USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 110
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It is not in the power of Councils to divert the funds; from its original purpose, but it is certainly incumbent on them to secure the repayment of the sums loaned by some effectual measures, not contrary to the expres- sed will of the Donor. The only permanent and cer- tain security for the repayment of such loans made for the long period of ten years is real estate-your com- mittee therefore think it proper that one at least of the sureties should be the holder of real estate situated in the city and county of Philadelphia, sufficient to se- cure the payment of the loan, and that the warrant of Attorney to enter judgment should be so altered as to let judgment be entered up immediately, and the ex- ecution be taken out for each instalment as it falls due- if unpaid for the space of five days.
These alterations, if the judgments be entered im- mediately, and proper care be taken in ascertaining" the value and situation of the real security, will secure the repayment of the amounts borrowed, and the grad- ual increase of the funds agreeably to the calculations contained in the will.
Your committee have observed with regret the names of females as securities to several of these bonds-This they think should not be allowed, whether we regard the intention of the Testator or the unnecessary and improper risk which it exposes a sex to, whose proper- ty ought never to be subjected, by any public regula- tions, to the hazard of suretyship.
The present situation of the outstanding bonds de- mands immediate attention and your committee would suggest the propriety of the appointment of a com- mittee of one member from each Council, to take the same into consideration, with full power to take such steps relative to the collection of the same as they may deem advisable and proper.
The Legacy of Mr. John Scott, has never been used, no part of it having been applied for until very lately. It consists of the original Legacy of £3000 in the three per cent .- with its interest which has been invested in the city fivesand state fives to the amount of $1100 at par, and of a balance in the Treasury of 68 dollars, together with the aceruing interest.
1829:]
AN ACT FOR PAVING SMALL STREETS, COURTS &c.
393
The Legacy of £3000 in the 3 per cents. was left by John Scott of the City of Edinburgh, Chymist, to the corporation of Philadelphia, "to be applied to the same purpose as Dr. Franklin's legacy," and the bequest was accepted by Councils on the 8th August, 1816.
Your committee are of opinion that this bequest should be put upon exactly the same footing as that of Dr. Franklin, and be subject to the same regulations.
Your committee therefore offer the following resolu- tions for the consideration of Councils.
Resolved by the Select and Common Councils, That one of the sureties in each bond given for the payment of Loans hercafter to be made from Dr. Franklin's Le- gacy, shall be the owner of real estate situated in the City and County of Philadelphia, sufficient to secure the repayment of the principal and interest of such Loan, and that the warrant of attorney accompanying or con- tained in such bond shall contain an authority to enter judgment immediately and to take out execution for each instalment as it falls due if unpaid for the space of five days, and that it shall be the duty of the Treas- urer to enter up such judgment immediately, and to keep the sum received from time to time according to law.
Resolved by the authority aforesaid, That no female shall be taken as a surety in any such bonds for the re- payment of Loans from Dr. Franklin's Legacy.
Resolved by the authority aforesaid, That the Le- gacy of John Scott of Edinburg, of $3,000, with its in- terest, be placed under the same management and be subject to the same regulations as Dr. Benjamin Frank- lin's Legacy of £1000 sterling, and that Loans be made to such applicants as may bring themselves within the provisions of the trust.
Resolved by the authority aforesaid, That the Mayor be, and is hereby authorised to sell and dispose of the Certificates of Debts in which the principal and inter- est of John Scott's Legacy of $3000 is invested, and that the proceeds therecf be placed in the Treasury to the credit of the said Legacy.
Resolved by the authority aforesaid, That acommit- tee of one member from each Council be appointed to consider the present situation of the out standing bonds for Loans from Dr. Franklin's Legacy, with full power to take such steps relative to their final collection and settlement, as they may deem most advisable and pro- per.
PAVING LAW.
[The following act is one in which every holder of Real Estate is interested, and will therefore be frequently re- ferred to; for which purpose we have been induced to present it.]
AN ACT in relation to the paving of private streets, Courts and Alleys in the city of Philadelphia.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall and may be law- ful for the select and common councils of the city of Philadelphia, whenever to them it shall seem required by the public good that any private streets, courts and alleys in the said city should be paved, and curbed, to require the same to be paved, both as to the footways and as to the cartways, wherever there are such, and also if deemed necessary to be curbed by the owners of the ground fronting or bordering thereon at their own cost and expenses respectively, agreeably to the existing regulations of the public streets and alleys of the said city, in such manner, at such times, and under such restrictions as the said select and common councils shall or may order and direct. Provided, That no pri- vate alley which shall be enclosed and intended for the sole use of the owner or occupier shall be required to be paved, and that no private street, court or alley, not intended for the passage of carts, shall be required to be curbed.
Voz, III.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if the owner or owners, or persons hav- ing charge of any ground fronting or bordering on any such private street, court or alley, so as aforesaid direc- ted to be paved and curbed, or paved or curbed shall refuse or neglect to pave and curb, or'to pave or curb, as may be required, that part of such street, court or alley, which shall be in front of, or next to their respective lots or pieces of ground, in such manner, andto such extent aš may be required, and to keep the same in repair, for the space of 60days after he, she or they shall have been there unto required by the city commissioners of the said city, then it shall and may be lawful for the said city commis- sioners to pave and curb, or pave or curb, as the case may be, the part and parts of such streets, courts and alleys refused or neglected to be paved and curbed, as required' aforesaid, and as often as may be necessary to repair the same, and to recover the expenses thereof, and at the rate of ten per centum advance thereon as a penalty for such refusal or neglect, and the costs of suit, by an action in the name of the mayor, alderman and cit- izens of Philadelphia, before the mayor, recorder or any alderman of the said city, or any justice of the peace of any county, or in any court of competent jurisdiction; Provided, That no owner of any lot of ground shall be required to pave or curb except opposite or in front of his or her lot of ground, and to no greater extent than one half of the width of any such street, court or alley.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said select and common councils be and they are hereby authorized to pass, ordain and es- tablish such and so many laws, ordinances, resolutions and regulations as may from time to time be expedient, for carrying fully into effect the provisions of this act according to its true intent and meaning.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in all cases where the expense of paving or curbing any public or private street, court or alley, or any part thereof, in the city of Philadelphia, or of laying the footways of the same, or the expense of re- pairing or relaying the pavements, curbs or foutways of such street, court or alley, or parts thereof, is, or shall ' hereafter, by act of assembly or ordinance of the said city, be made to be legally chargeable in whole or in part against the owner, occupier or person having charge of real estate adjoining, fronting or bordering on such street, court or alley, and where such expense shall, by reason of the default of such owner, occupier or other person, have been incurred or borne by the mayor, al- dermen and citizens of Philadelphia, in all such cases, such real estate shall be held liable and subject to the mayor, aldermen and citizens of Philadelphia, for the payment of all expenses so by them incurred or borne, together with the penalties and costs by law provided, and it shall be lawful for them to file their lien for the same in the court of common pleas for the city and coun- ty of Philadelphia, and the lien hereby created shall have priority to, and shall be fully satisfied and paid be- fore any recognizance, mortgage, judgment, debt, obli- gation or responsibility, which the said estate may be- come liable to, from and after the passing of this act, and the mayor, aldermen and citizens aforesaid shall be, and they are hereby authorised to collect the amount of such lien in like manner as money due on judgments may now be recovered by a writ of scire facias framed to meet the case. Provided, That on the trial of any such scire facias suit, the merits of the claim may be tri- cd under such rules and regulations as said court may adopt. And provided also that no property other than that subject to such lien shall be taken or sold to satis- fy the same.
Seo. 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall be the duty of the Mayor of the city of Philadelphia, immediately after the passage of this act to cause the same to be published for at least one week in the newspapers in which the ordinances of the city are required to be published.
I certify that the foregoing is a copy of an act of the
30
394
PENNSYLVANIA CANAL & RAIL-ROAD.
JONB
General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, passed at the last session. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, at Harris- burg, May 25th, 1829.
FR. R. SHUNK, Clerk of the House of Representatives.
PENNSYLVANIA CANAL AND RAIL-ROAD.
The Board of canal commissioners adjourned on Tuesday evening last, to meet again in September.
We have been politely favoured by a member of the Board with a report made by a committee of the board, at their recent session at Harrisburg, containing a state- ment of the amount of money expended by the former boards, and the sum that will be at the command of the present board during the ensuing season. We learn, that the board are determined, in accordance with the recommendation of the committee, to complete those sections of the canal which have already been commenc- ed as speedily as possible.
The committee appointed on the 2d inst. to inquire relative tothe expenditures upon the canal and railway, and the means within the power of the Board to proceed with the work, Report :- That the whole
amount of moneys which appear to have been placed in the hands of the
Treasurer of the Canal Commissioners, under the several acts of the Legisla- ture, up to the first day of June 1829, inclusive, is $4,858,673 89
Of which sum there has been drawn by acting commissioners, superintendants, &c. on the Pennsylvania Canal, up to same period, 4,837,584 45
Balance in the hands of the Treasurer, 21,089 44
Of the sums thus drawn, accounts have been passed by the accounting officers and paid at the treasury for work done, and various charges prior to the first of June 1829, to the amount of - 4,610,511 45
Accounts have passed the Auditor Gen- eral's Office, and are in progress in the treasury to the amount of 127,836 83
And accounts have been rendered and are in progress in the Auditor General's office to the amount of 64,222 69
Leaving a balance to be accounted for of
35,013 48
4,837,584 45
Whole amount drawn.
The sums drawn from the treasury by the respective acting comissioners, superintendants, &c. of the
former Board, were as follows:
By Abner Lacock, of the western division
of the Pennsylvania Canal, - $1,727,609 40 By James Clarke, of the Juniata division, 825,141 41 By Charles Mowry, on the eastern and Sus- quehanna division, 1,128,977 14
By William Wilson, do. do. 369,388 38 270,000 00
By T. G. Kennedy, Delaware division,
By Thos. Woodside, north branch divi- sion,
236,000 00 73,050 00
By A. McReynolds, west branch division,
By J. Mitchel, on the French Creek Feeder,
By J. Philips, do. do.
124,428 12 50,000 00
By the Board of Canal Commissioners,
27,000 00
By Commissioners of Internal Improve- ment Fund, 5,990 00
$4,837,584 45
8,173 89
The amount of funds received by the Treasurer of the Canal Commissioners, independent of the loan of April, 1829, was 4,108,173 89
The amount borrowed and paid into the Treasury in anticipation of the loan of 1829, up to the 1st June, 1829, is 750,500 00
$4,858,673 89'
The balance of funds in the Treasury June 1, 1829, 21,089 84
The balance to be received on the loan of 1829, if negociated at par, will be 1,449,500 00
$1,470,589 00
This sum of $1,470,589 84, appears to be the amount of available funds of the present Board, as it stood on the 1st June, 1829; but it will probably require $270,000 of this sum to pay up debts and per centage on work ac- tually done prior to the 1st of June, leaving therefore about $1,200,000, as the actual fund for the prospec- tive operations of the year, commencing the 1st June, 1829.
It is proper to state, that the amount drawn from the Treasury of the Board by the acting Commissioners, Superintendents, &c. within the year terminating the 1st June, 1829, was $3,185,000 48.
In placing the preceding statement before the Board,. your committee avoid all remark on the comparatively limited means which are left at their disposal.
The committee have thought it their duty to state the material facts, and to recommend that the most rigid econemy accountability be enforced by the acting Commissioners, Superintendents and other persons in the service of the Board. That all agents whose services. are not actually necessary to the prosecetion of the work, be discontinued, and that especial attention be turned towards the early completion of such parts of the Canal as are most advanced.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF MRS. ELIZABETH FERGUSON.
[From the Port Folio.]
Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Græme, by Anne, the daughter of Sir William Keith, then governor of Pennsylvania. Her father was a native of Scotland, and a graduate in medicine. For nearly half a century he maintained the first rank in his profession in the city of Philadelphia. He held, during a great part of this time, the office of collector of the port. Her mother possessed a masculine mind, with all those female charms and accomplishments which render a woman alike agreeable to both sexes. They had one son and three daughters, all of whom attained. to the age of maturity. The subject of this memoir was the youngest of them. She discovered, in early life, signs of uncommon talents and virtues, both of which were cultivated with great care, and chiefly by her mother. Her person was slender, and her health deli- cate. The latter was partly the effect of native weak- ness, being a seven months' child, and partly acquired by too great application to books. She passed her youth in the lap of parental affection. A pleasant and highly- improved retreat, known by the name of Græme Park, in Montgomery county, twenty miles from l'hiladel- phia, in which her parents spent their summers, afford- ed her the most delightful opportunities for study, med- itation. rural walks, and pleasures, and, above all,: for cultivating a talent for poetry. This retreat was, more- over consecrated to society and friendship. A plentiful' table was spread daily for visitors, and two or three young ladies from Philadelphia generally partook with' Miss Græme of the enjoyments which her situation in. the country furnished. About her seventeenth year
4,829,410 56 | she was addressed by a citizen of Philadelphia of res-
Repaid to Treasury by J. Phillips,
$829.]
MRS. ELIZABETHI FERGUSON.
$95
pectable connexions and character. She gave him her heart, with the promise of her hand upon his return from London, whither he went to complete his educa- tion in the law. From causes which it is not necessary to detail, the contract of marriage, at a future day, was broken, but not without much suffering on the part of Miss Græme. To relieve and divert her mind from the effects of this event, she translated the whole of Tele- machus into English verse; but this, instead of saving, perhaps aided the distress of her disappointment in im -. pairing her health, and that to such a degree as to in- duce her father, in conjunction with two other physi- cians, to advise a voyage to England for its recovery,- Her mother concurred in this advice, but for another reason besides that of restoring her daughter's health. This venerable and excellent woman had long laboured under a disease which, she believed, would have a fatal issue. She anticipated the near approach of death; and that it might be less terrible to her, she wished her daughter to be removed beyond the sphere of the coun- ter attraction of her affections from the world of spirits, which her presence near her death-bed, would excite. "This feeling is not a solitary or casual one, in the human mind. Archbishop Lightfoot wished to die from home, that he might dissolve more easily his ties to his family. A lady in Philadelphia, some years ago, in her last mo- ments said to her daughter, who sat weeping at her bed- side, "Leave me, my child; I cannot die while you are in the room." Many instances of similar conflicts be- tween religion and nature have occurred in domestic history which have escaped general observation.
Mrs. Græme died, according to her expectation and wishes, during her daughter's absence, leaving behind her two farewell letters to be delivered to her upon her return; one, upon the choice of a husband, and the oth- er upon the management of a family. These letters contain many original ideas, and the most ardent ex- pressions of maternal affection. The tenor of these ex- pressions may easily be conceived by the following sen- tence extracted from the introduction to one of them. - "I have rested for some time with my pen in my hand, from being at a loss to find out an epithet to address you with, that shall fully express my affection for you. Af- ter a good deal of deliberation, I can find nothing that pleases me better than 'my own dear Betsy'."*
Miss Græme spent a year in England, where she was accompanied by the Rev. Dr. Richard Peters of Phila- delphia, a gentleman of highly polished manners, and whose rank enabled him to introduce her to the most respectable circles of company. She sought, and was sought for, by the most celebrated literary gentlemen who flourished in England at the time of the accession of George the third to the throne. She was introduced to this monarch, and particularly noticed by him. The celebrated Dr. Fothergill, whom she consulted as a physician, became her friend and correspondent as long as he lived. An accident attached the sentimental and then popular author of Tristram Shandy to her. She took a seat upon the same stage with him at the York
1
*Mrs. Græme left letters to several of her friends, to be delivered to them after her death. The following is an extract from one of them to Mrs. Redman, the wife of the late Dr. John Redman:
"I have been waiting with a pleasing expectation of my dissolution a great while, and I believe the same portion of grace which has been afforded me hitherto, will not be withdrawn at that trying hour. My trust is in my heavenly Father's mercies, procured and promi- sed for the all-sufficient merits of my blessed Saviour, so that whatever time it may be before you see this, or whatever weakness I may be under on my death bed, be assured this is my faith; this is my hope from my youth up until now. And thus, my dear, I take my fi- nal leave of you. Adieu, forever.
ANNE GRÆME."
races. While bets were making upon different horsea, she selected a small horse that was in the rear of the coursers as the subject of a trifling wager. Upon be- ing asked the reason for doing so, she said that the "race was not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Mr. Sterne, who stood near to her, was struck with this reply, and, turning hastily towards her, beg- ged for the honour of her acquaintance. They soon be- came sociable, and a good deal of pleasant conversation took place between them, to the great entertainment of the surrounding company.
Upon her return to Philadelphia, she was visited by a numerous circle of friends, as well to condole with her upon the death of her mother, as to welcome her arrival to her native shores. She soon discovered by the streams of information she poured upon her friends, that she had been "all eye, all ear, and all grasp," during her visit to Great-Britain. The Journal she kept of her travels, was a feast 10 all who read it. Manners and cha- racters in an old and highly civilized country, contrasted with those to which she had been accustomed in our own, accompanied with many curious facts and anec- dotes, were the component parts ofthis interesting man- uscript. Her modesty alone prevented its being made public, and thereby affording a specimen to the world, and to posterity, of her happy talents for observation, reflection, and composition.
In her father's family she now occupied the place of her mother. She kept his house, and presided at his table and fire-side in entertaining all his company. Such was the character of Dr. Græme's family for hospitality and refinement of manners, that all strangers of note who visited Philadelphia were introduced to it. Satur- day evenings were appropriated for many years during Miss Græme's winter residence in the city, for the en- tertainment not only of strangers, but of such of her friends of both sexes as were considered the most suita- ble company for them. These evenings were, properly speaking, of the attic kind. The genius of Miss Græme evolved the heat and light that animated them. One while she instructed by the stores of knowledge con- tained in the historians, philosophers, and poets of an- cient and modern nations, which she called forth at her pleasure; and again she charmed by a profusion of ori- ginal ideas, collected by her vivid and widely expanded imagination, and combined with exquisite taste and judgment into an endless variety of elegant and delight- ful forms. Upon these occasions her body seemed to evanish, and she appeared to be all mind. The writer of this memoir would have hesitated in giving this de- scription of the luminous displays of Miss Græme's knowledge and eloquence at these intellectual ban- quets, did he not know there are several ladies and gentlemen now living in Philadelphia, who can testify that it is not exaggerated.
It was at one of these evening parties she first saw Mr. Hugh Henry Ferguson, a handsome and accomplish- ed young gentleman who had lately arrived in this coun- try from Scotland. They were suddenly pleased with each other. Private interviews soon took place be- tween them, and in the course of a few months they were married. The inequality of their ages, (for he was ten years younger than Miss Græme) was opposed, in a calculation of their conjugal happiness, by the same- ness of their attachment to books, retirement, and lite- rary society. They settled upon the estate in Mont- gumery county, which Mrs. Ferguson's father (who di- ed at an advanced age soon after her marriage) be- queathed to her. But before the question of their hap- piness could be decided by the test of experiment, the dispute between Great Britain and America took place, in which it became necessary for Mr. Ferguson to take part. He joined the former in the year 1775, and from that time a perpetual separation took place between him and Mrs. Ferguson. Other causes contributed to prevent their re-union'after the peace of 1782; but the recital of them would be uninteresting as well as for.
Sept. 22, 1762.
396
MRS. ELIZABETH FERGUSON.
[JUNE
eign to the design of this publication. Mrs. Ferguson passed the interval between the year 1775 and the time of her death, chiefly in the country upon her farm, in reading, and in the different branches of domestic in- dustry. A female friend who had been the companion of her youth, and whose mind was congenial to her own, united her destiny with hers, and soothed her va- rious distresses by all the kind and affectionate offices which friendship and sympathy could dictate. In her retirement she was eminently useful. The doors of the cottages that were in her neighborhood bore the marks of her footsteps, which. were always accompanied or followed with cloathing, provisions, or medicines, to re- lieve the nakedness, hunger, or sickness of their inhab- itants. During the time general Howe had possession of Philadelphia, she sent a quantity of linen into the city, spun with her own hands, and directed it to be made into shirts for the benefit of the American prison- ers that were taken at the battle of Germantown.
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