USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Middletown > The chronicles of Middletown : containing a compilation of facts, biographical sketches, reminiscences, anecdotes, &c., connected with the history of one of the oldest towns in Pennsylvania > Part 9
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"The boat was at the other side of the creek.
"In about half an hour, which appeared to me an age, the boat returned, and I gladly crossed the creek in a canoe hauled over by a rope exended from bank to bank, seventy yards, and in a few minutes after I found myself in Mrs. Wentz's excellent inn, the sign of General Washington, in Middletown. My foot being much blistered, I bathed it in cold water, and then injudiciously opened the blisters with a lancet and sponged them with spirits of turpentine. I then got a good supper and an excel- lent bed, but my foot pained me so much as to prevent my sleeping, so I rose early, unrefreshed and breakfasted with my landlady, an agreeable, well-bred woman.
"The view down the Susquehanna from Mrs. Wentz's back piazza is very fine. The town contains about a hundred houses, and is well and handsomely situated about half a mile above the conflux of Swatara creek with Susquehanna river, the former of which forms a good harbor for boats, which it is in contemplation to join to the Schuylkill by a canal, in order to give Philadelphia the benefit of the navigation of the Susque- hanna through its long course above Middletown. If this is carried into effect, it will draw to Philadelphia a vast quantity of products which now goes to Baltimore.
"The Susquehanna is a noble river, here about a mile wide, with fine sloping wooded banks and abounds with rockfish, perch, mullet, eels, suckers, catfish and white salmon, which last is described as a fine fish from seven to fifteen pounds in weight, but a distinct species from the real salmon of northern rivers.
"Was it not that the Susquehanna abounds with falls, shallows and
2 His wife was a sister to Walter Kendig's grandfather.
3 An Eshelman still owns a farm on this road. He was married to Phillip Irwin's niece.
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rapids which impede the navigation, it would be one of the most useful rivers in the world, as its different branches, from its different sources embrace a wonderful extent of country, settled or rapidly settling, and abounding in wheat and maize (Indian corn), which most probably will be always staples of the large and flourishing State of Pennsylvania.
"The road leads parallel to the Susquehanna in some places close to the river and never more distant from it than a quarter of a mile, along a very pleasant level bounded on the right by a ridge of low but steep wooded hills, approaching and receding at intervals, and affording a fine shelter from the northerly winds to the farms between them and the river, which perhaps is one reason that the orchards are so numerous and so fine in this tract.
"I have rarely seen in any country a road more pleasant than this, either from its own goodness or the richness and variety of the prospect. The Susquehanna on the left about three-quarters of a mile wide, some- times appearing and sometimes concealed by orchards, groves or clumps of wood; the fine wooded islands on the river; the mountains rising ab- ruptly from the margin of the river, in which they are charmingly re- flected, altogether form scenery truly delightful.
"About six miles above Middletown the mountains terminate and the south bank of the river becomes more varied, though still hilly, and here on an elevated promontory, with a commanding view of the river, is a large and apparently fine stone house, owned by General Simpson, who resides in it on his farm and is proprietor of a ferry much frequented by the western wagoners, as the road that way is shorter by two miles than that by Harrisburg. He farms out the ferry on his side for about three hundred dollars per annum, while on this side the proprietor rents it at four hundred and seventy. The value of this ferry, called Chambers', may serve to convey some idea of the state of traveling in this country, particularly if one reflects that there are many other well frequented ferries where public roads cross the river within thirty miles both above and below this one, and which are all great avenues to the western coun- try."4
Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, who passed through Middle- town in 1797, alludes to this ferry, and to the town, thus :
(April 3rd.) "Arrived at a seasonable hour in Middletown, where we remained over night. Middletown is an attractive village, having the Susquehanna on the west side, and on the east the Big Swatara creek, which flows into it about a mile below the village. The square and the cross streets are in good condition, and the streets running north and south are mostly built up. The houses are built of limestone or brick- the majority, however, are frame or log houses.
"On the morning of the 24th, we made an early start, and notwithstand- ing the rain, had good roads to Chambers' ferry, where we took breakfast and then crossing the Susquehanna. The country from Middletown to the ferry is very pleasing and exhibits some fine farms."
John Benner, father of the late John and Jacob Benner, used to keep this ferry.
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(Colonel Burd, Colonel Cronch, Captain Shearer, &c., officers in the Revolutionary army, all had estates in this vicinity.)
The following persons "took out licenses to keep houses of public en- tertainment" in Middletown from 1793 to 1803, and some of them con- tinued to do so many years after : Henry Moore, Ludwick Wolfley, Peter Kipe, John McCann, George McCormick, Frederick Rothfong, John Blat- tenberger, Christian Rodfong, Michael Hemperly, John McCammon, Wil- liam Crabb, Benjamin Mckinley, John Benner, John Smith, George Toot.
It was probably at the tavern of the first named (Henry Moore), that John Penn, son of Thomas Penn, and grandson of William Penn, stopped on his return from Carlisle in 1788. In his journal he says :
April 13th .- From hence the road lay thro' woods till the Susquehanna, at a distance, denoted that the (Chambers') ferry was at hand. I crossed the river about three and a half o'clock, surrounded by enchanting pros- pects. The ride to Middletown is along the eastern bank, and exhibits a striking example of the great in the opposite one, rising to a vast height and wooded close to the water's edge for many miles. From this vast forest, and the expansive bed of the river navigable to its source for craft carrying two tons burden, the ideas of grandeur and immensity rush forcibly upon the mind, mixed with the desert wilderness of an unin- habitated scene. The first particular object on this road is Simpson's house, the owner of the ferry where I crossed. It is on a rock across the river. At Middletown I put up at one More's, who was a teacher for- merly at Philadelphia of Latin and Greek. He talked very sensibly, chiefly on subjects which discovered him to be a warm Tory, and friend of passive obedience. Unlike many Tories, he is an enemy of the new Constitution. Here the Great Swatara joins the Susquehanna, and a very fine mill is kept at their confluence by Mr. Frey, a Dutchman, to whom I carried a letter from Mr. D. Clymer.
"April 14th .- Before my departure Mr. Frey showed me his excellent mill, and still more extraordinary mill stream, running from one part of the Swatara for above a mile till it rejoins it at the mouth. It was cut by himself at great expense and trouble, and is the only work of the kind in Pennsylvania. Middletown is in a situation as beautiful as it is adapted to trade, and already of a respectable size."
XX.
GEORGE FISHER.
[I will preface my sketch of Portsmouth by a short biography of its founder.]
George Fisher, Esq., was a great grandson of the John Fisher, who came from England to Pennsylvania with William Penn on the first voy- age of the ship Welcome. He was born at "Pineford" (so called at a very early day, from the large grove of pine trees then standing on the
Farmers' Bank.
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west bank of the Swatara river, where the great road leading from Phil- adelphia to Fort Pitt passed the former stream by a fording), September 22d, 1766. His father, the founder of Middletown, and only surviving parent, died in 1777.
Having been thus deprived, at the early age of ten years, of both his parents, and having no relatives on the paternal side, he, with his brother John and sister Hannah, were by the will of their father, consigned to the care of a maternal uncle residing in Chester county, due provision having been made and directions left, for their care, maintenance and education until they became of age. With this uncle, George resided for some years, receiving such instruction as the disturbed condition of the country, and the limited advantages the schools of that day afforded.
Of this period of his life but little is known, although he sometimes alluded to the difficulties he and his brother had to encounter in securing even the rudiments of an education; and the hardships they endured in traveling twice a day through the unusually deep snows of the severe win- ter of 1777 and '78, to the rude, half-finished log school house, situated at the intersection of two public roads several miles from the residence of his uncle. Small, home-made linen wallets, thrown across their shoul- ders, contained in one end their few simple school books, and in the other, their homely fare, frequently consisting, to use his own words, of "small turn-over pies, hard enough to be used to play 'shinny' with."
On one occasion the master, as well as the scholars, was very much alarmed. Shortly after the assembling of the school on the morning after the battle of Brandywine, a regiment of British grenadiers passing along one of the roads, unexpectedly encountered a detachment of American militia, retreating from that battlefield, along the other. At the junction, immediately opposite the school house, an engagement ensued, and many bullets struck the logs, or passed through the solitary window of the building. The master, however, had presence of mind sufficient to coun- sel the children to throw themselves flat on the floor. They did so and fortunately all escaped injury.
Some few years after this occurrence, George was sent to Philadelphia and placed in the store of Israel Pemberton, then one of the wealthiest and most distinguished merchants of that city, with a view to his receiv- ing a mercantile education. The employment was uncongenial to a boy of George's energetic temperament, and wholly unsuited to his inclinations, and he soon earnestly besought his relatives to take him from the city and place him in one of the chief institutions of learning of that day, and thus enable him to obtain such an education as would eventually aid him in selecting as the pursuit of his life, the legal profession, for which even at that early age, he manifested an ardent desire. He finally mentioned the subject to Mr. Pemberton, and enlisting his support, gained not only the consent of his connections, but also their promise to advance him what money was needed to carry out his desires.
He was first sent to an excellent preparatory school at Trenton, New Jersey, and finally to Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa. Upon the com-
6
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pletion of his education, he entered the office of John Wilkes Kittera, Esq., an eminent lawyer, then residing in the town (now city) of Lancas- ter, as a student. He remained with Mr. Kittera until he was admitted to the bar at Lancaster, sometime in the summer or early in the fall of 1787. The precise date of his admission cannot now be ascertained, ow- ing to the fact that the "minutes" of the several courts held in the county at that day have been lost. The record shows that shortly after, at the November term, 1787, of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, he was admitted to practice in the several courts of this county.
After his admission, he designed settling in Savannah, Georgia, and pursuing his profession. With that object in view, he visited Middle- town shortly afterwards, for the purpose of arranging his private affairs, and placing his patrimonial estate, near the town, in charge of some com- petent and trustworthy agent. Whilst thus engaged, an event occurred that changed his purpose and fixed his professional career in a totally different location.
He was one day called upon by a committee representing a large num- ber of the Mennonist society, who had settled upon the rich lands of the Swatara valley, in Derry township, and the neighborhood of Middle- town. The committee stated that, hearing of his arrival, they had been authorized to wait upon him, and ascertain whether he was as good a friend to the Mennonist settlers as his father had been, and if they found him to be similarly disposed, then to employ him as their counsel, to aid them in resisting the encroachments that the Irish settlers were making upon their lands, and the enjoyment of their religious rights.
He answered that he had every reason to entertain the same kind feel- ings toward their society that, as they had just declared, his father had always evinced towards them, and would willingly serve them and for- ward their interests to the best of his ability, but that his determination was fixed to remove to Savannah, as soon as he had completed the ar- rangement of his private affairs.
They replied that they thought he had better remain among the people in whose midst he was born, and who had strong feelings of friendship towards him on his father's account. As an earnest of that sentiment they proffered him ten gold Johannes ($80.00), as a retaining fee, if he would remain and act as their counsel in their approaching legal contests ; at the same time assuring him of a continuance of their patronage and that of their brethren, then already becoming a numerous and comparatively - wealthy class.
Thus urged, he changed his determination, accepted their retainer, and shortly afterwards settled at Harrisburg* (then called Louisburg), opened an office and commenced the practice of his profession.
The dockets of the several courts of Dauphin county for the year 1788 and 1789, show that he immediately obtained a very large and lu-
*His office was on the southwest corner of Market Square where the Presby- terian Church now stands.
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crative practice in this county. In Northumberland county, also, his legal business was a heavy and paying one. He attended occasionally the courts of Cumberland, York and Lancaster counties ; in fact, he said that for several years after his admission he attended the courts of all the counties north and west of Harrisburg, and assisted in trying nearly all the numerous and important ejectments, founded upon original titles to lands, in the counties mentioned.
He held a conspicuous place in settling the law of this State in refer- ence to the titles to lands claimed or held by actual settlement, improve- ment, warrant, survey and patent, in which branch of the profession he held an equal rank with the most distinguished of that class of men who became at an early day in the legal history of Pennsylvania, eminent as "Land Lawyers.".
For many years after he commenced the practice of the law, members of that profession made minutes of the decisions given by Judges of the Supreme Courts, when holding courts of Nisi Prius, on all important questions relating to land titles (no book of reports of these decisions be- ing published until after 1790), which memoranda they carried in their saddle-bags, to be cited as authorities, as occasion should arise, in the cases in which they were severally engaged.
The judges and members of the bar then traveled in company, on horseback, from court to court, at all seasons of the year, and through all kinds of weather, over roads impassable by any other mode of convey- ance, compelled frequently to ford the streams they encountered, and at times, when too full to be forded, crossing over them in canoes, swim- ming their horses alongside. As the country was but sparsely settled, and the accommodations of a very primitive character, each of them had a blanket, to be used as a covering on lying down at night-frequently upon some straw shake-down, on the floor of a rude log cabin, with their saddles as pillows, carrying also, in the holsters of the latter, a flask of brandy, a beef tongue, or a piece of dried venison and some crackers. On their return from Sunbury and other points on the Susquehanna, they occasionally jumped their horses, on to rafts, and thus descended that stream, sometimes to its junction with the Juniata, sometimes to Harrisburg. Then they separated to return to their homes, there to re- main until the approach of court again summoned them to renew their labors, in the comparatively distant frontier counties of the State.
In these journeys many hairbreadth escapes and ludicrous incidents occurred, which at after times, were recounted with great zest, particu- larly when some apt delineator pictured a ludicrous reminiscence, the actors in which were present.
They were, as a class, vigorous in body, as is abundantly proved by the long lives of uninterrupted good health that most of them enjoyed. Highly polished, highly cultivated and richly endowed, their unsurpassed mental powers enabled them to achieve the enviable reputation they so justly enjoyed, not only during their lives, but after they had passed from this sphere of action. They were emphatically "gentlemen of the old
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school," and though of convivial temperaments, lovers of wine and good living, seldom, or never, indulged to excess; whilst in their social inter- course with each other, the esprit de corps which so eminently distin- guished the profession of that day, always shone forth conspicuously. The intimate and confidential friends they had been in their advancing years, they continued until they severally sank to honored graves.
After the division of Northumberland county, Mr. Fisher continued to practice in Union county as well, until the year 1826, when he ceased to visit these counties. In the spring of 1830, after a highly successful ca- reer at the bar for upward of forty years, and after establishing two of his sons in the same pursuit, to wit: John Adams (who became eminent in his profession and practiced in Dauphin and Lebanon counties for over forty years), at Harrisburg, and Robert J. Fisher (afterwards Presi- dent Judge of the district composed of the counties of York and Adams), at York, Pa., he removed from Harrisburg to the patrimonial estate and place of his birth, "Pineford," with the intention of devoting the remain- der of his years to agricultural pursuits, for which he had, throughout life evinced great partiality. He was, however, sought out in his retire- ment, and occasionally induced to aid in the trial of important cases, as well at Lebanon as in Dauphin county, until about the year 1838, when he ceased practice in the courts of Lebanon, and finally, in 1840, at Har- risburg also.
He, however, again appeared, and for the last time in any court, in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, at May Term, 1845, to participate in the argument of the Commonwealth vs. Church, reported in I Barr, 105; a case in which he had large interests at stake, the dam therein complained of forcing the water of the the Swatara upon the op- posite banks, and causing serious injury to the lots of the town of Port Royal, of which he owned the one-half.
Having then reached his eightieth year, the force and brightness of his intellect, added to the power and volume of his voice, as then exhibited, called forth expressions of surprise from all who heard the lucid and very able legal argument made by him.
He continued to reside at "Pineford," in the enjoyment of a ripe and vigorous old age, until the effects of an accidental fall which he had at Harrisburg in the autumn of 1852, caused his death. He died February 5, 1853, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, in the house where he had first seen the light of day, and where his father and mother had lived and died before the American Revolution.
He had always expressed a desire to be buried by the side of his parents in the family burying ground on the estate, but in view of the fact that the property was then expected to be sold, and thus pass out of the hands of the family, it was thought best to inter him at Harrisburg. He was therefore taken to the house of his son, John Adams, and from there, February 9th, to Mount Kalmia cemetery. His funeral was (up to that time) probably the largest ever seen in Harrisburg, and was attended by all the judges, members of the bar, officers of the several courts, the
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surviving members of his family and a large number of sympathizing friends. The lot is enclosed by an iron railing and an appropriate monu- ment marks his grave.
Devoted to his profession, the subject of this sketch never sought or held any civil office. Revering the character of Washington (for whom his first vote after attaining manhood had been given, as first President of the United States,) and his principal intimacies and associations being with the surviving soldiers and statesmen of the Revolution, he imbibed in early life the political principles entertained by those patriots, as well as by many of the eminent men of that day, and remained the earnest and firm supporter of the administration of Washington and of his suc- cessor, the elder Adams. Nay, he may be said to have adhered through a long life to those principles, never attaching himself to or being recog- nized as being a member of any of the political parties which sprang into existence upon the defeat and dissolution of the old Federal party.
The only public station he ever filled was that of major in a battalion of volunteers from the counties of Dauphin and York, during the "West- ern Expedition" (elsewhere alluded to), upon the disbandment of the army he returned to Harrisburg and resumed the practice of his profes- sion. In November, 1795, he was married to Elizabeth, a daughter of Thomas Minshall, Esq., of York county, who had been a representative in the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania, in the years 1768, 1769 and 1770, who had also been commissioned one of the justices of York county, in October, 1774, and by virtue of such commission, one of the judges of the county court of that county. This lady was also a de- scendent of one of the oldest Quaker families of the State, her ancestors having emigrated from England between the years 1675 and 1681, and settled at Chester, Pa. She died in December, 1803, leaving three chil- dren.
After her decease, to wit: In January, 1805, he was again married, at Philadelphia, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop White, to Ann Shippen Jones, a daughter of Robert Strettle Jones, A. M. (and granddaughter of Isaac Jones, Charter Mayor of Philadelphia in 1767 and 1768), and Ann his wife, who was a daughter of Joseph Shippen (and a lineal descendent of Edward Shippen, first Charter Mayor of that city). By this lady, who was one of the most beautiful women of her day, he had five children, four of whom, with their mother, survived him.
Mr. Fisher was possessed of a graceful and commanding figure and handsome manly features, being endowed by nature with a powerful and melodious voice and mental powers of the first order, he was not only distinguished at the bar for the acuteness and soundness of his legal arguments, but also for the great distinctness, energy and-when occa- sion required it-eloquence, with which his forensic efforts were deliv- ered. Being naturally of a very convivial disposition, fond of the society of men of worth, refinement and intelligence, he was, particularly during his residence at Harrisburg, noted for his hospitality and constant habit of entertaining handsomely at his house many of the men of worth and
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distinction of this State, with most of whom he was on terms of the closest intimacy and friendship.
"I have seen at his table," says an eminent lawyer, "among other dis- tinguished veterans of the Revolution, the venerable General Arthur St. Clair, Colonel Henry Miller, Alexander Graydon, &c. At a later day, Chief Justice Tilghman, Justices Yeates and Breckenridge, David Watts, and Thomas Duncan, of Carlisle; William Montgomery and Charles Smith, of Lancaster; Marks John Biddle, of Reading; Charles Hall, of Sunbury ; Benjamin R. Morgan, George Vaux, John R. Coates, Nicholas Biddle, and John Hallowell, of Philadelphia. And at a still later period Chief Justice Gibson, Justice Rogers, James Bu- chanan, John M. Scott, George Cowden, William M. Meredith, and other gentleman of Philadelphia, as well as from different sections of the State."
After his death, many gratifying memorials of the esteem in which he had been held during life, were received by members of his family, from distinguished gentlemen residing in different parts of the country. Most, if not all, of these letters, were couched in terms expressive of the highest respect and esteem for his memory; and of sincere con- dolence with the surviving members of his family for the great loss they had sustained. From among these testimonials, all breathing the same spirit, two are here selected. One of them, written by William M. Meredith, of Philadelphia, says:
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