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. III > Part 13
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P. 182. For the articles by " Lang Syne" see Hazard's Reg. Penna., vol. ii. pp. 175, 261, 286, 325, 346, 365, 366, 375; and vol. iii. pp. 21, 22, 41.
THE WARDROBE OF FRANKLIN.
The Wardrobe of Benjamin Franklin, p. 191 .- We copy the whole of the advertisement relating to his clothing, alluded to by Watson in Vol. I. p. 191: The thief had carried off "a half- worn sagathee coat, lined with silk; four fine homespun shirts ; a fine Holland shirt, ruffled at the hands and bosom ; a pair of black broadcloth breeches, new seated and lined with leather ; two pair of good worsted stockings, one dark color, the other light blue ; a coarse cambric handkerchief marked F in red silk ; a new pair of calfskin shoes; a boy's new castor hat, and sundry other things." And the thief was stated to be a schoolmaster, who wore " a lightish-color great-coat, red jacket, black silk breeches; an old felt hat, too little for him, and sewed in the side of the crown with white thread, and an old dark-color wig."
In 1750, Franklin again met with a similar loss, and advertised for "a woman's long scarlet cloak, with double cape; a woman's gown of printed cotton, of the sort called brocade, very remark- able, the ground dark, with large red roses and other large red and yellow flowers, with blue in some of the flowers, and smaller blue and white flowers, with many green leaves ; a pair of woman's stays, covered with white tabby before and dove-colored tabby behind, with two large steel hooks."
Imagine Franklin redivivus at the present day walking down
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Annals of Philadelphia.
Chestnut street with his wife. They would probably excite some attention. He with his bushy and curly wig, huge spectacles, red flapped waistcoat, frilled bosom and sleeves, repaired breeches coming to the knee, and finished off with light blue stockings and large buckled shoes ; and his wife with her flat gypsy bonnet, enormous hoops, short petticoat, and gown glorious with red roses and yellow and blue flowers, the whole surmounted with a scarlet cloak with double cape !
Watson does not exhaust the list of long-forgotten and now unknown articles of wear, as the following advertisement of Peter Turner in 1738 will show : " Broadcloth, kerseys, grograms, taf- fetas, harabines, sooloots, poplins, chinus, fox curtains, belladine silks ;" also " cotton romals, penascas, double and single sleetas, broad and narrow cadis, damask florells, wove worsted patterns for breeches, watered barrogans, striped ducapes, mantuas, cherry. derries, silk dumadars, shaggyareen, seletius, chex, bunts, chelloes satin-quilted petticoats," etc. Many of these things, it will be seen, declared their origin, for many of the largest merchants at that time were engaged in the India trade and imported goods made there.
The elegant and expensive styles of dress common in England in the times of Queen Anne and George I. were imitated here as much as the purses of the gentry would allow. But where every- thing was costly and not plenty, clothing was made to do duty as long as possible. The proverbial carefulness and economy of the Quakers also were strong elements to keep down expenditure, and it was no uncommon thing to read of clothing, wigs etc. devised by will.
WATCHES.
It was so rare to find watches in common use, p. 194 .- In 1738, John Webb, a member of the Junto and friend of Franklin, ad- vertised for his watch stolen from him as a silver watch, with an outside case of fish-skin, studded and hooped with silver. It had a calfskin string, with four steel springs and a swivel, and two steel seals and a key hanging to the string.
Perhaps the oldest clock in the city is the one to be seen in the collection of the Historical Society at their rooms on Spruce street above Eighth ; it was deposited there some years ago. Of it Dr. R. S. Mackenzie wrote the following: "This ancient clock, belong- ing to a gentleman in this city, was made by A. Fromantell, Am- sterdam, before he removed to London, where he introduced the art of clockmaking. This was about 1659, two years after the cele- brated Huyghens von Zuylichem, the natural philosopher, follow- ing up a hint thrown out by Galileo, constructed the pendulum clock, of which a full description is to be found in his great work
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Watches.
published at the Hague in 1658, and entitled Horologium Oscilla- torium, sive de Motu Pendulorum. Dr. Hooke, ten years later, removed the reproach that 'Huyghens' clock governed the pen- dulum, whereas the pendulum ought to govern the clock,' by inventing an escapement, which enables a less maintaining power to carry a pendulum. This (the crutch or anchor escapement) is the governing power in the old clock in the Philadelphia Library, whereas the clock in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has the Huyghens pendulum. The Library clock was made, not at Amsterdam by the elder Fromantell, but by his son at London ; consequently, it could not have belonged to Oliver Cromwell, as sometimes stated, seeing that the Protector died in 1658, the year before any clock had been made in England. To the clock in the Historical Society a striking apparatus is appended ; it occu- pies a place on the top of the clock, and is singularly clear in tone. The clock, as far as we can judge by comparing it with a print, much resembles the horologe presented by Henry VIII. to Anne Boleyn. It stands about eight inches high, is richly carved, and is strongly gilt outside. The works are in excellent order, though two centuries have elapsed since they were made."
This brought out the following article : "Dr. Shelton Mac- kenzie adopts a very prevalent erroneous opinion in reference to the date of the invention of the pendulum. This is a subject to which I have devoted considerable attention, having consulted every available authority in the English language; and the irre- sistible conclusion to which I have been driven is that, along with the invention of gunpowder, the mariner's compass-nay, even the art of printing itself-the precise date of the invention, as well as the name of the inventor, of the pendulum, is involved in inextricable doubt and obscurity. I am aware that popular belief is divided between Galileo and Huyghens as to introducing the pendulum, but, whoever was the inventor, I can furnish ocu- lar demonstration that neither of them is entitled to that credit. I have in my possession a portable brass clock, with pendulum movement, made in 1566; and Galileo was born in 1564, and Huyghens not till 1629. My clock is very similar in appearance to the 'Anne Boleyn clock,' as represented under the head of Horology in Chambers's Cyclopædia ; and it is a remarkable fact that, with the exception of the engraving, these usually volumi- nous authors dismiss that clock without a single comment as to its maker or the date of its construction. The history of my clock is exceedingly romantic, but is far too lengthy to be pre- sented at present. Suffice it to say that it originally belonged to Mary Queen of Scots; and as the subject of ancient clocks seems lately to have attracted considerable public attention, I purpose depositing mine, at no distant period, in some public place where it can be seen and examined by the curious in such matters."
Remarkable Watch that Strikes the Quarter Hour .- An ex-
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Annals of Philadelphia.
tremely fine imported watch, made by the celebrated maker L. Audemar, took the first prize at the Centennial. In external ap- pearance it is like an ordinary fine watch, with heavy hunting cases, but a glance at the works and movement shows its rare value. It strikes the hours like a clock, and after the quarter- strike repeats the hour-stroke. It is also a minute repeater at pleasure. There is but another watch of the kind in the country, and that was owned by the late Matthew Baird. It cost thirteen hundred dollars, but the one above referred to, a later make than that of Mr. Baird and with added improvements, could probably be had for three or four hundred dollars less.
FASHIONS.
Fashions, p. 195 .- My father, when he was at Princeton Col- lege in 1798 and '9, in common with all the students, wore white- top boots and short breeches; the boots had toes very sharp pointed, and sometimes they were made so long as to be turned up and fastened to the tops with chains, mostly of silver; va- rious liquid washes were used to give the white tops a proper color and polish. They wore the hair tucked up behind with a small tortoise-shell comb, or queued. Boots were also worn over pants, which were then made as tight as the skin, frequently of elastic web. Swallow-tails ceased to be worn as street coats about 1844 or 1845.
P. 202. Some years ago, in going along our streets and read- ing the signs, frequently, in the case of tailors of the first class -such as Charles Watson, Robb & Winebrenner, and other well-known firms-they put upon their signs that they were " mercers and tailors." At the present time many of these fabricators of garments call themselves "merchant tailors," while the ready-made clothing people call themselves "clo- thiers." The word "tailor" is descriptive of one who makes clothes for men, as " mantuamaker " refers to one who makes clothes for women. A " mercer" is one who deals in silks and woollen commodities. A " draper " is one who sells cloth. A draper might therefore be a cloth or silk merchant, neither of whom made up garments. At one time, when silk in breeches, waistcoats, and even in coats, was an ordinary material of men's wear, the mercer might very well be considered as of more than ordinary importance if he were also a tailor. But as silk has gone almost entirely out of fashion in men's costumes, there comes in the draper, who deals in cloth; and the draper and tailor may very well be used together. As for the term " mer- chant tailor," it seems to have been employed to designate a person in the trade who considered himself above the slop-shop
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Carpets, Oil-Cloths, and Paperhangings.
keeper. The "clothier " of the present day is the successor of the slop-shop keeper of the past. The latter had a small estab- lishment which, when full, might hold three or four hundred garments. The clothier turns out coats, vests, and pants by thousands, and being therefore in his own estimation a more important man than the slop-shop keeper, he is entitled to an- other appellation.
The Ole Bull Hat .- Ole Bull first made his appearance in this city in December, 1843, and performed here in that month and afterward, and went to Europe in December, 1845. He wore a sealskin cap about half the size of a lady's muff at the present day-in shape quite common of late years on the heads of boys and young men. Being a novelty, and considered ugly by the rabble of the town, the wearers of "Ole Bull" caps were ridi- culed and hooted at, and on a few occasions when the streets were full-notably on a Christmas Eve-the wearers were at- tacked and maltreated. The cap suddenly went out of fashion after that, to be revived again of late years, perhaps on account of the plenty and cheapness of seal's skin, until even the ladies adopted it. It is most convenient for gentlemen to wear to evening-parties, the opera, or theatre; it can readily be put into the overcoat pocket.
CARPETS, OIL-CLOTHS, AND PAPERHANGINGS.
They then had no carpets, p. 204 .- The carpet industry is cen- turies old in England, and its origin in the East is lost in the ob- scurity of time. The manufacture of carpet was not introduced into this country, with the exception of the home-made rag-car- pet, until some time after the Revolutionary War.
The first regular establishment in the United States was that of William P. Sprague in Philadelphia, founded in 1791. The census of 1810, less than twenty years after, reported the whole product of the United States in this class of goods at 10,000 yards, of which 7500 yards were made in Philadelphia. The census of 1870 shows that there were then 689 carpet-factories in the United States, employing 13,000 persons and $13,000,000 capital, paying annually $4,700,000 in wages, and producing an- nually goods to the value of $22,000,000.
A canvass of the carpet manufacturing business of Philadel- phia made in July, 1876, shows that there were then 180 carpet factories in this city, employing 7325 hands and 1572 horse- power of steam, and producing for the year then ending 22,901,825 yards, valued at $13,929,392. The number of power-looms was 592, and of hand-looms 3517. The produc- tion was divided as follows :
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Annals of Philadelphia.
Brussels, yards . 370,400
Tapestry . 900,000
All-wool ingrain and three-ply 6,018,909
Cotton and wool ingrain
12,135,404
Venetian
1,582,276
Damask .
1,894,836
22,901,825
Since these statistics were collected, McCallum, Crease & Sloan have added to their business the manufacture of Brussels, and Horner Brothers and Robert Cameron have commenced the manufacture of Axminster.
In addition to the above figures, it is estimated that there were made carpets not included in the above list of-
Dutch wool, valued at . $250,000
Wool and rag, valued at 200,000
Hemp and jute, valued at 800,000
Messrs. John & James Dobson, who are
the largest makers of all the grades,
making nearly $2,000,000 a year, also
made rugs and mats valued at, say . 20,000
Which added to the product as stated above-viz.
13,929,392
gives a total value of products of . $15,199,392
Mr. Lorin Blodget, the well-known statistician, in considering these figures, in order to arrive as near as possible to what he deems the true production, adds to the
Product stated-viz. · $15,199,392
10 per cent. for under-valuation . 1,519,939
And for probable omissions 500,000
giving a total of . $17,219,331
The founder of the manufacture of oil-cloths in the United States was Isaac Macauley, who began the business in Phila- delphia about the year 1816 at the corner of Broad and Filbert streets. About the year 1820 he purchased the Hamilton coun- try-seat, called " Bush Hill," upon which a mansion had been built in 1740 for Andrew Hamilton, and used in 1793 as a yel- low-fever hospital. He converted the mansion into an oil-cloth factory, and erected in addition thereto large buildings on Eigh- teenth street and on Morris street, now Spring Garden street. The land included in this purchase extended southward from Spring Garden street to Pennsylvania avenue, and Mr. Macauley erected a fine mansion fronting on Hamilton street, with grounds extending from Seventeenth to Eighteenth streets, which were beautifully improved. His success as an oil-cloth manufacturer induced him to become a carpet manufacturer also, and the old
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Carpets, Oil-Cloths, and Paperhangings.
Hamilton mansion was fitted up under the supervision of skilled workmen from Kidderminster, who were brought over from England by Mr. Macauley, and who wove in this establishment the first Brussels carpet made in the United States. Mr. Ma- cauley spun his own yarn for carpets, and also spun the yarn and wove the canvas twenty-one feet wide to make his heavy floor oil-cloths upon. He was a man of great energy and enter- prise, and had stores in Philadelphia and New Orleans for the sale of his productions. In the financial crash of 1837, Mr. Macauley fell, and his woollen and carpet mills and oil-cloth factory were sold and passed out of his hands and those of his family. In 1848, Mr. Thomas Potter bought the oil-cloth manufactory at Eighteenth and Spring Garden streets from Mr. Charles Henry Fisher, the then owner. Mr. Potter had learned the business of making oil-cloths with Isaac Macauley, and had been engaged in that business in a factory erected in 1840 by Potter & Carmichael on Third street above Beaver, on the lot now occupied by St. John's Baptist Church. The firm of Potter & Carmichael was dissolved in 1853, Mr. Potter continuing the business at Bush Hill, where he enlarged the buildings, intro- duced new and improved machinery, and applied heat to the drying of the oil-cloths, thus greatly increasing the producing capacity of the factory. Mr. James Carmichael established an oil-cloth factory at Second street and Erie avenue, or Cooper- ville. In 1867 he died, and his factory was purchased by Mr. Potter in 1868. The widening of Spring Garden street in 1871 forced Mr. Potter to remove his whole business to the Second street and Erie avenue site, and the property at Eighteenth and Spring Garden was sold to Mr. Isaac Budd, who built thereon the beautiful private residences on Spring Garden, Eighteenth, and Buttonwood streets.
There are now but two oil-cloth manufactories in Philadelphia -that of Thomas Potter & Sons, at Second street and Erie avenue, and that of George W. Blabon & Co., at Nicetown Station on the Reading Railroad. The establishment of Thomas Potter & Sons covers nearly four acres of ground, and is the largest and most complete establishment in the United States, and probably in the world. It has a capacity equal to the production of 1,500,000 yards of furniture and carriage cloth, and 1,000,000 square yards of floor oil-cloth, annually, employing 250 hands and 50 horse- power of steam, burning five tons of coal daily for power and drying, and the actual product having a value of $800,000 per annum.
The factory of Messrs. George W. Blabon & Co. is of recent establishment. It occupies six large buildings, employs 100 hands and 150 horse-power of steam, principally for heating and drying, no fires being used in the establishment except in the boiler-house All the kinds of floor, table, stair and carriage oil-
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Annals of Philadelphia.
cloth, enamelled cloths, etc. are produced. The capacity for making floor oil-cloth is about 500,000 square yards annually, worth about $200,000, and for the other kinds about 2500 yards per day, or 750,000 yards per year of 300 working days, and valued at about $100,000. This firm are also the largest pro- ducers of painted window shades in the State of Pennsylvania, and perhaps in this country, having a capacity for making 50,000 pairs a month, in addition to their oil-cloth trade. The shades are made of muslin, saturated with oil paint, and having a border or other design on them.
The oil-cloth manufactories of Philadelphia excited much in- terest from the foreign commissioners visiting the Exhibition, and the result promises to be that the American goods will largely supersede the English in the continental markets. A visit of the Austrian commission to the Messrs. Potters' factory, resulted in an order for 1700 pieces of the furniture oil-cloth, so well known as a covering for desks, cushions, etc., to be sent to Leipsic. This class of goods was originated, and is yet almost exclusively made, in this country, and is known in Europe as " American. leather cloth." The heavy jute canvas or burlaps of which floor oil-cloth is made is nearly, if not quite all, im- ported from Scotland.
· Papering of the Walls, p. 205 .- Ryves and Montgomery com- menced the manufacture of paperhangings during the Revolu- tionary War. Anthony Chardon very early introduced paper hangings into Philadelphia.
WASHINGTON'S CARRIAGE.
The carriage of Washington, p. 209 and p. 582 .- I have seen this carriage. It was brought from New Orleans, and exhibited on Chestnut street as a curiosity. Every one who was desirous of sitting where Washington had sat paid twenty-five cents for the privilege. It was then stored away in the lumber-room of a coach-factory, and was again exhibited in 1876, at the Centennial Exhibition. It is now at the Permanent Exhibition.
There were two coaches of Washington, as, although Wat- son and Lossing apparently describe the same coach, they give different statements of its origin and its end. Watson says it was either presented to him by Louis XVI. or was. imported for Gov- ernor Richard Penn ; while Lossing, in Mount Vernon and its Associations, says Washington, " soon after his arrival in New York to assume the duties of the Presidency, imported a fine coach from England, in which, toward the close of the time of his resi- dence there, and while in Philadelphia, he often rode with his family, attended by outriders. On these occasions it was generally
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Washington's Carriage.
drawn by four, and sometimes by six, fine bay horses. The first mention of a coach in his diary, in which he evidently refers to this imported one, is under date December 12, 1789 : 'Exercised in the coach with Mrs. Washington and the two children (Master and Miss Custis) between breakfast and dinner-went the fourteen miles round.' Previous to this he mentions exercising in 'a coach ' (probably a hired one) and in 'the post-chaise,' the vehicle in which he travelled from Mount Vernon to New York."
Watson says it was sold after Washington's death, and as early after as 1804-5 he saw it in New Orleans, where it lay neglected, and was finally destroyed in the British invasion, and part of the iron was reserved for Mr. Watson, and the remainder was used around a grave; while Mr. Lossing says: "This English coach was purchased by the late Mr. Custis of Arlington when the ef- fects of the general were sold after Mrs. Washington's death, and it finally became the property of the Right Rev. William Meade, bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia. Of this vehicle the bishop thus writes : ‘His old English coach, in which himself and Mrs. Washington not only rode in Fairfax county, but travelled through the entire length and breadth of the land, was so faithfully executed that at the conclusion of that long jour- ney its builder, who came over with it and settled in Alexandria, was proud to be told by the general that not a nail or screw had failed. It so happened, in a way I need not state, that this coach came into my hands about fifteen years after the death of General Washington. In the course of time, from disuse, it being too heavy for these latter days, it began to decay and give way. Be- coming an object of desire to those who delight in relics, I caused it to be taken to pieces and distributed among the admiring friends of Washington who visited my house, and also among a number of female associations for benevolent and religious objects ; which associations and their fairs and other occasions made a large profit by converting the fragments into walking-sticks, picture-frames, and snuff-boxes. About two-thirds of one of the wheels thus pro- duced one hundred and forty dollars. There can be no doubt that at its dissolution it yielded more to the cause of charity than it cost its builder at its first erection. Besides other mementos of it, I have in my study, in the form of a sofa, the hind seat, on which the general and his lady were wont to sit.'"
Lossing further says: "This coach was one of the best of its kind, heavy and substantial. The body and wheels were a cream- color, with gilt mouldings, and the former was suspended upon heavy leathern straps which rested upon iron springs. Portions of the sides of the upper part, as well as the front and rear, were furnished with neat green venetian blinds, and the remainder was enclosed with black leather curtains. The latter might be raised so as to make the coach quite open in fine weather. The blinds afforded shelter from the storm while allowing ventilation. The
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Annals of Philadelphia.
coach was lined with bright black leather, and the driver's seat was trimmed with the same. The axles were wood, and the curved reaches iron."
"In a letter to Mr. Lear soon after arriving at Mount Vernon, Washington mentions the fact that he had left his coach and har- ness with Mr. Clarke, a coachmaker in Philadelphia, for repairs, and requests him to see that they are well done when he shall reach that city, Mr. Lear being then in New York. David Clarke was an Englishman, and came over to Philadelphia about the year 1783. He constructed a travelling-coach for the first President, and was sometimes called 'Washington's coach-maker.'"
Washington had three vehicles-one a post-chaise for travel- ling and the country ; one a family coach, in which he went to church ; and another a chariot for state purposes. All were cream-colored, with three figures on the panels. His servants wore white liveries trimmed with scarlet or orange.
Formerly, livery-stables and hacks, etc., p. 210 .- Since then om- nibuses have had their day, and were the vehicles almost exclu- sively used on various routes through the city. The fare was cheap, and they were comfortable at that time; but now, since the smooth-gliding and non-jolting passenger railway car, either by steam or horse-power, has so universally taken their place, it is almost painful to ride in an omnibus over the rough stones. The time will come when an omnibus will be a curiosity.
GAS, WATCHMEN, ETC.
The first gas made in Philadelphia, or in the United States, was manufactured by M. Ambroise & Co., Italian fire-workers and artists, and was exhibited in burning lights of fanciful fig- ures, temples, Masonic devices, etc., at their amphitheatre, Arch street, between Eighth and Ninth, in August, 1796. In 1817, Dr. Charles Kugler made illuminating gas, with which Peale's Museum, in the State House, was lighted. The second Masonic Hall, on Chestnut street, was lighted with gas in 1820, and for many years afterward. The Gaslight Tavern, Second street, near Walnut, was also illuminated with gas for some years. The Philadelphia Gas Company was chartered in 1835, and commenced operations February 8th, 1836. The city of Phila- delphia bought out the rights of the company in July, 1841. Lighting the city with gas was very vigorously urged in the spring of 1833, and Councils sent Mr. Merrick, the superintend- ent, to Europe to ascertain the most important means of accom- plishing the object. I can well remember when our churches were first illuminated with it. Among the earliest was the church at Tenth and Filbert streets, built for the late Dr. Be-
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