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 71
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The first Effective Locomotive.
The first in our country-(like the first Steamboat) was that called " Old Ironsides," built in 1832-3, the first artistic construction of M. W. Baldwin-When she began her first operations along North Ninth St .- for the Philadelphia Germantown and Norristown Rail- road Co.,-she ran a mile in a minute, and was the wonder of assembled hundreds of people, gathered at and near the Depot. That same Engine is still in operation in Vermont. She ought to be preserved as a relic.
Ladies and. their affairs in Olden time.
The memoirs of Mrs. Joseph Reed (the wife of the Governor and General) tells us of sundry things as she found them in Philadelphia in in and about the year 1770 .- She had been Miss De Bert of London -and found things different then from her former home-said the houses were low-and found but one street of business like home where she liked then to go, for the sake of her recollections of Thames Street, London-She visits Boston, and goes all the way on horse back
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think of that, ye moderns! She liked Old England least, for its luxuries and conveniences ;- but resolves to keep, her preferences to herself. In time her feelings came over to the American and whig cause. She then expects generally, to, order her fineries from London,-and orders from her family there,-to have a fine damask Cloth for 21 shillings-a neat fan of leather mount for 25 shillings -Also, needles No. 5 to 10 .- She sends for four pair of black Calma shoes-eight dozen of eight bowed Cap wires-asks for a handsome Spring silk ; and proposes to send a gown to be dyed over, of any colour which it will best take. Says Miss Pearson makes money by visiting London once a year, for its fashions. She praises our climate, and finds the people very Civil-and much accustomed like · country people, to acquaint themselves with the affairs of their neighbours. Says Burlington, has the reputation of a very sleepy place-dull and quiet. She says, Men in trade, are in their habits, cheerful and gay,-especially at their tables,-being also acute men of business, in their Counting houses and stores. In her letters home, she shows much of such feelings of sacrifice, for a time, as we may now witness, from our own ladies, who leave gay homes, to become wives in California, or in the far West.
Through in Nineteen hours.
This is the promise of the advertisement of the new route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and I believe it is fulfilled every day. What that journey has been, I have some opportunity of knowing from a manuscript journal kept by Matthew Clarkson, Esq., in the year 1766. Mr. Clarkson was a merchant of Philadelphia-for several years Mayor of the city-and appears to have gone west- ward on behalf of some company with which he was connected, whose object was to carry on trade between Philadelphia and the Mississippi. He set out on horsehack, with a servant, August 6, 1766. On the first day he met wagons loaded with skins coming from the west and overtook others " loaded with pork going for the king's use to Fort Pitt"-the name of the settlement which the Eng- lish gave it in the place Du Quesne, and which was afterwards changed to Pittsburg. He lodged at " The Ship." 35 miles from Philadelphia.
The next day (Aug. 7,) he dined at " The Duke of Cumberland," and reached Lancaster in the evening. On the 8th crossed the Susquehanna at Wright's ferry, and reached York. On the 9th crossed Conewaga creek, and arrived at Carlisle, where he rested till the 12th, when he resumed his journey with a stronger horse, dined at Shippensburg, and lodged seven miles further on. On the 13th at the " Burnt Cabins," he overtook thirty-two horse loads of flour on the way to Fort Pitt, and mentions cattle going in the same direction, and " skins," coming eastward. " This day's journey [thirty-four miles] has been extremely tedious and fatiguing ; the
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road, except the first ten mnes, was nothing but hills, mountains, and stones, until you pass the Burnt Cabins, when it is tolerable, but hilly."
Aug. 14th .- From Littleton to breakfast at the foot of Sideling hill; dined at the crossings of the Juniata ; lodged at Bedford. Here he stopped for a day, and purchased an interest in five tracts of land in Cumberland valley, Danning's creek, and Woodcock valley, mostly in the vicinity of Bedford, containing in all eighteen hundred acres, for one-half of which he paid £90, ($240.)
Aug. 16th .- At the foot of the Alleganies he found an encamp- ment of Indians, under the command of Capt. Green, who were engaged in gathering and drying whortleberries. Lodged at Stony creek. Next day, dined at Ligonier, and lodged at the Twelve- mile run. 18th .- To Brushy run, Turtle creek, and reached Fort Pitt just after dark.
Thus he got " through in ten days," without counting stoppages, happily without being tantalized, as he jogged along under the hot sun, with the fore-knowledge that his grand-children would make the same journey " through in nineteen hours." His journal mentions indeed a " conductor of the trail," but it was of Conestoga wagons, not of cars and crates.
When he reached the embryo city of smoke, he found no sump- tuous hotels inviting him to repose. Upon his arrival, he says : "I was stored away in a small crib, on blankets, in company with fleas and bugs." He took a walk to " the ship-yard ; found four boats finished and in the water, and three more on the stocks; business going on briskly." Palmy days, those, in Pittsburg ; said boats being probably batteaux, not much greater than such as are now slung at the stern of the steam-monsters that lie or ply by hundreds on her waters.
The fort was under the command of Major Murray, who gave Mr. Clarkson his lodging in the barracks; but, on account of the miserable accommodations for boarding, he usually made his meals on bread and milk " at the store." The other officers of the garri- son were Captain Belneavis, Lieutenants McCoy, McIntosh, C. and G. Grant, and Hall. Doctor Murdock and Reverend Mr. McCleg- gan, chaplains, who preached alternately in Erse [Scotch] and English."
In an afternoon's ride from Fort Pitt he found an Indian settle- ment of the Mingoes. He mentions the arrival of a Seneca chief, who had been to the Illinois, and brought from that barbarous region, over his own post track, a packet of letters to the civilized east, from the commander at Fort Chartres, near the present St. Louis. The latest date was June 21st. The news of the day was that pro- vision was scarce and dear : Indian flour being at 5 shillings per hun- dred; ordinary buffalo meat at 3 shillings per pound. " The French on the opposite side of the river in plenty."" The mail from Fort Pitt was sent monthly by soldiers, to Shippensburg which was the nearest
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post office. Mr. Clarkson mentions the breaking of his thermometer as an irreparable loss. In these days it would probably be accounter! too small an article for the great blasts of the glass furnaces to con. descend to make. " No ropes for painters here, and no prospect of being able to supply this defect."
Mr. Clarkson was engaged in loading boats at Fort Pitt to trans- port merchandise down the Ohio to Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi. He engaged a Seneca chief to accompany him ; probably, as a guide, interpreter and protector through the tribes along the river, some of whom were not in a friendly state. Before consenting to go, Kayashuta " said he must first see his family at the White Mingo town, and warm the hearts of his nation, and know how things stood with them. For this purpose he wanted a couple of bottles of rum." This article was not so easily obtained in Pittsburg as it is now. " Sixteen kegs of spirits arrived on pack-horses." On the 3d of September the wagons arrived from the east with the merchandise for the loading of the boats. The Indian and a companion were to have " forty bucks," for their services, besides an interpreter at 12 dollars a month. At this point the cooper's shop was burnt, and the traders had " no other way of procuring casks to pack the flour in." About this time the Reverend Messrs. Duffield and Beatty arrived " on a message among the Indians to preach the gospel." On the 16th September the boat left Fort Pitt, and on the 11th of December arrived at Fort Chartres. The trade of the boats seems to have been chiefly with the Indians for peltry. They bought beaver, minx, otter, bear, deer, muskrat, wolf, panther, martin, rac- coon, fox, wild cat.
A memoranda made at Fort Chartres says, " the boats from New Orleans of the largest size carry about eighty hogsheads of claret ; twenty-two to twenty-four men, who have about 400 livres each. Three months are accounted a good passage. A hogshead of claret on freight pays 300 livers." This mention of claret is explained by remembering that the Mississippi was at that date a French river, as to its settlement,
The Pioneers of Seventy Years ago.
" Monument to a Pioneer .- The citizens of Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, are taking measures for erecting a monument over the grave of John Harris, the first settler on the banks of the Susquehanna river, and after whom has been christened that town." This causes this letter from William Darby Esq.,
Sir :- The preceding epigraph I cut from your paper of the 9th instant. I hope you will do me the favor to reinsert it in the Republic, with some remarks, which will explain why I give you the trouble. One is personal to myself. I was born in that part of old Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, now Dauphin; and in the autumn of 1781, with my parents, crossed the Susquehanna a
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Harris' Ferry. Though only between the ages of six and seven, I remember distinctly coming to and crossing the river. There was then Harris' Ferry-house on the east bank, and Kelso's Ferry-nouse on the west. When either Dauphin or Lebanon counties, then in- cluded in Lancaster, were made separate counties, I have no date. The village of Lebanon, then of some extent, preceded Harrisburg. The notice of an intention to erect a monument to the founder of Harrisburg excited in my mind many recollections which I cannot embody in words .. One was that Mr. Harris very narrowly escaped being murdered by savages on the very spot where Harrisburg stands. No one having a heart will ascribe it to vanity when I state that I was born, 1775, twelve miles from Harrisburg, then really frontier. The notice enclosed is, however, in one part an error. There were white settlers no doubt at both Sunbury and Wilkesbarre, and also other places on east Susquehanna, many years before at Harrisburg. My own personal knowledge of the place and its leading names go back beyond the foundation of Harrisburg as a town. There are some descendants of that family on the Susque- hanna. I am inclined to think.
There was, during more than a century previous to the treaty of Grenville, on the frontier settlemeuts of that part of the United States, a most admirable body of men, whose names have already in great part been sunk to oblivion. These men, under the title of Spies or Rangers, were the terror of the savages. With all the wily watch fulness of the Indian, the spy had the resources of civilzation .- Such men were John Harris, and, within my own remembrance and personal acquaintance, Lewis Wetzel, Martin Wetzel, Henry Jolly, and I might name more, who were the true and brave cham pions of the early progress of an immense region on which I have trod when in great part a wilderness ; and what is its aspect now ? A region of imperial extent, glowing with life. Could any or all of the men I have named, rise from the grave and hover over the scenes of their invaluable services, how ecstatic would be their feelings
Henry Jolly was a man of education and extensive reading; in manners dignified, and in the discharge of his duty as a " Spy," a true model of cool and collected self-command.
He was one, and a most efficient one, of a body of men whose names and even existence as a corps, are now lost in great part, to human memory, and the extent and value of whose services could not, were they even known, be estimated. I cannot, ought not, to omit one curious trait observed in the manners of the frontier spy- taciturnity. This fact was in my hearing noticed and accounted for by Henry Jolly in words to the following import :- " Habitual watchfulness, when on their duty, in the then interminable forests."
Peace and honor to their manes !
Wm. Darby
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Camden New Jersey.
This place now a city, and covering so much of ground in its Squares, was, in my boyhood, a Country place of open Commons, and fenced fields, and was only known as a place of three ferries- of upper, middle, and lower-having in connection with nem, severally, Taverns, and Stores, for the use of the market people resorting there-And all, long held by the three Coopers-Joseph, Daniel, and Joshua. The open grass commons, back from the River side, were generally in the state of their former Corn hillocks- left so, uncultivated for years, after their being so made fenceless. by the British in the War. Back, from the upper ferry about half a mile, was a raised Redoubt, made there by the same Military .- The common woods-began at about } of a mile from the River, and extended without houses, far back into the Country .- Back from the ferries were long rows of large trees of black cherries, and here and there, were Persimmon trees :- all for the use of the Philadelphia boys-From the lower ferry (Joshua's) down to Glou- cester point lay impassable, swampy meadows,-with here and there, invasions of River water .- Like wet grounds, lay between the middle and upper ferries-All much decked with gay and towering wild- rose bushes, and Alders,-Now the whole of the former aspects are changed-The lands are made dry, and many buildings occupy- ing the same-
The passages from Philadelphia to Camden, at that period, were wholly by Wherries and horse-boats-using Oars and sails. And, in the winter, when the ice was fixed or driving, the wherries were often seen on the ice, drawn along by the oarsmen and passengers. With their sharp bows, they often broke the ice through the floating cakes by lifting and sinking them, for that purpose-or if strong enough, raising them on to the floats, and sledding over them, into the next water.
This mention of ferries, reminds one of the equally unimproved position of Brooklyn, New York, which at the time referred to above, had but one Ferry house, and no appearance of a Town there ;- and having an abrupt bluff covered with original forest trees, and Shrubs,-the whole-wholly rural. Jersey City, was a Ferry house, surrounded with wet marsh.
Our Boys are habitual Destructionists.
The proof of this, is every where manifest, in their habit of effacing every thing ornamental and beautiful, which they can reach, tc mar and destroy. They show it even in their primary schools, in cnip- ping and destroying desks, benches, balustrades &c.,-They love to disfigure newly painted Walls,-and fences along the streets and in public walks. We are sorry to say, that such boys are peculiarly
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belonging to the Saxon race; for it is to be observed, that French, Spanish, and Italian boys, have no such propensities : on the contrary, they very early manifest an ambition to appear everywhere as little men, (" petit maitres.") They affect to dress and act as men- They are therefore to be seen very early at Balls, &c.,-among grown up persons ; and always to avoid street gatherings and rough outdoor plays &c., While, we talk of learning them gymnastics &c.,-should not Parents and Teachers, rather aim to learn them Conservative affections ! Let them know themselves better, and learn to forebear. Will parents consider ?
The State of our maiden ladies.
The Newburyport Herald, in moralizing upon their state and prospects thus states their position in " the land of steady habits :" And we may add, such are the strictures of many Editors, in many other Cities. May not wary Citizens, proceed to organise associa- tions, which may assume the responsibility of forming Sumptuary laws, which might embrace themselves and families as persons boldly " renouncing," the extremes of the day ; and cordially refusing to be ruled " or led thereby ?" If men, were to go into the same scale of expenditure for personal display, should we not soon find ourselves undone! Will not Parents and others consider ?
The Herald, thus deplores our position, to wit :
Our fathers used to tell of the profligacy of Paris; their children tell of the mysteries of New York, a city not far behind any in Europe. And making proper allowance for size, how far is New York ahead of our other cities and towns ? Once was a time when a wife was " help meet." We boast of our system of education ; we have female high schools, female colleges, female medical schools. Our girls are refined, learned, wise ; they can sing, dance, play pianos, paint, talk French and Italian, and all the soft languages, write poetry, and love like Venuses. They are ready to be courted at ten years, and can be taken from school and married at fifteen, and divorced at twenty. They make splendid shows on bridal tours, can coquette and flirt at the watering places, and shine like angels, at winter parties. But heaven be kind to the good man who mar- ries in the fashionable circles. What are they at making bread and boiling beef? Why, how thoughtless we are-to be sure they will board, or have servants. What are they at mending old clothes ? But there we are again; the fashions change so often, that no body has old clothes but the rag men and the paper makers now ! What are they at washing babies faces, and pinning up their trowsers? And here is our intolerable stupidity once more ; having children is left to the Irish ! What lady thinks of having nasty children about her now ?- or if she is unfortunate, don't she put them to wet nurses to begin with, and boarding schools afterwards ?
We repeat-we have come to a point, where young men hesitate and grow old before they can decide whether they can marry, and
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afterwards keep clear of bankruptcy and crime. What is the con- sequence ? There are more persons living a single life-are there more leading a virtuous life ? It is time for mothers to know that the extravagance they encourage is destructive of the virtue of their children ; that all the foolish expenditures making to rush their daughters to matrimony, are, instead of answering that end tending to destroy the institution of marriage altogether. We find now, that in the town of Hancock, with more than eight hundred inhabitants, no marriage is recorded for the year 1855; and in Cheshire, Middleton, Munroe, Montgomery, Roxborough, Halifax and Rutland, with populations varying from two hundred and seven- teen to fifteen hundred, but one marriage is reported in each. But moralizing apart
During the year the youngest male who was married was a youth of sixteen to a bride of seventeen. Seven grooms of the age of seventeen years were united to brides severally, one of fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, and nineteen each, and three of twenty-one. The youngest female was a girl, of thirteen years to a man of twenty- one. One male of sixteen years of age, seven of seventeen, fifty- three of eighteen, one hundred and forty-seven of nineteen, and ninety of twenty, were married for the first time ; and ten females, of fourteen, forty-three of fifteen, and seventy-three of sixteen were married also for the first time.
More than four sevenths of the marriages are among the foreign born ; and this, because, it is argued, the foreign born can afford to get married, and the native born can not : and this must be so long as our extravagant modes of life continue.
It is quite a modern affair to advertise-as now Sometimes occurs, for Wives and husbands-A queer affair in itself, and a hopeless refuge too.
A Lady's Traveling Wardrobe .- A few months since a lady from a neighboring city passed through Baltimore en route to Washington, expecting to be absent from her home for two days. In the rush of travel about that time, two trunks, containing her wardrobe, were missed; and as she held the checks of one of our railroads for them, the company of course were liable for the contents. She was requested to give, as far as she could remember, a list of the articles and their value ; when the following list was forwarded, and is now among the archives of the office :
One diamond bracelet and pin, 459 dollars, one hair bracelet, 60 dollars, one ditto, 20 dollars, one heavy gold bracelet, 110 dollars, two heavy gold rings, 20 dollars, one coral bracelet and pin, 35 dollars, one pearl fan, 15 dollars, one gold chain, 20 dollars, one brilliant pin, 10 dollars, two small coral bracelets, 7 dollars, two pearl card cases 15 dollars. Artificial flowers, 30 dollars. One set honiton laces, 20 dollars, one set valenciennes laces, 20 dollars, one set applique laces, 20 dollars ; other collars and sleeves, 40 dollars ; one handkerchief, 12 dollars, one ditto, 5 dollars, one ditto, 8 dollars
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one ditto, 7 dollars, one ditto, 5 dollars, one ditto, 3 dollars; others amount to 30 dollars. Bouquet holder, 10 dollars; Opera cloak, 30 dollars ; Ermine furs, 30 dollars. One velvet mantilla, 30 dollars. one parasol, 5 dollars; two embroidered skirts, 40 dollars ; one black flounced dress, 45 dollars, one pink flounced dress, 55 dollars, one buff flounced dress, 45 dollars, one buff plain silk, 10 dollars, one blue brocade, 25 dollars, one ditto, 20 dollars, one white muslin flounced, 35 dollars, one ditto 30 dollars, one brown merino, 30 dol- lars. One black silk basque, 18 dollars, one black satin basque, 12 dollars, one plain ashes of rose basque, 12 dollars. Two lace skirts, 25 dollars. One morning dress, raw silk, 25 dollars. One drab woolen skirt, 8 dollars, one white embroidered skirt, 10 dollars. Two long night-dresses, 10 dollars; one pair drawers, 2 dollars two chemises, 5 dollars ; one pair corsets, 3 dollars ; two pair white silk hose, 6 dollars, one pair black silk hose, 3 dollars, three pair lisle thread hose, 3 dollars, five pair cotton hose, 6 dollars. One pair white kid gaiters, 4 dollars, one pair brown and bronze gaiters, 6 dollars, one pair walking boots, 7 dollars, one pair red kid slippers, 2 dollars, one pair bronze kid slippers 2 dollars, one pair black pru- nell slippers, 2 dollars. Two ivory stick fans, 7 dollars, one white paper fan, 1 dollar ; one shell comb, 4 dollars, one dressing comb, 4 dollars ; one brush, 3 dollars; one braid hair, 4 dollars ; one set curls, 7 dollars; one head dress, 10 dollars, two ditto, 10 dollars ; three night caps, 2 dollars; one book, 1 dollar ; one opera-glass, 18 dollars ; two hand mirrors, 2 dollars; one glove box, 3 dollars ; seven pair of gloves, 7 dollars ; two pair mitts, 6 dollars, one ditto, 5 dollars ; five plain skirts, 10 dollars, two flannel skirts, 4 dollars ; one black silk basque, 12 dollars; one all wool delaine dress, 7 dol- lars, one brown poplein dress, 7 dollars, one night dress, 2 dollars. Plain skirts, 1 dollar. Trunk, 30 dollars, ditto, 15 dollars. Port- folio, 4 dollars. Flounced skirts, 5 dollars. Letter paper, pens water-colors, drawings, letters, bills, &c., Total, 1,765 dollars.
The forgoing catalogue was given as all that could be remembered at the time, but the next day another list was received, enumerating articles to the value of 300 dollars, making the grand total of the value of a young lady's wardrobe over 2000 dollars independent of the dresses, jewelry, &c., which she was wearing at the time the trunks were lost Fortunately, however, for the company, the miss- ing trunks were found, having been miscarried, and their contents all safe .- Baltimore American-May 1857.
The reader should observe, how little there is, of real necessary clothing-Say, only one pair drawers, and two Chemisettes.
Our Shad Fisheries.
It is interesting to consider the present exclusive prices of Shad in our markets, and their common former prices. About the period of the Revolutionary War, they could be commonly bought at the
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wharves, in Shad time, at 3 to 4 pence a piece ; and 12 shillings and 6 pence per hundred. Colonel Anthony I. Morris, told me, that he had seen shad sell, in several successive years-Say about ninety years ago, at ten shillings the hundred. At the beginning, when William Penn was present, he wrote of their great abundance; and said that " six Alloes or Rock, could be bought for one shilling." With their small Seines then, it was common to take five hundred, at a haul.
Contemplating such former facts, it may be interesting to a present reader, to learn our present position, from facts now published in our Public Ledger, to wit :
At each of all the large fisheries on the Delaware, there are employ- ed from fifty to sixty men. The Season of fishing is from the first of April to tenth of June. They make five hauls in twenty-four hours ; and the hauls, occupy from two and a half to three hours. The large size Seines are five hundred fathoms long ,-admitting a Sweep of nearly half a mile .- It is drawn to the shore by a windlass on the shore, in an operation of an hour and a half. Their largest hauls number from eight hundred to nine hundred shad. Rock, perch and catfish, are often found in the hauls, in large numbers. There are about two dozen of such Fisheries-one of the best of them at Fancy Hill brings a rental of 1200 dollars-The whole of the Fisheries, employ about one thousand men ; and they obtain about twenty thousand of fish, in each twenty-four hours.
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