- tees, hanging sundry white men and negroes, for an alleged con spiracy.
The border war of Ohio and Michigan-people contending without law, for soil !
The case of the people in Charleston, South Carolina, seizing the mail and destroying all the papers of the Abolitionists.
A mob case in Philadelphia, in July, 1835, upon the negroes, because of the assault of an insane negro, upon Mr. Stewart. Some houses pulled down.
August 8, 1835. The mob in Baltimore rise upon Glen and Johnson's houses, and kill eight persons, because of their connex- ion with a broken bank.
In the same month, occurred a beginning demonstration of riot at Washington city, for the purpose of putting down the abolition emissaries.
A mob at Hartford, Connecticut, pulled down the meeting house of the blacks. At New Hampshire, (Canaan,) the mob of 300 men, took off the school house of the blacks with many oxen, and placed it out of the town. At peaceful Burlington, New Jersey, they attacked a black man's house, and one white man got shot. At Pittsburg, the mob drove off the nunnery-at same place they tried to destroy a black barber's house. At Chestertown, Maryland, there was a gathering of the people, against the black emissaries, of several days. In Virginia, they whipped and abused an innocent man, as "an abolitionist." From the frequency of such violence, it has obtained the name of " Lynch law !"
Wistar Parties.
These evening parties, for which Philadelphia society is remark able, were begun by Doctor Casper Wistar, in 1799, by his call of all the members of the Philosophical Society to his house, once a week, during the winter. They were continued to his death, in 1818, by himself alone. They were then continued by the mem- bers successively, in turn, at their several houses, ever since.
In 1835, when Job R. Tyson, Esq., became the owner and rest- VOL. II .- 3 N 42*
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Miscellaneous Facts.
dent of Doctor Wistar's former house, at the south-west corner of Fourth and Prune streets, they were again begun in that house, and have been continued in Mr. Tyson's turn, as often as it occurs, to the present time. None but members of the Philosophical Society can be members, and they only can be such, who can come in by a unanimous vote. A limited number of guests can be invited-an indulgence more than once extended to the writer. Other societies, however, also exist, bearing the name of Wistar parties, organized by sundry social circles, in imitation of the former ; and they not being enrolled philosophers, aim more to gratify the sense of good cheer and hilarity, than to discuss philosophy and intellectual ab- stractions. All these parties comprise only the male sex. Why don't the ladies take umbrage at the exclusion, and have their blue- stocking parties too ?
Going to churches .- People of the present day, who find churches every where so near their residences, have no conception of the long walks over unpaved footways, which church-going families were accustomed to take in my early days. The writer can remember numerous families from about the Swedes' church, and far down in Southwark; and also from Kensington and the intermediate space, walking every Sabbath, in family trains of well dressed persons of both sexes, young and old-going as far as Christ church and the Presbyterian and Baptist meetings near it. Several of these were such as had their horse and vehicle, and yet they never thought of using them for such a purpose. It would have been regarded as an effeminacy or affectation.
Washington's house, in Philadelphia, having been taken down, is now built upon by three brick houses of four stories-the same now owned by Nathaniel Burt, and numbered, 192, 1923, and 194, in High street near Sixth street.
The pictures of the King and Queen of France .- In March, 1784, these large and elegantly framed pictures arrived at Philadel- phia, in the ship Queen of France, being presents from the king. They were set up in the large committee-room of the senate, at the south-east corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets-thence went to Washington city, and were burned, I believe, by the British, under General Ross. The portrait of the king was much like Governeur Morris, who was a very fine-looking man.
" A pond of good water, in the driest season," is a place advertised for sale in 1784, with the land appurtenant of an entire square from Schuylkill Seventh to Eighth street, and from Walnut to Locust street. No such pond is now known.
An execution, in July, 1784, of John Martin and John Downey, occurred for a street robbery. What a difference from the present moderate inflictions on street depredators !
The Earl of Albion, in 1784, sends his agent to lay claim to forty eagues square of New Jersey, beginning at Cape May and extend- ing to all of Long Island-saying, it was so patented to the Earl of
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Miscellaneous Facts.
Albion, the second governor of New Jersey, who was killed by the Indians, and that ever since the patent had been overlooked, and therefore his agent, Mr. Varlo, now forewarns all people to avoid purchases, unless under the title of the family.
An eminent Philadelphia Quaker, who had been some time in Ireland, in June, 1784, passed through most of the streets of Lon- donderry habited in sackcloth, and repeatedly called on the inhabit- ants to repent and turn to God. He seemed a remarkably intelligent person, and declared he came from America on purpose to admonish the people of Ireland, and especially those of Londonderry.
The Philadelphiad, in September, 1784, is announced as pub lished, " displaying some first rate modern characters of both sexes in a friendly and satirical manner." Such a book, if now seen, might furnish something for family gossip and scandal.
Balloons .- The public Journals, about this time, are full of notices and excitement about the display of balloons-one of them when up took fire, and dropped its furnace, or stove, near the new play-house, in South street.
The first Directory, in 1784, gave 3570 names of housekeepers- Desilver's, in 1831, gave 26,400 names.
The Pictures for the Annals .- I have been often asked the ques- tion-how and where I became possessed of the pictures which illustrate the Annals-and it here occurs to me to answer the ques- tion, by stating the facts in the case, as being in itself something out of the usual track. One day, when riding for recreation and observa- tion, about the hills of the Wissahiccon, I chanced to come across a Mr. W. L. Britton, carrying his port folio. In entering into conver- sation with him, and asking him if he was not abroad in search of the picturesque, I was indulged to see some of his sketches. He was invited to my house, and from making his call from time to time, and showing me the productions of his pencil, I was very na- turally led to invite him, in time, to make sundry sketches for myself. All this was at the time without any design on my part for their publication. They were intended for my own cabinet; but as these in time multiplied, and as I eventually thought of such a work as the Annals, other pictures became necessary. In the end, he was instrumental in making the most which I needed. Thus out of a seemingly accidental acquaintance, I found a ready facility of repre- senting pictorially such subjects as, but for his assistance, I might have never attempted. He loved the occupation as an amateur, and I needed them as a lover of the olden time, and an annalist ; thus we worked into each other's hands, and the public now has the benefit. Many other equally fortuitous facilities have occurred to me, in collecting facts for this work, and would be deemed curious facts, if told.
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Relics and Remembrancers
RELICS & REMEMBRANCERS.
" These we preserve with pious care."
IT may be deemed worthy of the subject, to give a special no- tice of those relics of the olden time, which have come to our know ledge, to wit :
Dr. Benjamin Rush had a study-chair presented to him in 1811 made out of the Treaty tree. His letter of thanks for it, as a present from Mrs. Pritchett, I have seen.
David Lewis, Esq., presented me with a piece of the mahogany beam of Columbus' house, in which he once dwelt in St. Domin- go-of course of the first house constructed by a European in America. I have used parts of it in several snuff boxes of relic wood.
An elbow-chair has been made of the elm tree wood, which grew in the State-house yard. It was made in 1824, on the occa sion of cutting down those once beautiful trees there, and was pre- sented, by Adam Ramage, to the " Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture."
Some of the timber of the Alliance frigate has been preserved by me, as a relic of the first navy of the United States.
Some of the hair of General Washington, in my possession, 18 highly and justly prized.
" Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, And dying mention it within their wills, Bequeathing it as a rich legacy."
A writing-table of William Penn, of curious construction, of ma- hogany, is now in possession of J. R. Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia. Its general appearance is like a common breakfast table. By lifting up the lid, a regular writing-desk is exposed with drawers and casements, and by the use of elevators, two lids are thrown up. which furnish great convenience for placing books and papers thereon for copying from, or for writing upon. It was the gift to him from John Barron, Esq., once a venerable gentleman, who possessed large claims to lands about Philadelphia, from his pro- genitors.
The girder in the office of the Union canal, in Carpenter's court, is a part of the mainmast of the Constellation frigate, and has several marks of the shot it received.
I own a China plate, given to me by James C. Smith, Esq., which is the last of a whole set, which was the first China that ever came direct from China. It came by Captain Green, who sailed from New York, in 1784, and returned in May, 1785.
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Relics and Remembrancers.
A piece of silver coin, marked the year 733, of the weight of ninety cents, was ploughed up by Mr. John Shallcross, at seven miles from the city, near the York road. A copy of its impression is preserved on page 64 of my MS. Annals, in the Historical So- ciety.
The arm-chair of Dr. Benjamin Franklin is in possession of Reuben Haines, Esq., in Germantown. It is of mahogany, and the one which the doctor used as his common sitting chair.
An oaken chair of Count Zinzendorf is in possession of C. J Wistar, Esq., in Germantown.
Autograph letters of William Penn, of the year 1677, are in possession of Henry Pemberton, of the Philadelphia bank, being a small folio book of letters from Penn to his religious friends in Holland. Among the letters is a postscript, subscribed by the initials of the celebrated George Fox. A fragment of George Fox's pen, annexed to R. Barclay's, is also with Reuben Haines, Esq.
A pewter cistern and ewer, for washing and shaving, once the property of the Penn family, is now in the possession of Thomas J. Wharton, Esq. They contain the initials of William Penn, and the family arms. It would seem as if they had been the property of Admiral Penn, from the motto being different from that of the founder-it reading " Dum Clavium Tenens." This, by-the-by, is as appropriate to William Penn as the governor of a colony, as to the Admiral as the governor (or steersman) of a ship:
The tea plate of William Penn I have seen at the widow Smith's farm, near Burlington, which had descended to her husband from James Logan. The teapot was small-not to contain more than one pint-was very heavy-in fine preservation-bore the ciphers W. P .- and had a stand to set under it, in which to insert a flame heater to keep it hot or to make it boil.
Penn's book-case, formerly in possession of Nathaniel Coleman of Burlington,-formed of English oak, veneered all over with ma- hogany, is now in the possession of the Philadelphia Library. Its base is formed of a chest of drawers, and a desk for writing ; and above are arrangements for accounts and papers, shut in by panelled doors, having in each a looking-glass.
At that desk, I should suppose, he wrote many of those papers and publications since known to the public. It came to Coleman from the Pennsbury mansion. A sketch of it is drawn on page 105 of my MS. Annals, in the Historical Society, and the original feet of it are in my possession.
Penn's silver seal, ciphered W. P. is now in the possession of R. L. Pitman, cashier of the Northern Liberty bank,-he procured it of the above named N. Coleman, who had received it in his business as a silversmith.
Penn's clock was not long since in the hands of Martin Sommers, near Frankford, who got it from Mr. Peter Harewaggen, an aged person who lived near Pennsbury. The clock was formed of an
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Relics and Remembrancers.
oaken case, curiously wrought and inlaid with bone. There 18 another clock of Penn's, said to be such, now in the Warder family of Philadelphia.
A silver cup of Benjamin Lay, the hermit, is now in possession of Roberts Vaux, Esq.
Penn's chair, which came from Pennsbury, is now in the Penn- sylvania Hospital-a present from Mrs. Crozier, through the hands of Mr. Drinker. Another similar chair is in my possession,-" a present from Deborah Logan," -- is so inscribed on its brass plate, with the addition of these appropriate words, to wit : "Fruitful of recollections-sit and muse!" Mrs. Frazier, at Chester, has the chair in which Penn sat at opening the first assembly at that place. Relics of the Treaty tree are numerous. I have myself presented several snuff-boxes formed severally of a plurality of kinds of relic wood, including the Treaty tree, Columbus' house, the Blue Anchor tavern, &c. There is, in my house, a lady's work-stand, of the Treaty tree, ornamented with the walnut tree of the Hall of Inde- pendence, and with some of the mahogany beam of Columbus' house, &c.
Joseph P. Norris, Esq., has William Penn's silver snuff-box. It is inscribed with the names of successive owners, from Governor Thomas Lloyd, downwards. He has also a watch seal of quartz crystal, set in gold, a present from an Indian king to Isaac Norris, at the treaty of 1710.
There are in my house sixteen pictures hanging up in frames of relic wood, preserved as remembrancers, to wit :
A list of my framed Relic pictures, (16 in number,) July, 1839.
1. Columbus' landing-of mahogany of his house, corners of pine, of Blue Anchor house.
2. Penn's landing at Philadelphia-of pine of Blue Anchor, with corners of Holly, at Chester landing.
3. Declaration of Independence-of pine of Table of Independence, with corners of walnut tree, once before the Hall.
4. The Hall of Independence-of pine of Table of Independence, corners of walnut tree, once before the Hall.
5. Letitia House-of oak of that house, corners of cherry tree of Pennsbury, glass of Letitia house.
6. Old Court house-of oak of its girder.
7. Treaty Tree-of elm, the ends of mulberry of Harris, at Har- risburg, corners of oak of Letitia house.
8. Washington's House-of yellow pine, of his door, and corners of mahogany of his levee door.
9. Slate Roof house-of the oak of Letitia house, the corners of cherry, from Pennsbury, glass of Letitia house.
10. The Draw-bridge and Dock creek-of pine of Blue Anche inn, corners of oak of bridge on Chestnut street.
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Relics and Remembrancers.
11 The Alliance Frigate-of oak of the Alliance, with corners of Cook's ship Endeavour, round the World.
12. The House of Sven Sener-of the buttonwood there, corners of Treaty tree.
13. The Landing of Penn at Chester-of the holly tree there, corners of cherry wood of Pennsbury, and from George Fox's oak, at Flushing.
14. The Dutch City of New York-from the pear tree of Stuyve- sant, corners of Fox's oak.
15. Benezet's house and bridge-of the oak of the bridge, corners of Fox's oak, and corner pieces of Dr. Rush's cedar.
16. The Indians at Harrisburg-of the mulberry tree at John Harris', and corners of Treaty tree.
All the above are venecrs upon frames, so as to show fronts of the relic wood named.
Besides those before mentioned as in various hands, there are attached to the pages of my MS. Annals, in the Philadelphia Li- brary, and in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, at the pages severally annexed, the following articles, to wit :
In my Manuscript Annals in the Philadelphia Library
PAGE
165 .- The celebrated Mary Dyer's gown specimen.
do .- Penn's bed-quilt-a fragment.
do .- Silks-made in Pennsylvania by Susan Wright and Catha- rine Haines.
166 .- Dress silks at the Meschianza.
170 .- Silk specimen of 1740, of Dr. Redman's ancestor.
do .- Red garden satin, from the Bishop of Worcester, 1720.
do .- Black silk velvet of Dr. Franklin's coat.
190 .- Six gown patterns of former years, of my family.
198 .- Original petition, showing all the signatures of primitive set- tlers of Chester, in 1704.
199 .- Likeness of Penn-best done by Bevan.
206 .- Likeness of James Pemberton, and costume of Friends.
215 .- Paper money of 1789-of the Light house, and of the Wal- nut street prison, of 1775 .- Specimens.
218 .- Profile of a city belle of high head-dress, in 1776
do .- Specimen of a silk and silver dress of a lady.
230 .- A sketch of Friends' meeting, at Centre square.
231 .- Pictures of ladies' bonnets and dresses in olden time.
233 to 239, contain pictures of sundry public houses-such as Court house ; London Coffee house ; Jones' row ; Grindstone alley ; Slate house; Duche's house; S. Mickle's house; Lox- ley's house ; Benezet's house ; Governor Palmer's house ; Swedes' church; Shippen's house; Washington's house ; Office of secretary of foreign affairs ; Friends' almshouse ; Wigglesworth's house; Scene at Drawbridge, at city com
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