USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Historical sketches : a collection of papers prepared for the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1921-1925, Volume VII > Part 18
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The ethics of the pow-wow man forbid that he should receive a fee for his services. If he fixes a price for his efforts, they lose their power, he believes. Nearly all pow- wow "doctors" adhere to this rule, but they do not object to receiving a gift.
With the general diffusion of education, the people lost faith in the pow-wow man. A few aged individuals main-
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tain the prestige of past days, but those who patronize them do it largely out of curiosity. Generally, when one is sick, the family physician, who possesses the diploma of a rec- ognized medical college, is summoned. While in the past there were numerous pow-wowers, strange as it may ap- pear, few of their descendants practice the cult.
Some practitioners formerly prescribed medicine or herbs to be used in addition to pow-wow methods. Years ago, a law was passed prohibiting anyone to prescribe med- icine, or to charge for medical treatment, unless such per- son held a diploma from a regular medical college, and possessed a state license to practice medicine. This was a severe blow to the pow-wow practitioners. These fakirs have been materially reduced since the law went into effect. One case is on record, where the son of a noted pow-wower took a regular medical course and received a doctor's di- ploma, when he took his father's place, and continued to pow-wow, also prescribing medicine. By this plan he is per- mitted to charge for his services. The pow-wow feature is undoubtedly retained to draw customers.
Note: Since the writing of Mr. Orr's paper, public attention has been directed to the subject of witchcraft, or hexerei, by the trial and con- viction for first degree murder, of a young man residing in York county, Pennsylvania.
The defendant testified that he became sick, lost weight and could not sleep. On consulting an old "witch doctor," he was informed that he was being bewitched by a certain neighbor, and that to break the spell it would be necessary to get a lock of this man's hair, and bury it eight feet under ground.
Another family, living nearby, found that its hens ceased laying, cows stopped giving milk and neighbors and relatives made trouble, through the operation of similar sorcery.
The defendant, therefore, with two friends, went at night to the house of the supposed hex, attacked him and killed him.
At the trial, the defendant frankly asserted the right of any individ- ual to take the life of a person who was bewitching him. When asked if he had obtained a lock of the dead man's hair, he replied that it was not needed, as he would be buried with his head eight feet under ground !- Ed.
History of Hatboro *
By MRS. PENROSE ROBINSON
The question is sometimes asked, which was the original name of this town-Hatborough, or Crooked Billet?
In Lewis Evans' map of the Middle Colonies in 1749, and other early records, it is called Hatborough, and it is generally thought this was the name given the town for its first settler, John Dawson, a hatter from London, England, who built the first stone house here in 1705.
When the first stone house was later turned into a tavern, the sign was a crooked stick of wood, and the tavern was called the "Crooked Billet," from a famous inn on Water street, Philadelphia. Four generations of the Watson family have owned and lived in this house, one of the men telling me, just a short time ago, that he could remember the old sign that he saw around the wagon shop. After the opening of the York road in 1711, it was known as a stage house, as the first-class taverns were then called.
Washington, when encamped at Hartsville, then called Cross Roads, wrote to the president of Congress, on August 10, 1777 : "I this minute received your favor of this afternoon, transmitting the intelligence that a fleet was seen off Sinepuxent on the 7th instant. I was about three miles eastward of the Billet tavern, on the road to Coryell's Ferry (now New Hope) when the express arrived."
Washington also mentions the fact that he drank wine in the Billet Inn.
In the Crooked Billet the men first met who conceived the idea of having a public library. In 1755, when the Union Library of Hatborough was founded, there were only two
*Read at an outing of the Society, October 11, 1924.
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others in Pennsylvania, and eleven in the whole country. It was during the time of the French and Indian War, and the minutes of the libary have recorded "black and dark ignorance prevailed, so some of the thinking people pro- posed to form a public library as the most likely way to pro- mote knowledge and moral virtue."
Everybody interested was invited to meet at the Crooked Billet, the public house of David Reese. Thirty-five members signed what they called the "instrument of partnership, the title to be the Union Library Company of Hatborough, in the Manor of Moreland, in the county of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania, in the second day of August, in the 29th year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc."
Hatborough at that time did not have more than a dozen houses, nor was there any larger town within ten miles.
They collected £44, 7s., which they sent to England to buy books. Over a year elapsed before the books arrived, much damaged by water on shipboard.
Thomas Penn, son of William Penn, is recorded as giv- ing books to the library, and among others, Lady Elizabeth Ferguson, Governor Keith's granddaughter, gave a very considerable donation of books. During the Revolution, the books were hidden in the Longstreth homestead at Johns- ville, now owned by Benjamin Wood. In Scott's Gazetteer, published in 1795, it mentions Hatborough having a very handsome library of one thousand volumes, showing how it had grown in forty years.
During the early days, the books were kept from time to time in different people's homes, until Nathan Holt, who felt he had gained most of his knowledge from this library, gave the bulk of his estate for a building. A classic stone structure of Doric order was designed and erected in 1851. There are some rare books to be found here, some printed between 1593 and 1730, and 130 volumes relating to the history of America, printed before 1800.
Through the years of the library's existence there have been times of prosperity and depression, but it has steadily
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grown until it now has about 25,000 volumes on its shelves, and the original beauty of the building is still retained.
Among the early residents of our town, there were sev- eral very scholarly men, among them Robert Loller. He was a teacher, surveyor, conveyancer, and colonel in the Con- tinental army. He was chosen one of the deputies for the county of Philadelphia to consider the resolution of the Continental Congress; also one of the judges to elect mem- bers to a convention to form a constitution for the state of Pennsylvania.
Previous to 1784, all this part of the country was in Philadelphia county. In that year, Montgomery county was formed, Robert Loller being a member of the committee that effected the division. He left the bulk of his estate to establish an institution of learning, which was built in 1812, and called Loller Academy. It filled the needs of the neigh- borhood as a public hall, as well as a school, for many years. The lyceum lectures, debating societies, and the like, were all held in Loller Hall. The Baptist church held ser- vices there for five years, previous to the erection of their building in 1840.
At the time the Academy building was built, it was used as a private school. The public school system did not start until 1836, when it was optional whether the town- ships adopt it. Moreland township did not until 1848. For several years after that, Hugh Morrow, principal, ran it as a combined private and public school. Since 1873, the build- ing has been used entirely as a public school.
The Academy clock was made by Isaiah Lukens, of Horsham, one of the founders of the Franklin Institute. He learned his trade from his father, Seneca Lukens, a self- taught clock-maker. On the bell, which can be made to strike the hours and ring independently, is the inscription: "George Hedderly, Philadelphia founder. Cast in 1811." And the following: "Sound me not in praise of aught but reason and merit."
Isaiah Lukens afterward built the clock in the tower of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, receiving for it the amount of $5000.
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In the early days, a grist mill was very necessary to living, so along the banks of the Pennypack was built the first mill of the neighborhood.
The first record of the land on which the mill stands was in 1712, when the grant of land was given by William Penn to a man by the name of Allen. The mill was built in 1724, just 200 years ago. Since that time many families have owned it, but none for any great length of time.
The Pennypack creek, which furnished the power to run the mill, was named for Pemmapecka, a chief of the Lenni Lenape Indians, who roamed the forest around here. The bridge crossing the creek on the Easton road, just be- low Horsham, has an old date-stone on it, bearing the name Pemmapecka, 1796. The creek, rising just beyond that point, formed an important boundary in four of William Penn's purchases from the Indians.
The first bridge on the York road, crossing the Penny- pack, was built in 1749, a stone bridge with one arch. In 1834, the present three-arch bridge was built, and in 1922 it was widened to accommodate traffic, the commissioners very carefully using the old facing stones which preserved a bridge which architects of today consider one of the finest types that can be built.
The old bridge was crossed several times by the armies during the Revolutionary War. When the British were en- camped in Philadelphia, they depended on the surrounding country for their food supplies. General John Lacey, who was a member of Wrightstown Friends' Meeting, was in command of the American troops stationed here. His orders were to watch the enemy, protect the inhabitants and cut off the supplies going to the British in Philadelphia.
So you see, the capture of General Lacey was of consid- erable important to the British. Here he had four hundred and fifty men, poorly supplied with arms and ammunition, and suffering at times for food.
Early in the morning of May 1, 1778, a detachment under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie and Major Simcoe made a sudden attack on General Lacey's camp, outnumbering Lacey's men, three to one. One of
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Lacey's scouting parties met Abercrombie's division two miles southeast of the camp, but fearing he would be cut to pieces if he fired the alarm, he gave orders to another party to give the alarm, which was not done. Consequently, Abercrombie's forces were within two hundred yards of Lacey's camp when discovered. The attack was so sudden that General Lacey had hardly time to mount his horse be- fore the British were within musket shot.
Finding himself nearly surrounded, he ordered a retreat, fighting as he went, until in a wood near Johnsville, he was able to extricate himself from the enemy. In a roundabout way, he worked back to Hatborough, where he found the British had gone back to Philadelphia, after treating the wounded prisoners most cruelly. Thirty Americans were killed and seventeen wounded.
To the disobedience of the scouts, General Lacey attrib- uted his misfortune. From the scene of action, Lacey and his forces went to Cross Roads, by the Neshaminy bridge. From there he sent a dispatch to General Washington. The Commander-in-Chief the next day sent him the following brief and excellent letter :
Headquarters, Valley Forge May 3, 1778
Sir:
I received yours of yesterday, giving me an account of your mis- fortune. You may depend that this will ever be the consequence of permitting yourself to be surprised; and if that was owing to the mis- conduct of the officer who was advanced, you should have him brought to trial. It is not improbable that the enemy, flushed with success, will soon be out again; if you keep a strict watch upon their motions, you may perhaps repay them.
I am, sir, your obedient servant.
George Washington
In the upper end of the town is a monument commem- orating this skirmish. On the shaft, erected the first year of the Civil War, under the state seal of Pennsylvania, are these words:
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CROOKED BILLET BATTLE, May 1, 1778
General John Lacey commanding the American Patriots who were here engaged in conflict for Independence. Col. William Dean Capt. Isaac Longstreth
In Memory of patriotic Capt. John Downey and others who were cruelly slain on this ground in the struggle for American liberty.
The patriots of 1776 achieved our independence. Their successors established it in 1812. We are now struggling for its perpetuation in 1861.
"The Union must and shall be preserved."
A grateful tribute by the Hatborough Monument Association chartered and erected A. D. 1861
As one glances back at the historic dates of Hatbor- ough - how connected with war they are - the Library, founded in 1755, the second year of the French and Indian War; Loller Academy, the year of the War of 1812; and the monument erected by the men fighting in the War of the Rebellion, in 1861.
Few places of similar size had as great early advantages as Hatborough, and our old buildings have never outlived
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their usefulness. The Crooked Billet tavern is now a dwell- ing house, the Library is distributing more books each year, and Loller Academy is sending out a greater number of boys and girls, as time goes on, and the old mill, now a tea-house, still provides for the comfort of man.
May we always treasure our history, preserve our land- marks, and inspire future residents of our town as we have been inspired by our forefathers.
Note: For details concerning the monument at Hatboro, the reader is referred to a pamphlet: Address at the Inauguration of the Hatborough Monument commemorating the Battle of the Crooked Billet, Delivered in Loller Academy, December 5, 1861. By Rev. Jacob Belville. The complete inscription on the monument, as given in this pamphlet, does not include the names of Colonel William Dean and Captain Isaac Longstreth, men- tioned in Mrs. Robinson's paper .- Ed.
History of Hatboro
By MRS. PENROSE ROBINSON
SUPPLEMENTARY PAPER ON THE HISTORY OF HATBORO
By S. GORDON SMYTH
Reference has been made to the organization and the activities of the Hatboro Public Library-one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the state of Pennsylvania, and to some of the notable men who were identified with it and with the history of Hatboro itself. In connection with this subject, it is deemed essential that, for further information to the reader, and to broaden the scope of Mrs. Robinson's paper, we introduce other matter of peculiar interest to it.
We may ask, to what influences is attributed the found- ing of the Hatboro Public Library? To this end, it may be recalled that at the time of its genesis, the surrounding coun- try was sparsely inhabited by groups of those of different racial origins; principally, they were Scotch-Irish; there were some English settlers, also, with some Welsh and Dutch. These elements were largely Presbyterian in re- ligious faith, with some Dutch Reformed, some Quakers, and some affiliated with the Church of England.
The locality was the immediate vicinity of the seat of the provincial Governor, Sir William Keith, and at his bar- onial residence he exercised his authority under the regular code of a colonial court, and held at what is now known as Graeme Park, which is now believed to have been the centre of political, social and sporting activities, far re- moved from Philadelphia, where one might suppose, it should have been, instead of in the country, many miles away.
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From 1706 to 1722, Keith was the magnet that drew the business of the province, and centralized it in more or less social grandeur at the Park, while he represented the Proprietary, William Penn, until he parted company with the Founder, in 1722, and was elected to the Provincial Assembly, where he represented the people, instead; but in all this time, Keith's manor was considered the centre of culture and refinement of the period.
Attracted under conditions which existed at the time, and by the predominating population of Irish Presbyterians in that region, the Rev. William Tennent, Sr., in 1726, was called to the pastorate of a little congregation, located about four miles from the site of the present town of Hatboro. In 1727, Mr. Tennent came with his family to this neighbor- hood, and a year or two later established the celebrated classical school known in local and religious history as the Log College. Rev. Tennent was then about fifty-nine years of age; he had four sons in his family-Gilbert, Charles, John and William - whose ages ranged from twelve to eighteen, who were now to be isolated from any place of learning suitable to their station or future prospects in life, and whose need, and that of other youth in similar circum- stances, prompted Mr. Tennent to initiate, in the backwoods and on the banks of the Neshaminy, a school to meet this situation, from which were graduated in the succeeding years a number of men who became eminent in the gospel ministry; who penetrated the wilderness beyond the Po- tomac river and entered the valley of Virginia, which yielded to a rapid settlement after 1731. These were the men who established missions there; and from such source there came a body of students to Log College whose spir- ituality and zeal led to the founding, in later years, of Princeton College, with its original but brilliant faculty of teachers and leaders.1
1 And so we, too, can join in the sentiment on the commemorative tablet to Rev. William Tennent, Founder of the Log College, 1727:
"Here, in the life of a pioneer teacher, Sound learning, endued with spiritual passion,
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It would be difficult to estimate to just what degree of influence can be accredited the far-reaching results emanat- ing from such humble beginnings, or what they had upon the community at large in those days; it is beyond question, however, that the enterprise and aggressiveness of Rev. Wil- liam Tennent, the founder of Log College, and his followers, permeated the whole region, penetrating and affecting the exclusive coterie and cultural atmosphere in and about the baronial home of Sir William Keith.
Such were the moral and normal conditions at that time, that it is with little wonder that we catch the signifi- cance of a clause in the preamble to the "Instrument of Partnership" which precedes the actual organization of "The Union Library Company of Hatborough," which reads, "dark ignorance * * did about this time prevail in these parts, and no general scheme on foot for the promotion of knowledge and virtue."
Sixteen years before the date of this "Instrument" (1755), Rev. George Whitefield whose remarkable success in evangelism had preceded him, made his first visit to Log College (1739), and "preached to a gathering of 3000 peo- ple who came from far and near." On this occasion, some were present who became actively engaged in the founding and progress of the Hatboro Library that is. Among them in particular may be noted Rev. William Tennent, Jr., Rev. Charles Beatty, Samuel Davies, Samuel Finley, Edward Shippen, and, no doubt, many others; and, we may assume, Governor Keith and his family, as well as students from the classical school, who later became famous clergymen. But history does not record them all, and much, at this distant day, may be left to the imagination.
At the time of the signing of the "Instrument," the mid- dle colonies were in the midst of the turmoil of the French and Indian War and its consequent excitements; above all this, rose the call for tranquillity and a search for knowl-
Wrought to vitalize knowledge, glorify truth,
Enrich life, and in due time call forth,
To the Glory of God and the welfare of American youth,
These worthy Christian colleges."
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LOG COLLEGE (From "The Presbytery of the Log College," by Thomas Murphy.)
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edge from the settlers in this section of the country, and it is of more than passing interest that we place upon record the names of those men whom war did not alarm nor turn from a sense of duty to their brethren. So we are told that "it was ten days after Braddock's defeat" that the first meeting of the associators of the Library was called, but "that nothing was done until the beginning of the Summer of 1755 when on the 19th July a conference was held by Rev. Charles Beatty, Rev. Joshua Potts, John Lukens and Joseph Hart." This meeting was followed by another held on August 2, 1755, at David Rees's "Ye Crooked Billett," and there a plan was read, approved and signed by several members, who were required to meet on the first Saturday in the following November, to choose officers, etc. The fol- lowing are the first signers :
Charles Beatty2
John Bartolett
Nathan Bewley
Jacob Cadwallader
Peter Craven
David Davis
Joseph Dilworth
Able Dungan
Clement Dungan
Joseph Dungan
Jonathan DuBois3
Alexander Edwards
Joseph Gilbert
Joseph Hart
Isaac Hough
Samuel Irwin John Jarrett, Jr.
John Jones
Job Lancaster
Wm. Loufburrow
John Lukens
Peter Lukens
Joshua Potts
Thomas Potts
David Rees
Isaac Shoemaker
John Shoemaker
Samuel Shoemaker
W. Spenser Samuel Swift
Wm. Tennent
Daniel Thomas
John Thomas
James Vansant
John Watts
Silas Yerkes
2 Charles Clinton Beatty came to America as a poor immigrant boy, and, after traveling about the country, finally attracted the attention of Rev. William Tennent, Sr., who induced him to come to the Log College, where he studied, was ordained to the ministry in 1743, succeeded Rev. William Tennent as the pastor of the Neshaminy church, upon the death of the latter, in 1746, and continued to serve that congregation for forty- nine years. Rev. Beatty served as chaplain among the eight hundred men whom Benjamin Franklin raised for the French and Indian War, in 1756. On his return from the first expedition, Beatty raised a company of one hundred men for Col. Clapham's Regiment of Foot, and again went to the front as chaplain. In 1758, he served as chaplain in the First Battalion of Pennsylvana Provincials, served under General Forbes, was present at the capitulation of Fort Duquesne (which then received the name of Fort Pitt), and preached a thanksgiving sermon to the army, in honor of the victory. On Mr. Beatty's return to Neshaminy, in 1760, he was sent to Great Britain by the incorporators of the Minister's Fund, to solicit sub- scriptions in aid of the fund, and while in London, on this errand, he was
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Then, in pursuance of the above above instructions, the annual meeting was held on November 1, 1755, at which time "The Union Library Company of Hatborough" elected a board of directors composed of John Jarrett, Samuel Irwin and Joseph Hart.
It is interesting, also, to note that the seventeenth section of the "Instrument of Partnership" refers to the adoption of a device, and reads: "That for Distinction's sake, the Members Subscribing in Company aforesaid, Shall at all times for Ever hereafter be Called the UNION LIBRARY COMPANY OF HATBOROUGH & shall have a Seal in Comon with this Devise, Viz., A Shield in the Midle divided into Three Parts, in one of the upper parts a Book opened, and in the other three Books Shut and Erect and in the Lower part, or half, a Knot Represented by four hands each taking hold of another's Wrist; having a pair of Dividers on the Right side, and a Tulip on the Left, a Dove Represented
present at the coronation of George III, by whom he was received. He also received a donation to the fund, from the King. In 1766, he was com- missioned by the Synod to go to Carlisle, to meet a council, and establish a mission among the Indians beyond the Ohio; he then penetrated the wilderness west of Pittsburg, and carried out his instructions. He became a trustee of Princeton College, which had been established before 1760. And while on a sojourn in the Barbadoes Islands, whither he had gone to solicit aid for Princeton College, he died there, 13 August, 1772. In this connection, it is said, that in 1811, when an attempt was made to estab- lish Princeton Seminary on the site of the old Log College, the Rev. Nathaniel Irwin, pastor of the Neshaminy church, devised to it $1,000 in case the movement should be successful. (Pubs. Bucks Co. Hist. Soc .; Vol. III, p. 7.)
3 Jonathan DuBois was a great-grandson of the famous Louis DuBois, one of the twelve "Patentees," of New Paltz, Ulster Co., N. Y. Jonathan studied for the ministry at Log College under Rev. William Tennent, and in 1749 became pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of North and Southampton, then located at Feasterville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He remained in this charge until his death, in 1772. In 1858, the churches at Richboro and Southampton merged, and worshipped as one congrega- tion at what is now Churchville, Pennsylvania. One of the descendants of Rev. Jonathan DuBois is the wife of Richard Montgomery, S.T.D., of Wyncote, Pa.
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