USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Lancaster > The story of Lancaster, old and new : being a narrative history of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, form 1730 to the centennial year 1918 > Part 8
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to the smaller banking institution, compelling it to close its doors. However, twenty years before the branch Bank of Pennsylvania went into liquidation, along in the year 1810, came what is known at the present day as The Farmers Trust Company, and what a long, uninterrupted career of prosperity it has had during the past one hundred and seven years. During times of panics and other financial upheavals, it has managed to weather the financial storms. At the time when the Farmers' Bank was chartered, the town was still a borough with a population of a little more than five thousand inhabitants. Nor were they then all of one nation- ality. It was in many respects a heterogeneous mixture of English, Germans, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, Quakers, French Huguenots and a sprinkling of negroes. As has already been shown from Chief Burgess Hand's letter, this community was the second largest in Pennsylvania, and the largest in- land town in the United States.
One is given to wondering how, for more than half a century, the public managed to transact business, the borough being nearly seventy miles from the townstead Philadelphia. Money, some genuine, other spurious, was kept securely hidden away in secluded places. Of course, there were what might be called "individual bankers," known today as "curbstone brokers," who accepted money from farmers and others at a low rate, and put it out to borrowers who were as numerous then as in this much later epoch, considering the difference in time.
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There must have been, away back in the early days, much antipathy among money-lenders against the first bank. Nor had it subsided down to a time within the recollection of the old-time present-day bankers. It is not over a half century when, on April first, farmers, instead of depositing their money and paying their debts with checks, would crowd the taverns and stairways on which they would transact their business. And who can say that banking in "New Lancaster" has not made much progress during the past century with a half dozen banks, and almost as many trust com- panies all on a safe foundation and, it is to be hoped, will so continue.
Not only have city people placed their trust in banks, but the rural population as well, considering that almost every town in the county has its bank, with dividend coming to the investor semi-annually.
Although the burgesses, during their seventy-six years of rule, had occasion every now and then to summon the butchers, breadbakers, chapmen and others before them for wrong-doing, the records also contain one charge against the Pennsylvania Legislature! It will be recalled that this state repre- sentative body held its sessions in the court house from 1799 to 1812. As the "Corporation Book" shows, this distinguished assembly had gone their way to Harrisburg without first having paid five pounds rent for the use of a ten-plate wood stove in the court house. So annoyed were the burgesses over the Legislature's neglect to pay the five pounds overdue, as to cause the clerk to present a bill to
OLD COLONIAL FIREPLACE
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GEORGE ROSS MANSION IN COLONIAL TIMES
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"Mattheus Huston, Esquire, of the Assembly, with instructions that if the amount be not paid promptly, to bring suit against the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania!"
Thinking possibly that the ten-plate wood stove might have been stored away on the loft of city hall by the janitor, every effort has been made by the chronicler to locate it, but without success. However, it might be well for every descendant of this Legislative body, to make diligent search for this memento of other days. The chances are it will still turn up in time for the incoming Centennial. It would add much to the occasion, provided it was not doing service in the old capitol building at the time it went up in smoke. However, might it not be well for councils to authorize our accomplished young city solicitor to bring suit against the next Legislature for the five pounds at the rate of six per cent. compound interest, dating from the year 1799 to the present year 1917?
Mention of fires, it was along in the year 1812, that one fire followed another with stables, barns and other buildings falling prey to the flames. Rewards were offered for the arrest and conviction of the incendiary or incendiaries, but without success. At last a town meeting was held at the court house, at which it was "Resolved that all able-bodied men of the borough be compelled to organize themselves into a patrol to parade the streets at all hours of the night."
Like the faithful historian who wrote the Knicker- bocker History of New Amsterdam, the chronicler
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must not be taken too seriously, if occasionally he is inclined to make merry over some of the rulings of the burgesses. And yet, here is what is set forth in their minutes: "It shall be the duty of each Captain of his ward to keep his company constantly on the march during nights on the lookout for all suspicious characters, incendiaries and other nightly prowlers, and who are to be locked in the old stone jail unless they can give a good account of them- selves."
One newspaper account of that early day has this to say of the many uncalled-for arrests made during the first night of the patrol on the march in search for all suspicious characters. It seems that the captain, after having imbibed too many brandy- punches, being unable to distinguish members of this or that lodge homeward bound, had committed the unpardonable mistake of arresting the Grand Master of Blue Lodge, No. 43, in stepping out of the room over the market house, at present used for city pur- poses. This flagrant violation of decorum brought a speedy end of the nightly patrol.
Already mention has been made that, with one exception, no property tax was laid on real estate until the year 1812, under Act of Assembly. This property tax of three thousand dollars was levied on all land within the borough's two miles square for the repair of the streets within the built-up portion. How far north, south, east and west the built-up portion extended, can only be approximately stated. However, what the minutes show is that large sections of unimproved land within the town's corporate limits had been purchased from the
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Hamilton agent on the ground-land plan in antici- pation of a rise in value. As a result, when taxation came, many of these land owners became panic- stricken, leading to hard times for the dwellers of "Old Lancaster."
With this came the War of 1812 with its dis- heartening consequences. It was at a town meeting that a very large and respectable number of citizens of the borough convened at the court house, and where the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted:
"Whereas, it appears by the General Orders of the Governor of Pennsylvania that the Capitol of the United States has been destroyed by a haughty and powerful enemy, who threatens the metropolis of a sister state, and whose conduct warrants an opinion that an attack is also meditated on the shores of the Delaware. And whereas, his Excellency has under these circumstances thought proper to direct that the Militia generally within the eastern counties of Pennsylvania should be immediately called into active service: and whereas, it is the duty of every American who regards the safety and happiness of his Country, at such an alarming crisis to aid and assist in bringing forth the physical force of the people, Therefore
"Resolved, that it be recommended to the free, able-bodied citizens of our borough and county particularly to form themselves into Volunteer Companies as expeditiously as possible, to march at a moment's warning to such points where their services may be most wanted:
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"Resolved, That the Volunteer Companies of this borough, commanded by William Hamilton and George Hambright be authorized to procure every necessary article of Camp Equipage without delay. And we who are here present authorize the Cor- poration to borrow $2,000 to be reimbursed by the Commonwealth, upon the production of proper vouchers.
"Resolved, That the citizens of Lancaster who are exempt from Military duty, or others who can- not leave home, will form themselves into associa- tions for the safety of the place and well-being of the families of those who have stepped out in defence of our beloved country, during their absence.
"Resolved, That a committee be appointed for each ward of the borough to collect such military apparatus as may assist the volunteers to march to Baltimore forthwith, such as rifles, powderhorns, knapsacks, blankets and other articles."
While much has been omitted, enough has been quoted to show the excited condition of the five thousand inhabitants in hourly fear that the British might be working their way up the Conestoga. As the minutes further show, these companies reached the outskirts of Baltimore to find, to their great delight, that the British warships had disappeared, after burning the capitol at Washington.
Mark what followed at a meeting of the burgesses in March, 1814: "To the Court and Grand Jury: The Burgesses beg leave to show that when our country was invaded by the enemy, the volunteers that marched to do battle, being in need of supplies;
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these were furnished by the Corporation, amounting to $480. As this amount could not be paid by the State or the United States Government, and the Corporation having but a small income, their funds being exhausted, they therefore solicit the aid of the county in reimbursing the Corporation for the expense incurred." Whether the corporation was ever reimbursed by either the State or the United States, no mention is made in the burgesses' pro- ceedings.
If more than ordinary space has been given to the foregoing episode, it is to show how history repeats itself.
At the time the capitol at Washington was burned there was no telegraph nor telephone to waft the news to the quiet town of Lancaster. Such news as came from even the Governor had to be carried on horseback.
Many living at the present day can recall what happened preceding the battle of Gettysburg, when reports reached Lancaster that Lee's army was approaching our city.
And now, with a few additional facts gathered from the "Corporation Book" Part Second will follow.
At the house of William Cooper were assembled "on the 13th of May, 1818, Samuel Carpenter, Chief Burgess, John Reitzel, Burgess, and by their side, Peter Reed, Henry Keffer, David R. Barton, George Buengard, William Kirkpatrick, assistants."
Following is what actually occurred-"Whereas, in and by an act of Assembly of the Commonwealth
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of Pennsylvania, entitled an act to incorporate the city of Lancaster, passed the twentieth of March, 1818, the Burgesses and their assistants agreeably to the provisions of said act, enjoining them to hold an election on the second Tuesday of May, being the twelfth of this instant for the choosing by ballot of fifteen persons qualified to serve as members of the House of Representatives, to be members of Common Councils, and nine persons qualified to serve as Senators of the Commonwealth, to be members of Select Councils-The Burgesses having given due notice to the citizens and inhabi- tants of Lancaster in the several newspapers printed in the town at the time and place of holding said election. And having duly attended to their duties, on the closing of the poles and counting the votes, the following gentlemen were elected members of Common and Select Councils of the city of Lan- caster, namely :
Common Councils
Adam Reigart
Ingham Wood
Jeremiah Moser
John Reynolds
Jacob Shearer Philip Heitshu
George Musser John Weaver
Jacob Duchman John Bomberger
Jacob Eicholtz
Joseph T. Smith
George Buengard
John Christ
Luke Brown
Select Councils
John Hubley
Samuel Humes
Robert Coleman
William Jenkins
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William Kirkpatrick John F. Steinman William Dickson
Samuel Slaymaker Jacob Lemmon
"Testified to by the Corporation by the returns filed in the proper office, dated May 13, 1818. "Signed-SAMUEL CARPENTER JOHN REITZEL Burgesses, acting as inspectors "PETER REED WM KIRKPATRICK GEORGE BUENGARD
Assistant Burgesses, acting as judges "Attest, GEORGE WEITZEL, Town Clerk."
Having performed their duties in accordance with the Act of Assembly, in the change of the borough into a city, this, the last meeting of burgesses, ended, in so far as their minutes show, without any display of feeling outwardly at least. What their inward thoughts were can only be imagined. For seventy-six years, from August 13, 1742, down to 1818, these duly constituted men of public affairs had met as occasion required at the home of one of their number. This place of meeting, as the "Cor- poration Book" shows, was usually at the house of one Jacob Frey. Indeed, so frequently has the name Jacob Frey been mentioned, running down through more than seven decades, as to lead the narrator to the opinion that the first Jacob Frey must have been followed by other sons, so on down through suc- ceeding years. This well-known family name is yet to be found in the city directory.
But as we glance over the list of distinguished
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burgesses and assistants, the surprise is how few of their descendants are living at the present day. It is only proper then that homage be paid their memory at the incoming of the Centennial, marking the closing of the past one hundred years, in laying out plans in starting the new century on its future career of unexampled prosperity. And as we glance back in imagination over the seventy-six years, it seems more like a dream than a reality.
However, with the passing of the burgesses, only the first part of the narrative has been written: what is to follow needs to be gathered from the councilmanic records. What these will have to show remains for the narrator to disclose, provided these musty minute books can be found and give up their contents, not so much for any gratification it may afford the writer, as for the lasting good afforded in setting before the inhabitants of "New Lancaster" the story of the people of "Old Lancaster." And so, with the names of the burgesses and their as- sistants, we enter upon Part Second of the narrative. But, in entering upon what is to follow, it will never do to become forgetful that with all we have, all we are and can ever hope to be as a city, too much praise cannot be given to the pioneers who, as far back as 1730, laid the foundation good and strong for the generations which have followed. Would that some of these burgomasters could have witnessed quite recently the grandest martial outpouring of pa- triotism "New Lancaster" has ever seen. It would have made their hearts throb with inward joy to have looked upon such a pageant as paraded the streets on
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this first of May evening of 1917. It only goes to show that the spirit of Revolutionary times is still dominant among all classes of Lancastrians who have the love of country at heart. The same spirit which pervaded the people of "Old Lancaster" in 1776, and later, 1812 and in 1861, has become even more intensified with one determination, to uphold the Stars and Stripes of the same old flag that waved over this city in years gone by.
Few know that in 1795 the flag had fifteen stripes and the same number of stars; and it was not until after Vermont and Kentucky had been admitted that this emblem was made to conform to its present size of thirteen stripes and now with forty-eight stars. Imagine a flag with forty-eight stripes! Why, there is not a patriotic boy large or strong enough to carry it in parade.
And as a fitting closing of the administration of the burgesses and their assistants, before entering on Part Second of the narrative, their names shall be given in order that the present generation may trace their ancestry back to those early, halcyon days when the making of "New Lancaster" began. To avoid duplicating, no names shall be repeated. The first are the names of the chief burgesses:
Thomas Cookson, John Dehuff, Adam Simon Kuhn, Samuel Boude, John Hobson, James Bick- ham, William Bausman, James Burd, Michael Hubley, James Ralffe, William Atlee, Henry Dehuff, Paul Zantzinger, William Parr, Jacob Reigart, Henry Dering, Edward Hand, Adam Reigart, John Miller, William Reichenbach, Frederick Steinman,
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John Light, John Eberman, John Messencop, Samuel Carpenter.
Following are the names of burgesses: Sebastian Graff, James Webb, Peter Warrall, Luddwig Stone, Isaac Whitlelock, Philip Lenhere, Bernard Hubley, Michael Hubley, William Henry, Christian Voght, William Hamilton, Caleb Cope, Casper Shaffner, Charles Hall, George Ross, Jacob Kaegy, Frederick Kuhn, James Jacks, Adam Wilhelm, John Hubley, John Roberts, John Bausman, Philip Diffenderfer, Henry Pinkerton, Leonard Eicholtz, John Hoff, John Reitzel. During the seventy-six years there were two hundred and forty-eight assistants. These from time to time must have comprised the leading citizens of the borough.
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TWHTR ENG. C.O. PIES
OLD JAIL, CORNER WEST KING AND PRINCE STREETS
MODERN JAIL AS IT STOOD ABOUT 1853
PART II
CHAPTER X
LANCASTER A CITY AFTER SEVENTY-SIX YEARS OF BURGESS RULE
FOR the borough to throw off the robe in which it had been wrapped for seventy-six years, eventually to become a full-fledged municipality under a more liberal charter, must have been the opening up of possibilities such as the goodly inhabitants of the townstead had never before witnessed. Then, for the nine select and fifteen common councilmen to be designated "senators and representatives" could not otherwise than add dignity to their proceedings. It is to be regretted that these "city fathers" were not long to be known as such in their corporate capacity. And as for the burgesses, the great majority were relegated to private life.
What may strike the twentieth-century reader as peculiar is that no chief magistrate was voted for at the time the councilmen were elected; the reason is not difficult to explain. As Governor Snyder had the appointing power under the new charter, he had reserved the right to appoint any reputable citizen whom the inhabitants desired, and this attorney-at-law turned out to be John Passmore of
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Quaker ancestry, but with no great leaning toward the Quakers as a society. How many were residents of the city at the time the change was made the records fail to mention, largely for the reason that the great majority of what were known as "Friends" had settled in Chester County a century or more before for reasons best known to themselves.
How the legally disposed John Passmore happened to locate so far from his Quaker friends, history fails to set forth with any degree of accuracy.
What is known is that, after serving one term by appointment, he was elected by councils in con- vention assembled for another year at the princely salary of two hundred dollars per annum! This at the time was considered ample, in view of the fact that the burgesses and their assistants had served their constituents during a period of seventy-six years for the honor alone.
During those early times there was more in the honor of the office than in the emoluments accruing therefrom. In fact, to walk the streets of the metropolis and be able to say, "I am the Honorable John Passmore, the first mayor of Lancaster," must have carried with it a sort of inexpressible dignity since unknown to other chief magistrates who valued the salary more than the honor. How- ever, Mayor Passmore must have been a jolly good fellow as most fat men usually are, with so much weight, physically speaking, to carry. Somewhat eccentric, he could crack a joke, as is illustrated by the following. Strolling into his office, young James Buchanan, later President of the United
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States, took a book from the case, and, before departing, allowed it to remain open on the desk. Following him to the door, the weighty John, in his humorous way, called, "Jim, come back and put that book where you found it!" And back he came and into the case went the volume. Pretty good advice, we have overheard more than one other attorney declare, on finding his office turned into a junk shop.
We have no means of knowing how he dressed. No doubt in keeping with other professional gentle- men of the times: "swallow tail," stand-up collar, cravat, a black silk neckerchief, rolled twice around the neck, forming of that day the first step away from the older "stock collar" custom.
Whether this our first mayor at all times wore a high silk hat or only on state occasions, is another puzzler for the chronicler. But of one thing there is little room for doubt, it being a custom for all gentlemen to wear black silk hats! Of course, being allied with the Quakers, he might have worn a head- gear in keeping with his Quaker ancestry.
Being an inveterate smoker, and having forgotten the ordinance the burgomasters had passed against smoking on the public streets, Mayor Passmore fined himself twenty shillings, no doubt as an ex- ample for other users of the weed. As tobacco chewing was more common than it is today, we have no means of knowing whether at the time this, the city's first mayor, fined himself for expectorating on the sidewalk. The probability is he had allowed the ordinance to become a dead letter, and a dead
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letter it has been down to the present day, except on the part of those who usually obey the laws, not so much from compulsion as from a desire to prove themselves good, law-abiding citizens! It has been said that a much later mayor fined his own father for not obeying the ordinance in neglecting to remove the snow from his own sidewalk. Why examples have not been made of other violators of city ordinances, with the possible exception of automobile speeders, is not for the chronicler to determine.
Tradition, at most times an uncertain quantity, says that John Passmore weighed on the town scales four hundred and eighty and a half pounds avoirdupois, and when he departed this life in 1827, at the age of fifty-five, at the northwest corner of Orange and Shippen, there was not a catafalque large or strong enough to convey his remains to their last resting place. Nor were they considered of so much importance as to keep the sexton up nightly to prevent the town's medical students from carrying them off for experimental purposes- maybe, on account of their weight.
But by way of curiosity, what has become of the "sun-dial" that used to hang suspended over the door of his famous residence? It had its use, but only during hours when the sun shone, especially in the winter time. As to the number of pall-bearers with crepe on the left arm, they were no doubt in proportion to the town's population. However, this being an old-time custom, no further reference to it shall be made concerning people's cherished
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rights of the present day to conduct funerals to suit themselves, with as many honorary pall-bearers as may suit their convenience.
In many respects his honor took things easy, as many of his successors have since done. But with all their easy-going ways not a single one of the other twenty-four mayors who have since held office, has followed John Passmore in rotundity! Why this has been, the narrator has not been able to discover from the records of the mayor's office. It is not that they have not been in the enjoy- ment of the many good things sent in by their numerous friends in expectation of a street to be repaired, or an invitation to attend an annual "blow-out" such as shall be shown to have been extended councilmen on a journey down through the canal to the Susquehanna on the packet the "Edward Coleman."
Leaving Mayor Passmore to practice his pro- fession at the close of his two years as chief magis- trate, in glancing back over the minutes of the burgesses, no mention is anywhere made that the townspeople had met at the court house square with brass band to celebrate the passing of the old dispensation, and the incoming of the newer order of municipal life. Nor is there anything to show that the burgesses and their assistants had unwill- ingly parted with responsibilities such as they must have known were sure to follow their suc- cessors in office, the nine select and fifteen common councilmen. What their minutes show and what they were proud of, was that they had left a clean
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balance sheet with no bad debts to be collected. This economy had been practiced religiously from 1742 down to 1818.
But no sooner had the borough become a city than politics as a science began to permeate all classes with political ambitions to gratify. Candi- dates there were for this or that office. Nor were they confined to one party, as the following circular and letter testify. Framed and in possession of Attorney Elmer Miller, both circular and missive show that the question of conscience did not enter into conditions as a disturbing factor. To win the golden prize was sufficient unto the evil thereof. We think we know how rejoiced some of the present- day politicians may feel that "graft" in a certain way had its beginning a century ago. As the parties are no longer here in the flesh, there is not any danger of the chronicler being prosecuted for libel. And now, give close attention to what is herein set forth:
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