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 5
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During the summer of this year Penn made large additional purchases from the Indians of lands between the Pennypack and Neshaminey ; from Wingebone all the lands on the west side of the Schuylkill, from the first falls along the river and as far back as his title went ; from others all the lands between Manaiunk alias Schulkill and Macoponackhan alias Chester River, begin- ning at the west side of Manaiunk called Conshohocken, from thence by a westerly line into the said river Macoponackhan ; and from others the lands on the Manaiunk so far as the hill called Conshohockingnd thence in a north-west line to the river of Pen- napecka.
Penn was also busy this summer in making a visit to the inte- rior of the State, which he speaks of as being a pleasant tour, and in building a very fine mansion of brick, sixty feet long, with carved doors and windows and ornamental brick, all brought from
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England. It was two stories high, with a large porch and steps. It had on the first floor a large room for an audience-hall, where he met the Indians, strangers, and his Council ; a little hall and three parlors, all wainscoted and communicating by folding-doors. In addition to the main building, there were a brew-house, a bake- house, a kitchen and larder, a wash-house, and a stable for twelve horses ; all a story and a half high and fronting the river, on a line with the mansion. From the landing to the house was a row of poplars ; there was a lawn and gardens, well planted with trees and shrubs brought by him from England. He called this coun- try residence Pennsbury ; it was situated in a manor of six thou- sand acres, called by the Indians Sepessing, about four miles above Bristol, with a river-front of two miles. Though the house has long since disappeared, the title of " Penn's Manor" is retained.
The appearance of the country at this time is described by Penn in a letter to the Free Traders at home in a very attractive man- ner. After alluding to the many inventions concerning him in England, particularly that he had died a Jesuit, he alludes to the love and respect and universal kind welcome he met with in this country. He then describes the soil, air, water, seasons, and pro- duce, the fish, animals, etc. Amongst the latter he mentions the elk as big as an ox, and among fowls the turkey forty and fifty pounds in weight. Of horses there was such a plenty that they shipped them to Barbadoes ; and also plenty of cattle and some sheep. He said : "The Dutch inhabit mostly those parts of the Province that lie upon or near the bay, and the Swedes the freshes of the river Delaware. . . . The Dutch have a meeting-place at New Castle ; and the Swedes three-one at Christina, one at Tene- cum, and one at Wicoco, within half a mile of this town.
" The country lieth bounded on the east by the river and bay of Delaware and Eastern Sea. It hath the advantage of many creeks, or rivers rather, that run into the main river or bay. . . . Those of most eminency are Christina, Brandywine, Skilpot, and Sculkill. . ... The lesser creeks or rivers are Lewis, Mespillon, Cedar, Dover, Cranbrook, Feversham, and Georges, below ; and Chichester, Chester, Toacawny, Pammapecka, Portquessin, Neshi- menck, and Pennberry, in the freshes ; and many lesser.
"The planted part of the Province and territories is cast into six counties-Philadelphia, Buckingham, Chester, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex-containing about four thousand souls.
"Philadelphia, the expectation of those that are concerned in this Province, is at last laid out. . . The situation is a neck of land, and lieth between two navigable rivers. . .. . It has advanced within less than a year to about fourscore houses and cottages, such as they are, where merchants and handicrafts are following their vocations as fast as they can, while the countrymen are close at their farms.
"Your city lot is a whole street and one side of a street from
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Penn's Management of Affairs until his Departure.
river to river, containing near an hundred acres, not easily valued, which is, besides your one hundred acres in the city liberties, part of your twenty thousand acres in the country."
A post was established to Maryland this year (in July, 1683). Henry Waldy of Tekonay had authority to run one, and supply passengers with horses from Philadelphia to New Castle or the Falls. The rates of postage were-letters from the Falls to Philadelphia, 3d .; to Chester, 5d. ; to New Castle, 7d .; to Mary- land, 9d. From Philadelphia to Chester, 2d .; to New Castle. 4d. ; to Maryland, 6d. It went once a week, notice having been placed on the meeting-house door and at other public places. Communication was frequent with Manhattan or New York, the road starting on the eastern side of the Delaware at about Bor- dentown, New Jersey.
On account of claims pressed upon Penn and upon the home government by Lord Baltimore, Penn sent Lieutenant-Governor William Markham to England to have the matter settled by the Lords of Plantations, and to have the boundaries of the two prov- inces more clearly defined. Penn wrote a letter to them (July 14th, 1683), detailing the whole dispute, with the arguments against Lord Baltimore's claim. The trouble arose from the imperfect knowledge of the geography of the country at the time the two grants were made.
Lord Baltimore claimed all the land upon the Delaware up to the 40th degree of latitude, which would have taken in the city as far as the present Port Richmond. His grant from Charles II. of 1632 gave him " unto that part of Delaware Bay on the north which lieth under the fortieth degree of northerly latitude " . . . . "in certain parts of America not yet cultivated and planted, though in some parts thereof inhabited by a certain barbarous people having no knowledge of Almighty God." The Dutch had been settled here before 1632, as early as 1623, and after- ward the Swedes. Though claims had been made by Baltimore against the Dutch, he had not disturbed the authority of the duke of York.
Penn's patent in 1681 gave him the land "from twelve miles northward of New Castle town unto the three-and-fortieth degree of northern latitude," ... "and on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles' distance from New Castle town northward and westward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude." The fortieth degree was evidently intended to be the northern limit of Maryland, and, as evident by the patent of Penn, supposed to be twelve miles north of New Castle.
In September, 1683, Baltimore sent Colonel George Talbot to demand of Penn all the land south of the fortieth degree. Penn being in New York, his deputy, Nicholas More, delayed answer till Penn's reply in October. Talbot then made, with armed men, demand unon owners and renters in the Lower Counties for obedi-
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ence and rent to Baltimore. Lord Baltimore himself addressed a petition to the king that no further grants should be made to Penn until he should be heard as to his rights; it, as well as Penn's petition, was investigated by the Lords of Plantations.
At the next session of the Assembly at New Castle (in May, 1684) these disputes were brought before them. At this session the following measures were under discussion : to license tavern- keepers ; to preserve the life and person of the governor from treasonable designs ; a bill of excise for support of the govern- ment. It was determined to create a provincial court with five judges " to try all criminalls and titles to land, and to be a court of equity to decide all differences upon appeals from country courts."
In July, 1684, the project of making a borough of Philadel- phia was again revived. Thomas Lloyd, Thomas Holme, and William Haige were appointed to draw up a charter providing for a mayor and six aldermen, with power to call to their assist- ance any of the Council.
The time had now arrived when Penn felt desirous, for various reasons, of returning to England. He had been hard at work lay- ing out the city, establishing the government, making sales and per- fecting titles of land, visiting different parts of Pennsylvania and the adjoining country, laying out counties and subdividing them into townships and manors, making treaties with and purchases of the Indians, starting various industries, building houses, and attending to many other matters necessary ; so that the twenty- two months spent in this country were very busy ones. He thus had got matters into such shape that he felt the more able and willing to return for a short time-as he supposed it would be-to England to look after his interests in the grants of land given to him, which were now being assailed by other parties as well as Lord Baltimore, and to endeavor to repair his fortunes, which, not- withstanding his sales, rents, and receipts, were, on account of the heavy expenses he had been under, now much impaired and en- croached upon. His long absence from his family, to a man of his nature, must have been also a powerful motive for leaving his colony. The visit was intended to be of short duration, but events thickened around him so upon reaching England that his second visit to this country was delayed for seventeen years.
To provide for the administration of the government during his absence, he authorized the Provincial Council to exercise the executive power in his stead, and commissioned their president, Thomas Lloyd, as keeper of the Great Seal ; Nicholas More, Wil- liam Welch, William Wood, Robert Turner, and John Eckley provincial judges for two years ; Thomas Lloyd, James Claypoole, and Robert Turner to sign patents and grant warrants as com- missioners of the land office; William Markham was secretary of the Province, and Thomas Holme surveyor-general.
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The Government under Thomas Lloyd.
Having arranged matters to his satisfaction, he sailed in the ketch "Endeavor " on the 12th of August, 1684, and stopped at Sussex and held a council there. He addressed a farewell letter from on board the vessel to his friends Thomas Lloyd, James Claypoole, J. Simcock, Charles Taylor, and J. Harrison, to be communicated in meetings, breathing sentiments of friendship and true piety. In this letter occurs the sentence-" And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this Province-named be- fore thou wert born-what love, what care, what service, and what travail has there been to bring thee forth, and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee !"
Penn, after a pleasant voyage of seven weeks, landed within seven miles of his own residence, at Worminghurst.
CHAPTER IX.
PENN ABSENT IN ENGLAND; THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THOMAS LLOYD, 1684-1688.
WHEN Penn left Philadelphia the management of the Prov- ince was deputed to the Council and Thomas Lloyd, who was president of it as well as acting governor. The first session was held at New Castle in August, 1684. It issued commissions as justices to William Clayton, Robert Turner, and Francis Daniel Pastorius. By the minutes we find it regulating a ferry across the Schuylkill at High street; rearranging the boundaries of several of the counties; making purchases from the Indians ; establishing the first watchmen ; regulating tavern licenses ; and clearing out, according to orders from Penn, the caves in the river-bank, which had become a nuisance from the character of the people living in them.
In May of this year news was received of the death of Charles II. and the accession of James II. The latter was publicly pro- claimed-" to whom wee acknowledge faithfull and constant obe- dience, heartily wishing him a happy Raign in health, peace, and Prosperity, and so God save the King."
In August, Major Dyer and his deputy " sercher and waiter," Christopher Snowden, arrived with a commission from the king as collector of customs.
Dissensions sprang up between the rival authorities, and Nicholas More, the chief-justice, was accused of malpractices and misdemeanors in office. The Assembly drew up articles of impeachment, and requested the Council to remove him from office. The Council treated the matter coldly, but, ordered him to desist from acting in any place of authority or judicature. His clerk, Patrick Robinson, refused to produce the records of the court. The Council decided he could not be removed until VOL. III .- D 5
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convicted, but after such conviction he should be dismissed from any office of trust. Penn was much grieved at these dissensions, and named several to endeavor to make peace, as it was, besides preventing emigration, bringing reproach on the Friends, though neither More nor Robinson were members of the Society. Not- withstanding these quarrels, Penn appointed More one of the commissioners of government, which office he held until his death ; Robinson also continued to hold office.
In the mean time, Penn in England was prosecuting his claims against Lord Baltimore, and with success, as the Lords of Plan- tations, "after three full hearings," decided against Lord Balti- more, and " he was cast, and the lands of Delaware declared to be not within his patent," because before his grant they were in- habited by Christians, his grant including only those that were inhabited by savages. The line was therefore decided to be one drawn from the latitude of Cape Henlopen to the fortieth degree of north latitude; and that one half of this tract of land, lying between the Delaware River and Bay and the Eastern Sea on one side and Chesapeake Bay on the other, should belong to King James, under whom, as duke of York, Penn was grantee, and the other half south of that line to Lord Baltimore. The lord objected for years to this decision, but the final settlement of the dispute was made by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who defined the boundaries between Pennsylvania and Maryland in the line famous as "Mason and Dixon's line."
Penn, being thus firmly fixed in his possessions, published another pamphlet describing the merits and advantages to pur- chasers and settlers. With his usual shrewdness he omits no attractive particulars, yet with his firm honesty he advises them to " be moderate in Expectation, Count no Labor before a Crop, and Cost before Gain."
He stated that ninety ships with passengers since the beginning of 1682 to the end of 1685 had sailed, and arrived safely, and estimated them, at eighty passengers to each vessel, to amount to seven thousand two hundred persons, which added to a thousand there before, and other accretions from other settlements, and births, would probably swell the amount to about ten thousand persons. These were composed of "French, Dutch, Germans, Sweeds, Danes, Finns, Scotch, Irish, and English; and of the last equal to all the rest."
He described Philadelphia, "our intended Metropolis," as two miles long and a mile broad, "with High and Broad streets of one hundred feet in breadth, and eight streets parallel with High street, and twenty cross streets parallel with Broad street, all of fifty feet breadth. The names of those streets are mostly taken from the things that spontaneously grow in the country; as Vine, Mulberry, Chesnut, Wallnut, Strawberry, Cranberry, Plumb, Hickery, Pine, Oake, Beach, Ash, Popler, Sassafrax,
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The Government under Thomas Lloyd.
and the like." Many of these names are still preserved, but not applied to streets in the same position as those of Penn's time.
In the first ten months after his arrival fourscore houses had been erected, and up to the time of his coming away, which was about a year more, " the Town advanced to three hundred and fifty-seven houses; divers of them large, well built, with good cellars, three stories, and some with Belconies." . . . "There is also a fair Key of about three hundred foot square, built by Samuel Carpenter, to which a ship of five hundred Tuns may lay her broadside, and others intend to follow his example. We have also a Ropewalk made by B. [Benjamin] Wilcox." This ropewalk was on the north side of Vine, above Front street, and gave the name to Cable Lane, a street running north, afterward called New Market street, and the northern portion of it Budd street.
He stated, also, that nearly every useful trade was represented ; that there were two markets every week and two fairs every year ; seven ordinaries, where a good meal could be had for sixpence ; "after nine at night the officers go the rounds" and empty the bars of "Publick Houses;" some vessels had been built, and many boats ; divers Brickeries going on ; convenient mills ; and, with their "Garden Plats," "Fish of the river, and their labor," the countryman " lives comfortably."
" The advance of Value upon every man's Lot . ... the worst . . without any improvement upon it, is worth four times more than it was when it was lay'd out, and the best forty."
He describes the country settlements of townships or villages, each of five thousand acres in square, and of ten families, one family to each five hundred acres; the village in the centre, the houses either opposite or opposite to the middle betwixt two houses over the way, for near neighborhood. Before the doors of the houses lies the highway, with his land running back from it. Be- fore he left he had settled fifty, and visited many of them, and found many farms with substantial improvements.
His accounts of the " Produce of the Earth, of our Waters, and of Provision in Generall," were most glowing, showing great plenty and consequent cheapness. Grain produced from thirty- to sixty-fold ; the land required less seed; all the corn and roots of England would grow, including the Spanish potato, which we now call the sweet potato ; cattle were fed easily ; grass-seed would grow as well as at home; as also all English fruits, as well as peaches, melons, and grapes.
Of the fish, " mighty Whales roll upon the coast, near the mouth of the Bay of Delaware;" sturgeon play continually and plenti- fully, and are much liked; " Alloes, as they call them in France, the Jews Allice, and our ignorants Shads, are excellent fish and of the bigness of our largest Carp," and "so plentiful ;" "Rock
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-
are somewhat rounder and larger, also a whiter fish," " often bar- relled like Cod;" the sheepshead, the drum, and lesser fish ; and the herring, "they almost shovel them up in their tubs;" also " Oysters, Cockles, Cunks (?), Crabs, Mussels, and Mannanoes " (?).
Provisions were so plenty marketers would frequently carry back their produce; beef, twopence; pork, twopence halfpenny ; veal and mutton, threepence per pound; wheat, four shillings ; rye, three ; barley, two and sixpence ; corn, two and six ; and oats, two shillings per bushel ; and some farmers have from twenty to fifty acres in corn. Stock was increasing fast; a good cow and calf was worth three pounds, a pair of oxen eight pounds, and a breeding mare five pounds. Fish, six shad or rocks, were worth twelve pence, salt fish three farthings a pound, and oysters at two shillings per bushel-the shilling sterling rating at fifteen pence in this country.
For drink they had beer of molasses well boiled with sassafras or spruce pine in it, and punch of rum and water; and a little later William Frampton, " an able man," established the first malt brewery, on Front street between Walnut and Spruce streets.
For trading they had wine, linen, hemp, potashes, whale oil, provisions for the West Indies, lumber, sturgeon, tobacco, furs and skins, and iron.
Of the Indians he says : "We have lived in great friendship. I have made seven purchases, and in Pay and Presents they have received at least Twelve hundred pounds of me."
To the adventurers he mentions the time of passage, from one to four months, though the usual passage was from four to nine weeks, according to wind and weather.
Penn also quotes a letter from Robert Turner, which gives many interesting particulars. He says: "There are about six hundred houses in three years' time ; his was the first brick house (west side of Front, below Arch); bricks were as cheap as timber, sixteen shillings per thousand." He mentions among the first to follow his example Arthur Cook, on Front, east side below Wal- nut; William Frampton, a house, brew-house, and bake-house, of brick, on Front, east side below Walnut; John Wheeler, from New England, on Front, west side below Walnut, by the Blue Anchor ; Samuel Carpenter, Front, west side above Walnut ; John Test, north-east corner of Third and Chestnut; Nathaniel Allen, Front, west side above Chestnut, next to Thomas Wynne's ; John Day, a good house after the London fashion, of brick, with large front shop-windows, Front, west side between Arch and Race ; Humphrey Murray, from New York, a large timber-house, with brick chimneys. Robert Turner himself built another brick house by his own on Front street, west side, below Arch, of " three large stories high, besides a good large brick cellar under it, of two bricks and a half thickness in the wall, and the next story half under ground ; the cellar hath an Arched Door (for a Vault to go
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under the street) to the River, and so to bring in goods or deliver out."
He adds : "Thomas Smith and Daniel Pege are partners, and set to making of Brick this year, and they are very good ; also, Pastorus, the German Friend, Agent for the Company at Frank- ford, with his Dutch People, are preparing to make Brick next year. Samuel Carpenter is our Lime-burner on this Wharf. Brave Limestone found here, as the Workmen say, being proved. We build most houses with Belconies. Lots are much desir'd in the Town, great buying one of another. We are now laying the foundation of a large plain Brick house, for a Meeting House, in the center (sixty foot long and about forty foot broad), and hope to have it soon up, many hearts and hands at Work that will do it. A large Meeting House, fifty foot long and thirty-eight foot broad, also going up, on the front of the River, for an evening Meeting, the work going on apace." This was afterward known as the Bank Meeting-House, and was on Front street between Race and Vine.
About the same time as the appearance of Penn's pamphlet, Thomas Budd, a Friend, who built "Budd's Row" of houses near the Blue Anchor, corroborated the statements of Penn in a work he published in London in 1685, entitled "Good Order Established in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, in America, being a True Account of the country, with its Produce and Commodi- ties there made, by Thomas Budd." This rare book was re- printed by Mr. Gowans of New York, with ample notes by the late Edward Armstrong. Like Penn, he speaks of the many and varied products, but he goes farther and makes many valuable suggestions for trade and educational improvement. Amongst others, he suggests the manufacture of wines, beer, ale, and rum, which with flour and biscuit, pork and bacon, and horses, he suggested should be sent to Barbadoes to make export trade, and receiving back, among other articles, cotton wool, to be manufactured here. His ideas for public schools, storage-houses, banks, and public granaries were excellent, though far ahead of his time; many of them were subsequently adopted.
The storage-houses were for storing flax, hemp, and linen cloth ; certificates of deposit were to be issued which would pass current as money. The schools were to be established and main- tained at public expense, the rent or income of one thousand acres for each school to help defray the expenses. Two hours in the morning were to be devoted to study, two to work, two to dine and for recreation ; two hours of the afternoon for study and two for work. The work to consist of learning some useful trade by the boys, and spinning, knitting, sewing, making straw-work, and other useful arts by the girls. The bank was to loan money, on mortgage or pledges of houses and lands, at eight per cent. ; to be an office of registry for all bills and bonds, which should
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be transferable by assignment, and for houses and lands. At this time there were no banks known for loan or circulation, nor was even the Bank of England in existence ; nor was there any system of registry known, the purchaser depending only on the title-deeds. The public granaries were for storing grain, so that destruction or damages by rats and mice should be prevented. Negotiable certificates of deposit were to be issued. The cost of storing, sixpence per annum for the quarter of eight bushels.
In 1686 the Assembly met 10th day 3d mo. (May) in the Bank Meeting-House, in Front street between Race and Vine streets, and the Council most probably in the "Letitia House," in Market street above Front. (For a description of these two houses see the latter part of this volume.) No business of great importance was transacted ; the quarrels about More and Robin- son still continued, evoking from Penn complaining letters, in which he claims the damage to himself was ten thousand pounds, and to the country one hundred thousand pounds and the loss of hundreds of emigrants.
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