High Street, from Ninth Street, Philadelphia"

Home , James Pleasants, John Inskeep, Samuel Shoemaker (mayor), William Coleman (judge)

Lu Ann De Cunzo

AN HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF WILLIAM BIRCH'S PRINT "HIGH STREET, FROM NINTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA"

PHILADELPHIA printmaking reached its apogee in 1800 with the appearance of The City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylva- nia, North America; as it appeared in the year 1800 consisting of 28 Plates Drawn and Engraved by W Birch and Son, Published by W. Birch: Springland Cot, near Neshaminy Bridge on the Bristol Road, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1800. In the centuries prior to the advent of modern mass communication, prints circulated widely. An art expression with universal appeal, the print served the dual purpose of entertaining and informing people pictorially of the world around them.' Today such prints are also historical documents. Supplemented by written records, these graphic representations can increase our understanding of the buildings, people and neighborhoods depicted. In this study information gathered from numerous sources provide insights into Philadelphia life in 1800 as well as the Birch print's meaning. William Birch had arrived in Philadelphia in 1794, having appren- ticed with a goldsmith in London and subsequently decided on a career as a painter of miniatures in enamel.2 So impressed was he with the city, he set out to produce a pictorial album of the city and its life; his medium, naturally, the print. In an Introduction to the volume, Birch states his aim thus: The ground on which it [Philadelphia] stands, was, less than a century ago, in a state of wild nature; covered with wood and inhabited by Indians. It has in this short time been raised as it were by magic powers, to the eminence of an opulent city, famous for its trade and commerce, crowded in its port with vessels of its own

109 110 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

production and visited by others from all parts of the world . .. Its plan was laid out by William Penn and was confirmed by charter, on the 25th day of October, 1701. This work will stand as a memorial of its progress for the first century; the buildings, of any consequence, are generally included, and the street scenes all accurate as they now stand; the choice of subjects are those that give the most general idea of the town ... 3

Beginning in 1797, Birch examined the entire built-up portion of the city for subjects for his views. After deciding on the number of plates required, he actively began work, with his son Thomas, in 1798. Most of the plates were engraved in 1799, a few more in 1800. On the last day of that year, the first edition, consisting of twenty eight views, was published.' One of the few plates showing a strictly residential vista is Plate 12 of the first and second editions, "High Street, from Ninth Street." As were all of the views, it is printed from an engraved copper plate measuring 11 by 13 inches onto paper 151/2 by 18/2. Wishing to memorialize the city, it is no surprise that William Birch chose to depict Philadelphia's primary religious, commercial, and civic buildings in his views. For what reason, then, did he also include this view of a residential neighborhood along High Street? Does the block merely serve as the backdrop for a genre scene-a street teeming with the life and business activity characteristic of the city? In part, but there is more to it. Birch did not enlarge the figures to a scale suggesting the intent they serve as the focal point of the view. Also, as will be shown, special care was taken to accurately portray this block of High Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets; accurately enough, indeed, to permit the identification of individual dwellings. For the dwellings, their owners and occupants, as well as the figures and activities depicted, have significance. They impose another dimension on the print as artistic expression-that of cultural document. In this view as in those of Christ Church and the State House, though more subtly and symbolically, William Birch is celebrating Philadelphia. The physical and political expansion of the city accompanied its selection as the national capital in 1790. By the turn of the century, Philadelphia was well established as a cultural, financial, and commercial center of the new nation. New commercial structures, churches, and fine homes appeared in the next decades, and the population grew apace. According to John F. Watson, 28,522 persons resided in the city HIGH STREET ill in 1790, 41,223 in 1800, and 53,722 by 1810. Between 1802 and 1804, 1122 new houses had been constructed in Philadelphia.' Beginning during the city's reign as state and national capital from 1790 to 1800, numerous guide books were published describing the city for visitors. This tradition continued into the nineteenth century. In 1811, the following description of a typical street scene in Philadelphia was recorded by James Mease in his Picture of Philadelphia: The improved parts of the city are paved with round stones, brought from the bed of the river at Trenton falls. The footways are paved with brick, and raised on a level with the highest part of the street, and defended from the approach of carriages by ranges of curbstones. The houses are generally roofed in cedar shingles, though slate is coming into use . .. The edges of the pavements are planted in many streets with Lombardy poplars, for the introduction of which we are indebted to William Hamilton Esq. who brought them from England about the year 1784. They serve not only to ornament the city, but to promote public health by the circulation of air they produce, and the shade they afford during summer;-enough to overbalance the trifling tendency of the roots to force up the pavement and which has been offered as an argument against their propagation in the city . . William Birch's view of "High Street from Ninth Street" depicts a street scene of 1798 to 1799 which exactly corresponds to Mease' description-the rows of brick houses, a cobblestone roadway and brick sidewalk, and the rows of Lombardy poplars. This scene, however, was not very old at the time Birch recorded it. Matthew Clarkson's Plan of the Improved Part of the City inscribed in 1762 shows the western terminus of the then settled portion of the city as just beyond Eighth Street. The majority of patents for the lots fronting on High between Eighth and Ninth Streets were not granted until the 1780s. By 1791, within a year of Philadelphia's establishment as the national capital, Jackson found seven buildings on the south side of the street,7 the north side being even more densely populated. Available in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, City Hall, are block plans for the city showing lot divisions. Changes in lot configurations through time, from the initial subdivision of the block, are visually documented, and present street numbers given to aid in locating particular lots. Figures 1 and 2 reproduce sections of these block plans for the north and south sides of High Street between Eighth and Ninth RANSTEAD STREET

SS]55' to Eighth Street 135' to Ninth Street l . : s I . i

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272 274 276 278 280 282 284 286 - - A MARKET STREET MARKET STREET <-d 55' t. Eighth Stt..t 135' t. Ni.tb St-t

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FILBERT STREET 114 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

Streets. The lots shown in the plans are those on which the houses believed to be in Birch's view stood. The westernmost houses pictured were located about midway in the block, with the view receding to the east. Contemporary buildings have been drawn in where documented. Dotted lines represent estimated size and/or location. House numbers along High Street initially began at I at the Delaware River and ran west, odd numbers on the north side of the street, even numbers on the south side. This system was changed in the nineteenth century. City directories, published annually since 1791, sometimes listed residents block by block (for example: High Street Eighth Street to Ninth Street, North Side. 305 NAME, 307 NAME, etc.), thus facilitating correlation of the two systems. The houses to be presently considered are those numbered 272 to 284 (present 806 to 818) on the south side of High Street, and numbers 315 to 325 (present 811 to 821) on the north side. The architectural form of the Philadelphia house was limited by the narrow, deep city lots and large blocks. The narrow frontage encour- aged the development of back buildings and alleys to service them.' These back buildings, however, generally covered less than half of the open space of the lot, allowing small gardens and courtyards to be incorporated into the rear area of the lot. Ventilation and light were thus admitted to the back buildings9 and a trace of Penn's "greene countrie towne" preserved. This distinctive plan for using the narrow city lot, with some minor modifications, has continued into the twentieth century and indeed become an architectural symbol of the city.10 During the period Philadelphia served as national and state capital, the city experienced a building boom. The sense of national pride felt by the city's inhabitants was expressed in architecture through the medium of classical detail. Janson, in his Strangers in America wrote of Philadelphia in 1806, "The houses are well built, chiefly of red brick, and in general three stories high. In some of the streets uniformity is observed .. ." Uniformity however was rare, a result of a comparable rarity of speculative row building on the city's principal streets. Contiguous land titles were difficult to obtain except in the less built up areas of Philadelphia.1 2 Rather a variety of detail of roofing, cornice, door and window treatment typified the Philadelphia rows. A majority of the houses had a single front door facing the main street, to the left or right of two windows, although occasionally a house occupied a double lot, allowing a central door and hallway, flanked by paired windows. Gable roofs, high chimneys in the party walls, foreshortened third story windows and one to three dormers piercing the HIGH STREET 115 roof was the rule. One or more stone steps provided access to the front door, with simple wrought iron handrails. Further obstructing the sidewalk were often bulkhead entrances to the basement accessed by inclined double doors."3 Similar structures of more or less elaborate detail and interior design characterize the city homes of the wealthy and middle classes of Philadelphians. By 1800 due to changed business conditions, the installation of water works and other civic improvements, the wealthy were moving back into the city from the suburbs and erecting fashionable city row houses. Anthony Garvan analyzed the architectural surveys of the Mutual Assurance Company, an eighteenth century Philadelphia fire insurance company. He found the following plan most common for those houses insured prior to 1800: a two room, three story structure with a shop and parlor or simply front and back room on the first floor, bedchambers and rarely a front parlor on the second floor, and garret quarters for servants and/or other small rooms on the third floor. The kitchen was usually located in an adjacent wing or the cellar. Backbuildings are typical, accessed via a piazza-a partly or entirely walled covered staircase. Narrow halls led from the front door to the staircase and opened onto the front and rear rooms. The staircase consisted for the most part of a straight long run along the party wall nearest the front entrance with a single turn near the top to the second floor passageway directly above and to the rear of that on the floor below. Accompanying the classicism of the period was a concentration of attention on the individual functional members of a room: doors, windows, fireplaces, cornices, ceiling centerpieces, and staircases, and to reduce the elaboration of the wall surface." In "High Street, from Ninth Street," William Birch captured an instant in the life of Philadelphia at the turn of the nineteenth century. An examination of the houses portrayed, their owners and occupants, will aid in illuminating the essence of the city Birch sought to memorialize. Diverse sources are available for research of this sort. Deeds, wills, probate inventories and letters of administration have supplied information on the ownership of the land, its transference, and something of the houses' interior layout and furnishing, while the city directories have enabled the occupants of the houses to be traced through time. In addition, surveys for fire insurance policies from two of the contemporary insurance companies have provided a wealth of data on the houses themselves. Similar information is recorded in the surveys of both the Philadelphia Contributionship, founded in 1754, and the Mutual 116 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

Assurance Company, established in 1784. Basic building materials, the number of stories, plan, use and decoration were important in a determination of the rate for insuring a particular property, and thus information on each of these aspects of the building and lot was obtained.'6 Appendix I contains an abstract of the title of ownership of the properties considered, and Appendix 2 presents the residents of the houses from 1790 to 1806 as they appear in the Philadelphia directories. Comparison of the two reveals two important facts of Philadelphia life-the transiency of residence and the prevalence of even upper class, elite Philadelphians renting rather than owning their homes. Numerous factors account for the trend. The city experienced rapid growth during this period: foreign diplomats and federal officials spent varying lengths of time in residence, the wealthy began their move back from the suburbs to the urban center of activity, and the accompanying real estate development increased the number and range in quality of dwellings in the city. In addition, a high degree of transiency existed among craftsmen. As apprentices and journeymen advanced to masters, they moved on to establish their own businesses, their places being filled by new trainees. Further insight into the owners and occupants of the houses Birch pictured, as well as the buildings themselves, can be gained from a consideration of available information, presented below. In the immediate foreground on the right side of the view, (see Figure 3) the south side of High Street, are portrayed two similar three story brick structures. The large chimney serving one of the houses is seen over the top of a gabled dormer which straddles the party wall between the two structures. A deep modillioned cornice and stone stringer courses delineating each of the upper floors, ornament the facade. Each house consists of three bays, the westernmost house being entered through the western bay; the door in the eastern house is located in its easternmost bay. The windows, capped by a keyed stone lintel, are unshuttered; and the doors, reached by two or three stone steps are framed by engaged columns topped by an apparent full entablature. A bulkhead entrance provides access to the basement of the western house. Adjacent and to the east of these two houses stands a smaller three story brick structure, with a pair of gabled dormers piercing the roof. The two first floor windows are, however, shuttered, and the door, placed in the eastern bay of the house, is capped by a pediment. Another large three story brick house stands to the east of this, featuring a single HIGH STREET 117 gabled dormer, deep cove cornice, stringer courses, and the typical three bay facade. The first floor windows are shuttered in this instance also. Two single story structures to the east of the building just described break the row. The westernmost sports a single dormer, and the eastern structure is possibly of frame construction. An alley or empty lot appears to separate the two structures. This is not believed to be Eighth Street. Continuing eastward, the view recedes into the distance, and less of the detailing of the building is evident. Two large three story houses stand to the east of the frame structure mentioned above and a pair of Lombardy poplars. The western building appears to be very similar to the other large houses of the block, with its tall chimney stacks, dormers and steep gable roof. To the east and adjacent to it, however, stands a house unique in the view. Gable end facing High Street, the cornice is carried across the facade, creating the illusion of a pediment. A circular window piercing the pediment completes the classical design. The four bay facade of the building is also unusual. A son of the owner of a house pictured on the north side of High Street, Samuel Breck, has identified his father's home on a copy of the print. With this house as a reference, the others pictured could also be identified. Those lots are houses on the south side of the street lying across from the ones pictured on the north side were also considered, in the hope that similar identification of these houses would be possible. The findings are presented below. In 1788 the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania granted to Tench Francis and George Glentworth in trust for the representatives of Arent Sonmans, deceased merchant, late of Rotterdam, a tract of land on the south side of High Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets. The lot measured 132 feet in breadth along High Street and extended 306 feet to Grape, later Jayne, then Ranstead Street." (see Figure 1). On August 28 of the same year, the tract was subdivided, the westernmost lot, measuring 29 feet 4 inches by 306 feet was devised to Tench Francis and the adjacent lot to the east, measuring 18 feet 8 inches by 306 feet was acquired by Timothy Matlack. The two remaining lots were granted as follows: the westernmost, with dimensions of 44 feet by 306 feet to the devisees of Peter Sonmans, deceased, (Nos. 282-286) and the lot to the east, 40 feet in breadth by 306 feet to White Matlack. (Nos. 278-280).l8 Then on January 22, 1789, William Pollard, Peter Sonmans' executor, sold his lot to James Read for £375.'9 Read held the land throughout the period under consideration here. In 1821 this lot was further subdivided into three lots of equal size, 118 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY each measuring 14 feet 8 inches by 306 feet, dimensions determined by the houses built on the lots between 1789 and 1791. James Read's 1821 will described the buildings located on these lots as three adjoining three story brick houses,2 0 (Nos. 286 (820), 284 (818), and 282 (816)). Prior to 1806, no occupants are listed for No. 286 in the city directories. Beginning in 1805, Benjamin C. Buzby, a lumber merchant, is listed for No. 284, and the three previous years he occupied No. 282.2 In 1798 and 1799 Abraham Markoe, merchant and gentleman, lived there.22 Markoe (1727-1806), one of several brothers engaged in the sugar and rum trade with the West Indies, was a native of Denmark. In 1774 he was instrumental in organizing the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, and served as the body's first Captain. He maintained a mansion in the block between Ninth and Tenth on High Street during this period.23 In the 1800 Census, Markoe's household is recorded as including one free white male between 11 and 16, two between 17 and 26, one between 27 and 45, and himself, in addition to one free white female between the ages of 16 and 26, three aged 27 to 45 and one free black.24 Two houses, Nos. 278 and 280, were built on the lot owned by White Matlack sometime prior to 1791, when occupants are listed at these addresses in the city directories. Between 1798 and 1800 John Smith, a carpenter, occupied No. 280.25 One free white male aged 27 to 45, one female under ten years of age, one between 17 and 26, and one aged 27 to 45 occupied his household at the time of the 1800 Census. 26 Next door, at No. 278, lived Pennell Beale, a cabinetmaker, between 1798 and 18052 with one boy and two girls under ten years of age, and four males and two females aged 17 to 26.28 On July 28, 1784 the Supreme Executive Council granted by deed poll to Thomas Leiper two lots on the south side of High Street, beginning 82 feet west of Eighth Street, each 25 feet in breadth and 306 feet deep, to Jayne Street. (Nos. 274-276). In 1824 Leiper still retained title to the land, willing it to his son Samuel.2 9 Born on December 15, 1745 in Strathaven, Lanark, Scotland, Thomas Leiper was educated in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1763 he emigrated to Frederick County, Maryland, two years later removing to Philadelphia. Here he opened a warehouse to store and export tobacco with his cousin Gavin Hamilton. Within a few years he had opened his own business, becoming a leading wholesale and retail tobacco merchant.3 0 Variously he lived and conducted his business at 9 N. Water Street and 274 High Street. A friend of Washington and Jefferson, Leiper served as the first Sergeant of the First City Troop of Light Horse in 1774 and was active during the HIGH STREET 119

Revolution. An extensive investor in real estate in Philadelphia and the surrounding countryside, in 1785 he erected Strathavan on lands in Ridley, Springfield and Providence townships. The community which developed around this estate, Avondale, consisted of snuff mills, stone sawing mills, a grist mill and farm. Here in 1793 he experimented with horsedrawn tramways in the shipping of stone from his Avondale quarries to Philadelphia, and in 1809 he innovated with a horsedrawn car on rails laid on a steep incline." Associated in 1800 with A. J. Dallas in organizing the Pennsylvania Improvement Company to develop inland communication and banking, Leiper was also a leader in the first attempt to organize Philadelphia merchants into a society to better protect their interests.32 A supporter of the Republican Party, Leiper served as a Director of the Banks of Pennsylvania and of the United States and President of the Common Council of Philadelphia. A Presbyterian, he was also a founder of the Franklin Institute.33 In 1800 Leiper and his family moved into No. 274 High Street, residing there until his death in 1825.34 The Leiper household at the 1800 Census consisted of himself and his wife, Elizabeth Gray, one boy and three girls under ten years of age, two boys and three girls aged 11 to 16, two young men and four women aged 17 to 26 and one man aged 27 to 45.35 Between 1793 and 1800, James Wilson had occupied No. 274.36 Born in Scotland in 1742, he attended the Universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh prior to emigrating to Philadelphia in 1765. He entered John Dickinson's law office and was admitted to the bar in 1767. The following year he opened a practice in Reading and in 1771 he married Rachel Bird, bought a farm, and first became engaged in land speculating. After a change of heart during the course of the American Revolution, Wilson returned to Philadelphia in 1778 as an Episcopal and leader of the Republican Society. His greatest achieve- ment in public life was the role he played in the establishment of the federal constitution. In 1789, Wilson was appointed an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. A year before his death in 1798, he retired to Burlington, New Jersey.3 7 Israel Whelen, a merchant, resided in No. 276 from 1795 to 1797. In 1798, William Whelen, gentleman, is recorded in the city directories at that address. The next two years George and John Clymer respectively, merchants, occupied the house, and for at least the next six years, Alexander J. Dallas.38 Whelen, a Quaker, was born in December 1752 and married Mary Downing on May 13, 1772. Commissary general of the army during the Revolution, he also served as a financial agent of the 120 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY government. A member of the senate of Pennsylvania and the Philadel- phia Merchants Exchange, Whelen conducted an extensive shipping business from the corner of Market Street and Fourth.39 George Clymer, born in March 1739, was orphaned at the age of one, and raised by an uncle, William Coleman, in whose mercantile firm Clymer served as clerk, partner and finally successor. An ardent revolutionary, Clymer served as congressional delegate from Pennsylva- nia. After 1796, upon retiring from public life to promote his community interests, he served as President of the Philadelphia Bank and Academy of Fine Arts, and Vice President of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society.4 0 Alexander J. Dallas, another prominent Philadelphian, was born on Jamaica in 1759. He attended Edinburgh University and returned to the West Indies with his wife Arabella Smith in 1780, where he was admitted to the bar. Two years after his arrival in Philadelphia in 1783, Dallas was appointed Counselor on the Supreme Court of Pennsylva- nia. Over the next 24 years, he held successively the positions of Secretary of the Commonwealth, United States District Attorney for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury, and Acting Secretary of War.4 1 In 1800 Dallas' household residing at 276 High Street, consisted of two sons and two daughters aged below ten years, one daughter between 11 and 16, three women aged 27 to 45, himself, and three free blacks. 42 On January 17, 1791, policy numbers 236 to 239 were taken out by Thomas Leiper with the Mutual Assurance Company for the two houses he owned on High Street, Nos. 274 and 276. Each house was insured for £1000-£1500 for the main structure and another £500 for the staircase and back buildings. However only the southern half of the houses was covered by these policies and in 1795, two more, Nos. 544 and 545, each for an additional £500 coverage, were taken out on the northern half of the two houses.43 Each house measured 25 feet in breadth and 44 feet deep and stood three stories high. They are described on the policy as follows:

Lower Story Mantle Surbase Washboards Windows Cased and Stucco Cornice Hall Wanscotted subbase high second Story finished as below only Wainscoted under the Windows both stories hath Doweled Floors-Third Story finished as below only not Doweled Floors Garrets plaistered Trap Door Arched Dormer Windows Glass in Windows 19 by 12/2-Piazza 18 feet by 10.6 and three stories high with open Newel stairs and Mahogany HIGH STREET 121

Rampt Rails ballusters Wainscotted surbase high-Kitchen or Backbuildings 28 by 18 and three stories high Lower Story Surbase Washboards Windows Cased second and Third stories Mantle Surbase Washboards and Windows Cased. Floors Counter listed throughout the House to the Eastward finished in the same manner only there is a recess in the Kitchen Chamber for a Bed which is Wainscoted on all sides. Garvan notes on these structures that "although both buildings were rental properties, they were finished in an exceptionally fine manner and were among the most heavily insured properties carried by the Mutual Assurance Company prior to 1800."45 In 1790, Thomas Jefferson, then serving as Washington's Secretary of State, resided in No. 274. Scharf and Westcott provide the following description of the house at the time of his occupancy: The building in which Jefferson lived ... was once occupied as the Washington Museum and afterwards as Barrett's Gymnasium. Jefferson occupied the whole of this house, and there he gave audience to the many citizens who had business with him ... He introduced a fashion of sleeping apartment altogether unknown to our forefathers. This was by having a recess, for a bedstead, connected with the rooms occupied for everyday business, and which recess might be so closed in daytime that its use would not be suspected. The apartment which was constructed for Jefferson's use was between the breakfast room and the library ... The house was built by Thomas Leiper. There were stables at the lower end of the lot, which was extremely long, running back to a small street. On the south side of the house Jefferson erected a veranda, which was very pleasant in the summertime.4 6 In 1825, upon Thomas Leiper's death, his will was probated and an inventory taken of the furnishings of his High Street house, No. 274. It follows: Garret #1 3 bedsteads $6.00 3 beds and mattresses 12.00 Garret #2 3 bedsteads and bedding 7.00 Room #1 I bedstead and bedding 5.00 I bureau 4.00 122 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

1 table .75 3 chairs, washstand, etc. 1.00 Room #2 2 bedsteads and bedding 25.00 5 chairs 1.25 I looking glass .50 I bureau 1.00 6 pictures, washstand 1.50 Room #3 2 bedsteads and bedding 20.00 2 bureaus 13.00 I table, 4 chairs 2.00 washstand, pictures 2.00 Room #4 9 chairs and table 6.00 bureau 16.00 carpet 8.00 bedstead and bedding 25.00 looking glass 1.00 toilet 1.50 washstand and pictures 5.00 andirons 1.50 bedstead and bedding 18.00 wardrobe ---- 7 chairs 3.50 1 bureau 8.00 looking glass 4.00 andiron, shovel, tongs 3.00 candlesticks 1.50 picture ready stand 3.00 Hall 2 tables, 4 chairs 10.00 TR 3 tables 15.00 20 chairs 10.00 piano 100.00 sofa 10.00 carpet and rug 22.00 globe 25.00 2 looking glasses 6.00 20 pictures 80.00 HIGH STREET 123

3 waiters and candlesticks 6.00 andiron, shovel, tongs 5.00 mantle ornament 12.00 DR sideboard 12.00 13 chairs 6.00 2 tables with wings 18.00 1 stove 3.00 andirons, shovel, tongs 3.00 carpet 7.00 glass and pictures 15.00 E table 12.00 2 settees, 3 chairs 7.00 P sideboard 25.00 15 chairs 7.00 2 knife cases 6.00 clock 25.00 looking glass 12.00 open stove 5.00 andiron, shovel, tongs 8.00 carpet 20.00 K 3 tables 2.00 6 chairs 2.00 1 cookstove 15.00 cooking utensils 10.00 crockeryware 5.00 andirons, shovel, tongs 2.00 L coalstove 8.00 bookcase 12.00 table and desk 2.00 7 chairs 1.00 books, maps 100.00 barometer 8.00 Ss 2 stair carpets 8.00 31 sheets 31.00 pillowcases, towels 7.00 124 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

quilt and tablecloths 24.00 blankets 50.00 tablecloths, knife blade covers 3.00 rugs, carpet 4.00 bed and window curtains 21.00 10 sheets, towels 22.00 china 15.00 54 oz. plate 60.75 win 15.00 cann 10.00 pair horses and carriage 200.00 $1333.75 Sundries in house 60.00 $1 393.7547

This inventory reveals that in this finely furnished house there were two rooms in the garret serving as bedrooms, possibly accommodating servants, and four bedchambers on the second and third floors (assuming the recorder was beginning in the garret and working his way down), one of which was apparently the master bedroom and rather lavishly furnished. The hallway and "TR" are possibly also located on the second floor, the latter, with its sofa, piano, and globe, possibly serving as an informal entertainment area or "tea room." Located off an entry on the first floor were the dining room and parlor. A kitchen and apparently the library also were located to the rear in a backbuilding, along with a storage area for linens, china, and plate. In the administration account of the estate of William Lohman, ropemaker, is an entry in 1795, "The said executrix [his wife Veronica "Fanny"] charges herself with the amount sale of a three story brick house and lot in Market Street sold by her pursuant to the will £2200. ,48 That sale, of house No. 272 and lot, was to William and Janet Hamilton on October 17, 1795. The property measured 25 feet by 306 feet, extending south to Jayne Street. The Hamiltons retained ownership until 1806.49 Joseph Ogden, Clerk of the Market, and later Register of Weights and Measures occupied the house from Lohman's death until 1797. In 1798, William Hamilton and his family moved in, remaining through 1806.5° Four males 17 to 26, and one over 45, and two young girls under 10, one 11 to 17, and one woman aged 27 to 45, composed Hamilton's family at the time of the 1800 Census.5' On March 17, 1794, Veronica Lohman took out policy #429 with the HIGH STREET 125

Mutual Assurance Company, which provided £300 coverage for her home on High Street. In the survey, the house is described thus: Dimensions 25 feet in Front and 18 feet deep Lower story Mantle Breast with the Landscape pannel plaistered surbase washboards and Windows Cased second Story Mantle Closet frames washboards surbase and Windows cased third Story finished similar but not plaistered, Garret not plaistered Trap Door Roof about half Worn. NB Third story and Garret to be plaistered early in the spring.. . Garvan notes the unusual dimensions for a Philadelphia house, the width exceeding the depth, and its generally modest finishing.5 3 On the basis of the above information, the houses pictured in Birch's view cannot be positively identified. In his volume on Market Street, Joseph Jackson states that the house which Jefferson occupied in 1790 is included in the view.54 The architectural descriptions provided by the insurance surveys suggest the three houses pictured in the immediate foreground to be Nos. 276, 274, and 272. But, if this is the case, the perspective of the drawing seems slightly skewed. Figures 1 and 2 indicate that No. 276 lies directly across High Street from Nos. 313 and 311, which would be the houses pictured between the second and third Lombardy poplars in the view. Further research will be needed to settle the issue. The identification of those structures depicted on the north side of the street, however, is more secure. On July 9, 1783 the Supreme Executive Council granted to Alexan- der Quarrier and William Hunter three city lots beginning 155 feet 6 inches from the northwest corner of Eighth Street and running west 72 feet along the north side of High Street, and 306 feet to Filbert Street. Two years later the westernmost lot was devised to George Hunter, (No. 325) William's brother, and the Hunters and Quarrier "erected three capital messuages on the High Street fronts thereof and accommodated each of them with stables, coachhouses and other conveniences..."" They laid out an alley nine feet in breadth leading from the south side of Filbert Street exactly in the middle of the said lots south 101 feet I1 inches to a quadrangular court 26 by 27 feet 7 inches. This court to serve as a place to turn horses and carriages, and an alley five feet wide, led from the south side of the court to the rear of the middle lot56 (see Figure 2). On October 1, 1791, Quarrier having turned over his share in the lots to the Hunters, they sold the middle lot (Nos. 321-323) measuring 29 126 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY feet 9 inches by 144 feet 6 inches to Mordecai and Hanna Lewis. The Lewises subsequently sold the lot in August 1792 to Samuel Breck, who retained possession until after his death in 1809. Lots to the rear and around the court previously described, on which stood stables and the coachhouse, were included in the sale.57 In a copy of Birch's view of High Street looking east from Ninth Street owned by Samuel Breck's son, Samuel, was written: "the middle house with green blinds on the left belonged to Samuel Breck my father, who resided there many years. It was large, modern and convenient, and I sold it for my mother in 1810 for $16,500. The house adjoining belonged to our family and was sold for $9,000."5' The middle house, No. 321, refers to the middle one of "Hunter's Row" pictured in the view. Shown to the west is No. 323. Hunter's row thus represented an early example of the speculative land development, which, though rare in Philadelphia, resulted in rows of identical houses when it did occur. These houses typified fashionable city homes of the period. Three stories, of brick construction, the gable roof was pierced by a row of four or five gabled dormers. Each house consisted of three bays, and a stringer course separated the second and third stories. The doors were treated in the latest style, capped by a pediment supported by engaged columns. The windows of the first two floors bore an entablature, and were glazed with six over six paned sliding sashes. The third floor windows were foreshortened. All windows were shuttered. Wrought iron railings served the stone steps and fenced the front of the houses. In 1798 Samuel Otis, Secretary of the U.S. Senate, occupied No. 323, and beginning in 1800, until 1806, George Reinold, a gentleman and merchant, lived there.59 In 1790, at the time of the first census, George Hunter, coachmaker, occupied the premises with a household of six free white males over the age of 16, and five females.6 0 George Rhinehart's (Reinold) family, listed in the 1800 census, consisted of one male and two females between 17 and 26, one man aged 27 to 45, and five free blacks.6 ' Next door, at No. 321, in 1790 resided William Smith of South Carolina and Dr. Thomas Rushton and his family, composed of three males over the age of 16, one younger boy, and free white females. 62 Samuel Breck, who occupied No. 321 with his family from 1792 until his death in 1809, was born in Boston on April 11, 1747. He married Hannah Andrews, and in 1792 moved to Philadelphia. In 1800 his household consisted of one son and one daughter in the 11 to 16 age group, a son and a daughter between 17 and 26, another son in the 27 to HIGH STREET 127

45 age bracket, four women over the age of 45, and two free blacks.6 3 In his memoir of Samuel's son, a prominent Philadelphian also named Samuel Breck, Joseph Ingersoll described the character of life on the block the Brecks resided on at the time Birch's view was produced: Families occupied almost all of the houses-some of them being the homes of bachelors of wealth, equally devoted to the display of elegance. The northwest [probably northeast] corner of Market and ninth streets was held by such a gentleman. A custom prevailed to make the pavement along the north side a resort on Sunday afternoons and evenings, of gay and well-dressed persons, male and female; not less crowded than a visitor at Paris sees in the neighborhood of the Bois de Boulogne. At that period the southeastern part of the town, which has undergone a change, was also especially a fashionable place of abode. He [Samuel Breck] wrote to a friend in 1854 that he has seen assembled at his father's of an evening, in a social way, the three Princes of Orleans, one of whom became King Louis Phillipe; Talleyrand, and his inseparable companion Beaumez; Volney, and ... many other distinguished French noblemen .. 64 The younger Samuel Breck, in his Recollections, describes his father's house as ". . . a modern construction with lofty ceilings; a front of thirty feet; a deep lot with coachhouse and stables in the rear and a carriage way into Filbert street."6 5 He also gives a lively account of the social life maintained by the wealthy upper crust of Philadelphians, among whom the Brecks and other residents of the western reaches of High Street ranked. The city was all alive, and a round of entertainments was kept up by the following families: Robert Morris, William Bingham, John Ross, Henry Hill, Thomas Moore, Walter Stewart, Gov. Thomas Mifflin, ex-Gov. John Penn, Samuel Powell, Benjamin Chew, Phineas Bond, Thomas Ketland, Pierce Butler, Langton Smith, General Knox, S. B., Alexander Hamilton, etc. Besides these, General Washington . . . Samuel Adams .. . Dinners were got up in elegance and good taste. Besides Bingham and Morris and the President, who had French cooks, as well as most of the foreign ministers, there was a most admirable artist ... Marinot, who supplied the tables of private gentlemen when they entertained, with all that the most refined gourmands could desire.66 Although the house itself was not insured, on January 24, 1792 128 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

Mordecai Lewis had taken out a policy to cover the stables and coachhouse located to the rear of his residences. Valued at £150, the buildings measured 32 feet (including the five foot alley) by 29 feet and stood two stories in height. "Because of the hazardous function of the buildings and the large amount of exposed wood in the interior, the owner was charged an extremely high rate for insurance."6 7 An estimate of the worth of the furniture and some idea of the plan of the Breck house can be obtained from the following inventory made of the property at the time of Breck's death in 1809: Drawing room $600.00 Bedroom 150.00 Women room 40.00 Charles' room 40.00 Miss Breck's room 60.00 Garrets 40.00 6 quart cask wine 400.00 Plate, linen, tables, kitchen furniture, china 2000.00 $3330.00 Carriages, horses, etc. 600.00 $3930.006 Sometime after 1790 William Hunter sold the easternmost lot and house in the row to Seth Craig (No. 319) (see Figures 2, 3), who retained possession until after 1810. William Hunter, coachmaker, was living in the house with two males over the age of 16, two younger boys, and two females in 1790.69 In 1798 George Davis moved in, residing there with one son under ten years of age, a son and two daughters aged 11 to 16, one son and one daughter between 17 and 26, and his wife aged 27 to 45. In 1800, Davis, a merchant, lawyer and seller of law books, was over 45 years old.7 0 On May 26, 1787, James Byrne sold a lot measuring 33 feet wide and 306 feet deep to John Lukens. (Nos. 315-317) Located on the north side of High Street between Eighth and Ninth Streets, the land was bounded on the west by the lots of George and William Hunter. In March of 1789 Lukens sold the land to Townsend Speakman, a druggist, for £320.7' Two houses were constructed on the site (see Figure 3), the westernmost one, No. 317, being completed in 1790-1791. Insured by Speak- man with the Philadelphia Contributionship January 9,1792, for £300 HIGH STREET 129

(house) and £200 (backbuildings), the survey describes the house as follows: The House 20 feet 9 inches frount and 46 feet depe three storeys high-14 and 9 inch walls two Rooms and a Passage on a floor-Chimney Breasts-with Rich Mantles-and Tabernickel frames in the two first storeys, and Wainscot surbace high, and a Plane Duble Cornice Round in the Second Storey; and an I Dentel Cornice all Round the Lower Storey, with 2 fluted Faches-2 Arches in the Entry and fluted Pilasters-and floors Doweld- third Storey Small Mantles. Surbase and Skirting-floors Com- mon-Garrott and Partitions Pleastread-Stair Case 9 feet 6 inches by 18 feet three Storey high 9 inch Walls-three flights of Open Newell Stairs Rampd and Bracked and Wainscott Surbace high-A neat Frontish Peice in frount and Modilion Cornice at the Eves of house-Kitchen 14 feet by 26 feet three storey high 9 inch Walls, the Second and third Storeys finishd with small Mantles- Surbace and Skirting-Lower part Plane-Wash house 14 feet by 17 feet one story high Plane-Glass in frount of House 9 by 12-the Whole Painted in and out side-and New.72 The exterior facade, featuring a modillioned cornice and "neat Frontish Peice" consisting of a pedimented doorway supported by engaged columns, is as pictured in Birch's view. The interior, richly finished in the new Federal mode, was appropriately elegant for its occupant from 1793 to 1799, John Travis, merchant and gentleman.73 Travis' estate at the time of his death in 1803 was valued at $75,569.74 In 1790, Robert Nichols, a shopkeeper, lived on the site with a son under 16 years of age, his wife and four daughters.7 5 John Guest, also a merchant, was residing in the house at the time of the 1800 Census, and his household was composed of his three sons and one daughter under ten years of age, one daughter aged 11 to 16, four young men aged 17 to 26, his wife and two women between 27 and 45 years of age, and one free black.76 Adjacent to No. 317 on his lot Speakman erected another three story house, similarly finished but a bit taller than its neighbor (see Figure 3). The three bay facade featured a handsome pedimented doorway as its next door neighbor's; the roof was pierced by a gabled dormer. This house, No. 315, must have been completed by 1795, the first year an occupant is listed in the city directory. Major Pierce Butler, a Senator from South Carolina, resided there in 1795-1796, followed by Chevalier i.. It:C:S`

I I

A I1

- 115117pm .1

Aftow

,I gU, -3 . i a - - Figure 3 r 132 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY de Yrujo, "envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the Court of Spain." In 1802 Richard W. Meade, a merchant, occupied the house. 77 Meade was born in Chester County on June 23, 1778. Following completion of a private school education in Philadelphia, he entered his father's business. In 1801 he married Margaret C. Butler and embarked in a mercantile business venture of his own. By 1804 he had removed to Cadiz, Spain serving there as naval agent for the United States.7 8 Another eminent merchant and philanthropist, Paul Beck Jr. resided at No. 315 from 1804 to 1806.79 In addition to his mercantile interests which earned him an estate valued at $1,250,000 at his death in 1844, Beck was a founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, treasurer of Christ Church Hospital, president of the Institute of the Deaf and Dumb, and actively involved with the American Sunday School Union.80 A survey of the residents of the houses surrounding those pictured in Birch's view listed in the Philadelphia directories confirms the elite character of the neighborhood, dominated by mercantile and profes- sional men. West of No. 284 on the south side of the street, the block was uninhabited prior to 1801. To the east, Samuel Wallis, gentleman, resided in No. 270 from 1797 to 1800 and in 1801, Simon Gratz, a grocer. Alexander Austin, a shoemaker, lived next to Wallis from 1794 to 1798 in No. 268, later occupied by William Cathars. Finally, on the corner of Eighth and Market lived William Headman, a potter, in 1798, and John Smith, stone cutter and marble mason, in the early years of the nineteenth century. Across the street, the western end of the block was inhabited earlier than on the south side. Robert Fielding had his coachmaking shop at No. 325 from 1794 to 1804, and the next door in the late 1790s lived David Kennedy, Secretary of the Land Office. No. 329 was occupied by a couple of widows during this period, first Sarah Connelly and after 1797 Ann Kenedy. The first resident of No. 331 listed in the directories was Caspar Morris, brewer, in 1801. James Pemberton, then Benjamin, and finally Samuel Shoemaker lived at No. 333; all were merchants. Samuel Pleasants, another merchant, resided at No. 335 throughout the period. On the eastern end of the block George Davis lived at No. 313 until 1798, when Joseph Musgrave, merchant, moved in. The rest of the block was owned and occupied by George Seckel, a gentleman, and his brother David, a grazier and butcher. Scharf and Westcott, discussing the Birch views, point out precisely HIGH STREET 133 the significance of these engravings to the student of Federal Philadel- phia.

One of the most important matters connected with these pictures is the delineation of street scenes in the neighborhood of the buildings, which are the principal subjects of the plates. The varieties of the costumes of the men and women are interesting, curious and amusing, showing the fashions of the day. The occupations of persons who ply their callings in the street are shown and even the amusements of the time, life, animation, industry, and the social differences between artisans, laborers, and people of fashion are clearly distinguished. The Birch views are actual panoramas of street life in the city, and the more valuable upon that account. 81

Fashionable people, as would be expected on such a fashionable avenue, are depicted entering and leaving the houses, strolling along the sidewalks, engaged in conversation or intent upon other activities under way in the street. Drays and wagons hauling wood and other supplies signify the commercial aspects of High Street, along with the market stalls depicted in the background. Dominating the foreground, however, is a body of cavalry, probably of the First City Troop of Light Horse. Organized in 1774, this association epitomized the free association in Philadelphia, as well as the revolutionary spirit of the new republic which it embodied. William Birch spent much time in surveying the city and deciding upon the subjects for views, as previously pointed out, in order to best express his purpose of giving "the most general idea of the town" and standing "as a memorial of its progress for the first century ."82 Why did he include "High Street, from Ninth Street" in the portfolio? One of seven views of High Street, Philadelphia's main artery, and the only in which the focus is not on an important public building, the residences of Philadelphians dominated the view. For the most part, however, these were not ordinary Philadelphians, but wealthy, fashionable merchants, government officials, and foreign ministers. Such people represent the cream and ideal of Philadelphia society at the time, for the city thrived on account of its mercantile activity and basked in the limelight of its position as U. S. capital between 1790 and 1800. The residences pictured ranked among the most handsome results of the expansion of the city westward during this period and the return of the elite to the city proper with an improvement in sanitation and the advantages to be gained in living near the heart of the national capital. 134 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

Birch chose the people and activities he portrayed as carefully and purposefully as the buildings. Philadelphia's finest citizens are shown strolling the avenue, everyday business is going on as usual, and the First City Troop of Light Horse, a Philadelphia institution, is promi- nently represented in the foreground. This scene, however, was short-lived. As the city grew, the character of the neighborhood adapted to the changing function of Market Street. By the 1840s, as the transportation center of the city, hotels crowded the blocks around the Pennsylvania railroad depot. Beginning in the 1880s, the area assumed the role it plays today-that of commercial and shopping center-and mammoth department stores, occupying whole blocks, sprang up to dominate the scene. Birch's view and the richness of Philadelphia's historical resources have made it possible to recreate this segment of Market Street's lost past. The buildings, the residents and the social context illustrate the paragon of life in Philadelphia in 1800. William Birch could not have chosen a more expressive scene.

NOTES

1. Charles F. Montgomery and Patricia E. Kane, American Art: 1750-1800 Towards Independence (Boston, 1976), p. 129. 2. Stefanie A. Munsing, "William Birch," Philadelphia. Three Centuries of American Art (Philadelphia, 1976), p. 181. 3. William Birch, The City of Philadelphia,in the State of Pennsylvania, North America; as it appeared in the year 1800, p. 1, as quoted in Joseph Jackson, Encyclopedia of Philadelphia(Harrisburg, Pa., 1931), I, pp. 296-297. 4. Martin P. Snyder, "William Birch: His Philadelphia Views," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 73, No. 3 ( July 1949), p. 277. 5. John F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, in the Olden Time (Philadelphia, 1927), 11, p. 407. 6. James Mease, Picture of Philadelphia(Philadelphia, 1811), pp. 25-26. 7. Joseph Jackson, Market Street Philadelphia. The Most Historic Highway in America (Philadelphia, 1918), p. 136. The best secondary source available on the development of the street, containing anecdotes about buildings, owners, and occupants of High (Market) Street from the 1680s to ca. 1915. The narrative style of presentation (short on footnotes documenting sources for specific bits of information) is, however, unfortunate, and probably determined by the general audience the author was addressing. 8. Anthony N. B. Garvan, City Chronicles:Philadelphia's Urban Image in Paintingand Architecture (Philadelphia, 1976), p. 5. 9. Ibid., p. 10. 10. George Bishop Tatum, Penn's Great Town (Philadelphia, 1961), p. 34. 11. Joseph Jackson, Development of American Architecture, 1783-1830 (Philadelphia, 1926), p. 96. 12. Garvan, City Chronicles, p. 8. HIGH STREET 135

13. Frank Cousins and Phil M. Riley, The Colonial Architecture of Philadelphia (Boston, 1920), pp. 39-40. 14. Anthony N. B. Garvan, Cynthia Koch, Donald Arbuckle, Deborah Hart, The Architectural Surveys 1784-1794, Mutual Assurance Company Papers, ed. by Anthony N. B. Garvan, 1976, 1, p. xiv. 15. Fiske Kimball, Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and the Early Republic, rev. (New York, 1966), pp. 239-240. 16. Garvan, The Architectural Surveys, p. xiv. 17. William Pollard, executor to James Read, January 22, 1789, Deed Book D 22, pp. 296-299. Deeds recorded as registered with the City of Philadelphia, and available on microfilm in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, City. Hall. 18. Trustees of Arent Sonmans to Tench Francis, Timothy Matlack, Peter Sonmans, White Matlack, August 28, 1788, Deed Book D 20, p. 393. 19. Pollard, pp. 296-299. 20. John Read to Anna Read, December 9, 1841, Deed Book RLL 21, p. 2 6 1 . 21. James Robinson, The Philadelphia Directory for 1802-1805. Various publishers offered Philadelphia city directories during the years considered here, 1791-1806. For brevity, author, title and appropriate years will be referenced here. Complete sets of the directories are available at the Van Pelt Library, University of Pennsylvania; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; and the City Archives, City of Philadelphia, City Hall Annex. 22. Cornelius W. Stafford, The Philadelphia Directory for 1798-1799. 23. Jackson, 1918, p. 147. 24. Population Schedules, Middle Ward, Philadelphia, 1800 Census. Microfilm, His- toric Society of Pennsylvania. 25. Cornelius W. Stafford, The Philadelphia Directory for 1798 and 1800 26. 1800 Census. 27. The Philadelphia Directory for 1798-1806. 28. 1800 Census. 29. Executors of Thomas Leiper to Samuel M. Leiper, September 25, 1826, Deed Book GWR 13, p. 236. Executors of Samuel Leiper to David Peacock and Thomas Bell, June 5, 1858, Deed Book ADB 24, pp. 180-187. 30. Robert P. Robins, A Short Account of the First Permanent Tramway in America (Philadelphia, 1886), p. 7. 31. Samuel G. Smyth, Thomas Leiper (Conshohocken, Pa., 1900), pp. 7-9, 13-14. 32. Ibid., pp. 10, 12. 33. Robins, p. 8. 34. The Philadelphia Directory for 1800-1806. 35. 1800 Census. 36. The Philadelphia Directory for 1793-1800 37. Julian P. Boyd, "James Wilson," Directory of American Biography, ed. by Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone (New York, 1937), 20, pp. 326-330. 38. The Philadelphia Directory for 1795-1806. 39. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia 1609-1884 (Phila- delphia, 1884), 111, pp. 2086-2087. 136 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY

40. James Ballagh, "George Clymer," Johnson and Malone, 4, p. 234. 41. J. H. Ennis, "Alexander James Dallas," Johnson and Malone, 5, pp. 36-38. 42. 1800 Census. 43. Garvan, The Architectural Surveys, pp. 166, 168. 44. Survey for Mutual Assurance Co. Policy Nos. 236-239, Thomas Leiper, January 17, 1791, quoted in Garvan, The Architectural Surveys, p. 167. 45. Garvan, The Architectural Surveys, p. 166. 46. Scharf and Westcott, I, p. 462. 47. Inventory of the Estate of Thomas Leiper, 1824, File #83. Probate documents recorded as on file with the Recorder of Wills, City of Philadelphia, City Hall. 48. Administration Account of the Estate of William Lohman, 1793, File #377. 49. William and James Hamilton to Michael Billmeyer, March 24,1806, Deed Book EF 23, p. 6 15 . 50. The Philadelphia Directory for 1793-1806. 51. 1800 Census. 52. Survey for Mutual Assurance Co. Policy No. 429, Veronica Lohman, March 17, 1794, quoted in Garvan, The ArchitecturalSurveys, p. 270. 53. Ibid., p. 271. 54. Jackson, 1918, p. 138. 55. Mordecai and Hannah Lewis to Samuel Breck, August 1, 1792, Deed Book D 31, p. 232. 56. Ibid. 57. Ibid. 58. Jackson, 1918, p. 137. 59. The Philadelphia Directory for 1798- 1806. 60. Population Schedules, North Ward Philadelphia, 1790 Census. 61. Population Schedules, North Ward Philadelphia, 1800 Census. 62. 1790 Census. 63. 1800 Census. 64. Joseph Ingersoll, Memoir of the Late Samuel Breck, Vice President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1863), n.p., quoted in Jackson, 1918, pp. 136-137. 65. Ibid., p. 137. 66. H. E. Scudder, ed. Recollections of Samuel Breck (Philadelphia, 1877), pp. 187-189. 67. Garvan, The Architectural Surveys, p. 2 1 1 . 68. Inventory of the Estate of Samuel Breck, 1809, File #55. 69. 1790 Census. 70. 1800 Census. The PhiladelphiaDirectory for 1798-1806. 71. John Lukens to Townsend Speakman, March 26,1789, Deed Book EF, p. 673. 72. Policy #2486, Survey of House of Townsend Speakman, Philadelphia Contribution- ship, January 9, 1792. 73. The PhiladelphiaDirectory for 1793- 1799. 74. Administration Account of the estate of John Travis, 1803, File #204. HIGH STREET 137

75. 1790 Census. 76. 1800 Census. 77. The PhiladelphiaDirectory for 1795- 1802. 78. John H. Frederick, "Richard Worsam Meade," Johnson and Malone, 12, p. 477. 79. The Philadelphia Directory for 1804-1806. 80. Henry Simpson, The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians(Philadelphia, 1859), pp. 39, 46. 81. Scharf and Westcott, 11, p. 1056. 82. Jackson, 1931, 1, pp. 296-297. 0 E' 1o C' 10 . ~2 0

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South Side

838 288 1801-1805 826 OLIVER EVANS 1802 Merchant JOHN WILLIAMSON 1803- 1804 SANSON AND HOLIDAY Stone cutters 1804 HENRY ORTH China merchant 1805- 1806 JOHN SANSOM Stone cutter 284 282 818 816 1805- 1806 1798- 1799 BENJAMIN C. BUZBY ABRAHAM MARKOE Merchant 1802, 1804 BENJAMIN C. BUZBY Lumber merchant 280 278 814 812 1791 1791-1796 WILLIAM HAMILTON WILLIAM HAMILTON Carpenter Carpenter 1798- 1800 1795, 1796 JOHN SMITH JOHN SMITH Carpenter Carpenter 1802, 1805 1798-1805 HUGH ANDREWS PENNELL BEALE 1804-1806 Cabinetmaker JESSE BURROWS Carpenter 1804 JOHN ROBERTS Cabinetmaker 276 274 810 808 1791 1790 FRANCIS VANBERCKEL THOMAS JEFFERSON Rep. of United Netherlands Secretary of State 1793 1795-1800 THEOPHILUS CAVENOVE JAMES WILSON Gentleman Supreme Court Justice 1794 1801-1806 THOMAS LEIPER THOMAS LEIPER Tobacconist Appendix 2 (Continued) Occupants of the Block Between Eighth Street and Ninth Street on High Street, 1790-1806

South Side

276 810 1795- 1797 ISRAEL WHELEN Merchant 1798 WILLIAM WHELEN 1799 GEORGE CLYMER Merchant 1800 JOHN CLYMER Merchant 1801-1806 ALEXANDER J. DALLAS Secretary of Commonwealth 272 270 806 804 1791 -1793 1791 -1793 WILLIAM LOHMAN JOSEPH OGDEN Ropemaker Clerk of the Market 1794- 1797 1794 JOSEPH OGDEN JARED INGERSOL Register of Weights and Measures Attorney Genl. PA 1798- 1806 1795 WILLIAM HAMILTON JOSEPH CARRE Carpenter Ice cream seller 1804 1797- 1799 JAMES CONCHY SAMUEL WALLIS Shopkeeper Gentleman 1806 1796 JOHN INSKEEP DAVID REES Mayor Merchant 1801 SIMON GRATZ Grocer 1802 JOHN DAVIS Merchant 1803 GENERAL IRVINE 1804- 1805 SAMUEL E. HOWELL Merchant 1806 BENJAMIN JONES Merchant Appendix 2 (Continued) Occupants of the Block Between Eighth Street and Ninth Street on High Street, 1790-1806

South Side

268 266 802 800 1791 1798 HENRY KREMER WILLIAM HEADMAN Shopkeeper Potter 1794- 1798 1801-1804 ALEXANDER AUSTIN JOHN SMITH Shoemaker Stone cutter, marble mason 1794 JOSEPH OGDEN 1799 WILLIAM CATHARS 1801 M. GUNKLE JOEL WESCOTT Carter 1803 JACOB WESCOTT Carter 1804- 1805 THOMAS CLEMSON Cloth merchant

North Side

335 333 833 831 1794 1795- 1796 WILLIAM DEVENY JAMES PEMBERTON 1795-1805 Merchant SAMUEL PLEASANTS 1797 Merchant BENJAMIN SHOEMAKER 1804- 1805 1799- 1800 JAMES PLEASANTS SAMUEL SHOEMAKER Merchant Gentleman 1801 REBECCA SHOEMAKER Gentlewoman 1802-1806 EDWARD DUNANT Merchant 331 329 829 827 1801 1791 CASPAR MORRIS JOHN LESHER Brewer Mead house 1803 1793-1795 PETER KUHN SARAH CONNELY Merchant Appendix 2 (Continued) Occupants of the Block Between Eighth Street and Ninth Street on High Street, 1790-1806

North Side

331 329 829 827 1804 1797- 1805 GEORGE RINO ANN KENNEDY Merchant Gentlewoman JAMES ROBB 1805 Porter ROBERT KENNEDY 1805 ANDREW BAYARD Merchant ROBERT FIELDING Coachmaker 327 325 825 823 1794- 1796 1791 DAVID KENNEDY DAVID KENNEDY Secretary, Land Office 1793- 1804 ROBERT FIELDING Coachmaking shop 323 321 821 819 1791 1791 GEORGE HUNTER DR. THOMAS RUSHTON Coach factory WILLIAM SMITH 1794 1793- 1806 JOHN CASENAVE SAMUEL BRECK Gentleman Gentleman 1795- 1796 JOHN ECKSTEIN Limner 1798 SAMUEL OTIS 1801-1806 GEORGE REINOLD Merchant 319 317 817 815 1791 -1793 1791 WILLIAM HUNTER ROBERT NICHOLS Coachmaker 1793- 1799 1794-1795 JOHN TRAVIS EDMUND RANDOLPH Merchant 1796-1797 1801 WILLIAM RUSSELL JOHN GUEST Merchant Merchant 1798- 1806 1802- 1804 GEORGE DAVIS JOHN DORSEY Lawyer, merchant Sugar refiner Appendix 2 (Continued) Occupants of the Block Between Eighth Street and Ninth Street on High Street, 1790-1806

North Side

317 815 1805- 1806 ELIZABETH FOX Gentlewoman 315 313 813 811 1795-1796 1791-1796 MAJOR PIERCE BUTLER GEORGE DAVIS Senator Grocer 1798-1800 1798 CHEVALIER DE YRUJO JOSEPH MUSGRAVE Spanish minister Merchant 1802 1801 -1803 RICHARD W. MEADE EZEKIEL MADDOCK Merchant Grocer 1803 1805 THOMAS KETLAND GEORGE ALLCHIN Merchant Bookbinder 1804- 1806 JOHN SMITH PAUL BECK Grocer Merchant 1806 JOHN REILLY Grocer 311 309 809 807 1791-1796 1791-1800 DAVID SECKEL GEORGE D. SECKEL 1800 Gentleman EDWARD JONES 1801 Merchant CLAYTON EARL 1801-1802 Merchant GEORGE DAVIS 1802 Grocer JAMES TAYLOR 1803 Merchant THOMAS CANBY 1803-1805 Merchant SAMUEL ROBINSON 1804 Carpenter CADWALLADER EVANS Agent 1806 THOMAS STIFF Hairdresser 307 305 805 803 1791 1790 DAVID EVERHARD THOMAS JEFFERSON Butcher Office Appendix 2 (Continued) Occupants of the Block Between Eighth Street and Ninth Street on High Street, 1790-1806

North Side

303 803 1793 1794- 1796 WILLIAM LAMBSON SAMUEL BRYAN Shallopmaker Register General of PA VIZERS AND JONES 1797-1806 Upholsterers DAVID SECKEL 1797 Grazier SAMUEL BRYAN 1798 GEORGE BRYAN 1801-1805 ROBERT FIELDING Coachmaker 1806 SARAH PAXON