Nomination of Historic Building, Structure, Site, Or Object Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Philadelphia Historical Commission

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NOMINATION OF HISTORIC BUILDING, STRUCTURE, SITE, OR OBJECT PHILADELPHIA REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PHILADELPHIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION SUBMIT ALL ATTACHED MATERIALS ON PAPER AND IN ELECTRONIC FORM ON CD (MS WORD FORMAT)

1. ADDRESS OF HISTORIC RESOURCE (must comply with an Office of Property Assessment address) Street address:___8047 and 8049 Walker Street______Postal code:__19136______Councilmanic District:__6______

2. NAME OF HISTORIC RESOURCE Historic Name:___Box Grove Plantation______Common Name:______

3. TYPE OF HISTORIC RESOURCE Building Structure Site Object

4. PROPERTY INFORMATION Condition: excellent good fair poor ruins Occupancy: occupied vacant under construction unknown Current use:_____residential______

5. BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION Please attach a plot plan and written description of the boundary.

6. DESCRIPTION Please attach a description of the historic resource.

7. SIGNIFICANCE Please attach the Statement of Significance. Period of Significance (from year to year): from _1697____ to __1923___ Date(s) of construction and/or alteration:__1750______Architect, engineer, and/or designer:__unknown______Builder, contractor, and/or artisan:____unknown______Original owner:__John Holme II______Other significant persons:__Holme Family______CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION: The historic resource satisfies the following criteria for designation (check all that apply): (a) Has significant character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the City, Commonwealth or Nation or is associated with the life of a person significant in the past; or, (b) Is associated with an event of importance to the history of the City, Commonwealth or Nation; or, (c) Reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style; or, (d) Embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or engineering specimen; or, (e) Is the work of a designer, architect, landscape architect or designer, or engineer whose work has significantly influenced the historical, architectural, economic, social, or cultural development of the City, Commonwealth or Nation; or, (f) Contains elements of design, detail, materials or craftsmanship which represent a significant innovation; or, (g) Is part of or related to a square, park or other distinctive area which should be preserved according to an historic, cultural or architectural motif; or, (h) Owing to its unique location or singular physical characteristic, represents an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood, community or City; or, (i) Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in pre-history or history; or (j) Exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social or historical heritage of the community.

8. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Please attach a bibliography.

9. NOMINATOR

Name with Title_Jon Farnham, Executive [email protected]______Organization_Philadelphia Historical Commission______Date___3 April 2013______Street Address_Room 576, City Hall______Telephone_215-686-7660______City, State, and Postal Code_19107______Nominator is is not the property owner.

PHC USE ONLY Date of Receipt:______Correct-Complete Incorrect-Incomplete Date:______Date of Notice Issuance:______Property Owner at Time of Notice Name:______Address:______City:______State:____ Postal Code:______Date(s) Reviewed by the Committee on Historic Designation:______Date(s) Reviewed by the Historical Commission:______Date of Final Action:______Designated Rejected 3/16/07 5. BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

The surviving section of Box Grove Plantation is located at 8047 and 8049 Walker Street in the Holmesburg section of the City of Philadelphia.

Beginning at a point on the Southeasterly side of Walker Street (50 feet wide) at the distance of 426 feet Northeastwardly from the Northeasterly side of Rhawn Street (60 feet wide); thence extending North 66 degrees 30 minutes 27 seconds East along the said side of Walker Street 117 feet 8 inches to a point; thence extending South 04 degrees 14 minutes 05 seconds East 55 feet and 1/4th inch to a point; thence extending South 03 degrees 52 minutes 27 seconds West partly through a party wall 67 feet to a point; thence extending South 68 degrees 29 minutes 33 seconds East 38 feet 11 & 1/4th inches to a point; thence extending South 23 degrees 29 minutes 33 seconds East 12 feet and 7/8th inches to a point; thence extending Southwestwardly 96 feet 3 inches, more or less, to a point; and thence extending North 23 degrees 29 minutes 33 seconds West 152 feet 3 & 3/8th inches to the first mentioned point and place of beginning. Being known as 8047 Walker Street, Parcel 160N21-0234, OPA Account 652223500.

Beginning at a point on the said Southeasterly side of Walker Street (50 feet wide) at the distance of 543 feet 8 inches Northeastwardly from the Northeasterly side of Rhawn Street (60 feet wide); thence extending North 66 degrees 30 minutes 27 seconds East along the said side of Walker Street 74 feet 10 inches to a point; thence extending 23 degrees 29 minutes 33 seconds East 150 feet to a point; thence extending South 65 degrees 49 minutes 47 seconds West 96 feet 3 inches to a point; thence extending North 23 degrees 29 minutes 33 seconds West 12 feet 1 & 7/8th inches to a point; thence extending North 68 degrees 29 minutes 33 seconds West 38 feet 11 & 1/4th inches to a point; thence extending North 03 degrees 52 minutes 27 seconds East partly through a party wall 67 feet to a point; and thence extending North 04 degrees 14 minutes 05 seconds West 55 feet 1/4th inches to the first mentioned point and place of beginning. Being known as 8049 Walker Street, Parcel 160N21-0265, OPA Account 652223600.

Map of 8047 and 8049 Walker Street, Parcels 160N21-0234 and 160N21-0265.

6. DESCRIPTION

The surviving section of Box Grove Plantation is located at 8047 and 8049 Walker Street in the Holmesburg section of the City of Philadelphia. The surrounding area is largely residential and consists primarily of late nineteenth and twentieth-century detached, semi-detached, and row houses.

Built about 1750, Box Grove, the ancestral home of the Holme family, which has been subdivided into two dwelling units, stands on a large grassy lot with many tall shade trees. A hairpin fence with rubble-stone piers at the entrances to the two dwellings runs along Walker Street frontage of the property. The house consists of a two-and-one-half-story, stucco-on-stone main block (44 feet by 40 feet) with a two- and one-story addition (20 feet by 40 feet) at the west (8047) and a two- and one-story frame addition (25 feet by 20 feet) at the east (8049). A 12- foot-wide shed porch runs along the entire rear façade of the main block. Maps indicate that the rear porch was constructed between 1910 and 1920. The main block is five bays wide at the front façade with a central portico and entrance, and four six-over-six, double-hung windows with shutters at each of the first and second floors. The central portico appears to be a mid to late nineteenth-century replacement of an earlier, presumably Georgian Style, entrance. The main block is topped by a side-gabled roof with three pedimented dormers with arched-top, six- over-six, double-hung windows at the front and two dormers at the rear. Three chimneys stand above the roof of the main block, one on the front slope and two on the rear. An addition projects off the west or 8047 end of the structure. It consists of a 12-foot by 40-foot, two-story section with shed roof and an 8-foot by 40-foot, one-story section with a flat roof. Maps indicate that the addition was constructed between 1887 and 1894. The one-story section may be later. A 1901 photograph shows that the front façade of the two-story section included a portico like that at the main entrance; it has since been removed. An addition projects off the east or 8049 end of the structure. It consists of a 16-foot by 20-foot, two-story section with a shallow side gable roof and a 9-foot by 20-foot, one-story section with a shed roof. Maps indicate that the addition was constructed between 1887 and 1894. A detached garage stands at the rear of 8047 near the west property line. It dates to about 1953. A detached garage stands at the rear of 8049 near the east property line. It dates to about 1947.

Aerial views of the properties at 8047 and 8049 Walker Street, 2012.

7. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

(a) Has significant character, interest, or value as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the City, Commonwealth, or nation or is associated with the life of a person significant in the past; (b) Is associated with an event of importance to the history of the City, Commonwealth or Nation; (c) Reflects the environment in an era characterized by a distinctive architectural style; (d) Embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style or engineering specimen; (i) Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in pre-history or history; and (j) Exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social, or historical heritage of the community.

House at Box Grove Plantation, 8047 and 8049 Walker Street.

SETTLEMENT OF THE HOLME FAMILY IN AMERICA

John Holme I, the patriarch of the Holme family in America, was likely born in Somerset, England in 1632, but the details of his birth and early life are unknown.1 He fathered five children, John II, Samuel, Ebenezer, Hannah and Benjamin, between about 1673 and 1685, but the name of their mother(s) and the place(s) of their births are also unknown.2 Sometime before the mid 1680s, Holme ventured from England to the Barbados, where, for a number of years, he worked as a sugar planter before returning to his native country.3 In 1686, Holme emigrated from England on the ship Desire, arriving in Philadelphia on 23 June.4 Although they were contemporaries, John Holme was not related to Thomas Holme, William Penn’s surveyor.

Holme’s first days in Philadelphia are undocumented, but on 3 January 1688 he married Mary (Hedge) More, presumably after the death of his first wife. Holme’s second wife Mary was the widow of Nicholas More, who had purchased a tract of 10,000 acres known as the Manor of Moreland from William Penn in October 1681.5 The Mores emigrated from London to Philadelphia aboard the Jeffrey in 1682. More, the president of the Free Society of Traders of Pennsylvania, quickly achieved prominence in Philadelphia, serving as a member of the Assembly and the first Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. In 1685, More purchased an additional 280-acre tract of land in the Northern Liberties, north of the city of Philadelphia, which he called Green Spring and used as the family’s primary residence. It was located northwest of the present corner of 5th and Master Streets.6 More died on 3 May 1687, leaving no will and much in debt.7

After their marriage in 1688, John and Mary Holme took up residence at Green Spring, the estate Mary had shared with her late husband. They were a large family, each bringing five children into the household. Two years later in 1690, Holme’s oldest boy, John II, began his apprenticeship to the carpenter Edmund Dutton. Perhaps through his marriage with Mary More and subsequent management of her deceased husband’s estate, John Holme became acquainted with many prominent people who encouraged and promoted him to become active in the new colony, where he served in various public capacities. He was the Justice of the Peace for the county court from 1690 to 1692.8 In 1690, Holme and others were given permission from the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania to form a volunteer militia during this time of colonial war between France and England.9 In 1691, all current Justices of the Peace were appointed as Aldermen in the first Philadelphia city charter. In 1692 and 1693, Holme was elected to the Assembly representing Philadelphia County.10 In addition to his public life, Holme, who possessed an extensive personal library of several hundred books, was a poet, penning A True Relation of the Flourishing State of Pennsylvania in 1695.11 Holme is considered one of Philadelphia’s first authors.12

Mary Holme died in 1694 and in late 1695, one year after his wife’s death, John Holme moved from Philadelphia across the Delaware River to New Jersey.13 There, he married Elizabeth Willis and lived on her son’s plantation on Alloway Creek in Salem County, New Jersey.14 As he had in Pennsylvania, Holme served as a public official in New Jersey. He was a Justice of the Peace for Salem County in 1696, 1697, and 1703 and an Assemblyman for Western New Jersey in 1697.15 In 1703, Holme and others were appointed to a special commission to try the cases of criminals accused of capital offenses in Salem County.16 In late January 1704, Holme died.17

JOHN HOLME II AND THE ACQUISITION OF THE PETER DALE PROPERTY

John Holme II, the eldest son of John I, was probably born in England, or possibly Barbados, about 1673. He likely emigrated from England to Philadelphia with his father in 1686. The earliest surviving record for John II is a 1690 apprenticeship indenture to the carpenter Philadelphia Edmund Dutton.18 The term of the apprenticeship ran from 25 August 1690 to 1 July 1694. The indenture stated that John II’s father, John Holme of Green Spring in the County of Philadelphia, gave consent. The second surviving record dates to 1701, when John II’s name appeared on an account of charges for work to the Pennypack Bridge. John II had worked for 48 days on the bridge for wages of four shillings a day.19 Built in 1697, the Pennypack Bridge, which still stands, carries the King’s Highway, today called Frankford Avenue, over the Pennypack Creek about 10 miles north of the center of Philadelphia. In 1701, when John II worked on the bridge, it stood in Lower Dublin Township; since the consolidation of the city and county in 1854, the area has been known as the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia. One of the oldest spans in the country, the Pennypack Bridge is listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The Pennypack Creek flows southeasterly across northeast Philadelphia to the Delaware River. The bridge was erected at the site of the fall-line of the creek. Downstream from the fall-line and bridge, the creek is tidal and navigable from the Delaware. John II would build his life along the tidal section of the Pennypack, below the bridge on which he had worked.

About 1701, perhaps while working on the Pennypack Bridge, John II became acquainted with Peter Dale and his partner Charles Sanders, who had built a gristmill on the Pennypack Creek in 1697. The mill was located just south of the bridge on the tidal portion of the creek. Sanders had a two-thirds interest in the mill complex, Dale a one-third interest.20 Sanders, a Philadelphia merchant, had purchased 933 acres in Lower Dublin Township on the southwest side of the Pennypack Creek in 1695. Two years later, in 1697, Sanders purchased a second tract, east of the first one, on behalf of Dale. From portions of these two tracts, they formed a 16-acre mill commons on which Dale, a prominent millwright, built the mill and other buildings, the dam, and the race to power the mill. After the formation of the mill commons, Dale was left with a 240-acre tract of land to the south of the Pennypack and east of King’s Highway that would eventually become the site for Box Grove, the Holme family estate. Before Sanders and Dale could arrange for the title to their properties, both men died, Sanders about 1699 and Dale in 1703.21

Survey map of the Peter Dale tract with the mill depicted in lower right-hand corner, 1696.

John Holme II married Martha (Jacques) Dale, Peter Dale’s widow, sometime in 1704 or 1705, and took up residence at Pennypack Mill. Their first son, John Holme III, was born on 20 September 1706 at the mill. Their second son, Thomas, was born at the mill on 13 July 1708, but died before reaching maturity.22 It appears that the two boys were the only children born to John and Martha. John II was active in the Baptist Church, as had been his father, and the births of his children were recorded at the Pennepack Baptist Church. The Pennepack Baptist Church, also known as the Lower Dublin Baptist Church, formed in 1688, was the mother church for the Baptists of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Maryland. The church, which still stands, is located at 8800 Krewstown Road in the Bustleton section of Philadelphia and is listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.

With his marriage to Martha Dale, John II acquired a one-third share of the mill and full share of the 240-acre tract of land adjacent to the mill. Owing to disputes between the Sanders and Dale heirs, John II did not obtain a clear title to the property until 29 July 1720.23 A 1696 map shows Peter Dale’s tract, then described as being 235 acres. The property a trapezoid in shape, with the Pennypack Mill on the northeast, King’s Highway (Frankford Avenue today) on the northwest, the road dividing Oxford and Dublin townships (Cottman Avenue today) on the southwest and Keens Road (Ditman Street today) on the southeast.

The Holme tract bounded by the King’s Highway at the north and Pennypack Creek at the east.

On 12 March 1721, after gaining title to the land, John II secured releases from his neighbors Peter Rambo and Andrew Jonason for three small pieces of land adjacent to his tract.24 Two of these pieces filled out the notched area on the southwest corner shown on the original Peter Dale map. The third parcel was added for convenience around the mill property. Three deed transactions took place on the 240-acre tract in 1723. First, on 10 July John II and wife Martha sold to William Kinnersly, yeoman, a small two-acre arrow-shaped parcel on the northwest edge of the 240 acre tract adjacent to the King’s Highway for £25.25 Two months later, two

7 transactions were executed with Richard Crookshank. On 10 September, John Holme II and wife Martha transferred the entire property to Crookshank. Four days later, on 14 September, Crookshank transferred it back to John II alone, probably in an attempt to thwart any potential claims to it by the Sanders or Dale families.26

John Holme II worked as a miller at the Pennypack Mill from the early days of his marriage in 1704 or 1705 and eventually attained a degree of wealth. In January 1714, he purchased two adjacent lots on the east side of 2nd Street at Vine Street just outside the City of Philadelphia from Joseph Jones for £75.27 About 1718, John and Martha Holme left the Pennypack Creek for the city, moving their residence from Lower Dublin Township to a two-story brick house they had constructed on their lot at the corner of 2nd and Vine Streets.28 In the 1709 and 1714 indentures, John II was identified as either a miller or a yeoman, a farmer who owned his own land, residing in Lower Dublin Township. Therefore, in addition to operating the mill, he had likely put his 240- acre parcel adjacent to the mill into agricultural production. By 1720, John II was identified in legal documents as either a miller or a gentleman residing in Philadelphia. The 1734 Philadelphia Landholders list states “John Holms” was residing in the Northern Liberties Township.29 Vine Street was the boundary between the City of Philadelphia to the south and Northern Liberties Township to the north. A variety of documents has survived to paint a picture of the lives of John II and Martha Holme in Northern Liberties. Chief among his activities seems to have been moneylender. In addition to extending loans and mortgages, John II also executed wills and served as trustee in differing ways for his friends and neighbors.

Pennypack Mill before 1880.

Martha Holme was last mentioned in a February 1737 deed. Sometime during the next three and a half years, Martha must have passed away, for, on 17 October 1740, John wrote his will

8 and made no mention of his wife. His will was very basic, simply leaving everything to and naming as executor his “loving son” John Holme III, yeoman in Lower Dublin Township, Philadelphia County.30 Perhaps with his advanced years came the desire to divest the family of its interest in the mill property in Lower Dublin. On 1 May 1741, John Holme, miller, residing in Philadelphia, sold to Thomas Rush, yeoman in Lower Dublin, a one-third interest in the mill and commons for £500. This indenture with Rush appears to be John II’s last public act, for five months later on 5 October 1741 his will was proved, signaling that he had died.

JOHN HOLME III AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOX GROVE PLANTATION

When John II died in 1741, all his property and assets devolved to John III, who was 35 at that time and apparently living on the 240-acre farm in Lower Dublin Township, adjacent to the mill. John III was born at the mill on 20 September 1706.31 He spent his childhood living at the mill before moving to the brick house at 2nd and Vine, which his parents built when he was about 14 years of age. The date of John III’s return to Lower Dublin from Northern Liberties is unknown, but it is likely that he returned to the family estate about 1737, when he reached adulthood. Back in Lower Dublin, John III attended services at the Pennepack Church, where he met his future wife, Jane Morgan. Jane’s father, Abel Morgan, was a well-known Baptist clergyman. Jane was born in Wales in 1708.32 Abel Morgan immigrated to America in late 1711 with his wife Pricilla Powell, his daughter Jane, and infant son. Priscilla and their son died on the crossing. Jane and Abel Morgan arrived in Philadelphia on 14 February 1712.33 A marriage record for John Holme III and Jane Morgan has not been found, but records exist for the births of their eight children from 1730 to 1751, Abel, Martha, Enoch, Hannah, John IV, Priscilla, Thomas, and Jacques.34 All lived to maturity, except Jacques, who died as an infant.35

House at Box Grove Plantation about 1901.

The exact date is unknown, but sometime in the 1750s, John III built the house at Box Grove.36 The name probably came from a stand of box elder trees that grew near the house. In its original configuration, it had 17 rooms, six each on the first and second floors and five on the third floor. The ceilings are low and the rooms large. There was a grand staircase in the center of the house. The 1798 Direct Tax List, the first federal U.S. tax after the Revolution, describes Box Grove as a two-story brick and stone house measuring 40’ x 30’ and “in Midling repair.” At that time, it had 19 windows with 333 panes.

One of the last public acts of John III’s father, John II, had been the selling of his one-third interest in the mill and commons to Thomas Rush for £500 on 1 May 1741. To finance the purchase Rush took out a five-year mortgage at six percent interest from John II and secured the mortgage with his 105-acre tract by Wooden Bridge Run in Lower Dublin Township. Rush apparently failed to repay his debt to John Holme II’s estate. On 25 July 1751, the following appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette: By virtue of his majesty's writ of Venditioni Exponas to the sheriff of Philadelphia county directed, on Monday, the 5th be sold, by publick vendor, 105 acres of land, with a messuage and appurtenances, situate in Lower Dublin township. Also one third undivided part of a grist-mill commonly call'd Pennypack mill. Also one third undivided part of 16 acres of land, on part of which said mill stands, late the property of Thomas Rush, seized and taken in execution, at the suit of John Holme, executor to the estate of James (sic) Holme deceased. Isaac Griffiths, Sheriff.37

Sheriff Isaac Griffiths sold the 105 acres of land, which had secured the mortgage Rush obtained from John II, at a public auction on 5 August 1751 to Silas Pryor of Philadelphia for £201 and, presumably, this money was returned to the estate of John II. A month later, on 4 September 1751, Robert Hopkins of Point No Point in Philadelphia County sold the one-third share of the mill back to John III, who held the interest in the mill for another 14 years, until 30 October 1765, when he sold it to the Philadelphia merchant Ellis Lewis for £600.38 The mill continued in operation for over 100 additional years. On the evening of Monday, 11 October 1880, fire destroyed it, leaving only the walls. Also surviving was a stone tablet recessed into the wall over the front door with the date of the mill’s erection, 1697.

The Philadelphia County tax listings for Lower Dublin Township reflected the wealth accumulated by the Holme family, especially in comparison to their neighbors. In 1769 John III was assessed £61.2.0 on 200 acres, four horses, four head of cattle and one servant. Out of 170 households in the township, only resident John Paul was assessed more at £63.2.8. In 1774, John III’s tax was £64.10.4 on 200 acres, five horses, four head of cattle and one servant, with John IV adding another £7.0.0 with one horse and one cow.39 The number of “servants” listed in the assessment was a euphemism for the number of “slaves.” Of the 170 households listed in 1769, 22 had one or two slaves. One household had four. The early Swedish settlers to the Delaware Valley were trappers and began acquiring slaves as early as 1639. The Quakers who followed them embraced this practice. William Penn himself preferred slaves to indentured servants. Local merchants who traded with the sugar islands brought in most of the slaves from Barbados and Jamaica. By 1700, one in ten Philadelphians had a slave, and most worked in the iron works and shipbuilding industries. By 1720, the area changed to a farming economy. The rising influx of Germans and Scotch Irish, who were willing to work as indentured servants, reduced the demand for slaves. In 1780, Pennsylvania passed a law to gradually emancipate the slaves, but slavery would continue to exist, though in dwindling numbers, until almost the Civil War. The slaves held by John III and his neighbors in Lower Dublin Township were probably house servants and a sign of the economic status of their owners.

In September 1773, John III wrote his final will, naming his wife Jane and two youngest sons, John IV and Thomas, as executors. The Pennypack lands were left to John and Thomas to share equally. John IV was willed a newer home on the King’s Highway (now Frankford Avenue) and Thomas was willed the house known as Box Grove. All equipment, buildings and stock used to run the farm and the carpentry tools were shared equally. John III made legacies of his personal belongings and cash. He also left a legacy of slaves, more than were mentioned in the county taxes of 1769 and 1774. He gave Jane slave women named Alice and Dolly, and he bequeathed a boy named Caffe to John IV after Jane’s death. To his daughter Priscilla, he gave a slave girl named Margaret and to his son Thomas he gave £40 with which to buy a slave boy. Two years later, in 1775, John III died. His son Thomas wrote in his daybook, “John Holme departed this life July the 12th 1775, at 9 o’clock in the morning, aged 69 the next Sep.” Thomas also recorded that the appraisal of his father’s estate was £568-19-6, a sizeable amount. John III was laid to rest in the burial ground at the Pennepack Church on Krewstown Road in Lower Dublin Township.40

Pennypack Mill after the fire in 1880.

Jane (Morgan) Holme lived another 18 years after her husband’s death, residing at Box Grove with Thomas, her youngest son. She died on 18 May 1793 in her 85th year and was laid to rest beside her husband in the Pennepack Baptist Church Cemetery. The following appeared in the Gazette of the United States. Died the 18th inst. in the 85th year of her age, Mrs. Jane Holme, relict of Mr. John Holme, of Pennipeck, Philadelphia County; a woman in whose character were united the Christian, social and domestic virtues in an eminet degree. Her funeral was attended on Sunday last, and a sermon adapted to the occasion delivered by the Rev. Dr. Rogers in the Baptist Church, Lower Dublin, from these words – “Gather my Saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by Sacrifice.”41

John III’s and Jane’s gravestones are located in the churchyard south of the church, in the third row back from the rear corner of the church building.

Map of Pennsylvania, 1775. Note “Holmes’s” property indicated below “Lowr Dublin.”

THOMAS HOLME AND BOX GROVE PLANTATION

As noted above, Thomas Holme and his brother John IV inherited the 240-acre Holme estate when their father, John III, died in 1775. Thomas, who was born on the property on 16 January 1749, occupied the house at Box Grove with his mother. Not long after his father’s death, Thomas enlisted in the Pennsylvania Militia and served as a captain under Colonel Benjamin McVeagh during the Revolutionary War.42 As his daybook reveals, Captain Holme witnessed the British occupation of Philadelphia and fought in the Battles of Germantown, Monmouth, and Stony Point.43 After the war, Thomas returned to Box Grove and farming, where he recorded the events of his life in a daybook. For example, he bought a slave girl named Dot in 1781 for £65 to serve eleven years and lightning burned his barn on 28 June 1782.44

Thomas did not marry until June 1785, at 36 years of age, when he wed Rebecca (Wilkinson) Harrow, the daughter of Bryan Wilkinson and Hester (Leech) Wilkinson. Rebecca was born 22 August 1753 in Philadelphia. She was previously married to Captain David Harrow on 25 September 1773, who died in 1775. Thomas and Rebecca had one child, George Washington Holme, who was born 8 May 1789 at Box Grove. Although Thomas was primarily a farmer, he was also civic minded. He was a deacon and active in the work of the Pennepack Baptist

Church. Like his brother John, he was appointed a trustee of the Lower Dublin Academy in 1793 and was instrumental in the construction of the school building. Thomas was the Collector of County Taxes for Lower Dublin section of Philadelphia County in 1797.45 As described in the 1798 Direct Tax, the Box Grove Plantation included a 40-by-30-foot brick and stone house, a 10-by-12-foot one-story stone milk house and a 9-by-11-foot one-story frame smoke house. The farm also had three outbuildings: a 21-by-17-foot frame barn, a 20-by-11-foot wagon house, and a 21-by-9-foot stable.46 At the time of the 1800 U.S. census, ten people were counted among the Box Grove household, which was headed by Thomas Holme. The ten included three white males less than 10 years of age; one white male between 16 and 26; one white male more than 45, presumably Thomas; two females between 25 and 46, one of whom was presumably Rebecca; and three other free persons. At this time, the Holmes had no slaves.47 Thomas Holme’s first wife Rebecca died on 11 October 1805. Sometime after Rebecca’s death in 1805, he married her sister Hester Wilkinson. Hester was born on 17 May 1758 in Philadelphia.

1798 tax list for the Thomas Holme property.

Thomas died on 26 May 1826. His obituary, which appeared in The American Baptist Magazine in August 1826, praised him for his integrity, temperance, uprightness, and ardent piety, his hospitality, and his role as a peace-maker.48 Thomas and Rebecca are buried in the Pennepack Baptist Church Cemetery.49 Hester, his second wife, died on 9 July 1845 and was buried in Trinity Church graveyard in Oxford Township.50

THE HOUSE AT BOX GROVE PLANTATION IN CONTEXT

The house at Box Grove is a two-and-one-half-story, five-bay, side-gabled Georgian Style structure constructed about 1750. The Georgian Style of architecture was the predominant style in English colonies in the eighteenth century. It was based on the Renaissance Classicism that flourished in England from about 1650 to 1750 under such masters as Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, and James Gibbs, who reinterpreted the Italian Renaissance designs of Andrea Palladio and others. The style was transmitted from England to the colonies beginning about 1700 through architectural building manuals known as pattern books.51

The house at Box Grove stands at the midpoint of the trajectory of the Georgian Style, which grew out of post-medieval, colonial building traditions and evolved into the Adam or Federal Style at the end of the eighteenth century. There are several side-gabled Georgian houses in the Philadelphia area that clearly define this trajectory. Wynnestay, the house of Welsh physician at 5125 Woodbine Avenue in Philadelphia, which was erected in the late seventeenth century, is the earliest surviving example. All constructed in the mid eighteenth century, Grumblethorpe at 5267 Germantown Avenue (1744), the Green Tree Tavern at 6023 Germantown Avenue (1748), and the Johnson House at 6306 Germantown Avenue (1768) share traits with Box Grove, but differ in that they were designed to stand in Germantown, a more densely settled town, along Germantown Turnpike, a bustling commercial thoroughfare. The Deshler-Morris House at 5442 Germantown Avenue (1752), a two-and-one-half-story, five- bay, side-gabled Georgian Style house, is a contemporary of Box Grove, but is much more architecturally refined than its country kin. Waynesborough in Paoli, Pennsylvania (1760), also a

13 contemporary of Box Grove and also a country house, provides a good comparison. Although more than five bays wide, the Rubicam-Unruh House at 8020-26 Lowber Avenue in the Cedarbrook section of Philadelphia (1727) provides the best comparison and likely indicates Box Grove’s original appearance before its nineteenth-century alterations and additions. The George House, which stood at 6099 Drexel Road in Philadelphia, also provides a good comparison. Box Grove and the Rubicam-Unruh and George Houses are all simple, large Georgian farm houses that lack the refinements of their urban counterparts. Finally, Upsala at 6430 Germantown Avenue (1798) is an excellent example of the Adamesque-Federal Style of architecture. Like Box Grove, Upsala is a two-and-one-half-story, five-bay, side-gabled structure with dormers. However, Upsala is more refined and ornately detailed than its solid, staid Georgian predecessors.52

Wynnestay, 5125 Woodbine Avenue, Philadelphia, 1689, 1700, 1904.

Grumblethorpe, 5267 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, 1744.

Green Tree Tavern, 6023 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, 1748.

Johnson House, 6306 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, 1768.

Deshler-Morris House, 5442 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, 1752.

Waynesborough, Paoli, Pennsylvania, 1760.

Rubicam-Unruh House, 8020-26 Lowber Avenue, Philadelphia, 1727.

George House, 6099 Drexel Road, Philadelphia, 1693 to 1860, demolished.

Upsala, 6430 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, 1798.

The House at Box Grove Plantation, c. 1750.

BOX GROVE PLANTATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Thomas Holme left Box Grove to his son George Washington Holme, who had been born on the farm in 1789. George married Susan Maghee, the daughter of William Maghee and Frances (Holme) Maghee and the granddaughter of John Holme IV, on 16 September 1819.53 Susan had been born in December 1799. George and Susan had one child who survived to adulthood, John Stanford Holme, D. D., born on 4 March 1822, who became a well-known Baptist minister in New York City.54 Susan died on 4 June 1828 and was buried at the Pennepack Baptist Church Cemetery.55 In 1828, George was elected a trustee of the Lower Dublin Academy and he became a charter member of the Holmesburg Baptist Church in 1829.56 George remarried, wedding Catherine G. Davis on 27 July 1831.57 Catherine had been born on 1 September 1796. They had only one child, Furman Davis Holme. The 1860 census describes George W. Holme, the head of the household, as a 72-year-old farmer. In 1860, he valued his real estate at $10,000 and his personal estate at $8,000. His wife Catherine was 60 years old. Their household included 65-year-old Clara Nunse; Catherine Bailey, a 45-year-old public school teacher; two servants, 66-year-old Lidia Johnson and 25-year-old Agnes Lanyan; and James Trevis, an 18-year-old farm hand.58 As the town of Holmesburg, named for the Holme family, grew around Box Grove, George subdivided and sold off much of the land. George died at Box Grove after a short illness on 9 July 1864. His wife Catherine died on 9 August 1873.59

Box Grove, the home of G.W. Holme, on the J.C. Sydney map of Lower Dublin Township, 1850.

In light of the dates of his ownership, George W. Holme may have undertaken the alterations to the house in the Picturesque or Romantic Style. He may have replaced a Georgian front entranceway with the picturesque portico with ornate iron posts and a sweeping, almost oriental, roofline in the style of Richard Upjohn, A.J. Davis, and A.J. Downing, as seen in the 1901 photograph of Box Grove. The portico was replicated before 1901, albeit without the sweeping

20 roofline, at the southern front entrance. The current central front portico retains portions of the picturesque portico, but the roof has been rebuilt without the sweep. The southern portico has been removed. The rear of the house also evidences Picturesque Style alterations, which likely date to the 1840s. A rear porch, which spans the back of the main block of the house, includes picturesque metal porch supports that are similar to those at the front. The first-floor rear window opening onto the rear porch were enlarged into French doors in the mid nineteenth- century fashion. Also, the gables of the main block sport unusual exposed purlins at the roof lines that approach Italianate brackets and are reminiscent of the hefty Greek Revival purlins of the Garrett House in Mt. Airy, which was remodeled by Thomas U. Walter in 1836.

Andrew Jackson Downing, veranda, 1842.60

Rear veranda at Box Grove.

Box Grove, the home of G.W. Holme, on the D.J. Lake and S.N. Beers map, 1860.

Box Grove, G.M. Hopkins map, 1876.

George’s W. Holme’s two children, John Stanford Holme by his first wife and Furman Davis Holme by his second wife, inherited Box Grove after their father’s death. John was a prominent minister in New York City. The 1870 U.S. Census indicates that Furman, a 35-year-old farmer, lived at the ancestral home with his 30-year-old wife Adeline, their three young children Jonathan, Harry, and Lillie, 70-year-old Eliza Blake, domestic Kate Magee, and farm hands Alexander Peterson and Jacob Crofs. At this time, Furman Holme’s real estate and personal property were valued $12,000 and $2,000 respectively, much more than his surrounding neighbors.61 The 1876 Hopkins map shows that Holme family still owned a large tract of land bounded by what are now called Erdrick, Rhawn, and Ditman Streets and Welsh Road. Although the other blocks had been subdivided for development by 1876, the central block with the Box Grove house and barn was still intact as a single property at the time of the Centennial. On 31 July 1878, John Stanford Holme, Furman’s half-brother, deeded his interest in Box Grove to Furman, who is described in the deed as a “farmer.”62 Upon Furman’s death on 17 February 1892, the primary interest in the house and remainder of the land passed to Furman’s widow Adeline, who partitioned the home into two separate residences. The 1900 census indicates that Adeline and her adult son Jonathan and daughter Lillie occupied the 8049 Walker Street section

23 of the house; William Lintz, a 40-year-old lineman, and his wife Nellie and son Roy rented the 8047 Walker Street section of the house. The 1900 census refers to the property as a house, not a farm, marking a significant change in its use and in the character of the neighborhood.63 Adeline died in 1905 and Jonathan and his wife Jean eventually moved to East Orange, New Jersey. On the death of Adeline in 1905, the property passed to Furman and Adeline’s four children, Jonathan L.B., Lillie M., Harry E., and J. Stanford Holme. Lillie died on 24 May 1913 unmarried and without issue. Harry died in Denver, Colorado in 1914, leaving his portion of Box Grove to his wife Clara E. Holme. The surviving heirs, Jonathan, Clara, and J. Stanford and his wife Ora of Fort Morgan, Colorado sold the property on which the Box Grove house stands out of the Holme family to Thomas Wilson Battin and his wife Jessie on 10 May 1923 for $8,000.64 The Battins had been renting at the property from the Holme family since at least 1910, when the census shows that they occupied the 8047 Walker Street section. At that time, 43-year-old Frederick Gerker, who worked for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, his 33-year-old wife Eleanor, and her 13-year-old son Frank rented the 8049 Walker Street section.65 In the years leading up to the sale to the Battins in 1923, Furman Davis Holme and his heirs had subdivided and sold off the other remaining Holme properties including the parcel to the southwest with the barn.

Box Grove, George W. and Walter S. Bromley map, 1901. The Box Grove house and barn stand on one property.

Box Grove, J.L. Smith map, 1910. Note that the property with the barn has been sold.

BOX GROVE PLANTATION AFTER THE HOLME FAMILY

When Thomas Wilson Battin and his wife Jessie P. Battin purchased Box Grove from the Holme family in 1923, they were about 49 and 46 years of age respectively. Thomas was born in Albany, New York on 27 March 1874 to Isaac Battin and Nancy Maus Wilson. Jessie was born in India to Scottish parents. Thomas and Jessie were married about 1898. In 1900, the newlywed Battins lived at 3701 Powelton Avenue in West Philadelphia and Thomas was a naval architect. By 1910, they were renting the 8047 Walker Street section. The Battins may have been drawn to the historic house because its association with the American Revolution. The great grandson of Philip Maus, a private in the Philadelphia Militia, Thomas was listed as a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1902.66 The 1920 census indicates that Thomas and Jesse Battin still resided at 8047 Walker Street and still rented 8049 Walker Street to Frederick Gerker, his wife Eleanor, and stepson Frank. The Gerkers employed a live-in housekeeper, Mary Levine.67 The 1940 census indicates that Thomas and Jessie Battan still lived at 8047 Walker Street, now with their two adult nephews. In 1940, Thomas, aged 66, worked as an assistant engineer for the City of Philadelphia’s Transit Department. The nephews, both in their 20s, worked as an accountant and a machinist. In 1940, Alice Rich headed the household at 8049 Walker Street, which the 58-year-old widow rented from the

Battins. She lived with her three sons and three daughters, who ranged in age from 11 to 27. Alice did not work, but her three oldest children worked as a librarian, clerk, and filing clerk.

Box Grove, George W. and Walter S. Bromley map, 1929. Note barn standing on adjacent property owned by Benjamin F. Zimmerman.

In 1943, the Battins sold the 8049 Walker Street section of the property to husband and wife Paul J. and Dorothy E. Molz and John B. Wiestner, who was described in the deed as a “singleman.” The 1940 census, taken three years before the Molz family moved to Holmesburg, indicates that they were renting a house at 4201 Erdrick Street in Frankford. Paul, age 29 in 1940, was a sales foreman at General Baking Co. Dorothy, age 24, did not work. They had two young children, a boy and girl. Interestingly, the deed for 8049 Walker granted the new owners the right to use the entirety of the third floor, which was not divided by a party wall, during their occupancy, provided that the owners of both properties paid for and constructed a party wall at the third floor when the first of the two owners, Battin or Molz, vacated the house. The deed also required both owners to construct a party wall in the basement when one vacated.68 On 24 May 1946, Wiestner sold his share in the 8049 Walker Street property to the Molz family.69 On 7 May 1947, after three years in their new house, Paul Molz obtained a zoning permit for a two-car detached garage.70 The garage was constructed and still stands.

Box Grove, Franklin Survey map, 1939. Note that the barn has been demolished.

Thomas Wilson Battin passed away on 21 March 1945. His widow, Jesse Battin, and the Molz family sold off the rears of their properties along Cottage Street to William M. Frost & Company on 2 August 1946.71 Jesse Battin retained ownership of the house at 8047 Walker Street until 20 August 1953, when she sold it to George R. and Elsie J. Laurence.72 Presumably, party walls were constructed in the basement and attic at the time of the sale as mandated in the deed. Jesse Battin obtained a zoning permit for a one-story detached garage on 28 April 1953, perhaps as a condition of the sale.73 The garage was constructed and still stands.

Paul and Dorothy Molz, who had purchased the 8049 Walker Street section with John Wiestner in 1943 and then bought out Wiestner in 1946, retained ownership of 8049 Walker Street for 30 years, until 1973, when they sold it to Harry and Pauline S. McCabe and John G. Brauner.74 After the McCabes died, the property became reverted to John G. Brauner alone. In 1996, First Union National Bank sued Brauner to recover debts and the Court of Common Pleas sent the property to sheriff’s sale on 7 April 1997.75 On 30 June 1997, First Union National Bank, which had claimed the 8049 Walker Street property at sheriff’s sale, sold it to M. David and Esther J. Miller.76 On 25 March 1998, the Millers purchased 8047 Walker Street from George Laurence

27 and the executor of his wife’s estate, reuniting the two halves of the Box Grove house under one owner for the first time since 1943.77 The Millers sold 8047 Walker Street to Richard E. Frizell and Lorna A. Johnson, the current owners, on 12 September 2007.78 They sold 8049 Walker Street to Aimme Aucott and Joshua Landau, the current owners, on 31 August 2009.79

CONCLUSION

Box Grove Plantation, the c. 1750 country house of the Holme family until 1923, is an extremely significant historic site that merits designation by the Philadelphia Historical Commission and inclusion on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Located at 8047 and 8049 Walker Street in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Box Grove Plantation satisfies Criteria for Designation a, b, c, d, i, and j as enumerated in Section 14-1004 of the Philadelphia Code. Box Grove Plantation is significant:  as a country house and grounds that have survived for more than 250 years in near- original condition, thereby representing the architectural, cultural, agricultural, economic, political, social, geographical, and historical heritage of Lower Dublin Township, Holmesburg, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, and the United States (Criteria a and j);  for its connections to the founding, development, and naming of the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia (Criteria a and j);  for its connections to the Pennypack Mill, one of the earliest and most important mills in Pennsylvania (Criteria a and j);  for its reflection of an environment in an era characterized by the Georgian Style of architecture (Criterion c);  for its embodiment of the distinguishing characteristics of the Georgian Style of architecture (Criterion d);  for its associations with the lives of persons significant in the past including several members of the Holme family, who held significant positions in local government, fought in the Revolutionary War, and were involved with the founding and advancement of important institutions such as the Pennypack Baptist Church and Lower Dublin Academy (Criteria a and j);  as a largely undisturbed site that was settled in the eighteenth century and therefore has an extremely high potential for important archaeological resources (Criterion i);80 and,  as a site that exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social, or historical heritage of the Lower Dublin, later Holmesburg, community (Criterion j).

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burrage, Henry S., Baptist Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (Portland, Maine: Brown Thurston & Company, 1888). Cathcart, William, ed., The Baptist Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors, and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in all Lands (Philadelphia, Louis H. Everts, 1883). Deasbey, Edward Quinton, The Courts and Lawyers of New Jersey, 1661-1912 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913). Dowing, Andrew Jackson, Victorian Cottage Residences (New York: Dover Publications, 1981). Eberlein, Harold Donald and Horace Mather Lippincott, The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia & Its Neighbourhood (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1912). “The Gabriel Wilkinson Family,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, v. 26, no. 2 (1969).

Gallery, John Andrew, Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, Inc., 2009). Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). Griffin, Martin I. J., ed., The American Catholic Historical Researches (Philadelphia, Martin I. J. Griffin, 1897). Hafertepe, Kenneth and James F. O'Gorman, American Architects and their Books to 1848 (University of Massachusetts Press, 2001). Harris, Eileen, British Architectural Books and Writers 1556-1785 (Cambridge University Press, 1990). Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, Historical Society of Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Horle, Craig W., Marianne S. Wokeck, Jeffrey L. Scheib, Joseph S. Foster, David Haugaard, Rosalind J. Beiler, Joy Wiltenburg, eds., Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, 1682-1709 (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1991. Hotchkin, Rev. S.F., The Bristol Pike (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1893). Humphrey, John T., Pennsylvania Births Philadelphia County 1644-1765 (Washington D.C.: Humphrey Publication, 1994). Irwin, Frances Houston, The Lineage of Ann E. McCurdy Sterling & Allied Families of Yard, Keen & Holme (Philadelphia, April 1937). Keen, Gregory B., The Descendants of Jöran Kyn of New Sweden (Philadelphia: The Swedish Colonial Society, 1913). “Landholders of Philadelphia County, 1734,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, v. 1 (December 1898), 178. Martin, David, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Archives Third Series (Harrisburg: Wm Stanley Rey, State Printer, 1897). Montgomery, Thomas Lynch, ed., Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer, 1906). Moss, Roger W., Historic Houses of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998). “Obituary: Deacon Thomas Holme,” The American Baptist Magazine, v. 6, no. 8 (August 1826), 248-249. “Obituary of Jane Holme,” Gazette of the United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (22 May 1793), 407. “A Partial List of the Families who Arrived at Philadelphia between 1682 and 1687,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 8, no. 3 (1884). Prokop, Diane, “A Piece of History in Their Own Back Yard,” Northeast Times (20 November 2008), 15, 80. “Records of the Lower Dublin or Pennypack Baptist Church,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 11 (1887). Schimmelman, Janice G., Architectural Books in America: Architectural Treatises and Building Handbooks Available in American Libraries and Bookstores through 1800 (Oak Knoll Press, 1999). Webster, Richard J., Philadelphia Preserved: Catalog of the Historic American Buildings Survey (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981). Willits, Samuel C., A History of Lower Dublin Academy, A Biographical and Historical Sketch of Thomas Holme and his Times and other Historical Matters Pertaining to the School and Neighborhood (1885, privately reprinted, 2009).

ENDNOTES

This nomination is especially indebted to the research and writings on the Holme family by Karen Kindler Kotlarchik, which are available at her genealogical website at http://holmefamily.blogspot.com.

1 Frances Houston Irwin, The Lineage of Ann E. McCurdy Sterling & Allied Families of Yard, Keen & Holme (Philadelphia, April 1937), 557, 23. 2 Craig W. Horle, Marianne S. Wokeck, Jeffrey L. Scheib, Joseph S. Foster, David Haugaard, Rosalind J. Beiler, Joy Wiltenburg, eds., Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, 1682-1709 (University of Pennsylvania Press: 1991), v. 1, 440. 3 William Cathcart, D.D., ed., The Baptist Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors, and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in all Lands (Philadelphia, Louis H. Everts, 1883), 537. 4 “A Partial List of the Families who Arrived at Philadelphia between 1682 and 1687,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 8, no. 3 (1884), 339. 5 Joe Thomas, “A Synopsis of the History of Moreland Township and Willow Grove,” Upper Moreland Historical Association, page 3. 6 Surveyor General John Luken’s manuscript survey of the Masters Partition, 1774. 7 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series E2, Book 5, Page 301. 8 Horle, et. al., Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, 1682-1709, v. 1, 440-441. 9 Jane Gray Buchanan, Peter Stebbins Craig, and Jeffrey L. Scheib, “Captain John Finney’s Company of Philadelphia Militia, 1794”, The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, v. 36, 165. 10 Gregory B. Keen, LL.D., The Descendants of Jöran Kyn of New Sweden (Philadelphia: The Swedish Colonial Society, 1913), 121. 11 Martin I. J. Griffin, ed., The American Catholic Historical Researches (Philadelphia, Martin I. J. Griffin, 1897), v. 14, 180. 12 Horle, et. al., Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, 1682-1709, v. 1, 440. 13 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series F, Book 10, Page 351. This deed dated 25 November 1695 lists residence of John Holme as Salem, West New Jersey. 14 Horle, et. al. Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, 1682-1709, v. 1, 441. 15 Horle, et. al. Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, 1682-1709, v. 1, 440-441. 16 “Abstracts of New Jersey Commissions, Civil and Military, from Liber A.A.A. of Commissions in the Secretary of State’s Office at Trenton” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, v. 6, 182.; Edward Quinton Deasbey, A. M., LL. B. The Courts and Lawyers of New Jersey, 1661-1912 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), v. 1, 154. 17 John Holme will, Recorded Wills West Jersey Book 1, Page 49, in New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey. John Holme’s son, John II, first went to Salem to look after his father’s affairs on 31 January 1704. This defined the date of death of Holme as occurring between 17 January when the will was written and 31 January 1704. 18 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, Historical Society of Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, CD1, images 45-46. 19 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “1701 Pemmapecka Bridge Charges,” CD 1, images 66-67. 20 Samuel C. Willits, A History of Lower Dublin Academy, A Biographical and Historical Sketch of Thomas Holme and his Times and other Historical Matters Pertaining to the School and Neighborhood (1885, privately reprinted, 2009), 107, 114. 21 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “1698 Will of Charles Sanders,” CD 1, images 59-60; Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Wills, 1682-1819, Peter Daile, B:235. 22 “Records of the Lower Dublin or Pennypack Baptist Church,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 11 (1887), 61; Irwin, The Lineage of Ann E. McCurdy Sterling & Allied Families of Yard, Keen & Holme, 557, 23. 23 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “1720 Release of William Sanders to John & Martha Holme,” CD 1, images 136- 140. 24 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series I, Book 7, Page 73. On 12 March 1721, Rambo and Jonason had received 225 acres along the Pennypack Creek, northwest of the land of John II, from Nils Jonason by indenture from Philadelphia Deed Series F, Book 6, Page 348. Nils was the father of Andrew Jonason and father-in-law of Peter Rambo, who had married Margaret Jonason. Twelve years later on 17 November 1733, in apparently another act of good neighborliness, Rambo and Jonason signed an agreement (Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, CD 1, images 94-95) allowing John II to fence in all their land between John II’s line and the King’s Road. 25 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “1723 Indenture between John Holme and William Kinnersly,” CD 4, images 133-135, and “Map of 2 acres for William Kinnersly,” CD 1, image 56. 26 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series F, Book 2, Pages 256-260. 27 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series F, Book 7, Pages 346-348.

28 John II’s son, John Holme III, left this two-story brick home to his wife, Jane (Morgan) Holme in his 1775 will. Since John III and his family lived at Box Grove on the 240-acre parcel in Lower Dublin Township, this brick home in Northern Liberties was probably the home of his parents, which he inherited on the death of John II in 1741. 29 “Landholders of Philadelphia County, 1734,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, v. 1, 178. 30 John Holme will (1741), Philadelphia County Will Book F: 249. 31 “Records of the Lower Dublin or Pennypack Baptist Church,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, v. 11 (1887), 61. 32 Jane Holme obituary, Gazette of the United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 22 May 1793, 407. 33 John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), v. 15, 815. 34 John T. Humphrey, Pennsylvania Births Philadelphia County 1644-1765 (Washington D.C.: Humphrey Publication, 1994). 35 Horatio Gates Jones, “Descendants of Morgan ap Rhydderch and his wife Jane Rhydderch Genealogy,” 23, microfilm number 6410, item 16, Family History Library [FHL], Salt Lake City, Utah. 36 In October 2008, a floorboard of a second-story room was still engraved with “175_.” The story goes that when the owner hired someone to sand the floor, he warned them not to sand the date just moments after the last digit was smoothed away. 37 Philadelphia Gazette, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 25 July-1 August 1751. 38 Philadelphia Deed Series I, Book 1, Pages 326-329. 39 David Martin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Archives Third Series (Harrisburg: Wm Stanley Rey, State Printer, 1897), v. 14, 4, 364. 40 “Pennepack Baptist Burial Records,” Pennepack Baptist Church, Philadelphia. Jane Holme’s headstone was identified to the right of John Holme’s by “84” still visible. She died aged 84y 6m. 41 Jane Holme obituary, Gazette of the United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 22 May 1793, 407. 42 Thomas Lynch Montgomery, ed., Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer, 1906), v. 1, 680. 43 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, Thomas Holme Day Book, CD 5, image 8. 44 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, Thomas Holme Day Book, CD 5, image 54. 45 Willits, A History of Lower Dublin Academy, 111. 46 United States Direct Tax of 1798: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania (Washington: National Archives). Roll 5: 328, 342, 361, 377. 47 U.S. Census, 1800. 48 “Obituary: Deacon Thomas Holme,” The American Baptist Magazine, v. 6, no. 8 (August 1826), 248-249. 49 Pennepack Baptist Burial Records, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: microfilm no. 21590, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 50 “The Gabriel Wilkinson Family,” The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, v. 26, no. 2 (1969), 88. 51 See Kenneth Hafertepe and James F. O'Gorman, American Architects and their Books to 1848 (University of Massachusetts Press, 2001); Eileen Harris, British Architectural Books and Writers 1556-1785 (Cambridge University Press, 1990); Janice G. Schimmelman, Architectural Books in America: Architectural Treatises and Building Handbooks Available in American Libraries and Bookstores through 1800 (Oak Knoll Press, 1999). 52 On these houses, see Harold Donald Eberlein and Horace Mather Lippincott, The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia & Its Neighbourhood (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1912); Richard J. Webster, Philadelphia Preserved: Catalog of the Historic American Buildings Survey (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981); Roger W. Moss, Historic Houses of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998); John Andrew Gallery, Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, Inc., 2009). 53 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “Holme Genealogy Chart,” CD 4, image 131. 54 John Stanford Holme was born on 4 March 1822. He studied law in Philadelphia and then entered Madison University from Holmesburg, Pennsylvania in 1844. He graduated in 1850 and was ordained as a Baptist pastor in Watertown, New York on 12 November 1850. He later served as pastor at Pierrepont Street Baptist Church in Brooklyn, and Trinity Baptist Church and Riverside Church in Manhattan, New York. He published the influential Baptist Hymn and Tune Book in 1858. Madison University conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1866. Holme made a European tour in 1871. He died on 26 August 1884. See Henry S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (Portland, Maine: Brown Thurston & Company, 1888), 659. 55 “The Gabriel Wilkinson Family,” 89. 56 Willits, A History of Lower Dublin Academy, 111; Rev. S.F. Hotchkin, M. A., The Bristol Pike (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1893), 106. 57 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “Marriage Certificate,” CD 2, image 70. 58 U.S. Census, 1860. 59 Holme Family Papers, 1683-1923, “Holme Genealogy Chart,” CD 4, image 131.

60 Plate 51 from reprint of 1873 edition of Andrew Jackson Dowing, Victorian Cottage Residences (New York: Dover Publications, 1981), 117. 61 U.S. Census, 1870. 62 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series DHL, Book 199, Page 415. 63 U.S. Census, 1900. 64 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series JMH, Book 1603, Page 185. 65 U.S. Census, 1910. 66 Louis H. Cornish, A National Register of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (Washington DC , 1902). 67 U.S. Census, 1920. 68 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series CJP, Book 231, Page 486. 69 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series CJP, Book 1292, Page 248. 70 Philadelphia zoning permit #29430, for two-car accessory garage, dated 7 May 1947. 71 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series CJP, Book 1409, Page 425. 72 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series MLS, Book 475, Page 348. 73 Philadelphia zoning permit #49170, for one-story accessory garage, dated 28 April 1953. 74 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series DCC, Book 443, Page 473. 75 First Union National Bank v. John G. Brauner, Court of Common Pleas, November Term 1996, No. 0873. 76 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series JTD, Book 424, Page 424. 77 Philadelphia Department of Records, Deed Series JTD, Book 628, Page 456. 78 Philadelphia Department of Records, Document ID 51779486. 79 Philadelphia Department of Records, Document ID 48122731. 80 See, for example, an article on an archaeological discovery at the house, Diane Prokop, “A Piece of History in Their Own Back Yard,” Northeast Times (20 November 2008), 15, 80.