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 48
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Truth." And well did his conduct during the war of Inde- pendence and after merit the appellation. In extreme old age he said he had lived so long as to forget his Indian name, and got a friend to write to John Heckewelder, who sent it to him in the Delaware language.
P. 575 .- Benjamin West, the painter, was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1738. He left this country in 1760, when his style was unfinished, and therefore could not be justly considered an American artist, as he finished his studies in Eu- rope, where he remained. Byron speaks of him as
" West,
Europe's worst daub, and England's best."
William Rush, p. 575 .- This artist was born July 4, 1756, and died January 27, 1833. William Rush was a ship-carver, and never aspired to a much higher grade; but his figures are gene- rally fine, and if he had lived at a time when there was a chance for a statuary to make a living by his art, he would doubtless have attained a high reputation. His figures have strength, delicacy, and spirit. We may mention as instances the statues of Tragedy and Comedy which were in front of the old Chestnut Street Theatre; the reclining figures which crown the entrances to the wheel-house at Fairmount; the statues of Faith and Jus- tice in the great room at the same place; and the well-known figure of the Naiad with a Swan, once used as a fountain at Centre Square, and now at Fairmount. The statue of Washington in Independence Hall was made by Rush as a figure-head for the ship Washington of this port, and the eagle over it was carved by the same artist to hold up the sounding-board of the pulpit of the English Lutheran Church (Mayers'), Race street, between Fifth and Sixth.
Figure-head on the Constitution .- The figure-head of General Jackson upon the frigate Constitution was removed in 1834 by a seaman-Samuel H. Dewey of Boston-who considered the pla- cing of the image of any man upon such a ship a profanation. In Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, vol. v. p. 301, appears quite a sketch of the transaction by the author of " Old Ironsides Off a Lee Shore." He was travelling about the country a few years ago with photographs of himself, and an account of the decapitation transaction. The Constitution was sent to France in the spring of 1835, and returned in the summer of the same year with Ed- ward Livingston, our minister at the French court, who was or- dered to leave the country on account of our troubles with the French kingdom.
Voted a large edifice, p. 580 .- This is a mistake. The large house ' on Ninth street below Market, which was at one time occupied by the University, was built by order of the State of Pennsylvania
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with the expectation that it would be used as the mansion of the President of the United States. It was never occupied for that purpose. Washington went out of office before it was finished. John Adams, to whom it was offered on lease, refused to occupy it, preferring to remain in the house on the south side of Market street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, which had been occupied by Washington during the time he was President of the United States. It was tendered to Mr. Adams March 3, 1797. (See the correspondence between Governor Mifflin and Mr. Adams in Dr. Wood's History of the University in Memoirs of the Histor- ical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. iii. p. 247.) The University bought the building and grounds in 1800. The centre building had a high flight of steps. The old buildings were torn down in the summer of 1829, and the new ones were completed in time for the fall lectures. The "Old Diligent " occupied an engine- house on the north, and the " Washington " on the south. The two buildings erected in 1829 were torn down in 1874, and the University removed to the new and elegant structures in West Philadelphia.
Washington's House, p. 583 .- It was No. 190 Market street. (See Philadelphia Directory, 1794.) It was not what we would now understand as one door east of Sixth, though it was the first house below Morris's at the corner; it was some distance from Sixth street.
John Fitch, p. 591 .- My father had in his possession a manu- script agreement, given to him by Hancock Smith, son of Wil- liam W. Smith, who was well acquainted with Fitch, between Fitch and Vail, and dated Mar. 7, 1791-" Aaron Vail, of the kingdom of France, but at present in the city of Philadelphia, U. S. A., merchant." By this Vail undertook to proceed to France to obtain a patent from that government, " grant, or spe- cial contract, in the name of Fitch, for the exclusive privilege of constructing, vending, and employing all species of boats and vessels impelled or urged through the water by the force of steam." Upon obtaining it he was to send an " official and certi- fied copy of the grant to Fitch in America," letting him know his intentions and plans of procedure, and " shall provide for and furnish a passage suitable for the transportation of the steamboat mechanic from the city of New York or Philadelphia to such part of France," etc. Fitch, on the fulfilment by Vail, " shall and will procure and send agreeably to the direction of Vail a mechanic acquainted with the construction of a steamboat or ves- sel in such ample manner as to be able to superintend and direct the building of a boat or vessel in France equally as perfect as any that shall have been built or completed by the steamboat company in America previously to his embarkation for France;" " the mechanic to be paid a reasonable compensation by Vail for his time and labor necessarily employed in completing the first
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steamboat or vessel ;" three months after which he is at liberty to return to America, unless desired by Vail, who is to provide the passage. On his arrival in France he is to begin to build; Vail to find funds, but not compelled to spend more than $2500, specie. Profits on all the boats built to be equally divided be- tween Vail and Fitch; dividends to be met at L'Orient quarterly. Grants also to be obtained in Holland, Denmark, etc. It is lim- ited to twelve months after the completion of the first boat ; penal sum, $10,000 ; signed by Aaron Vail and John Fitch ; witnesses, John Lohra, William Smith, and George Mercer. Endorsed, " We, the subscribers, being a majority of the Directors of the Steamboat Company in America, do consent that the above- named John Fitch do for himself enter into the above articles of agreement with Aaron Vail of the kingdom of France, and that we will not do or commit any act or acts to counteract or invali- date the intention and meaning of the above articles of agree- ment." Not signed. Then, "I do hereby assign all my right and title to these articles to the above-signed Benjamin Say, Ed- ward Brooks, Jr., and Richard Stockton, Directors, for the benefit of the Steamboat Company in proportion to the money they shall have advanced for the perfecting of the scheme in America, at the time of the completion of the first steamboat in France, ex- cepting the share of Henry Voigt and my own." Signed, JOHN FITCH (L. S.).
Both of the pamphlets of Fitch and Rumsey are reprinted in vol. ii. of Documentary History of New York, 8vo. (See anecdotes of Fitch and Fulton sent my father by Thomas P. Cope, and published in his Reg. Penna., vii. 91.)
THE LOGANS.
P. 594 .- William Logan was succeeded by his son George, who was born at Stenton in 1753, and died there in 1821. Edu- cated as a physician at Edinburgh, he then travelled in Europe, and while in Paris enjoyed the attentions of Franklin. He never practised his profession, but devoted himself to his farm-in which he was very successful-to literature, and to public inter- ests and duties. He was an active member of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, the first established in America, and also of a county society which met at each other's houses. Dr. Logan was a member of the Legislature and of the U. S. Senate, and took a warm and active part in public affairs. He enjoyed the friendship of Jefferson, Franklin, John Dickinson, Timothy Pickering, Thomas McKean, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and other illustrious men. Many important state affairs have been
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discussed under the old trees of Stenton, where Washington was once a guest.
In 1798, Dr. Logan visited France at his own expense as a mediator to stay the threatened war between France and Amer. ica; on his own responsibility and as a private citizen he had interviews with Talleyrand and Merlin, and his efforts were suc- cessful; the embargo was removed, American prisoners were re- leased, other concessions made, and war averted. His act, but not his motive, was denounced by partisans. Congress passed a law to prohibit any one in future from holding intercourse with foreign governments to influence their relations with the United States. His conduct was approved by Governor Mckean and Mr. Jefferson. Notwithstanding this law, Dr. Logan went to England on a similar errand in 1810, and with the approbation also of President Madison, who gave him letters of introduction to eminent persons. He was not successful, but enjoyed the ac- quaintance of Sir Samuel Romilly, Wilberforce, Thomas Clark- son, Mr. Coke, the duke of Bedford, and the marquis of Wel- lesley.
HIis widow, Deborah Logan, survived him for eighteen years. Her friendship for my father induced her to loan him for publi- cation many valuable papers, which will be found reprinted in the Register of Pennsylvania. She was an estimable lady, for many years Stenton's brightest ornament, remarkable for mental endowments and moral virtues. She lived through the Revo- lution ; she saw its beginning, the agony of the contest, and the prosperity and happiness that followed its close. As she was well acquainted with the most eminent men, her recollections and personal anecdotes were full of interest. The archives of her own and her husband's family made her familiar also with the details of the colonial history. She collected and preserved them with care, and copied many valuable papers-among others the correspondence between James Logan and William Penn-and these, with some interesting memoirs written by herself, are now in the Philadelphia Library and the repositories of the American Philosophical and Pennsylvania Historical Societies. Much of the material she saved and put in order has been used in these volumes. Her life was chiefly devoted to the duties and affec- tions of home; with unaffected and unostentatious benevolence and piety, with cheerful, cordial, and gracious manners of the old school, her animated, benign, and venerable countenance was lit up by the charms of her conversation and the beauty of her daily life. She died at Stenton February 2, 1839, and was buried in the family graveyard.
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MRS. ANN WILLING MORRIS.
Mrs. Ann Willing Morris, relict of W. Morris, Esq., of Peck- ham, died at her residence in Germantown January 11, 1853, in her eighty-fifth year. Her life extended over a long period, the most eventful in the annals of time. She was familiar with the voice and address of Washington, and prattled to him as she sat on his knee; Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Adams, and their contemporaries of rank and mark, were habitual guests among her kindred. With a fine education, partly derived from Anthony Benezet, and an intelligent mind, she was an accurate observer of the noted events passing around her.
Mrs. Morris was a daughter of Charles Willing, a prominent name in the carly mercantile history of Philadelphia, whose father, of the same name, held the office of mayor at a time when, more than at present, that post was regarded as one of much distinction, and usually conferred upon those of the magis- tracy who had earned it by service to society or through recog- nized and substantial merit. Mr. Willing was mayor in 1748, and again in 1754; and it is perhaps remarkable that so many persons connected with the subject of this notice by kindred ties or by marriage should have been chosen to the same office. Ed- ward Shippen in 1701 was the first mayor of Philadelphia. He had been elected Speaker of the Assembly in 1695, and from 1702 to 1704 was president of the governor's Council. Anthony Morris was mayor in 1704, and again in 1739; William Hudson in 1726, Henry Harrison in 1762, Thomas Willing in 1763, and Samuel Powel and Robert Wharton in subsequent time.
Mr. Powel inherited the wealth, with the substantial respecta- bility, of his father, whose activity, shrewdness, and thrift placed him among the wealthy and influential citizens of the time. Mr. Thomas Willing was eminent as a successful merchant, and was president of the first Bank of the United States and member of Congress in 1776.
At the house of the younger Mr. Powel, her uncle by marriage, at her own home, and at the residences of her grandmother and aunts, Mrs. Morris was constantly in the society of many of the most eminent of the day. Her spirit of loyalty and strong Whig principles, imbibed from such associations, showed themselves not only in public deeds of good to the cause, but in private life, and she was one of those who refused to participate in the festivities of the Meschianza, notwithstanding the fashionable influence brought to bear. As a petted child she was permitted to be present at the marriage of General Arnold with the daughter of Chief-Justice Shippen. Of the character and exploits of the traitor she in after life spoke in detestation ; and for far more serious cause did she then sympathize with her grandmother, the
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aunt of " the beautiful bride," in her sorrow and surprise that so great a sacrifice was permitted to one so much her senior, a wid- ower with children, and who, by herself at least, was not regarded with the confidence and respect necessary to render the connection desirable or agreeable. Owing to a recent wound, received under circumstances which would alone have established a claim to grateful remembrance had not his subsequent extraordinary de- fection obliterated his name from the roll of his country's heroes, Arnold during the marriage ceremony was supported by a soldier, and when seated his disabled limb was propped upon a camp- stool. These wounds may perhaps have made him more interest- ing to the lovely but unfortunate bride. At all events, her " hero " except for his character for extravagance, was then re- garded with a share of public favor, if not with any feeling of popular affection. He had rendered " some service to the state," and was distinguished for gallantry among the bravest of the land. It is as unjust as vain to urge, as some have done, in pal- liation of his stupendous crime, the fashionable and expensive propensities of his accomplished wife. That she was addicted to displays of wealth inconsistent with the spirit of her time and the condition of public affairs may not with propriety be ques- tioned; but no external influence can move a truly great and honorable mind and heart from a fixed purpose of patriotic or social duty.
Mrs. Morris's recollections of the British army when in posses- sion of Philadelphia were very fresh. The regiment of High- landers, Colonel Hope, was exercised in front of her grand- mother's residence, the band practising the music, spreading the books or sheets upon the steps ascending to the entrance of the house. On one occasion, on her way to school and passing this regiment drawn up in line, happening to wear a dress of High- land plaid, she attracted the notice of the soldiers; the word was spoken, and, child as she was, they cheered her as she moved timidly and quickly away. The tender chord of thoughts of home had been struck.
Her anecdotes of the French princes-the duke of Orleans, afterward Louis Philippe, and his brothers, Montpensier and Beaujolais-were entertaining. Her recollection of Franklin, who was an honored guest in well-informed circles-of his man- ners, humor, and style of conversation-was undimmed. One conversation at the residence of her grandmother Willing she particularly remembered : its subject soon after became invested with peculiar interest. When Mr. Thomas Prior suggested to the illustrious philosopher the practicability at will of drawing lightning from the clouds, she beheld with almost reverential awe the man who believed himself possessed of what, to her young mind, seemed a miraculous power. Why Mr. Prior did not him- self apply to his theory the test of experiment was a matter of
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surprise to all. It was frequently discussed in the circles in which she moved. Whether his omission to do so was the result of a procrastinating habit, a deficiency in enterprise, or that he was anticipated by Franklin, is now unknown; but certain it is that Franklin, with characteristic promptitude and tact, acting on the suggestions of his friend, achieved the triumph, and to him the glory has been decreed.
Mrs. Morris was the last of the band of twelve who assumed the pecuniary responsibilities attending the services of the church and in all the measures preliminary to the organization of the parish of St. Luke in Germantown.
The Madisonian war, with its many disasters and final tri- umphs, was a well-remembered history. Her only son she en- couraged in the acquisition of military tactics, and promptly con- sented to his enrollment in the Washington Grays, cheerfully prepared the necessary articles for the march and the camp, and buckled on his knapsack to join the encampment under General Cadwallader at Kennet Square and Camp Dupont, bidding him "Go, in God's name, and with her blessing." And when an other company on the march passed her dwelling and halted, sł amply supplied them with refreshment.
JOHN STODDART.
About the year 1816, Mr. John Stoddart of the city of Phil- adelphia was one of our most active business men, commanding unlimited credit and the confidence of the community. What- ever he touched, either in real estate or merchandise, made & "rise in the market," and he was for many years one of the solid men of the city. His residence was at the south-east corner of Seventh and Race streets, facing Franklin Square.
The house represented in those days a palatial residence. It was torn down a few years ago, and replaced with a more modern structure. His property accumulated and rapidly advanced in value, including some of the most valuable business sites in the city of Philadelphia. He extended his operations beyond the city-in the West and in this State. Owning some thousands of acres of land in the counties of Luzerne and Monroe, at the head- waters of the Lehigh, and depending upon the partial promise of the Lehigh Navigation Company to extend their canal to that point, he located and built the town of Stoddartsville, consisting of a large mill, a store-house, a hotel and many neat cottages, making it one of the most attractive villages this side of Wilkes- barre and upon the summit of the Pokono. A line of stages in those days, over a well-made pike from Easton to the latter town, after a most romantic drive would land you in the village, four-
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teen miles from the Susquehanna at Wilkesbarre, and an equal distance from White Haven, the present terminus of the canal. The village, deprived of the projected improvement, now cut off from all railroad communication, and having been subjected at various times to "fire in the mountains," is but a miniature of that which the founder contemplated at the beginning. Coal and iron are said to exist in this locality.
A few years later Mr. Stoddart, an active business-man, en- gaged in dry-goods, book publishing, and speculation, but some- what reticent, without advice or consultation (too proud to ask for aid, too honest to defraud), made an assignment of all his property for the benefit of his creditors, amounting to the sum of $600,000 (in those days a larger sum than dollars now repre- sent). One of his assignees, the late respected Thomas Fletcher, informed the writer that "all his liabilities were paid in full, and our expectation was that we could pay him back at least a fortune; in this we failed."
After Mr. Stoddart's assignment he moved to the house in North Seventh street, adjoining the Jewish synagogue, a prop- erty built prior to 1776, and the birthplace of his wife in Revo- lutionary times. The property still remains to her descendants. Subsequently he removed to the house at present occupied by the Women's Christian Association, in which he died, leaving an honored name to his descendants.
Mr. Stoddart's family consisted of thirteen children, of whom six sons preceded his death. Two sons, Curwen and Joseph, for forty years or more have conducted a large dry-goods business on North Second street. The second son, Isaac, was given at an early age the supervision of the Stoddartsville estate. He married Lydia Butler, daughter of Colonel Zebulon Butler of Wyoming fame. He built a substantial residence on the banks of the Lehigh in the county of Luzerne, now the residence of Mr. Lewis Stull, an extensive lumberman of that region.
CRAZY NORAH.
Many who read this will remember Crazy Norah, a tall woman with sharp, firm features, a clear black eye, and iron-gray hair, and whose quick step, together with her peculiar dress, gave her a masculine appearance. She was quiet and harmless, unless oc- casionally irritated by boys. She was rather fond of children, and would often take them by the hand, induce them to say the Lord's Prayer and the Catholic Creed, and then reward them with some trifle from the large bag she invariably carried, such as a button, a piece of colored china, old ribbon, or somne similar thing of little or no value. Her history, like that of many de-
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mented people, was romantic. Her real name was Honora Power, and she was from Limerick, Ireland. Her father, a farmer, died when she was quite young, leaving her an orphan with an annuity of £50. At his death she went to reside with her sister, whose dissolute husband spent all the property of both Honora and her sister. She then came to America, and lived out as a servant-at one time at a young ladies' boarding-school at Third and Walnut streets. About this time she, attending St. Mary's Church, became interested in Mr. Hogan's preaching and appearance. The terrible riot at St. Mary's in 1822, in which the pews and altar of the church were destroyed, and the excite- ments attending the troubles of the church during the Hogan controversies, upset her mind, and from being a smart, honest, and good servant she became a helpless object of charity. In a few years her excitement calmed down, and she endeavored to earn her own living. For a number of years she lodged at the Friends' Almshouse in Walnut street, where she was kindly treated. She was sane on many points and methodical in her ways. During the day she was continually on the tramp, and was as well known to the children in Frankford, Germantown, Roxborough, Haddington, or West Philadelphia as to the chil- dren in the old city proper. She had a pleasant word for every one she met. She was so well known that she was employed as a dun to collect difficult debts, in which employment she was in- defatigable, and often successful; and always made her returns promptly and correctly, as she was shrewd and honest in all her business transactions. She thus supported herself almost to the day of her death, which occurred Feb. 15, 1865, when she was about sixty-seven years of age. It occurred at the Almshouse, where she had been about a year. She constantly attended St. John's Cathedral. Her quick, active step had become feeble, her bright eye had lost some of its fire, and her black hair had be- come quite silvered. Her costume usually consisted of a not very full nor long dress, compressed at the waist with a belt and buckle; over this was worn a camlet cloak fastened at the neck, mostly of plaid material. She wore a pair of high-top boots and a man's hat-in winter a rather broad-brimmed stove-pipe hat, and in summer a tall straw hat. Around her neck she wore a rosary and beads. Thomas MacKellar wrote a piece of poetry on her.
Maelzel's Automaton Trumpeter .- This wonderful piece of mech- anism, invented in the early part of the present century by M. Maelzel, was exhibited in 1877 to a party of gentlemen at 926 Chestnut street by Mr. E. N. Scherr, Jr., who now has possession of it. The trumpeter has recently been uniformed as an English dragoon, and plays a number of military airs with the precision and effect of a human performer. It has been nearly fifty years since it was first brought to Philadelphia, and since then it has
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lost none of its original novelty, and is as much of a wonder to- day as it was at that time.
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