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 28
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Mr. Morris lived in the house on Market street between Fifth and Sixth, formerly Richard Penn's house, and removed from it in order that Washington might have a house befitting his station and with sufficient stabling. At the south-east corner of Sixth and Market stood the residence built by Joseph Galloway, the traitor, which had been sequestered by the State, and used by the State as the official residence of the president of the Supreme Council, and perhaps occupied by Joseph Reed and John Dickin- son. To this house Morris removed in 1789, and remained until 1796, he having bought it from Councils in 1787. It was a large and spacious mansion, with entrances both on Market and on Sixth street. He had his counting-room on the opposite side of Market street, at No. 227.
1787, Nov. 20, a deed is made by Councils for the property south-east corner of Sixth and Market streets. A small portion of it is seen in the view of Washington's House, p. 583, adjoining to the opening west of the mansion. "A three-story brick mes- suage and other buildings and two lots of ground ; one of them containing in breadth sixty feet on the south side of Market street, and in length one hundred and eighty feet on the east side of Sixth street to Minor street ; and the other of them containing in breadth eighty-six feet on the east side of Sixth street, and in length or depth sixty feet on the south side of Minor street afore- said ; the whole subject to the payment of a yearly ground-rent of forty-four Spanish milled dollars to the heirs and assigns of Israel Pemberton, deceased.
RESIDENCE OF MORRIS AND WASHINGTON .- Page 260.
0
WASHINGTON'S CARRIAGE .- Page 128.
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Robert Morris.
" Consideration for former,
£14,100
66 " latter,
2,725"
(See Col. Recs. xv. 151.)
The property at the corner of Sixth and Market streets was afterward owned by the Schuylkill Bank, and sold after its troubles. It is now occupied by the clothing store of Wana- maker & Brown.
In 1782, when the Prince de Broglie was in the city, he was conducted by the Chevalier de la Luzerne to the house of Robert Morris to take tea, and a delightful picture the prince gives of the social life of the time: "The house is simple, but well furnished and very neat. The doors and tables are of superb mahogany, and polished. The locks and hinges in brass curiously bright. The porcelain cups were arranged with great precision. The mistress of the house had an agreeable expression, and was dressed altogether in white; in fact, everything appeared charm- ing to me. I partook of most excellent tea, and I should be even now still drinking it, I believe, if the ambassador had not charitably notified me at the twelfth cup that I must put my spoon across it when I wished to finish with this sort of warm water. He said to me: 'It is almost as ill-bred to refuse a cup of tea when it is offered to you, as it would be indiscreet for the mistress of the house to propose a fresh one when the ceremony of the spoon has notified her that you no longer wish to partake of it.'"
When Mr. Morris removed from Sixth and Market is not exactly known, but it was probably in the latter part of 1796 or early in 1797, as about that time he was living in Chestnut street just below Eighth, next to the corner, a large house now occupied as a restaurant, but formerly owned by Edward Shippen Burd, then occupied by Daniel W. Coxe, and afterward by the Misses Hubley. Here he was so dunned by his creditors that he re- moved to "The Hills," now Lemon Hill, formerly Henry Pratt's estate, and now in the Park.
The Hills was part of the Springettsbury farm, and consisted of eighty acres purchased from Tench Francis in July, 1770, by Robert Morris. It was his favorite resort from business cares, and here he kept up an elegant hospitality in his prosperous days. The house was all destroyed. It was a square house of two stories with high basement and attics, and a two-storied circular projection or bay on one side, with piazzas on the others.
His Chestnut street lot and unfinished house, The Hills, and some ground-rents, were advertised to be sold by the sheriff Sept. 15th, 1797, while he was hiding from the sheriff, bidding defiance to him in his own castle. Here he remained, chafing under his confinement, not daring to go out but once, until some time between the 10th and 20th of February, 1798, when he was
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Annals of Philadelphia.
arrested for debt and placed in the Walnut Street Prison, the debtors' department on the corner of Sixth and Prune streets. While confined here his family furniture, silver, and prized familiar objects were sold. The yellow fever of 1798 also raged, but he escaped it.
Though the bankrupt law was passed April 4, 1800, and took effect in July, Mr. Morris and his partner, John Nicholson, for some reason, did not at once take the benefit of it, and Nicholson died in prison, and Mr. Morris did not get his certificate until December 4, 1801. Debts to the amount of nearly three million dollars were proved against him, though many did not press their claims. I have now his note for ten thousand dollars, endorsed by John Nicholson, which my grandfather held at the time, and of course lost.
The Hills were sold by the sheriff at the suit of the Pennsyl- vania Insurance Company in March, 1799. The estate was sold in two parcels, Henry Pratt buying the southern portion. He improved the place very much, and it was kept in very elegant order, to which admittance was gained only by tickets. Many availed themselves of them to witness the improvements and enjoy the grounds. Mr. Pratt tore down the Morris house and built the one at present standing. Later in life he did not reside there, but visited it occasionally, though he kept up the gardens, conservatories, and grounds in the best manner. He was a ship- ping-merchant, and very successful. He died Feb. 6, 1838, in his seventy-seventh year.
After his death Lemon Hill was bought by the Bank of the United States for two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. After its failure all property sank in value, purchasers at any price were scarce, and it was finally sold in 1844 to the city for seventy-five thousand dollars. The city bought it to prevent any nuisances being created which would spoil the water. There were at this time but fifty-two acres. In September, 1855, it was dedicated as a public park, and through the aid and exertions of a number of public-spirited gentlemen the Park has been grad- ually increased to its present dimensions ; Sedgley was annexed in 1856, the Lansdowne estate in 1866, and others by the act of 1867 ; to which was added the superb gift of Jesse George and his sister, in whose memory George's Hill was named.
By his wife Mary, sister to Bishop White, Robert Morris had seven children. Henry, a fine, portly man like his father, was elected sheriff in 1841, but died of heart disease in 1842. Maria, the second daughter, married Henry Nixon.
It is evident to those who trace Mr. Morris's character that he was a man of liberal mind, great vigor, and of such energy that he dared to grasp and carry through schemes from which men of smaller calibre would shrink. His education as a merchant in one of the largest and most successful houses would tend to foster
263
Robert Morris.
this, and the position toward the government in which he was placed, carrying out schemes of great magnitude for those times. When the liberty of the country was assured and the tide of em- igration began to pour in, Mr. Morris foresaw a great future for this country and this city. He was interested in several schemes of land speculation, and he must perhaps at one time have had an interest in some twenty millions acres of land. He also owned a number of valuable pieces of property in the city which he had bought on speculation. His credit, which had carried the govern- ment through financially when its own had failed to accomplish it, was so good that it must have led him into transactions that more sober judgment would have forbidden. In addition to his other purchases, he was part owner of three-fourths of the new city of Washington, anticipating that as the future seat of a great government lots must rise greatly and rapidly. He had made some large sales of lands at good profit, and of course felt en- couraged to go on more largely. With John Nicholson and James Greenleaf as partners in his schemes, the notes of Morris, endorsed by Nicholson or Greenleaf, became very plenty on the market. Anticipating perhaps his large profits, he entered into building " Morris's Folly " on a grand scale, which proved too much for him at times when his reverses began to come back on him. And from that time it was the usual story of all such wide- spread schemes on credit. How widely spread he was is shown by debts proved against him in the bankrupt court amounting to nearly three millions of dollars, and there must have been many more. Judgments were placed upon him in rapid succession, which he fought off for several years, but which were at last ex- ecuted and swept away everything, even to his household treasures.
What was intended as the finest private mansion in the coun- try was situated on nearly the whole of the square of ground from Seventh to Eighth on Chestnut and Walnut streets, which, though it had been only a pasture-lot of the Norrises, he gave ten thousand pounds for. The house was built of brick in the main walls, but with marble around the windows, doors, and in columns and piazzas, and perhaps, judging from its appearance in Birch's picture, nearly the whole of the ends were of marble, many parts of it beautifully sculptured. The foundations were extensive, and the superstructure was two stories of good height, with a roof somewhat resembling the present style of Mansard roof. It had reached this state when, owing to some foreign houses failing, Morris was obliged to succumb. The Bank of Pennsylvania soon brought suit, and the sheriff levied on this property, and sold it in December, 1797, for twenty-five thousand six hundred dollars, subject to a mortgage of seven thousand pounds specie to Messrs. Willink of Amsterdam. His accounts show that he paid to the architect $9037.13, and for building material and work £6138 5s. 10d. He had previously, in 1795,
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Annals of Philadelphia.
sold the Washington house on Market street, forty-six feet front, for thirty-seven thousand dollars; and the remaining portions, a seventy-foot lot adjoining and the Sixth street corner house, were worth nearly fifty thousand dollars more. His original estimate of the amount to be expended upon the Chestnut street palace was sixty thousand dollars. William Sansom and others bought this property at sheriff's sale, and Sansom built rows of houses on Walnut and Sansom streets, which were a novelty at that time. The palace was torn down for the materials, which became scattered; some of them are to be seen to this day in dwellings in the city ; the bas-reliefs of Tragedy and Comedy in the Old Drury Theatre on Chestnut street were from this house.
Of the abundance of their promissory notes, Morris in writing to Nicholson said, if writing notes to each other would pay " those which bear promise of payments," "you would want more copying-presses and half a dozen paper-mills." "Two hundred thousand acres of my land in North Carolina, which cost me twenty-seven thousand dollars, are sold for one year's taxes."
Robert Morris in the Account of his Property, published in pamphlet form by his heirs about 1854, says : "The large lot on Chestnut street, upon which Major L'Enfant was erecting for me a much more magnificent house than I ever intended to have built, became subject to sundry judgments that were obtained against me, and it was also included in a mortgage dated De- cember, 1796, to secure a debt due to Messrs. Willink of Am- sterdam, but the judgments being of prior date, that estate was sold in execution by the sheriff. The purchasers, Messrs. W. Sansom, Joseph Ball, and Reed & Ford, are under promise to account with me for any surplus that may arise upon a re-sale beyond their respective debts, and I did hope and expect that something handsome would have arisen out of this property toward the payment of Messrs. Willink, whose claim is just and fair ; but the purchasers now say that they shall not be able to raise anything beyond their own dues, if so much."
After Mr. Morris got out of Walnut Street Prison he lived in the house in Twelfth street below Market, as appears from the Directory of 1805, which was compiled in 1804, and has the name of "Robert Morris, 2 South Twelfth street." He is also in the Directory of 1806 at the same place. In that house Mr. Morris died May 7, 1806, and was buried in the family vault in Christ Church, where his brother-in-law, Bishop White, also lies. In 1809 his widow lived next to No. 151 Walnut street, where she remained for some years. In 1813 the Directory locates " Morris, Mrs., widow of Robert, gentleman, corner of Eleventh and Chestnut." In 1814, ditto. The Directory for 1824 does not contain Mrs. Morris's name. It has, however, " Morris, Anna, Mrs., widow of Robert, Jr., 282 Chestnut."
265
Lydia Darrach and Captain Loxley.
This lady was daughter-in-law of Mrs. Robert Morris of the Revolution, and the latter might have lived with her. The name of Mrs. Morris of the Revolution was Mary. A widow, Mary Morris, lived in 1820 below the Academy of Fine Arts, on Chestnut street. This was on the north side. We do not know who this lady was, but we suppose that she was not the widow of the financier. Mrs. Robert Morris lived on the south side of Chestnut street, the sixth house west of Tenth street, on the occasion of General La Fayette's reception in 1824. Mr. W. Meredith lived at Tenth and Chestnut streets. Miss Fox, who dispensed a generous and refined hospitality at Champlot, on Green lane, had her city home next to Mr. Meredith's; next came that of the late Thomas Biddle ; next, Manuel Eyre; next, Mr. Conolly, and Mrs. Robert Morris's. The house on Twelfth street was Mrs. Nixon's, wife of the late Henry Nixon, who was Mrs. Morris's daughter. Mrs. Morris subsequently lived and died at Mr. Nixon's country residence, Fairhill, on Ridge road, adjoining the now Girard College, which he had inherited from his father, John Nixon, the celebrated banker, merchant, and first reader of the Declaration.
Sansom Street, p. 410 .- A fire took place in one or more of these houses, then unfinished, in 1803, at which the want of water was so apparent as to lead to the formation of the Phil- adelphia Hose Company, the first in the city. Buckets and pumps had theretofore alone been used. (See p. 424.)
LYDIA DARRACH AND CAPTAIN LOXLEY.
Lydia Darrach, p. 412 .- See Reg. Penna., i. 48, for a par- ticular account of this transaction, from which it would appear that the officers lived or had their office opposite to, not in, the house.
There are some inconsistencies in the narrative and in the dates of the story of Lydia Darrach overhearing two British officers planning an attack upon Washington in one of the rooms of her house, then feigning sleep in her room when the officers knocked at her door, and next day passing through the lines, under pretence of going a long distance to mill, and thus putting Washington on his guard. The officers at the time were not living at her house, but on the opposite side, in the house of Gen. Cadwalader.
The Loxley House stood until within a few years at the corner of Second street and Little Dock, and was erected about 1760. Loxley was a builder and a man of some means, and lived on Arch street below Fourth, and gave the name to the little street called Loxley's court running from Arch to Cherry street.
23
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Annals of Philadelphia.
This name was duplicated on another court in the neighborhood of Front and Spruce streets, where he owned several properties besides the Loxley House.
Benjamin Loxley was humorously represented in Graydon's Memoirs as "a very honest though little, dingy-looking man, with regimentals considerably war-worn or tarnished, a very sala- mander," at the head of the militia as captain upon the threat- ened attack of the Paxton Boys, with his artillery at the court- house, Second and Market streets. The scene was caricatured by Dawkins in 1764. He had been a lieutenant under Braddock in 1756, and on his return was lieutenant, and afterward captain, of an independent artillery company. He was a member of the Committee of Safety in 1774; was in service in the Revolution in 1775; a delegate to the conference of the Committees of Safety in June, 1776 ; and next month offered to superintend the casting of brass howitzers, mortars, etc., but his services not being thought to be needed, he then commanded the first artillery company in the regiment under Col. Samuel Mifflin, in an eight days' march to Amboy, of which he kept a diary, which was republished by the Pennsylvania Historical Society ; he was recalled to assist at the cannon-factory ; was promoted to be major, and was paid one hundred pounds for his services. It will be seen he was a man of considerable influence and repute.
DUCHÉ'S HOUSE AND ST. PETER'S CHURCH.
Duche's House, p. 413 .- This stood at the north-east corner of Third and Pine streets. " A resolution of the Hon. House of Assembly [which had confiscated Duche's house] of 20th inst. was recd and read, permitting the Hon. Thomas Mckean, Esq., chief-justice of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to occupy and possess the house and lots, with the appurtenances, late the property of Rev. Jacob Duché the younger, until the 1st day of July next, and until the further order of the House." Dec. 19, 1780. (Col. Recs., xii. 578.)
St. Peter's .- The beautiful chime of bells of St. Peter's Church was presented by B. C. Wilcocks, who had them cast in London ; they cost two thousand dollars, and were brought over, freight free, in the ship Thomas P. Cope. They weigh-
2 " 5, 10 6, 15 6 3 " 18 "
No. 1, 6 cwt. 2 qrs. 3 lbs. 2, 6 " 3, 8
3 " 4, 9
3 1 3
66 9 "
66
8 " 25 "
267
Duché's House and St. Peter's Church.
The height of the steeple from the ground to top of lightning- rod is two hundred and ten feet. The gilt cross is nearly ten feet high.
A history of this church was prepared and published in a pamphlet by Rev. Dr. DeLancey, then the pastor.
Rev. W. H. Odenheimer was called from this church to the bishopric of New Jersey ; Rev. Mr. Leeds was called and in- ducted by Bishop Potter June 29, 1860.
Christ Church being filled to overflowing, its vestry laid the foundation in 1758 of St. Peter's, which was dedicated on 4th September, 1761, and completely finished in 1763, at a cost of three thousand three hundred and ten pounds sterling money. The streets around were unpaved until five years after, and the brick wall not built till 1784. It was first surrounded by a fence, which was used in the Revolution by British soldiers for fire- wood.
The committee appointed to superintend the building of St. Peter's consisted of Joseph Sims, Dr. John Kearsley, William Plumstead, Jacob Duche, Alexander Stedman, James Child, Evan Morgan, Redmond Conyngham, Attwood Shute, John Wilcocks, Samuel McCall, Jr., James Humphreys, and William Bingham.
It was far more chapel-like in its earlier days than at present, having at one end merely a small wooden cupola, which was re- moved in 1842 and replaced by a steeple. There are two arm- chairs now in the chancel made from its wood when taken down. Prominent in the beautiful churchyard is a monument to Com- modore Stephen Decatur, who in 1820 was killed in a duel by Captain Barron of our navy, father of the traitor to his flag made a prisoner at Fort Hatteras in the late rebellion.
The exterior of St. Peter's is of brick. The interior forcibly calls to mind former days. The pews are high and square. At- tached to the pulpit is the clerk's desk, now used for reading prayers, and at the opposite end of the church is the chancel, which afforded the early rectors an excellent opportunity for a dignified sweep down the aisle in the full canonicals of the English Church, preceded by the gowned sexton. Ornament- ing each side of the chancel are the portraits of Bishop White, in a powdered wig, and Rev. Dr. Smith, provost of the Phila- delphia College, his black gown graced with the crimson stole of the Oxford graduate, but wearing his own gray hair. He preached the dedication sermon.
The original organ was placed in the left gallery. A handsome new one was substituted for it about 1855, which is over the chan- cel, partly hiding a richly-painted window, and surmounted by a group of cherubims, two vases of sacred fire, and two angels, one of which is the Recording Angel carrying a book, and the other the leading chorister of the heavenly host touching a lute.
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Annals of Philadelphia.
The first clergyman of St. Peter's, whose title was that of "as- sistant minister of Christ Church," was the Rev. Jacob Duché. Jr., son of one of the vestrymen, who was educated at Cambridge in England, and who came here at the age of twenty-three with a license to preach from the lord bishop of London and a letter of orders from His Grace the archbishop of Canterbury. His portrait hangs in the vestry-room. The face is handsome and polished, and the head adorned with a powdered wig peculiar to the time. He was remarkable for a retentive memory. Being very near-sighted, and not able to read his sermons without ap- plying his face close to the manuscript, he learnt them by heart, but, singular to say, forgot them entirely a day or two afterward. He was eccentric and somewhat of a wit, but, as the Revolution broke out, showed the cloven foot of Toryism. On his return after peace was declared he received no call from his former congregation or from any other. He died at the age of sixty, and lies buried in St. Peter's churchyard. This church was sep- arated from its connection with Christ Church in 1832.
As a contrast to the centennial procession entering the church we will present that of the dedication period. First entered the clerk and sexton in gowns ; next the questmen, or assistant church- wardens ; vestrymen, two by two; governor, in robes of office ; churchwardens, two by two; officiating clergy ; governor's Coun- cil and attendants; and following them the city clergy, two by two.
In continuance of the account of St. Peter's Church in Vol. I. p. 413, the following description of the centennial anniversary, September 4th, 1861, will be found interesting :
The bells rang chimes, and the ceremonies commenced by the Rt. Rev. Bishops Potter, Odenheimer, and DeLancey entering in full canonicals, followed by the rector and assistants, with the Episcopal clergy of the city in white robes. Among the clergy we noticed Drs. Ducachet, Stevens, Clay, Dr. Morton of St. James's, and Dr. Dorr of Christ Church, the last two named gentlemen occupying the pulpit. After them came the church- wardens.
The church was crowded, many of the congregation being de- scendants of long-resident Philadelphia families, and present- ing many members of extreme old age. An anthem was given during the service, which was also sung at the dedication of the church.
Bishop DeLancey took his text from the 57th and 58th verses of the eighth chapter of the first book of Kings: "The Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers; let Him not leave us or forsake us. That He may incline our hearts unto Him, to walk in all His ways and keep His commandments, and His statutes, and His judgments, which He commanded our fathers."
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Duché's House and St. Peter's Church.
One hundred years had rolled away since the doors of this sanctuary were first opened to the zealous flock who had erected it to the worship of the God of their fathers. Political and sec- tarian apprehensions then silenced the voices that would other- wise have pronounced an episcopal benediction on the church and proclaimed its erection as a proper gift to the Lord God Al- mighty through His ministers and servants. Neither the govern- ment nor the people had learned a fact now so well known-that the spiritual may exist in a nation in the full and independent exercise of all its functions, unmingled with the secular, and un- trammeled and unaffected by its power. Hence this church had never been episcopally consecrated in the expressed manner of an approved ritual, but given to God by the hands of its pious founders.
With the exception of the addition of the steeple, the external appearance of the church was now, as it was then, dignified, im- pressive.
Fires, incendiary or accidental, had, with more or less fre- quency, glared on every side of the church, but by the provi- dence of God, its position, and the skill and energy of the pro- tectors of our dwellings, the building, though once slightly touched by the flames, remained in safety. No lightning gleam from the clouds ever struck a devastating blow on the edifice. In times of reckless excitement infuriated mobs had passed its walls and left them uninjured.
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