History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 9

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 > Part 9

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In 1768-69 several firms advertise tooth-brushes and complete sets of instruments for cleaning the teeth. In fact articles for the toilet for both sexes,

fancy articles, carved ivories, and all those expensive trifles invented by the ingenuity of the London and Paris artisans to tempt the wealthy, could be found in as great variety then as they may be now in our most fashionable stores. As much may be said of dress-goods of every kind. A few of the goods with strange, puzzling names still remained on the list, but we feel more at home when we read of the Mechlin and Brussels laces, gauzes, cambrics, lawns, mulmuls, jaconets, scarfs, trimmings, fringes, gimps, ribbons, and the usual variety of fans, gloves, and mitts for sale by the leading " milliners" of that time, Mrs. Symonds, in Chestunt Street, and Mrs. Ann Pearson, in Second Street. We learn from the ad- vertisements of those ladies that ladies' satin riding- hats, with feathers or gold and silver hands and buttons, were fashionable; also stomachers, with Italian and French breast-flowers. We glean the information that the ladies wore rich shades or cloaks of all colors, stuff shoes, and toed and silk-tied clogs for wet weather, and we make the astounding dis- covery that the " chip" hats and bonnets of our day were worn on the streets of Philadelphia in 1768. Gentlemen could buy at the milliner's silk gloves, velvet morning-caps, and silk and satin bags for their " queues."

Louis Duchateau, the French peruke-maker and hair-cutter, at Mr. Lortie's, in Third Street, informs the ladies that "he makes different sorts of hand- some frizets, which imitate nature and may be set on with very little trouble;" while Mrs. Holliday, wife of Joseph Holliday, " Taylor, from London," in Arch Street, offers them her "new-invented curious com- pound, which will, in half a minute, take out by the roots the hair which grows too low on the forehead, etc., or round the mouth ; it forms the eyebrows that are too large into a curious arch." This compound is perfectly "innocent," and " may be used on chil- dren under twenty months old."

Broadcloths were to be had in such variety of col- ors as to please the most fastidious taste,-scarlet, crimson, blue, green, drab, black, white, buff, brown, light colored, and rose colored. Francis Hopkinson, on Walnut Street, kept a fine stock of them and of cas- simeres, "a new-invented manufacture for summer." Roger Bowman, on Second Street, had a fine assort- ment of these cloths. Ile also sold books. Very few merchants could confine themselves to one spe- cialty. Thus, one would see, in the same store, dolls, cutlery, gunpowder and snuff, looking-glasses and gloves, sugars, claret, and brocaded silk4. The mer- chant dealt especially in one leading article, and this designated his business; thus, a dry-goods merchant might have for sale a consignment of wines, and a hardware merchant one of laces and ribbons. The millinery and retail dry-goods stores where the ladies dealt had less of this general assortment system, yet there was scarcely a store in another line that did not have dry-goods of some kind for sale. For their silks

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and velvets, their hats and cloaks and fans, they went to one or two well-known establishments; but for cottons and calicoes, which were getting to be quite common, and for chintz, they could go into almost any retail store.1

When their dresses got soiled or faded, and economy forbade buying another, Mathews & Perrin, the Lon- don dyers and scourers, "cleaned, dyed, and dressed

1 Here is a list, as complete as it could be compiled, of the firms doing business in Philadelphia on the 1st of January, 1770. Dry goods, etc.,- Philip Benezet, corner of Market and Third Streets; Roger Bowman, Second Street; Francis Hopkinson, Walnut Street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets; Westmore & Batchelor, Second Street, above Market ; John Kaighn, same block ; Alexander Bartram, sign of the naked boy (specialty, hosiery and broadcloths) : Joseph Carson, Second Street ; Daniel and John Benezet, and Thomas Bartow. corner of Arch and Second Streets; Williams & Eldridge, Front Street ; Cadwallader and Samuel C. Morris (also large stock of jewelry), Chestnut Street; Peter Wikoff, Front Street; John Fullerton, Chestnut Street ; William Bell, corner Chestaut and Second Streets ; David Sproat & Co., Front Street ; William Adcock, Second Street ; Semple & Buchanan, Front Street ; Samuel Smith, Water Street, above Arch; James Rose, Second Street ; Lewis Nicola, Market Street. East India goods, etc.,-James Bonddeo, Front Street; Samuel Pleasants, Water Street; John Willday, Second Street; Abraham Usher, Front Street ; Gibson & Asheton, Market Street ; Benjamin Rawle, Water Street; Stacy Hepburo, Water Street; Joseph and George A. Morris; Stephen Collins, Second Street; James Gordon, Third Street; David Derhler, Market Street; Robert Strettel Jones, Arch Street ; John and Clement Biddle, Market Street ; Randle Mitchell, Water Street ; Williams & Taylor, Second Street ; Curtis Clay, Water Street ; Mifflin & Dean, Front Street. Groceries, etc.,-Neave & Har- man, Second Street ; Charles Wharton, near Drawbridge; Isnac Gray, Chestout Street; William Richards, Water Street ; Samuel Garrigues, corner Second and Walnut Streets; Robert Levers, Chestant Street; Benjamin Gibbs, Front Street; Hubley & Graff, Front Street; Henry Barnhold, Second Street; Benedict Dorsey, Third Street; Baldwin & Gilbert, Front Street ; John Roman, Market Street. Drugs, etc.,- Christophers & Charles Marshall, Chestnut Street ; Robert Bass, Market Street ; Richard Tidmarsh, Second Street; Nathaniel and John Tweedy, Market Street; Samuel Duffield, Second Street; John Day, Second Street ; Duffield & Delaney, corner Second and Walnut Streets. Hard- ware, chinaware, etc.,-Benjamin Davis, Third Street ; Kearney & Gil- bert, Water Street ; John and Peter Chevalier, Water Street; Jonathan Zane, Second Street ; James Cooke, Race Street; Samuel Sansom, Jr., Front Street; Howard & Bartram, Front Street ; Timothy Barret, Arch Street. Hay, seeds, etc.,-Daniel Grant and William Ball, both oo Mar- ket Street; John Lownes, Third Street. Sugars and molasses,-Edward Peooington, Market Street ; Thomas West, Market Street; John W. Hoffman, Second Street; Josiah Hewes, Chestnut Street; Samuel & Charles Massey, Water Street; Ilarris Drayton, Water Street. Wines, etc., -Hollingsworth & Rudolph, below the Drawbridge; James Emier- son, Market Street ; William Forbes, Water Street. Boulting cloth,- Robert & Nathaniel Lewis, near the Drawbridge; Daniel Williams, Chestnut Street. Brewery,-Anthony Morris, Jr. Bottled beer, etc.,- Timothy Marlack, Fourth Street. Ship chandlers,-Thomas Clifford & Son. Mast-maker,-Jonathan Ilanson, near Penrose's wharf. Sail- maker,-J. W. Annis, Joshua Fisher's wharf. Sickles and scythes, -- W. Dawson, Market Street; James Hendricks, Market Street. Sail- cloth, etc.,-John Bringhurst, Walnut Street. hou castings,-Michael Hillegas. Manufacturers of chocolate,-Mrs. Crathorne, in Letitia Court, and Benjamin Jackson. Jewelers,-William Bartram, Front Street ; John Baily, corner Front and Chestnut. Haberdashery aod mil- linery,-E. White, Chestnut Street. Staymaker,-Fred Oblowskii, Race Street, Shoemakers' tools and goods,-Robert Loosely, Walnut Street. Locksmith and bell-hauger, -- Alexander Smith, Second Street, Turaer and joiner,-John Elmslee, Second Street. Engraver on metals,-James Smithers, Third Street. Vendue stores,-James Kinnear, Frout Street ; Footman & Jeyes, Second Street; Joseph Hart, Southwark. Brush- innkers, -Elliot & Stapleton, Second Street. Saddlery,-William Todd, Arch Street. Coals,-John Flanagan, Carver and gilder,-James Rey- nolds. Assorted merchandise,-John Elliott, Walnut Street ; Joseph Wood, Market Street ; John Smith, Second Street ; William Craig, Second Street.

all manner of silks and velvets," they scoured rich brocades and beautified the colors to look as well as new. They also cleaned and dyed scarlet cloaks and "all manner of men's cloaths."

There were several bookstores with shelves well filled with the works of the best authors. John Sparhawk & Thomas Anderson, who kept the Lon- don Bookstore, on Market Street, near the London Coffee-House, had a very large stock of books, besides fancy stationery and mathematical instruments; so had Samuel Taylor, the stationer and bookbinder, at the corner of Market and Water Streets, but many people preferred going to Robert Bell, bookseller and auctioneer, at the sign of the Sugar Loaf, Market Street near the river, for at his vendue " the intrinsic merit and excellence of each book" was "rationally expatiated upon with truth and propriety; also, the extrinsic or original value properly demonstrated for the satisfaction of seller and buyer."

Here are the prices of a few books sold by Bell : " History of Rasselas," 2 vols. complete in one, bound and lettered, six shillings; the same in blue paper, four shillings. "The Traveller," to which are added "True Beauty" and the " Adventures of Tom Dread- nought," one shilling. The additional volume to the " Letters of the Right Honorable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu," with several poems, and her celebrated "Defence of Marriage," and a frontispiece of the "Female Traveller," in the Turkish dress, two shil- lings.

Theodore Memminger, Second Street above Arch, kept a variety of musical instruments for sale. So did John Gualdo, in Front Street, near the Bank meeting-house. He had violins, German flutes, guitars, mandolins, spinets, clavichords, etc. He had, besides, in his house, a German gentleman who tanght to play on the violin, violoncello, and French horn, and, "likewise, a servant boy who copied music, so that the customer who wished a par- ticular piece could have a copy made, without being compelled to buy the book in which it occurred." It seems that sheet music was not sold then.

There were two dancing-masters, the Italian Tioli, and the Frenchman Foy. Both were also fencing- masters, and taught the use of the small-sword. A drawing-school, recently opened by J. Smithers, sev- eral grammar-schools, and a boarding-school, in Sec- ond Street, a little below Walnut Street, kept by Mrs. Sarah Wilson, " where young ladies may be educated in a genteel manner, and pains taken to teach them in regard to their behavior, on reasonable terms. They may be taught all sorts of fine work, viz., work- ing on catgut or flowering muslin, sattin stitch, queeu stitch, ten stitch, cross-stitch, open work, crowning, embroidering curtains or chairs, writing, and cyphering. Likewise wax work in all its several branches, never, as yet, particularly taught here; also how to take profiles in wax, and to make wax flowers and fruit, and pin-baskets." Indeed, if some

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of our modern schools would substitute a few of good dame Wilson's ornamental branches for as many of the "scientific branches" they claim to teach, the modern young lady would not lose by the exchange.

Paul Fooks, notary and tabellion public for the French and Spanish languages, professor and sworn interpreter for the same, draws up writings, letters, powers of attorney, contracts, and accounts, agreeable to the forins and usages of those respective countries; but modest Elizabeth Murphy simply announces her- self as a French teacher, and proposes to give lessons from seven to nine in the morning, so as to not inter- fere with the children going to school.

The amusements offered to the people, in addition to Hallam's American Theatre, which gave regular performances, were frequent displays of fire-works and several shows, among others the following :

In February, 1768, a view of Jerusalem was exhib- ited at the sign of the Buck, on Second Street. The advertisement says, " It is an artful piece of statuary, representing the city of Jerusalem, the temple of Solomon, his royal throne, all the noted houses, hills, and towers; likewise the sufferings of our Saviour, from the garden of Gethsemane to the hill of Gol- gotha, all which is exhibited in the most natural man - ner." The price of admission to this "moral show" was one shilling for grown persons and sixpence for children.

In the same year, on Third Street, opposite Mr. Pemberton's garden, there was a wax-work exhibition representing "the judgment of Paris on Mount Ida, when he assigned the golden apple to Venus. Tickets, 1s., children, 6d."

Some months later Adam Crycer (from the king of Prussia's dominions in Germany ) gave an exhibition of sleight-of-hand, at the sign of the Sorrel Horse, near the academy, to the great delight and awe of the boys, who looked upon him as a wizard.

A " person who professes to teach how to read with propriety any author in the English language," an- nounced, in March, 1769, that he would read, at the academy, "Summer," a poem (by the author of " The Seasons") ; tickets, five shillings. He states that proposals would be shortly published for the reading of Milton's "Paradise Lost," by subscription. This pioneer of elocutionists did not receive proper en- couragement.

A much larger number of people went to see the two white oxen exhibited by Edward Barret. They were "the largest and weightiest ever known in America, raised by Mr. Adam Guier, on Carpenter's Island, near the city, and by him sold to the present proprietor for one hundred pounds currency."

Robert Tuckniss, on Market Street, gave his atten- tion to hat-making. Isaac Heston, on the same street, painted coaches, chairs, etc. There were two watch and clock-makers on Front Street; Burrows Down- dey's shop, above the draw-bridge, and James Wood, at the corner of Chestnut Street. The latter claimed

to manufacture clocks "as good as those imported from England." Joseph Holliday, in Arch Street, Richard Humphreys, in Third Street, near Market, and Thomas Howell, on Third Street, near Chestnut Street, did the tailoring business. William Richards makes a specialty of breeches-making.

John Robertson, a journeyman barber, of a poetic turn, gets off the following epigram :

" Midas, we read, with wond'rous art of old, Whate'er he touch'd at once transform'd to gold ; This modern statesmeu can reverse with ease, Touch them with gold, they'll change to what you please."

Thomas Affleck was a cabinet-maker on Second Street, and Robert Moon, a chair- and cabinet-maker on Front Street. We have no description of the goods they manufactured. The public vendue of Capt. James Ross' effects (December, 1768) may 1 give us some idea of the furniture in use in most of the honses of the medium class. There were sold mahogany and walnut bureaus, dining-, dressing-, and tea-tables, one eight-day clock, walnut, leather-, worsted - bottom, and windsor chairs, feather - beds, bedsteads and bedstead - curtains, window-curtains, pictures, chest of drawers and floor-carpetings, also a very neat jack and sundry other kitchen furniture. Samuel Williams, joiner, on Fourth Street, sign of the Indian Queen, advertises a large quantity of joiner's stuff. He manufactures chests of drawers, desks, tables, chairs, bedsteads, sackings, cradles, and coffius. Joseph Wood, on Market Street, John Smith, on Second Street, and several others had for sale "Scotch carpetting," and Daniel Gibbs, on Front Street, sold " Wilton carpets." "Stamped paper-hang- ings for rooms" could be had at William Craig's, on Second Street, and James Reynolds, on Front Street, "imported paper-hangings with papier-maché bor- ders." Ceiling ornaments and brackets, looking-glasses of all sizes, from a pocket-glass to the largest pier or mantel-glass, could be purchased at John Elliott's, while Alexander Bartram's stock of " china, delph and earthenware, stoneware and flint-glassware" was of the largest. The housekeeper, therefore, found no diffi- culty in furnishing her home in the most elaborate or the simplest style according to her taste and means. House-rent was not very high. A two-story brick house and kitchen situate on the west side of Second Street, and well situated for a retail shop, rented for thirty-five pounds per annum ; a wooden dwelling-house on Elm Street, for six pounds per annum ; a three-story brick house, with a lot extend- ing from Front Street to Water Street, between Spruce and Pine Streets, rented for forty pounds per annum. This was a comfortable house with conven- ient cellar kitchen, double closets to each room, and neatly plastered garrets. The staircases and the rooms on the first floor were neatly papered, from which we infer that paper-hangings, as well as car- pets, were getting into general use. From the de- scription of quite a number of town and country

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houses, it appears that the enstom was to paper the lower or best rooms; where the parlor was in the second story, it and the staircase walls were papered.

There was in those days a quaint custom of turning off marriage notices with some remark complimentary to the bride. It must have been embarrassing to the editor when he had a batch of these notices to write for the same issue of his paper. Here are a few : specimens : Married, " Mr. Samuel Shaw, merchant, to Miss Mccullough, daughter of the late Capt. Mc- Cullough ; and Mr. Thomas Patterson to Miss Brock- den, daughter of Charles Brockden, Esq., both amia- ble young ladies with handsome fortunes." "James Allen, Esq., to Miss Betsey Lawrence, only daughter of John Lawrence, Esq., late mayor of this city, a young lady of distinguished merit, beauty, and for- tune." " Mr. Levi Hollingsworth to Miss Hannah Paschall, daughter of Mr. Stepben Paschall, a young lady whose amiable disposition and eminent mental accomplishments adds dignity to her agreeable per- son." Rev. Mr. John Patterson was married to Miss Mercy Story, "a young lady with all the natural and acquired endowments which adorn the fair sex." A more simple announcement is made of an exchange of brides between Pennsylvania and Maryland, viz., "Joseph Shippen, Jr., secretary to his honor the Governor, was married in Philadelphia to Miss Jenny Galloway, of Maryland; and John Cadwala- der, merchant, of Philadelphia, was married in Mary- land to Miss Betsey Lloyd, danghter of the Hon. Edward Lloyd, of that province." The marriage of Mr. Bradford, printer, to Miss Polly Fisher, "an amiable young lady," brought out the following re- mark from the Pennsylvania Chronicle : " Mr. Brad- ford was genteelly dressed on the happy occasion in the manufactures of this country, an example well worthy of imitation." The same paper on another occasion says, "The following article of hymeneal intelligence came so well recommended that we cannot refuse it a place in the Chronicle. Last Wednesday evening was married Capt. Williams to Miss Esther Deers, a lady not more remarkable for the agreeable- ness of hier person than her prudent conduct and amiable manners." Paid, 5s.

Husbands sometimes advertised their wives, as they do now. Mrs. Catherine Redman would not submit tamely to such treatment from her " inhuman" husband. She replies, and informs the public that his charges against her proceed from the advice of his pretended friends, " added to the chimeras of his stupidly jealous and infatuated noddle !"

Mary Nelson advertises a dishonest Irishman. She does not say in what relation the " villian" who stole her Pompadour chintz stood to her:

" FORTY SHILLINGS REWARD.

" Last Wednesday morn, at break of day, From Philadelphia run away, An Irishman, nam'd John McKeoghn, To finud and imposition prone ;

About five feet five inches high, Can curse and wwear as well as lie ; How old he is I can't engage, But forty-five is near his age; He came (48 all reports agree) From Belfast town in sixty-three, On board the 'Culloden,' a ship Commanded by McLean that trip; Speaks like a Scotchuman, very broad, Is round-shoulder'd, aud meagre-jaw'd ; Has thick, short hair, uf sandy hue, Breeches and hose of Maz'reen blue ; Of lightish cloth an outside vest, In which he commonly is dress'd ; . Inside of which two more I've seen, One flannel, th'other coarse naukeen. He stole, and from my house convey'd, A man's blue coat, of broadcloth made; A gray great cont, of bearskin stuff (Nor had the villian yet enough); Some chintz (the ground was Pompadour) I lately purchas'd in a store, Besides a pair of blue-ribb'd hose, Which he has on as I suppose. He oft in conversation chatters Of Scripture aud religious matters. And fain would to the world impart That virtue lodges in his heart; But take the rogue from stem to stern, The hypocrite you'll soon discern, Aud find (tho' bis deportment's civil) A saint without, within a devil, Whoe'er secures said John McKeoghn (Provided I should get my own) Shall have from me, in cash paid down, Five dollar-bills and half a crown."

Political articles, written in a satirical vein, and lampoons on public men and matters, filled the few newspapers that existed in that time, with now and then some playful composition, in prose or verse, about love, manners, and fashions. Some of the poet- ical effusions are signed with a female nom de plume. Yet the ladies did not eschew politics, and the patri- otic miuse more than once inspired them, as in the following lines, signed " A Female":

"THE FEMALE PATRIOTS.

" Addressed to the Daughters of Liberty in America, 1768.

"Since the Men, from a Party, or Fear of a Frown, Are kept by a sugar plumb quietly down, Supinely asleep, and depriv'd of their sight, Are stipp'd of their Freedom and robb'd of their Right. If the Sons, so degenerate, the Blessings despise, Let the Daughters of Liberty nobly arise ; And tho' we've no Voice but a Negative here, The Use of the Taxables, Irt us forhear. (Then Merchants import till your stores are all full, May the Buyers be few, and your Traffick be dull.s Stand firmly resolv'd, and bul Grenville to see, That rather than Freedom we part with our Tea ; And well as we love the deur Draught when a-dry, As American Patriots our Taste we deny. Prunsylvania's gay Meadows can richly afford, To pamper out Fancy or furnish our Board; And Paper sufficient at Home still we have, To assure the wisetere, we will not sign alare ; When this Homespun shall fa I, to remonstrate our Grief, We can speak rica voce, or scratch on a Leaf, Refuse all their Colours, tho' richest of Dye, When the juice of a Berry uur Paint can supply, To humour our Fancy, and, as for our Honses, They'll do without Painting as well as our Spouses;

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While to keep out the cold of a keen Winter Morn, We can screen the northwest with a well-polished Horn ; And trust me a woman, by honest Invention, Might give this State-Dortor a Dose of Prevention. Join mutual in this, and but small as it seems, We may jostle a Grenville, and puzzle his Scheme ; But a Motive more worthy our Patriot-Pen, Thus acting, we point out their Duty to Men ; And should the Bound-Pensioners tell us to hush, We can throw back the satire by bidding them blush."

The General Assembly of Virginia having closed an address to Lord Botetonrt, Governor-General of the Dominion, with a prayer that the Supreme Being might inspire his lordship "with all wisdom," the following epigram appeared in a Philadelphia paper :

"ON THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY OFFERING UP THEIR PRAYER FOR WISDOM FOR LORD B-T.

"The Assembly, in devontest strain, Ask for my Lord the gift of brain. Wisdom alone will hardly do, Next beg a little patience, too."

In 1771 the wits in the public gazettes made fun of those effeminate individuals who used umbrellas to protect their heads against the fierce rays of a July sun. The umbrella, even as a shelter from rain, was a new article. They were heavy, clumsy things, made of oiled linen stretched over rattan sticks, in imitation of the "quittasol" (the predecessor of the parasol) which came from India and were made of oiled-silk in every variety of colors. The ladies used them to keep off the rain. The men were satisfied with the protec- tion of a heavy cloak or a sort of a cape (a French in- vention) called a roquelaure. Ministers and doctors, people who had to be out in all sorts of weather to call on the sick, had roquelaures of oiled linen. The usefulness of the umbrella during a shower was ac- knowledged, but its appearance in fair, sunshiny weather elicited the jeers of the populace and the mockery of men who should have been wiser. The doctors, however, recommended carrying an umbrella in summer as a safe protection against many diseases caused by exposure to the sun. Dr. Chancellor, Dr. Morgan, and Rev. Mr. Duche bravely carried the ob- jectionable umbrella through the streets at mid-day, and the air of comfort with which they went uncon- cernedly about their business finally silenced the op- position. Many a wag found it convenient to shelter his " diminished head" under an umbrella, after ex- ercising his wit upon it. Umbrellas were first intro- duced in England in 1768; they were advertised for sale in Philadelphia in 1772, by William Barrel, on Market Street.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 9

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