USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 8
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Among the members of Pemberton's household was Mary Becket,
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
a young girl descended from the great family of Northumberland, who was married to Samuel Bowne, of Flushing, Long Island, Octo- ber 4th, 1694. When her mother married Becket she was a ward in chancery, and they had to fly to the continent, where he was killed in the religious war in Germany. Mary was the only child. Elea- nor Becket, her mother, now married one Haydock, had two daughters who became Friends and came to America, but the time is not known.
As early as 1675, four brothers, NATHANIEL, THOMAS, DANIEL and WILLIAM WALTON, from Byberry, England, settled in that township, in Philadelphia county, which they named after their native town. They came on foot from New Castle, and lived in a cave, covered with bark, several months ; and two of them returned thither for a bushel of seed wheat, fifty miles. The eldest brother joined the Keithians, in 1691, but afterwards united himself with All Saints' church. At what time the Waltons came into this county is not known, but early a son of Nathaniel was teaching school in Falls township, where he died in 1759.
JOSHUA HOOPS, the ancestor of the family of that name in Chester county, of Cleveland, Yorkshire, arrived 9th month, 1683, with his wife Isabel, and children Daniel, Margaret and Christian. He set- tled in Falls, and his wife died April 15th, 1684. He took an active part in affairs. His son Daniel removed to Chester county, in 1690, married Jane Worrilow, settled at Westtown, and had nineteen children.
Like the Waltons, the Knights came into this county through Byberry, where Giles with his wife Mary and son Joseph arrived from Gloucestershire, in 1682. They lived in a cave on the Po- quessing creek, where he built a house. He kept the first store in the township, and died in 1726, at the age of seventy-four. Dr. A. W. Knight, of Brazil, Indiana, the fifth in descent from Giles, owns the gun his ancestor brought from England. They had nineteen children in all, Joseph marrying Abigail Antill, in 1717, and settling in Ben- salem. He died in 1799 ; was a man of influence, and filled several public stations, and was an elegant and imposing man in appear- ance, when in full dress. A descendant of a half-brother of the first Giles was a senator in Congress from Rhode Island. There were upwards of twenty of the name of Knight on the Revolutionary pen- sion roll.
8 Born in Bucks county in 1684.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
JOSEPH GROWDEN, the son of Lawrence Growden, of Cornwall, England, came to Pennsylvania in 1682, with wife and children, and settled in Bensalem, where he took up ten thousand acres for him- self and father. His first wife, Elizabeth, dying in 1699, he married Ann Buckley, of Philadelphia, in 1704. He died in December, 1730, leaving two sons, Joseph and Lawrence, who inherited most of his real estate, and three daughters. He held many places of public trust in the infant colony ; was member of the privy council ; was member of the assembly, and several years speaker of that body ; he was frequently upon the bench of this county, and was appointed a supreme judge in 1705. His son Joseph was less distinguished than his father. He was one of the first persons of note, in Phila- delphia, who allowed himself to be innoculated for the small-pox, in 1731. At his death, the landed estate of the Growdens passed to his brother Lawrence; who dying in 1769, left t to his daughters Elizabeth and Grace, the latter receiving that in this county as her portion. She married Joseph Galloway, of Philadelphia, and Eliza- beth, Thomas Nicholson, of Trevose, England.
Notwithstanding the first English settlers to this county began to marry soon after they came, our county records show but twenty- three marriages the first four years after Penn's arrival. In the books of the Friends' monthly meeting there is a much fuller and more reliable record, including births, marriages and deaths.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI.
-
SOME ACCOUNT OF PENNSBURY.
1682 TO 1690.
Markham and Harrison select a site for manor house .- The situation .- Description of house .- Gardens and lawns .- Written instructions .- Penn's horses .- Furni- ture of house .- Table ware and plate .- Penn did not live there at first visit .- Letter post established .- Bucks county a Quaker settlement .- The meeting was supreme, but discipline lax .- Discountenanced the use of strong drinks .- Penn returns to England .- Population .- Schism of George Keith .- Wages .- Farm produce .- Stock .- Great rupture .- Dress .- Quit-rents hard to collect.
DELIGHTFUL memories linger around Pennsbury manor, the Bucks county home of the founder of Pennsylvania; that was his rural residence, whither he retired from the cares of state to spend his time in the bosom of his family, and where he intended to fix his permanent home and live and die in the pursuit of agriculture, his favorite occupation. But Providence interfered with his designs, and instead of closing his eyes amid the peaceful shades of Penns- bury, he died in England, away from the home ot his affections. As we have remarked in a previous chapter, both William Markham and James Harrison were commissioned by William Penn, before they left England, to select a site and build him a residence. Mark- ham probably selected the site, as he was the first to arrive, but it is possible that it was done by William Penn himself after his
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
arrival in 1682.1 The erection of the dwelling was commenced in 1682-83, and cost from five to seven thousand pounds. It stood on a gentle eminence, about fifteen feet above high-water and one hun- dred and fifty from the river bank, while Welcome creek wound its gentle waters closely about it. There is not a vestige of the build- ing remaining, and of all its beautiful surroundings there are to be seen only a few old cherry trees, said to have been planted by Penn's own hand, standing in the Crozier lane. Penn, probably, did not live there until his second visit in 1699, when he made it his home.
Unfortunately no drawing has been preserved of Pennsbury house, if one were ever made of it, nevertheless we are able to approximate its true size, arrangements and surroundings.2 The main edifice was sixty feet long by thirty feet wide, two stories high and stately in appearance, built of bricks probably burnt on the premises,3 as a bricklayer was sent out from England in 1685, and a wheelwright in 1686. The dwelling faced the river. There was a handsome porch, front and rear, with steps, having both "rails and banisters." On the first floor was a wide hall running through the building and opening onto the back porch, and in which the Proprietary received distinguished strangers, and used on public occasions. There were at least four rooms on this floor. On the left was a parlor separated from the large eating-room of the servants back of it by a wain- scoted partition, and there was probably a room on the opposite side of the hall opening into the drawing-room. There were likewise a small hall and a little closet. There were four chambers on the second floor, one denominated the "best chamber," an entry, a nursery and a closet, which seems to have been exclusively Mrs. Penn's. In the attic were at least two garrets, and the stories were nine feet. The back door of the hall Penn styled "two leaved," and after his return to England he ordered a new front door be- cause "the present one is most ugly and low." The roof was covered with tiles from the province, and on the top was a leaden reservoir, to the leakage of which is mainly charged the destruction of the mansion. Near the house were the necessary out-buildings, about which he gave directions, in a letter, to James Harrison, in August,
1 This location was probably fixed upon, because it was near the flourishing Friends' settlement at Burlington, and also contiguous to the falls.
2 Considerable light has been thrown on the subject by the rcsearches of the late J. Francis Fisher, a close student of local history.
3 He directed bricks to be used wherever it were possible, and when not good tim- bers cased with clapboards.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
1684. He writes : "I would have a kitchen, two larders, a washı- house, a room to iron in, a brew house,4 and a Milan oven for baking, and a stabling for twelve horses." The out-buildings were to be placed "uniform and not ascu ;" were to be a story and a half high, the story eleven feet. The dwelling remained unfinished for several years, and in May, 1685, Penn writes to Harrison, "finish what is built as fast as it can be done." No doubt there was considerable ornamentation about the building, for in 1686 Penn again writes, "pray don't let the front be common." The brew house was the last to yield to the tooth of time. It had long been in a dilapidated condition, but was not torn down till the fall of 1864. It was twenty by thirty-five feet, and eleven feet to the eves ; chimney and foundation of brick ; the sills and posts were ten inches square ; the weather-boarding of planed cedar, and the lath split in the woods. The fire-place was of the most generous kind, and would take in a sixteen-foot back log.
PENN'S BREW-HOUSE, 1864.
Among the mechanics who worked at the building, and the ma- terial men, the following are mentioned : E. James, who was "to finish the work which his men had begun ;" bricks were furnished by J. Redman, and deal-boards were got of John Parsons. Hannah 5
4 Gabriel Thomas.
5 Second wife of the founder, daughter of Thomas Callowhill.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
Penn writes to James Logan that her husband is dissatisfied with E. James, "he's too much of a gentleman" and "must have two servants to such a job of work." Henry Gibbs is called "the gov- ernor's carpenter."
The house was surrounded by gardens and lawns, and vistas were opened through the forest, so that there was a view up and down the river. A broad walk was laid out from the house down to the river, and in the fall of 1685 poplar trees, eighteen inches in diameter, were planted on each side of it. The ground in front was terraced with steps leading to the grounds below. The surrounding woods was laid out in walks at Penn's first visit, and he gave direc- tion to have the trees preserved, as he contemplated fencing off the neck for a park, but we have no evidence that it was ever done. Gravel, for the walks, was taken from the pit, near the swamp in the vicinity, as Penn would not allow that from Philadelphia used, because it was red. Steps led down to the boat-landing in front of the house, and Welcome creek was bridged in several places. By Penn's directions great care was bestowed upon the gardens, and several gardeners were sent out to take charge of them, also various kinds of shade and fruit trees, shrubbery, and the rarest seeds and roots were planted. In Maryland he purchased many trees indi- genous to that climate. He caused the most beautiful of the wild flowers to be transplanted into his gardens. A well of water sup- plied the several offices, but how the tank on the roof was filled is not known.
All his letters to his steward prove Penn's great love for rural life, and his desire as he expressed it, to make his children " hus- bandmen and housewives." He continually looked forward, almost down to his death, to establish his permanent home at Pennsbury ; and after his second return to England he gave instructions to have the improvements go on.6 He directs his fields laid out at least twelve acres each. He paid considerable attention to agriculture, and took pains to introduce new seeds at Pennsbury. We are probably indebted to him for the introduction of clover and other grass seeds into this county. He writes to his steward in 1685, " Haydust, from Long Island, such as I sowed in my court-yard, is
6 He writes from England in 1705 : "If Pennsbury has cost me one penny, it has cost me above £5,000, and it was with an intention to settle there ; though God has been pleased to order it otherwise. I should have returned to it in 1686, or at farthest, in 1689.
7 Grass seed, no doubt.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
best for our fields." Again : "Lay as much down as you can with haydust." The first twenty years there were less than one hundred acres of the manor cleared for cultivation.s Penn appears to have located a tract of land in the same section for his children, for in a letter to William Markham, in 1689, he writes : " I send to seat my children's plantation that I gave them, near Pennsbury, by Edward Blackfan."9
William Penn was as fond of good stock as of trees and shrub- bery. On his first visit he brought over three blood mares, which he rode during his sojourn here, a fine white horse, not full blood, and other inferior animals, for labor. At his second visit, in 1699, he brought the magnificent stallion colt "Tamerlane," by the cele- brated Godolphin Barb, from which some of the best horses in England have descended. His inquiries about the mares were as frequent as about the gardens. In his letters he frequently speaks of his horse "Silas," and his " ball nag Tamerlane." It is quite likely these horses were kept at Pennsbury from the first.
The manor house was furnished with all the appliances of comfort and convenience known to persons of rank and wealth of that day. The furniture was good and substantial, without being extravagant. In "the best chamber," in addition to the bed and bedding, with its silk quilt, were "a suit of satin curtains," and " four satin cushions." There were six cane chairs, and "two with twiggen bottoms." In the next chamber was a suit of camblet curtains, "with white head- cloth and testar," and a looking-glass in each. The nursery had "one pallet bedstead" and "two chairs of Master John's," Penn's little son born at Pennsbury. In the best parlor the entire furniture was "two tables, one pair stands, two great cane chairs and four small do., seven cushions, four of them satin, the other three green plush ; one pair brasses, brass fire-shovel, tongs and fender, one pair bellows, two 'arge maps." In the other parlor was a leathern chair, which, no doubt, was occupied by William Penn in person. In the great hall was a long table, at which public business was transacted, and " two forms of chairs" to sit at the table. In Mrs. Penn's closet were four chairs with needle-worked cases, and in the little closet below were four flower basins. The table furniture was hand- some, and included damask table-cloths and napkins ; a suit of Tunbridge ware, besides white and blue china. While pewter-ware
8 Forty acres were cleared by 1701, and an additional forty acres the following year. 9 Ancestor of the Bucks county Blackfan.s
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
was in common use, the Proprietary's family possessed a considerable quantity of plate, including silver forks and a tea set. The tables and chairs were made of oak or other suitable wood, as mahogany had not then come into use. Carpets were little used in Europe, and probably there were none at Pennsbury. A tall, old-fashioned, clock stood in the house, which now stands in the Philadelphia library. Penn brought the greater part of the furniture from Eu- rope, and our list of articles is made up from the inventory left at Pennsbury when the family sailed for England in November, 1701. No doubt some of the most valuable articles were taken along. After they sailed the goods from the town-house were sent up to Pennsbury. In 1695 Penn writes to James Harrison, in charge of the manor house : "Get window shutts (shutters) and two or three eating tables to flap down, one less than another, as for twelve, eight, five (persons.) Get some wooden chairs of walnut, with long backs, four inches lower than the old ones, because of cushions."
William Penn did not reside at Pennsbury, during his first visit, because the mansion was not in a condition to live in, but he was frequently there to give directions about the work. He probably made his home with some of the Friends already settled along the Delaware, below the falls, for he is known to have been in the county at various times and places, holding court, attending meet- ings, etc. He had not been a year in his new province, when he established a letter post to convey intelligence from one part to an- other. In July, 1683, he ordered a post-office at " Tekony," and appointed Henry Waldy, post-master. Among his other duties he was "to supply passengers with horses, from Philadelphia to New Castle or the falls." The rates of postage were, letters from the falls to Philadelphia, 3d .; to Chester, 5d .; to New Castle, 7d .; to Maryland, 9d. The post went once a week, and the time of starting was to be carefully published " on the meeting-house door, and other public places." This post was continued until some better arrangement was made. The falls, the starting place of the mail, was an important point in the young province.
We must not lose sight of the fact that Bucks county was a Qua- ker settlement, and Pennsylvania a Quaker commonwealth. Out- side pressure had intensified their religious convictions, which they carried into the State and family. Their social and domestic gov- ernment was practically turned over to the church, which enforced a discipline that would not be tolerated now. It prescribed the
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
rules for dress, and marked out the line of behavior. In 1682, male and female, old and young, are advised against "wearing superfluity of apparel," and in 1694, " to keep out of the world's corrupt lan- guage, manners, and vain, heedless things, and fashions in apparel, and immoderate and indecent smoking of tobacco." In 1719 they advanced a step further, and advised all who accustom themselves, or suffer their children, to use " the corrupt and unscriptural lan- guage of you, to a single" person, to be " dealt with." In 1744 it was deemed a " fault" not to take a certificate when removing from one meeting to another. The Friends in some respects ignored other denominations, and held themselves aloof from colonial gentiles. In 1711 they were exhorted not to attend the funerals of those not in communion with them ; nor to go into any of their " worship-houses," and hear their sermons. They were very strict in the matter of courtship and marriage. In 1705 the Bucks quarterly ordered those intending marriage, to acquaint the overseers of monthly meeting before they declare their intentions ; and the man and woman were not allowed to dwell in the same house, from the time they begin to be " concerned in proposals of marriage" until its consummation.10
In spite of this strict discipline, private morals were far from being unexceptionable. A favorite authorn writing of the first twenty years of the last century, says, " cases of immoral conduct were common at this period," which happened principally among those who " were in the practice of mingling with, and following, the fash- ions and customs of the people of the world." The poor colonial gentiles are made the convenient space-goat.
In some respects the discipline was lax. The meeting counte- nanced the supplying of liquors at funerals and marriages from the first settlement, no doubt a practice brought from England. Never- theless, when they saw it was hurtful, they took steps to correct it. In 1729 the yearly meeting recommended that strong liquors be served round but once at funerals, and only to those that came from a distance ; and in 1735 the same authority declared that " greater provision for eating and drinking are made at marriages and burials than is consistent with good order." In 1750 the meeting recom-
10 A curious marriage custom prevailed in this province at that day, that of widows being married en chimese to screen the second from the first husband's debts. Kalm says it was a common occurrence when the first husband died in debt. The Friends discountenanced such marriages, which were performed by ministers of other denomi- nations.
11 Michener.
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
mends the appointment of overseers "to prevent the unnecessary use of strong drink at burials." A Quaker author writing on this subject says : " The custom long prevailed of converting the solemn burial service at the house of mourning into a noisy bachanalian festival." 12
The early Friends were alive to the demands of "melting charity," and from their first appearance on the Delaware, they cared for their own poor. Neither man nor woman, within the folds of the meeting, was allowed to want. As late as 1801, the Middletown meeting contributed $447.85 to poor Friends in Great Britain and Ireland.
William Penn sailed on his return to England, from his first visit, the 12th of June, 1684, having been in his new province about - twenty-one months. In this brief period he succeeded in organ- izing a great commonwealth, laying its foundations of civil and religious liberty so broad and deep that tyranny, from church or state, cannot prevail against them. He committed the management of public affairs during his absence to his lieutenant-governor and the council and assembly, while James Harrison, his agent, who resided at Pennsbury, looked after his personal interest. At this time the province and territories annexed contained a population of seven thousand.
The first great trouble that came upon the Friends on the Dela- ware, was the schismn of George Keith, in 1690. He was a preacher of great note and influence in the society. Born at Aberdeen, Scot- land, in 1638, and fellow student of Bishop Burnett, he joined the Friends soon after he left the university. He settled in East New Jersey before Penn's arrival, of which he was surveyor-general, and in 1689 was called to take charge of the first public grammer school in Philadelphia. At this time he commenced the agitation that led to a division in the society. They split on the rock of the sufficiency of what every man has within himself for the purpose of his own salvation. His followers, known as Keithian quakers, numbered about one-half of the yearly meeting, including some of its most considerable men. He established meetings in various parts of the province. Among those who joined him in this county were John Swift, of Southampton, and John Hart, who moved from Byberry
12 In 1683, the grand jury of Philadelphia made presentment, "Of ye great rude- ness and wildness of ye youths and children in ye town of Philadelphia, that then daily appear up and down ye streets, gaming and playing for money, etc."
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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
to Warminster about this time, A Keithian meeting, the germ of the Southampton Baptist church, was held at Swift's house, and he and Hart both became Baptist ministers. Thomas Rutter, a Quaker of Philadelphia, who joined Keith, was married to Rebecca Staples, of this county, at Pennsbury, 11th month, 10th, 1685; and was bap- tised at Philadelphia by Rev. Thomas Killingsworth, in 1697. He began to preach and baptised nine persons, who united in commu- nion, June 12th, 1698, and appointed Mr. Rutter their minister. The society was kept up until about 1707.13 Keith returned to England in 1659, his followers holding together for a few years when most of them joined the Baptists or Episcopalians. Among the signers to " the testimony" against Keith from this county, were Nicholas Walne, William Cooper, William Biles, William Yardley, and Joseph Kirkbride, which was dated June 12th, 1692.
The rate of wages in this county, and elsewhere in the province, at that early day, cannot fail to interest the reader. From the first English settlement, down to the close of the century, carpenters, bricklayers and masons received from five to six shillings a day ; journeymen shoemakers two shillings per day for making both mens' and womens' shoes ; tailors twelve shillings per week, with board ; cutting pine boards six or seven shillings the hundred ; weaving cloth a yard wide, ten or twelve pence a yard ; green hides three half-pence, and tanners were paid four pence per hide for dressing ; brick at the kiln twenty shillings per thousand ; wool twelve to fifteen cents per pound ; plasterers eighteen cents per yard. A good fat cow could be bought for about three pounds, and butchers charged five shillings for killing a beef, and their board. Laboring men received between eighteen pence and half a crown per day, with board ; between three and four shillings during harvest, and fourteen or fifteen pounds a year, with board and lodging. Female servants received between six and ten pounds a year, and their wages were higher in proportion because of their scarcity, usually getting mar- ried before they were twenty years of age. Gabriel Thomas tells us there were neither beggars nor old maids in the county.
The farmers raised wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, peas, beans, hemp, flax, turnips, potatoes and parsnips. Some farmers sowed as high as seventy and eighty acres of wheat, besides other grains. A considerable number of cattle was raised, individual farmers having as high as forty or sixty head, and an occasional one 13 Rutter baptised Evan Morgan, in 1697. 7
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