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 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
SCENE . ON THE WISSAHICCON .- Page 42.
43
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
mits" died. It is known, by "the Chroniea Ephrata,"-a folio, that there was a brotherly affinity between " the Ridge hermits" (of Roxborough) and those of Ephrata. After Joseph Gorgas had gone to Ephrata, the premises, with a farm of seventy acres and a grist mill, fell to his son John Gorgas ; from him it was sold about the time of the Revolution, to Edward Miller ;- thence to Peter Care, fifty years ago, who held it till about the year 1800. Then it was bought by John Livezey, miller ; next by Longstreth, who made it a paper mill; and lately and lastly, by Joshua Garsed & Co. Since their possession of the premises, they have considerably increased the numbers and size of the buildings along the creek; and the Monastery House they have converted into an agreeable dwelling, changing and modernizing the internal forms of the rooms-taking out all the corner chimneys, &c.
The scenery from this house, and from the dell below, is very romantic, rugged, and in nature's wildest mood,-presenting, particu- larly, very high and mossy rocks, studded with stunted trees-the whole standing out very perpendicularly into the line of the Wissa- hiccon, and turning it off very abruptly in another direction.
It was in the year 1732, that the religionists of Ephrata first agreed to quit their former solitary life, and to dwell together in monastic society as monks. This they did first, in May 1733. Their book of chronicles says, that " the society was enlarged by members from the banks of the Wissahiccon." Of course, intimating and confirming the idea already advanced, that there was a brotherhood of their order, dwelling at or near the place now called the Monastery.
Christopher Ludwick, once an inhabitant of Philadelphia and Ger- mantown,-interred at the Lutheran ground in said town, in 1801, at the age of 81 years, was quite a character in his day ; and deserves some special notice. A short memoir of his life has been drawn up and published by Doctor Rush ; he deeming him to be a person fully worthy the effort of his pen to report him, as an exemplary and valuable citizen. He was by birth a German, born in 1720; by trade a baker. In early life he enlisted in the Austrian army and served in the war against the Turks. At Prague he endured the hardships of the seventeen weeks' siege. After its conquest by the French in 1741, he enlisted and served in the army of Prussia. At the peace, he entered an Indiaman, and went out to India under Boscawen; afterwards he was in many voyages, from 1745 to 1752, from Lon- don to Holland, Ireland and the West Indies, as a sailor. In 1753, he sailed to Philadelphia with an adventure of £25 worth of clothing, on which he made a profit of $300, and again returned to London. He had taken the idea of becoming a gingerbread baker in Phila- delphia ; and in 1754 he came out with the necessary prints-a seemingly new idea among the simple cake eaters then ! He began his career in Lætitia court, and began to make money fast by his new employment. He proved himself an industrious, honest and
44
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
good neighbour, which led to a deserved influence among the people and to the soubriquet of the " governor of Lætitia court."
At the commencing period of the Revolution in 1774, he had be- come rich, and gave his influence and his money freely, to help on the resistance of the colonies. He was elected readily on all the committees and conventions of the time, for that object. On one occasion, when it was proposed by General Mifflin to procure fire arms by private subscriptions, and whilst several demurred to it as unfeasible, he put down the opposition, by saying aloud, let the poor gingerbread baker be set down for £200! In the summer of 1776, he acted as a volunteer in the flying camp, without pay. He possessed great influence there among his fellow soldiers; he stimu- lated them to endurance; and on one occasion prevented their revolt when complaining of inadequte rations, by falling on his knees be- fore them, and imploring them to patience and better hopes. When eight Hessians were captured and brought to camp, he interceded to have them handed over to him to manage; which was to take them to Philadelphia, to there show them the fine German churches, and the comfort and good living of Germans in humble pursuits of life, and then to release them to go back to their regiment, and to tell the Germans that we had a paradise for his countrymen, if they would but desert their service. Desertion did follow whenever occasion offered; and the most of these lived prosperous citizens among us. So much for the war for them! With the same good design for his countrymen he solicited and obtained the grant to visit the Hessian camp on Staten Island, as a disguised deserter. There he suc- ceeded fully to impress them with the happiness of Germans settled in Pennsylvania, and to return safely, with a full assurance of the usefulness of his mission.
In the year 1777, he was cordially appointed by Congress as baker general of the American army, and to choose freely his own assist- ants and necessaries. In their instructions to him, they expected to require from him one pound of bread for every pound of flour, but Christopher readily replied, " Not so : I must not be so enriched by the war. I shall return 135 lbs. of bread for every 100 lbs. of flour :" an increase of weight by baking, seemingly not then understood by the rulers! and not much by families now.
As a proof that he was respected and valued in his sphere, he was often invited to dine with Washington, in large companies, besides having many opportunities of long conferences alone with him, as commander of the army, in relation to the bread supplies. The general appreciated his worth, and usually addressed him in company as " his honest friend." In his intercourse with the officers, he was blunt, but never offensive. By common consent he was privileged to say and do what he pleased. His German accent, his originality of thought and expression ; and his wit and humour, made him a welcome guest at every table in the camp. He took with him to
45
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
camp a handsome china bowl brought by him from China; around its silver rim was engraved his name, &c., and from it he was accustomed to offer his punch or other beverage with his own leading toast, to wit: "Health and long life to Christopher Ludwick and wife." That bowl still exists as a bequeathed legacy, to be perpe- tuated. At the return of peace, he settled on his farm near German- town. In his absence it had been plundered of every thing by the British. A certificate of his good conduct, in the proper handwriting of General Washington, given in 1785, was much valued, was put under frame, and kept hung up in his parlour, as his diploma. In that, he much gloried; and considered it a full recompense for losses which he had sustained by a depreciated currency, paid to him by sundry persons, for his bonds for good money lent them. He owned at one time eight houses in Philadelphia, and had out £3000 of money lent on bonds and interest. He left a great deal of his money to public charities, especially a fund for educating poor child- ren. He delighted to find out objects of charity, and to relieve their wants. In the time of the yellow fever of 1793, he went into Fraley's bakery in Philadelphia, and worked at bread baking gratui- tously, to relieve the wants of the poor. He had a great respect for religion and its duties, which he said he inherited from his father, who had given him, in early life, a silver medal, on which was in- scribed, among other devices, " the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin." This he always carried with him as a kind of talisman ; and with a view to enforce its remembrance and its precepts, when he left it to his family, he had it affixed to the lid of a silver tankard, and on the front he had inscribed a device of a Bible, a plough, and a sword, with the motto, " May the religious industry and courage of a German parent, be the inheritance of his issue!" Such a man leaves the savour of a good name, and a good example, to posterity. His remains now rest beneath an expensive monument, where the reader may read of his worth, and go, if he can, and do likewise !
His last house of residence in Philadelphia was No. 174 North Fifth street. He had had two wives; but left no children to survive him. Their relations became his heirs.
Colonel Gray's Powderhorn .- In July 1841, there was found in digging about two feet below the surface, in the lot of the New Lutheran church in Germantown, a very curiously wrought powder- horn of the Revolution, used and lost in the battle of Germantown, by Elijah Lincoln, a volunteer of Windham, Connecticut. This, when found, showed the way to its ownership, and the facts con- nected therewith,-by being published as a curious relic, in the Ger- mantown Telegraph. It was a large white bullock-horn, and had engraved thereon, besides the name of the owner-E. Gray-several pictures and devices: such as a sketch of Boston and its environs, Bunker's hill, Dorchester, and encampments of the military, the British fleet and positions. The facts in the case were these :-
46
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
Ebenezer Gray, and William Hovey-the inscribed maker of the horn, with Elijah Lincoln, were young volunteers of Windham, going to begin the war at Bunker hill. While encamped near there under Washington, the horn was engraved by Gray. At this time, we are to presume that regular cartouch boxes were not supplied. Upon the regular organization of the army, Gray, who was an educatad man, received a commission, which he honoured by his after services and bravery, and rose to the rank of colonel. When promoted, he gave his horn to Lincoln, under his promise to use it faithfully for his country. That he did in many battles; till at last it was lost in the affair at Germantown, by being pulled from his side by the grasp of a dying comrade, shot by his side, in the very act of drawing a load from it, for his musket! The company, with Lin- coln, rushed forward without the horn, and soon after he found another well filled for his purpose. When the present horn was found and published, it came out, from the publisher of the Demo- crat, of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, that he had been formally en- gaged in making out a pension claim for Lincoln, and had all these facts, before told, in his possession ! Colonel Gray is deceased, but his widow and son and daughter are alive at Windham, and have been informed of their opportunity to repossess this long lost relic of a patriot's service and glory .* It is something to be valued and per- petuated in a family! This circumstance reminds me of the follow- ing facts, of Captain George Blackmore, of the Virginian line. t He made my acquaintance in Germantown in 1832, desiring to go over the battle ground, where he had fought, side by side with his brother, in Chew's field. The brother was killed, and left near a spring house, found to be at Duval's fish pond in the rear of his house. He wanted to find that place again, and to shed a tear; and he had a difficulty to find the positions and places in his memory, since so changed by elegant improvements. It was a feeling concern to travel once more with his eyes and explanations " o'er the tented field to book the dead." Every thing interested him, and especially a choice of bullets, which I gave him, gleaned from Chew's house. He chose a battered leaden bullet which had been picked out from Chew's door. That, he said, he should incase in silver and hang to his watch chain, and bequeath to his heirs. I was glad thus to minister to his mournful pleasures. I might add, that I introduced him to Mr. Jacob Keyser, who had buried that brother, with four others, in the place at the spring house, since made the fish-pond,-in one hole, all in their clothes. Alas, poor undistinguished, yet meritorius suf- ferers for their country !
It was once a remarkable characteristic of Germantown, in its early history, say about the year 1700,-when it was described by Old- mixon, that the whole street of one mile in length was fronted with blooming peach trees. To think of a state of society where their
t He was of Berrysville, Frederick county, Virginia.
* His grandson has since got the horn.
47
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
shade trees along a public highway, should consist of the most de- licious fruit !
An original paper, by F. D. Pastorius, found at Stenton, of March 1708-9, presented to the council, sets forth his difficulty of getting redress against one John Henry Sprogel, through the plotting and con- trivance of Daniel Falkner, pretended attorney for the Frankford Company, for lands in Germantown-and to effect his fraudulent purposes, he had feed or retained the four known lawyers of the province, so as to deprive the said Pastorius, (himself a civilian,) and John Jawart, of all advice in law ; and being in himself unable to fetch lawyers from New York, he therefore prays the interference of the governor and council, so as to restrain further proceedings, until further action from the principals in Germany.
I have seen an old family Bible, 8vo., of the Shoemaker family, which came out with the first settlers in 1682, printed at Zurich in 1538, by Christoffel Froschouer, in Switzer-German, done so early as to be without verses. In many pages, verses are marked with a pen, and many passages are underscored to add to their force. It was marked as being bought for 50s. at second hand, in 1678. In it was a record of family marriages, births, and deaths. Isaac Schumacher, the head of the family, was born in Cresheim in Germany, married in Pennsylvania Sarah Hendricks, who was born in the same town, the 2d of 10 mo., 1678. She died a widow the 15th June, 1742, her husband having died the 12th February, 1732. Benjamin, a son of the above, was born in Germantown, the 3d August, 1704, married in Philadelphia, the 18th June, 1724, to Sarah Coates, daughter of Thomas and Bulah Coates. Benjamin died at Phila- delphia in 1767; the wife died the 8th June 1738, leaving four children. I have indulged in this lengthened detail, because this venerable old relic has got out of the family, by some means, and fallen into the hands of strangers ; and thus shows, how strangely families will sometimes allow their records to sink into oblivion ! It is since given by me to Samuel M. Shoemaker, in Baltimore.
There is, I presume, a great mass of citizens, who having never been in battle, feel a desire to have a close insight into the incidents which must there occur ;- this, as a means to remove some of the vagueness of their imaginings and conjectures. Such feelings I have had myself; and which have been in part relieved, by such en quiries as I have occasionally made among the few remaining indi- viduals who had witnessed the doings in the battle, and at the Bri- tish encampment, &c., in Germantown, to wit :
The most of the conflict was on the north-eastern side of German- town. That part of our troops which encountered the Hessians and British, near the junction of the Wissahiccon with the Schuylkill, had defiled for that purpose, after they arrived at Chestnut hill, going thence, as led by two guides, of whom Geo. Danenhower, lately alive, was one.
When the battle began, the fathers of families were quickly busied
48
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
in disposing of their children and women in cellars. In the present C. M. Stoke's house, then belonging to Squire Feree, there were col- lected two dozen of weeping and terrified women. George Knorr and other boys ran towards Philadelphia, as far as Nicetown, where they met the Hessians coming out, and then stopped. One cannon ball struck a tree at Haines' brewery, as they passed, and then went be- fore them down the street.
Boys were very curious and venturous; and several of them plucked up courage and got to the tops of houses, and even into the streets. to see what could be seen. Such as some of them saw, I shall re- late :- Such as the battallion of tall Virginians, under Col. Matthews, brought in prisoners from Kelley's place, and lodged in the church at the market house. The faces of the prisoners and their guards were well blackened about their mouths with gunpowder, in biting off their cartridges. These Virginians had just before captured a party of British in the fog, and set up a hurrah, which brought a greater force upon them, and caused their own capture.
The roar and rattling of discharges of musketry and cannon, was incessant : and the whistling of balls, were occasionally heard. Com- batants could be seen, from the house top, occasionally in conflict, then obscured by smoke, and then again exposed to view.
The battle, though begun at day light, was continued till after 10 o'clock. The retreat, when it began, a little before 11, must have been skilful as to general arrangement and orders, for it went off with entire silence. It seemed like a conflict and a great outbreak, suddenly hushed.
The battle was but little witnessed in the town, after the first onset, and but few of the military were seen along the main street. It was chiefly on the north-eastern side, on the tillage ground ; and the fences were mostly down. A great deal of fighting must have occurred in Joseph Magarge's field, near Branchtown, (probably with Stephens' division,) ascertained from the great number of leaden bullets found in his ten acre field, for years afterwards. Stephens himself had been set aside some time before, by his own officers, as too much inebriated to command. This was told me by one of his captains.
The present Dr. George de Benneville, of Branchtown, now aged 83 years, was a lad of sixteen, at the time of the battle of German- town, and saw much of the fight, and of the preceding and suc- ceeding operations of the two armies. They had the Highlanders and British cavalry quartered in his neighbourhood. They were always cheerful, and always seemed to go gaily and confidently into expected fights. On such occasions, the kilted Scots went off in full trot, keeping up with the trot of the cavalry. The soldiers made free to take and kill the cows of his family, and their neigh- bours; but the officers were gentlemanly in their deportment, and seemed to try to put them in a way to get some recompense. Seve. ral of the British officers were quartered in Thomas Nedrow's bouse
49
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
the same aow Butler's house, opposite to the residence of the present Pierce Butler. When the battle came on, the British made a barri- cade across the York road, at the place of those two houses. Our militia, in the time of the battle, made no stand of resistance in the neighbourhood of Branchtown, but seemed quickly to make their retreat ; and for this non-defence, as many of them were known in the neighbourhood, they did not fail, afterwards, to receive the jibes and jeers of the people. They accused them of throwing away their cartridges, as a feint of having exhausted them in fight! Dr. de Benneville saw the British army come down the York road, on their return and defeat, after they had had their affair at Edge hill, where Gen. Morgan, with his riflemen, had so ably discomfited them. The British still looked well, and as if able to make a bold stand, if pressed to it. The doctor has described to me, with lively vivacity, his vivid recollections of those days; and says they were daily of the most stirring interest to him, and others of his neighbourhood. They kept them daily excited, and interested in every thing doing around them; and almost every day brought something new to pass, which in some way or other, might engage the feelings, or the wonder, of himself, and his youthful companions. Such recollec- tions, to their possessors, at least, are even now felt to be worth a whole age of lesser years !
A British officer, wounded, was seen near the market house, in Germantown, led by two soldiers ;- he unexpectedly met there a surgeon, and said to him, all pale and faint, " I believe it is all over with me, doctor-I have got a mortal wound ?" The doctor opened his breast, while still standing in the street, and turning aside his linen, soon said,-" Don't fear, I shall save you-go on." On he went, quite a renovated man.
Mr. John Ashmead, still alive, and then an intelligent lad of twelve years of age,-as soon as the battle ceased, started from the market house, with a young companion, to "range o'er the tented field to note the dead." He saw several lots of dead, in parcels of sixes and sevens ; none of the wounded remaining. They visited Chew's house-there they saw before the house about thirty dead, whom citizens were already beginning to bury, north-west of the house. They went into the house and all over it-saw blood in every room-noticed where a six pounder, which had come in at the front window, had gone through four partitions, and then out at the back of the house. Observed that some of the British therein, had used the back windows on the roof to get out, and under the shelter of that roof, to fire upon assailants approaching the front. They saw a dead American soldier, lying by his still smoking fire brand, who had evidently gotten there under the shelter of a board fence, joining the house to the kitchen out-house, and had been shot, (vainly seeking " the bubble reputation,") as he was about setting fire to the same, by a soldier from the cellar window. Another, a fine young warrior, volunteering to effect the same purpose, with a VOL. II .- G 5
50
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
bundle of straw at a window, at the north-west corner, was also shot down on the spot. The same persons saw some six or seven bodies of soldiers, partially interred, back of the Methodist meeting- lane ; ground was heaped upon them just where and as they fell. Their feet were partly uncovered, and told their tale.
In R. Smith's woods, in Branchtown, were lately taken up the re- mains of three American soldiers, buried there, and reinterred by him with a head stone ; part of their clothes and caps still remained, also their buttons and flints. They were there as an advanced picket guard, and were surprised.
Persons who saw our retreating men at Chestnut hill, say they passed there with some show of order and control. It is, however, surprising how very few seem to have seen the whole scene, with sufficient intelligence to afford a picture to any inquirer now. One wants to know how they looked and did, how fared the wounded, and how they got on, &c., &c. Some of those in the retreat passed by the way of Oxford, thus showing a wide dispersion. Sundry of our wounded were deemed far enough removed when taken into the Episcopalian church, as their hospital, at Flour town.
The British, shortly after the battle, concentred in Philadelphia and vicinity. Directly after they left Germantown, a troop of Ame- rican horsemen came through the town upon their rear, so closely, that a British surgeon, who had just left dressing the wounds of three American officers, prisoners in the Widow Hess' house, was over- taken on foot in the street. When they were about to arrest him, W. Fryhoffer, who saw it, and knew the facts in the case, proclaim- ed his useful services, and he was told to walk to the city at his ease. In the mean time, the three officers were taken as prizes, and thus unexpectedly liberated. The same troop, advancing a little further, encountered a Quaker looking man in a chaise, who, in trepidation, made a short turn at Bowman's lane and upset, and thus exposed a large basket full of plate. He and his treasure were captured and ordered off to head-quarters.
One of the boys of that day has told me how he used to go to mil., to bring flour to an individual in Germantown, who used to de- liver it out to women coming from Philadelphia,* at high prices, and carrying it in small parcels concealed about their persons. These were probably petty dealers for the wants of the town, and thus made their gain. The same returned with salt, &c.
British officers were generally quartered in houses in the town, and demeaned themselves very civilly to the families therein. The officers, very many of them, were young ; only the superior grades were aged. The soldiers were well disciplined, and did not commit any severe aggressions. The 33d one night stole a neighbour's cow, killed her, and covered her with straw, behind the late Wm. Keyser's
* It was carried to Philadelphia, and brought $8 per cwt. I knew a man to carry 3 cwt and boys that carried & cwt., but they had to take a by-road for fear of losing it
51
Pennsylvania Inland .- Germantown.
bark house ; a sham search was made next morning, but it was soon hushed, and the cow cut up. They were said to be the clearings of the jails. The 33d were noted thieves, but they had to do it quietly.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.