History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 198

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 ladies are anxious for the soldiers to receive the benefit of it, and wait your directions how it can best be disposed of. We expect sutne considerable addition from the country, and have also wrote to other States in hopes the ladies there will adopt similar plans, to render it more general and beneficial.

" With the utmost pleasure I offer any further attention and care in my power to complete the execution of the design, and shall be happy to accomplish it agreeable to the intention of the donors, and your wishes on the subject.

"The ladies of my family join me in their respectful compliments and sincerest prayer for your health, safety, and success.

" I have the honor to be,

" With the highest respect, " Your humble servant, "E. REED."

The number of the contributors, of whom Mrs. Reed speaks, was 1645, thus apportioned : the city, 1099; Southwark, 152; Northern Liberties, 171; Ger- mantown, 152; and Bristol, 13. All ranks of society seem to have united. The extremes were gauged by Phillis, a colored woman, who subscribed seven shil- lings and sixpence, and the Marchioness de Lafayette, who contributed one hundred guineas in specie. The offer of the Countess de Luzerne was six thousand dollars in Continental money, worth one hundred and fifty dollars at a gold valuation. In a late edition of the " Life of Washington," Judge Marshall said that "this instance of patriotism on the part of our fair and amiable countrywomen is far from being single. Their conduct throughout the war was uniform. They shared with cheerfulness and gayety the privations and sufferings to which the distress of the times ex- posed their country. With a ready acquiescence, with

a firmness always cheerful, and a constancy never lamenting the sacrifices that were made, they not only yielded up all the elegancies, delicacies, and even con- veniences to be furnished by wealth and commerce, relying on their farms and on domestic industry for every article of food and raiment, but consenting to share the produce of their own labor, they gave up without regret a considerable portion of the covering designed for their own families to supply the wants of the distressed soldiers, and heroically suppressed the involuntary sigh which the departure of their brothers, their sons, and their husbands for the camp rended from their bosoms."

On July 20, 1780, Washington wrote to Mrs. Reed that it might be better to deposit the money in bank and receive bank-notes for it, to be distributed among the soldiers. She replied to him, July 31st, that the ladies had proposed that the sum should " be changed into hard dollars," of which each soldier should be given two. His answer, August 10th, was that the generous bounty of two hard dollars in specie would be the means of bringing punishment on soldiers "whose propensity to drinking, overcoming all other considerations, too frequently leads them into irregu- larities and disorder, which must be corrected." The eventual disposition of the fund was the employment of the major portion of it in the manner suggested by Washington, as is evidenced by Mrs. Reed's letter of August 10th to him, saying that "the ladies had not the most distant wish that their donation should be bestowed in any manner that did not perfectly accord with your opinion."

Many of the loyal American women sold their jewelry and used the money for the good of the cause. When Sally Franklin Bache wanted a con- tribution from Mrs. Meredith, of Trenton, she claimed the latter as a Philadelphian, and insisted that as such she must make a donation. Esther Reed died in September, 1780, in the full tide of her labors, and her remains were laid to rest in the Arch Street Presbyterian burial-ground. On ber tomb was placed this epitaph :

"In memory of Esther, the beloved wife of Joseph Reed, president of this State, who departed this life on the 18th of September, A.D. 1780, aged thirty-four years.

"Reader ! If the possession of those virtues of the heart which make life valuable, or those personal endowments which command esteen and love, may claim respectful and affectionate remembrance, venerate the ashes here entombed. If to have the cup of temporal blessings dashed in the period and stations of life In which blessings may be best enjoyed demands our sorrow, drop a tear, and think how slender is that thread on which the joys and hopes of life depend."

Upon Mrs. Reed's death the control of the Ladies' Association passed into the hands of an executive committee, comprising Mrs. Sally Bache, Mrs. Fran- cis, Mrs. Clarkson, Mrs. Blair, and Mrs. Hillegas.

The Widow Mifflin was a contemporary with the women mentioned, but she was scarcely so prominent in social or public circles. Born Sarah Fishbourne, daughter of William Fishbourne, mayor of Philadel-

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PROMINENT WOMEN IN PHILADELPHIA HISTORY.

phia from 1718 to 1722, she spent a large proportion although she was some ten years his senior. They resided upon a country-seat in Montgomery County, a legacy from her father, until the opening of the war, when Mr. Ferguson went into the British service, and she consequently fell into disfavor with her American friends, although it seems that she was at heart a loyal American, and appearances to the con- trary were simply caused by her devotion to her hus- band. While the British were in possession of Phil- adelphia, Mrs. Ferguson is said to have gone to Gen. Washington with a letter from Rev. Mr. Duché, the purport of which displeased the commander-in-chief, and provoked him to reprimand her for the inter- course she appeared to have had with the writer. of her girlhood at West River, Md., with her step- father, John Galloway, her mother's second husband. In 1745 she was back in Philadelphia, and at school, where she had placed herself and her young step- sister, Jane Galloway, who became the wife of Joseph Shippen. Mrs. Mifflin sold the handsome mansion at the corner of Chestnut and Front Streets, be- queathed her by her husband, and resided with her son, John F. Mifflin, and her stepson, Thomas Mifflin, in a house on Union Street that she inherited from her father. There she devoted herself to the educa- tion of the two boys ; but she was not so entirely occu- pied with them but that she could spare some time to a select social coterie that included Mrs. Ann | Yet Washington granted her a pass to Philadelphia Penn, Miss Allen, Mrs. Benjamin Chew, Mrs. Hester when she proposed to bid farewell to her husband, and it was while she was in the city that she met Governor Johnstone, the British Peace Commis- sioner, who suggested to her that if the influence of such a leader as Gen. Joseph Reed, for instance, could be secured there might be an end to the shedding of blood. But Johnstone was foolish enough to believe that Reed, the right-hand man of Washington, could be bribed to betray his country. White, and the Cadwalladers, the Clymers, and the Shippens. Very many of her associates were Quakers, but she persistently refused to join the faith, and when they implored her to wear the Quaker cap, be- cause it was "so becoming," she silenced them with the reply that " for that reason I ought not to put it on." In October, 1776, she was married by Bishop White to John Beale Bordley, who had made her ac- quaintance in visiting Philadelphia to see his daugh- ter Henrietta Maria, then at school under the care of Mrs. John Cadwallader. They spent their winters in Philadelphia and their summers at Wye Island, a charming rural home, on the Eastern Shore of Mary- land. Their only child, Elizabeth, was born at An- napolis in 1777. When Philadelphia was made the seat of the general government, they permanently established themselves in the city, where a quaint biographical notice says of them that "their house became one of the favorite places of friendly resort to some among the excellent of all descriptions."

Mr. Bordley's daughter Henrietta Maria, by his first wife, had married Maj. David Ross, of the West- ern Shore of Maryland. They had an interesting family of children, and in 1800 removed from their home at Bladensburg, and came to live in Chambers- burg, Pa., from whence they frequently visited the homestead in Philadelphia, the presence of the chil- dren brightening the declining years of their grand- parents.

The old Carpenter mansion on Chestnut Street was occupied during the war as a hospital, and there the members of the Ladies' Association tended with un- tiring care the sick and wounded soldiers. Elizabeth Graeme, daughter of Dr. Thomas Graeme and Anne Keith Graeme, grew into maturity in the Carpenter house. Born in 1739, she was perhaps the most scholarly woman of her epoch. She was scarcely more than a girl when she translated Telemachus into English verse, and she afterward spent a year in Europe under the guardianship of Rev. Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia. On her return home she met Hugh Henry Ferguson, a young gentleman lately arrived from Scotland, and a wedding was the result,

" If you could see Gen. Reed," he said to Mrs. Ferguson, "and, conformably to his conscience and his view of things, get him to exert his influence to settle the dispute, he might command ten thousand guineas and the best post in the government." Mrs. Ferguson did communicate with Gen. Reed three days after Philadelphia had been evacuated by the British, and his answer to Johnstone's proposal was, "I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am the king of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it." Gen. Reed laid the question before Congress ; sus- picion was directed toward Mrs. Ferguson as the emissary of Johnstone, and the Executive Council of Pennsylvania demanded her name. Mrs. Ferguson's indignation was growing, and it rose to its climax when she was denounced in an article in Towne's Even- ing Post. Taking it for granted that Gen. Reed had exposed her, she wrote him a scorching letter. "I own I find it hard," she said, "knowing the uncor- ruptness of my heart, to be held out to the public as a tool to the commissioners, but the impression is now made, and it is too late to recall it. How far at this juncture of time this affair may interfere with my property is uncertain ; that, I assure you, is but a secondary thought." There is no actual proof that Mrs. Ferguson was disloyal to the republic, but she was undoubtedly the victim of circumstances. It is extremely improbable that if her husband had not been a British soldier she would have been a par- ticipant in these covert and not precisely honorable negotiations. Johnstone exonerated her from all blame in a speech that he made before the British House of Commons, and endeavored to clear her fame by accusing Gen. Reed of misrepresentation. She then published, under oath, a statement nffirming the

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HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

purity of her own motives, and challenging Johnstone to sustain or deny her. From this time onward Mrs. Ferguson led a quiet and uneventful life. She grew in religion as she grew in years, and she is credited with making a manuscript of the Bible in order to impress it upon her memory. She died at Graeme Park, Feb. 23, 1801, leaving a nephew and niece, her adopted children.

Society was only lively by fits and starts in Phila- delphia in the war days, and the fifty American maidens and matrons who accepted invitations to Lord Howe's Meschianza fote, May 18, 1778, may be excused for seeking almost any relief from the pre- vailing monotony. But they would have escaped much hostile comment if they had absented them- selves from that memorable festival,-a comment

MRS. BENEDICT ARNOLD (MARGARET SHIPPEN).

which they resented by appearing at the ball to the French and American officers in the high powdered head-dresses of the extreme of the British fashion. Margaret Shippen, who was the youngest daughter of Edward Shippen and became the wife of Benedict Arnold, was at this time one of the finest women in society, and a standing toast with the British officers. Miss Vining was another beauty, and was so highly praised by the French officers in their letters home, that Queen Marie Antoinette expressed to Mr. Jef- ferson a wish that she might see her at the Tuileries, Miss Vining entertained and corresponded with La- fayette, the Duke of Orleans, and the Duke de Lian- court. Before her death in seclusion and poverty she wrote to Governor Dickinson " that the removal of Congress had taken away from the gayety of Phila- delphia."

Rebecca Franks, the beautiful daughter of David Franks, a wealthy Jewish merchant, was the sister of Abigail, the wife of Andrew Hamilton, and niece of

Phila Franks, who married Gen. Oliver De Lancey, of the British army. During the war Rebecca spent some time on Long Island, from whence she wrote some caustic observations on New York women and New York society. Speaking of the former, she said that "I don't know a woman or girl who can chat above half an hour, and that on the form of a cap, the color of a ribbon, or the set of a hoop, stay, or jupon. I will do our ladies-that is, the Phila- delphians-the justice to say that they have more clearness in the turn of an eye than those of New York have in their whole composition." Miss Rebecca goes on to say that in New York it might be always leap year, judging from the forwardness of the young women in courting the young men, and she adds, "Indeed, scandal says that in the cases of most who have been married the first advances came from the lady's side, or she got a male friend to introduce the intended victim." Miss Rebecca had much more to say concerning the vanity of the officers, who im- agined "that a red coat and smart epaulette is sufficient to secure a female heart." But, for all her sprightly sarcasm at the expense of the soldiers, she was captured in matrimony by Lieut .- Gen. Sir Henry Johnson, of the British army. She was one of the belles of the Meschianza, and never made any con- cealment of her Toryism, which she most prominently displayed at the ball which celebrated the alliance of France and the United States. She was daring enough to fasten the emblematic white and black cockades around the neck of a dog and turn it loose in the ball-room. She was becoming an old woman when Gen. Scott saw her in England, in 1816. The story of their meeting is pathetic. "Is this," she asked, "the young rebel?" And then she hastily added, " Yes, it is he. And so you have taken the liberty to beat his Majesty's troops?" Then her hand crept into his, and in a quavering voice she exclaimed, " I have gloried in my rebel countrymen ; would to God I, too, had been a patriot !" But she remembered that her husband was present, and she turned to him with the earnestness of truth and affection. " No," she ejaculated, "I do not. I have never regretted my marriage. No woman was ever blessed with a kinder or better husband. But I ought to have been a patriot before marriage." When Gen. Scott related this incident, as he often did, he said Lady Johnson's eyes were the only ones undimmed by tears. She died in 1823.

Israel Israel and Joseph Israel were two brothers, who resided in Philadelphia at the outbreak of the war, and the latter entered the American army. They unexpectedly met at the family mansion during the British occupation, and Israel Israel foiled the search of a party of the enemy, led by a burly Hessian ser- geant, for his brother. But the soldiers seated them- selves at the supper-table of the family, where they compelled the ladies to join them and listen to their brutal jests. Mr. Israel was about to provoke a con-

PROMINENT WOMEN IN PHILADELPHIA HISTORY.

1693

flict with them, when his youngest sister fell into his arms in a swoon, and bloodshed was thus prevented. On his way to his home, outside the lines, he and his wife's brother were arrested and imprisoned on the British frigate "Roebnek" on the charge of being spies. From her position on the lookout his wife, a delicate but courageous woman, saw a British detach- ment marching toward their meadows to seize the cattle of the Israel farm. She drove the animals off with a hail of British bullets falling around her, and the foraging party returned disappointed to the ship. Her husband was released by Masonic influence. Mrs. Is- rael's maiden name was Han- nah Erwin, and her ancestors came over with William Penn.

Mary Redmond, a Philadel- phia girl, whom some of the British officers had christened "the little black-eyed rebel," tanght a boy who carried pro- visions into market to also ex- change letters between Amer- ican soldiers and their wives and sweethearts in Philadel- phia. The letters were sewed up in the back of his jacket, and one day, when Miss Red- mond had reason to believe that he was suspected, she sought him in the market and, pretending to romp with him, filched his jacket, and so saved the precious missives from con- fiscation.

Toward the close of the last century the women of Phila- delphia acquired a fame in two continents for their personal graces and mental accomplish- ments. Mrs. William Bing- ham, born Anne Willing, was one of the fairest. The Mar- quis de Chastellux, writing of a ball in Philadelphia, said,-

lived illustrated the highest refinement and splendor known in the country. Her beauty, her influence, the elegance of her house, the taste and aristocratic distinction of the assemblages which frequently adorned it, were as household words in this city at the time of her dazzling career, and are now histori- cal of the higher social life of America. "Her beauty," says Mr. Griswold, "was splendid. Her figure, which was somewhat ahove the middle size, was well made. Her carriage was light and elegant, while ever marked by dignity and air. Her manners

MRS. WILLIAM BINGHAM ANNE WILLING).

"Strangers have generally the privi- lege of being complimented with the handsomest women. The Comte de Du- mas had Mrs. Bingham for his partner, and the Vicomte de Noallles Miss Shippen. Both of them, like true philosophers, testified a great respect for the manners of the country hy not quitting their handsome partners the whole evening. In other respecta they were the admira- tion of all the assembly from the grace and nobleness with which they danced, The ball was auspended toward midnight by a supper, served ju the manner of coffre on several different tables. On passiog into the dining-room the Chevalier de la Luzerne presented his hand to Mrs. Morris, and gave her the precedence, an honor pretty generally bestowed on her, as she is the richest woman in The city, and, all rauks here being equal, meo follow their natural hent by giving the preference to riches."

Mrs. Bingham was unquestionably at the head of American society, because the style in which she

were a gift. Sprightly, easy, winning are terms which describe the manners of many women, but while truly describing hers, they would describe them imperfectly, unless they gave the idea that they won from all who knew her a special measure of personal interest and relation. Her entertain- ments were distinguished not more for their superior style and frequency than for the happy and discreet selection of her guests, and her own costume abroad was always marked by that propriety and grace which, while uniting costliness, rarity, and an ex-

1694

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

quisite refinement, subordinates the effect of them in a way which never invites comparisons. In all this she had had the advantage of a wise and conrtly and affectionate education. She owed much, however, to the command of great wealth, and to a combination of friendly and family advantages, which her wealth enabled her to illustrate and profit by." As a child she had been much at home in the family of Wash- ington.

Her father, Thomas Willing, and his associate in commerce, Robert Morris, as well as his brother-in- law, Mr. Clymer, were all members of the Congress of 1776. During a part of the war the headquarters of the general were in a house built on Mr. Willing's estate for his son-in-law, Col. Byrd, of Westover, in Virginia, and only separated from his own by the intervening grounds of his garden. In this way, as well as from her domestic relations and immediate connections with the families of Clymer, Francis, Powell, McCall, Shippen, and others, forming in that day, with the Chews, Allens, and two or three more, a large portion of the only society with which the chief was intimate, Miss Willing, even as a young girl, was very frequently an object of Washington's notice and regard. On Oct. 26, 1780, she was mar- ried by Rev. William White to William Bingham, who possessed larger estates than any other person in the colony.

Mrs. Bingham, with her husband, went to Europe in 1784, and remained abroad five years. As the representative of American beauty, grace, and ele- gance, she was the cynosure of all eyes. She re- ceived marked attentions at the court of Lonis XVI., and was welcomed with delight by her old French acquaintances of Revolutionary war days. Miss Adams, who was in Paris at the time with her father, makes frequent mention of Mrs. Bingham in her diary. She says, "Mrs. Bingham gains my love and ad- miration more and more every time I see her ; she is possessed of greater ease and politeness in her beha- vior than any person I have met." She thus de- scribes the dress worn by Mrs. Bingham at a dinner given by Gen. Lafayette: "Her dress was of black velvet, with pink satin sleeves and stomacher, a pink satin petticoat, and over it a skirt of white crape spotted all over with gray fur; the sides of the gown open in front, and the bottom of the coat trimmed with taste. It was superb, and the gracefulness of the person made it appear to peculiar advantage."

The Binghams went to London, and the Philadel- phia beauty created quite a sensation there. The " lady from America" was much talked of and ad- mired. The London hair-dresser, who attended to the ladies' coiffures on court days, speaking of her and of Miss Ilamilton, said to Mrs. Adams, " with a twirl of his comb, 'Well, it does not signify, but the American ladies do beat the English all to nothing.'" Miss Adams, who tells this story, enters in her jour- nal, in 1787, after an interview with Mrs. Stewart,

" I think, from the observation I have made upon those ladies from Philadelphia whom I have been acquainted with, that they are more easy in their manners, and discover a greater desire to render themselves acceptable, than the women of Boston, where education appears to be better, and they seem to be sensible of their consequence in society. I have seen some good specimens of their brilliancy, first in Mrs. Bingham, and now in Mrs. Stewart." 1

While abroad, Mrs. Bingham was everywhere ad- mired, and the immense wealth at her command enabled her to maintain a style of life without which beanty stood only a slight chance of recognition. Soon after their return home the Binghams huilt their palatial residence, on Third Street, above Spruce. Its width was spacions, its height not extended above a third story, and it stood perhaps forty feet from the ordinary line of the street, being approached by a cir- cular carriage-way of gravel, the access upon both ends of which opened by swinging gates of iron with open tracery. A low wall, with an elegant course of bal- uster upon it, defended the immediate front, and con- nected the gates which gave admission. The grounds about the house, beautifully diversified with walks, statuary, shade, and parterres, covered not less than three acres. The entrance to the house was not raised, but it brought the visitor by a single step upon the wide pave of tessellated marble. Its self- supporting, broad stairway of fine white marble,- the first of that description probably ever known in America,-leading to the second story, gave a truly Roman elegance to the passage. On the left hand, as the visitor entered, were parlors ; on the right, a room' designed for a study; and opposite, separated by a lateral hall, a library. In the second story, on the the south, were a drawing-room and card-rooms, the windows of which, looking down on an extensive con- servatory, adjacent to the lower parlors on the same side, revealed a delicious prospect. Various and ex- tensive domestic offices adjoined the house on the west. Much of the furniture, including the carpets, which were remarkable for their elegant richness, had been made in France. The halls were hung with pictures, of which the greater number had been se- lected in Italy, and the library was filled with the best authors of the day.

In addition to this town establishment, Mrs. Bing- ham possessed the elegant retreat of Lansdowne, on the west bank of the Schuylkill, formerly belonging to the Penns, a place which she laid out with great taste, and at which she passed her summers, At both places, particularly at Lansdowne, Washington was a frequent visitor. In both she lived with an elegant hospitality. Her youth, beauty, rank, and wealth, with the frequency, rarity, and tasteful richness of her entertainments, made her acquaintance highly desirable; and her husband's public character as a

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 198

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