History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 145

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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the New Building finally agreed to cede the property to the trustees of the academy, upou an undertaking that they would pay off the debt of the new build- ing and retain a portion of it forever for occasional preachers, and also set up, according to the original intention, a free school for the instruction of poor children. The deed was made on the 1st of Febru- ary, 1749, by Edmund Woolley and John Coates, sur- viving trustees, to James Logan, Thomas Lawrence, William Allen, John Inglis, Tench Francis, William Masters, Dr. Lloyd Zachary, Samuel McCall, Jr., Joseph Turner, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Leech, Dr. William Shippen, Robert Strettell, Philip Syng,

1 Westcott, Ilistoric Mansions, p. 160.

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Charles Willing, Dr. Phineas Bond, Richard Peters, Abraham Taylor, Dr. Thomas Bond, Thomas Hop- kinson, William Plumsted, Joshua Maddox, Thomas White, and William Coleman. The consideration was the payment of debts due on the building, amounting to £775 188. 11d. 3f. There was an agree- ment that there should be established and founded upon the ground a place for public worship, and also one free school for the instructing, teaching, and edu- tion of poor children or scholars. Also that Logan and the other trustees would " supply the schoolmaster or masters, usher or ushers, mistress or mistresses, to teach and instruct the said children, gratis, in useful literature and knowledge of the Christian religion." Also that the said trustees " shall have full power to found, erect, establish, and continue in and upon the said house and premises such other school, academy, or other seminary of learning for instructing youth in the languages, arts, and sciences, and generally to improve the premises to such other use or uses for the benefit of mankind and the good of society as to them, etc., shall seem meet." This deed, although dated in 1749, was not acknowledged until Nov. 23, 1753, which may be accounted for by the supposition that the trus- tees had not raised the money to pay off the old debt until that time. The trustees must have gone into possession immediately, since the academy, which had first been opened in Allan's private house in Second Street, was removed to the New Building in 1751.

Some alterations were made in the structure. The great and lofty hall was divided into stories, with rooms above and below, for the use of the schools, and one in the second story for the use of preachers and congregations. The Rev. David Martin, D.D., was rector of the academy in 1751. He was suc- ceeded on his death, in December of the same year, by Rev. Francis Allison, rector and teacher of the Latin school. In July, 1753, the trustees were in- corporated under the name of " Trustees of the Acad- emy and Charitable School in the Province of Peon- sylvania." In the succeeding year the title of the tutiou was named the College, Academy, and Char- itable School of Philadelphia. Rev. William Smith succeeded as provost of the College, Academy, and Charitable School, and the history of the institution thenceforth is principally connected with the progress of the College and University of Pennsylvania. The early history of the Charity School cannot now be traced. Whether it was established in 1753, when the academy removed to the new building, or was delayed for a time, cannot be determined. In 1762 the charitable school was certainly in operation, since we are told that a large three-story brick building was erected on the north side of the college, which was devoted in the lower stories to the char- itable school, and in the upper stories was fitted up with dormitories for the use of students at the col-

lege and academy who had no residence in the city. In 1826 the northern building was occupied in two stories by two charity schools for boys, and were at that time under charge of Dr. Joseph Bullock and John McKinley. In the northeast corner of the col- lege building there was at the same time a girl's charity school, kept by Mrs. Knowles. About 1839 -40 the southern portion of the old college building, called the academy, was torn down by the Union Methodist Episcopal Church, which had bought that portion of the property years before. They put up a new brick church building. About the same time the northern end of the old academy, and the build- ing used by the charitable schools, was torn down, and large stores for business purposes erected on the front part of the lot. In order to carry out the agreements and stipulations entered into in the year 1740, the University of Pennsylvania, which owned the property, erected on the back part of the lot a hall of good proportions, two stories in height, in which a room was set apart for worship, to be occu- pied by such ministers that might apply for it, and also by the charitable school. By this time the in- crease of the public schools, in which children were taught gratis, had rendered the ancient charity school comparatively useless. The boys' charity schools were discontinued. The girls' school was in oper- ation much longer, and latterly under charge of Miss Bedlock as teacher. Some time after 1870 the trus- tees of the University determined to abolish the charity schools altogether, because they had become more expensive than useful. The funds and reve- nues devoted to the support of those schools were made the foundation of free scholarships in the Uni- versity, so that under the cy pres doctrine there was only an alteration in the grade of education. The charity which had been devoted to primary instruc- tion was changed to a richer field of culture, but it was still charity.

The Philadelphia Society for the Free Instruc- tion of Indigent Boys .- The second effort toward the establishment of charity schools took shape and

corporation was altered and enlarged, and the insti- motion in the year 1799. About nine young men, apprentices and clerks, who had been in the habit of meeting together, of evenings, for the purposes of social conversation, agreed among themselves that their spare time might be judiciously spent in teach- ing poor children to read and write. They associated themselves as the Philadelphia Society for the Free Instruction of Indigent Boys. They opened a night- school themselves and officiated alternately as teachers. They soon had between twenty and thirty scholars. This was a very modest enterprise, and frugal also. The revenues for the first season derived from the contributions of the members were sixteen dollars and thirty-seven cents; the expenses, nine dollars and twenty-seven cents. They carried on their school for two seasons during the winter months, and had been so successful that they were arranging for a more

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extensive organization and the procuring of a charter. An unexpected circumstance put them in the way through their energy and enterprise. Christopher Ludwick, of Philadelphia, called the " Baker Gen- eral" of the Revolution, died in 1801, and left his residuary estate, estimated at eight thousand dollars in value, to the association which should be first in- corporated for the purpose of teaching, gratis, poor children in the city and liberties of Philadelphia, without any exception to the country extraction or religion of their parents or friends. To this fund the members of the society turned their attention and determined to obtain a charter. The amount in ex- pectanee was very considerable. The trustees of the University of Pennsylvania were anxious to obtain it in furtherance of the interests of their charitable schools. Each institution applied for a charter. It could be granted by the Governor upon certificate of the judges of the Supreme Court and attorney- general of the commonwealth that the object sought by the corporators were not contrary to law and public interest. Governor MeKean, with striet impartiality between the rivals, delivered to the agent of each a charter at the same moment of time. To perfect those instruments it was necessary that the charter should be enrolled at the seat of government at Lancaster. Therefore, there was to be a race to that town, con- ducted by the agents of the two societies. Every- thing seemed to be in favor of the University. The trustees of that institution with wise forethought had made arrangements for an express with relays of horses at certain distances on the route. The Society had not been as thoughtful, but trusted to the ordi- nary chances of the road. It was the fable of the the hare and the tortoise over again. The express of the University started first on horseback, going off in a grand gallop, leaving behind him Joseph Bennett Eaves, who had volunteered his services to go to Lan- caster with the other charter. He had not geared up his horse and got into his sulky when the University agent went clattering off. It happened that the weather was exceedingly hot. The haste of the Uni- versity express was unwise at the beginning. Before he reached the place where he might take his first relay, his horse broke down entirely. He had to abandon him, and was too far off the first stage to attempt to get there. Eaves in his sulky jogged along until his horse failed from the excessive heat. In a neighboring field there was a horse harnessed to a plow. A negotiation with the farmer procured the hiring of this animal to draw the sulky about four miles to the next town. At that place a fresh horse was purchased by Mr. Eaves from a traveler, and when he got to Lancaster, seven hours from Philadelphia, he had performed a remarkable journey as to speed, the distance being sixty-six miles over common country roads under a depressing heat. The society thus established was called the Philadelphia Society for the Support of Charity Schools. At the

election held in 1801 the following persons were elected managers : Thomas L. Bristoll, Thomas Brad- ford, Jr., Caleb Cresson, Jr., William Paxon, Robert Coe, Jr., Edmund Darch, William Neckervise, Thomas M. Hall, Benjamin Williams, William Fry, Joseph Bennett Eave, Joseph D. Brown, Samuel Lippincott, Philip Garrett, Frederick Stellwagon, Thomas Smith, Robert McMinn, and Joseph Briggs. At the time of the incorporation the society had its school-room back of the Second Presbyterian Church, on Third Street, above Arch.1

Mr. Ludwick's legacy was not obtained by the So- ciety until about the latter part of the year 1805 or beginning of 1806. There was added to it, after the death of Ludwick's widow, a house and lot at No. 176 (afterward No. 250) North Fifth Street, estimated to be worth two thousand seven hundred dollars. The whole amount received from the Ludwick legacy was about thirteen thousand dollars. While waiting for this bequest the society, by the certainty of get- ting it, was emboldened in an effort to anticipate its receipt. Subscriptions were sought among citizens. Two thousand eight hundred dollars were raised in that way, and with the sum a lot of ground was pur- chased on the north side of Walnut Street, above Sixth, on the north end of which was erected, at the end of the year 1804, a two-story brick school building.2

The first teacher employed by the society was Thomas Walter, chosen in 1802. This charge in- creased rapidly, and in 1809 there were two hundred and seventy-eight scholars, all boys. In 1811 the society determined to establish a school for girls, and in the next year there were one hundred and eighty- six female pupils. In 1816 the executors of Robert Montgomery paid over to the society four thousand dollars, under a bequest which directed that three- fourths of the amount should be used in the District of Southwark for the education of poor children. Two schools were accordingly set up in that district. In 1859 the property on Walnut Street becoming un- desirable by changes in the city which brought busi- ness into neighborhoods which had once been entirely

1 At this time the children of people of color were more liberally pro- vided with free schools than the poor white children. In April, 1801, the following free schools were in operation for the use of black chil- dren : Willing's Alley, day school for males and females, and an evening school for males; Race Street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, under the care of Episcopal Churches (Christ's and St. Peter's), for boye and girls ; Fontth Street, between Market and Chestnut, even- ing school for females; Sixth Street, between Chestnut and Walnut, under the care of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, day and night school for both sexes. There were Sunday-schools for colored children at Bethel Church, Fifth Street, near Lombard, and at Henry Atherton's school-honse, Vine Street, near Fifth.

2 Thia structure, called in its day the Lodwick School, is standing (in 1884) as part of the group of structures called the Ludwick Buildings. The old school-honge has been changed and fitted up into two rows of offices in each story, with a central entry. The space of ground in front of tho hall extending toward Waluut Street has also been built over and fitted up with offices. The revenne derived from these nees is conaid- erable.

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CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT AND RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS.

devoted to dwelling-bouses, admonished the mem- bers of the society that a change of location was advisable. A large income was possible by devo- ting the whole building to office purposes. The school was discontinued. Meanwhile Paul Beck, Sr.,

feet front by about thirty-five feet deep. This was a Lancasterian school, in which the elder pupils were monitors and instructors of the younger. It was maintained by a payment of four dollars per year from each subscriber, or by fifty dollars for a life bad presented to the society a lot of ground on the membership. The school when first built stood upon north side of Catharine Street, west of Sixth. There a new school-house was erected and opened in May, 1859, under the title of the Beck School-house. This school has the right to send pupils to the Central High School. the sloping bank on the north side of Pegg's Run, in a vale from which it obtained its common name, -the Hollow School. It was well known to every- body in the city and districts, by reason of the Lan- casterian plan adopted there, among which was the learning to write by tracing letters with sticks in sand, and other novelties. The society was incor- porated in 1808, and at that time consisted of forty- five members. In 1810 the managers were John Paul, John C. Evans, David Jones, Clement Biddle, Jr., Isaac Donaldson, Samuel Ilaydock, James B. Parke, Roberts Vaux, Reuben Haines, Charles Allen, Robert Smith, Jr., and Benjamin Ferris; Treasurer, John Cooke; Clerk of the Association; Elihu Pick- ering.

The Society for the Free Instruction of Female Children was established in 1796 by three young women, members of the Society of Friends. Ann Parrish, founder of the Female Society for the Relief of the Distressed, established it. It was opened in a room of her own house at the southeast corner of Second Street and Pewter Platter [Jones] Alley. She instructed little girls in spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, and plain sewing, and was soon joined by Mary Wheeler and Hannah Hopkins, the younger. Shortly after Catharine W. Morris and Hannah Y. Tompkins were added. In the latter part of 1797 the Society of Friends gave permission to the mem- bers of the society to use a room in the old school- house on Fourth Street, below Chestnut. The mem- bers of the society were teachers until 1799, when S. Roache was engaged as teacher, at a salary of sixty dollars per year, which within a twelvemonth was more than doubled to $133.33. In 1807 this school received the name of the Aimwell School, a title given it by Catharine W. Morris.1

The Philadelphia Union Society, for the educa- tion of poor female children, was formed, in 1804, by the union of two Presbyterian societies formed among members of the Second and Third Churches. The society was incorporated in 1808. The school was back of the Second Presbyterian Church in 1810, and during that year the following ladies were offi- cers : President, Mrs. M. McMullin; Secretary, Miss H. Orr; Treasurer, Miss Eliza Hall.

The Association of Friends for the Instruction of Poor Children .- One of the largest free schools in the county during the early part of the nineteenth century was maintained by the Philadelphia Asso- ciation of Friends for the Instruction of Poor Chil- dren. It was established some time in 1807, and on Jan. 11, 1808, opened as the Adelphi School on Pegg Street, Northern Liberties. It was built upon two lots of ground presented by William Sansom and Thomas Scattergood. The school-house was seventy

1 In 1812 the sewing-school was disconnected from the school proper, and established in Appletree Alley. The Almwell School, with the ex- ception of a short occupancy ad interim of a honse on the uorth side of Chestnut Street, between Fourth and Fifth, was at the Friends' school- house mustil 1820. Afterward it was in the Carpenters' Company build- ing, east side of Carpenters' Court, 1820-23; Eighth Street, uear Market, 1823-24; Zane Street, near Eighth, 1824-25. In the latter year the asso- · ciation purchased a lot of ground for eleven hundred dollars on the north side of Cherry Street, between Ninth and Tenth.

The Union Adult Society, established about 1820, opened four schools in that year: No. 1, for white adults, back of the Presbyterian Church at Third and Arch Streets; No. 2, for colored adults, Cherry Street near Fifth; No. 3, for colored adults, at Clarkson school-house, north side of Cherry Street above Sixth ; No. 4, for white adults, back of the Presby- terian Church at Second and Coates Streets.

The Institute for Colored Youth was chartered in 1842, the object being the education and im- provement of colored youth of both sexes, to qualify them to act as teachers and instructors of their own people, either in the various branches of school learn- ing or in the mechanic arts and agriculture. The funds have been principally derived from bequests and donations. The building for the use of the schools was established in 1851, on Lombard Street, between Seventh and Eighth Streets. There were four departments, beside one preparatory and one high school for each sex. There were six teachers, all colored persons. Admission was free for scholars, text-books were furnished gratuitously, and a library and reading-room were established in connection with the schools.

The Inoculating Society. There were some soci- eties instituted for purposes of peculiar benevolence which claim notice. The first of them was the Soci- ety for Inoculating the Poor for prevention of the smallpox, that process being the only one which at the time was considered the most certain method of checking the ravages of the dreaded scourge. Dr. Glentworth established a private smallpox hospital in 1773. In a published notice in the newspapers he said, "The great success attending inoculation hath been so effectually demonstrated that the most re- spectable personages in Europe have been the subjects and are now the avowed patrons of it. Gentlemen of eminence in physic in the different cities in

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HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

America where inoculation is tolerated have provided houses for the reception of inoculated patients, and have met with great encouragement and success. For this salutary service to society Dr. Glentworth has also provided a convenient honse in the city of Philadelphia, with a tender, skillful matron to super- intend it. Those who choose to accommodate them- selves with lodgings will be attended with as much assiduity as those in the house for inoculation." In the succeeding year the physicians of the city united in the formation of an association for inoculating the poor, which was generally called the Society for In- oenlating the Poor Gratis. In their prospectus they stated that during the previous year, out of thirteen hundred and forty-four persons who had died in the city, three hundred had died of the smallpox. They said, " A number of gentlemen, having taken these things into consideration, have fallen npon a method of rendering the benefits of inoculation as extensive as possible in the city and suburbs. For this purpose they are providing themselves with a fund, and have concurred with eight physicians, who have agreed to perform the operation, and to administer to the patients such medicines and advice as may be neces- sary to prepare them, and also to attend them at their houses free of expense. They have engaged a room in the State-House, where a number of the physicians and managers will attend every Tuesday, between the honrs of ten and twelve in the forenoon, to receive applications. They will begin their attendance there on the last Tuesday of this month" (February, 1774).

The managers were Thomas Wharton, Jacob Shoe- maker, Benjamin Morgan, Reynold Keen, Joseph Fox, William Coates, Thomas Clifford, Arthur Don- aldson, Sharp Delany, John Wharton, George Rob- erts, and David Deshla. The physicians were Drs. Charles Moore, Adam Kuhn, John Kearsley, Samuel Duffield, Gerardus Clarkson, Thomas Boud, William Shippen, Jr., and Benjamin Rush. Daniel Roberdeau was treasurer. In-September, 1774, it was announced that the "physicians of Philadelphia have agreed to inoculate no patients for the smallpox during the sitting of Congress, as several of the Northern and Southern delegates have not had that disorder." The rising difficulties between Great Britain and America probably pnt an end to the functions of this society when the war of the Revolution had fairly set in.

The Society for Promoting Vaccination .- A quarter of a century had rolled by before anything more was done by associated effort for the prevention of the smallpox. In 1801, John Vaughan, having heard that vaccination for the smallpox had been successful in Virginia, wrote to Thomas Jefferson requesting his assistance in procuring vaccine matter, he having learned that vaccination had been successful in that State. Mr. Jefferson replied that he had vaccinated himself with vaccine matter received from Dr. Water- house, a portion of which had originally come from Dr. Jenner, of London. He sent a portion of this

matter to Mr. Vanghan. The latter gave it to John Redman Coxe, who immediately vaccinated himself and two or three other persons. Dr. Coxe immedi- ately published letters setting forth the value of the process as a substitute for inoculation. In 1803 fifty physicians in a public address declared that they thought "it a duty thus publicly to declare our opin- ion that inoculation for the kine- or cow-pox is a cer- tain preventive of the smallpox, that it is attended with no danger, may be practiced at all ages and sea- sons of the year, and we do therefore recommend it to general use." Finally, on the 10th of March, 1809, was established "the Society for Promoting Vac- cination,-a preventive of the smallpox,-especially among the poorer classes of society." The affairs of the association were managed by a committee of twelve members, a clerk, treasurer, and six physi- | cians. Members were elected npon the payment of two dollars per year. The physicians visited the honses of poor people and vaccinated them. The association, sometimes called the Philadelphia Vac- cine Society, and sometimes the Society for Vacci- nating the Poor, was very successful at first, and on the 1st of January, 1813, it was reported that it had vaccinated in the preceding three years and nine months four thousand five hundred and eighty-nine persons. The necessity for the continuation of this association ceased abont 1816, when City Councils passed an ordinance, May 31st, for the vaccination of persons in indigent circumstances. Under this regu- lation the city was divided into four districts. There were collectors of vaccine cases, whose duty it was to inquire for persons who had not been vaccinated or were liable to smallpox, and to report to the physi- cians whose duty it was to vaccinate the persons who had not been protected by that process. The society published a report of its work in 1818; shortly after that it may be supposed it ceased its operations.

Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners .- Before the Revolution the condition of the prisoners confined in the city was truly deplorable. They were badly clothed, scantily supplied with food, and, during the winter, exposed to the cold, there being no pro- vision for warming the apartments in which they were confined, and they were generally without bed- clothing. Several persons had died from actual star- vation in prison, and means were taken by benevolent citizens to furnish them with food. But this relief was spasmodic, and only brought forth earnestly for a time after some shocking case of misery had been reported. Eventually, in 1776, a charity society was formed, which was called the Society for the Relief of Distressed Prisoners. They established closed wheelbarrows, on the top of which was painted, " Victuals for the prisoners." These were wheeled from house to house, and received such contributions of broken bread and cold victuals as the charitable might furnish. The barrows were taken to the prison daily, and from this bounty the prisoners were fed.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 145

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992