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 24
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P. 397. Directions had been given in 1732 that "the ground belonging to the State House may be with the least expense, and with all convenient speed, levelled and enclosed with a board fence, in order that walks may be laid out and trees planted to render the same more beautiful and commodious." A brick wall seven feet high was finally erected in 1770 as a protection, but no attempts to plant or embellish the grounds seem to have been made down to the period of the Revolution. The wall on Wal- nut street had an immense gateway and pair of wooden doors in the middle of that front. In 1785 trees were planted, walks laid out, and the Square otherwise made attractive. In 1791, to ad- mit " a freer circulation of air, the east and, west walls were low- ered," and "an iron railing fixed into a stone coping along the length of Fifth and Sixth streets." In 1813 the Walnut street wall was also lowered to correspond. A very handsome iron gate, flanked by substantial marble posts, the latter surmounted by lamps, now replaced the cumbersome folding doors; at the same time the entire brick wall around the State House Yard was removed, and another, surmounted by an iron railing, put in its place in 1811-13, by order of Councils, mainly by the efforts of George Vaux, at a cost of $6506.18, exclusive of the cost of the southern gate. Of this sum over three thousand dollars was sub-
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scribed by individuals. A serious accident occurred here when celebrating the laying of the Atlantic cable, September, 1858; several feet of the railing and capping fell upon and injured the people, owing to the numbers crowded upon them and pulling the wall over on them. In 1875-76 the wall and railing and en- trance-gates were removed, and the present beautiful granite wall and extra entrances made ; also the grounds were newly laid out with more numerous and convenient walks, flower-beds, etc.
By the report of a committee in September, 1784, it was shown that a number of repairs was needed. The sidewalk had not been paved, but was still in turf, except the semicircular path- way of pebble-stones leading to the steps. A brick sidewalk nine feet in width was laid and the intervening space gravelled. Two pumps were placed, one in front of each arcade, and one hundred leather fire-buckets ordered, but no trees planted. The street proposed to be opened from Chestnut to Market, opposite the State House, in the Assembly in 1772, is still unacted upon.
P. 397. Col. George Morgan of Princeton presented, through Samuel Vaughan, in April, 1785, one hundred elm trees, which until lately were the oldest trees in the Square. These were all cut down on account of the worms in them. (See Reg. Penna., vol. i. p. 416, for a letter of thanks from President Dickinson for them, dated April 22, 1705; also Col. Records, vol. xiv. p. 368 ; also Penna. Archives, vol. x. p. 420.)
By the violent storm of Wednesday, October 23, 1878, a num- ber of the finest and oldest trees were blown down in this Square and in Washington Square.
P. 399. At the time the British were expected to occupy Philadelphia the bell and seven others from Christ Church and two from St. Peter's were removed to Allentown, the latter against the objections of the wardens and vestry. In passing through Bethlehem the wagon containing the State House bell broke down, and had to be unloaded.
Stated by Judge Mckean, p. 400 .- See his letter in appendix to Marshall's Remembrancer or diary, published by William Duane ; also Force's American Archives.
Morris, Rush, etc., p. 400 .- Morris should be Messrs. Morris was a member on the 4th of July, and five lines above he is said to have been absent on that day.
Charles Biddle (p. 401) was the father of Nicholas (president Bank U. S.) and of Commodore James Biddle, etc.
Edward Burd (p. 401) was appointed prothonotary of the Su- preme Court Aug. 29th, 1778. His office was on the west side of Fourth street, below Walnut.
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Who First Publicly Read the Declaration ?
WHO FIRST PUBLICLY READ THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ?
P. 402. Hon. Wingate Hayes of Rhode Island, a member of the convention which sat in Philadelphia respecting the erection of a monument in Independence Square, July 5 and 6, 1852, said in his speech : "It is, sir, a fact of great interest to us that the Declaration of Independence, signed in this hall, was read to the people of Philadelphia from yonder balcony by a Rhode Island man, the first commodore in the American navy and a brother of one of the Signers of that great instrument." [Alluding to Commodore Hopkins. See the proceedings as published in a pamphlet, p. 60.]
This fact has been a doubtful one. Strange to say, the papers of the day, announcing that it was read on the 8th of July, do not say by whom it was read, and old persons who heard it read differ as to the reader. But I think the following extract from Marshall's Remembrancer, printed by Duane, ought to settle the question, as it was a record made at the time, after his return from hearing it read True, we have just said others who heard it read differ, but Marshall was one of the Committee of Safety under whose charge the proceedings were, and therefore was an official actor in the scene. He says (p. 93): "Joined the Com- mittee of Safety (as called); went in a body to State House Yard, where, in the presence of a great concourse of people, the Declaration of Independence was read by John Nixon. The company declared their approbation by three repeated huzzas." Nixon was himself one of the Committee of Safety.
Extract from minutes of Committee of Safety : "Ordered. That the Sheriff of Philadelphia read or cause to be read and pro- claimed at the State House in the city of Philadelphia, on Mon- day, the Eighth day of July, instant, at twelve o'clock at noon of the same day, the Declaration of the Representatives of the United Colonies of America, and that he cause all his officers and the constables of the said city to attend the reading thereof.
" Resolved, That every member of this Committee in or near the city be ordered to meet at the Committee Chamber before twelve o'clock on Monday, to proceed to the State House, where the Declaration of Independence is to be proclaimed."
" The Committee of Inspection of the City and Liberties were requested to attend the proclamation of Independence, at the State House, on Monday next at twelve o'clock." (See Col. Records, vol. x. p. 635.)
"The son of an Irishman, Colonel Nixon, as already men- tioned, had the honor of first publicly announcing and reading it [the Declaration] from the State House." (Brief Account of the Socy. of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, 1844, p. 68.)
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"He, John Nixon, had the honor of first reading the Decla- ration of Independence on the 12th of July [8th], 1776, to the people assembled in Independence Square. This he did from the central window of the State House fronting the Square." (Ibid., p. 34.)
" June 12, 1855. Richard Willing, at his house, Third and York court, a relative of the Nixon family, informed me, in presence of Henry J. Williams, that he often heard the Nixon family speak of the fact of Mr. Nixon reading it, and 'they appeared to do it with a sort of family pride.'" (Samuel Hazard, MSS.)
Samuel Hazard instituted inquiries in this matter. The files of the Providence Gazette of the time of the Declaration were examined, but they are silent, simply recording the fact that the Declaration was made on a given day. Mr. Hayes, on being asked his authority for his statement, replied that what he said was upon the authority of a gentleman of Providence versed in antiquarian traditions. On application to that gentleman, he said the subject had partially passed from his mind, but he remembered having remarked to Mr. Hayes, previous to his going to the convention, that he had been informed-he did not distinctly recollect by whom-that the Declaration was read by Commodore Hopkins, and if such was the case the honor be- longed to Rhode Island. He added, that if he at the time sup- posed the statement well founded, he no longer had belief in its validity, for reasons which he assigned.
Inquiries were subsequently made of such elderly gentlemen of intelligence living in Providence in 1862 as would be likely to have knowledge of the fact, but nothing satisfactory was gained. Finally, Hon. John Hopkins Clarke, formerly member of Con- gress from Providence, and who is a descendant of Commodore Hopkins, replied to the inquiry : "I never heard that either [i. e. the commodore or his son, Captain H.] was called to that posi- tion, nor has any such tradition ever reached me. Indeed, I have no belief that such was the fact."
We are thus led to entirely disbelieve that Hopkins, as stated by Watson, had anything to do with it. The only circumstance that could give plausible color to the statement is the fact of Commo- dore Hopkins having been in Philadelphia from June to August in 1776. But as he was there under a cloud, to meet the Marine Committee to answer charges preferred against him-of which he was finally acquitted-it is not probable that the president of Congress would have selected him for so conspicuous a service ; besides which, his well-known limited education unfitted him for it. Nor is there any stronger reason for supposing Captain Hop- kins to have been appointed to that duty. It is singular that Watson and Graydon should have made the statements that ap- pear in their volumes, though they may be accounted for in this
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Who First Publicly Read the Declaration ?
way : Probably when the Declaration was printed groups gather- ed in shops, public-houses, and private parlors to hear it read. Commodore Hopkins may have read it to one such group, and Captain Hopkins to another, and in subsequent years some one then present may have stated that he heard the Declaration read by the commodore or captain, without explaining where; and the hearer, supposing it must have been from the balcony of Inde- pendence Hall, reported accordingly, thus originating a story in part, though unintentionally, made untrue, which ultimately found its way into print in the form in which it there appears. Traditions are as gloriously uncertain as the law, and often give the historian quite as much trouble in his dealings with them.
That careful historian, Benson J. Lossing, has stated it was Nixon who read the paper. An interesting account of Nixon may be found in Richardson's Historical Magazine, vol. iv. 371.
If proof were wanting of the uncertainty of tradition about a comparatively recent fact, it may be found in the statements of where it was read. Watson says from the platform of Ritten- house's observatory ; others state from the steps of the tower of the State House; others, from the balcony ; others, from the cen- tral window, etc.
Rittenhouse observed the transit at Norriton, not at the State House. The observatory was erected by the American Philo- sophical Society for a special committee of observation here. Rittenhouse may have directed or superintended its construction. The best authorities state it was read from the balcony or plat- form of the observatory, the popular rostrum of the day, by John Nixon, and in a loud clear voice, heard on the other side of Fifth street. The observatory stood about forty feet due west from the rear door of the present Philosophical Hall, and about the same distance south from the present eastern wing. It was of circular shape, as appears from the foundations recently discovered when perfecting the sewerage of the Square. It was erected by the American Philosophical Society with the permission of the As- sembly, who not only granted it, but contributed one hundred pounds to assist in purchasing a telescope, which was done for the society by Dr. Franklin, at that time agent for Pennsylvania in London. The transit of Venus over the sun was observed by David Rittenhouse, Dr. John Ewing, Joseph Shippen, Thomas Pryor, James Pearson, Dr. Hugh Williamson, and Charles Thom- son. The weather was fine, the situation favorable, and their report was acceptable to the learned bodies of Europe.
The enthusiasm upon hearing the Declaration exhibited itself by repeated cheers, by pulling down the royal insignia all over the city, by bonfires, fireworks, etc.
VOL. III .- P
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Annals of Philadelphia.
WHERE WAS THE DECLARATION WRITTEN ?
This question has become an exceedingly interesting one to those fond of searching into hidden mysteries. Until within a few years it has popularly been supposed it was written in the house standing at the south-west corner of Seventh and Market streets. As long ago as 1825 it was an unsettled question, and Dr. Mease of this city, our first antiquarian, who wrote the Picture of Philadelphia in 1810, wishing to settle the matter, wrote to Thomas Jefferson, and received the following reply:
" MONTICELLO, Sept. 16, 1825.
" DEAR SIR: It is not for me to estimate the importance of the circumstances concerning which your letter of the 8th makes inquiry. They prove, even in their minuteness, the sacred at- tachments of our fellow-citizens to the event of which the paper of July 4, 1776, was but the Declaration, the genuine effusion of the soul of our country at that time. Small things may, per- haps, like the relics of saints, help to nourish our devotion to this holy bond of our Union, and keep it longer alive and warm in our affections. This effect may give importance to circum- stances, however small. At the time of writing that instrument I lodged in the house of Mr. Graaf, a new brick house, three stories high, of which I rented the second floor, consisting of a parlor and bedroom, ready furnished. In that parlor I wrote habitually, and in it wrote this paper particularly.
"So far, I state from written proofs in my possession. The proprietor, Graaf, was a young man, son of a German, and then newly married. I think he was a bricklayer, and that his house was on the south side of Market street, probably between Seventh and Eighth streets, and if not the only house on that part of the street, I am sure there were few others near it. I have some idea that it was a corner house, but no other recollections throwing any light on the question or worth communication. I will, therefore, only add assurance of my great respect and esteem.
"TH. JEFFERSON.
" DR. JAMES MEASE, Philadelphia."
This was supposed to fix the locality, but various papers have been written upon the subject. In Potter's American Monthly, May, 1876, vol. vi. p. 341-4, a writer claims the house was not at the corner, but the one next to the corner. He bases his state- ment on these points :
June 1st, 1775, Edmund Physick deeded a property to Jacob Graff, Jr., bricklayer, a lot on the south side of High street and on the west side of Seventh street, containing in breadth on High street thirty-two feet, and on the west side of Seventh street, in
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Where was the Declaration Written ?
length one hundred and twenty-four feet, extending to a ten- foot alley.
On July 24, 1777, Jacob Graff sold this property to Jacob Hiltzheimer, yeoman, identical in boundaries as in the deed re- ceived by Graff, and with this addition : "The said Jacob Graff hath erected a brick messuage or tenement on the said described lot." Hiltzheimer converted the first floor of this messuage into a store, and so occupied it until his death in 1801. He was a successful man, and owned other property. He built another house to match his " brick messuage or store," and adjoining, as will be seen by the partition of his estate; also he reduced the depth of the lots from one hundred and twenty-four feet to ninety feet by building on the southern end of his Seventh street front. He left five heirs to his large estate : Mary gets as part of one equal fifth part, described as "all that three-story tene- ment or store and lot on the south side of High street and west side of Seventh street, in breadth sixteen feet eight inches and in depth ninety feet, bounded westward by store and lot No. 2," which is described exactly similar, save that it is "at the distance of sixteen feet eight inches westward from Delaware Seventh street," and this goes to his son Thomas. Eight months after Thomas comes in possession, or on March 26, 1802, assignees sell this house and lot to Simon Gratz, who had already posses- sion of the adjoining or corner lot and store, having bought it of Mary Dec. 15th, 1801, and it becomes Gratz's store property, so famous for many years.
Thus we have legal proof of four points : 1st. In June, 1775, E. Physick sold a thirty-two foot lot which had no house on. 2d. He sold it to Jacob Graff, Jr., a bricklayer, and, likely enough, a young man. 3d. Jacob Graff built a three-story brick house on one of these lots within two years and two months, for he sold both the lots and a house on them on July 24, 1777. 4th. Hiltzheimer, who bought the property, built an ad- ditional house before 1801, proved by his leaving two houses of equal breadth. Yet these four facts are of little practical value in determining the point in question. They simply prove that there was but one house erected on part of a thirty-two foot lot before 1777, and that it was built and occupied by young Graff at such a time as to prove that Jefferson may have lived with him. It does not at all settle whether it was the corner house or the one adjoining.
Mr. Thompson Westcott takes the other side of the question, and asserts that Mr. Hiltzheimer did not convert the house into a store for his own use, for he was a livery-stable keeper, doing business on Seventh between Market and Chestnut streets, as proved by White's Directory for 1785, but probably gave up business shortly after that, for in 1786 he was elected to the As- sembly, and each year after until 1797. From 1791 to 1798 he
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is in all the Directories as "Member of the House " or " gentle- man " at No. 1 South Seventh street, which was, and is, on the east side of Seventh street, opposite to his property.
Then who did live in the corner house and No. 702, next to it? In November, 1785, two Directories were published- White's and Macpherson's, the first issued. White arranged his by the first letter, and Macpherson gave the names and numbers in consecutive order in each square. From both we gather there was an occupant at the house south-west corner of Seventh and Market streets named either Rash or Finley, and that Baltus Emerick lived at No. 234, which would be the second house above the corner house. No Directories were issued from 1785 till 1791, none in 1792, but one for 1793 and after. By the Directories we find that in 1791, Hon. James Wilson lived at No. 230, the corner; in 1793-94, Joseph Mussi lived there ; in 1795-96, John Richards lived there; from 1801-03, Jacob Cox lived there. From 1791-97 no one is put down for No. 232; in 1798-1803, Simon and Hyman Gratz were recorded as occu- pying No. 232; and during all the years from 1791-1803 Baltus Emerick, baker, is living at 234, as he was in 1785 at the same place, though under an old and arbitrary mode of numbering.
This would tend to prove that there was a corner house at Seventh and Market streets, and a vacancy next door west of it, between the corner and Emerick's house, or No. 234; and this seems further proved by the fact that not only no Directory as late as 1798 assigned any one to 232, but in Hogan's Direc- tory for 1795, of which there were two editions, each with some alterations from the other, 230 and 234 are mentioned in both of them, but nobody is assigned to 232; thus perhaps proving the first house was built at the corner, and that there was none alongside of it for twenty years after Jefferson resided there.
The Gratzes first occupied No. 232, or Thomas Hiltzheimer's store, as tenants, but bought in 1801 the corner from Mary, then Mrs. Rogers, and three months later bought the store they were in, No. 232. Here they remained until some time in 1813, for in Directories after 1814 they are recorded occupying both Nos. 230 and 232. They at some time raised the height of both houses to four stories, with a steep-pitched roof, and painted the bricks, which made them uniform and destroyed their ancient appearance.
Nicholas Biddle (born in 1786) in 1827, in an eulogium on Jefferson before the American Philosophical Society, declared it was written " in a house recently built on the outskirts of the city, and almost the last dwelling-house to the westward, .... at the south-west corner of Seventh and Market streets ;" "and the house is known to be that." Dr. Mease lived from his child- hood for many years near Seventh and Market, and would prob- ably know which was the first house built at or next the corner ; and he thought it was the corner one, and that Jefferson con-
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Washington and Franklin Squares.
firmed it. Dr. Mease was older than Mr. Biddle, and should have some recollections about it. Frederick Graff, the engineer of the waterworks, was born in the house his father built, and it was a family legend that Jefferson at times nursed him. He was never known to contradict the fact of the corner house having been his birthplace.
It will thus be seen that neither statement can positively say that the Declaration was written in either house. But we think the weight of the testimony is in favor of Mr. Westcott, who states the corner house to be the one. Miss Agnes Y. Mc- Allister wrote a very clear and able paper in Potter's American Monthly for March, 1875, p. 223, in which she upholds the same opinion, and which her father, John McAllister, Jr., had ex- pressed in 1855. Watson says it was at the corner, and that the landlady was named Mrs. Clymer. (See Vol. I. 470; II. 309.)
1
WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN SQUARES.
Washington Square, p. 405 .- See Penna. Archives, xii. 468, for patent from William Penn, and various other particulars respect- ing this Square, particularly as a potters' field both before and after the " patent." This square ceased to be a public burying- ground after 1815. Trees were planted by order of City Coun- cils under the superintendence of the eminent French botanist, Michaux.
P. 406. There are those now living who remember when in their boyhood days a cattle-yard was on the south-west portion of the square ; a stream of water ran through a gully, in a course about east-south-east, continued by a culvert under the corner of the prison at Locust (then Prune) street. The square was enclosed with a post-and-rail fence. The Presbyterian church was finished in 1822; the columns were sanded in the lot where the mansion of Mr. Howard H. Furness (formerly belonging to Evans Rogers) now stands, and which was built by the late Langdon Cheves of Charleston, S. C. Many, no doubt, re- member Mrs. McAlister, the "old herb-woman," who lived be- low the church, for she was well known for her eccentricities, etc. Somerdyke's stables will also be remembered as a landmark of fifty years ago. The square can never be sold or built upon.
The four public squares in the city-known as Washington, Franklin, Logan, and Rittenhouse-were dedicated for " the same uses as Moorfields, in London, as an open space for ever." In that particular those squares differ from Centre (or Penn) Square, which was reserved by the Proprietary for public build- ings. They were intended as breathing-places for a great city.
Logan and Franklin Squares contain each 7 acres 3 roods
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13.55360 perches; Washington and Rittenhouse Squares, each 6 acres 2 roods 3.144160 perches.
About 1815 there was a public thoroughfare across both Wash- ington and Franklin Squares, in continuation of Seventh street, though this street was never opened through them by authority of law; it was fenced on each side, though unpaved. It occa- sioned considerable newspaper discussion. A few years later, say about 1821 or 1822, the square, as at present bounded, was laid out by order of the City Councils. The survey was made by the late William Rush, at that time a celebrated carver of the district of Kensington. The lot was used as a playground by the boys in the vicinity, and some of the number frequently assisted in holding the line for the old gentleman.
The Potters' Field had a space about the middle of it, twenty or thirty feet square, fenced in with a brick wall, around the grave of a female suicide. It was a private burial-ground be- longing to Joshua Carpenter, who was for many years the lessee of the square for pasture purposes. Besides the cattle market, it was used as a depository for cobble-stones for paving. Hill's plan of the city, engraved in London in 1794, had Seventh street running through in a direct line.
The corner-stone for a monument to Washington, which was prepared by the marble-masons of Philadelphia, and which formed a conspicuous object in the centennial celebration of Washington's birthday in 1832, was intended to be the com- mencement of a monument to the memory of Washington to be erected by the citizens of Philadelphia. It was laid in the centre round plot of Washington Square on the 22d of February, 1833, and still remains there. It was expected at the time that sub- scriptions by citizens would be so liberal that the monument would be commenced soon after the stone was laid, but the sum in hand was too small. The money was held for several years, together with a fund collected in 1824 for the same purpose, by the Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll. Since Mr. Ingersoll's death his executors, upon petition to the Court of Common Pleas, trans- ferred the aggregate of the two funds to the Fidelity Trust Com- pany, we believe, which still holds the money for the purposes intended. Eventually, no doubt, a monument to Washington will be erected with it. The fund held by the Society of the Cincinnati has nothing to do with it. The Pennsylvania branch of that society about 1811 resolved to build a monument to Washington. The amount they collected was too small for the purpose. The fund now aggregates $112,500; and at the meet- ing of the society lately it was said that the association intends soon to commence its monument, and hopes to have it finished in the year 1881. It will be the monument of the Society of the Cincinnati to General George Washington, the first president- general of that society. As the city fund is also increasing, the
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