History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 95

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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being impossible, Snowden was "released from the station of elder," his other rights as a member being unimpaired. Before this action was perfected, a new element of difficulty was interjected into the case. In April, 1823, the Preparative Meeting of ministers and elders belonging to Green Street Monthly Meet- ing took up the subject, and requested the aid of the Quarterly Meeting of ministers and elders. This interference was alleged to be expressly prohibited by the rules of discipline. Nevertheless the Quar- terly Meeting of ministers and elders acted, in Octo- ber, on the application of the select Preparative Meeting of Green Street, and, after holding it over for a year, the committee reported against the action of Green Street Meeting. The Quarterly Meeting of ministers and elders, on receiving the report, referred the subject to the Quarterly Meeting for discipline, wherein it was discussed in November, 1824, and postponed,-Green Street Meeting, in January, 1825, having presented a remonstrance against the action of Snowden, and against the jurisdiction of the Quar- terly Meeting for discipline. The case was postponed until May, 1826, when it was decided to ask the ad- vice of the Yearly Meeting in regard to a case of difficulty. It does not appear that Snowden's case was ever decided, its consideration being superseded by more important events in the course of the con- troversy, in which increased bitterness was apparent as time went on, showing elements of discord which were increasing until the society was rent by dis- sension.

After the close of the Revolution many Friends visited England, and at the Yearly Meeting in Lon- don in 1784, Thomas Ross, George Dillwyn, Samuel Emlen, Rebecca Jones, Nicholas Waln, and Rebecca Wright were present from Philadelphia. About this time several of the more conspicuous ministers of that period were active in the society. Among these was Warner Mifflin, a native of the eastern shore of Vir- ginia, who came to Philadelphia during the Revolu- tion and soon became a leading member of his sect.2

On the day when the battle of Germantown was fought (Oct. 4, 1777) the Yearly Meeting of Friends was in session in Philadelphia, and had under con- sideration matters concerning the principles of mem- bers of the society. This paper was read by the clerk, interrupted hy the sound of cannon. Amid the excitement a committee was appointed to deliver the testimony of the society to the commanders of the contending armies. It consisted of Warner Mifflin, Samuel Emlen, William Brown, Joshua Morris, James Thornton, and Nicholas Waln. They sought Howe's headquarters, and gave a copy of the testimony to him. Going to the American lines they passed them, and the next day were presented to Washington, the commander-in-chief, to whom they also delivered the testimony.

2 Warner Mifflin died Oct. 10, 1798, aged about fifty-three years.

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About 1790 the Friends of Philadelphia Meeting determined upon opening a boarding-school upon a plan similar to that founded by Friends at Ackworth, in England. Owen Biddle wrote a pamphlet, with a plan for such a school, which met with so much approval that a school was opened by the society at Westtown, in Chester County,-an establishment which is in operation at the present time.

Among the members of the society who died during the period from 1775 to 1800 were John Pemberton, Jan. 31, 1795, a man of benevolent in- stincts, who early became a minister, and visited Eu- rope in 1750, 1782, and 1794, preaching the doctrines of the society ; Peter Yarnall, Feb. 20, 1798, in his forty-fifth year, a native of Philadelphia, admitted as a minister in 1782, and a resident of Byberry from 1791 until his death; Sarah Gray, killed, in 1796, by being accidentally thrown out of a "chair" (in Front Street, near Callowhill) while riding with John De Marsellac, a preacher of Friends. Mary Armitt, of Philadelphia, died Feb. 18, 1791, at the age of eighty-three; Daniel Offley, a noted minister of the Southern Monthly Meeting in Pine Street, a native of Philadelphia, born Nov. 29, 1756, by trade . tached to the meeting in Keys Alley, a native of a blacksmith, his shop being located in Front Street, near Walnut; in the fever epidemic of 1793 he de- voted himself to the care of the sick, and was finally carried off by the disease; Isaac Zane, a native of Gloucester, N. J., attached to the meeting at Second and Market Streets, died March 3, 1794, aged eighty- four years; Mary Emlen, died June 1, 1777 ;1 John Hallowell, of the Southern Monthly Meeting, ap- pointed an elder in 1772, died July 26, 1778; Mary Pemberton, daughter of Nathan and Mary Stansbury, of Philadelphia, and wife of Israel Pemberton, to whom she was married in 1747, after having been the wife of Richard Hill, and, after the latter's death, of Robert Jordan, died Oct. 25, 1778; Anthony Benezet,2

1 She was the daughter of Robert and Susanna Heath, nativee of Eng- land, who arrived in America in 1701, when Mary was in the ninth year of her age. She was married in 1716 (then being in her twenty-fifth year) to George Emlen, of Philadelphia. She entered the ministry in 1728, visited the meetings in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and went to New England, in 1744, with Mery Evans.

" Anthony Benezet, the anti-slavery pamphleteer, of whom mention has heretofore beett made, was born at St. Quentin, Picardy, France, Jao. 31, 1713 (old style), of French Protestant parents. They removed to Holland in 1715, And afterward went to London, where they remained until 1731, when they came to Philadelphia, bringing their son with them, then a Jud seventeen years of age. He was educated to mercan- tile business, und followed it for some time in Philadelphia, but even- tually abandoned it for the profession of a teacher of youth. This oc- curred in 1742, when he obtained a situation in the Friends' English school, which he retained during the remainder of his life, with the ex- ception of two years, which he spent in Burlington. During the last two years of his life he was teacher in the school for the instruction of black people and their children, established by the Society of Friends, and held In a building in Willing's Alley. Ile died May 5, 1784, hie funeral being attended by persons of all denominations, among whom were several hundred negroes. By his will, after the death of his widow, he hequeathed the whole of life estate to a school for the instruction of Degro children. In 1736 he married Joyce Marriott, of Philadelphia, who survived him. Henezet wrote several works, principally in relation to philanthropic subjecte. Among them ate " A Caution to Great Britain

an elder of the Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia, who died in 1784; John Reynell, a serviceable mem- ber of the Southern Meeting, died Sept. 3, 1784, aged seventy-six ; Samuel Emlen (the second), born in Philadelphia, an extensive traveler and preacher, well known in foreign lands, died Dec. 30, 1799, aged seventy-seven years; William Savery, a conspicuous minister of the society, born in 1750, commenced to preach in Virginia in 1779, acknowledged as a minis- ter by the Philadelphia Meeting in 1781, traveled ex- tensively in America, and went, in 1793, with other Friends to visit the Indians, in 1796 went to England in company with Deborah Daily, Rebecca Young, Samuel Emlen, Sarah Talbot, and Phœbe Speakman, returned to Philadelphia in October, 1798; Samuel Smith, a member of the Northern Meeting, son of Robert and Phoebe Smith, born in Bucks County June 4, 1737, came to Philadelphia in 1763, and began to preach in 1770; Isaac T. Hopper, a noted minister of Friends, horn near Woodbury, N. J., in 1771, came to Philadelphia in 1787, was apprenticed to his uncle, a tailor, and admitted a minister of the society after 1793; Stephen Grellet, a minister at- Limoges, in France, compelled to emigrate during the French revolution, he came to America, settled in Philadelphia, in 1795, as a teacher of French, ad- mitted as a minister in 1797, and acknowledged as one in 1798; Rebecca Jones, a prominent minister, born in Philadelphia, Aug. 8, 1739, chosen for the ministry in 1760, engaged part of the time in keep- ing school, in 1784 she went to England in company with Mehitabel Jenkins, Samuel Emlen, Thomas Ross, and George Dillwyn ; she traveled through Eng- land, returned to Philadelphia, and was a useful min- ister until her death, which occurred on the 15th of April, 1818.

The society of Free Quakers had its origin in the difference of opinion among the Friends concerning the merits of the Revolutionary struggle. Those members of the society who took part with the Whigs, either by service in the field or by sustaining the cause in other ways, fell into disrepute among their associates of the sect. The Society of Friends in many cases appointed overseers to deal with the of- fending members.3 The society, however, found the

aod her Colonies relative to Enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions," published in 1767; "Somie Historical Account of Guinea, with an In- quiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, its Nature and Lamentable Effects," published in London in 1772. Ile published, in 1780, " A Short Account of the Religious Society of Friends." He wrote personally letters to Queen Charlotte of Great Britain, and to the queen of Portugal, protesting against the continuance of the African slave trade. He wrote to Frederick the Great of Prussia, when the latter was engaged in war, protesting against the lawfulness of warfare. The writings of Benezet first attracted the attention of Wilberforce and Clarkson to the enormity of the slave trade.

" Timothy Mutlack stated that in going to his home one day, he found a member of the society attempting to "deal" with his son en account of huis approval of the war. The old gentleman was so much irritated by this interference with his paternal authority that he, although a 1

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majority of members who took up the Whig cause incorrigible, and proceeded to disown them. During the war this made little difference, but after its close the Friends who espoused the popular side were ex- cluded from their accustomed privileges in the society meetings. Finding it impossible to obtain their rights, these persons took measures to form themselves into a society. They met for that purpose, Feb. 20, 1781, at Samuel Wetherill's house. There were pres- ent Isaac Howell, Robert Parrish, James Sloane, White Matlack, Samuel Wetherill, Moses Bartram, Benjamin Say, and Owen Biddle. Here the prelimi- nary measures were taken, and so proceeded with afterward that they formed themselves into a society entitled "The Monthly Meeting of Friends, called by some Free Quakers, distinguishing us from those of our brethren who have disowned us." In a circu - lar addressed " To our Friends in New Jersey, Penn- sylvania, and Elsewhere," the final meeting which formed this society was stated to have been held on the 4th of June, 1781, at the house of Timothy Mat- lack.

There was a strong feeling in favor of these dis- owned members of Friends among the Whigs, and by subscription the Free Quakers raised money enough to enable them to purchase a lot of ground at the southwest corner of Fifth and Mulberry [or Arch] Streets, where they erected a plain two-story building for worship, which still remains, and is now used by the Apprentices' Library Company. The tablet on the north end of the house bears the following in- scription :

" By general subscription, FOR THE FREE QUAKERS. Erected A.D. 1783, Of the empire 8."1

On the 26th of December, 1783, "the Free Quakers," as they called themselves,-" the Fighting Quakers," as many called them,-petitioned the Legislature for a lot of ground on Spruce Street, between Seventh and Eighth, north side, for a burial-ground. On the 26th of August, 1786, an act was passed vesting in the Free Quakers a lot for burial purposes, not on Spruce Street, as asked for, but a lot on the west side of Fifth Street, between Prune and Spruce, which has since been owned by the society.2

member of the society before the war, and acquainted with the neuai course of action toward erring members, took the vindication of his honor into his own hands, and heat the Friend out of the house !

1 " The nes of the word ' empire' in this inscription," remarks Thomp- son Westcott, "has often been spoken of in modern times as curione aod extraordinary. It was not so io 1783. The word 'empire' was a com- mon oue at that time, when used in reference to the country. The United States were under the confederation of independent governments, united under a limited central authority. They constituted an empire in the most correct sense of the word."

" This society may he said to be almost extinct. No buriale of its members have been made in the Fifth Street ground for many years. But during the Rebellion use'was made of it fully accordant with the principles of the Free Quakers of the Revolutionary era. In thin ground were buried many of the soldiers of the Union who died in the ermy hospitals in the city. The place was appropriate for sepniture for

After the grant of the graveyard property, the fol- lowing overseers were elected to manage the affairs of the yard : Joseph Styles, Peter Thomson, Moses Bartram, John Eldridge, Benjamin Say, and John Claypoole. Jacob Karcher was the first grave-digger.

It is said the number of members of the Society of Free Quakers, when established, was about one hun- dred. The names of the majority of them are not now known. Timothy Matlack was a prominent elder. Samuel Wetherill and Christopher Marshall -whose diary of the events of the Revolution is a valuable record of local affairs-were leading mem- bers. A memorial against theatres, presented to the Assembly Dec. 12, 1785, on behalf of the Society of Free Quakers, by a committee appointed by them, was signed by the following persons: Christopher Marshall, Isaac Howell, Peter Thomson, Moses Bar- tram, Richard Somers, Jacob Ceracher, Jonathan Scholfield, Joseph Styles, Samuel Wetherill, Jr., Joseph Warner, Jr., Hugh Eldridge, John Piles, Sam- uel Crispin, Jacob Lawn, John Claypoole, Samuel Crispin, Jr., and Edward Piffets.

In 1804 the Second Street meeting-house was trans- ferred from the corner of Market Street to the burial- ground lot, on Arch Street, between Third and Fourth. In order to accommodate the great number of mem- bers, particularly those who attended the Monthly and Yearly Meetings, the building was made very large. It is probably one hundred and fifty by fifty feet, and consists of a central portion and wings. The interior is divided into apartments, one for the use of men Friends, the other for women Friends. The burial-ground had been in use since 1690, the grant then made by Penn being confirmed in Oc- tober, 1701. In building the meeting-house it was necessary to invade the dominion of the dead ; but it is said that care was taken to avoid that necessity wherever it could be done. Two tiers of bodies, and in some places three tiers, had been buried in the ground, and naturally there was some disturbance. Wherever it was possible the bodies were not moved, and portions of the building were placed over them.3

Under authority of the Monthly Meeting for the northern district of Philadelphia a lot was purchased

these brave men, and If the spirits of the " Fighting Quakers" interred there could have risen at that time they would have welcomed the strangers.

The late Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell, in his " Remembrancee of Roll- gioos Affairs in Philadelphia," says, with reference to the Arch Street mestiog house, "There was then no regulated Arch Street there, ou that the lot reached out Into the middle of what is now the legal highway, and the remains of the dead have been disinterred more than once north of the present brick wall of Inciosure, in the various street improvements that were found to be necessary. . . . Preparatory to the removal of the Market Street meeting-house, the brick inclosure was made around the Arch Street lot, and the piles of brick and mortar now seen within were then erected with a view to the accommodation of very large assemblages of the society. Nor did the projectors err in their calculatione In this respect, for in the palmy days of Quakerism in the city those extensive buildings were densely crowded year after year, at the annual convocatione, which met an almost universal response, even from the remotest corners of the State."

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at the southeast corner of Fourth and Green Streets, extending from Fourth to Dillwyn Street, on which was erected a meeting-house, completed in the spring of 1814. The dimensions of the building were forty- seven by seventy-three feet. A committee of the Monthly Meeting consisting of Daniel Thomas, Leonard Snowden, Mary Taylor, and Sarah Smith, appointed to consider what should be done in relation to the new meeting-house, reported on the 27th of September, recommending " that meetings for worship be established there on First-days morning and after- noon, and on Sixth-day mornings, all to begin at the usual hour : and that Friends composing that meet- ing be allowed to hold a preparative meeting at the close of their meeting for worship on Sixth-day, in the week preceding the Monthly Meetings. to be known by the name of ' the Preparative Meeting beld at Green Street."" This arrangement was sanctioned by the Monthly Meeting, which decided that the meetings for worship should commence with the first First-day in the Twelfth month, and the Preparative Meeting on the 23d of that month. Nathan A. Smith, Philip S. Bunting, William Sansom, James Vaux, Thomas Stewardson, Joseph Bacon, and Edward Randolph were appointed to attend the opening of them. The project was approved by the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting on the 6th of May, 1816, upon report from the Monthly Meetings of Friends for the Northern District; which report, according to the minutes, " obtaining deliberate attention. is united with ; and Jonathan Evans, Ellis Yarnall. Samuel Bettle. Thomas Stewardson, and Thomas Wistar, are appointed to attend the opening thereof." The Green Street Monthly Meeting for the Northern District, on the 23d of April, 1816, was ordered to be known by the name of "the Monthly Meetings of Friends, held at Green Street, Philadelphia."

Another meeting-house was built in 1812, nnder the auspices of Arch Street Meeting, on the west side of Twelfth Street, below Market, northwest corner of Clover Street, and opened for worship on the first First-day in April, 1813. By consent of the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, a Monthly Meeting was established there. It was known as "the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for the Western District," and the first Monthly Meeting was opened in the Twelfth Street house on the 16th of March, 1814. During this period 1800-25 the Pine Street and Keys Alley meeting-houses remained without material change.

The success of the institution for the insane near York, England, known as " the Retreat," which had been founded about 1792, under the auspices of Friends. attracted the attention of the society in Philadelphia, and in Is11 two of the Quarterly Meetings proposed to the Yearly Meeting that pro- vision should be made for "such of our members as may be deprived of their reason." The matter was referred to a committee, the report of which was

adopted by Yearly Meeting in April, 1812. In De- cember of that year a number of Friends met at Philadelphia to deliberate upon the most suitable means of carrying the plan into effect. Thomas Scattergood, Jonathan Evans, Ellis Yarnall, Isaac Bonsall, Emmor Kimber. Thomas Wistar, and Samuel Powell Griffiths were appointed a committee to raise subscriptions for the purchase of a lot and building to accommodate at least fifty persons. The annual subscriptions were ten dollars. All sums contributed under that amount, or beyond it and under fifty dol- lars, were to be considered as donations. Life-mem- bership could he had for fifty dollars. Any Monthly Meeting of the Yearly Meeting might contribute two hundred dollars, and be considered a member. Every life-member and every Monthly Meeting had a right to recommend one poor person at one time as a patient on the lowest terms of admission. The contributors met and organized on the 14th of April, 1813, and adopted the constitution in June. At that time thirty-one Monthly Meetings had each contributed two hundred dollars. There were one hundred and eighty-eight members. In contributions there were received that year $24,170.75. In the spring of 1814 a farm was purchased near Frankford. A plan for a building was prepared by William Strickland. The centre building was sixty feet square and three stories high. There were two wings, each one hundred by twenty-four feet, and two stories high, roofed with slate. In each wing there were twenty chambers, each ten feet square, with a gallery or passage ten feet wide. The centre building contained rooms for cooking, washing, etc. The upper part was fitted up for the use of the family in charge of the institution. The asylum was finished and opened for patients on the 15th of May, 1817, the superintendent and matron being Isaac and Ann Bonsall. Before the end of the year eighteen patients were received, of whom three were discharged before the end of 1818. Five others were much improved, and seven were somewhat im- proved. Dr. Charles Lukens became the resident physician. George Vaux was treasurer. In 1820 the lowest price of boarding was reduced to two dollars and fifty cents a week. The next year it was reduced to two dollars. Charles F. Matlack became the resident physician in 1820-21. Edward and Sarah Taylor succeeded the Bonsalls in the superintendency in 1822. In 1825 the attending physician was Dr. Samuel W. Pickering, and the consulting physicians were Drs. Joseph Parrish, Nathan Shoemaker, Edwin A. Atlee, and Samuel Emlen. James Wills, who died in 1825, left a legacy to the institution of five thousand dollars. This establishment has been generally known as "Friends' Asylum for the treatment of persons deprived of their reason." In the modern topography of Frankford, it stands on Adams Street, west of the village.

In 1806 a rule was adopted by the society providing a method by which indiscriminate and loquacious

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preaching might be prevented. According to this rule no Friend was to be received as a minister, or permitted to sit in the meetings of ministers and elders, or to "travel abroad as a minister," until he had obtained the approbation of the Quarterly Meet- ing of ministers and elders. About the year 1801 much suffering was caused in Great Britain by the wars on the continent and the failure of crops in England and Ireland. A subscription was taken up within the limits of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to aid in relieving the distress to the amount of fifteen thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars, and forwarded to the Meeting for Sufferings in London. With reference to education, the Friends continued to maintain the principles which had led to the establishment of a public school in Philadelphia as early as 1683, and which were afterward more vigor- ously carried out in the Friends' school on South Fourth Street. In 1808 the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, apprehending a falling away from Quaker principles, owing to the growth of the practice among members of placing their children "at colleges and other seminaries out of our religious society, in order to give them what is called a 'polished education,' " expressed the desire that " tender caution and counsel be extended to such parents and others as may be in danger of erring in this way." The opposition of Friends to wars and fighting had been sensibly modi- fied since their declaration on that subject during the Revolution, for although in 1805 the Yearly Meeting pronounced against the payment by Friends of any tax on account of their refusal to serve in the militia, when war broke out between Great Britain and the United States, in 1812, the society evinced no oppo- sition to the war. If any "testimony" was adopted in relation to the struggle at any time during its con- tinuance, "it was quietly kept from the public eye in the minutes of the meetings."1 From the " Book of Discipline" of 1806 it appears that the society still kept up its testimony against the unnecessary distil- lation and use of spirituous liquors.2

With regard to burial customs strenuous efforts were made to enforce the rules of the society in all their strictness. In 1808 the Yearly Meeting advised " that Friends be careful themselves, and discourage their children from attending the worship of those not in communion with us, and particularly at burials," and pronounced "against imitating the vain custom of wearing or giving mourning habits, and against affixing any monuments of wood or stone to graves, and all extravagant expenses about the in- terment of the dead." Other regulations were also

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 95

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