History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 183

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

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TURI VF VODOIND VUUNLI, FENNDILY ANIA;

those of Abington ; and in 1813, Philip Price weut to the opening of the first Yearly Meeting in Ohio. On that occa- sion Jesse Kersey's services were eminently influential. At that period his eloquence had such persuasive and argumen- tative power as never to be forgotten by his hearers, as never have they been by the writer, whose memory reaches back to the most favored years of his gospel ministry.

During the war of 1812 to 1815 our people were forced into manufactures by the war with Great Britain, and these demanded wool, and the farm was used to graze merino sheep, with good results while the war lasted, but when it ceased protection of manufactures ceased, the manufactories fell into decay, and the price of wool and value of sheep fell, and these went to the shambles. Then and before, during Jefferson's embargoes, the Democrats were the most zealous champions of American manufactures. The parties re- versed their policy after the first quarter of the century, and our factories went to decay when they should have been saved.

From 1795, Philip Price, and from 1802, Rachel Price, had been one of the Yearly Meeting's committee to build and manage the Westtown Boarding-School. There all of their ten children received their last year's education. In 1818, Philip and Rachel Price were appointed to take charge of the school as superintendents, and continued under the appointment until 1830. After that time he built the Girls' Boarding-School, at West Chester, which his daughter, Hannah P. Davis, sold in 1852. Their gov- ernment in both was essentially a rule by kindness and affection, and thousands have remembered and remember them and their daughter, in all the residue of their lives, with the love of affectionate children towards beloved pa- rents.

During their residence at Westtown the committee au- thorized many improvements : that of building a wall round the girls' garden, but so as not to intercept the view ; the planting of trees ; an improvement in the food ; the use of cups and saucers instead of porringers; and above all a milder discipline was practiced, and whipping almost ceased. This was found to be the better method. The re- fractory boy was invited into the library, where sat the su- perintendent and several teachers in solemn silence. Some kindly words and admonitions were spoken by the superin- tendent; usually the boy was softened, and the conclusion was that he might be trusted with a further trial, and thus bodily infliction was averted. There was no irritating sys- tem of espionage to produce resentment and a more deter- mined purpose of retaliation. Superintendent and teachers were quick enough in observation, but it was not always best to seem to see, or to make too much account of what was seen. The bad boy was thus made of more kindly dis- position ; was less hardened and fixed in vicious ways.

The following were the children of Philip and Rachel Price: 1. Martha, b. 11th mo. 3, 1785; d. 9th mo. 11, 1852; m. Nathan H. Sharples. 2. Hannah, b. 3d mo. 26, 1787 ; d. 1st mo. 10, 1861 ; m. Dr. David Jones Davis. 3. William, b. 9th mo. 17, 1788; d. 1st mo. 27, 1860; m. Ilannah Fisher. 4. Sibbilla, b. 2d mo. 19, 1790; d. 8th mo. 6, 1853 ; m. John W. Townsend. 5. Margaret, b. 4th mo. 9, 1792 ; d. 7th mo. 15, 1830; m. Jonathan Pax-

son. 6. Benjamin, b. 12th mo. 17, 1793; d. 1st mo. 15, 1872; m. Jane Paxson. 7. Sarah, b. 11th mo. 6, 1795 ; d. 12th mo. 4, 1873 ; m. Caleb Carmalt. 8. Eli K., b. 7th mo. 20, 1797 ; m. Anna Embree. 9. Isaac, b. 11th mo. 30, 1799 ; d. 8th mo. 25, 1825 ; m. Susanna Payne. 10. Philip, b. 7th mo. 7, 1802; d. 6th mo. 16, 1870; m. Matilda Greentree. 11. Rachel, b. 7th mo. 19, 1808; d. 9th mo. 25, 1808.

The one blank in the record of deaths another hand must fill. The survivor leaves it for the posterity of his sisters and brothers to continue the family narratives, as they may be influenced by the sense of duty. He has had great sat- isfaction in tracing their ancestry from their landing on our Atlantic shore. In this sketch, and in the centennial meeting of the family, he has given the starting-points for others. His best wish is that they may have as much pleasure in their work as he has had, and as good lives to commemorate. His very earnest purpose and prayer have been that the examples of Philip and Rachel Price shall be kept before their descendants as long as they may continue on this earth. (See " Memoir of Philip and Rachel Price, and the Family Centennial Meeting in 1864," privately printed, distributed, and for distribution among the de- scendants.)

I now approach a great and painful crisis in the Society of Friends in America, and that made a crisis in the lives of those prominent in the concerns of the society. It was the separation, that commenced in overt acts in 1827. The fact was cause of great sorrow to the well-wishers of the stability of order and the best good of general society. Friends had been a ballast in the social order. The influ- ence of Friends in the whole community was impaired. They lost prestige and power ; they appeared not quite so near perfection as was supposed ; they were seen to be yet human. Partisan feeling became strong. Their strength had been in unity : it was wasted now in contest. The contestants receded towards opposing ends of an ancient and expanded platform that embraced an orthodox faith, as it is in the text of the New Testament, aud an unprece- dented spirituality of interpretation, worship, and divine guidance. I would name no names for censure or praise ; I have no privilege to be censor of the eminently good. Deep sorrow for the fact of separation was now my abiding emotion. I was closely observant of the history as it trans- pired; I read it in periodical publications; I have it in many volumes, but have no wish even to open one of them again. The testimony of witnesses professionally examined by me swelled to volumes. It was round me everywhere and always for years, but my feelings were not in it. To me it seemed the rending of the fairest temple in history, the loss of reverence for sacred things and persons, yet both parties thought they were striving for sacred doctrines and religious rights.

The controversy was doctrinal, yet there was mixed in it a jealousy of the select bodies, whose members, by weight of influence, had long shaped the proceedings of the meet- ings to which all members of the society were freely admitted. The select meetings that sat with closed doors were the Meeting for Sufferings, that represented the Yearly Meeting for all matters that affected the welfare of the

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

society for more than fifty-one wecks in the year, and the Meetings of Ministers and Elders, that met in connection with the Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings. Of both Philip and Rachel Price had long been members.

There had been unquestionably much preaching and writing among members of the society that leaned towards Unitarianism, and that tended to impair its ancient faith in the full divinity of our Saviour; and the Orthodox, in op- posing innovations, seemed to recede too exclusively to a dependence upon the outward history, the letter of the Scriptures, and the vicarious office of Christ in the work of human salvation. They were accused of irregularity of proceeding, and the opposition was the more effective as the Orthodox were backed by English ministers, who little regarded the American feeling of independence that was . naturally offended by their foreign interference.

To understand the earnest leaders of each party we must place ourselves in their respective positions, and, doing so, we cannot fail to become more charitable in our judgment. On the one hand, the Orthodox believed that their faith in the divinity of our Saviour was assailed; believed that their Saviour, who died on the cross that mankind might be saved, was shorn of his godhead,-a faith dearer to them than life. On the other hand, the unorthodox apprehended that the great distinguishing doctrine of the inward work of Christ in the souls of men was to be largely replaced by a relapse towards the orthodoxy of the churches out of which their forefathers had come under great persecution and suffering.

No discipline of the Yearly Meeting had provided for the emergency of such a separation. The Orthodox pro- ceeded to disown those they considered separatists, by indi- vidual visitation, as offenders,-offenders who thought their visitors the real offenders. That proceeding caused much irritation. Such dealing was with little expectation of re- clamation, and the visited felt that the form might have been dispensed with by a few lines of discipline ordained by the Orthodox Yearly Meeting. In this work of disownment the kindly nature of Philip Price was severely tasked ; but it is believed that he never lost a friend by the performance of apprehended duty. Rachel Price took no part in the con- troversy; for years her ministry was much closed. She dwelt, under great sorrow, in a Christian quietude and retirement, -a result prompted alike by gospel conviction and mater- nal feeling. Her children, who had remained Friends, took either side about equally. She perceived no change of faith in them nor in their Christian life, nor did they themselves, or others, perceive them changed in doctrine. The love of the parents for children, and of the children for parents, was preserved during the lives of all; and the survivor of them all, who here testifies to the fact, further avers that the memory of our parents. has always been held sacred and in tender regard by all their descend- ants.

It is needed to explain to others than Friends that they were constituted and held in unity as a religious society by other ties and for other purposes, as well as to uphold cer- tain religious doctrines. True, they could not be true Friends without believing fully in the gospel as it is re- corded in the New Testament, and that with greater earnest-

ness and stricter practice than usually pervaded Christianity since apostolic days. They had many reforms to make in the world, purposes to be more Christ-like, to love their fellow-beings more, and to enter into a closer religious unity. Love was the badge of the discipleship of Christ, and it was meant should be theirs. They eschewed all heathen names, banished all worldly compliments, and re- verted to an apostolic simplicity of dress, address, and sincerity of manners. They swore not at all, for so bidden by Christ ; they put the highest value on life, and suffered any consequence rather than take human life; they bore an incessant testimony against intemperance, war, and all human wrong and oppression. Ten Friends, including William Dilwyn, born in New Jersey, with two others, formed a committee, who, drawing Clarkson and Wilber- force to their aid, by thirty years' persistent labor destroyed the African slave-trade by the English and other nations. In 1688 the few Friends from the Rhine who settled Ger- mantown started the proposal that the keeping of slaves was unchristian. The superior meetings were not then pre- pared to act. The small leaven worked on until about half a century produced Benjamin Lay, John Woolman, and Anthony Benczet ; and iu less than another half-century slavery was abolished among Friends. Our State, in 1780, provided for emancipation, and the Northern States also then and afterwards had become leavened ; and the con- summation was Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation of all slaves in 1862. And so from William Penn until this day all Friends have been the persistent advocates for jus- tice to the Indians. In all these regards and other humani- tarian purposes there has never been division of sentiments among them. What, then, should be the fervent prayer of all good men but that all claiming the name of Friends should be true standard-bearers of all the testimonies and doctrines of ancient Friends, and give their lives to the like domestie and social virtues and good works, private and public.

Whilst I would inculcate toleration, charity, and kind- ness, I would not wish to be understood as desiring to pal- liate errors and the loss of influence for good, still less to countenance any relapse from an earnest and true Christian faith. All Friends are to be allowed abstinence from all outward forms and ritualistic ceremonies without imputa- tion of defective Christian faith, for this proceeds consist- cotly from their fuller spiritual apprehension of the Chris- tian faith, and this most distinguished them from their beginning. Their creed has always been the New Testa- ment itself, read under the light of the Holy Spirit, given to all men for their guidance. They accept the words of the Scripture as the best outward means of transmitting thought, but have also with them the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures, which is the witness within themselves to enable them to understand the Scriptures and to become real professors of the Christian faith ; and rightly followed they will abide by the Scriptures as the best outward evi- dence of truth, and will preserve from going astray by speculation, and in moral conduct. (Sce Barclay's Apol- ogy, Exposition III.) They adhere to the Scripture lan- guage more closely than the orthodox churches. They use not the terms "trinity," nor the three "persons" in

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the trinity, for they find them not in the New Testament ; yet as fully as those churches believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost do they believe in them, but will not fetter the teachings of the Holy Spirit more than is done by the outward words necessarily used to transmit the his- tory and faith of Christianity.

If permitted to one not a member, but all his long life very familiar with the lives, conversation, preaching, and writings of Friends, he would give his own intellectual ap- prehension of this fundamental part of their faith. " God is a Spirit ;" in Christ "dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily ;" " the Holy Ghost;" all these words ex- press God, who is a Spirit; one God, one Holy Spirit, eter- nal ; yet manifested differently unto men, yet never less than God, who is a Spirit. The " word" " was in the beginning with God;" "the word was God;" " the word was made flesh and dwelt among us." "This is the true God and eternal life." Jesus said, " I and my Father are one." Thus one was the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. This "God is love," who sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. "God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us ;" and Jesus said, " the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach all things." " Which is Christ within you, the hope of glory." " And we are in him that is true, even his Son Jesus Christ." Now I have apprehended that Friends have always held to the high standard of such Scripture, and that when men have fallen from such Scripture they have devised a creed or philoso- phy in their own wisdom. If we believe that nature had a cause, and that such cause transcended all matter, we may well believe that that cause was mental, spiritual, and able and willing to condescend to visit in love his creatures in the ways he thought best, and that there is therein no more puzzle or mystery involved than that God is, and could create man and endow him with mind, thoughts, and affections, in their best estate, kindred to his own, for he is Almighty. Yet truly all is wonderful, and the manner thereof above our comprehension. True Friends were never Socinians. For these views no one but the writer is re- sponsible. All they are worth is the truth that may be found in them.

Philip and Rachel Price were by nature constitutionally cheerful and of vigorous health. In religion they were profound in sympathy with the sufferings and contumelies endured by our Saviour, and ever had deepest sorrow for the errors and sins of their fellow-beings. Their exercises in worship were very solemn, and the plaintive and persua- sive tones of our mother in her ministry showed how deeply she was moved; how charitable towards human infirmity ; how she yearned to gather her hearers under the wing of a divine protection. Yet in the consciousness of duty per- formed they had precious consolations. In the visitations of the Comforter had comfort beyond the power of human expression. And most pleasant and refining was it to them to cherish the religious fellowship of the good, and to re- new the sweet memories of the righteous laborers and the saintly martyrs who had gone before them to blessed rewards.

The space allotted permits no further expansion of this

summary sketch. Other volumes privately printed for the descendants of Philip and Rachel Price have fulfilled that duty. Chester County has a precious history in the lives of a host of Friends who have lived and died within her boundaries ; many, very many, without a record to preserve their memory ; yet it is to be hoped that the names of many will be found in " The History of Chester County," and a clear gain it will be to humanity and religion.

Philip Price died 2d month 26, 1837 ; Rachel Price, 8th month 6, 1847; both in their residence on Union Street, West Chester, and their remains were placed next each other in the old burial-ground at Birmingham, the place marked by a cedar planted by their son and head- stones now permitted to appear a little ahove the surface.

There, in sacred seclusion, rest their remains ; therc, where the war once raged, the cannon roared, and the mingled blood of focs stained the soil ; there where, since the conflict, the spirit of peace has dwelt for more than a century ; there the solitary bird now broods undisturbed in branches that shade their graves ; there sits the plaintive dove, emblem of innocence and of their lives; symbol of the Holy Spirit, type of the Church of Christ, and of the soul's resurrection.

ELI K. PRICE .*- Every branch of the ancestry of Eli K. Price is traced through the blood of Friends to the settlers of Pennsylvania who came over with William Penn, chiefly from Wales and England, but partly from Ulster, in Ireland, and the Palatinate of the Rhine, whence came the first settlers of Germantown. He is the son of Philip and Rachel Price, of Chester County, and was born at a spot within view of Brandywine battle-ground, on the 20th day of July, 1797. His early education was obtained at Friends' Westtown School, in that county. His business training was in the shipping-house of Thomas P. Cope, and as a student of law with John Sergeant, Esq., he laid the foundation for a course of study which he has continu- ously pursued since his admission to the Philadelphia bar, on the 28th day of May, 1822. While in the counting- house he thoroughly familiarized himself with shipping and commercial law, and afterwards grappled with the harder law of real estate. It was in the latter that the public have most made their demands on his services. He has served the people of Philadelphia in the State revenue boards of 1845 and 1848; in the State Senate, 1854, '55, '56; and for the past fourteen years as commissioner of Fairmount Park.

About 1844, the year of our " Native American" riots, disastrous in fires and bloodshed, it became obvious to many independent and public-spirited citizens that radical remedies were needed for the agglomeration of our muni- cipal corporations, seldom in accord and frequently hostile. Philadelphia was not then a name that represented the strength and power of a great metropolis, neither for her own progress nor in her comparison with sister-citics. Composed of narrow sectional divisions, which acted not in their united strength, but with their power neutralized by want of concert and jealous hostilities, with contiguous boundary lines, criminals escaped pursuit, and volunteer

* Prepared by Wm. E. DuBois, assisted by J. S. Price as to legal matters.

Elik . Price, aged 84 years.

DIVURAL LLIVAU ANY WUNDALVUIVAL.

fire companies fought the battles of their sectional hostili- ties in our streets with deadly missiles and firearms, and conflagrations were even lighted for the entertainment of firemen visitors. We could consummate no great internal improvements, could make no great water-works, nor create a Fairmount Park, owing to the jealous fear of some part acquiring local advantages over others. No political party dared to assume the responsibility of coping with a task so formidable as to combine the heterogeneous ele- ments, and to impress the strength of all into harmonious action demanded for the general good. To meet these great wants Mr. Price was sent to the Senate for three years, and Matthias W. Baldwin and William C. Patterson to the House of Representatives for one year, to provide an ade- quate remedy, and the three were elected over the regular candidates of both political parties.

The result was the new charter for the city of Feb. 2, 1854, called the " Consolidation Act," which united about a dozen corporations, including the county of Philadelphia, of 122 square miles; and the further consequences have been that a population of nearly a million people has since acted in the strength of its unanimity; has advanced largely, even through a period of great manufacturing and · commercial prostration, its trade, transporting power, and financial stability ; has approximated towards a great sys- tem of water supply ; a police force was maintained here in July, 1877, that prevented a worse destruction than that of the Pittsburgh riots, with a Park unsurpassed in area and beauty, wherein the Centennial International Ex- hibition was held. The history of the consolidation was written and published by Mr. Price in 1873, containing 137 pages, dedicated to our venerated citizen, Horace Bin- ney, whose father, Dr. Barnabas Binney, like Franklin, came to us from Massachusetts. The valued conservatism of Mr. Binney, after long experience and much reflection, yielded to the judgment of the necessity of the great mu- nicipal change.

More than a year before Mr. Price went to the Senate he had, at the request of Governor Bigler, prepared a bill for an act entitled " An act relating to the sale and conveyance of real estate," with the following preamble, " Whereas, The general welfare requires that real estate should be freely alienable, and be made productive to the owners thereof," and " Whereas, In matters which the judiciary is compe- tent to hear and decide it is expedient that the courts should adjudicate them after a full hearing of all parties, rather than that they should be determined by special legislative acts upon an ex-parte hearing." The evils had been that real estate was extensively bound by trusts that made vacant ground and dilapidated buildings inalienable in title, which kept it out of the market and unproductive and unimprov- able by the owners or purchasers, without a special act of Assembly, and in some instances such act would not avail. The courts for remedy were enabled to make decrees to sell, lease, mortgage, and convey on ground-rent, or to en- able the trustees to build, and the reservation of rents and the purchase moneys were substituted, with security, for the land sold on the limitations of the original trusts. Thus the present generation got a better living without loss to the succeeding owners of the trust property ; the dilapida-

tions, like those that tell of long chancery suits in England, have disappeared ; our city has been improved and beauti- fied and business accommodated; the public revenue by taxes is increased, and unfettered titles are carried into the world's commerce for the most profitable uses ; purchasers holding titles already adjudicated are purged of legal ques- tions. The act has been in force since April 18, 1853, and is popularly called the " Price Act." Its beneficence has been often judicially acknowledged.

In 1874, Mr Price published a treatise on "The Act for the sale of Real Estate," containing 193 pages, as a " reading" thereon, embracing the reasons for and the de- cisions upon the act.

In the session of 1855 " an act was prepared by him re- lating to corporations, and to estates held for corporate, re- ligious, and charitable uscs," which became a law on the 25th of April. Its enactments indicate the evils to be remedied. The holding of subordinate offices by corpora- tors is declared incompatible, and to be surety for such is forbidden, or to be interested in the corporate contracts, and to receive gratuitics is declared illegal, and is met with penalties. Shares in corporations are declared personalty, the annual income and estates held limited; the manner of holding property for religious purposes is regulated; dispo- sitions of property for charitable and religious uses are not to be lost by the death, etc., of the trustee, but a trustee is to be supplied and to exercise the discretion given, and if the object ceascs, a kindred one is to be selected ; and dis- positions to charity and religion are required to be made a calendar month before death .- P. L. 328.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 183

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162