Wilmington, Delaware - History (part 6 of 7)

That generous sentiment which prompts the benevolent mind to rejoice in the happiness of others, is gratified to know that our sister cities have the benefit of streams of fine water, flowing from the fountains of (he Croton, the Schuylkill, the Falls, and the. springs in their vicinity ; but the most narrow selfishness needs never to envy them these blessings, while we enjoy, in overflowing abundance, the pure and stainless waters of our Brandywine. To the untiring ardour and unremitting attention of our fellow citizen, William Townsend, Wilmington owes a debt

By an act of the State Legislature, passed in 1832, our town was constituted a city, by the name of " the City of Wilmington," with authority to hold courts, for the trial of criminal offences, enumerated in the charter; together with such other powers, as are necessary to the good government of a municipal corporation. If there be any dignity or utility in the title and constitution of a city, which did not appertain to the old system, they were conferred by this act. Our first Mayor was Richard H. Bayard, who, by his legal knowledge, and devotion to the concern, was eminently useful in organizing and putting in operation the city government, under the new charter.

The first continuous range of houses in "Wilmington, was built on Shipley near Tenth street, about the year 1S22, by our entcrprizing fellow citizen, James Canby. Since that time his example has been followed in many instances; and our city can now exhibit a considerable number of such rows, which, for size and elegance, would do no discredit to the fairest cities in our country. The extensive plain below the original town, on its eastern side, towards the Old Swedes' Church, is fast filling up with handsome brick houses. It is understood that about two hundred such buildings have been erected within our limits in the present year, [1845.]

Manufactories of iron and paper, worked by steam, have lately been erected. New shipyards have been established, - one for building iron ships of any magnitude, by our fellow citizen, Mahlon Belts, at which several beautiful vessels, of large size, have already been completed. Our markets are abundantly supplied with the best of beef, butter, poultry, vegetables, and other articles ; and for its size, variety, and the excellence of its provisions, is probably unrivalled by any city of the same dimensions in America. " The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail Road" passes through the town, giving facilities to travellers never anticipated in olden times.

A number of steamboats daily ply between this city and Philadelphia, employed in the transportation of passengers and merchandize. The successful enterprize of our citizens, in various ways, too numerous to be described within our limits, has given a cheerful aspect to Wilmington, as a place of business, and a well grounded hope for its permanent prosperity.

It was the intention of the writer to give a detailed account of circumstances connected with the two old churches at New Castle, belonging to the Episcopal and Presbyterian congregations. But their history is so imperfect, and difficult to obtain, that after spending some time and pains in the cause, he has not succeeded in procuring satisfactory information on the subject. The drawing of the Episcopal church, which is presented in this work, will give a very correct view of that interesting old edifice.

In the course of the author's inquiries preparatory to writing the history of the Original Settlements on the Delaware, a number of interesting facts and circumstances connected with the objects he had in view, came to his knowledge. To have introduced them in the order of their occurrence, would have loo much incumbered the narrative j to have omitted them altogether, would have been inconsistent with the object of the work. It has, therefore, been determined to give them in the closing chapter of the book, by way of addenda.

Chapter Vi Historical Addenda

The following memoir of William Shipley and Elizabeth his wife, is principally taken from a manuscript memorandum book, in the family of one of his descendants. To William Shipley, Wilmington was indebted for many of its improvements, and much of its prosperity, in its infant state. The dream of his wife is related as a cuiious occurrence, without the least desire to support or increase any confidence in the wild vagaries of the mind during sleep. It is given as a circumstance connected with the history of Wilmington, - as a well authenticated fact, which had, at a very early period, a powerful agency in promoting the settlement and increase of the town. Whatever may have been its origin, its consequences were highly important to the little village of Willingtown, and productive of more substantial fruits than usually result from the unbridled lamblings of the mind.

William Shipley was born in Leicestershire, England, in the year 1693. His wife was the daughter of Robert and Ann Tatnall, from whom are descended all the families of the Tatnalls, the Leas, the Canbys, theShiplcys, and Prices, in the neighborhood of the Brandy wine Mills ; and all the Richardsons and Latimers, near Mill Creek, on the New Port road. William Shipley and his wife, with their three children, Thomas, Ann, and Elizabeth, embarked at Bristol, in England, in the spring of 1725, on board a ship bound to Philadelphia, commanded by a Captain Dicks. The vessel was crowded with passengers, having upwards of

The ship arrived at Philadelphia in the month called July, after a passage of two months. During the voyage the small pox appeared on board, of which several of the passengers died. This circumstance so alarmed the inhabitants of that city, that they assembled in crowds, and ordered the ship to leave the place. She dropped down the river, and anchored off the Swedes' church, near which the passengers landed, and*were kindly received by a person named Barnes, who conducted them through a dense forest, (in which they saw plenty of wild game,) to a house near South street, called " the Blue House tavern." Alter the passengers had recovered from the small pox, and their quarantine had expired, they were permitted to enter the town ; and were taken to the " Boatswain and Call," a public house, near the draw-bridge in Front street. One of the passengers says that on the way from the Swedes' church to this tavern, they passed but three or four houses, the trees cleared away immediately round them, and without any inclosure. There was then but two wharves between the Draw-bridge clock and Market street, one the property of Anthony Morris, and the other belonging to the estate of the late William Allen.

* The following named persons will be recognized by the old citizens of Wilmington. Wm, Shipley, Edward Talnall, father of the late Joseph TatnaJ.1, Elizabeth Canby, who was the mother of the late William and Samuel Canby. and afterwards, by a second marriage, of the late Wm. Poole. Thomas Shipley who was the father of the late Joseph Shipley of Brandy wine jNlills, and of Sarah Newlin. wife of the late Cyrus Newlin. Jane Elwall, afterwards Jane Parson, who lived to a great age, and will be remembered for her eccentricities under the decline of her faculties.

In the same ship came Wm. Taylor. He settled at Darby, and'made the first Smith's bellows ever manufactured in Pennsylvania. Also George Warner, who lived to the age of ninety-nine years, and retained his mental faculties to his death, which took place in 1810. Also Thomas Tatnall, who settled between Darby and Chester, and from whom are descended the families of the Knowleses and Shallcrosses, of that neighborhood.

Very soon after his arrival, William Shipley purchased a tract of land in Ridley township, about ten or twelve miles south- West of Philadelphia, and there settled with his family. In the early part of the year 1727, he lost his wife, who died after a short illness. In about two years, he again entered the marriage state, with Elizabeth Levis, a daughter of Samuel Levis, of Springfield, in the county of Chester. She was a distinguished minister in the Society of Friends, and in many respects a very extraordinary woman.

It was soon after her marriage that she had the important dream to which we have alluded. She dreamed she was travelling on horseback, in a southerly direction, accompanied by a person in the character of a guide. The country through which she passed, appeared to be generally in its wild, original state, with few roads, and no bridges across the principal streams of water. After travelling a considerable distance from her home, she di earned they ascended a high hill, from the summit of which a landscape of surpassing beauty opened on the view. Sloping lawns, wide rich vallies, broad rivers, and winding streams, lay stretched out before them, interspersed with tall forests, clumps of trees, and here and there a settler's cabin. On the presentation of this delightsome prospect, Elizabeth Shipley inquired of her guide, what country this was. He replied, it is a new settlement, and from its natural advantages is likely to become very populous: and I am authorized to inform you, that it is the design of Divine Providence, that William Shipley and his family should remove from Ridley and settle here, to which, if you submit, you shall become instruments of great benefit to the place and people ; and the blessing of Heaven shall descend upon you and your labours.

When Elizabeth Shipley awoke, this dream remained vividly and deeply impressed on her memory. In the morning she related it to her husband, with all its extraordinary particulars. He smiled at the brightness of her imagination, and, perhaps, also at Ihe importance she seemed to attach to the visionary occur- rences of the narrative : at the same time remarking that he did not think it probable they should ever become inhabitants of her fairy-land !

Closely occupied with the cares of an increasing family, and the duties of her station, the scenes of Elizabeth Shipley's dream gradually faded away; and, during several successive years, she seldom or never thought on the subject. They were settled on a fine large tract of land, in a good neighborhood, surrounded by their friends and near relatives, and all within a convenient distance from Philadelphia, the rising metropolis of the colony. Indeed, they had as little apparent reason to pull up the stakes of their tent, and venture on a new establishment, as any settler in the country.

After the lapse of several years, Elizabeth Shipley believed it to be her duty to make a religious visit to the meetings of Friends residing on the peninsula between the Delaware and Chesapeake bays. The road, which was then the great thoroughfare between the eastern and southern colonies, crossed the Brandywine at a place called " the Old Ford." It is situate at the northern extremity of the city, as described in the act of incorporation, and just below the old Rockbourn factory. When the waters of the creek are low, the fording place may be plainly seen. It is distinguishable from other parts of the channel, by its smooth sandy bottom, and by the absence of rocks, which had been removed to make the stream passable, before the public were able to erect a bridge. From the Brandywine, the road passed up the hill by the public cemetry, and thence over the high lands wTest of the city. It is still open from the Kennett to the Lancaster turnpike, and continues to be known by its old name " the king's road."

Through the waters at that ford, and along this road, Elizabeth Shipley had to pass on her way to the peninsula. Quietly pursuing her journey and ascending the hill, she arrived at a spot in the road near the eastern end of the stone wall, which incloses the orchard late the property of John Way. Near this point Samuel Peterson, a Swedish settler, had erected for himself a humble cabin, and cleared away the forest, which bad covered the southern declivity of the bill. Here, suddenly raising her eyes, a widely extended prospect opened on her view ; it was the same bright and beautiful scene which had been so deeply impressed on her imagination in the aforesaid dream. On the south, there were the beautiful sloping lands descending into the Mill Creek, the rich green meadows of Deer Creek and Middleburg ; there was the meandering Christeen, with its rich bordering of reeds. On the eastern side of it Long-hook and Crane-hook, and the Old-ferry point, with the lower alluvial lands intervening; all covered with woods, or clothed with verdure. And beyond all these the great river Delaware, spreading abroad its waters, and glittering in the sun.

Although Elizabeth Shipley had, in met, never before seen this beautiful landscape, yet every part of it seemed as familiar to her eye, as the scenery round her own dwelling. She now reined in her gentle steed, and sat a considerable time contemplating the widely extended view, at the same time silently wondering at the exact similitude between her dream and the reality. Whilst thus engaged, her mind was renewedly impressed with the belief, that it would be consistent with the divine will that they should remove to the new settlement.

Elizabeth Shipley now proceeded on her journey, and after accomplishing the object of her visit, returned to her home in Ridley. When a suitable opportunity occurred, she related to her husband the circumstances of her travels, and particularly the singular coincidences she had discovered between the landscape of her dream, and a real scene in the vicinity of the Christina. From the little now known of William Shipley's character, it is very obvious that he was a thoughtful, prudent man, not very liable to be caught and carried away with visionary schemes ; but rather resembling the good man of old, who must needs try the lleece "wet and dry," before he would yield to the most plausible presentations. It is said that, on quietly listening to his wife's narrative, he gently put it by, saying, " it may do to think about another time." William Shipley was doing very well at Ridley, and he knew it was a maxim, founded on the general experience of mankind, that it is best to "let well-enough alone."

At a proper time his wife, renewed the subject. Her views and feelings in relation to it were more and more confirmed. She declared to him her full conviction, that it would be right for them to remove, and so confident was she in the promise of the divine blessing, that she told him she would be perfectly satisfied he should assign, or make over, all his estate in Ridley, to the children of his first wife, and that she would cheerfully trust to Providence and the success of the enterprise for the settlement of her own.

The full persuasion of Elizabeth Shipley, that they were called to settle at Wilmington, and her firm confidence in the rectitude of her views in relation to the event, at length induced her husband to visit the new settlement. With great confidence in the judgment and prudence of his wife, he nevertheless wished to examine the subject for himself. On viewing the place, he found it situate between two rivers of veiy different character. The one on the north, rocky and rough, having, within four miles of the settlement, a foil of one hundred and twenty feet ; the one on (he south having a deep channel, with a tide that rose and fell about seven feet. The sagacious mind of William Shipley soon perceived that nature had designed to favour this spot, in no ordinary degree ; that the river on the north was admirably adapted for mills and manufactories, while the other was as well suited to navigation and commerce. He was now as well satisfied with the evidence of his senses, as his wife had been from the internal evidence which had produced conviction on her own understanding. Before he returned, he purchased a lot at the easterly corner of Market and Second streets, and, before the close of the year, he bought more than twelve acres of land lying between Second and Fifth streets, extending flora Market street westwardly nearly to West street.

In the year 1743, Elizabeth Shipley, in company with Esther White, another distinguished minister of the Society of Friends, residing in Wilmington, visited, on a religious concern, their friends in North Carolina, from whence they sailed for England, and travelled over Great Britain and Ireland. They returned in 1745. She was at that time considered one of the greatest ministers of her own profession on the continent of America. She lived to see Wilmington grow to be the largest town in the state of Delaware, and departed this life in the fall of 1777, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, having retained the full possession of her mental faculties to the end of her days.

The last illness of this excellent woman occurred during the gloomiest period of the revolutionary war. The Americans had lately been defeated at Brandywine ; and Philadelphia had just been taken by the British army. Many, the most friendly to the American cause, were dismayed ; their hands were hanging down in despondency.

At this juncture she was confined to her bed. Some of her friends calling one evening to see her, were invited into her room. After sitting silently by her bed side, for a few minutes, she desired her nurse to raise her up, when being supported in a sitting posture, she addressed the company in relation to the existing state of public affairs. After alluding to the general distress of the country, the long wasting civil war in which they were involved, the difficulty of obtaining the necessaries of life, and the suffering and loss sustained by the people, from the ravages of the contending parties, she said, "But I have seen, in the light of the Lord, that the invader of our land shall be driven back; for the arm that is mighty to save and able to deliver from the hand of the oppressor, is stretched forth for the deliverance of this nation, which, I am firm in the faith, will secure its independence."

ed at a time when every outward indication pointed to a different result. It made a deep impression on the minds of those present, and became a subject of interesting conversation among her friends. The solemnity of the occasion, the character of the speaker, and the circumstances under which it was delivered, greatly increased the interest it was otherwise well calculated to excite. It was a voice from the borders of the grave, uttered by one who had long been considered an extraordinary person, and now just entering the portal of an. eternal state.

A circumstance of so much interest could not be concealed from the public. An American officer of the army, hearing some of the facts of the case, sent them (as is supposed,) to the editor of a Whig paper, then printed at Trenton, who published them under date of March 11th, 1778. At that period a Tory paper, called " the Pennsylvania Ledger," was printed in Philadelphia, under the patronage of Lord Howe, who, with the British army under him, wTas then lying in that city. The editor, James Humphreys, Junr., transferred the article into the Ledger, and published it in his paper of March 21, 1778, with a short sar-

" The publisher of the last week's Trenton paper, introduces a most comfortable prophecy of a good lady, who lately died at Wilmington. It is no new device among these deceivers of the people [the whigs] to call in the aids of popular superstition, in support of their ambitious projects. And though we think it rather a profanation to amuse the people with such idle tales, under the name of prophecy, we hope our readers will excuse our inserting this of the good madam Shipley, not doubting but it will have all the weight which it merits, with those for whose encouragement it was published in New Jersey."

"The public has been already informed of the death of Elizabeth Shipley, of Wilmington, but a circumstance relating thereto, is perhaps a secret except to a few. On her death -bed, as well as during her better state of health, she was much affected with the calamity that this country now labours under from the cruel oppression of the King and Parliament of England; but a ray of that liuciit by which the soul can look into future events, springing up in her, she was comforted ; and with godly confidence declared that this country should not be conquered by Great Britain. This she uttered with such solemnity that it commanded the particular nolice of alj who heard her, and is now made public for the encouragement of every well-wisher to the freedom and liberties of America. Every one who had an opportunity of knowing this great and good woman, whether they be whig or tory, will be inclined to give credit to her prophecy ; and for the sake of all such who knew her not, they are now informed that she was a woman eminently endowed with knowledge both natural and divine.''"*

Between fifty and sixty years ago, there was seen moving about the streets of Wilmington, a little old mulatto woman, of singular form and motions, every where known by the name of " Old Joan." Her person, originally under the common size, was excessively bent, partly from age, but more from original weakness, or malformation. She was aided in her walk by a staff or cane in each hand, going in fact upon all fours : but, notwithstanding her deformity, she got over the ground with more celerity than seemed compatible with her uncouth shape, and very advanced age. She always lived alone in some small cabin or shed, which the good natured owner allowed her to occupy rent-free ; and in the latter years of her life, when incapable of earning a livelihood, old Joan had numerous callingplaces, where she was sure of a welcome, and where all that was necessary to her comfortable subsistence was cheerfully given her. The last earthly mansion she is remembered to have occupied, was a long and narrow shed, which stood in Talnall street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, on the north-west side, at the end of a two story brick house lately in the tenure of Enoch Roberts.

*See " the Pennsylvania Ledger, or the Philadelphia Market-day Advertiser, Saturday, March 21st, 1-778, printed by James Humphreys. Junr., in Market street between Front and Second streets, and nearly opposite the guard-house," page 2d.

quite as much so in her disposition and habits. The passion of acquisitiveness, was a striking trait in her character. Without leading her beyond the bounds of strict honesty, it led her into great oddity. It manifested itself in an excessive desire to accumulate household furniture ! If any one would give Joan a ricketty old table, or broken-back chair, an old iron pot, with a hole in the bottom, or a pair of tongs, with only one leg, her joy and gratitude would be expressed in the liveliest manner, and with noisy thankfulness. The last time we were in her cabin it exhibited a curious spectacle. Her old and perfectly worthless furniture, was piled up on each side of the room, to the very ceiling or roof; a narrow passage only being left to pass into the back part of her shed, where there was barely space enough for her cot-bed and a chair. Her passion for useless household stuff was wonderful ; it was a species of avarice, for which our language Wants a name, though perhaps it was not more absurd than several other species of the same genus.

All her wealth in this world, besides her furniture, was her pig, and a better feeling than subsided between them, seldom cheers a family circle. Like its mistress, it was much indebted to the public bounty, which, however, it mostly received at second hand ; as Joan chose in the first place to select for herself, and afterwards to be the dispenser of the neighbours' charity. Her pig was well lodged in a covered apartment adjoining her cabin, the door of which was never fastened, as the creature Avas particularly averse to solitary confinement, and Joan had found out, what many have since discovered, that it is much cheaper to keep a pig on the public than at one's own expense. When in the street it always recognized her, and would often follow her home, especially if Joan was carrying the well-known swill-bucket. The greatest trouble it ever occasioned her was at its death ; when, it was ludicrous enough to see the effects of the struggle she had to endure, between her love of the pig, and her love of the pork. She would tell, with tears in her eyes, of its sagacity and attachment, and at the same moment call atten- tion to its plump condition, with a particular view to the quantity of lard it would yield! The thought of the lard and bacon seemed to give her great comfort and support during its last agonies.

Joan lived to an advanced age, and carried her maiden name to the grave. She died in the latter part of the year 1794, in the 85th year of her age. There is perhaps not a native of Wilmington, male or female, over sixty years of age, who does not remember old Joan Hug all. She was one of a large family of children, well known in Wilmington one hundred years ago. She had a twin-sister Rose, who died in 1708. The following story of their parentage is curious, and as the circumstances related are of undoubted authenticity, they may be relied on as nearly correct.

George Hugall their father, had been an officer in the British army, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and was evidently a weak, superstitious man. One night he dreamed that he was married to a black woman. The impression left upon his mind by this whimsical dream haunted him day and night, for he construed it as a proof, that by an irreversible sentence, such an union had been decreed in the counsels of fate ! Under this notion, Hugall determined to abandon his native country, and spend the remainder of his days in obscurity in some foreign land. Soon after coming to this conclusion, finding a vessel bound to Pennsylvania, then a new settlement, he agreed with the captain for his passage, and went on board the ship. After a tedious voyage, during which he often appeared in a low, desponding state of mind, they arrived in the Delaware. The vessel proceeded up the river as high as Cherry-island, when she was met by the ebb tide, and the wind dying away they were obliged to drop anchor. The passengers longing for fresh milk and fruit, the captain invited Hugall to accompany him ashore in the long boat, in order to procure them. The invitation was accepted, and the boat was steered toward a house standing on the fust point of high land above the present mouth of Christeen, formerly called Smith's place, then belonging to an old Swedish settler whose name was Didricsson 'or Dirickson. Passing along a low, marshy shore, Ilugall perceived a young negro woman engaged in cutting that kind of rushes which in olden time was used for making chair bottoms. This was the first black female he had ever seen. Immediately he recollected his dream, and nothing doubting the necessity of its fulfilment, he advanced toward her and made her an oiler of marriage. The earnestness of his manner convinced the woman that he was not jesting. She, having no scruples on the subject of amalgamation, promptly accepted the offer, and finding a clergyman in the neighborhood, they were soon joined in the silken bond of matrimony. They settled in Brandywinc hundred, where they resided until after Wilmington was laid out as a town, when George came here and purchased a lot, on the north-east side of Fourth street, a few doors below Walnut street, where he built a log house which is yet standing.*

Soon after Wilmington obtained a charter of incorporation, it was found necessary, in order to carry out its provisions for the good government of the town, to have a prison, as a place of temporary confinement for malefactors. The authorities accordingly provided a lot of land for the purpose ; the lease for which is dated June 14th, 1740. It was situated on the northwest side of Market street, a short distance above Third street, on a spot now occupied by a goldsmith and jeweller's shop. The house was one story high, built of brick, about twelve feet square. It was divided into two separate apartments, one for males and the other for females, and both without chimneys or windows, excepting, that in each of the doors there was an iron grating in an opening about a foot square, for the admission of light and air. The doors were fastened with padlocks over a clasp and staple. Prisoners for trial were confined here, until convenient to send them to the county jail at New Castle. It was also a receptacle for vagabonds and disorderly persons not residing in the town, where they were confined until expelled according to law, or by authority of the borough ordinances.

It was the practice, sixty years since, for the constables to take up vagrants and unruly disturbers of the peace, and to bring them, before the burgesses, who had authority to have them " drummed out of town." Many now living can remember the circumstances of this legal ceremony, which was attended with such palpable violations of decency and humanity that it now seems incredible that public feeling could have so long endured it.

When it became publicly known that a culprit had been sentenced to be " drummed out of town," the busy hum of preparation was soon heard among the boys, and rotten eggs, particularly, were in great demand. That boy who could show the largest stock, and throw them with the greatest precision, was quite an object of distinction, and was considered as one of the princes of the mob.

Some time before the ceremony was to commence, the ground in front of " the smoke-house" would be crowded with children and well-grown boys, all prepared for action, and all waiting in anxious expectation for the appearance of the officers appointed to carry the sentence into execution. At length the pains of suspense were relieved by the appearance of the constable and drummer, marching up to the door of the prison. The padlock was then removed, and the wretched object of punishment brought out of his cell to rer.cive the sentence of the law, and as much more as the boys were pleased to indict. lie was placed in the street a few paces in advance of the drummer ; the constable taking his station at the head of the procession, a short distance before the culprit. The parties being all in their places according to the order of march, the ceremony began by the constable giving out the word " forward." A roll on the drum then announced a preparation to perform the musical part of the service, and the march commenced. A scene was now exhibited that baffles all description. The boys, grown and half-grown, were arranged on each side of the poor vagrant. The first step he took was the signal of attack, and in one moment a shower of every kind of offensive matter was poured upon him; so that, before he arrived opposite (he upper market house, he was dripping from head to foot with the contents of rotten eggs, and all the filth of the streets and gutters; the wretched sufferer all the while, in the most imploring attitudes, begging for mercy, - and begging in vain! The rattle of the drum, the shouting of the mob, the cries of the victim, together with the disgusting scenery of such an occasion, cannot be realized by any but the actual spectator; and once seen, can never be forgot.

Such scenes have often been exhibited in thiscity, long within the recollections of many yet alive, some of whom can distinctly remember following" such a procession to the city limits, at Brandywine bridge, at which place, and nothing short of it, the noise of the drum ceased to grate upon the ear, and the abuse of the culprit to lacerate every tender feeling of the be-

This old prison was commonly known by the name of the " Smoke-house."* When and why first so called are now matters of conjecture. The building having no fire place or chimney, it is probable, that, in very cold weather, a chafing dish of coals was sometimes charitably allowed the prisoner ; who, to keep up the fire, would occasionally add a few chips, which would soon make it in reality a " smoke-house." It was the only place of confinement for criminals for almost sixty years. Its last public service as a prison, was in the year 1798, when it was taken down and cells in the new town hall providecj as a substitute.

quite insecure, as a place of confinement, especially when the prisoner was shut in against the popular will. Not long before its demolition, a sailor, for some unruly conduct, was put in ward. His brother tars, taking it as a great indignity that a comrade should be 'put into such a vile place as the smokehouse, came up from the ship armed with handspikes, knocked off the padlock, took Jack out, and bore him away to the wharf in triumph. A satirical pasquinade appeared in the next Gazette, ridiculing the prison, and the city authorities for retaining it. This, by turning the public attention more particularly to the subject, was a means of hastening its downfall, and the old smoke-house is now among the things that are gone for ever.

The circumstances of which we have been speaking, occurred within six or eight years after the Revolutionary war. Happily for the present and succeeding generations, the state of society, which sustained such an institution as the smoke-house, and tolerated such inflictions as have been described, has long since passed away. At that period the country was impoverished by along, and, to the public morals at least, a disastrous war. The state of education was low, and the means difficult; the schools in general were of a very wretched character. A taste for intellectual improvement did not generally exist. Rough, noisy sports, or low, sensual pleasures, were with many the chief sources of relief from the pains of idleness. Resides, the country was overrun with robbers, thieves, drunken beggars, and vagabonds of the worst description, both male and female. These had mostly been the hangers-on and followers of the army, who, by the return of peace, were thrown back on society, too lazy to work, but not ashamed to beg and steal, whenever an opportunity presented. In addition to this class of vagrants, the public were dreadfully annoyed by another set of marauders, whose atrocities of every description, kept the whole country in fear. These desperadoes were known by the name of " Wheel-barrow men." They were the discharged convicts from the Philadelphia prisons, where the punishment had been to work on the high roads and public streets at the ivhcel-barroiv, with an iron collar on the neck, and a heavy iron ball chained to one leg, which they had to drag after them as they moved at their labour. These wretches, when liberated, seemed to be reckless of consequences, and prepared for every kind of wickedness. Highway robbery, burglary, arson, theft and murder, were not uncommon occurrences at that day, and kept the public mind in constant agitation and alarm. These hardened wretches, prowled about the country in bands and single, and by their numbers and audacity spread terror over the whole body of society. Far remote, and secluded farm houses, and the most public situations, were alike the objects of violence and pillage.*

The situation of Wilmington has long been considered as favourable to health. It stands high. The ground on which it is built, gradually rises from the tide water to an elevation of one hundred and twenty feet. The lands on the West, North, and North-East, are higher than the highest part within the city limits. The river Brandywine, a fine falling stream of pure water, rolls two miles along its northern and eastern boundary. On its southern side Hows the meandering Christeen, on the borders of which the land is alluvial, and much lower than that on which the town stands. During the revolutionary war, the great body of meadow land opposite the city, called the "Holland's Creek Marshes," was inundated by the breaking of the banks, and in the derangement and confusion of the times it was long suffered to remain in that condition. Every flood tide covered it with water several feet in depth, and every ebb tide left it covered with a vast accumulation of vegetable matter ex-

* In the Delaware Gazette under the date "April 18, 1789," Jacob Broom, then a magistrate, advertises stolen goods taken from two '« Wheel-barrow men," named John Ferguson and Michael Snody, whom he had committed to prison. This is the last public notice we find of these outlaws in our newspapers.

In this state of the marshes, Wilmington, which had before been celebrated for the salubrity of its situation, became subject to autumnal fevers, at least that part which lay low, and in the immediate vicinity of the drowned land. A few years subsequent to the peace of 17S3, after complaint made to the Burgesses and Assistants against the owners of the marsh, the great breach in the bank was finally closed. .Since that time those fine meadows have been drained and cultivated, and the cause of the sickness being removed, the town has enjoyed its wonted health, and will bear a favourable comparison with the most salubrious climates. -

In the year 1791, when Wilmington was supposed to contain nearly three thousand inhabitants, our late valued citizen, William Poole, deceased, in conjunction with Isaac II. Starr,* made a list of all the persons they could find in the borough, who had arrived at sixty years of age ; intending to record their deaths as they occurred, in order to ascertain, as far as the experiment might serve that purpose, how far the situation was favourable to longevity.

We shall give this list to the reader as a curiosity as well as to enable him to judge how far it may go to prove the healthfulness of Wilmington, and the tendency of its locality to promote long life.

The first column of figures, denotes the age of the persons at the time the list was made ; the second shows the year of their decease, and the last one, their age at the close of life.

* Isaac II. Starr is yet living, and is now in his eighty-sixth year. He has lived to record the deaths of 133 of those on the list, and is yet an active man, enjoying the blessing of sound mental faculties.

Widow Campbell Note. - Some of the persons named in this list were cut off by the yellow fever in 1798 and 1802. which circumstance has diminished the average length of life of the whole number of persons whose names are here inserted.

Of the deaths of persons named in the first list, fourteen remain to be recorded. We have already the times of the decease and the ages of 133 individuals, who were alive in the year 1794, and then sixty years of age and upwards. 2 of these died at more than one hundred years old ; 16 of them died at ninety years of age, and less than one hundred; 52 of them died at more than eighty years of age and under

We find that the years which these 133 persons lived, when added together make the sum of ten thousand seven hundred and ninety-four years. So that the average term of their lives was eighty-one years, one month and ttnenty-seven days.

Another evidence of the healthfulness of Wilmington may he found in the fact that the true cholera infantum of large cities, which destroys so large a proportion of infantile life in them, is very little known in our city. One of our physicians, whose practice is perhaps the most extensive, was heard to say a few years since, that he had but one case of it during the whole season. The numher of children that swarm in our streets, has often been a subject of remark to strangers ; and the number of schools for the size of the city is remarkably large.

When the Swedes first arrived in this country, all that large tract of meadow land bordering on the Delaware, extending from the mouth of Christeen up the river about three miles to a point of fast land, and bounded westerly by the high ground of the old Robinson and Vandever larms, was at high tide several feet under water, excepting one small spot. That spot wTas a beautiful little island, containing a few acres of land, studded with lofty forest trees, and called by the Indians " Manathan." It was seen from the shore, looming up out of the wide waste of waters, green as the oasis in the desert, and presenting the only verdant object, short of New Jersey, for the eye to rest upon in the long range, from the highlands of Christeen, down to New Castle.

This island was probably one of the few places on the Delaware remaining in possession of the Dutch, after their very general removal to New- Amsterdam ; which took place subsequent to their first settlement near Gloucester point, under Cornelius May, and before the Swedes came to this country. Campanius, who arrived here in 1642, only four years after Governor Minuit, mentions the fact, that the spot was then inhabited by two Dutch families, with their workmen, who followed the business of ship carpenters, boat builders, and coopers. Here they built yachts, a kind of fast sailing trading vessels, with which they could run up the creeks and inlets along the shores of the river to trade with the natives: and likewise boats and galleys. They also made casks and tubs; articles of the first necessity, and of general use in the settlements. From this circumstance the place received the name of " Cooper's Island," by which it was known in Governor Printz's time.

This little spot was the original seat of the. mechanic arts on the Delaware. Here was the first " manufacturing establishment" in our part of the country. From its proximity to the main land the rattle of the cooper's tools, as he hooped the sounding barrel, and the sharp stroke of the caulker's hammer as he filled the seams between the planking of the yacht, must have been plainly heard at fort Christina, and often cheered the solitary planter along shore, with the pleasing consciousness of advancing civilization.

When the country became more extensively settled, the Dutchmen found it better policy to live among the planters, and they abandoned their isolated home, where every customer had been obliged to come to them in a bo;it, which the ice in winter, and storms at other seasons, must have rendered sometimes impracticable and always inconvenient. Being left again to the care of nature, unassisted by man, the cleared parts of the island were soon covered with the wild plum, or mountain cherry, which grew up spontaneously, and was the cause of its taking the name of " Cherry Island."

By the embankment of the meadows, the island lost its insular character, hut the name was retained to give a distinctive appellation to the land around it, which is still called " Cherry Island

In Wilmington " sixty years ago," there were no oysters or other articles of food brought to the door for sale, excepting things for. the use of children. Little boys and girls, the children of the poor, used to carry about molasses candy, stuck on a board to tempt a penny from the children of wealthier parents.

At that time there was old Michael Wolf, the first of that name in Wilmington, of portly mien, and blessed memory, who in one single day, gave more heartfelt pleasure, and made more bright smiling faces, than some people do in their whole lives.* How many, after a long course of years, and after buffeting the storms of time for half a century, can look back with unalloyed pleasure at his fine plump form, his great cake board on his head, piled up with hot ginger-bread, glossy light cakes, sweet rusk, and A P's. Who can forget his cheerful face, his winning aspect, and kind tones of voice, inviting the children to partake of his good things? Certain it is, that no man can be more sure of the returns of gratitude, or the affectionate remembrance of those who survive him, than he whose business or pleasure it is to make children happy.

" Sixtv years apr>," when a boat loaded with oysters arrived at the wharf, the owner of the cargo would employ a bell-man to go round the village, and, by public outcry, announce to the inhabitants the arrival of his treasure. The practice of the crier was to stop at the intersections of the streets, and after a deliberate pause, begin to ring his bell ; that operation faithfully performed, the term oysters was three times loudly and most draw- Hngly repeated, after which the public were informed that the article was to be found at such a wharf, and at such a price as he then announced. This brings to mind the figure of old Peter Steinmetz.

" Sixty years ago," there were semi-annual fairs held in Wilmington, and other parts of the State. They had been established, some of them, by Proprietary Chaiters, and some by Acts of Assembly, at a time when the country was thinly set-

* He died in the year 1S25, al the advanced age of SCJ years. He was bom in 1736, and of course he was nearly 50 years of ago sixty years ago. Al thattimehe resided in an old fashioned house, with a double pitched roof, standing on the spot now occupied by the Reliance lire engine house in Market near Seventh street.

and far asunder. These fairs were announced in the Almanacs of thai da}-, as regularly as the times of holding courts, or other stated meetings of importance. Cheat numbers of people flocked to them, from all the country round, as well as from the neighboring colonies. The town, on such occasions, was crowded to overflowing - some coming on business, others for dissipation. Merchants attended with goods of many descriptions, particularly of the lighter kinds, such as shoes, stockings, hats, dry goods, millinery, toys, and all kinds of fancy articles. On such occasions the market houses were used for displaying the multifarious medley. The brilliancy of the scene, was well calculated to charm the eyes of children, and to leave bright and deep impressions on the memory. The tiny drums and trumpets, and whistles, and other toys, bright and gaudy, which then covered the stalls, will not soon be forgotten.

The last of the fairs was held in Wilmington nearly " sixty years ago." The Legislature about that time passed an Act for their suppression. Among other reasons assigned for the abolition of the fairs were " the excessive use of strong liquors, quarrels, and the practice of' every species of vice and immorality, to the grief and annoyance of the virtuous part of the community.'"

On such occasions, scenes were publicly exhibited in our streets, which, if faithfully and graphically related, would hardly obtain full credit. Drunkenness prevailed to a degree that was shocking ; - many were seen reeling about the streets, and rolling in the gutters ; - the market houses, and other public places, resounded with profane and indecent language ; - gaming was openly carried on upon the stalls and benches ; - and almost every tavern resounded, night and day, with the sounds of the fiddle and the dance. But the act mentions " quarrels," as one reason for suppressing fairs. The following facts may illustrate the force of that reason.

At the westerly end of the lower market house, " sixty years ago," there was a two story brick building, standing on arches. It had a small cupola on the roof, which was surmounted by a vane. This was the old town-hall. The chamber in which the. town-council met was, of course, in the second story ; to which the members ascended by a stairs on the outside of the building. The space on the pavement under the hall was, at fair time, the favorite resort of bullies, and the lowest kind of vagabonds. Here they not only challenged each other to battle, but decided on the spot the question, Who is the greatest brute ? Two men of athletic form, and large dimensions, have here been seen to dare each other to the combat, merely for a trial of pugilistic skill. They have been seen to strip to the waist, in broad day light, and deliberately abuse and beat each other, until their bodies and the pavement under them were well covered with blood ; and until not a lineament of the human face was left so plain as to designate the man. And all this was done in the most public part of the town ; without any attempt to interfere, either by individuals or the public authorities! Perhaps it is only by comparing the present slate of society with one which has long passed away, that we can be sensible of the progress of improvement, or rightly appreciate the advantages we enjoy.

It is now nearly three thousand years since, the following sentence was written : - " Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." Ecclcs. vii. 10. Perhaps the folly o( the question lay in this circumstance, that it assumed as a fact what was not true. It shows, however, that human nature is the same in all ages, for all ages have produced a class ot persons who insist upon it, that " the former days were better than these.'*' To set the matter right, it. may be very well, now and then, to pry a little into the ways and doings of our predecessors, not to set them lower than they deserve, but to open our eyes to the magnitude of our own blessings.

"Sixty years ago," the Christiana above the city was upwards of three hundred and twenty feet wider than it is at present. This has been ascertained by actual measurement. The diminution in its width directly opposite to the city is, perhaps, not quite so much, but some can yet remember, when the bowsprits of large vessels, lying in the dock's below Market street, extended over Water street, - and when the " Liberty," a ship of 360 tons, was built on the land now occupied by the wheelwright's shop, at the westerly corner of Market and Water street. Many acres of ground, between Water street and the Christeen, now occupied as wharves, and as yards for wood, coal, and lumber, and where many stores and houses arc now standing, were under water at high flood tides " sixty years ago." These facts are rather alarming, and may well excite inquiry to ascertain the cause, and whether any means ought to be taken to apply a remedy. One circumstance, perhaps, has tended to tranquillize the public mind on the subject; the depth of the creek is found <o be nearly as great as it was forty-five years ago, - but supposing that to be true, it ought not therefore to be concluded, that no contraction of the width will ever diminish the depth.

" Sixty years ago" nearly all the land between Shipley and Orange streets, from Front street to the river, excepting the ground occupied by the old ship yard of John Harris, was a low, flat morass, covered with reeds ; through which the rivulet, which flows down the valley west of Orange street, wound a very serpentine course, and entered the Christeen nearly opposite Shipley street. That rivulet was then much larger than it is at present ; the tide flowed up it into Orange street above Front street, and there the boys used to find a very pleasant swimming place, nearly as high as where Moore & Hnman's plough manufactory now stands. It is not sixty years since there was, at the westerly corner of Orange and Second streets, a water wheel for sawing marble, turned by that stream ; and that was the first stone-cutter's establishment in Wilmington. The water power not being sufficient for the wants of the concern, the owner removed to the easterly side of the Brandywine, near the bridge, where be had one sufficient for all his purposes.

" Sixty years ago" little children used to go a Maying, on the meadows which then were included between Second and Third, and between Orange and West streets. Tatnall street had not then been opened through these lands. This was fine playground for the little ramblers. There we have seen them gathering the blossoms of the wild honey-suckle, of the red root, of the May apple, and the violet; and there they were wont to pluck the stems of the golden dent-de-lion, to make chains for the neck, and bracelets for the arms. There they "gathered kingcups in the yellow mead, and prinked their hair with daisies," by a beautiful brook which then made its murmuring way through a bed of flowers,

"Sixty years ago" there was no tan yard in that meadow, nor any of the noisome appendages of such an establishment ; no encroachment on its green area by rows of three story brick houses, or other buildings, for man or beast. But there the girls in summer, and the boys in winter, found ample playground, the latter with their skates having a fine long course on what every body then knew by the name of t( Sheward's race." The place of its location has since been called the " hop-yard."

Charles Springer,* or, as lie is sometimes called, Charles Christopher Springer, whose name so often occurs in the early records of the Old Church, was one of the most useful and distinguished Swedes in the settlement at Christina. He was a man of learning and piety, and by his steady devotion to the interests of his countrymen, promoted their welfare in a variety of ways, both civil and religious. After the government of the Colony had passed out of Swedish hands, and all their clergymen were either dead, or, through infirmity, unable to serve them, lie lent his aid to maintain public worship by acting as " lay-reader, who, besides the prayers and psalms, read homilies or sermons."! It was Charles Springer, who, on behalf of his.

signs his name Charles Springer, without the middle appellative, but is sometimes called by the three names when spoken of by others, f Clay's Annals, p. 38.

History Of

countrymen on the Delaware, wrote the beautiful letter to Thelin, the postmaster at Gottenburg, already inserted in these memoirs; and who was a principal instrument in procuring the appointment of Rudman, Biorck, and Auren, as missionaries to America in 1697, by which the interesting revival in their religious affairs was effected, both at Wica.eo and Christina. When Biorck, the tried and faithful friend of the Swedes in this neighborhood, undertook the arduous task of procuring them a new and substantial church, it. was Charles Springer who, with steady zeal and untiring patience, seconded all his efforts, ami stood close by him through every difficulty, to its final accomplishment. Most of the church records, from the arrival of the missionaries to the close of Biorck's service, in 1/14, are in his hand writing.

At what time Charles Springer came to America is uncertain. The first authentic record of him is found in Rudman's Memoirs, which shew that he was here in 1692, and at that time a conspicuous actor in the church and colony. It is probable he was here several years before that period, as tradition informs us that he came into the neighbourhood in early life.* At the last mentioned date he was about thirty-four years of age. He had several sons who survived him, and who left numerous representatives to transmit his name to succeeding generations. Many of his descendants arc yet living, and some who have passed away have been distinguished and valuable members of the community. lie died May 26, 1738, aged 80 years. His body was interred in the most conspicuous part of the old church-yard, close to the south wall of the church, near the easterly side of the door-way. In the year 1762, when it became necessary for the support of the house to erect the present portico, it was found that his remains occupied a part of the ground on which the wall was to stand ; and a consultation was held, to determine whether to remove his body, or to build

* He was born in the year 105s. If he were 20 years old at the time he was kidnapped, and served five years, as is affirmed in Clay's Annals, page 40, then lie earne to Christeen at 2b years of age in 1(»S3; which is probably nearly correct.

over it. It was finally concluded to be more respectful not to disturb his ashes, and the wall was built directly over a part of his remains. In the month following his decease, his son Charles was chosen a vestryman of the Swedes' Church at Christina ; the record says " in the room of his father ;" and his son Christopher was at the same time elected a church warden.

Joseph Springer, another of the first Charles' sons, lived to be ninety years old, as the monument to his memory, in the old church-yard, shows: - and Joseph's son Joseph died in the year 1832, in the ninety-third year of his age, at his farm about two miles west of Wilmington. In the autumn of the year before his decease we called at his house, on purpose to make him a visit; when we were informed that he was out in the field at work ! On arriving at the place, he was found cutting faggots and piling up the small refuse-wood to burn. After the usual salutations, he in the kindest manner invited us to take a seat with him on a broad fence rail, which he had arranged for the purpose. In the course of a very interesting conversation, on subjects connected with the early history of the Swedes, he related the following anecdote concerning his grandfather. " My grandfather, when a youth, was sent by his parents into England, for the purpose of finishing his education. One evening in London, as he was walking to his lodgings, a party of ruffians seized and gagged him. They then hurried him into a carriage, and driving it down to the river, put him on board of a ship, bound to Virginia, and confined him in the hold. When the vessel arrived at her port of destination, Springer was sold to a planter for a term of years. During the time of his bondage, he learned, that in a country lying far to the Northeast, there was a settlement of his countrymen, which he determined immediately to visit, as soon as his term of service should expire. When that time arrived he set out on foot to seek them, and after many difficulties in crossing a new country, much of it in its wild state, inhabited only by Indians, he to his great joy

The old man related this anecdote with much interest and animation. His mental faculties appeared to he wholly unimpaired. IJ is person was vigorous though slender, his eye clear and bright, his countenance florid, his motions quick, and his whole manner lively. Before parting with him for the last time, for so it proved to be, he said, in a very pleasant manner: " I will tell you one thing more before wc part, - I am now in the ninety-third year of my age, and can say, what perhaps can truly be said by few others, - I never struck a man in anger, nor was ever struck by one, - T never sued any one at law, and was never sued by any one, - I never took snuff - chewed tobacco, or smoked it, and I never was intoxicated in my life." So lived, and so died the venerable, the excellent old Joseph Springer. Having nearly travelled the round of a century, he " came to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season." Job v. £0.

A white marble slab lies over his remains in the old churchyard. They repose nearly midway between the graves of his father and grandfather. He was born on the 17th of October, old style, 1739, and died the 12th of March, 1S32.

A certain William Dean, who, at the time Wilmington was laid out, lived on the southerly side of Christecn, about three miles above the town, after the decease of his first wife, married a Dutch girl, who had lived in his family. On his decease, she found herself the owner of the plantation on which she resided, it having been devised to her by her husband's will. Her situation in the country not suiting her widowed state, she removed to Wilmington and settled in a house yet standing, on the south side of Fifth street, below Shipley street, adjoining the property of the late Dr. Jaques. She was one of those women, invaluable to society, especially in the early stages of it, who have, what is sometimes called, " a turn for doctoring;" and who seem to take great pleasure in assisting their neighbors in cases of sickness ; one, who from experience, lias learned the virtues of herbs and roots, which grow spontaneously ; .and which often possess valuable healing properties. Such was " Caty Dean." But Catharine's skill was not confined to herbs and roots. In her attendance on the sick, she had learned the properties of calomel and tartar emetic, and other articles mentioned in the Materia Medica. Availing herself of this valuable knowledge, she opened a shop for the sale of " Drugs and % Medicines, Chemical and Galenical ;" so that both kinds of professors, the "vegetable doctors," and the " mineral doctors," could be accommodated at the " Potecary Shop " of the kind and skilful Catharine Dean.

This was the first shop expressly established for the sale of Drugs and Medicines in Wilmington. ller whole stock of merchandize was kept in a front closet, in the north comer of the house, fronting Fifth street. It is but about four or five feet square, and has a small window in it, to admit the necessary light. This house and the closet yet remain, almost in their primitive state. Catharine was a very respectable woman. After her settlement in town, she lived many years, the friend and " doctress of the neighboring poor," to whom, and to the public, her death was a loss much felt, and sincerely lamented.*

The state of schools in Wilmington, " sixty years ago," has before been alluded to. It is well known to many yet living that, in country places, it was then common to employ, as schoolmaster, any tolerably decent looking traveller who would apply for the office. The first and most important inquiry was, at how low a price would he teach a child for three calendar months. If that question was satisfactorily settled, and it was found that he could " read, write and cypher," the bargain was concluded. It most frequently happened that the applicant was a foreigner, who spoke English (if it can be said that he spoke it at all) with a broad, uncouth accent, or vile brogue; announcing that he had just come ashore from some passenger ship : and it very often turned out, that he was an habitual drunkard, who spent a. goodly portion of his time during'school hours in sleep. To such teachers was it. then common to expose the morals of children !

In Wilmington, however, even " sixty years ago," things were not quite so bad. The teachers were frequently good moral characters, though often very deficient in other respects. The course of instruction very rarely extended beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. About the year 17S7, the committee having the charge of the school " on the hill," procured a teacher from Philadelphia, who was at that time accounted an extraordinary scholar, as he could teach Latin and Greek. He introduced, as an additional branch of instruction, English grammar ; but for want of suitable books for the purpose, his effort was almost an entire failure. No other branches were attempted. Geography was no more thought of as a branch of school education than Astrology.

As late as the time we are now alluding to, the old barbarous custom of " barring out " had not become entirely obsolete. The last attempt of the kind was so disastrous that it never was repeated in that house. It took place during the incumbency of the late John Webster, a man of considerable notoriety afterwards in Wilmington. On the evening before Christmas, the boys had got possession of the school-house, and employed themselves in carrying a quantity of wood from the cellar, and piling it against the doors inside of the room. They then secured all the windows but one, which was kept open as a kind of drawbridge to go into the castle.

Next morning early, such of the boys as had courage to stand a siege, entered the fortress, and fastening the place of entry, awaited with anxiety the arrival of the master. At length he made his appearance, and after unlocking the door as usual, he found it would not turn upon its hinges. On searching after the cause, he discovered that the house was in possession of his scholars, who had barred every entrance, and now refused hiui admission, unless, on, his honor, he would promise them a vacation for the day. To this humbling condition he refused to suhmit ; and now came on the tug of war.

After some fruitless attempts to open a breach in the ramparts, and while the master was looking for more effectual means to gain the fort, some elderly Friends were discovered coming up the hill, with deliberate step, on their way to meeting : for this memorable siege happened on their day for public worship. No sooner had they understood the case, than they promptly joined the assailing force. One of them procured a crow-bar, and, with a crash that made every defender of the place to tremble, bursted open a window, fronting on West street. Many of the besieged, and especially the weaker members of the garrison, now saw that all chance of escape was lost. But some of the larger boys, who foresaw that they would have to bear the heaviest part of the consequences, made an effort to get away ; and opening a window on the back part of the house, began to jump out : but one of the assailants not feeling easy that the guiltiest should so avoid the salutary inflictions which awaited them, had seasonably stationed himself at the "place of sortie, and with his cane so effectually administered the law of Moses, Which forbids that the guilty should go free, that the greater part surrendered at discretion. A regular court for the trial of the offenders was now held, in the presence of the grave captors, who sat as judges in the case, the schoolmaster being the executive officer ; and such was the efficacy of their administration, that the stoutest heart ever afterwards quailed at the bare suggestion of a " barring out."

Griffith Minshall was perhaps the last survivor of all those whose names appear on the petition for a charter, presented to Governor Penn, by the inhabitants of Willingtown, in the year 1736. lie was one of the very useful men, who were induced at that time to settle here by the example and influence of Win.

Shipley. By trade he was a bricklayer; a roost substantial joiner, of bricks and mortar, as all have good reason to know, who have had to take down any walls of his erection. In the year 1736, he built for William Shipley that large house which is yet standing at the westerly corner of Shipley and Fourth streets, and in 1737, for David Ferris, that at the northerly corner of the same streets - and indeed almost all the older brick houses of that period in the city were built by him. It is believed he outlived every man whose name appears on any document of that year; standing to the last a creditable sample of the active business men of his day. In appearance he was rather austere, his aspect roughish ; but these belonged altogether to the "outward man." They were nothing more than the maimers which had descended from our old English ancestors ; and which had not then yielded to a better taste. In height he was about the middle size, in person straight, in dress- and appearance neat and gentlemanly. lie possessed a most kind heart, great benevolence and undeviating rectitude. The irrepressible smile of good nature, which oflen lighted up his countenance, contrasted very ludicrously with his harsh tone, when speaking to children and servants. He passed many years, in the after part of life, in retirement from business, - with cheerful serenity of mind, and in the enjoyment of " health, peace and competence;" the consequences of a useful, temperate, exemplary life. lie lived to a great age, leaving to survivors a bright example of all the moral virtues. By his last will he devised to trustees some valuable real estate, for the schooling of poor children. He departed this life in the year 1801, aged 91 years. " The memory of the just is blessed." Prov. x. 7.

Until the British took possession of Wilmington, after the battle of Brandywinc, the high ground on the east side of the town, above Eighth street, and between Market street and French street, was covered by a line forest of the native trees of the country. This woods was then cut down by the soldiers for the use of the army, excepting a few old oaks, which remained on the ground, east of King street and above Eighth street, where they stood for a period of eight or ten years after the war. In "the Columbian Magazine," published in Philadelphia, about the year 1787, there is an engraved view, taken from the Old Academy, looking towards the Delaware, in which those trees are represented. The scene of public rejoicing for the peace of 1783 was among these old trees, on the ground just described. It used to be called " the Academy hill." Here cannon were fired, sky rockets sent up, and splendid fireworks exhibited in celebration of that happy event. And here, for several years afterwards, the anniversary of American Independence was announced by the discharge of artillery, and other noisy modes of expressing the public joy.

The ground in that neighborhood has been much lowered within forty or fifty years, and the whole aspect of things greatly altered. Under that hill there was a fine body of building sand, and the surface being too high for the legal elevation of the street, there was a double inducement to take it down, which operated effectually. A row of three story brick houses now occupy the very spot where the cannon were planted which shook the town on the ratification of the treaty, acknowledging our country to be a free and independent nation.

The stream on the southwest side of the city, formerly called " Clement's Creek,*' crosses the road leading to Baltimore, about one hundred yards west of Front street, at the first stone bridge on that road. The late Jonas Canby, who died in the year 1822, at the age of eighty-seven years, has often been heard to say that he could remember when shallops used to come up that creek as high as the aforesaid bridge, to take in wood for the Philadelphia market. By banking out the tide water, and by the reduction of the springs, since the country round it has been cleared of its forests, it is so much reduced that a battcau could not now pass up it, to the old landing-place. The name of " Clement's Kill " is of very ancient date. It is found in the article of agreement between old Johan Anderson and his assignees, Samuel Peterson and Lars Cornelison, dated April 16th, 1075. After it was assigned to John Stalcop, on the division of his father's property, in 16S6, it gradually assumed the name of " Stalcop's Gut." The stream passingdown the Valley, east of Walnut street, which before that time was oalled " Stalcop's Run," afterwards took the name of " Mulberry Dock." The names of Stalcop's Run and Stalcop's Gut being so nearly alike, a change became necessary to prevent misunderstanding. But many of the old people never called the stream below Walnut street Mulberry Dock, but always distinguished it by its old name of Stalcop's Run.

Many of the natural curiosities of our country, as described by Campanius to his countrymen, will appear as wonderful to the reader of the present day, as they did to the astonished Swedes one hundred and forty years ago. Of the well known fire-fly, he says, " There is also a kind of fly, which the Indians call Cucuyo, which in the night gives so strong a light that it is sufficient, when a man is travelling, to show him the way : one may also write and read the smallest print by the light which they give. When the Indians go in the night a hunting, they fasten those insects to their hands and feet, by which they can see their way as well as in the day time. One night those flies frightened all the soldiers that were on guard at Fort Christina, in New Sweden : they thought they were enemies advancing toward them with lighted matches."

Campanius tells his readers that " there is here also a large and horrible serpent, which is called a rattlesnake. It has a head like that of a dog, and can bite off a man's leg as clear as if it had been hewn down with an axe. There are horny joints in their tails, which make a noise like children's rallies 5 and, when they see a man, they wind themselves in a circle and shake their heads, which can be heard at the distance of a hundred yards, so that one may put himself on his guard. These snakes are three yards long, and thick as the thickest

" At Spider's point [Bombay Hook] when the South wind blows, a great many Sea Spiders are driven on shore, which are not able to return into the water They are as large as tortoises, and like them have houses over them of a kind of yellow horn. They have many feet, and their tails are half an ell long, and made like a three edged saw, with which the hardest tree may be sawed down. When they arc well boiled and dressed, they taste like good lobsters."

" From Aquikonasra to Sineessingh, the land is high and not well suited for cultivation. In this place grows the Fishtree, which resembles box wood, and smells like raw fish. It cannot be split ; but if a fire be lighted around it with some other kind of wood, it melts away. At Sineessingh the Renappi Indians catch tortoises, sturgeons, and other kinds offish."

Between Quinkoringh and Jlancoqucs Creeks [Rancocas below Burlington] the land is hilly, but not such hills as in Sweden ; they are clay and sand hills. Some of them are naturally disposed to the production of metals ; for instance, there is a hill at Mekansio Sippus [Crosswick's Creek] in which there is good silver ore, and along the Creek the strand is covered all over with flint stones, some of which arc of a round shape ; and when broken, there arc found in them grains of pure silver, some larger and some smaller. Mr. Linclstrom says that he himself has broken more than a hundred of them, and teken out the silver that was therein."

" From Trakonick, [in the neighbourhood of Bordcntown,] and further up on the east side of the river, the soil is fine, and bears black ma izc, of the colour of tar ; - the Indians have planted it there for many years. The land within is very rich in animal productions. There are beavers, otters, elks, bears,

" About the falls of tffssinpinlc, [Trenton,] and further up the river, the land is rich. It docs not produce much Indian corn, hut a great quantity of grape vines, white, red, brown, and blue ; the inhabitants want only to know how to press the grape in order to have a rich wine country. As to the interior, nothing is known about it, except that it is believed to be a Continent."

"Poaetquessings Creek, [Poqucsing, on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, in Philadelphia county,] is by nature provided with every thing that man can desire. The land is high on both sides. The first fall cannot he above musket shot from this Creek. There are mill seats, to which one may approach so near with a vessel, as to be able to hoist up every thing with ropes. Opposite Poaetqucssing there is a kind of fish with great long teeth, which the Indians call Manitto, which means spirit or devil ; it plunges very deep into the water, and spouts it up like a whale. The fish is not to be seen elsewhere in the river."

" Between Murderer's Creek, [Mother-kill,] and Wolf Creek, [Dover Creek, in Kent county, Delaware state,] there grow plenty of mulberry, Cyprus, and cedar trees, two or three fathoms thick. In Wolf creek there is a black clay, which, when it Is prepared serves for ink, and may be used for painting. There is also a blue earth, which when it is well tempered may serve for blue paint."

* This is an error. Lindstrom came to America with Governor Rising, only one year before the destruction of the town by the Dutch. It was built fifteen years before the arrival of Rising. Lindstrom drew a plot of the town, a copy of which is given in this book.

and settled, but was since ruined by the Dutch. This creek is a deep navigable stream, and runs far into the country. On both sides of it the land is excellent, both to sow and plant, and there grow upon it all sorts of rare fruit trees. No words can be found to describe the fertility of this land ; indeed it may well be called a land flowing with milk and honey. At Christina Creek grape vines grow in great abundance. The Swedes once found here a grape vine two ells thick, which thickness has not been found in a grape vine any where else."

" On the shore of Tennaeongs* there is found gamboge, which is as good as yellow ochre ; but it is not used in the country except to colour deer-skins. In these parts there grow walnuts, chesnuts, and an immense quantity of sweet smelling sassafras trees. To the south of Termakongs island there is a lake which is always full of birds and fowls. At Swapecksisko or White Clay Creek,! there is a fine white clay, and when it is dry and well prepared, is as good as white lead.""

" At Iluiska Kimensi creek, [Red Clay creek,] and at Nuttree island, [Bread and Cheese island,] there is a red earth, which when dried, pounded and well prepared, is used instead of Cinnabar.'''' X

* This refers to the land opposite fort Christina, and about the old ferry house, formerly Jaquel's farm. It is so called on the map or plan of Fort Christina, asdrawn by Lindstrom, to show the manner in which that fort was besieged by Stuyvcsant. See the drawing. t Called on Lindstrom's map oflhe Delaware, "Hwitler's Kilen."

nut, chesnut, peach, and mulberry trees, and several sorts of plumb trees, and grapevines. Hemp and hops grow in abundance. On this river there grows a plant, the fruit of which is round, and is called Callabash. It is a vine that runs along the ground. The fruit is shaped like a pear. Some are as large as a great pompion, and others are small as a little snuff-box. The skin is yellow, smooth, and thin as glass; it is hard and tough as horn. If they chance to fall on the ground they will not split to pieces. Within they are full of seeds, like pompions. When these seeds are taken out, the fruit serves as a vessel for several uses. If sawed in two they will make bottles, cups, and dishes, and for rarity's sake they may be rimmed with silver. Some of them are so large that they will hold a gallon or more."

Such are the descriptions of our country and its productions as related by Campanius. With a credulous disposition, he might in some instances have been deceived, while fondly listening to the tales of wonder told him by his countrymen. But Campanius lived here six years, and must have had opportunities to detect the error of many of these stories. His willingness to relate them as historical facts, goes to show that the love of the marvellous was a predominant feature in his character, and that the temptation to tell " travellers' tales" was not always duly resisted.

The following table of exports by the Dutch from New Netherlands, is taken from De Laet's history of the West India Company. It will give some idea of the value of their establishments at Manhattan, and other places within their territories, previous to the colonization of the Swedes on our shores. As the Dutch had an establishment at fort Nassau during most of the time embraced in this table, it includes of course, all the furs obtained from their station on the Delaware and its tributaries.

The only buildings now standing in Wilmington, which ate marked on the plan of the town made in 1736, a copy of which is given in this work, we shall now mention. We shall notice them in the supposed order of their erection, for there is no written evidence of that order, so far as is known. Circumstances alone give any clue to determine the question. One remark, however, may throw some light on the subject. Those houses which have roofs with a double pitch from the centre of the building, commonly called heap-roofs or hip roofs, have perhaps been all built by the English settlers. The inhabitants of Northern Europe, subject to deep snows pressing with great weight on surfaces not sufficiently inclined to throw off the incumbrance, almost always build their houses with very steep

It is probable the first house built in Wilmington was put up for his own use, by Thomas Willing, on the occasion of his marriage with the daughter of Andrew Justison. This marriage was consummated in 16:28, the year after the land on which it is erected was purchased by her father. It stands at the north corner of King and Water streets. The building is a wcoden one, and has a hip-roof. Thomas Willing was an Englishman.

A brick house at the south coiner of Market and Second streets. It has a double pitch-roof, and does not stand parallel with the line of the street. It was built before the plan of the town had been accurately laid down.

A frame house on the north east side of Front, a short distance west of Tatnall street. It has a single-pitch roof, indicating that it was built by a Swede.

A small one story brick house, now a kitchen, on land laic of Deborah Bringhurst, back of Shipley street, on the west side, below Fourth street. This building was standing in 1735, and it is probable that it was built that year by William Shipley, after his purchase of the land from Andrew Justison and Thomas Willing. It has a hip-roof.

These are all the houses now standing in Wilmington which existed at the time when the petition for a charier was sent to Governor Penn in 1736. Several houses which were laid down on that plan have been removed within a few years. One of which, a frame building, stood on the south-east side of Walnut street,' a short distance below the. Methodist meeting house, between Second and Third streets. It had a hip-roof, and the sides and ends were shingled. One stood at the west corner of Orange and Fourth streets. It was a one story brick building, with a hip-roof, and had- at the south-west end of it a wooden building, same height as the house, probably built for a kitchen. Both of these are laid down on the plan. One large wooden house marked on the plan, stood in Spring alley between French and Walnut streets, on the south side. It belonged to the Swedes' church, and was the residence of their minister, before they had built for his use that fine old brick house on Walnut street, at the west corner of Spring alley, which is yet standing.

Frederick Craig told the writer that he could distinctly remember being sent to this old wooden house in 1765, to request the parson to come to his father's, to administer baptism to a younger brother, Peter Craig, who was very ill, and supposed to be dying. F. Craig was then ten years old.

A few very old brick houses are yet standing, whose ages are known. One built by Griffith Minshall, in Shipley below Third street, north-west side, built in 1741. One at the east corner of Walnut and Fourth street. It was built by Joseph llewes, already mentioned, page 220. In the gable wall are the letters I. A. H., the initials of the names of himself and his wife, Joseph and Ann llewes. Thedatel73S is added, all distinguished by black glazed bricks. One at the north comer of King and Front streets lias the date, 1739, on the gable, marked by black glazed bricks, now covered by paint. One at the north corner of Shipley and Fourth streets, built, by David Ferris in the year 1737. And the old brew house at the north corner of Fourth and Tatnall streets, in 1750.

The first house for divine worship, built in Wilmington after its settlement as a town, was erected by the Society of Friends, in the year 173S. It was built within three years after the first member of that religious persuasion settled in the village. Before it was erected they held their meetings in the private dwelling of Wra. Shipley, then standing at the west corner of Orange and Shipley streets, a small one story brick building before described ; and afterwards about one year in Shipley's new house, at the corner of Fourth aud Shipley street, where their meetings were, held until their meeting house was ready for use. That house is yet standing, with the date of its erection marked by black glazed bricks in the gable wall. It is situate on West street between Third and Fourth streets, being occupied as a school house. To this useful purpose it has been devoted since the year 174S, and thousands of children have there received the first rudiments of an English education. It is built of brick, 24 feet square, and one story high. It originally had a broad penthouse, or projecting roof, at the south- w est end, extending across the whole of that front. A sun dial was placed over the small window under the peak of the roof in the gable wall, where it kept its place more than sixty years, notwithstanding the gnomon was frequently a mark for the scholars who felt disposed to show their skill in throwing stones.

In ten years after the erection of this house, the society had become too large to be accommodated in it, and they built another on the lot immediately opposite. It was IS feet square, two stories high, with galleries extending over one half the ground floor. Over each of the doors was a double-pitch roof, and an elliptical arch over each of the windows in the first story. The form of the building was very singular. The four sides beinoequal, Ihe roof was a truncated pyramid, the angle of ascent on each side being about the same as the great pyramid at Memphis. On the top of the pyramid, occupying the truncated part, was another small building about six feet square, its roof also pyramidal, with a chimney rising out at the apex, and a windowin each of its sides to light the garret. But the drawing facing page 192 will convey a better idea of the whole than can be given by any verbal description.

In the year 1827, the society having divided, those who left the old meeting house, built for themselves a new one, at the easterly corner of Tatnall and Ninth sireets. It is a neat frame building, in an airy, and very pleasant situation, much retired from the noisy part of the town.

The second place for divine worship built in Wilmington, is the Presbyterian meciing-house on Market street, near Tenth street.* The ground on which it stands was purchased of Timothy Stidham, and is part of the old Tymen Stidham tract mentioned in the patent granted by Sir Francis Lovelace, in 1671. It was bought in the year 1737, as appears by a plot of the land now in the writer's possession, and is described as follows:

" A draught of a piece of ground bought of Timothy Stidham for a burying ground and meeting house, by the trustees of the congregation belonging to the Presbyterian church, and situate in Christiana Hundred in the county of Newcastle upon Delaware, and beginning at a stake standing in the east side of Market street in Willingtown, in Christiana road, thence south 48£ E'-v- 13.9 p. to another stake in the said road side, and in the west side of King street, thence up said street N. 32 Elv- 12.48 p. to another stake in the west side of King street, thence N. 5S W'-v- 13.76 p. to another stake in the east side of Market street, thence S. 32 W'-v- 10.70 p. to the place of beginning; containing one acre of land, as surveyed this first of December, Anno Domini 1737." Per G. E. Folwell.

The meeting house was not built until 1740, as appears by the dale marked by black glazed bricks in the north-cast wall. The road mentioned in the aforesaid description is now closed. It extended from the Rennet road near the corner of Tatnall street down to the old Christina Fort, and is marked on the plot, " Road to the Rock's." .Since it was vacated, the congregation have added to (heir burying ground a part, of that road, and the whole is now inclosed with a stone wall.

The Presbyterian church have two oilier large meeting houses in the city ; one' standing at the north corner of Sixth and King streets, and one on the southerly part of the afojesaid lot. They are both elegant structures.

The Baptist society have two meeting houses in this city. One, a handsome plain brick building, on a beautiful elevated piece of ground, in King street, near Tenth street ; and one in Walnut street, at the west corner of Fifth street, which is a large stone building. This house was bought in 1835, of the Second Presbyterian church. The congregation was formed in that year of thirteen members of the first Baptist church. They have now upwards of three hundred members, under the pastoral charge of Morgan J. Rhees.

The first meeting house used by the Methodist society in Wilmington, stands at the southerly corner of King and Third streets, and was first used as a place of worship about the year 1790. Since that time the society have become very numerous, and have two large churches in this city. The first one built by them, for the purpose of worship, was a small brick structure in Walnut near Third street. By repeated additions it has now become one of the largest meeting houses in the city. In the year 1844 they built an elegant house on the north-west side of Market street, between Seventh and Eighth streets, ornamented by a row of massive columns in front.

In the present year a congregation of Protestant Methodists have erected a neat plain meeting house at the north corner of Orange and Third streets.

meeting houses in Wilmington. One a substantial stone building at the south corner of French and Ninth streets, and one a commodious brick building in French street between Eighth and Ninth streets. They have one, a frame house, in Second Street between West and Tatnall streets.

In the year 1816, the Roman Catholic congregation built the first church that was erected for their accommodation in Wilmington. It is situate at the southerly corner of West and Sixth streets. Since that time they have greatly enlarged it by adding a building at the southerly end of it, and at right angles with it. 13 y this addition the building has assumed the form of a cross, the older part being the nave, and the newer the transept. It now covers more ground than any other place of worship in Wilmington.