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Title: Pittsburgh: a sketch of its early social life
Author: Charles W. Dahlinger
Release date: September 15, 2023 [eBook #71653]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916
Credits: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PITTSBURGH: A SKETCH OF ITS EARLY SOCIAL LIFE ***
[Illustration: PITTSBURGH IN 1790
As sketched by Lewis Brantz
From Schoolcraft’s _Indian Antiquities_]
PITTSBURGH
A SKETCH OF ITS EARLY
SOCIAL LIFE
BY
CHARLES W. DAHLINGER
[Illustration]
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1916
COPYRIGHT, 1916
BY
CHARLES W. DAHLINGER
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To
B. McC. D.
PREFACE
The purpose of these pages is to describe the early social life of
Pittsburgh. The civilization of Pittsburgh was crude and vigorous,
withal prescient of future culture and refinement.
The place sprang into prominence after the conclusion of the French
and Indian War, and upon the improvement of the military roads laid
out over the Alleghany Mountains during that struggle. Pittsburgh was
located on the main highway leading to the Mississippi Valley, and
was the principal stopping place in the journey from the East to the
Louisiana country. The story of its early social existence, interwoven
as it is with contemporaneous national events, is of more than local
interest.
C. W. D.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,
November, 1915.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--THE FORMATIVE PERIOD 1
II.--A NEW COUNTY AND A NEW BOROUGH 22
III.--THE MELTING POT 38
IV.--LIFE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 62
V.--THE SEAT OF POWER 90
VI.--PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AFFAIRS 114
VII.--A DUEL AND OTHER MATTERS 138
VIII.--ZADOK CRAMER 161
IX.--THE BROADENING OF CULTURE 184
INDEX 209
Pittsburgh
CHAPTER I
THE FORMATIVE PERIOD
Until all fear of Indian troubles had ceased, there was practically no
social life in American pioneer communities. As long as marauding bands
of Indians appeared on the outskirts of the settlements, the laws were
but a loose net with large meshes, thrown out from the longer-settled
country whence they emanated. In the numerous interstices the laws were
ineffective. In this Pittsburgh was no exception. The nominal reign of
the law had been inaugurated among the settlers in Western Pennsylvania
as far back as 1750, when the Western country was no man’s land, and
the rival claims set up by France and England were being subjected
to the arbitrament of the sword. In that year Cumberland County was
formed. It was the sixth county in the province, and comprised all
the territory west of the Susquehanna River, and north and west of
York County--limitless in its westerly extent--between the province of
New York on one side, and the colony of Virginia and the province of
Maryland on the other. The first county seat was at Shippinsburg, but
the next year, when Carlisle was laid out, that place became the seat
of justice.
After the conclusion of the French and Indian War, and the
establishment of English supremacy, a further attempt was made to
govern Western Pennsylvania by lawful methods, and in 1771 Bedford
County was formed out of Cumberland County. It included nearly all of
the western half of the province. With Bedford, the new county seat,
almost a hundred miles away, the law had little force in and about
Pittsburgh. To bring the law nearer home, Westmoreland County was
formed in 1773, from Bedford County, and embraced all of the province
west of “Laurel Hill.” The county seat was at Hannastown, three miles
northeast of the present borough of Greensburg. But with Virginia
and Pennsylvania each claiming jurisdiction over the territory an
uncertainty prevailed which caused more disregard for the law. The
Revolutionary War came on, with its attendant Indian troubles; and in
1794 the western counties revolted against the national government on
account of the imposition of an excise on whisky. It was only after the
last uprising had been suppressed that the laws became effective and
society entered upon the formative stage.
Culture is the leading element in the formation and progress of
society, and is the result of mental activity. The most potent agency
in the production of culture is education. While Pittsburgh was a
frontier village, suffering from the turbulence of the French and
Indian War, the uncertainty of the Revolution, and the chaos of the
Whisky Insurrection, education remained at a standstill. The men who
had blazed trails through the trackless forests, and buried themselves
in the woods or along the uncharted rivers, could usually read and
write, but there were no means of transmitting these boons to their
children. The laws of the province made no provision for schools
on its frontiers. In December, 1761, the inhabitants of Pittsburgh
subscribed sixty pounds and engaged a schoolmaster for the term of a
year to instruct their children. Similar attempts followed, but, like
the first effort, ended in failure. There was not a newspaper in all
the Western country; the only books were the Bible and the almanac.
The almanac was the one form of secular literature with which frontier
families were ordinarily familiar.
In 1764, while Pittsburgh was a trading post, the military authorities
caused a plan of the village to be made by Colonel John Campbell.
It consisted of four blocks, and was bounded by Water Street,
Second Street, now Second Avenue, Market and Ferry Streets, and was
intersected by Chancery Lane. The lots faced in the direction of Water
Street. In this plan most of the houses were built.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, the proprietors of the province
were the cousins, John Penn, Jr., and John Penn, both grandsons of
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Being royalists, they had
been divested of the title to all their lands in Pennsylvania, except
to a few tracts which had been surveyed, called manors, one of them
being “Pittsburgh,” in which was included the village of that name.
In 1784 the Penns conceived the design of selling land in the village
of Pittsburgh. The first sale was made in January, when an agreement
to sell was entered into with Major Isaac Craig and Colonel Stephen
Bayard, for about three acres, located “between Fort Pitt and the
Allegheny River.” The Penns determined to lay out a town according
to a plan of their own, and on April 22, 1784, Tench Francis, their
agent, employed George Woods, an engineer living at Bedford, to do
the work. The plan was completed in a few months, and included within
its boundaries all the land in the triangle between the Allegheny and
Monongahela Rivers, extending to Grant Street and Washington, now
Eleventh, Street. Campbell’s plan was adopted unchanged; Tench Francis
approved the new plan and began to sell lots. Major Craig and Colonel
Bayard accepted, in lieu of the acreage purchased by them, a deed for
thirty-two lots in this plan.
Until this time, the title of the occupants of lands included in the
plan had been by sufferance only. The earlier Penns were reputed to
have treated the Indians, the original proprietors of Pennsylvania,
with consideration. In the same manner John Penn, Jr., and John Penn
dealt with the persons who made improvements on the lands to which
they had no title. They permitted the settlement on the assumption
that the settlers would afterwards buy the land; and they gave them
a preference. Also when litigation arose, caused by the schemes of
land speculators intent on securing the fruits of the enterprise and
industry of squatters on the Penn lots, the courts generally intervened
in favor of the occupants.[1] The sale was advertised near and far, and
immigrants and speculators flocked into the village. They came from
Eastern Pennsylvania, from Virginia, from Maryland, from New York, and
from distant New England. The pack trains carrying merchandise and
household effects into Pittsburgh became ever longer and more numerous.
Once that the tide of emigration had set in toward the West, it grew
constantly in volume. The roads over the Alleghany Mountains were
improved, and wheeled conveyances no longer attracted the curious
attention that greeted Dr. Johann David Schoepf when he arrived
in Pittsburgh in 1783, in the cariole in which he had crossed the
mountains, an achievement which until then had not been considered
possible.[2] The monotonous hoof-beats of the pack horses became less
frequent, and great covered wagons, drawn by four horses, harnessed
two abreast, came rumbling into the village. But not all the people or
all the goods remained in Pittsburgh. There were still other and newer
Eldorados, farther away to the west and the south, and these lands of
milk and honey were the Meccas of many of the adventurers. Pittsburgh
was the depository of the merchandise sent out from Philadelphia and
Baltimore, intended for the western and southern country and for the
numerous settlements that were springing up along the Monongahela
and Allegheny Rivers.[3] From Pittsburgh trading boats laden with
merchandise were floated down the Ohio River, stopping at the towns on
its banks to vend the articles which they carried.[4] Coal was cheap
and emigrant and trading boats carried it as ballast.[5] In Pittsburgh
the immigrants lingered, purchasing supplies, and gathering information
about the country beyond. Some proceeded overland. Others sold the
vehicles in which they had come, and continued the journey down the
Ohio River, in Kentucky flat or family boats, in keel boats, arks, and
barges. The construction and equipping of boats became an industry of
moment in Pittsburgh.
The last menace from the Indians who owned and occupied the country
north of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers was removed on October 21, 1784,
when the treaty with the Six Nations was concluded at Fort Stanwix, by
which all the Indian lands in Pennsylvania except a tract bordering
on Lake Erie were ceded to the State. This vast territory was now
opened for settlement, and resulted in more immigrants passing through
Pittsburgh. The northerly boundary of the village ceased to be the
border line of civilization. The isolation of the place became less
pronounced. The immigrants who remained in Pittsburgh were generally of
a sturdy class, and were young and energetic. Among them were former
Revolutionary officers and soldiers. They engaged in trade, and as an
adjunct of this business speculated in lands in the county, or bought
and sold town lots. A few took up tavern keeping. From the brief notes
left by Lewis Brantz who stopped over in Pittsburgh in 1785, while on
a journey from Baltimore to the Western country, it appears that at
this time Fort Pitt was still garrisoned by a small force of soldiers;
that the inhabitants lived chiefly by traffic, and by entertaining
travellers; and that there were but few mechanics in the village.[6]
The extent of the population can be conjectured, when it is known that
in 1786 there were in Pittsburgh only thirty-six log buildings, one of
stone, and one of frame; and that there were six stores.[7]
Religion was long dormant on the frontier. In 1761 and 1762, when the
first school was in operation in Pittsburgh, the schoolmaster conducted
religious services on Sundays to a small congregation. Although under
the direction of a Presbyterian, the services consisted in reading the
Prayers and the Litany from the _Book of Common Prayer_.[8] During the
military occupation, a chaplain was occasionally stationed at Fort
Pitt around which the houses clustered. From time to time missionaries
came and tarried a few days or weeks, and went their way again.
The long intervals between the religious services were periods of
indifference. An awakening came at last, and the religious teachings
of early life reasserted themselves, and the settlers sought means
to re-establish a spiritual life in their midst. The Germans and
Swiss-Germans of the Protestant Evangelical and Protestant Reformed
faiths jointly organized a German church in 1782; and the Presbyterians
formed a church organization two years later.
The first pastor of the German church was the Rev. Johann Wilhelm
Weber, who was sent out by the German Reformed Synod at Reading.[9] He
had left his charge in Eastern Pennsylvania because the congregation
which he served had not been as enthusiastic in its support of the
Revolution as he deemed proper.[10] The services were held in a
log building situated at what is now the corner of Wood Street and
Diamond Alley.[11] Besides ministering to the wants of the Pittsburgh
church, there were three other congregations on Weber’s circuit,
which extended fifty miles east of Pittsburgh. When he came West
in September, 1782, the Revolutionary War was still in progress;
Hannastown had been burned by the British and Indians in the preceding
July; hostile Indians and white outlaws continually beset his path.
He was a soldier of the Cross, but he was also ready to fight worldly
battles. He went about the country armed not only with the Bible, but
with a loaded rifle,[12] and was prepared to battle with physical
enemies, as well as with the devil.
Hardly had the churches come into existence when another organization
was formed whose origin is claimed to be shrouded in the mists of
antiquity. In the American history of the order, the membership
included many of the greatest and best known men in the country. On
December 27, 1785, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Free and Accepted
Masons, granted a charter to certain freemasons resident in Pittsburgh,
which was designated as “Lodge No. 45 of Ancient York Masons.” It was
not only the first masonic lodge in Pittsburgh, but the first in the
Western country.[13] Almost from the beginning, Lodge No. 45 was the
most influential social organization in the village. Nearly all the
leading citizens were members. Toward the close of the eighteenth
century the place of meeting was in the tavern of William Morrow, at
the “Sign of the Green Tree,” on Water Street, two doors above Market
Street.[14] Although not a strictly religious organization, the order
carefully observed certain Church holidays. St. John the Baptist’s day
and St. John the Evangelist’s day were never allowed to pass without
a celebration. Every year in June, on St. John the Baptist’s day,
Lodge No. 45 met at 10 o’clock in the morning and, after the services
in the lodge were over, paraded the streets. The members walked two
abreast. Dressed in their best clothes, with cocked hats, long coats,
knee-breeches, and buckled shoes, wearing the aprons of the craft,
they marched “in ancient order.” The sword bearer was in advance; the
officers wore embroidered collars, from which depended their emblems
of office; the wardens carried their truncheons; the deacons, their
staves. The Bible, surmounted by a compass and a square, on a velvet
cushion, was borne along. When the Rev. Robert Steele came to preach in
the Presbyterian Meeting House, the march was from the lodge room to
the church. Here Mr. Steele preached a sermon to the brethren, after
which they dined together at Thomas Ferree’s tavern at the “Sign of the
Black Bear,”[15] or at the “Sign of the Green Tree.”[16] St. John the
Evangelist’s day was observed with no less circumstance. In the morning
the officers of the lodge were installed. Addresses of a semi-religious
or philosophic character, eulogistic of masonry, were delivered by
competent members or visitors. This ceremony was followed in the
afternoon by a dinner either at some tavern or at the home of a member.
Dinners seemed to be a concomitant part of all masonic ceremonies.
By the time that the last quarter of the eighteenth century was well
under way, the hunters and trappers had left for more prolific hunting
grounds. The Indian traders with their lax morals[17] had disappeared
forever in the direction of the setting sun, along with the Indians
with whom they bartered. If any traders remained, they conformed to
the precepts of a higher civilization. Only a scattered few of the
red men continued to dwell in the hills surrounding the village, or
along the rivers, eking out a scant livelihood by selling game in the
town.[18]
A different moral atmosphere appeared: schools of a permanent character
were established; the German church conducted a school which was taught
by the pastor. Secular books were now in the households of the more
intelligent; a few of the wealthier families had small libraries, and
books were sold in the town. On August 26, 1786, Wilson and Wallace
advertised “testaments, Bibles, spelling books, and primers” for
sale.[19] Copies of the Philadelphia and Baltimore newspapers were
brought by travellers, and received by private arrangement.
In July, 1786, John Scull and Joseph Hall, two young men of more than
ordinary daring, came from Philadelphia and established a weekly
newspaper called the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, which was the first
newspaper published in the country west of the Alleghany Mountains. The
partnership lasted only a few months, Hall dying on November 10, 1786,
at the early age of twenty-two years;[20] and in the following month,
John Boyd, also of Philadelphia, purchased Hall’s interest and became
the partner of Scull.[21] For many years money was scarcely seen in
Pittsburgh in commercial transactions, everything being consummated in
trade. A few months after its establishment, the _Pittsburgh Gazette_
gave notice to all persons residing in the country that it would
receive country produce in payment of subscriptions to the paper.[22]
The next year there were printed, and kept for sale at the office of
the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, spelling books, and _The A.B.C. with the
Shorter Catechism, to which are Added Some Short and Easy Questions
for Children_; secular instruction was combined with religious.[23]
The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ also conducted an emporium where other
reading matter might be purchased. In the issue for June 16, 1787, an
illuminating notice appeared: “At the printing office, Pittsburgh,
may be had the laws of this State, passed between the thirtieth of
September, 1775, and the Revolution; New Testaments; Dilworth’s
Spelling Books; New England Primers, with _Catechism_; _Westminster
Shorter Catechism; Journey from Philadelphia to New York by Way of
Burlington and South Amboy_, by Robert Slenner, Stocking Weaver; ...
also a few books for the learner of the French language.”
In November, 1787, there was announced as being in press at the
office of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ the _Pittsburgh Almanac or Western
Ephemeris for 1788_.[24] The same year that the almanac appeared,
John Boyd attempted the establishment of a circulating library. In
his announcement on July 26th,[25] he declared that the library would
be opened as soon as a hundred subscribers were secured; and that
it would consist of five hundred well chosen books. Subscriptions
were to be received at the office of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_. Boyd
committed suicide in the early part of August by hanging himself to a
tree on the hill in the town, which has ever since borne his name, and
Scull became the sole owner of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_. This act of
self-destruction, and the fact that Boyd’s name as owner appeared in
the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ for the last time on August 2d, would indicate
that the library was never established. Perhaps it was the anticipated
failure of the enterprise that prompted Boyd to commit suicide.
The door to higher education was opened on February 28, 1787, when the
Pittsburgh Academy was incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly.
This was the germ which has since developed into the University of
Pittsburgh. Another step which tended to the material and mental
advancement of the place, was the inauguration of a movement for
communicating regularly with the outside world. On September 30, 1786,
a post route was established with Philadelphia,[26] and the next year
the general government entered into a contract for carrying the mails
between Pittsburgh and that city.[27] Almost immediately afterward a
post office was established in Pittsburgh with Scull as postmaster, and
a regular post between the village and Philadelphia and the East was
opened on July 19, 1788.[28] These events constituted another milestone
in the progress of Pittsburgh.
Another instrument in the advancement of the infant community was
the Mechanical Society which came into existence in 1788. On the
twenty-second of March, the following unique advertisement appeared
in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_: “Society was the primeval desire of our
first and great ancestor Adam; the same order for that blessing seems
to inhabit more or less the whole race. To encourage this it seems to
be the earnest wish of a few of the mechanics in Pittsburgh, to have a
general meeting on Monday the 24th inst., at six P.M., at the house of
Andrew Watson, tavern keeper, to settle on a plan for a well regulated
society for the purpose. This public method is taken to invite the
reputable tradesmen of this place to be punctual to their assignation.”
Andrew Watson’s tavern was in the log building, at the northeast corner
of Market and Front Streets. Front Street was afterward called First
Street, and is now First Avenue. At that time all the highways running
parallel with the Monongahela River were designated as streets, as they
are now called avenues. The object of the Mechanical Society was the
improvement of the condition of the workpeople, to induce workpeople
to settle in the town, and to procure manufactories to be established
there.
The society was more than local in character, similar societies being
in existence in New York, Philadelphia, and in the neighboring village
of Washington. At a later day the Mechanical Society of Pittsburgh
produced plays, some of which were given in the grand-jury room in the
upper story of the new court house. The society also had connected with
it a circulating library, a cabinet of curiosities, and a chemical
laboratory.
REFERENCES
CHAPTER I
[1] James Fearnly _v._ Patrick Murphy, _Addison’s Reports_, Washington,
1800, p. 22; John Marie _v._ Samuel Semple, _ibid._, p. 215.
[2] JOHANN DAVID SCHOEPF. _Reise durch einige der mittlern und
südlichen vereinigten nordamerikanischen Staaten_, Erlangen, 1788, vol.
i., p. 370.
[3] F. A. MICHAUX. _Travels to the Westward of the Alleghany
Mountains_, London, 1805, p. 37.
[4] THADDEUS MASON HARRIS. _The Journal of a Tour_, Boston, 1805, p. 42.
[5] “A Sketch of Pittsburgh.” _The Literary Magazine_, Philadelphia,
1806, p. 253.
[6] LEWIS BRANTZ. “Memoranda of a Journey in the Westerly Parts of the
United States of America in 1785.” In Henry R. Schoolcraft’s _Indian
Antiquities_, Philadelphia, Part III., pp. 335–351.
[7] _Niles’ Weekly Register_, Baltimore, August 19, 1826, vol. xxx., p.
436.
[8] JAMES KENNEY. _The Historical Magazine_, New York, 1858, vol. ii.,
pp. 273–274.
[9] REV. CYRUS CORT, D.D. _Historical Sermon in the First Reformed
Church of Greensburgh, Pennsylvania_, October 13, 1907, pp. 11–12.
[10] JOHANN DAVID SCHOEPF. _Reise durch einige der mittlern und
südlichen vereinigten nordamerikanischen Staaten_, Erlangen, 1788, vol.
i., p. 247.
[11] CARL AUGUST VOSS. _Gedenkschrift zur
Einhundertfuenfundzwanzig-jaehrigen Jubel-Feier_, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
1907, p. 14.
[12] REV. CYRUS CORT, D.D. _Historical Sermon in the First Reformed
Church of Greensburgh, Pennsylvania_, October 13, 1907, p. 20.
[13] SAMUEL HARPER. “Seniority of Lodge No. 45,” _History of Lodge No.
45, Free and Accepted Masons_, 1785–1910, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pp.
97–109.
[14] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 15, 1799.
[15] _Tree of Liberty_, June 6, 1801.
[16] _Tree of Liberty_, June 12, 1802.
[17] _Diary of David McClure_, New York, 1899, p. 53.
[18] PERRIN DULAC. _Voyage dans les Deux Louisianes_, Lyon, An
xiii-(1805), p. 132.
[19] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 26, 1786.
[20] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 18, 1786.
[21] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 6, 1787.
[22] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 2, 1786.
[23] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 5, 1787.
[24] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 17, 1787.
[25] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, July 26, 1788.
[26] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 30, 1786.
[27] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, March 24, 1787.
[28] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, July 19, 1788.
CHAPTER II
A NEW COUNTY AND A NEW BOROUGH
The constantly rising tide of immigration required more territorial
subdivisions in the western part of the State. Westmoreland County had
been reduced in size on March 28, 1781, by the creation of Washington
County, but was still inordinately large. The clamor of the inhabitants
of Pittsburgh for a separate county was heeded at last, and on
September 24, 1788, Allegheny County was formed out of Westmoreland and
Washington Counties. To the new county was added on September 17, 1789,
other territory taken from Washington County. In March, 1792, the State
purchased from the United States the tract of land adjoining Lake Erie,
consisting of two hundred and two thousand acres, which the national
government had recently acquired from the Indians. This was added to
Allegheny County on April 3, 1792. The county then extended northerly
to the line of the State of New York, and the border of Lake Erie,
and westerly to the present State of Ohio.[29] On March 12, 1800, the
county was reduced by the creation of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford,
Erie, Warren, Venango, and Armstrong Counties, the area of these
counties being practically all taken from Allegheny County. By Act
of the General Assembly of March 12, 1803, a small part of Allegheny
County was added to Indiana County, and Allegheny County was reduced to
its present form and dimensions.[30]
On the formation of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh became the county
seat. The county was divided into townships, Pittsburgh being located
in Pitt Township. Embraced in Pitt Township was all the territory
between the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers, as far east as Turtle
Creek on the Monongahela River, and Plum Creek on the Allegheny River,
and all of the county north of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. With
the growth of prosperity in the county, petty offenses became more
numerous, and a movement was begun for the erection of a jail in
Pittsburgh.[31]
Next to the establishment of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, the publication
and sale of books, and the opening of the post route to the eastern
country, the most important event in the early social advancement of
Pittsburgh was the passage of an Act by the General Assembly, on April
22, 1794, incorporating the place into a borough. The township laws
under which Pittsburgh had been administered were crude and intended
only for agricultural and wild lands, and were inapplicable to the
development of a town. Under the code of laws which it now obtained,
it possessed functions suitable to the character which it assumed, and
could perform acts leading to its material and social progress. It was
given the power to open streets, to regulate and keep streets in order,
to conduct markets, to abate nuisances, and to levy taxes.[32]
Before the incorporation of the borough, various steps had been
taken in anticipation of that event. The Pittsburgh Fire Company was
organized in 1793, with an engine house[33] and a hand engine brought
from Philadelphia. A new era in transportation was inaugurated on
Monday, October 21, 1793, by the establishment of a packet line on the
Ohio River, between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, with boats “sailing”
bi-weekly. The safety of the passengers from attacks by hostile Indians
infesting the Ohio Valley, was assured. The boats were bullet-proof,
and were armed with small cannon carrying pound balls; muskets and
ammunition were provided, and from convenient portholes, passengers and
crew could fire on the enemy.[34]
One of the first measures enacted after Pittsburgh was incorporated,
was that to prohibit hogs running at large.[35] The dissatisfaction
occasioned by the imposition of the excise on whisky, had caused a
spirit of lawlessness to spring up in the country about Pittsburgh.
When this element appeared in the town, they were disposed,
particularly when inflamed with whisky, to show their resentment
toward the inhabitants, whom they regarded as being unfriendly to the
Insurgent cause, by galloping armed through the streets, firing their
pieces as they sped by, to the terror of the townspeople. This was now
made an offense punishable by a fine of five shillings.[36]
Literary culture was hardly to be expected on the frontier, yet a
gentleman resided in Pittsburgh who made some pretension in that
direction. Hugh Henry Brackenridge was the leading lawyer of the town,
and in addition to his other activities, was an author of note. Before
coming to Pittsburgh he had, jointly with Philip Freneau, written a
volume of poetry entitled, _The Rising Glory of America_, and had
himself written a play called _The Battle of Bunker Hill_. While a
resident in Pittsburgh he contributed many articles to the _Pittsburgh
Gazette_. His title to literary fame, however, results mainly from the
political satire that he wrote, which in its day created a sensation.
It was called _Modern Chivalry_, and as originally published was a
small affair. Only one of the four volumes into which it was divided
was printed in Pittsburgh, the first, second, and fourth being
published in Philadelphia. The third volume came out in Pittsburgh,
in 1793, and was printed by Scull, and was the first book published
west of the Alleghany Mountains. The work, as afterward rewritten and
enlarged, ran through more than half a dozen editions.
The interest in books increased. In 1793, William Semple began
selling “quarto pocket and school Bibles, spelling books, primers,
dictionaries, English and Dutch almanacs, with an assortment of
religious, historical, and novel books.”[37] “Novel books” was no doubt
meant to indicate novels. In 1798 the town became possessed of a store
devoted exclusively to literature. It was conducted in a wing of the
house owned and partially occupied by Brackenridge on Market Street.
John C. Gilkison had been a law student in Brackenridge’s office, and
had tutored his son. Abandoning the idea of becoming a lawyer, he
began with the aid of Brackenridge, to sell books as a business.[38]
In his announcement to the public his plans were outlined:[39] “John
C. Gilkison has just opened a small book and stationery store.... He
has a variety of books for sale, school books especially, an assortment
of which he means to increase, and keep up as encouragement may enable
him; he has also some books of general instruction and amusement,
which he will sell or lend out for a reasonable time, at a reasonable
price.”
Changes were made in the lines of the townships at an early day. When
the new century dawned, Pitt Township adjoined Pittsburgh on the east.
East of Pitt Township and between the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers
were the Townships of Plum, Versailles, and Elizabeth. On the south
side of the Monongahela River, extending from the westerly line of
the county to Chartiers Creek, was Moon Township. East of Chartiers
Creek, and between that stream and Streets Run was St. Clair Township,
and east of Streets Run, extending along the Monongahela River, was
Mifflin Township, which ran to the county line. Back of Moon Township
was Fayette Township. North of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers were the
Townships of Pine and Deer. They were almost equal in area, Pine being
in the west, and Deer in the east, the dividing line being near the
mouth of Pine Creek in the present borough of Etna.
The merchants and manufacturers of Pittsburgh had been accumulating
money for a decade. In the East money was the medium of exchange,
and it was brought to the village by immigrants and travelers, and
began to circulate more freely than before. In addition to the money
put into circulation by the immigrants, the United States Government
had expended nearly eight hundred thousand dollars on the expedition
which was sent out to suppress the Whisky Insurrection. At least half
of this sum was spent in Pittsburgh and its immediate vicinity, partly
for supplies and partly by the men composing the army. The expedition
was also the means of advertising the Western country in the East,
and created a new interest in the town. A considerable influx of new
immigrants resulted. With the growth in population, the number of the
mercantile establishments increased. Pittsburgh became more than ever
the metropolis of the surrounding country.
Ferries made intercourse with the districts across the rivers from
Pittsburgh easy, except perhaps in winter when ice was in the streams.
Three ferries were in operation on the Monongahela River. That of
Ephraim Jones at the foot of Liberty Street[40] was called the Lower
Ferry. A short distance above the mouth of Wood Street was Robert
Henderson’s Ferry, formerly conducted by Jacob Bausman. This was known
as the Middle Ferry. Isaac Gregg’s Ferry, at this time operated by
Samuel Emmett,[41] also called the Upper Ferry, was located a quarter
of a mile above the town, at the head of the Sand Bar. Over the
Allegheny River, connecting St. Clair Street with the Franklin Road,
now Federal Street, was James Robinson’s Ferry. As an inducement to
settle on the north side of the Allegheny River, Robinson advertised
that “All persons going to and returning from sermon, and all funerals,
ferriage free.”[42]
The aspect of the town was changing. It was no longer the village which
Lewis Brantz saw on his visit in 1790, when he painted the sketch which
is the first pictorial representation of the place extant.[43] In the
old Military Plan the ground was compactly built upon. Outside of this
plan the houses were sparse and few in number, and cultivated grounds
intervened. Thomas Chapman who visited Pittsburgh in 1795, reported
that out of the two hundred houses in the village, one hundred and
fifty were built of logs.[44] They were mainly of rough-hewn logs, only
an occasional house being of sawed logs. The construction of log houses
was discontinued, the new houses being generally frame. Houses of brick
began to be erected, the brick sold at the dismantling of Fort Pitt
supplying the first material for the purpose. The houses built of brick
taken from Fort Pitt were characterized by the whiteness of the brick
of which they were constructed.[45] Brickyards were established. When
Chapman was in Pittsburgh, there were two brickyards in operation in
the vicinity of the town.[46] With their advent brick houses increased
rapidly.
With the evolution in the construction of the houses, came another
advance conducive to both the health and comfort of the occupants.
While window glass was being brought from the East, and was subject to
the hazard of the long and rough haul over the Alleghany Mountains, the
windows in the houses were few, and the panes of small dimensions; six
inches in width by eight inches in length was an ordinary size. The
interior of the houses was dark, cheerless, and damp. In the spring of
1797, Albert Gallatin, in conjunction with his brother-in-law, James
W. Nicholson, and two Germans, Christian Kramer and Baltzer Kramer,
who were experienced glass-blowers, began making window glass at a
manufactory which they had established on the Monongahela River at New
Geneva in Fayette County.[47] The same year that window glass was first
produced at New Geneva, Colonel James O’Hara and Major Isaac Craig
commenced the construction of a glass manufactory on the south side of
the Monongahela River, opposite Pittsburgh, and made their first window
glass in 1800. Both manufactories produced window glass larger in size
than that brought from the East, O’Hara and Craig’s glass measuring as
high as eighteen by twenty-four inches.[48] The price of the Western
glass was lower than that brought across the mountains. With cheaper
glass, windows became larger and more numerous, and a more cheerful
atmosphere prevailed in the houses.
All that remained of Pittsburgh’s former military importance were the
dry ditch and old ramparts of Fort Pitt,[49] in the westerly extremity
of the town, together with some of the barracks and the stone powder
magazine, and Fort Fayette near the northeasterly limits, now used
solely as a military storehouse.[50] Not a trace of architectural
beauty was evident in the houses. They were built without regularity
and were low and plain. In one block were one- and two-story log and
frame houses, some with their sides, others with their gable ends,
facing the street. In the next square there was a brick building of two
or possibly three stories in height; the rest of the area was covered
with wooden buildings of every size and description. The Lombardy
poplars and weeping willows which grew along the streets[51] softened
the aspect of the houses before which they were planted. The scattered
houses on the sides of the hills which commanded the town on the
east[52] were more attractive.
It was forty years before houses, even on the leading streets, were
numbered.[53] The taverns and many of the stores, instead of being
known by the number of their location on the street, or by the name
of the owner, were recognized by their signs, which contained
characteristic pictures or emblems. The signs were selected because
associated with them was some well-known sentiment; or the picture
represented a popular hero. In the latter category was the “Sign of
General Washington,” conducted by Robert Campbell, at the northeast
corner of Wood Street and Diamond Alley. Sometimes the signs were of
a humorous character, as the “Whale and the Monkey” with the added
doggerel:
“Here the weary may rest,
The hungry feed,
And those who thirst,
May quaff the best,”
displayed by D. McLane[54] when he conducted the tavern on Water
Street, afterward known as the “Sign of the Green Tree.” The sign
was hung either on the front of the house, or on a board attached to
a wooden or iron arm projecting from the building, or from a post
standing before it. The last was the manner in which most of the tavern
signs were displayed. This continued until 1816, when all projecting
or hanging signs were prohibited, except to taverns where stabling
and other accommodations for travelers could be obtained. Only
taverns located at street corners were thereafter permitted to have
signposts.[55]
Not a street was paved, not even the footwalks, except for such
irregular slabs of stone, or brick, or planks as had been laid down
by the owners of adjoining houses. Major Thomas S. Forman who passed
through Pittsburgh in December, 1789, related that the town was
the muddiest place he was ever in.[56] In 1800, there was little
improvement. Samuel Jones was the first Register and Recorder of
Allegheny County, and held those offices almost continuously well into
the nineteenth century. He resided in Pittsburgh during the entire
period, and his opportunities for observation were unexcelled. His
picture of the borough in 1800 is far from attractive. “The streets,”
he wrote, were “filled with hogs, dogs, drays, and noisy children.”[57]
At night the streets were unlighted. “A solitary lamp twinkled here and
there, over the door of a tavern, or on a signpost, whenever the moon
was in its first or last quarter. The rest of the town was involved in
primeval darkness.”
REFERENCES
CHAPTER II
[29] LAURA G. SANFORD. _The History of Erie County, Pennsylvania_,
Philadelphia, 1862, p. 60.
[30] JUDGE J. W. F. WHITE. _Allegheny County, its Early History and
Subsequent Development_, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1888, pp. 70–71.
[31] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 14, 1793.
[32] Act of April, 22, 1794; Act of September 12, 1782.
[33] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 2, 1793.
[34] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 23, 1793.
[35] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 31, 1794.
[36] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 21, 1794.
[37] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 2, 1793; _Ibid._, June 28, 1794.
[38] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. _Recollections of Persons and Places in the
West_, Philadelphia, 1868, pp. 44, 68.
[39] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 29, 1798.
[40] NEVILLE B. CRAIG. _The History of Pittsburgh_, Pittsburgh, 1851,
p. 295.
[41] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 30, 1802; _Ibid._, April 16, 1802.
[42] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 13, 1803.
[43] LEWIS BRANTZ. “Memoranda of a Journey in the Westerly Parts of the
United States of America in 1785.” In Henry R. Schoolcraft’s _Indian
Antiquities_, Philadelphia, Part III., pp. 335–351.
[44] THOMAS CHAPMAN. “Journal of a Journey through the United States,”
_The Historical Magazine_, Morrisania, N. Y., 1869, vol. v., p. 359.
[45] _The Navigator_ for 1808, Pittsburgh, 1808, p. 33.
[46] THOMAS CHAPMAN. “Journal of a Journey through the United States,”
_The Historical Magazine_, Morrisania, N. Y., 1869, vol. v., p. 359.
[47] SHERMAN DAY. _Historical Collections of the State of
Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, p. 345; REV. WILLIAM HANNA: _History of
Green County, Pa._, 1882, pp. 247, 248.
[48] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 1, 1800.
[49] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country_, in
1807–1809, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 225.
[50] _The Navigator_ for 1808, Pittsburgh, 1808, p. 33.
[51] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country_, in
1807–1809, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 226.
[52] F. A. MICHAUX. _Travels to the Westward of the Alleghany
Mountains_, London, 1805, p. 30.
[53] _Harris’s Pittsburgh and Allegheny Directory_, for 1839, p. 3;
_ibid._, for 1841.
[54] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 3, 1794.
[55] Ordinance City of Pittsburgh, September 7, 1816, _Pittsburgh
Digest_, 1849, p. 238.
[56] MAJOR SAMUEL S. FORMAN. “Autobiography,” _The Historical
Magazine_, Morrisania, N. Y., 1869, vol. vi., PP. 324–325.
[57] S. JONES. _Pittsburgh in the Year 1826_, Pittsburgh, 1826, pp.
39–41.
CHAPTER III
THE MELTING POT
The population of Pittsburgh was composed of various nationalities;
those speaking the English language predominated. In addition to the
Germans and Swiss-Germans, there were French and a few Italians. The
majority of the English-speaking inhabitants were of Irish or Scotch
birth, or immediate extraction. Of those born in Ireland or Scotland,
some were old residents--so considered if they had lived in Pittsburgh
for ten years or more--while others were recent immigrants. The Germans
and French had come as early as the Irish and Scotch. The Italians
were later arrivals. There was also a sprinkling of Welsh. The place
contained a number of negroes, nearly all of whom were slaves, there
being in 1800 sixty-four negro slaves in Allegheny County,[58] most
of whom were in Pittsburgh and the immediate vicinity. A majority
of the negroes had been brought into the village in the early days
by emigrants from Virginia and Maryland. Their number was gradually
decreasing. By Act of the General Assembly of March 1, 1780, all
negroes and mulattoes born after that date, of slave mothers, became
free upon arriving at the age of twenty-eight years. Then on March 29,
1788, it was enacted that any slaves brought into the State by persons
resident thereof, or intending to become such, should immediately be
free.[59] Also public sentiment was growing hostile to the institution
of negro slavery. The few free negroes in Pittsburgh were engaged
in menial occupations, and the name of only one, whose vocation was
somewhat higher, has been handed down to the present time. This was
Charles Richards, commonly called “Black Charley,” who conducted an inn
in the log house, at the northwest corner of Second and Ferry Streets.
Among themselves the Germans and the French spoke the language of
their fathers, but in their intercourse with their English-speaking
neighbors they used English. The language of the street varied from
the English of New England and Virginia, to the brogue of the Irish
and Scotch, or the broken enunciation of the newer Germans and French.
Being in a majority the English-speaking population controlled to a
considerable extent the destinies of the community. Their manufactories
were the most extensive, the merchandise in their stores was in
greater variety, and the stocks larger than those carried in other
establishments.
Next in numbers to those whose native language was English, were
the German-speaking inhabitants. They constituted the skilled
mechanics; some were merchants, and many were engaged in farming
in the neighboring townships. They were all more or less closely
connected with the German church. Only the names of their leading men
have survived the obliterating ravages of time. Among the mechanics
of the higher class were Jacob Haymaker, William Eichbaum, and John
Hamsher. The first was a boatbuilder, whose boatyard was located on
the south side of the Monongahela River at the Middle Ferry; Eichbaum
was employed by O’Hara and Craig in the construction and operation of
their glass works. John Hamsher was a coppersmith and tin-worker, whose
diversion was to serve in the militia, in which he was captain.[60]
Conrad Winebiddle, Jonas Roup, Alexander Negley, and his son, Jacob
Negley, were well-to-do farmers in Pitt Township. Winebiddle was a
large holder of real estate, who died in 1795, and enjoyed the unique
distinction of being the only German who ever owned negro slaves in
Allegheny County. Nicholas Bausman and Melchoir Beltzhoover were
farmers in St. Clair Township; and Casper Reel was a farmer and trapper
in Pine Township, where he was also tax collector. Samuel Ewalt kept
a tavern in Pittsburgh in 1775, and was afterward a merchant. He
was Sheriff of Allegheny County during the dark days of the Whisky
Insurrection, and later was inspector of the Allegheny County brigade
of militia. He was several times a member of the Pennsylvania House
of Representatives. William Wusthoff was Sheriff of Allegheny County
in 1801. Jacob Bausman had a varied career. He was a resident of
Pittsburgh as far back as 1771, and was perhaps the most prominent
German in the place. As a young man he was an ensign in the Virginia
militia, during the Virginia contention. He established the first ferry
on the Monongahela River, which ran to his house on the south side
of the stream, where the southern terminus of the Smithfield Street
bridge is now located. The right to operate the ferry was granted to
him by the Virginia Court on February 23, 1775, and was confirmed by
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania ten years later. At his ferry
house he also conducted a tavern. His energies were not confined to his
private affairs. Under the Act of the General Assembly incorporating
Allegheny County, he was named as one of the trustees to select land
for a court house in the tract reserved by the State, in Pine Township,
and was again, under the Act of April 13, 1791, made a trustee to
purchase land in Pittsburgh for the same purpose. He was treasurer
of the German church and, jointly with Jacob Haymaker, was trustee,
on the part of the church, of the land deeded by the Penns to that
congregation for church purposes at the northeast corner of Smithfield
and Sixth Streets, where the congregation’s second and all subsequent
churches were built. Michael Hufnagle was a member of the Allegheny
County Bar, being one of the first ten men to be admitted to practice,
upon the organization of the county. He was the only lawyer of German
nationality in the county. He had been a captain in the Revolution,
and prothonotary of Westmoreland County. On July 13, 1782, when the
Indians and Tories attacked Hannastown, he occupied a farm situated a
mile and a half north of that place, which has ever since been known in
frontier history as the place where the townsfolk were harvesting when
the attack began.[61]
By their English-speaking neighbors the Germans were generally
designated as “Dutch.” In the references to them in the _Pittsburgh
Gazette_ and other early publications, they were likewise called
“Dutch.” Books printed in the German language were advertised as
“Dutch” books. The custom of speaking of the Germans as “Dutch” was
however not confined to Pittsburgh, but was universal in America. The
Dutch inhabitants of New York and elsewhere, were the first settlers
in the colonies, whose language was other than English. The bulk of the
English-speaking population, wholly ignorant of any language except
their own, were easily led into the error of confusing the newer German
immigrants with the Dutch, the only persons speaking a foreign tongue
with whom they had come in contact. Nor were the uneducated classes
the only transgressors in this respect. The Rev. Dr. William Smith,
the scholarly Provost of the College of Philadelphia, writing during
the French and Indian War, spoke of the Germans as “the Dutch or
Germans.”[62] Also “Dutch” bears a close resemblance to “Deutsch,” the
German name for people of the German race, which may account, to some
extent, for the misuse of the word.
The Germans were in Pittsburgh to stay. Their efforts were directed
largely toward private ends. When men of other blood made records in
public life, the Germans made theirs in the limited sphere of their
own employment or enterprises. Owing to their inability to speak the
English language, their position was more isolated than that of the
greenest English-speaking immigrant in the village. That they were
clannish was a natural consequence. This disposition was accentuated
when a newspaper printed in the German language was established on
November 22, 1800, in the neighboring borough of Greensburgh, entitled
_The German Farmers’ Register_, being the first German paper published
in the Western country. Subscriptions were received in Pittsburgh at
the office of the _Tree of Liberty_,[63] then recently established,
and the effort to acquire a knowledge of English in order to be able
to read the news of the day in the Pittsburgh newspapers, was for the
time being largely abandoned. As the Germans learned to speak and read
English, their social intercourse was no longer restricted to persons
of their own nationality. With the next generation, intermarriages with
persons of other descent took place. The German language ceased to be
cultivated; they forsook the German church for one where English was
the prevailing language. It is doubtful if a single descendant of the
old Germans is now able to speak the language of his forbears unless
it was learned at school, or that he is a member of or attends the
services of the German church.
The French element was an almost negligible quantity, yet it exerted
an influence far beyond what might be expected when its numbers are
considered. So strong was the tide of public opinion in favor of all
things French, occasioned by the events of the French Revolution,
that Albert Gallatin, a French-Swiss, who had just been naturalized,
and still spoke English with a decided foreign accent, attained high
political honors. To the people he was essentially a Frenchman, and
in 1794, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,
from Fayette County where he lived. At the same time he was elected
to Congress from the district consisting of Allegheny and Washington
Counties; and was twice re-elected from the same district, which
included Greene County after the separation from Washington County in
1796, and its erection into a separate county. It was while serving
this constituency that Gallatin developed those powers in finance
and statesmanship which caused his appointment as Secretary of the
Treasury by President Jefferson, and by Jefferson’s successor,
President Madison. From the politicians of this Congressional District,
Gallatin learned those lessons in diplomacy which enabled him, while
joint commissioner of the United States, to secure the signature of
England to the Treaty of Ghent, by which the War of 1812 was brought
to a close, and which led to his becoming United States Minister to
France and to England. The training of those early days finally made
him the most famous of all Americans of European birth, and brought
about his nomination for Vice-President by the Congressional caucus
of the Republican party, an honor which he first accepted, but later
declined.[64]
Another prominent Frenchman was John B. C. Lucus. In 1796, he lived on
a farm on Coal Hill on the south side of the Monongahela River, in St.
Clair Township, five miles above Pittsburgh. It was said of him that he
was an atheist and that his wife plowed on Sundays, in spite of which
he was several times elected to the General Assembly.[65] In 1800, he
was appointed an associate judge for the county. He quarrelled with
Alexander Addison, the president judge of the judicial district to
which Allegheny County was attached, yet he had sufficient standing in
the State to cause Judge Addison’s impeachment and removal from the
Bench. In 1802, Lucus was elected to Congress and was re-elected in
1804. In 1805, he was appointed United States District Judge for the
new Territory of Louisiana, now the State of Missouri.
Dr. Felix Brunot arrived in Pittsburgh in 1797. He came from France
with Lafayette and was a surgeon in the Revolutionary War and fought in
many of its battles. His office was located on Liberty Street, although
he owned and lived on Brunot Island. An _émigré_, the Chevalier
Dubac, was a merchant.[66] Dr. F. A. Michaux, the French naturalist
and traveler, related of Dubac:[67] “I frequently saw M. Le Chevalier
Dubac, an old French officer who, compelled by the events of the
Revolution to quit France, settled in Pittsburgh where he engaged in
commerce. He possesses very correct knowledge of the Western country,
and is perfectly acquainted with the navigation of the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers, having made several voyages to New Orleans.” Morgan
Neville a son of Colonel Presley Neville, and a writer of acknowledged
ability, drew a charming picture of Dubac’s life in Pittsburgh.[68]
Perhaps the best known Frenchman in Pittsburgh was John Marie, the
proprietor of the tavern on Grant’s Hill. Grant’s Hill was the eminence
which adjoined the town on the east, the ascent to the hill beginning
a short distance west of Grant Street. The tavern was located just
outside of the borough limits, at the northeast corner of Grant Street
and the Braddocksfield Road, where it connected with Fourth Street.
The inclosure contained more than six acres, and was called after
the place of its location, “Grant’s Hill.” It overlooked Pittsburgh,
and its graveled walks and cultivated grounds were the resort of the
townspeople. For many years it was the leading tavern. Gallatin, who
was in Pittsburgh, in 1787, while on the way from New Geneva to Maine,
noted in his diary that he passed Christmas Day at Marie’s house, in
company with Brackenridge and Peter Audrian,[69] a well-known French
merchant on Water Street. Marie’s French nationality naturally led
him to become a Republican when the party was formed, and his tavern
was long the headquarters of that party. Numerous Republican plans
for defeating their opponents originated in Marie’s house, and many
Republican victories were celebrated in his rooms. Also in this tavern
the general meetings of the militia officers were held.[70] Michaux has
testified that Marie kept a good inn.[71] The present court house, the
combination court house and city hall now being erected, and a small
part of the South School, the first public school in Pittsburgh, occupy
the larger portion of the site of “Grant’s Hill.”
Marie’s name became well known over the State, several years after he
retired to private life. He was seventy-five years of age in 1802,
when he discontinued tavern-keeping and sold “Grant’s Hill” to James
Ross, United States Senator from Pennsylvania, who was a resident of
Pittsburgh. Marie had been estranged from his wife for a number of
years and by some means she obtained possession of “Grant’s Hill,” of
which Ross had difficulty in dispossessing her. In 1808, Ross was a
candidate for governor against Simon Snyder. Ross’s difference with
Mrs. Marie, whose husband had by this time divorced her, came to
the knowledge of William Duane in Philadelphia, the brilliant but
unscrupulous editor of the _Aurora_ since the discontinuance of the
_National Gazette_, in 1793, the leading radical Republican newspaper
in the country. The report was enlarged into a scandal of great
proportions both in the _Aurora_ and in a pamphlet prepared by Duane
and circulated principally in Philadelphia. The title of the pamphlet
was harrowing. It was called “The Case of Jane Marie, Exhibiting the
Cruelty and Barbarous Conduct of James Ross to a Defenceless Woman,
Written and Published by the Object of his Cruelty and Vengeance.”
Although Marie was opposed to Ross politically, he defended his conduct
toward Mrs. Marie as being perfectly honorable. Nevertheless, the
pamphlet played an important part in obtaining for Snyder the majority
of twenty-four thousand by which he defeated Ross.
Notwithstanding the high positions which some of the Frenchmen
attained, they left no permanent impression in Pittsburgh. After
prospering there for a few years, they went away and no descendants of
theirs reside in the city unless it be some of the descendants of Dr.
Brunot. Some went south to the Louisiana country, and others returned
to France. Gallatin, himself, long after he had shaken the dust of
Western Pennsylvania from his feet, writing about his grandson, the
son of his son James, said: “He is the only young male of my name,
and I have hesitated whether, with a view to his happiness, I had not
better take him to live and die quietly at Geneva, rather than to leave
him to struggle in this most energetic country, where the strong in
mind and character overset everybody else, and where consideration
and respectability are not at all in proportion to virtue and modest
merit.”[72] And the grandson went to Geneva to live, and his children
were born there and he died there.[73]
The United States Government was still in the formative stage. Until
this time the men who had fought the Revolutionary War to a successful
conclusion, held a tight rein on the governmental machinery. Now a
new element was growing up, and, becoming dissatisfied with existing
conditions, organized for a conflict with the men in power. The
rise of the opposition to the Federal party was also the outcome of
existing social conditions. Like the modern cry against consolidated
wealth, the movement was a contest by the discontented elements in
the population, of the men who had little against those who had
more. Abuses committed by individuals and conditions common to new
countries were magnified into errors of government. Also the people
were influenced by the radicalism superinduced by the French Revolution
and the subsequent happenings in France. “Liberty, fraternity, and
equality” were enticing catchwords in the United States.
Thomas Jefferson, on his return from France, in 1789, after an absence
of six years, where he had served as United States Minister, during
the development of French radicalism, came home much strengthened
in his ideas of liberty. They were in strong contrast with the
more conservative notions of government entertained by Washington,
Vice-President Adams, Hamilton, and the other members of the Cabinet.
In March, 1790, Jefferson became Secretary of State in Washington’s
first Cabinet, the appointment being held open for him since April
13th of the preceding year, when Washington entered on the duties of
the Presidency. Jefferson’s views being made public, he immediately
became the deity of the radical element. At the close of 1793, the
dissensions in the Cabinet had become so acute that on December 31st
Jefferson resigned in order to be better able to lead the new party
which was being formed. By this element the Federalists were termed
“aristocrats,” and “tories.” They were charged with being traitors to
their country, and were accused of being in league with England, and to
be plotting for the establishment of a monarchy, and an aristocracy.
The opposition party assumed the title of “Republican.” Later the
word “Democratic” was prefixed and the party was called “Democratic
Republican,”[74] although in Pittsburgh for many years the words
“Republican,” “Democratic Republican,” and “Democratic” were used
interchangeably.
Heretofore Pennsylvania had been staunchly Federal. On the organization
of the Republican party, Governor Thomas Mifflin, and Chief Justice
Thomas McKean of the Supreme Court, the two most popular men in the
State, left the Federal party and became Republicans. There was also a
cause peculiar to Pennsylvania, for the rapid growth of the Republican
party in the State. The constant increase in the backwoods population
consisted largely of emigrants from Europe, chiefly from Ireland,
who brought with them a bitter hatred of England and an intense
admiration for France. They went almost solidly into the Republican
camp. The arguments of the Republicans had a French revolutionary
coloring mingled with which were complaints caused by failure to
realize expected conditions. An address published in the organ of the
Republican party in Pittsburgh is a fair example of the reasoning
employed in advocacy of the Republican candidates: “Albert Gallatin,
the friend of the people, the enemy of tyrants, is to be supported
on Tuesday, the 14th of October next, for the Congress of the United
States. Fellow citizens, ye who are opposed to speculators, land
jobbers, public plunderers, high taxes, eight per cent. loans, and
standing armies, vote for Mr. Gallatin!”[75]
In Pittsburgh the leader of the Republicans was Hugh Henry
Brackenridge, the lawyer and dilettante in literature. In the fierce
invective of the time, he and all the members of his party were
styled by their opponents “Jacobins,” after the revolutionary Jacobin
Club of France, to which all the woes of the Terror were attributed.
The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ referred to Brackenridge as “Citizen
Brackenridge,” and after the establishment of the _Tree of Liberty_,
added “Jacobin printer of the _Tree of Sedition, Blasphemy, and
Slander_.”[76] But the Republicans gloried in titles borrowed from
the French Revolution. The same year that Governor Mifflin and Chief
Justice McKean went over to the Republicans, Brackenridge made a Fourth
of July address in Pittsburgh, in which he advocated closer relations
with France. This was republished in New York by the Republicans, in
a pamphlet, along with a speech made by Maximilien Robespierre in the
National Convention of France. In this pamphlet Brackenridge was styled
“Citizen Brackenridge.”[77] The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ and the _Tree of
Liberty_, contained numerous references to meetings and conferences
held at the tavern of “Citizen” Marie. On March 4, 1802, the first
anniversary of the inauguration of Jefferson as President, a dinner was
given by the leading Republicans in the tavern of “Citizen” Jeremiah
Sturgeon, at the “Sign of the Cross Keys,” at the northwest corner of
Wood Street and Diamond Alley, at which toasts were drunk to “Citizen”
Thomas Jefferson, “Citizen” Aaron Burr, “Citizen” James Madison,
“Citizen” Albert Gallatin, and “Citizen” Thomas McKean.[78]
In 1799, the Republicans had as their candidate for governor Chief
Justice McKean. Opposed to him was Senator James Ross. Ross was
required to maintain a defensive campaign. The fact that he was a
Federalist was alone sufficient to condemn him in the eyes of many of
the electors. He was accused of being a follower of Thomas Paine, and
was charged with “singing psalms over a card table.” It was said that
he had “mimicked” the Rev. Dr. John McMillan, the pioneer preacher of
Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania, and a politician of no mean
influence; that he had “mocked” the Rev. Matthew Henderson, a prominent
minister of the Associate Presbyterian Church.[79] Although Allegheny
County gave Ross a majority of over eleven hundred votes, he was
defeated in the State by more than seventy-nine hundred.[80] McKean
took office on December 17, 1799,[81] and the next day he appointed
Brackenridge a justice of the Supreme Court. All but one or two of the
county offices were filled by appointment of the governor, who could
remove the holders at pleasure. The idea of public offices being public
trusts had not been formulated. The doctrine afterward attributed to
Andrew Jackson, that “to the victors belong the spoils of office,” was
already a dearly cherished principle of the Republicans, and Judge
Brackenridge was not an exception to his party. Hardly had he taken his
seat on the Supreme Bench, when he induced Governor McKean to remove
from office the Federalist prothonotary, James Brison, who had held the
position since September 26, 1788, two days after the organization of
the county.
Brison was very popular. As a young man, he had lived at Hannastown,
and during the attack of the British and Indians on the place had
been one of the men sent on the dangerous errand of reconnoitering
the enemy.[82] He was now captain of the Pittsburgh Troop of Light
Dragoons, the crack company in the Allegheny County brigade of
militia, and was Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Academy. He
was a society leader and generally managed the larger social functions
of the town. General Henry Lee, the Governor of Virginia, famous in the
annals of the Revolutionary War, as “Light-Horse Harry Lee,” commanded
the expedition sent by President Washington to suppress the Whisky
Insurrection, and was in Pittsburgh several weeks during that memorable
campaign. On the eve of his departure a ball was given in his honor by
the citizens. On that occasion Brison was master of ceremonies. A few
months earlier Brackenridge had termed him “a puppy and a coxcomb.”
Brackenridge credited Brison with retaliating for the epithet, by
neglecting to provide his wife and himself with an invitation to the
ball. This was an additional cause for his dismissal, and toward the
close of January the office was given to John C. Gilkison. Gilkison who
was a relative of Brackenridge, conducted the bookstore and library
which he had opened the year before, and also followed the occupation
of scrivener, preparing such legal papers as were demanded of him.[83]
REFERENCES
CHAPTER III
[58] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 23, 1801.
[59] COLLINSON READ. _An Abridgment of the Laws of Pennsylvania_,
Philadelphia, MDCCCI, pp. 264–269.
[60] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 7, 1799.
[61] NEVILLE B. CRAIG. _The Olden Time_, Pittsburgh, 1848, vol. ii.,
pp. 354–355.
[62] _A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania_, London, 1755, p.
12.
[63] _Tree of Liberty_, December 27, 1800.
[64] JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS. _Albert Gallatin_, Boston, 1895, p. 370.
[65] MAJOR EBENEZER DENNY. _Military Journal_, Philadelphia, 1859, p.
21.
[66] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 23, 1801.
[67] DR. F. A. MICHAUX. _Travels to the Westward of the Alleghany
Mountains in the Year 1802_, London, 1805, p. 36.
[68] MORGAN NEVILLE. In John F. Watson’s _Annals of Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1891, vol. ii., pp. 132–135.
[69] HENRY ADAMS. _The Life of Albert Gallatin_, Philadelphia, 1880, p.
68.
[70] _Tree of Liberty_, November 7, 1800; _Pittsburgh Gazette_,
February 20, 1801.
[71] DR. F. A. MICHAUX. _Travels to the Westward of the Alleghany
Mountains in the Year 1802_, London, 1805, p. 29.
[72] HENRY ADAMS. _The Life of Albert Gallatin_, Philadelphia, 1880, p.
650.
[73] COUNT DE GALLATIN. “A Diary of James Gallatin in Europe”;
_Scribner’s Magazine_, New York, vol. lvi., September, 1914, pp.
350–351.
[74] RICHARD HILDRETH. _The History of the United States of America_,
New York, vol. iv., p. 425.
[75] _Tree of Liberty_, September 27, 1800.
[76] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 6, 1801.
[77] _Political Miscellany_, New York, 1793, pp. 27–31.
[78] _Tree of Liberty_, March 13, 1802.
[79] _Tree of Liberty_, September 19, 1801.
[80] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 26, 1799.
[81] WILLIAM C. ARMOR. _Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania_,
Philadelphia, 1873, p. 289.
[82] NEVILLE B. CRAIG. _The Olden Time_, Pittsburgh, 1848, vol. ii., p.
355.
[83] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. _Recollections of Persons and Places in the
West_, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 68; _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 29,
1798.
CHAPTER IV
LIFE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ was devoted to the interests of the Federal
party, and Brackenridge and the other leading Republicans felt the need
of a newspaper of their own. The result was the establishment on August
16, 1800, of the _Tree of Liberty_, by John Israel, who was already
publishing a newspaper, called the _Herald of Liberty_, in Washington,
Pennsylvania. The title of the new paper was intended to typify its
high mission. The significance of the name was further indicated in
the conspicuously displayed motto, “And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations.” The Federalists, and more especially
their organ, the _Pittsburgh Gazette_,[84] charged Brackenridge with
being the owner of the new paper, and with being responsible for
its utterances. Brackenridge, however, has left a letter in which he
refuted this statement, and alleged that originally he intended to
establish a newspaper, but on hearing of Israel’s intention gave up the
idea.[85]
The extent of the comforts and luxuries enjoyed in Pittsburgh was
surprising. The houses, whether built of logs, or frame, or brick,
were comfortable, even in winter. In the kitchens were large open
fire-places, where wood was burned. The best coal fuel was plentiful.
Although stoves were invented barely half a century earlier, and were
in general use only in the larger cities, the houses in Pittsburgh
could already boast of many. There were cannon stoves, so called
because of their upright cylindrical, cannon-like shape, and Franklin
or open stoves, invented by Benjamin Franklin; the latter graced the
parlor. Grates were giving out their cheerful blaze. They were also in
use in some of the rooms of the new court house, and in the new jail.
The advertisements of the merchants told the story of what the people
ate and drank, and of the materials of which their clothing was made.
Articles of food were in great variety. In the stores were tea, coffee,
red and sugar almonds, olives, chocolate, spices of all kinds, muscatel
and keg raisins, dried peas, and a score of other luxuries, besides the
ordinary articles of consumption. The gentry of England, as pictured
in the pages of the old romances, did not have a greater variety of
liquors to drink. There were Madeira, sherry, claret, Lisbon, port, and
Teneriffe wines, French and Spanish brandies,[86] Jamaica and antique
spirits.[87] Perrin DuLac, who visited Pittsburgh in 1802, said these
liquors were the only articles sold in the town that were dear.[88] But
not all partook of the luxuries. Bread and meat, and such vegetables
as were grown in the neighborhood, constituted the staple articles
of food, and homemade whisky was the ordinary drink of the majority
of the population. The native fruits were apples and pears, which
had been successfully propagated since the early days of the English
occupation.[89]
Materials for men’s and women’s clothing were endless in variety
and design and consisted of cloths, serges, flannels, brocades,
jeans, fustians, Irish linens, cambrics, lawns, nankeens, ginghams,
muslins, calicos, and chintzes. Other articles were tamboured
petticoats, tamboured cravats, silk and cotton shawls, wreaths and
plumes, sunshades and parasols, black silk netting gloves, white
and salmon-colored long and short gloves, kid and morocco shoes and
slippers, men’s beaver, tanned, and silk gloves, men’s cotton and
thread caps, and silk and cotton hose.
Men were changing their dress along with their political opinions. One
of the consequences in the United States of the French Revolution was
to cause the effeminate and luxurious dress in general use to give way
to simpler and less extravagant attire. The rise of the Republican
party and the class distinctions which it was responsible for
engendering, more than any other reason, caused the men of affairs--the
merchants, the manufacturers, the lawyers, the physicians, and the
clergymen--to discard the old fashions and adopt new ones. Cocked hats
gave way to soft or stiff hats, with low square crowns and straight
brims. The fashionable hats were the beaver made of the fur of the
beaver, the castor made of silk in imitation of the beaver, and the
roram made of felt, with a facing of beaver fur felted in. Coats of
blue, green, and buff, and waistcoats of crimson, white, or yellow,
were superseded by garments of soberer colors. Coats continued to be as
long as ever, but the tails were cut away in front. Knee-breeches were
succeeded by tight-fitting trousers reaching to the ankles; low-buckled
shoes, by high-laced leather shoes, or boots. Men discontinued wearing
cues, and their hair was cut short, and evenly around the head. There
were of course exceptions. Many men of conservative temperament still
clung to the old fashions. A notable example in Pittsburgh was the
Rev. Robert Steele, who always appeared in black satin knee-breeches,
knee-buckles, silk stockings, and pumps.[90]
The farmers on the plantations surrounding Pittsburgh and the mechanics
in the borough were likewise affected by the movement for dress reform.
Their apparel had always been less picturesque than that of the
business and professional men. Now the ordinary dress of the farmers
and mechanics consisted of short tight-fitting round-abouts, or
sailor’s jackets, made in winter of cloth or linsey, and in summer of
nankeen, dimity, gingham, or linen. Sometimes the jacket was without
sleeves, the shirt being heavy enough to afford protection against
inclement weather. The trousers were loose-fitting and long, and
extended to the ankles, and were made of nankeen, tow, or cloth. Some
men wore blanket-coats. Overalls, of dimity, nankeen, and cotton, were
the especial badge of mechanics. The shirt was of tow or coarse linen,
the vest of dimity. On their feet, farmers and mechanics alike wore
coarse high-laced shoes, half-boots, or boots made of neat’s leather.
The hats were soft, of fur or wool, and were low and round-crowned, or
the crowns were high and square.
The inhabitants of Pittsburgh were pleasure-loving, and the time not
devoted to business was given over to the enjoyments of life. Men and
women alike played cards. Whisk, as whist was called, and Boston were
the ordinary games.[91] All classes and nationalities danced, and
dancing was cultivated as an art. Dancing masters came to Pittsburgh
to give instructions, and adults and children alike took lessons.
In winter public balls and private assemblies were given. The dances
were more pleasing to the senses than any ever seen in Pittsburgh,
except the dances of the recent revival of the art. The cotillion was
executed by an indefinite number of couples, who performed evolutions
or figures as in the modern german. Other dances were the minuet, the
_menuet à la cour_, and jigs. The country dance, generally performed by
eight persons, four men and four women, comprised a variety of steps,
and a surprising number of evolutions, of which liveliness was the
characteristic.
The taverns had rooms set apart for dances. The “Sign of the Green
Tree,”[92] had an “Assembly Room”; the “Sign of General Butler”[93] and
the “Sign of the Waggon”[94] each had a “Ball Room.” The small affairs
were given in the homes of the host or hostess, and the large ones in
the taverns, or in the grand-jury room of the new court house.
The dancing masters gave “Practicing Balls” at which the cotillion
began at seven o’clock, and the ball concluded with the country
dance, which was continued until twelve o’clock.[95] Dancing became
so popular and to such an extent were dancing masters in the eyes
of the public that William Irwin christened his race horse “Dancing
Master.”[96] The ball given to General Lee was talked about for years
after the occurrence. Its beauties were pictured by many fair lips.
The ladies recalled the soldierly bearing of the guest of honor, the
tall robust form of General Daniel Morgan, Lee’s second in command, and
the commander of the Virginia troops, famous as the hero of Quebec and
Saratoga, who had received the thanks of Congress for his victory at
Cowpens. They dwelt on the varicolored uniforms of the soldiers, the
bright colors worn by the civilians, their powdered hair, the brocades,
and silks, and velvets of the ladies.
In winter evenings there were concerts and theatrical performances
which were generally given in the new court house. A unique concert
was that promoted by Peter Declary. It was heralded as a musical event
of importance. Kotzwara’s _The Battle of Prague_, was performed on
the “forte piano” by one of Declary’s pupils, advertised as being
only eight years of age; President Jefferson’s march was another
conspicuous feature. The exhibition concluded with a ball.[97]
Comedy predominated in the theatrical performances. The players were
“the young gentlemen of the town.” At one of the entertainments they
gave John O’Keefe’s comic opera _The Poor Soldier_, and a farce by
Arthur Murphy called _The Apprentice_.[98] There were also performances
of a more professional character. Bromley and Arnold, two professional
actors, conducted a series of theatrical entertainments extending over
a period of several weeks. The plays which they rendered are hardly
known to-day. At a single performance[99] they gave a comedy entitled
_Trick upon Trick_, or _The Vintner in the Suds_; a farce called _The
Jealous Husband_, or _The Lawyer in the Sack_; and a pantomime, _The
Sailor’s Landlady_, or _Jack in Distress_. Another play in the series
was Edward Moore’s tragedy, _The Gamester_.[100]
Much of Grant’s Hill was unenclosed. Clumps of trees grew on its
irregular surface, and there were level open spaces; and in summer
the place was green with grass, and bushes grew in profusion. Farther
in the background were great forest trees. The hill was the pleasure
ground of the village. Judge Henry M. Brackenridge, a son of Judge
Hugh Henry Brackenridge dwelling on the past, declared that “it was
pleasing to see the line of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen and
children, ... repairing to the beautiful green eminence.”[101] On
this elevation “under a bower, on the margin of a wood, and near a
delightful spring, with the town of Pittsburgh in prospect,” the Fourth
of July celebrations were held.[102] On August 2, 1794, the motley army
of Insurgents from Braddocksfield rested there, after having marched
through the town. Here they were refreshed with food and whisky, in
order that they might keep in good humor, and to prevent their burning
the town.[103]
Samuel Jones has left an intimate, if somewhat regretful account of
the early social life of Pittsburgh. “The long winter evenings,” he
wrote, “were passed by the humble villagers at each other’s homes, with
merry tale and song, or in simple games; and the hours of night sped
lightly onward with the unskilled, untiring youth, as they threaded
the mazes of the dance, guided by the music of the violin, from which
some good-humored rustic drew his Orphean sounds. In the jovial time
of harvest and hay-making, the sprightly and active of the village
participated in the rural labors and the hearty pastimes, which
distinguished that happy season. The balls and merry-makings that were
so frequent in the village were attended by all without any particular
deference to rank or riches. No other etiquette than that which natural
politeness prescribed was exacted or expected.... Young fellows might
pay their _devoirs_ to their female acquaintances; ride, walk, or talk
with them, and pass hours in their society without being looked upon
with suspicion by parents, or slandered by trolloping gossips.”[104]
The event of autumn was the horse races, which lasted three days. They
were held in the northeasterly extremity of the town between Liberty
Street and the Allegheny River,[105] and were conducted under the
auspices of the Jockey Club which had been in existence for many years.
Sportsmen came from all the surrounding country. The races were under
the saddle, sulkies not having been invented. Racing proprieties
were observed, and jockeys were required to be dressed in jockey
habits.[106] Purses were given. The horses compared favorably with race
horses of a much later day. A prominent horse was “Young Messenger” who
was sired by “Messenger,” the most famous trotting horse in America,
which had been imported into Philadelphia from England in 1788, and was
the progenitor of Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, Abdallah, Goldsmith Maid, and
a score of other noted race horses.
A third of a century after the race course had been removed beyond
the limits of the municipality, Judge Henry M. Brackenridge published
his recollections of the entrancing sport. “It was then an affair
of all-engrossing interest, and every business or pursuit was
neglected.... The whole town was daily poured forth to witness the
Olympian games.... The plain within the course and near it was filled
with booths as at a fair, where everything was said, and done, and
sold, and eaten or drunk, where every fifteen or twenty minutes there
was a rush to some part, to witness a fisticuff--where dogs barked and
bit, and horses trod on men’s toes, and booths fell down on people’s
heads!”[107]
The social instincts of the people found expression in another
direction. The Revolutionary War, the troubles with the Indians, the
more or less strained relations existing between France and England,
had combined to inbreed a military spirit. Pennsylvania, with a
population, in 1800, of 602,365, had enrolled in the militia 88,707 of
its citizens. The militia was divided into light infantry, riflemen,
grenadiers, cavalry, and artillery.[108] Allegheny County had a brigade
of militia, consisting of eight regiments.[109] The commander was
General Alexander Fowler, an old Englishman who had served in America,
in the 18th, or Royal Irish, Regiment of Foot. On the breaking out of
the Revolutionary War, he had resigned his commission on account of his
sympathy with the Americans. Being unfit for active service, Congress
appointed him Auditor of the Western Department at Pittsburgh.
The militia had always been more or less permeated with partisan
politics. During the Revolution the American officers wore a cockade
with a black ground and a white relief, called the black cockade. This
the Federalists had made their party emblem. The Republican party,
soon after its organization, adopted as a badge of party distinction a
cockade of red and blue on a white base, the colors of revolutionary
France. The red and blue cockade thereafter became the distinguishing
mark of the majority of the Pennsylvania militia, being adopted on
the recommendation of no less a person than Governor McKean. General
Fowler’s advocacy of the red and blue cockade and his disparagement
of the black cockade were incessant. He was an ardent Republican, and
his effusions with their classic allusions filled many columns of the
_Tree of Liberty_ and the _Pittsburgh Gazette_. At a meeting of the
Allegheny County militia held at Marie’s tavern, the red and blue
cockade had been adopted. Fowler claimed that this was the result of
public sentiment. He was fond of platitudes. “The voice of the people
is the voice of God,” he quoted, crediting the proverb to an “English
commentator,” and adding: “Says a celebrated historian, ‘individuals
may err, but the voice of the people is infallible.’”[110] A strong
minority in Allegheny County remained steadfast to the Federal party,
and the vote in favor of the adoption of the red and blue cockade was
not unanimous. Two of the regiments, not to be engulfed in the growing
wave of Republicanism, or overawed by the domineering disposition of
General Fowler, opposed the adoption of the red and blue cockade, and
chose the black cockade.[111]
The equipment furnished to the militia by the State was meagre, but
the patriotism which had so lately won the country’s independence was
still at flood tide, and each regiment was supplied with two silk
standards. One was the national flag, the other the regimental colors.
The national emblem differed somewhat from the regulation United States
flag. The word “Pennsylvania” appeared on the union, with the number
of the regiment, the whole being encircled by thirteen white stars.
The fly of the regimental colors was dark blue; on this was painted an
eagle with extended wings supporting the arms of the State. The union
was similar to that of the national flag. The prescribed uniform which
many of the men, however, did not possess, was a blue coat faced with
red, with a lining of white or red. In Allegheny County a round hat
with the cockade and buck’s tail, was worn.[112] The parade ground of
the militia was the level part of Grant’s Hill which adjoined Marie’s
tavern on the northeast. Here twice each year, in April and October,
the militia received its training. Of no minor interest, was the social
life enjoyed by officers and men alike, during the annual assemblages.
In the territory contiguous to Pittsburgh the uprising, for the right
to manufacture whisky without paying the excise, had its inception.
That taverns should abound in the town was a natural consequence.
In 1808 the public could be accommodated at twenty-four different
taverns.[113] The annual license fee for taverns, including the clerk’s
charges, was barely twenty dollars. Through some mental legerdemain of
the lawmakers it had been enacted that if more than a quart was sold
no license was required. Liquors, and particularly whisky, were sold
in nearly every mercantile establishment. Also beer had been brewed
in Pittsburgh since an early day, at the “Point Brewery,” which was
purchased in 1795 by Smith and Shiras.[114] Beer was likewise brewed
in a small way by James Yeaman, two or three years later.[115] In
February, 1803, O’Hara and Coppinger, who had acquired the “Point
Brewery,” began brewing beer on a larger scale.[116]
In the taverns men met to consummate their business, and to discuss
their political and social affairs. Lodge No. 45 of Ancient York Masons
met in the taverns for many years, as did the Mechanical Society. Even
the Board of Trustees of the Academy held their meetings there.[117]
Religion itself, looked with a friendly eye on the taverns. In the
autumn of 1785, the Rev. Wilson Lee, a Methodist missionary, appeared
in Pittsburgh, and preached in John Ormsby’s tavern,[118] on Water
Street, at his ferry landing,[119] at what is now the northeast corner
of that street and Ferry Street. This was the same double log house
which, while conducted by Samuel Semple, was in 1770 patronized by
Colonel George Washington.[120]
Tavern keeping and liquor selling were of such respectability that
many of the most esteemed citizens were, or had been tavern-keepers,
or had sold liquors, or distilled whisky, or brewed beer. Jeremiah
Sturgeon was a member of the session of the Presbyterian Church.[121]
John Reed, the proprietor of the “Sign of the Waggon,” in addition to
being a leading member of the Jockey Club, and the owner of the race
horse “Young Messenger,”[122] was precentor in the Presbyterian Church,
and on Sundays “lined out the hymns” and led the singing.[123] The pew
of William Morrow is marked on the diagram of the ground-plan of the
church as printed in its _Centennial Volume_.[124] The “Sign of the
Cross Keys,” the emblem of Sturgeon’s tavern, was of religious origin
and was much favored in England. Although used by a Presbyterian, it
was the arms of the Papal See, and the emblem of St. Peter and his
successors. That the way to salvation lay through the door of the
tavern, would seem to have been intended to be indicated by the “Sign
of the Cross Keys.” William Eichbaum, a pillar in the German church,
after he left the employ of O’Hara and Craig, conducted a tavern on
Front Street, near Market, at the “Sign of the Indian Queen.” The
owners of the ferries kept taverns in connection with their ferries.
Ephraim Jones conducted a tavern at his ferry landing on the south side
of the Monongahela River; Robert Henderson had a tavern on Water Street
at his ferry landing; Samuel Emmett kept a tavern at his landing on the
south side of the Monongahela River; and James Robinson had a tavern on
the Franklin Road at the northerly terminus of his ferry.[125]
Drinking was universal among both men and women. Judge James Veech
declared that whisky “was the indispensable emblem of hospitality and
the accompaniment of labor in every pursuit, the stimulant in joy and
the solace in grief. It was kept on the counter of every store and in
the corner cupboard of every well-to-do family. The minister partook of
it before going to church, and after he came back. At home and abroad,
at marryings and buryings, at house raisings and log rollings, at
harvestings and huskings, it was the omnipresent beverage of old and
young, men and women; and he was a churl who stinted it. To deny it
altogether required more grace or niggardliness than most men could
command, at least for daily use.”[126]
A practical joke perpetrated by the Rev. Dr. John McMillan, on the
Rev. Joseph Patterson, another of the early ministers in this region,
illustrates the custom of drinking among the clergy. On their way to
attend a meeting of the Synod, the two men stopped at a wayside inn
and called for whisky, which was set before them. Mr. Patterson asked
a blessing which was rather lengthy. Dr. McMillan meanwhile drank the
whisky, and to Mr. Patterson’s blank look remarked blandly, “You must
watch as well as pray!”[127]
Families purchased whisky and laid it away in their cellars for future
consumption, and that it might improve with age. Judge Hugh Henry
Brackenridge declared that the visit of the “Whisky Boys”--as the
Insurgents from Braddocksfield were called--to Pittsburgh cost him
“four barrels of old whisky.”[128] The statement caused Henry Adams, in
his life of Albert Gallatin, to volunteer the assertion that it nowhere
appeared “how much whisky the western gentleman usually kept in his
house.”[129]
There was no legislation against selling liquors on Sundays. The
only law on the subject was an old one under which persons found
drinking and tippling in ale-houses, taverns, and other public houses
on Sundays, were liable to be fined one shilling and sixpence; and
the keepers of the houses upon conviction were required to pay ten
shillings. The line of demarcation between proper and improper drinking
being faint, the law proved ineffectual to prevent drinking on Sundays.
Religion had not kept pace with material progress. The people had been
too much engrossed in secular affairs to attend to spiritual matters.
They were withal generous, and practiced the Christian virtues; and
never failed to help their unfortunate neighbors. This disposition was
manifested in various ways. Losses by fire were of frequent occurrence
and were apt to cause distress or ruin to those affected. In these
cases the citizens always furnished relief. An instance where this was
done was in the case of William Thorn. Thorn was a cabinet-maker on
Market Street, and built windmills and Dutch fans.[130] When the house
which he occupied was burned to the ground and he lost all his tools
and valuable ready-made furniture, a liberal subscription was made by
the citizens, and he was enabled to again commence his business.[131]
But there was little outward observance of religious forms. The Germans
had made some progress in that direction. The little log building where
they worshipped had been succeeded by a brick church. The only English
church was the Presbyterian Meeting House facing on Virgin Alley, now
Oliver Avenue, erected in 1786. It was the same building of squared
timbers in which the congregation had originally worshipped. From
1789 to 1793, the church had languished greatly. There was no regular
pastor; services were held at irregular and widely separated intervals.
Two of the men who served as supplies left the ministry and became
lawyers.[132] From 1793 to 1800, the church was all but dead. The
house was deserted and falling into ruin. Only once, so far as there
is any record, were Presbyterian services held in the building during
this period. It was in 1799 that the Rev. Francis Herron, passing
through Pittsburgh, was induced to deliver a sermon to a congregation
consisting of fifteen or eighteen persons “much to the annoyance of the
swallows,” as Herron ingenuously related, which had taken possession of
the premises.[133]
A light had flashed momentarily in the darkness when John Wrenshall,
the father of Methodism in Pittsburgh, settled in the town. Wrenshall
was an Englishman who came to Pittsburgh in 1796 and established
a mercantile business. He was converted to Wesleyanism in England
and had been a local preacher there. As there was no minister or
preaching of any kind in Pittsburgh, he commenced holding services in
the Presbyterian Meeting House. His audiences increased, but after
a few Sundays of active effort, a padlock was placed on the door of
the church, and he was notified that the house was no longer at his
disposal. The Presbyterians might not hold services themselves, but
they would not permit the use of their building to adherents of the new
sect of Methodists, “the offspring of the devil.”
A great religious revival swept over the Western country in the
concluding years of the eighteenth century. In Kentucky it developed
into hysteria,[134] and in Western Pennsylvania the display of
religious fervor was scarcely less intense.[135] The effect was felt
in Pittsburgh. On October 24, 1800, the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ was moved
to ask the Presbyterian congregation, of which its proprietor was a
leading member, a number of pertinent questions: Could they hope for
good morals without religion or the fear of God; could religion be
maintained without public worship; had they a house in which public
worship could be performed with decency and convenience? Were they
not able to erect a respectable and commodious church building, as
well as to provide for the maintenance of a minister? Would not money
so employed “be more for the benefit of the town than horse racing,
billiard playing, etc., etc.?” The answer of the congregation was to
procure the appointment of the Rev. Robert Steele as supply and the
church began to show signs of life again. In April, 1802, Steele was
received as a member of the Presbytery, the action being approved by
the Synod in the following September.[136] From that time forward, the
church began that spiritual and material advancement--although there
were ebbs and flows in its progress--which has continued to this day.
REFERENCES
CHAPTER IV
[84] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 28, 1800.
[85] _Tree of Liberty_, August 23, 1800.
[86] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 10, 1800.
[87] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 2, 1793.
[88] PERRIN DULAC. _Voyage dans les Deux Louisianes_, Lyon, an xiii.
[1805], p. 131.
[89] H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. _Gazette Publications_, Carlisle, 1806, p. 12.
[90] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh,
Pa._, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 154.
[91] CHARLES J. SHERRILL. “Dancing and Other Social Customs,”
_Scribner’s Magazine_, New York, April, 1915, vol. lvii., pp. 479–490.
[92] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 20, 1798.
[93] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 3, 1800.
[94] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 29, 1802; _Pittsburgh Gazette_,
August 25, 1798.
[95] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 20, 1798.
[96] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 25, 1801.
[97] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 6, 1801.
[98] _Tree of Liberty_, February 19, 1803.
[99] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 7, 1803.
[100] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 21, 1803.
[101] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. _Recollections of Persons and Places in the
West_, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 60.
[102] _Tree of Liberty_, July 11, 1801; _Pittsburgh Gazette_, July 13,
1793.
[103] H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. _Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western
Parts of Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1795, p. 66.
[104] S. JONES. _Pittsburgh in the Year 1826_, Pittsburgh, 1826, pp.
43–44.
[105] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. _Recollections of Persons and Places in the
West_, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 62.
[106] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 9, 1786.
[107] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. _Recollections of Persons and Places in the
West_, Philadelphia, 1868, p. 62.
[108] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 28, 1802.
[109] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 25, 1801.
[110] _Tree of Liberty_, April 11, 1801.
[111] _Tree of Liberty_, April 11, 1801; _ibid._, January 9, 1802.
[112] _Tree of Liberty_, December 27, 1800.
[113] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 222.
[114] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 14, 1795.
[115] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 28, 1801; _ibid._, August 5, 1803.
[116] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 3, 1803.
[117] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 16, 1799; _ibid._, May 3, 1800;
_ibid._, November 26, 1802.
[118] _Centennial Celebration of Pittsburgh Methodism_, 1888, p. 63.
[119] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 26, 1786.
[120] JAMES VEECH. “The Secular History,” _Centenary Memorial of the
Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania and
Parts Adjacent_, Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 320.
[121] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa._, 1784–1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 212.
[122] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 2, 1802.
[123] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa._, 1784–1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 154.
[124] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa._, 1784–1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 155.
[125] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 13, 1803.
[126] JAMES VEECH. “The Secular History,” _Centenary Memorial of the
Planting and Growth of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania and
Parts Adjacent_, Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 364.
[127] REV. D. X. JUNKIN, D.D. “The Life and Labors of the Rev. John
McMillan, D.D.,” _Centenary Memorial of the Planting and Growth
of Presbyterianism in Western Pennsylvania and Parts Adjacent_,
Pittsburgh, 1876, p. 33.
[128] H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. _Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western
Parts of Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1795, p. 71.
[129] HENRY ADAMS. _The Life of Albert Gallatin_, Philadelphia, 1880,
p. 130.
[130] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 12, 1800.
[131] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 27, 1801.
[132] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa._, 1784–1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 28.
[133] REV. WILLIAM M. PAXTON. _Two Discourses upon the Life and
Character of the Rev. Francis Herron, D.D._, Pittsburgh, 1861, p. 28.
[134] RICHARD MCNEMAR. _The Kentucky Revival_, Albany, 1808, pp. 9–72.
[135] DAVID ELLIOTT. _The Life of the Rev. Elisha Macurdy_, Allegheny,
1848, pp. 55–78.
[136] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa._, 1784–1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 32.
CHAPTER V
THE SEAT OF POWER
The year 1800 ushered in more than a new century in Pittsburgh. It
heralded the beginning of another era. The decade beginning with that
year will ever be memorable in the annals of the city. During those ten
years the foundation was laid on which the great industrial city was
subsequently built. In 1800 the population of Pittsburgh was 1565, and
in 1810 it had risen to 4768, an increase of 204 per centum, which was
the greatest percentage of increase that has ever taken place in its
history. This decade marked the dividing line between that which was
obsolete and that which was newly-born.
In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, ceded to the
United States the vast Louisiana Territory, whereby the area of this
country was more than doubled, and commerce between Louisiana and
Pittsburgh increased tremendously.
As far back as 1791, Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury,
had communicated to the House of Representatives his famous report of
manufactures. In this far-away community, with coal at its doors, and
iron in the near-by mountains, Hamilton’s new doctrine found willing
disciples and industry had more than a beginning. Soon after the close
of the Revolutionary War, iron ore was mined in the Juniata Valley,
and furnaces and forges established, and bar iron and castings made.
The iron was carried to Pittsburgh, partly on horseback, and partly by
water, down the Conemaugh and Allegheny Rivers. Small shops for the
manufacture of articles of iron were opened. Shortly afterward iron ore
was also mined in the counties of Fayette and Westmoreland and furnaces
and forges built and iron produced. The distance being shorter from
Fayette and Westmoreland Counties than from the Juniata Valley, iron
was thereafter brought to Pittsburgh only from the former districts.
The iron shops increased in number. Coal was the pole star which
lighted the way to their establishment. A writer who saw the advantages
of Pittsburgh with the eyes of a Münchhausen, writing of the value of
its coal, declared, that the blaze afforded “so strong a light, that in
winter, ... neither tailors, or other mechanics burn candles.”[137]
At the close of the eighteenth century, the black smoke of the iron
shops, the glass manufactory, the boat yards, the distillery, the
brewery, the tanneries, the brickyards, and the increasing number of
dwelling houses had already given the town a sombre hue. Industry went
forward with leaps and bounds, and manufactories on a larger scale were
set up. They were insignificant, if compared with even the medium-sized
establishments of to-day, but were large and important in the eyes of
people who, prior to the American Revolution, had been practically
prohibited from engaging in any manufacturing by their English masters.
Cotton mills were established, as were iron foundries, nail factories,
engine shops, a tinware manufactory, a pipe manufactory, and in 1808 a
second glass works, that of Robinson & Ensell.[138] The extent of the
plants can be gauged, when it is known that one of the nail factories
employed thirty men, the tinware manufactory twenty-eight men, and one
of the cotton mills twelve men.[139]
In 1804, the Bank of Pennsylvania opened a branch in Pittsburgh. A
stage line from Chambersburgh to Baltimore and Philadelphia was placed
in operation in the spring of 1803.[140] In 1804 this was extended to
Pittsburgh, the first coach from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia being run
on July 4th.
Religion was now keeping pace with the increase in population and the
growth in material prosperity. Hitherto those who were religiously
inclined were obliged to attend the services of either the German
or the Presbyterian church. Other churches were now brought into
existence. The Episcopalians formed an organization in 1805, under
the name of “Trinity Church,” and began the erection of their brick
octagonal building, on the lot bounded by Liberty, Seventh, and Wood
streets, which was a landmark in its day.
Ever since the English occupancy, the population had been Protestant in
religion, although Protestantism in the early days signified little
more than a stout opposition to Roman Catholicism. The Presbyterians,
who constituted the bulk of the English-speaking Protestants, had
looked askance when the Episcopalians, whom they regarded as closely
akin to Roman Catholics, formed their church organization. When it
was rumored that Roman Catholic services were to be held, they shook
their heads still more doubtfully. Prior to 1800 there was hardly a
professed Roman Catholic in Pittsburgh. In 1804, the number was still
so small that when the missionary priest and former Russian prince
and soldier, Demetrius Augustine Gallitzen, came and celebrated mass,
there were only fifteen persons present to assist.[141] In 1808, a
congregation was formed, and the next year a one-story brick chapel
was erected[142] at the southeast corner of Liberty and Washington
streets, Washington Street then extending to Liberty Street. The
site is now occupied by the entrance to the Pennsylvania Station.
Practically all the parishioners were Irish, and it was natural that
the new edifice should be named “St. Patrick’s Church.” The Methodists
organized a congregation at the same time as the Roman Catholics,[143]
and in 1810 erected a small brick building on Front Street below
Smithfield, opposite the lower end of the site at present occupied by
the Monongahela House.[144] The Baptists were growing in numbers and,
although lacking a church organization, met at one another’s houses,
and listened to the exhortations of traveling missionaries of that
faith.[145]
The Freemasons must be credited with a movement, inaugurated at this
time, which was to have a far-reaching effect. The meetings of Lodge
No. 45 in the taverns had been conducive of almost everything except
sobriety. The effects were degrading, and in many cases injurious, not
only to the persons affected but to their dependents as well. Also
the evil was growing, and was contrary to the expressed ideals of the
order. Practically all the leaders in the village, whether in public
or private life, had been or were still members of the lodge. Among
the older members were General Richard Butler and his brother, Colonel
William Butler, General John Neville, Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge,
Captain Joseph Ashton, John Ormsby, Colonel James O’Hara, Captain
Michael Hufnagle, Major Isaac Craig, Senator James Ross, Samuel Ewalt,
and Captain John Irwin. Younger members were Dr. Andrew Richardson,
Dr. Hugh Scott, William Wusthoff, Anthony Beelen, Thomas Baird, James
Riddle, Tarleton Bates, Rev. Robert Steele, and Henry Baldwin. It
is not surprising that such men should sooner or later realize the
calamity which confronted the members of the lodge, and decide upon
eliminating the cause. The change was effected upon the completion of
William Irwin’s brick house, at the southwest corner of Market Street
and the West Diamond, just prior to the opening of the new century.
Thenceforth the meetings of the lodge were held in a room on the third
floor of this building, and the temptation to excessive drinking was
at least farther removed than when the sessions were being held in
the “Sign of the Green Tree.” This was the first practical temperance
movement in Pittsburgh.
Market Street was one of the narrowest streets in the town, but was
the principal commercial thoroughfare. Coincidentally it was called
“Main Street.” It received the name by which it has been known for
more than a century and a quarter, from the fact that the first market
house, erected in 1787, was located at the northwest corner of this
street and Second Street. In 1800 the street was bustling with life.
More drays and carts and wagons were moving over at least a portion of
the thoroughfare than is the case to-day. Intermingled with the other
vehicles were wagons from the country, drawn by oxen. In wet weather
the roadway was ground into mud and thin mire. The merchants generally
lived with their families in the houses where their business was
conducted. The street was noisy with children. Trees grew on the outer
edges of the foot-walks, and in the summer grass and weeds sprang up,
watered by the street wells and pumps that supplied the residents with
water.
Most of the prominent people lived on Market Street. Judge Hugh
Henry Brackenridge, although often absent from Pittsburgh in the
performance of his judicial duties, maintained his residence on the
street, until August 24, 1801, when he removed with his family to
Carlisle.[146] All but one of the physicians were located there. Here
the leading mercantile establishments were concentrated. Open spaces
still intervened between the houses, and there were gardens, inclosed
with fences painted white, in which flowers bloomed and vegetables
flourished, but the spaces were rapidly being built upon. Everywhere
the sounds of hammer and saw greeted the ear, and heaps of brick and
beds of mortar encumbered the street.
Public improvements were commenced: Market and Wood streets were
being paved, as was Chancery Lane from the Monongahela River to
Second Street. Front and Third streets were being graveled from
Market to Wood Street, as was also Diamond Alley.[147] The price of
land was advancing. The Penns had sold most of the lots fronting on
Market Street, in 1785, at the average price of ten pounds each in
Pennsylvania currency, a pound being equal to two dollars and sixty-six
and two-thirds cents in United States money of the present value. The
lots were of varying dimensions: some had a front on Market Street of
one hundred and sixty feet, and a depth of eighty feet, while others
had fronts of from fifty-six to eighty feet, and were of different
depths. In 1789 and 1790, respectively, two lots were sold for fifty
pounds each. In 1791, two others were sold for one hundred and twenty
pounds each. In 1793, a lot on the East Diamond, where values had not
appreciated to the same extent as on Market Street, was sold for one
hundred pounds. After 1800, the lots began to be subdivided, and still
higher prices prevailed, and they continued to advance year by year.
The Act of Congress of July 6, 1785, established a national currency,
the unit being a dollar, equal in value to the Spanish milled dollar.
The Spanish milled dollar had been in circulation in this country
for many years, and was the expressed unit in the paper money and
other obligations, authorized by Congress since the first year of the
Revolution. The United States mint, however, was not authorized until
the passage of the Act of Congress of April 2, 1792, and the first
coinage of silver and gold did not take place until two years later.
During this interval the circulating medium was mainly Spanish silver
money and the consideration mentioned in conveyances was usually in the
Spanish milled dollar. In 1801, a lot having a front on Market Street
of thirty feet and a depth of seventy feet, was sold for six hundred
and twelve dollars and fifty cents; in 1803, a lot having a front
of forty-six feet and a depth of seventy feet was sold for thirteen
hundred dollars. In 1804, an undivided fourth interest in a lot having
a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy-five
feet, was sold for eight hundred and seventy-five dollars. In 1805,
a half interest in a lot also having a front of fifty-six feet, and
a depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet was sold for twelve
hundred dollars. In 1806, an eighth interest in a lot having a front
of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet,
was sold for two hundred and seventy-five dollars. In 1807, a sixth
interest in a lot having a front of fifty-six feet, and a depth of one
hundred and seventy-five feet, was sold for six hundred and sixty-six
dollars and sixty-six cents.
Most of the houses were built on land leased from the owners, or on
lots subject to the payment of ground rents, which accounted to some
extent for the inferior quality of the improvements. The number of
brick houses on Market Street was still so limited that the merchants
were fond of referring to the fact that the establishments conducted by
them were located in a “brick house” or “next door to,” or “across the
street from,” a “brick house.”
A majority of the merchants and professional men on the street were
young, or at least had not arrived at middle age. Like all the men
in new communities, they were possessed of unbounded energy, which
found vent in their business affairs, in a desire for pleasure, and
in an inordinate ambition for political preferment. Perhaps it was
owing to this cause, that the number of town and other offices were so
numerous. The town officers were a chief burgess, a burgess and four
assistant burgesses, a town clerk, a high constable, two assessors,
and two supervisors. The duties of the assistant burgesses were to
assist the chief burgess and the burgess in the performance of their
duties.[148] The justices of the peace were even more plentiful than
the town officers. They were appointed by the governor and held office
during good behavior, which was practically for life. Appointments were
constantly made, usually as a reward for party fealty, and there being
a dearth of deaths among those in office, the number of justices of the
peace had become inordinately large. There was also a cause peculiar
to Pittsburgh, for the craving for office. The legislative acts of the
borough were performed at Town Meetings held in the court house by
the “Burgesses, Freeholders, and Inhabitants, householders,” at which
all the male adults whether citizens or aliens[149] who had resided
in the place for a year, had a voice. In 1800, there were nearly two
hundred qualified electors who had a right to participate in the Town
Meetings,[150] and practically the entire number were politicians. A
desire for the glare of public life developed, and the creation of
offices resulted.
Considering the extent of the town and the number of the inhabitants,
the stores were numerous, there being, in 1803, forty-nine stores and
shops.[151] The explanation was that much of the trade of Pittsburgh
was with travelers passing through the place, and with settlements
farther west and south. The travelers were frequently delayed for long
periods. Owing to the lack of a sufficient stage of water in the
rivers, as high as a hundred boats, each carrying an average of twelve
emigrants, were sometimes tied up along the Monongahela River between
Pittsburgh and New Geneva, and as many more along the Allegheny.[152]
The various supplies required while there and for the further journey
were furnished by the merchants of the town.
The stores were usually what is termed “general stores,” where
everything necessary for the use of pioneer families could be
purchased. Only a few establishments dealt in special lines. On the
shelves were articles that at present are suggestive of the day in
which they were sold. Taken in connection with the dress of the people,
the food they ate, their churches, their societies, their work, and
their amusements, they form a more or less complete outline picture
of the time. Items which stand out in relief are Franklin stoves,
chimney hooks, window weights, brass and stock locks, brass and iron
candlesticks, snuffers, horse fleams, iron combs, iron buttons, knee
buckles, powder flasks, American and German gunpowder, bar lead and
shot, wallowers for Dutch fans, and cards.[153] The sale of cards was
an industry of importance in agricultural communities. At present
the name is confusing. The civilization of the day had not developed
business or visiting cards, and if playing cards were intended they
would have been so designated. The cards sold in Pittsburgh were
brushes with wire teeth used in disentangling fibers of wool, cotton,
and hemp, and laying them parallel to one another preparatory to
spinning. In 1794, the advertisement of Adgate & Co., “at the card
manufactory, corner of Market and Water Streets,” appeared in the
_Pittsburgh Gazette_.[154]
The occupancy of Market Street began at Water Street. Some of the
early settlers were still living in the houses where they began their
business life. Samuel Ewalt was among the earliest merchants on the
street. His store was at the northeast corner of Market and Water
streets. He owned the entire block on the easterly side of Market
Street, between Water and Front streets, his land extending eastwardly
a considerable distance.
On Water Street, one lot removed from the west side of Market Street,
was the home of Colonel Presley Neville. While a very young man,
living in his native Virginia, he had served as an officer in the
Revolutionary War. During this period he married the eldest daughter of
General Daniel Morgan. In Pittsburgh Colonel Neville held many public
positions. He had been inspector of the Allegheny County brigade of
militia, agent for the United States for receiving and storing whisky
taken in kind for the excise, a member of the Legislature,[155] and
was now surveyor of Allegheny County,[156] and was engaged in selling
town lots, and lands in the adjacent townships.[157] In 1803, he was
a candidate for chief burgess, but his vote was a tie with that of
his opponent, Colonel James O’Hara, who had also been an officer in
the Revolution The determination of the case being with the governor,
the decision was in favor of Colonel O’Hara,[158] but under the law
Colonel Neville became burgess.[159] Below Colonel Neville’s house, at
the northwest corner of Water and Ferry streets, was a large two-story
frame building set in a garden. This was the town house of General
John Neville, the father of Colonel Neville. Like his son, he was a
former Revolutionary officer; he had been Inspector of the Revenue
under the excise law, during the Whisky Insurrection. The burning
of his country home by the Insurgents was one of the events of the
short-lived revolt. On Water Street, one door above Redoubt Alley, was
the frame tenement house of Major Isaac Craig. The building had become
historic. It was here that Alexander Hamilton, Judge Richard Peters of
the United States District Court for Pennsylvania, together with the
United States District Attorney, and the United States Marshal, who
accompanied the army of General Lee into Western Pennsylvania, held
court and interrogated Hugh Henry Brackenridge, and others suspected of
fomenting the Whisky Insurrection.
West of Major Craig’s home, a short distance east of West Alley,
was the large frame dwelling of Colonel O’Hara. O’Hara was the most
enterprising citizen in the town, and an important factor in its early
development. At one time he was engaged in almost a dozen enterprises.
He was also the largest owner of real estate both in Pittsburgh, and
Allegheny County, resident in the borough. Among the older merchants
were William Christy, John Irwin, and William Irwin. They had formerly
been partners, but the partnership had long since been dissolved,[160]
and each now had a store of his own. Christy’s establishment was at
the northwest corner of Market and Water streets. He sold all kinds of
cloths and velvets, cassimeres, corduroys, and flannels, teas, sugar,
and “common groceries of every denomination.”[161] During the Virginia
régime, he was a lieutenant in the Pittsburgh militia, and in 1802
was town clerk.[162] Adjoining Christy’s store was that of Dr. Andrew
Richardson. Richardson was a physician. At this time physicians not
only prescribed medicines, but prepared and sold them, and Richardson
was no exception. His advertisement reads like that of a latter-day
druggist: “Oil of Vitriol. I have for sale at my medical store a
quantity of oil of vitriol which I will sell low for cash. Also a
variety of drugs and medicines which I will sell wholesale or retail at
the same terms.”[163]
He was prominent in many respects. Besides being a physician, he was
a justice of the peace, and a leader in politics. In January, 1800,
Governor McKean appointed him Register and Recorder of Allegheny
County in place of Samuel Jones, his Federalist father-in-law,[164]
but he soon relinquished the office. He was likewise a prominent
Freemason, being secretary of Lodge No. 45, and was well known as a
public speaker. At the dinner given on the first anniversary of the
inauguration of President Jefferson he was one of the two presiding
officers.[165] On St. John the Evangelist’s Day, December 27, 1798, he
delivered an oration before Lodge No. 45, which was considered of such
importance that the lodge procured its publication in the _Pittsburgh
Gazette_.
The style was florid. Richardson was high in the councils of the
Republican party, yet his argument was that of a Federalist. It was
a panegyric on Freemasonry, and an expression of hope for universal
peace and love. Opening with a review of the conflict convulsing Europe
he launched out into a severe denunciation of the course that France
was pursuing. “Already hath nation arisen against nation in lawless
oppression,” the orator proclaimed. “Already hath our infant country
been threatened with a final subjugation.” Continuing he asked: “And
who are those who dare to usurp a superiority over us? The French! Once
the boast of history, the pride of the smiling page; but now a band
of robbers, dead to every feeling of humanity, lost to every virtue;
a band of robbers whose lawless acts have drawn upon them the just
resentment of our virtuous brother, the illustrious Washington, who,
though loaded with the oppressive weight of sixty-six years, stands
ready once more to unsheath his conquering sword to save his country
from rapine and murder. Shall he stand the war alone? No, every Masonic
heart will rush like lightning to his standard, with him conquer, or
with him die!”[166]
Richardson’s outspoken views appear to have caused an estrangement with
the local Republican leaders, and in 1801, when he was a candidate
for the State Senate, they were arrayed against him. He was charged
with the unpardonable sin of reviling Thomas Jefferson, the idol of
American public life. The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ and the _Tree of
Liberty_ contained frequent references to the incident. Richardson
himself published a card, which was at once evasive and apologetic. He
was accused of having three years before drunk a toast, “Damnation to
Jefferson and his party,” in Marie’s tavern. He admitted having been in
the tavern on the occasion referred to, but added: “This much I will
say, that if such a toast was given by me, it was improper, and I must
have done so on the impulse of the moment. I cannot say whether it was
given at all.” The Republican tide was too strong and he was defeated,
and was again defeated in 1802, when a candidate for representative to
the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,[167] and he met with a like
fate when a candidate for the same office in 1803.[168] In August of
1809 he died, a disappointed man.[169]
In the same block with Dr. Richardson, at the southwest corner of
Market and Front streets, were the cabinet-makers and upholsterers,
Dobbins & McElhinney.[170] Directly across Market Street from Dobbins
& McElhinney, was the establishment of the Chevalier Dubac. The sign
gave no inkling of the noble birth of the proprietor, reading simply,
“Gabriel Dubac.”[171] He had recently removed to this corner from
Front Street.[172] He has been described as the most popular citizen
of the village.[173] With his wines, dry goods, and groceries, he sold
confectionery. His dog “Sultan,” and his monkey “Bijou,” were the joy
of the children. He was an accomplished scholar, and possessed most
polished manners. When he closed his shop and entered society, he
was the delight of all with whom he associated. He was in the habit
of dining on Sundays at the home of General Neville. When the French
princes, the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis Philippe, King of
France, and his two brothers, the Duke of Montpensier and the Count of
Beaujolais, visited Pittsburgh in 1797, it was the Chevalier Dubac who
assisted in making their stay agreeable.
REFERENCES
CHAPTER V
[137] “A Sketch of Pittsburgh,” _The Literary Magazine_, Philadelphia,
October, 1806, p. 252.
[138] CRAMER’S _Pittsburgh Almanac for 1809_.
[139] “A Sketch of Pittsburgh,” _The Literary Magazine_, Philadelphia,
October, 1806, p. 254.
[140] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 13, 1803.
[141] REV. A. A. LAMBING. _A History of the Catholic Church in the
Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Allegheny_, New York, 1880, p. 38.
[142] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 69.
[143] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 69.
[144] _Centennial Celebration of Pittsburgh Methodism_, 1888, pp. 66–67.
[145] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 69.
[146] _Tree of Liberty_, August 22, 1801.
[147] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 61.
[148] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 22, 1801; Act of September 12, 1782;
Act of April 22, 1794.
[149] Stewart _v._ Foster, 2 Binney, 110.
[150] _Tree of Liberty_, May 23, 1801.
[151] THADDEUS MASON HARRIS. _The Journal of a Tour_, Boston, 1805, p.
41.
[152] “A Sketch of Pittsburgh,” _The Literary Magazine_, Philadelphia,
October, 1806, p. 253.
[153] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 23, 1794; _Pittsburgh Gazette_,
October 10, 1800.
[154] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, July 26, 1794.
[155] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 22, 1798.
[156] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 10, 1800.
[157] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 28, 1800.
[158] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 20, 1803.
[159] _Tree of Liberty_, December 10, 1803.
[160] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 9, 1789.
[161] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 9, 1801.
[162] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 21, 1802.
[163] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 20, 1799.
[164] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 25, 1800.
[165] _Tree of Liberty_, March 13, 1802.
[166] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 5, 1799.
[167] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 22, 1802.
[168] _Tree of Liberty_, October 22, 1803.
[169] F. CUMING. _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 71.
[170] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 10, 1802.
[171] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 23, 1802.
[172] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 23, 1801.
[173] MORGAN NEVILLE. In John F. Watson’s _Annals of Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1891, vol. ii., pp. 132–135.
CHAPTER VI
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AFFAIRS
The news and literary center was between Front and Second streets.
Here the two newspapers were published. John Scull, the owner of the
_Pittsburgh Gazette_, lived at the northwest corner of Market and Front
streets; and on Front Street, immediately in the rear of his dwelling,
stood the small one-story building where the newspaper was printed. In
this house the post office had been located until 1794, when Scull was
succeeded as postmaster by George Adams, who removed the post office
to the log house on Front Street near Ferry. At the northerly end of
the block, at the corner of Second Street, was the brick house of Dr.
Peter Mowry, who had the largest medical practice in the town. Directly
across Market Street from Dr. Mowry, Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge had
erected for the _Tree of Liberty_, a one-story office, and behind this
a building where the paper was printed.[174]
Judge Brackenridge’s dwelling adjoined the office of the _Tree of
Liberty_ on the south.[175] It was a large and commodious blue frame
building which had been, until recently, surrounded by a paling fence.
The larger part was now given over to trade. It was the best known
house in the town. In it General Lee had made his headquarters while in
Pittsburgh during the memorable days of November, 1794.[176] In front
of this building, Brackenridge, according to his own story, braved the
indignation of Lee’s troops, by parading before them dressed in his
“large cocked hat, buff underdress, and coat of military blue.”[177]
On the north side of Second Street, one door west of Chancery Lane,
stood William Turnbull’s large two-story stone structure, occupied
during the Whisky Insurrection by William Semple as a store.[178]
Here also resided at that time Colonel Presley Neville.[179] General
Daniel Morgan lived with his son-in-law during the stay of the army
in Pittsburgh. From this house General Morgan and Colonel Neville
rushed hatless to save Brackenridge from the fury of the soldiers, who
Brackenridge charged were planning his assassination.[180] In 1804,
the building was occupied by the “Office of Discount and Deposit,” as
the branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania was called. At the corner of
Chancery Lane adjoining the Turnbull house, was the home of Steele
Semple, the famous advocate and wit, and connoisseur of the polite and
fashionable literature of the day.[181]
In the center of the block in which Brackenridge lived, was the book
store and bindery of Zadok Cramer, at the “Sign of the Franklin Head.”
“Its ancient appearance,” wrote one of its habitués, “is agreeably
associated in the memory of many amongst us with our happiest moments,
when the careless, airy hours of youth were passing thoughtlessly and
cheerfully away.”[182] Men just as substantial, but of less note, also
had establishments in this square. At the southerly corner of Front
Street was the large store of Abner and Jeffe Barker who sold bar
iron and castings,[183] and kept a “general assortment of merchandise
and boulting cloths.”[184] All the merchants were selling “boulting
cloths,” which were cloths used by millers for sifting flour. Adjoining
Abner and Jeffe Barker’s store on the north was the establishment of
Jeremiah Barker who had for sale a “handsome and general assortment of
the freshest goods,”[185] and “a few boxes of glass eight by ten.”[186]
In addition to being a merchant, Jeremiah Barker was justice of the
peace, and in 1801 burgess.[187] The store of Abner and Jeffe Barker,
and the store of Jeremiah Barker, were both on the site formerly
occupied by Andrew Watson’s tavern.
On the north side of Front Street, two doors east of Abner and Jeffe
Barker’s store, was an old two-story log building owned by Andrew
Watson. It had been formerly occupied as a store by John and Samuel
Calhoun,[188] and when Allegheny County was formed, was rented by the
county for the use of the courts, and called the “Court House.” In this
house justice was dispensed for many years. In December, 1788, the
first court of quarter sessions for Allegheny County was held there,
George Wallace being president judge, and John Scott, John Wilkins,
and John Johnson associates. They were all laymen, the constitution in
force not requiring judges to be learned in the law. The first court
of common pleas was held in the building on March 14, 1789.
The judges of the Supreme Court, or at least two of them, were
required to go on the circuit annually, visiting every county during
the intervals between the regular sessions of the Supreme Court, and
to hold courts of _nisi prius_ and Oyer and Terminer for the trial of
capital cases.[189] In Pittsburgh the sessions were held in Andrew
Watson’s house. Here Chief Justice McKean and Justice George Bryan
held the first court of Oyer and Terminer for Allegheny County. Judge
Henry M. Brackenridge related that he had been informed that, at this
session, they sat in scarlet robes. He stated further that when going
to and returning from court the judges were carefully attired in black,
with cocked hats, and were preceded by the Sheriff of the County
bearing a white wand. Leading the procession was a drummer beating a
drum.[190]
The first court house was memorable for another reason. It was in the
court room that the townspeople assembled on that eventful evening
of the thirty-first day of July, during the stormiest days of the
Whisky Insurrection.[191] The mail from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia
had been robbed by the Insurgents and among the letters taken were
several, written by prominent citizens of Pittsburgh, which indicated
a hostile spirit toward the insurrection. The sentiments expressed
were considered as reflecting the opinion of the town. The rage of
the Insurgents was now directed against Pittsburgh. In their wrath
they characterized it as another Sodom, and declared that they would
come and destroy it with fire, and leave nothing but smoking ruins to
mark the spot where it had stood. With this end in view they commenced
gathering in force at Braddocksfield. News of the sinister purpose
spread to the town. Alarm grew into terror, and a meeting was hastily
called to consider measures of protection. The meeting was already in
progress, when a committee sent by the Insurgents arrived and announced
that the town would be spared if certain obnoxious persons, including
the writers of the letters found in the mail, were banished from the
town. They reported that the task of saving the town would be easier
of accomplishment if the inhabitants marched out in a body to meet
the Insurgents, and by fraternizing with them show that they were not
hostile to the Insurgent cause. The meeting deliberated far into the
night, and at two o’clock the next morning arrived at a humiliating
conclusion. They agreed to banish the men asked for, and to join the
Insurgents at Braddocksfield, “as brethren to carry into effect with
them any measure that may seem to them advisable for the common cause.”
Even then the panic did not subside. The people refused to go to bed;
women wept; valuables were hidden, and lights flickered in the houses
all night long.
At the northwest corner of Market and Second streets, in the
three-story double brick building owned by Colonel O’Hara, was the
store of Scott & Trotter, where they sold “merchandise of a superior
quality suitable to every station, which they are determined to
sell on very low terms for cash, peltry, furs, and approved country
produce.”[192] Next door to Scott & Trotter was Dr. George Stevenson.
Like Dr. Richardson, Stevenson conducted an apothecary shop and sold
“drugs, medicines, surgical instruments, etc.”[193] He was a former
Revolutionary officer, and had been third lieutenant in the First
Pennsylvania Regiment. In 1778, he resigned to study medicine, and
re-entered the service in 1779 as surgeon’s mate with the rank of
ensign. In 1798, he was major in the Tenth United States Regiment.
Stevenson was chief burgess in 1801.[194]
At the southwest corner of Market and Third streets was the “hat sales
shop” of Thomas and Samuel Magee.[195] Here they kept for sale the
beaver, castor, and roram hats, which they manufactured at the corner
of Front Street and Chancery Lane. On the opposite side of Market
Street from Scott & Trotter was William Herd’s dry goods and grocery
store.[196] Also on this side of Market Street, at the northeast
corner of that street and Third Street, was another physician, Dr.
Hugh Scott.[197] Then came the store of William Gazzam, and adjoining
was that of William Barrett. Farther on, Fulton & Baird sold “soal
and upper leather,”[198] and James Riddle had a boot and shoe-making
establishment[199] and sold “Halifax soal leather, also boot legs, half
and whole soals, and boot webbing.”[200] Another establishment was
that of William Porter who had a cut and forged nail manufactory.[201]
Adjoining Porter on the north was the well-known tavern of Mrs.
Mary Murphy, commonly known as “Molly” Murphy, the widow of Patrick
Murphy, at the “Sign of General Butler.” Beginning on April 1, 1800,
and for several years afterward, the tavern was conducted by Richard
Hancock.[202] Next door to the “Sign of General Butler,” and extending
to Fourth Street at the “Sign of the Negro,” Joseph McClurg sold
dry goods, hardware, china, and glassware, and conducted a tobacco
manufactory.[203] He also advertised as having for sale “a large
assortment of window and hollow glass of a superior quality, from A.
Gallatin, Esq’s., glass works at New Geneva.”[204]
The “Sign of General Butler” was named for General Richard Butler who
in his day was the most noted character in Pittsburgh. He had been
Indian trader and Indian agent. In the Revolution he was second in
command to General Daniel Morgan at Saratoga, and second in command to
General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point. He was a justice of the Court
of Common Pleas of Allegheny County[205] and was the first lieutenant
of the county, the officer who at that time was commander of the
militia.[206] He was a member of the General Assembly,[207] and met a
glorious death during St. Clair’s unfortunate expedition against the
Indians on the Miami River, on November 4, 1791.[208] His name has been
commemorated in that of Butler County.[209] His home was in the log
house situated on the east side of Marbury, now Third Street, one door
south of Penn Street, now Penn Avenue,[210] where his widow continued
to reside.
The “Sign of General Butler,” like the home of Brackenridge, became
famous during the Whisky Insurrection. President Washington had
appointed a commission to meet the Insurgents, and procure their
submission. It consisted of Senator James Ross, Attorney General
William Bradford, also a Pennsylvanian, and Jasper Yeates, a justice
of the Supreme Court of this State. The commissioners on the part of
Pennsylvania were Chief Justice McKean and General William Irvine.
The commission had arranged to meet representatives of those in
rebellion, on Wednesday, August 20, 1794. Two days before that date,
the commissioners took up their lodgings at the “Sign of General
Butler.” When it became known that they were at the tavern, a mob
gathered before it on Market Street, and made their sentiments apparent
by raising a liberty pole, the emblem everywhere in the disturbed
districts of disaffection toward the national government. A streamer
was fastened to the pole on which were inscribed the watchwords of the
Insurgents:
“Liberty and no Excise.
Death to Cowards and Traitors.”
Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge has stated that it was with difficulty
that he and others who were influential with the rioters prevailed
on them to forego their intention of placing on the pole the flag
which had been prepared, bearing six stripes, emblematical of the
six counties, five in Pennsylvania, and one in Virginia, which were
threatening to secede from the United States and set up a government
of their own. That the conferences which followed were fruitless is
well known. Only one man in attendance gained in reputation. Albert
Gallatin was on the committee sent by the Insurgents. His ability
and his firm stand in favor of law and order won for him everywhere,
and particularly in Allegheny and Washington counties, the lasting
regard of the citizens. Two months later a member of Congress was to
be elected in the district composed of these counties, and Insurgents
and non-insurgents flocked to Gallatin’s support, and to the surprise
of Brackenridge and General John Woods, the other candidates, he was
elected.
During the occupancy of the “Sign of General Butler” by Richard
Hancock, James Hilliard had a farrier shop and livery stable, in the
stable connected with the tavern.[211] The public controversy in
which Hilliard engaged his wife, is a striking illustration of the
mischievous result of the husband’s absolute control of his wife’s
separate estate under the existing laws. Hilliard was married to
Elizabeth Bausman, a daughter of Jacob Bausman, who was possessed of
property in her own right which she had inherited from her father.
Hilliard published a notice[212] advising the public that his wife had
“absconded from his bed and board,” and declaring that he would not be
responsible for debts contracted by her. To this charge Mrs. Hilliard
replied in a sharp letter.[213] She denied her husband’s accusation,
and stated that she had gone with her children, at his request, on
a visit to Jacob Haymaker. She charged Hilliard with having, during
her absence, disposed of the household effects, including her wearing
apparel, to John Smur, a tavern keeper in the town, and that everything
had been taken away after nightfall; that the articles were part of
her separate estate; that now she had “no bed nor board to go to.”
She asked that no credit be extended to Hilliard on the strength of
her estate, and declared that thereafter she would decline to pay his
debts, but would use her estate for her own benefit. “In the future,”
she concluded, “it shall not be expended in paying his tavern bills.”
A unique reputation attached to the houses in this block which, while
descriptive, was at the same time significant of the political power
of the occupants and their associates. Although the houses were built
separately, and were of different types, they were collectively
called by the not-over-euphonious name of “Clapboard Row.” As the
name indicated, they were constructed of clapboards. So well known
was “Clapboard Row” that the merchants who had their establishments
there were fond of advertising the fact. Practically all the occupants
were politicians, and without exception belonged to the Republican
party. Also the “Sign of General Butler” was the headquarters of that
party. By their opponents, these leaders were termed the “Clapboard
Row Junto,” “junto” being an older word for “ring.” General Fowler,
after he separated from the Republican party, designated them as the
“Clapboardonian Democracy.”[214] The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ charged
that the editor of the _Tree of Liberty_ was controlled by “Clapboard
Row.”[215] Some were officeholders, others desired to be such, and in
State and national affairs they were supreme.
The members of the “Clapboard Row Junto” were men of dual capacity.
Their energies were devoted to their private affairs and to politics
with equal intensity. In politics the smallest details received
careful attention. Many of the methods employed by modern Pittsburgh
politicians were inherited from “Clapboard Row.” One of the schemes for
increasing the party vote, which originated with “Clapboard Row,” was
to encourage and assist the aliens who settled in Pittsburgh to become
naturalized. This was done through the medium of a committee composed
of Thomas Baird, James Riddle, and Joseph McClurg.[216]
Dr. Scott was high in the favor of the Republican leaders, and on the
death of George Adams on April 1, 1801, was appointed postmaster, and
established the post office in his store, continuing the practice
of medicine and the sale of drugs as before. William Gazzam was an
aggressive Irishman, who had been in the country only a few years, but
by dint of perseverance had pressed well forward in politics, perhaps
to the detriment of his business, as he failed early in his career.
He was brigade inspector of the Allegheny County militia, and justice
of the peace. He aroused the ire of General Fowler, when with other
“Clapboard Row” politicians he refused to support Fowler for Congress.
The controversy was amusing. In the communications which Fowler
published in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ about his wrongs, he designated
Gazzam as a “little man--in the most emphatic sense.” He declared
that under “the cloak of Republicanism and religion,” Gazzam was
“artfully aiming at offices.”[217] The allusion to Gazzam’s “religion”
referred to the gentleman’s well known activity in the affairs of the
Presbyterian Church, which he afterward left, owing, it was alleged,
to the fact that the minister, the Rev. Robert Steele, gave out “two
lines of a stanza to be sung, instead of the time-honored one.”[218]
Fowler enlarged on Gazzam’s reputed yearning for office. He enumerated
the offices which Gazzam had held, and the others that he desired. He
claimed that Gazzam was an applicant for the post office on the demise
of George Adams; that he hoped to be county commissioner; that he was
scheming to become a member of the General Assembly.[219] To this abuse
Gazzam replied with equal venom. He said General Fowler had been drunk
on the last occasion that he had asked his support for Congress, and
that he had abused him in a very ungentlemanly manner.[220]
Thomas Baird was a member of the firm of Fulton and Baird, and was
a candidate for burgess in 1803, the year that Colonel Neville was
elected.[221] Joseph McClurg was a candidate for supervisor in 1803,
but was defeated by A. McNickle.[222] Affiliated with these men
were Samuel Ewalt, Nathaniel Irish, and Adamson Tannehill, the last
two being former Revolutionary officers. Nathaniel Irish was county
commissioner,[223] and inspector of flour for the Western country.[224]
Adamson Tannehill had formerly conducted a tavern on Water Street,[225]
and had been president of the Pittsburgh Fire Company.[226] In October,
1800, while a justice of the peace, he was tried and convicted of
extortion, before Justices Jasper Yeates and Thomas Smith of the
Supreme Court while on circuit in Pittsburgh, that court then having
original jurisdiction of this offense, under the constitution of
1790. Tannehill received a reprimand and was fined fifty dollars. The
conviction was thought to disqualify him from further exercising the
office of justice of the peace. Being a leading Republican, and the
offense, which consisted in charging on two probates two shillings more
than the law allowed, having been committed five years before, Governor
McKean, in January, 1801, remitted the fine and reappointed Tannehill
to the office which he had formerly held.[227] Dr. Andrew Richardson
belonged to the “Clapboard Row” faction until his desertion of the
Republican party. Joseph Davis, who had a grocery store on the other
side of Market Street from “Clapboard Row,” was another member of the
clique, as was Tarleton Bates, the prothonotary of the county,[228] who
had succeeded John C. Gilkison in office.
“Clapboard Row,” was not allowed to win its victories unopposed. The
opposition was both able and active. Judge Alexander Addison, Senator
James Ross, and General John Woods were the leaders of the Federalists.
Colonel O’Hara, General Neville, Colonel Neville, Major Craig, Major
Ebenezer Denny, Dr. Stevenson, and most of the former Revolutionary
officers were also Federalists. Other Federalists were William
Christy, Dr. Mowry, Abner Barker, Jeremiah Barker, and Alexander
McLaughlin. They made a gallant fight for their principles, but their
voice was usually drowned in the mighty chorus of Republicanism that
had swept the country from its former conservative moorings. In borough
politics only were they successful.
The views of the rival political parties were echoed with startling
frankness in the columns of the _Tree of Liberty_ and the _Pittsburgh
Gazette_. On October 11, 1800, the _Tree of Liberty_ announced the
election of the Republican candidate for inspector of elections in the
borough, and added jubilantly: “The people are no longer to be led up
like tame asses to vote against their inclination for the characters
that Ross, Woods, and Addison recommend. They now act for themselves.”
After the presidential election of 1800, it exulted further: “It is
laughable to hear some of the hot-blooded Federalists moaning and
groaning at the result of the last election. They know not what cause
to attribute it to. They curse the _Tree_ and all its leaves, they
denounce ‘Clapboard Row’ with the yards and its size sticks.”[229]
The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ was equally outspoken, its ire being
particularly directed against Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge. In an
article signed “A Citizen of Washington,” it gave what purported to
be an account of a drunken escapade of the Judge through Washington
and Allegheny Counties, which, if published to-day, would lead to a
personal encounter.[230] On another occasion Scull paid his compliments
to Brackenridge in the following sarcastic terms: “You who get two or
three thousand dollars a year for setting up a slanderous press, and
for two or three journeys through the State to sit as a mute on the
bench, and wear the new cockade, in your drunken frolics through the
country, can afford to buy a press and hire types, and pay under-devils
to set types and fetch and carry tales. I cannot afford such things. I
have no salary, post, or pension.”[231]
A week later Scull attacked Brackenridge with even more virulence: “Mr.
Brackenridge cannot expect to live long. He has already outlived all
hope of fame. I doubt whether he feels that there is a God above him.
I doubt whether he does not think that he is his own divinity while he
lives, and that when he dies his dust will mingle with that of the
beasts that perish. He has labored with industry and success to acquire
the contempt and abhorrence of all whom it was possible for him to
esteem.”[232]
REFERENCES
CHAPTER VI
[174] _Tree of Liberty_, August 23, 1800.
[175] _Tree of Liberty_, August 23, 1800.
[176] H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. _Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western
Parts of Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1795, vol. ii., pp. 73–74.
[177] H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. _Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western
Parts of Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1795, vol. ii., p. 72.
[178] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 16, 1793.
[179] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 28, 1794.
[180] H. H. BRACKENRIDGE. _Incidents of the Insurrection in the Western
Parts of Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1795, vol. ii. p. 61.
[181] DANIEL AGNEW. _Address Delivered before the Allegheny County Bar
Association_, December 1, 1888, p. 14.
[182] _Loomis’s Magazine Almanac_ for 1835, Pittsburgh, pp. 37–40.
[183] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 30, 1801.
[184] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 10, 1800.
[185] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, July 10, 1801.
[186] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 25, 1801.
[187] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 22, 1801.
[188] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 8, 1787.
[189] WILLIAM H. LOYD. _The Early Courts of Pennsylvania_, Boston,
1910, pp. 94–95, 124–125.
[190] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. _The Literary Examiner and Western Monthly
Review_, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1839, pp. 27–29.
[191] JOHN WILKINS. “The Western Insurrection.” In _Contributions to
American History_, Philadelphia, 1858, pp. 183–184; H. M. BRACKENRIDGE.
_History of the Western Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania_,
Pittsburgh, 1859, pp. 93–94.
[192] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 5, 1800.
[193] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 16, 1800.
[194] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 22, 1801.
[195] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 30, 1798.
[196] _Tree of Liberty_, June 18, 1803.
[197] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, March 30, 1799.
[198] _Tree of Liberty_, September 13, 1800.
[199] _Tree of Liberty_, April 18, 1801.
[200] _Tree of Liberty_, August 8, 1801.
[201] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 11, 1799.
[202] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 5, 1800.
[203] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 1, 1799; _Tree of Liberty_, August 30,
1800.
[204] _Tree of Liberty_, February 28, 1801.
[205] Colonial Records, Harrisburg, 1853, vol. xv., p. 604.
[206] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, March 20, 1790.
[207] Colonial Records, Harrisburg, 1853, vol. xvi., p. 537
[208] MAJOR EBENEZER DENNY. _Military Journal_, Philadelphia, 1859, pp.
16–18.
[209] WILLIAM H. EGLE. _History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania_,
Philadelphia, 1883, p. 454.
[210] WILLIAM G. JOHNSTON. _Life and Reminiscences_, Pittsburgh, MCMI,
p. 33.
[211] _Tree of Liberty_, January 10, 1801.
[212] _Tree of Liberty_, December 13, 1800.
[213] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 19, 1800; _Tree of Liberty_,
December 27, 1800.
[214] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 14, 1801.
[215] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 22, 1802.
[216] _Tree of Liberty_, June 25, 1803.
[217] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 4, 1801.
[218] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa._, 1784–1884, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 34.
[219] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 4, 1801.
[220] _Tree of Liberty_, August 29, 1801.
[221] _Tree of Liberty_, May 21, 1803.
[222] _Tree of Liberty_, May 21, 1803.
[223] _Tree of Liberty_, October 18, 1800.
[224] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 24, 1802.
[225] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 16, 1786.
[226] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 4, 1794.
[227] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 30, 1801; _Tree of Liberty_,
February 7, 1801.
[228] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 24, 1802.
[229] _Tree of Liberty_, October 25, 1800.
[230] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 5, 1800.
[231] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 6, 1801.
[232] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 13, 1801.
CHAPTER VII
A DUEL AND OTHER MATTERS
On July 24, 1805, a third Richmond appeared in the Pittsburgh newspaper
field in the person of Ephraim Pentland. He established a weekly
newspaper called _The Commonwealth_, which was published in a building
situated in the West Diamond, opposite the southwest corner of the
new court house. The newspaper resulted from the dissension in the
Republican party in Pennsylvania.
Governor McKean’s second term was drawing to a close. For two years
prior to 1805, he had disagreed with the Republican General Assembly
because of its extreme radicalism. It had enacted several revolutionary
bills which he vetoed. The members appeared to have an especial
aversion to lawyers, and a bill was passed to substitute, in civil
cases, referees for juries, and prohibiting the employment of counsel.
This bill was also vetoed. The House assumed that the Supreme Court was
arrogating to itself powers which it did not possess, and on February
28, 1803, scarcely a month after the impeachment and removal from the
bench of Judge Addison,[233] the first step was taken in the attempt to
impeach three of the judges of the Supreme Court for alleged arbitrary
conduct in committing to prison for contempt, the plaintiff in a suit
pending in the court.[234] Brackenridge was absent from the bench when
the offender was imprisoned, and although accused of being largely
responsible for the impeachment of Judge Addison, was now loyal to his
colleagues, and sent a letter to the House in which he declared his
full concurrence in the course taken by the other judges, and asked
to share their fate. The House replied by addressing the governor,
and asking for Brackenridge’s removal. McKean refused to comply with
the request. On January 28, 1805, the impeachment trial came to an
end; a majority of the Senators pronounced the judges guilty, but as
the majority was short of two-thirds, the result was an acquittal.
The anger of the radical Republicans was boundless. A division took
place in the party, which caused intense feeling throughout the State.
McKean’s supporters took the name of “Constitutionalists,” while the
opposition called themselves “Friends of the People.” The charm of
French phrases was still strong.
The “Friends of the People” now put forward Simon Snyder as a candidate
for governor in opposition to McKean. The abuse that was heaped on
their former idol was appalling; threats of civil war were in the
air. McKean was charged with being a demagogue who pandered to the
worst elements in the Republican party, while being by education and
sentiment an aristocrat. He was also accused of having gone over to
the Federalists. The _Tree of Liberty_ continued a staunch supporter
of McKean. Its former violence had given way to an advocacy of
“moderation.”
_The Commonwealth_ was established in the interest of the faction
opposed to McKean, and its attacks on him and his supporter, the
_Tree of Liberty_, were brutal. Israel came in for the most violent
abuse. Pentland accused Israel of being ignorant. “Let a beardless
boy instruct you, old goat!” was one of his coarse thrusts. In the
same article he designated Israel as “the man with the long beard, but
no brains,” and concluded crudely, “Let a goslin’ instruct you, old
goose!”[235]
The campaign teemed with personalities. The Federalists looked on
in amusement, but finally came to the support of McKean, and he was
elected. Pentland’s chagrin knew no bounds, and after the election was
over, he continued to attack the _Tree of Liberty_, the management of
which, by this time had changed. He vented his spite on the supposed
owners. He charged that, although the newspaper was published in the
name of Walter Forward, Tarleton Bates and Henry Baldwin,[236] the two
most prominent politicians in Pittsburgh, were the real proprietors,
and that Bates was the editor. Baldwin, who was not quite twenty-six
years of age, later in life became a member of Congress and a justice
of the Supreme Court of the United States. Forward was a young man
of nineteen, a law student in Baldwin’s office, and subsequently
attained high political distinction. He was several times a member
of Congress, was Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler,
_chargé-d’-affaires_ to Denmark, under President Taylor, and president
judge of the District Court of Allegheny County.
Bates was the oldest and best known of the three men. His tragic end
has caused a halo of romance to be cast about his striking personality.
He was a native of Virginia, where he was born on May 22, 1775. He
was of Quaker origin, his father having lost his membership in the
Society of Friends because of his services as a volunteer at the siege
of Yorktown. The family seat was Belmont in Goochland County. Tarleton
Bates came to Pittsburgh when eighteen years of age. During the early
years of his residence he was employed by the national government in
the Quarter Master’s Department under Major Isaac Craig, the Deputy
Quarter Master and Military Storekeeper at Pittsburgh, with whom for
a time he made his home. When the Spaniards surrendered their rights
to the country on the lower Mississippi in 1798, and the Mississippi
Territory was organized with Natchez as the capital, Bates determined
to leave Pittsburgh and settle in the southern town, but did not
carry his design into execution.[237] Upon the appointment of John C.
Gilkison to the office of prothonotary, he became a clerk under him.
He had a fair education, was studiously inclined, and was possessed of
considerable culture, including a knowledge of the French language. He
owned the best copy of Lavater in Pittsburgh. His letters to members
of his family[238] indicate that he was generous, warm-hearted, and
tender. The family fortunes were low. His brother Frederick, just
starting out in life, felt the need of money and made his wants known
to Tarleton. Although in the habit of speaking of himself as living
in “exiled poverty,” he responded without hesitation: “Nothing within
my ability shall be wanting to smooth the entrance of the rugged path
of life”; and he offered to help Frederick to the extent of thirty
dollars a month. He led an upright life and ever attempted to deserve
the good opinion of his mother and “avoid the imprudencies of youth.”
Frederick charged him with being engaged to be married. His answer was
an admission that he was in love, and a frank intimation that thus far
success had not crowned his efforts. That he was fond of the society
of ladies appears from a letter in which he tells of the many charming
ladies in Pittsburgh. His acrostic on the name of Emily Morgan Neville,
the daughter of Colonel Presley Neville, lends color to the imputation
that at one time he was in love with that fascinating young woman.
His complete obsession with politics was probably responsible for his
remaining unmarried.
He was warmly attached to his party. In a letter written while the
Republican party--which he was in the habit of calling the Democratic
party--was still in its infancy in Pittsburgh, he said: “I believe I
am almost the only Pittsburgher who is not ashamed to call himself a
Democrat, and I am sure the appellation will never discredit me.” He
related humorously that on one occasion he attended a Fourth of July
celebration, and among the speakers was Colonel Presley Neville, who,
“abhors the Democrats as so many imps of hell.” He was proud and told
his family that he acknowledged no superior, and “admitted no knave,
however bloated with wealth, to be an equal.” He was one of several
famous brothers. His younger brothers, Frederick, James, and Edward,
after his death, emigrated to the Missouri Territory where Frederick
was the first secretary of the Territory, and the second governor of
the State. James afterward settled in Arkansas and became a delegate to
Congress from that Territory. Edward became the friend of Henry Clay
and in 1860 was a candidate for President before the convention which
nominated Abraham Lincoln; he became Attorney-General in Lincoln’s
Cabinet.
On Christmas Day, 1805, the article appeared in _The Commonwealth_,
which was the direct cause of the death of Tarleton Bates in a
duel. In the course of the incendiary diatribe, Pentland declared
that Bates and Baldwin were “two of the most abandoned political
miscreants that ever disgraced a State.” He demanded savagely: “To
what party do they belong?” and answered the question himself. “To no
party, to all parties. They have been Whigs and Tories, High or Low
Republicans, Democrats or Anti-Democrats, Jacobins or Anti-Jacobins,
Constitutionalists or Republicans, according to existing circumstances.”
Pentland’s punishment was to be publicly cowhided by Bates on Market
Street on January 2, 1806. He is said to have fled precipitately when
attacked. Pentland gave a darkly colored account of the occurrence:
“On Thursday evening last, a considerable time after dark, the editor
of this paper was waylaid, and attacked in a most outrageous manner,
by Tarleton Bates, the prothonotary of this county, and co-proprietor
and editor of the _Tree of Liberty_. Bates was in company with some
persons who were no doubt to act as aids, should their assistance be
wanted, but owing to the mistiness of the evening, and their quick
disappearance, all of them could not be recognized. Baldwin, Bates’s
colleague in infamy, and the brave and redoubtable Steele Semple, who
never feels afraid but when he is in danger, were in the gang,--both
limbs of the law, students of morality!”[239]
Dueling had been forbidden in Pennsylvania since 1794, under penalty
of fine and imprisonment, and loss of citizenship for seven years.[240]
An unconverted public sentiment, however, still approved of the code
of honor, and Pentland, who had at first threatened legal proceedings
against Bates, challenged him instead. The challenge was carried by
Thomas Stewart, a young Irishman who was a merchant in the town.
Bates declined to accept, on the ground that Pentland’s conduct since
his chastisement, had rendered him unworthy of such notice. Pentland
then posted Bates as a coward, upon which on January 7, 1806, Bates
published a letter in the _Tree of Liberty_ giving his reason for
refusing the challenge, in which he reflected on Stewart. Stewart
demanded a retraction, which was refused, whereupon he challenged
Bates. This challenge was accepted.
Bates immediately wrote his will. It was expressive of deep feeling.
There was every indication of a premonition of his forthcoming end. He
had always led a simple life, and in death he desired to avoid display.
In that moment he recalled the discussions in the French Legislative
Councils during the Directory, on the disposal of the dead by burning.
“Henry Baldwin, my very dear friend, my sole executor, ... is to burn
my body, or at least bury it without any direction,” he wrote; then
he provided for the education of his brother James, which was to be
completed by his studying law. In case the estate proved insufficient
for the purpose, his brother Frederick was to provide the deficiency.
Any residue, he declared, “is to go to my adored mother.”
The encounter took place the next day in a ravine in Oakland, in what
is at present the Fourth Ward of the city of Pittsburgh. The ravine
through which a rivulet coursed, called “Three-Mile Run,” long since
sewered over, opened on the Monongahela River, at a point now occupied
by the lower end of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company’s ore-yard,
and by the office of the Eliza Furnace. To-day there are laid out
through the ravine several unpaved hillside streets with narrow board
sidewalks, one of which is the lower portion of Halket Street. On the
upper edge of the easterly border of the ravine is Bates Street, named
for Tarleton Bates. The duel was fought near the Monongahela River;
the distance was ten paces; the weapons were pistols. Both principals
displayed undaunted courage. Bates fell at the second fire, shot in the
breast, and expired in an hour.[241] On the day that Bates lay dead in
the ravine which ever since has been haunted with his memory, Pentland
made another slanderous charge in his newspaper: “I shall not engross
the columns of this paper with remarks on the private character of Mr.
Bates, because that already appears to the public in colors as dark as
the skin of his mistress.”[242]
The community was shocked at the tragedy. Notwithstanding the
directions of Bates’s will in regard to the disposal of his body, he
was buried in Trinity Churchyard. A great concourse of people attended
the funeral, the chief mourner being Henry Baldwin; but the whole town
deplored his death. In its next issue, the _Tree of Liberty_ added to
the general gloom, by appearing in mourning dress. Two weeks later the
post brought news of the dire calamity to the widowed mother in her
Virginia home, and to her children. Amid their tears they rejoiced
that the Virginia traditions of honor had not been violated and that
Tarleton Bates had accepted the challenge and preferred “death to
a life of infamy and disgrace.”[243] The depth of their attachment
appeared in the fact that the family preserved his letters as precious
mementoes as long as they survived. For a time the grave was a hallowed
spot to be pointed out to visitors, but as Bates’s old friends died,
and a new generation came on, it was neglected, and now the location
is forgotten. Bates’s brothers received their inspiration from him. He
was the ablest member of the family. Had it not been for his untimely
death, the name of Tarleton Bates might have become one of the great
names in Pennsylvania history, if not in that of the United States.
At the northwest corner of Market and Third streets, in the house
built by Major Ebenezer Denny, of brick taken from Fort Pitt,[244] was
the store of Denny & Beelen. The firm was composed of Major Denny and
Anthony Beelen. They sold, “dry goods, hardware, groceries, stationery,
perfumery, china, glass, and queensware.”[245] Major Denny, the senior
partner, was a slender, blue-eyed, and red-haired man of thirty-nine.
His was a most adventurous career. In the Revolution he was ensign
in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, and lieutenant in the 3d and 4th
Pennsylvania Regiments. He had served as lieutenant under General
George Rodgers Clark in Illinois, was adjutant to General Josiah
Harmar in the campaign against the Indians in 1790, and aid-de-camp
of General Arthur St. Clair in 1791. He was the messenger who carried
the news of the rout of St. Clair’s army to President Washington at
Philadelphia, then the seat of the national government. On returning to
private life he had gone into business with Captain Joseph Ashton, a
former Revolutionary officer like himself, at the place later conducted
by Denny & Beelen. This partnership was dissolved in 1794 when Denny
was again appointed to a military command and placed in charge of an
expedition sent to Fort Le Boeuf. In Pittsburgh he took a conspicuous
part in public affairs.[246] He was a candidate for representative
to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives against Lucus, but was
defeated. Later he was elected county commissioner. In 1803 he was
treasurer of the county, being the first man to hold that office, and
was the first mayor of Pittsburgh upon its becoming a city in 1816.
Anthony Beelen, Major Denny’s partner, was a native of the Austrian
Netherlands, now Belgium, and was the son of Francis, Baron de Belen
Bartholf, Minister of the King of Austria, Joseph II., to the United
States, who, upon the death of the King in 1790, continued a resident
of the United States. The Baron seems to have soon discarded his title
of nobility, as he was engaged in business in Pittsburgh at an early
date, going by the name of Francis Beelen, being a partner in the
firm of Amberson, Beelen, & Anshutz which was dissolved in 1794.[247]
Anthony Beelen made the acquaintance of Denny in Philadelphia, and
became associated with him, and in 1794 settled the affairs of Ashton
& Denny.[248] In 1803 he was one of the Pittsburgh assessors.[249] In
later years he conducted an air furnace and other enterprises. Beelen
afterward lost his property, but the family fortunes rose again when
Mrs. Mary Murphy died. In her will she left all her valuable estate,
the principal part of which consisted of the block on Market Street in
which “Clapboard Row” was located, to Beelen in trust for his daughter
and granddaughter.
On Third Street a short distance west of Market Street, Andrew Willock,
Jr., conducted a baking business, at the “Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat.”
He also kept a tavern,[250] taverns and bakeries being frequently
carried on together. Alexander McLaughlin, an oldtime merchant, was
located at the southwesterly corner of Market and Fourth streets in
the same block with Denny & Beelen. He had formerly been on Second
Street.[251] In 1800 he was a candidate for county commissioner,
but was defeated by Nathaniel Irish.[252] James Wills, who dealt in
“boot and bootee legs,” adjoined McLaughlin on the south.[253] Next
to Wills’s house was that occupied by John Wrenshall. Wrenshall was
a man of culture and, in addition to keeping store and preaching the
Gospel when the opportunity was presented, was a writer of ability. His
_Farewell to Pittsburgh and the Mountains_, published in Philadelphia
in 1818, was a poem of some merit, and of considerable local interest.
He was the grandfather of Julia Dent, the wife of General U. S. Grant,
eighteenth President of the United States. Joseph Davis was located
between Wrenshall and Denny & Beelen. He was assessor in 1802.[254]
John Irwin, one of William Christy’s old partners, had his store at
the northeast corner of Market and Fourth streets. He was a former
Revolutionary officer, having been captain in the 2nd Pennsylvania
Regiment. At the next corner, where Market Street intersected the South
Diamond, in the large three-story brick building were the tavern and
store of William Irwin, the other partner of Christy. This building
was another of the houses built of brick taken from Fort Pitt.[255]
To this house William Irwin had removed in 1799[256]; and here he
furnished public entertainment, and sold, in addition to whisky, and
other diverting drinks, “kettles, stoves, and dry goods.”[257] Dancing
classes were also held in the building, those for ladies at three
o’clock in the afternoon, and the classes for gentlemen at six o’clock
in the evening.[258] More serious business was conducted there. In
the large hall in the third story the courts were held for more than
a year after being removed from Andrew Watson’s house.[259] This was
likewise the room in which Lodge No. 45 now held its sessions.[260]
North of the South Diamond the buildings were farther apart. At the
southeast corner of the East Diamond and Diamond Alley was the log
store of William Woods & Company.[261] On the opposite side of Market
Street from John Irwin and William Irwin’s stores, in the middle of
the block, was John Hamsher’s retail shop, where he sold copper and
tin-plate articles, and clover seed.[262] Next door was the store of
James Dunlap & Company.[263] In the Diamond, east of Market Street,
was the semicircular market house, which covered most of this part
of the Diamond. Its wide, projecting roof was supported by a double
row of brick pillars. In the interior of the building were rows of
stalls, with benches and blocks, for the butchers. Encircling the
structure was a brick pavement along the curb of which the farmers and
market gardeners were stationed.[264] In the Market House the borough
elections were held.[265]
Across Market Street from the Market House was the new court house. It
was the pride of the western country, and the only high building in
the town. It was a square, two-story brick structure with one-story
wings, for the county offices, and was surmounted by a tall wooden
spire. In 1800, the main building was barely completed, some of the
upper rooms being yet unplastered, although the county offices had been
removed to the wings two years before.[266] The belfry lacked the bell;
and the space before the building was only then being paved. The main
entrance was on Market Street, and on either side of the doorway were
fluted wooden columns with Corinthian capitals. The court room was on
the first floor and was paved with bricks which, like the brick used
in the pavement outside, were large and almost square. Supporting the
ceiling were Doric pillars resting upon square panelled pedestals.[267]
The judges’ bench and the jury box were in the rear of the court room.
They faced the entrance, and the judges’ bench admitted seating the
president judge and the four lay associate judges, at one time. It
was elevated above the floor and was reached by stairs placed at the
northerly end. The jury box was southerly of the judges’ bench, with
a narrow passage between it and the judges’ bench. After the bell was
placed in the belfry in 1801, Joseph Harris became bell-ringer, and
rang the bell whenever court was about to convene.
Back of the court house, one hundred and forty feet west of the West
Diamond, and running parallel with it, was an alley, now called Delray
Street. On the westerly side of this alley, a short distance south
of Diamond Alley, was the new square two-story stone county jail.
It was erected on a lot purchased by Allegheny County in 1793, and
was completed at the same time as the court house. The building was
surrounded by a stone wall, the entire lot being enclosed by a high
board fence.
Immediately in the rear of the court house, at the southwest corner
of the West Diamond and Diamond Alley, was the tavern of John Reed
at the “Sign of the Waggon.” Here the Allegheny County courts held a
few sessions, during the interval between the time of leaving William
Irwin’s house, and the completion of the court house.[268] At the
northeast corner of Market Street and the North Diamond, was the tavern
of Thomas Ferree at the “Sign of the Black Bear.” Directly across
Market Street in the new brick building, was the boot and shoemaking
establishment of John and Alexander Wills.[269] On the same side of the
street, the second door south of Fifth Street, was James Yeaman’s brick
building, in which he conducted his bakery and brewery.[270]
REFERENCES
CHAPTER VII
[233] THOMAS LLOYD. _The Trial of Alexander Addison, Esq._, Lancaster,
1803, pp. 1–168.
[234] WILLIAM HAMILTON. _Report of the Trial and Acquittal of Edward
Shippen, Chief Justice, and Jasper Yeates and Thomas Smith, Assistant
Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, on an Impeachment before
the Senate of the Commonwealth_, January, 1805, Lancaster, pp. 1–587.
[235] _The Commonwealth_, August 28, 1805.
[236] _The Commonwealth_, December 25, 1805.
[237] ONWARD BATES. _Bates et al. of Virginia and Missouri_, Chicago,
1914, p. 45.
[238] ONWARD BATES. _Bates et al. of Virginia and Missouri_, Chicago,
1914, pp. 43–52.
[239] _The Commonwealth_, January 8, 1806.
[240] COLLINSON READ. _Abridgement of the Laws of Pennsylvania_,
Philadelphia, MDCCCI, p. 383.
[241] _The Commonwealth_, January 15, 1806.
[242] _The Commonwealth_, January 8, 1806.
[243] ONWARD BATES. _Bates et al. of Virginia and Missouri_, Chicago,
1914, p. 57.
[244] WILLIAM G. JOHNSTON. _Life and Reminiscences_, Pittsburgh, MCMI,
p. 36.
[245] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 22, 1798.
[246] MAJOR EBENEZER DENNY. _Military Journal_, Philadelphia, 1859, pp.
21–30; _ibid._, pp. 29–30.
[247] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 2, 1794.
[248] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 14, 1794.
[249] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 20, 1803.
[250] _Tree of Liberty_, May 15, 1802.
[251] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, September 6, 1794.
[252] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 24, 1800; _Tree of Liberty_,
October 18, 1800.
[253] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, March 30, 1799.
[254] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 21, 1802.
[255] ISAAC HARRIS. _General Business Directory of the Cities of
Pittsburgh and Allegheny_, Pittsburgh, 1841, p. 6.
[256] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 6, 1799.
[257] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, July 1, 1799.
[258] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 21, 1802.
[259] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. “Pittsburgh in the Olden Time,” _The Literary
Examiner and Western Monthly Review_, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1839, pp. 27–29.
[260] _Centennial Volume of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pittsburgh, Pa., 1784–1884_, Pittsburgh, 1884, p. 152.
[261] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 10, 1800; _ibid._, December 16,
1802.
[262] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 16, 1800.
[263] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 17, 1800.
[264] WILLIAM G. JOHNSTON. _Life and Reminiscences_, Pittsburgh, MCMI,
p. 68.
[265] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, May 15, 1801.
[266] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 13, 1798.
[267] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE. “Pittsburgh in The Olden Time,” _The Literary
Examiner and Western Monthly Review_, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1839, pp. 27–29;
WILLIAM G. JOHNSTON. _Life and Reminiscences_, Pittsburgh, MCMI, pp.
67–68.
[268] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, February 1, 1800.
[269] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, November 14, 1800; _ibid._, July 2, 1802.
[270] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, August 28, 1801; _ibid._, August 5, 1803.
CHAPTER VIII
ZADOK CRAMER
Into this environment Zadok Cramer had come in the early spring of
1800. He was a young man of twenty-six, and was lured by the promise of
fortune and perhaps fame. In the short span of years that he lived and
flourished in Pittsburgh, he did more to advance the literary culture
of his adopted town, than perhaps all the other educational agencies
combined, which came before or after his time. It is customary to
glorify statesmen and soldiers; monuments are erected to their memory,
eulogies are pronounced in their praise, and memoirs are written
setting forth the deeds they have done. But one scarcely ever thinks
of the men who made possible the statesmen and soldiers: the teachers,
the men who conduct the newspapers, the writers of books, and above
all, the men who publish and sell books. The publishers and sellers of
books not only supply the wants of the reading public, but they lead it
into new channels. They place temptingly before it the latest and best
productions in every branch of human activity of the brightest minds in
the world.
Cramer was born in New Jersey, in 1773, but spent most of his life
since boyhood in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he learned the humble
trade of bookbinding. He was of Quaker origin, but had fallen away from
the tenets of that faith, although he still affected the drab coat and
straight high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat of the sect.[271] He possessed
withal the worldly shrewdness that is often an accompaniment of Quaker
devoutness.
On March 30, 1800, he advertised in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ that
he was about to open a bookbindery. His announcement was couched in
somewhat stilted language. “Under a conviction that an establishment
of the above business will meet the approbation and encouragement
of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh and its vicinity, the undersigned
is determined to prosecute it as soon as he can make the necessary
arrangements. His hopes of the success of this undertaking are
flattering; he hopes likewise, that the public on whom he is depending
for encouragement will not be disappointed in placing in him that
confidence merited only by industry and attention to their favors.”
Cramer’s ambition extended beyond the limits of his bookbindery. John
C. Gilkison died on March 21, 1800, after having held the office of
prothonotary less than two months. The little bookstore which he had
established was for sale. Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge seems to
have advanced the money invested by Gilkison in the business, and
it devolved on him to settle Gilkison’s affairs. This was Cramer’s
opportunity, and he purchased Gilkison’s business, obtaining favorable
terms from Brackenridge. In June he took possession. All his life he
believed in the efficacy of advertising, and his entry upon this larger
field was heralded by a long public notice.[272] It was addressed to
the people of the “Western Country.” He declared that he did not mean
to be limited to the confines of the borough, and intended to carry on
his business extensively. He emphasized his ability to make blankbooks
and do bookbinding “nearly if not quite as cheap” as could be done east
of the Alleghany Mountains. He enlarged on the bookstore which he had
just opened, and claimed to have a selection of nearly eight hundred
volumes.
His choice of location was fortunate. The business center was changing.
Merchants whose establishments had been on Water Street, on Front
Street, and on Second Street, were congregating on Market Street.
Gilkison’s store was on the east side of this street. Here Cramer
established himself, and after the _Tree of Liberty_ was founded,
advertised as being located “between the two printing offices.”[273] To
indicate his place of business he hung out the “Sign of the Franklin
Head”; Benjamin Franklin was the patron saint of everyone who had any
connection, however remote, with printing. Cramer designated himself,
“Bookbinder and Publisher,” and the word “publisher” did not long
remain a misnomer. It was the day of small publishers. Even in the
larger cities in the East, books emanated from the printing presses
of men whose establishments were of minor importance. Large publishing
houses are creatures of the complex civilization of a much later
period. Probably from the beginning Cramer contemplated undertaking
the publication of books and pamphlets as soon as his means permitted,
although it was some months before he actually began publishing. But he
was already making preparations to that end, and on October 17, 1800,
he announced that in a few weeks almanacs for the year 1801 might be
had at Philadelphia prices.[274]
At the national election of 1800, the Republicans were successful for
the first time, John Adams, the Federal candidate, receiving less
electoral votes than either Thomas Jefferson of Virginia or Aaron
Burr of New York, the two Republican candidates. The returns of the
electoral vote as counted by the Senate, indicated that Jefferson and
Burr had each received the same number of votes. The decision thereupon
devolved under the Constitution upon the House of Representatives,
voting by States. The Federalists had a decided majority in the House
of Representatives, but could not for the purposes of this election,
control a majority of the States; neither could the Republicans. In the
course of the summer the capital had been removed from Philadelphia
to the new town of Washington. Only the north wing of the capitol
was completed, and this was fitted up for the accommodation of both
houses of the Sixth Congress. The House of Representatives then became
the battle-ground for the presidency and vice-presidency. Jefferson
and Burr were both voted for, the Constitution providing that two
candidates should be voted for, the one receiving the highest number of
votes to be president, and the other vice-president.
The struggle grew in intensity, and the excitement became acute. The
sick members were brought into the House on beds. Ballot after ballot
was taken. The Federalists were mostly voting for Burr. The first
day’s session was extended into the next day. The House remained in
session seven days, a recess being taken at night after the first
day’s session. The Federalists were uneasy about several matters,
but particularly about the continuance in office of their friends.
Finally they secured from Jefferson an expression indicating that
meritorious subordinate officers would not be removed merely on account
of their political opinion. This settled the question. At noon on
February 17th, the thirty-fifth ballot was taken with no result as
before, but on the thirty-sixth ballot, Jefferson was elected. The
vice-presidency thereupon devolved upon Burr. The joy over the election
has hardly been equalled in the annals of American political history.
This was especially true in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. On the day
of the inauguration of Jefferson and Burr, the inhabitants of the
neighboring town Beaver gave vent to their exuberance by dancing Indian
dances, and singing the _Ça Ira_, and the _Carmagnole_ of the French
Revolution.[275] Cramer saw another business opportunity and determined
on his second publication. It was to be an account of the struggle in
the House of Representatives. On March 21, 1801, seventeen days after
Jefferson’s inauguration, Cramer announced the book.
Cramer’s energies were not to be confined to the business of
publishing, of selling books and stationery, and doing bookbinding.
Like John C. Gilkison, he determined to possess a circulating
library[276]; perhaps the nucleus was to be the books received
from Gilkison’s library. He called it the “Pittsburgh Circulating
Library” and it prospered, and six months after its establishment, the
circulation had nearly doubled.[277] A catalogue was promised for an
early date[278] and was no doubt issued. The list of the original books
in the library appears to have been lost. From notices of the reception
of later books[279] some opinion may be formed of the general character
of the reading-matter in the library. The books were mainly romances,
and they may have lacked the merit of later-day novels, but there is
something about them that touches the heart. Also they recall from the
shadows visions of readers long since dead. The books were realistic;
they presented the life of a distant past in vivid colors; there is the
lingering scent of lavender and bergamot. Delightfully described in
their voluminous pages were languishing eyes, tender accents, quaint
dances, dreamy music, and startling and sometimes unreal adventures.
Ladies were the principal readers; they loved long tales, and the
authors supplied them. Novels in three and four volumes were common,
and some were divided into as many as six volumes.
The three most popular writers were the English novelists, Mrs. Ann
Ward Radcliffe and William Godwin, and the Philadelphian, Charles
Brockden Brown, who was one of America’s earliest novelists. Mrs.
Radcliffe was the best writer of the three. Her novels fascinated her
readers. Cramer’s library supplied _Romance of the Forest_, one of her
best books. William Godwin was represented by _St. Leon_, a tale of
the sixteenth century, in which much that is supernatural and terrible
is introduced. Two books were by Charles Brockden Brown, one being a
graphic story of Philadelphia life during the yellow-fever epidemic of
1793, called, _Arthur Mervin, or Memoirs of the Year 1793_, the other
was, _Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleep-walker_. _Montalbert_ was by
that most prolific of English writers, Mrs. Charlotte Turner Smith, who
in her day was criticized and praised with equal vehemence. _Mordaunt_
was perhaps the best novel of Dr. John Moore, who besides being a
physician and novelist, wrote books descriptive of manners and customs
in England, France, and Italy.
If the number of the author’s books in the library, was the criterion
of his popularity, then the palm must be awarded to George Walker,
the English bookseller, who was a prolific writer of novels. Three
were on Cramer’s shelves, _Theodore Cyphon, or the Beneveloent Jew_,
_The Vagabond_, and _Three Spaniards_. The last is the only one that
may still be met with. A popular book was _Children of the Abbey_, by
Mrs. Regina Maria Roche, who was a rival of Mrs. Radcliffe. Madame
de Staël’s _Delphine_, was read in more restricted circles. In the
case of _Julia and the Illuminated Baron_, by Miss Sarah Barrell, an
encyclopedia would be required to find either the name of the book or
of the author. Other books with suggestive titles have become still
more obscure. Among them were _The Silver Devil, Being the Adventures
of an Evil Spirit, related by himself_; _The Rebel, Being a Memoir of
Anthony 4th Earl of Sherwell, Including an Account of the Rising at
Taunton in 1684, Compiled and Set Forth by his Cousin, Sir Hilary
Mace_; _The Wanderings of William, or the Inconstancy of Youth_, being
a sequel to the _Farmer of New Jersey_. There were few periodicals in
the library. _The American Museum_, emanating from Philadelphia, was a
monthly publication, and contained articles on almost every conceivable
subject--“agriculture, commerce, manufactures, politics, morals, and
manners.” _The Mirror_, was another Philadelphia periodical published
semi-weekly, and was a reprint of _The Mirror_ of Edinburgh. _The
Philanthropist_, appeared weekly.
The library continued to be an institution in Pittsburgh’s intellectual
progress for many years. It became the Pittsburgh Library Company,
and contained as high as two thousand volumes. On November 27, 1813,
after Cramer’s death, a new library was organized, also called the
“Pittsburgh Library Company.” A committee was appointed to confer with
the old Pittsburgh Library Company upon the propriety of forming a
coalition of the two institutions.[280] Of this committee, John Spear,
who had become a partner of Cramer’s, was a member. A consolidation was
later effected.
The publications for which Cramer was best known in the early days,
were his almanacs and _Navigators_. The publication of almanacs was
common to all publishers in the border settlements, no less than in
the more effete East. In 1803, _Cramer’s Almanac_ had developed into
a pamphlet which is to-day both curious and valuable. The edition for
that year is a fair specimen of the other almanacs which followed it.
The astronomical tables, “calculated for the meridian of Pittsburgh,”
were said to “serve without any sensible variation for the states of
Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, etc.” The almanac also contained selections
from the leading English contemporary writers. It necessarily followed
that the articles were by English writers, as American authors were
pitifully scarce. “The Poor Distracted Young Woman,” was from Robert
Bloomfield’s _Farmer’s Boy_. The _Farmer’s Boy_ from which the extract
was taken had previously had a remarkable success, over twenty-five
thousand copies being sold within two years after its publication in
1800. Other selections were, “A Description of a Summer Morning,” from
James Beattie’s poem, _The Minstrel_; “Sic a Wife as Willy Had,”
from Robert Burns; a biography of Dr. Isaac Watts, whose version of
the Psalms had superseded that of Rouse, and was in general use among
the Presbyterians of Western Pennsylvania. There were suggestions on
various subjects--“Polonius’s Advice to his Son Laertes,” and “Dr.
Soloman’s Observations.” The last article was by Dr. Samuel Soloman,
a London physician who was termed a quack, but the “Observations”
indicate that he had a discriminating knowledge of the rules of health.
The ague, while not prevalent in Pittsburgh, was common west and south
of the town. For this ailment there was a “Receipt to Cure the Ague,”
and there was an “Advertisement to Farmers.”
The Constitution of the United States had been in force since 1788.
Its provisions were little known to the general public and the almanac
published it in full. The Constitution became the model for the
constitutions of almost all the States, old as well as new. For this
much credit was due to _Cramer’s Almanac_, at least so far as some
of the Western and Southwestern States are concerned. More valuable
than anything contained in the almanacs, from a local point of view,
were the lists of marriages and deaths. Nowhere else are they to be
found. No record of marriages or deaths was required to be made by
either the municipality or the county. The church records were kept
intermittently, and were imperfect. Few of the older families have
records extending back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and
Cramer’s lists furnish the only accurate information on the subject. In
1804 he began publishing two kinds of almanacs, the “Common Almanac”
and the “Magazine Almanac.” The latter contained somewhat more reading
matter than the former. The almanacs were sold in large quantities
both for local use and for distribution south and west of Pittsburgh.
In the almanac for 1804 Cramer for the first time gave “a view of the
manufacturing trade of Pittsburgh.” From that time forward, for the
twenty-seven years that the publication of the almanacs was continued,
much valuable local historical matter is to be found in their pages.
The _Navigator_ was the result of an original idea of Cramer’s. He had
been in Pittsburgh but a short time when he realized the necessity for
a publication giving detailed information for navigating the Western
rivers. He daily saw swarms of immigrants pass through the place, bound
West and South, who lingered there attempting to learn, not only about
navigating the rivers, but of the country to which they were bound. He
proposed to furnish the information and set about collecting data for
the purpose. He was venturing upon an almost uncharted sea.
The basis of his work seems to have been Captain Thomas Hutchins’s, _A
Topographical Description of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia_,
published in London in 1778. Captain Hutchins was an American, who had
seen much service in the English army before the Revolution, mainly as
engineer. At the outbreak of the war he was in London, and owing to his
sympathy for his native country, suffered indignities and imprisonment,
but found an opportunity to publish his book. Escaping to America, he
was in 1781, by the influence of Benjamin Franklin, made “Geographer
to the United States of America,” which appears to have meant that he
was in charge of the government surveys. After the war he lived in
Philadelphia, but was well known in Pittsburgh where he often stopped,
as he owned considerable land in Allegheny County. These facts and
the knowledge that he died in Pittsburgh on April 28, 1789, no doubt
helped to draw Cramer’s attention to Hutchins’s book. Other works
from which Cramer may have obtained materials were Gilbert Imlay’s
_North America_, published in London in 1797, and Jedidiah Morse’s
_The American Gazeteer_, originally published in London in 1789 and
republished in Boston in 1797.
It is generally supposed that the first edition of the _Navigator_ was
published in 1801, yet no copy bearing that date is known to be in
existence. There are extant several copies of the edition of 1802. This
edition was called _The Ohio and Mississippi Navigator_. In the preface
dated February, 1802, the statement was made that two former editions
had been issued; that they were both confined to the navigation of
the Ohio River; and that they were sold in a very short time. No
notice appeared in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ or the _Tree of Liberty_
advertising either of the two earlier editions. The first mention of
the _Navigator_ appeared in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ on February 26,
1802. This notice stated that there was “In the press and speedily
will be published by Zadok Cramer, ‘The Navigation of the Monongahela,
Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.’” The advertisement was
continued in several succeeding issues of the paper. Then on March 13,
1802, the _Tree of Liberty_ announced that there had been published
the day before, “The Navigation of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and
Ohio Rivers.” The notice continued, “and in a few days will be added
... the ‘The Navigation of the Mississippi (with an account of the
Missouri).’” No other notices appeared at or about this time conveying
other information. As the edition of 1802 was called the _Ohio and
Mississippi Navigator_, and the advertisement in the _Tree of Liberty_,
referred to the publication of the “Navigation of the Monongahela,
Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers,” nothing being said of the Mississippi,
it might be inferred that it referred to one or both of the earliest
editions and that they were published in 1802. The preface to the
various editions of the _Navigator_ published after 1802, declared
that they were the “sixth,” or “seventh” or “eighth” edition, as the
case might be, which had appeared “since 1801.” Whether this statement
is the basis of the claim that the first edition of the _Navigator_ was
published in 1801, is not known, but the fact remains, that no trace
of any _Navigator_ issued in that year can be found. Nor are there any
known copies of the two earliest editions, whatever the year of their
publication.
The earlier editions were small octavo pamphlets bound in coarse paper
covers, the third containing forty pages. In this edition Cramer
declared that he had obtained the information set forth “From the
journals of gentlemen of observation, and now minutely corrected by
several persons who have navigated those rivers for fifteen and twenty
years.” It contained a description of and directions for navigating the
Ohio River, with only a description of the Mississippi. Directions for
navigating the latter stream came in later editions. When Cramer began
publishing his early _Navigators_, France still owned the Louisiana
Territory. Louisiana was considered a great land of promise throughout
the United States, and merchants and intending emigrants cast longing
eyes in its direction. After Louisiana was purchased, the succeeding
editions of the _Navigator_ contained much detailed information
regarding it. A flood of emigration to the territory set in, most of
the emigrants going by way of Pittsburgh; and there was a pronounced
and constant increase in the sales of the _Navigators_.
Captain Meriwether Lewis, and Captain William Clark made their famous
expedition from the mouth of the Missouri River through the interior
of the United States in the years 1804, 1805, and 1806. In 1807 Cramer
published the first account of the undertaking, being the _Journal
of Patrick Gass_, a member of the expedition. From this book Cramer
compiled an account of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, which appeared
in the _Navigator_ for 1808, and in many subsequent editions. Each
succeeding edition of the _Navigator_ was an improvement on the one
that preceded it. Every edition contained a description, short or long,
of the “towns, posts, harbors, and settlements” on the rivers of which
the work treated, the matter relating to Pittsburgh being particularly
valuable, and as the editions increased in size, the descriptive matter
grew in volume.
On December 6, 1811, the most destructive earthquake of the century
occurred in the country bordering on the lower Ohio River, and on
the Mississippi, completely changing the course of the two streams
at numerous points. Cramer promptly published a notice of the fact,
warning navigators of the danger, and requested newspaper editors to
print his notice.[281] The corrections were then made in the next
edition of the _Navigator_ which was published in 1814. The success of
the _Navigator_ reached its climax in 1814, when it contained three
hundred and sixty pages. From that time the size of the book gradually
decreased, until in 1824, when its publication was suspended, it had
fallen to two hundred and seventy-five pages.
The information relating to Pittsburgh, and to the rivers flowing by
and below it, cost Cramer infinite pains to collect. From Cramer’s
_Navigators_ the early travelers and later historians drew for facts
when writing about the Western country, often without giving credit.
Cramer complained of the piracy. In this connection he mentioned the
Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, whose _Journal of a Tour_ was published in
Boston in 1805. He was especially bitter against Thomas Ash, the writer
of a book of travel which appeared in London in 1808. He accused Ash
of having taken his account of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio
rivers verbatim from the _Navigator_ for 1806.[282] Notwithstanding
this charge, Ash’s book must have had some merit in Cramer’s eyes, as
he republished it the same year that it came out in London. Most of the
writers, however, who obtained their information from the _Navigator_,
gave it as their authority. John Mellish who was in Pittsburgh in
1811, commended the work: “The Pittsburgh _Navigator_ is a little book
containing a vast variety of information regarding the Western country,
the prosperity of which seems to be an object of peculiar solicitude
with the editors.”[283] Christian Schultz, coming through Pittsburgh
in September, 1807, had this to say: “Before I left Pittsburgh I
purchased the _Navigator_, a kind of _Blunt_, or _Hamilton Moore_, for
these waters; it is a small pamphlet, but contains a great deal of
useful and miscellaneous information, and is particularly serviceable
to a stranger.”[284] _Blunt_ was the _American Coast Pilot_, published
in 1796 by Edmund Blunt, and still used in recent years; _Hamilton
Moore_ was an English work called the _Practical Navigator_, of which
many editions were published in London by Hamilton Moore.
REFERENCES
CHAPTER VIII
[271] _The Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and
Literature_, Pittsburgh, Pa., August, 1814, vol. ii, pp. 173–175.
[272] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, June 28, 1800.
[273] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 4, 1801.
[274] _Tree of Liberty_, October 18, 1800.
[275] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, March 20, 1801.
[276] _Tree of Liberty_, June 13, 1801.
[277] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 4, 1801.
[278] _Tree of Liberty_, August 7, 1802.
[279] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 4, 1801; _Tree of Liberty_, August
7, 1802.
[280] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, December 17, 1813.
[281] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, March 27, 1812.
[282] _The Navigator_, Pittsburgh, 1814, pp. 258–259.
[283] John Mellish: _Travels in the United States of America in the
years 1806–1807–1809–1810 and 1811_, Philadelphia, vol. ii., p. 58.
[284] Christian Schultz, Jun.: _Travels on an Inland Voyage_, New York,
1810, p. 133.
CHAPTER IX
THE BROADENING OF CULTURE
Cramer’s business prospered. His was the only establishment in
Pittsburgh where the sale of books was the predominant feature. He
had long called it the “Pittsburgh Bookstore.”[285] Oliver Ormsby,
whose store was in the brick house on Water Street, at the westerly
side of Chancery Lane, sold “Dilworth’s and Webster’s Spelling books,
testaments, and Bibles in Dutch and English, primers, toy books, and
a variety of histories, novels, etc.”[286] William Christy[287] and
John Wrenshall[288] kept a few books, a special feature of the latter’s
business being the sale of Dr. Jonathan Edwards’s _Sermons_, but
compared with Cramer’s stock, the supply of books in other hands was
insignificant. Cramer was also practically the only publisher of books
in the borough. After he had been publishing for a few years, others
began the business, but their books were few in number and generally
unimportant in character. Cramer’s advertisements were sometimes
amusing. He sold his goods for money, or in trade, and in making the
announcement employed the axiomatic language of “Poor Richard.” This
was one of his naïve notices: “I hope the ladies and all good girls
and boys will not forget to fetch me all the clean linen and cotton
rags they possibly can. Save the smallest pieces and put them in a rag
bag; save them from the fire and the ash heap. It is both honorable and
profitable to save rags, for our country wants them.”[289]
He added new lines to his business. Articles which tended to elevate
and refine the standard of living were introduced. Wall papers had
been in use in the East to a limited extent since 1769, and were no
longer rare in good homes. In the West they were scarcely known until
Cramer advertised his “large stock of hanging or wall papers.”[290]
He sold stationery, writing paper, Italian and hot-pressed letter
paper, wafers, quills, camel-hair pencils, inkstands, sealing wax,
red and black ink powders. Card playing was one of the leading social
diversions and he had the best English and American playing cards.
Patent medicines were largely used and Cramer found it profitable to
supply the demand. He had books of instructions for the flute, the
violin, the piano-forte, and books of songs. His stock of English
dictionaries included those of Nathan Bailey, Dr. Samuel Johnson,
Thomas Sheridan, and John Walker. For the German population he had
books in the German language, which he often designated as “Dutch”
books. He sold German almanacs, German Bibles and testaments. Many
of the German churches, both in Pittsburgh and in the surrounding
settlements, had schools attached to their churches, where the German
language was taught in connection with English studies. For these
schools Cramer supplied the books. Ever since the cession of Louisiana
to the United States there had been a great increase in the students
of the French language among Americans, who intended either to engage
in commerce with the people of that territory, or expected to settle
there. The liberally advertised easy methods of learning French[291]
induced many persons to engage in its study. For these Cramer kept
French books. He also sold Greek and Latin schoolbooks, Greek and Latin
dictionaries, and Spanish grammars.
In the early years Cramer had no press of his own. A printing office
being located at either end of the block in which he was established,
he divided his work between them. The _Almanacs_ were printed by
John Israel, and the _Navigators_, by John Scull. Business increased
and he deemed it advisable to do his own printing, and on August 14,
1805, announced that he had “received a press, and a very handsome
assortment of new type, for the purpose of printing such literary and
ecclesiastical works as may be most in demand.”[292] His publications
now became more numerous and pretentious.
He was too active to limit his energies to his business. In 1803, he
became Secretary of the Mechanical Society, and thenceforth devoted
much attention to the office, which he held for several years. He was
not an active politician, but was warmly attached to the Republican
party, and moreover had the respect of the entire community. In 1811,
when a division took place in the Republican party in Allegheny County,
and two tickets were placed in the field, his standing was such, that
he was named as a member of the committee selected to bring about
harmony.[293] Like the modern successful business man, he had a desire
for the free life and clear skies of the country, and he engaged in
farming and sheep-raising. When he died he had on the plantation of
his brother-in-law, Josiah Clark, in Washington County, a flock of one
hundred and twenty-eight sheep.
In 1808, the partnership with John Spear began, and the firm became
known as Cramer & Spear. The establishment, however, continued to be
called “Zadok Cramer’s Bookstore”; sometimes it was advertised as
“Zadok Cramer’s Classical, Literary, and Law Bookstore.” In 1810,
William Eichbaum was taken into the firm. He had served a seven
years’ apprenticeship in bookbinding with Cramer, and with Cramer &
Spear, and was the son of William Eichbaum, the elder. It may be that
young Eichbaum was the “active youth of good morals and respectable
character, wanted to learn the bookbinding and stationery business,”
for whom Cramer had advertised on November 6, 1802.[294] The firm was
now Cramer, Spear & Eichbaum, and continued as such until 1818, the
year of the death of Elizabeth Cramer, the widow of Zadok Cramer, when
Eichbaum withdrew and the firm was again changed to Cramer & Spear.
Cramer had traveled extensively, first in pursuit of information for
his _Navigators_, and later in search of health. He went down the Ohio
in 1806. In 1810, he was in Kentucky.[295] When the _New Orleans_,
the first steamboat that ran on the Western rivers was being operated
between Natchez and New Orleans, he descended the Mississippi River in
it twice, from the former to the latter place. Much of the information
in regard to the _New Orleans_, its structure, cost, earnings, and
length of time required between river points, is to be found in the
_Navigators_.[296]
It would be impossible at this late day to compile a complete list
of Cramer’s publications, nor would it serve any useful purpose. He
published many schoolbooks, particularly for children in the primary
grades. His Pittsburgh and New England primers, and the United States
Spelling Book, were famous in their day. Ecclesiastical books were
in great demand, and Cramer met it. Catechisms were used as books of
primary instruction and were printed in many forms; there were _Larger
Catechisms_, _Shorter Catechisms_, the _Mother’s Catechism_, and the
_Child’s Catechism_. For the Germans he published in German, _The
Shorter Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther_. The religious books that came
from his press would form an endless list. Among those having a bearing
on the history of that time was, _The Marks of a Work of the Spirit,
together with Remarks Respecting the Present Astonishing Work of God,
and Revival of Religion in the Western Country_, by J. Hughes of West
Liberty.[297] “J. Hughes,” was the Rev. James Hughes, pastor of the
Presbyterian churches at Lower Buffalo in Washington County, and West
Liberty in the adjoining county of Ohio in Virginia, and one of the
trustees of the recently established Jefferson College, the pioneer
college of the West.
Cramer lived and flourished in an age when many of the publications
sent out in the name of religion contained the merest drivel, or
were elaborations of theories in regard to matters infinite held by
narrow-minded controversialists. The press was flooded with them.
There were publications bearing such depressing titles as _The Happy
Voyage Completed_, and _The Sure Anchor Cast_. Cramer realized that
in publishing works of this character he might be misunderstood. This
sentiment was evident in the advertisement of at least one of his
publications. On that occasion he prefaced his notice by stating: “_On
the recommendation of some pious friends_, we contemplate printing, _A
Token for children, Being an exact account of the Conversion, holy and
exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of several young children!_”[298]
The most pretentious of his works was religious in character, and was
published in 1807. It was _A Dictionary of the Holy Bible_ by the
Rev. John Brown of Haddington, in Scotland, of which two editions
were printed. It was a noteworthy achievement to be accomplished on
the frontier, hundreds of miles from the center of civilization.
Many difficulties had to be overcome, not the least of which was the
delay occasioned by the difficulty in procuring a regular supply
of paper.[299] The work was in two large octavo volumes, and was
illustrated with engraved pictures and maps that are still desired by
collectors. Heading the list of subscribers, was the name of President
Jefferson, of whom Cramer appears to have been an ardent admirer. In
1810, the firm published the _Select Remains of the Rev. John Brown_,
the author of the Dictionary.
Cramer’s publications covered a wide range. In 1808 _The Lawyer_,
by George Watterson, appeared, which was imbued with the current
prejudice against lawyers, and presented a sorry spectacle of the legal
profession. The same year, a map of Pittsburgh was published, which,
if in existence to-day, would be of great interest. One of his most
valuable contributions to the literature of travel, was _Sketches of a
Tour to the Western Country in 1807–1809_, by F. Cuming, published in
1810. It contained according to Reuben Gold Thwaites,[300] a “picture
of American life in the West at the beginning of the nineteenth century
that for clear-cut outlines and fidelity of presentation has the effect
of a series of photographic representations.” Another work of value
was _Views of Louisiana_, by Judge Henry M. Brackenridge, published
in 1814. Cramer had met Brackenridge in New Orleans, in December,
1811, while on one of his visits to that city, and arranged with him
there for the publication.[301] In 1813, _The Poetical Works of Oliver
Goldsmith_ were brought out.
One of the most important ventures of Cramer’s entire publishing
experience, the fruition of which he did not live to see, was _The
Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and Literature_. It
was a monthly magazine of sixty-four pages. The first number appeared
in December, 1813, four months after Cramer’s death. Compared with
magazines of the present time, it was not of the highest order of
literary merit. In its day, however, it ranked with the best magazines
published. The excellent literary taste of the editor also appears
from an incident which occurred during the early life of the magazine.
_The Pittsburgh Gazette_ published a communication from a disappointed
aspirant for literary fame, signing himself “Recluse,” whose poem in
fourteen stanzas entitled “The Two Roses,” had been declined by the
_Western Gleaner_. “Recluse” referred sarcastically to the “uncommonly
profound and very discerning editor of the _Western Gleaner_.”
That the editor of the _Western Gleaner_ was more “discerning” than the
editor of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, which published “Recluse’s” effort,
along with his letter, is evident from a perusal of the poem. The first
stanza, which is also the best, reads:
“The sweetest rose that ever bloomed,
Was one that, with insidious sip,
Beneath Eliza’s smiles presumed,
To pilfer fragrance from her lip.”[302]
The same persistency which procured the publication of “The Two Roses”
in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, enabled “Recluse” a few years later to
find a publisher for a volume of his poetry, in which “The Two Roses”
was one of the gems.[303]
In one of the numbers of the magazine Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge
contributed a poem, descriptive of his feelings on revisiting
Pittsburgh, called “On a Circuit at This Place.”
“What is there in this spot of earth
Repellant to all zest of mirth,
Heart-felt by me,
And which on being seen again,
The Hill, the River and the Plain
To sadden, all agree!”[304]
Cramer realized that books having a local interest would find a
ready sale. One of these was Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge’s _Modern
Chivalry_; another was his _Incidents of the Insurrection in Western
Pennsylvania_, which was an effort to vindicate himself for his course
in the Whisky Insurrection. Judge Addison’s impeachment in 1803, by
the Republican General Assembly, had created profound interest in
Pittsburgh. The account of the trial was immediately published in
Lancaster, then the capital of the State, and eagerly read. Another
book of local interest was Colonel James Smith’s _Captivity among
the Indians Westward of Fort Pitt in the Year 1755_, published at
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1799.
Although a Republican himself, Cramer’s mercantile instincts led him
to sell books written in opposition to that party. A little volume
of poems was of this class. David Bruce, a Scotchman living in the
adjacent village of Burgettstown, whom Cramer designated as “an
ingenious Scotch poet of Washington County,” had published in 1801,
in Washington, Pennsylvania, a book which, while mainly political in
character, had considerable merit. Bruce was a strong Federalist,
and his volume was dedicated to Judge Addison. To the Republicans,
Brackenridge, Gallatin, McKean, and other more or less local
celebrities, Bruce’s references were disparaging. To Brackenridge he
addressed the cynical lines:
“When Whisky-Boys sedition sang,
An’ anarchy strod owre the lan’
When Folly led Rebellion’s ban’
Sae fierce an’ doure,
Fo’ks said ye sleely lent a han’
To mak the stoure.”[305]
A book of the same character, but covering a wider range, and of a
higher literary tone, was _The Echo_. It had a local interest in that
it contained a number of clever satirical references to Judge Hugh
Henry Brackenridge. In the latter part of the eighteenth century,
Hartford was the literary center of Federalistic ideas. They were
promulgated by a group of young authors known as the “Hartford Wits.”
Included in the coterie was Richard Alsop, who was the principal writer
of _The Echo_. _The Echo_ had originally appeared serially, but in
1807, the parts were collected and published in a volume. The allusions
to Brackenridge indicated a keen sense of humor and considerable poetic
spirit. An article written by Brackenridge had appeared in 1792 in the
_National Gazette_ of Philadelphia, then recently established as the
organ of the Republicans, in which he urged savage reprisals against
the Indians, who were causing trouble west of Pittsburgh. To this
screed, _The Echo_ made the mocking reply:
“I grant my pardon to that dreaming clan,
Who think that Indians have the rights of man;
Who deem the dark skinn’d chiefs those miscreants base,
Have souls like ours, and are of human race;
And say the scheme so wise, so nobly plann’d.
For rooting out these serpents from the land,
To kill their squaws, their children yet unborn,
To burn their wigwams, and pull up their corn;
By sword and fire to purge the unhallow’d train,
And kindly send them to a world of pain,
Is vile, unjust, absurd:--as if our God
One single thought on Indians e’er bestow’d,
To them his care extends, or even knew,
Before Columbus told him where they grew.”[306]
On another occasion when Brackenridge was a candidate for Congress,
he published in the _Aurora_ an appeal to the electors of his
Congressional District in which he animadverted harshly on the
educational accomplishments of General John Woods, his Federalist
opponent. This presented another opportunity for the clever writers of
_The Echo_ to burlesque a leading Republican. _The Echo_ gibed:
“But, to return to Woods,--to speak my mind,
His education was of narrow kind;
Nor has he since to learning much applied,
But smil’d with calm contempt on pedant pride.
His mental powers, howe’er, superior shine,
His genius glows with energy divine.
But when with mine in competition plac’d.
How low his powers, his genius sinks debas’d,
Has not my genius shone with peerless ray,
And o’er Ohio pour’d the blaze of day?
Have not my writings spread abroad my name,
And bards consign’d me to immortal fame?
Then shall John Woods with me presume to vie,
The brightest star that decks the western sky?”[307]
Cramer’s books covered the entire range of literary endeavor and among
them were a majority of the contemporary publications. The French
Revolutionary movement was well represented. A work coming under this
designation was the _Life and Campaigns of General Count Alexander
Suwarrow_, which was of interest also because Suwarrow’s title to fame
rested at least partly on the fact that he was the originator of the
high tasseled-boot, much worn both in military and civil circles after
the year 1800. There was a flood of Bonapartist literature. A book of
this class which had a local interest was the _Life of General Jean
Victor Moreau_. After being exiled from France on account of conspiring
against Napoleon, this officer had come to the United States in 1805,
and made a tour of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. Having passed
through Pittsburgh, his name was well known there. Works of travel
were numerous. Conspicuous in biography were the lives of Washington,
Franklin, and Kotzebue, the German playwright and novelist, then at
the height of his career. There were histories of various European
countries, and William Winterbotham’s _History of the American United
States_. The _History of Women_, if at hand to-day, would be of
interest to that large body of women who are making such herculean
efforts to obtain greater rights for their sex. Among the notable books
of the day was Thomas Jefferson’s _Notes on the State of Virginia_. Two
editions had been published prior to Jefferson’s becoming President.
After the election in 1800, the work was republished in a large octavo
volume, for which Cramer was agent in Pittsburgh.[308] Another book
which attracted considerable attention was the _History of John Adams,
Esquire, late president of the United States_, by John Wood. It was a
rank Republican account of a most interesting period. It was printed
and ready for publication in December, 1801, but was suppressed at the
instigation of Aaron Burr, as being incorrect and libelous. The book
was finally published in 1802. A companion-piece to Wood’s book, was
the one by James Cheetham, which gave an account of the suppression.
It was entitled, _A Narrative of the Suppression by Col. Burr of the
History of the Administration of John Adams, by a Citizen of New York_.
Philosophy was not neglected. Representative of that science were
William Enfield’s _History of Philosophy_, William Smellie’s
_Philosophy of Natural History_, Francis Hutchinson’s _System of
Moral Philosophy_, and Count Volney’s _Law of Nature_. Books relating
to trades, included the _Miller and Millwright’s Guide_; the _Young
Carpenter’s Assistant_; the _New System of Gardening_; the _Dictionary
of Husbandry_; Washington’s _Letters to Arthur Young_; the _English
Gardener_; and _Elements of Architecture_. Freemasonry was described in
William Preston’s _Illustrations of Masonry_. Among books relating to
the professions, those pertaining to divinity were most numerous. The
Methodists had increased in numbers and were in better standing in the
community. John Wrenshall was addressed as the “Rev.” John Wrenshall,
and Cramer began to sell the _Memoirs of George Whitfield_, the famous
exponent of Methodism. Law books were a close second to those of
divinity. There were books on state, national, and international law.
In medicine there were books for family use, and books for physicians.
Belles-lettres and poetry formed an important department. Predominant
in belles-lettres were the writings of Addison, Steele, and Pope in the
_Spectator_, and its successors, the _Guardian_, and the _Tattler_;
Dr. Johnson, in his “Rambler”; and _Salmagundi_, when it appeared in
1807. _Junius’s Letters_; the works of Lawrence Sterne; the Posthumous
Works of Jonathan Swift; and Peter Pindar’s Satires were other books
in this department. In the selection of plays, those of Kotzebue
were prominent. The English plays were represented by George Colman,
the younger’s, _The Poor Gentleman_, a comedy produced in Covent
Garden in 1801, and by Thomas Morton’s, _Speed the Plough_, produced
in 1798. Because of its authorship, _The Battle of Bunker Hill_, by
Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge, had a local interest. In the realm
of poetry, were the poems of John Pomfret, Robert Burns, Dr. Thomas
Brown, Alexander Pope, John Milton, Thomas Moore, Allan Ramsay, and
Robert Southey. In this class was Thomas Campbell’s _The Pleasures of
Hope_; James Beattie’s _The Minstrel_; Samuel Rogers’s _Pleasures of
Memory_; William Cowper’s _Beauties of Cowper_, and _The Task_; Joel
Barlow’s _The Vision of Columbus_; Robert Bloomfield’s, _The Farmer’s
Boy_, and _A Song_; James Thomson’s _Seasons_. _Zaida_, by Kotzebue;
_Charlotte Temple_, by Mrs. Susanna Rowson, and _Don Quixote_ were
popular romances. In colonial days, and in the early days of the
republic, little stitched pamphlets, called chapbooks, because largely
circulated by itinerant vendors, or chapmen, were much in vogue. Books
in this form for children had a large circulation, and Cramer carried
an interesting list.
Cramer’s upright nature often led him to express opinions that were
contrary to the views obtaining in publications of his firm. Cuming in
his _Tour of the Western Country_, in the reference to Pittsburgh had
written: “Amusements are also a good deal attended to, particularly the
annual horse races.” On this observation Cramer commented in a note:
“We are sorry to have to acknowledge that _horse racing_ contrary to
the express law of the State, has been more or less practiced within
the vicinity of this place for a few years back; but we are pleased
with the prospect of having it totally abolished by the influence of
its evident impropriety, danger, and wickedness, operating on the
minds of the more thoughtful and judicious.”[309] That Cramer was not
alone in condemning the horse races is apparent from a communication
which had appeared in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ six years earlier.[310]
This writer designated the races as “a fruitful seminary of vice.” He
declared that the “schools and shops are shut up or deserted, and the
youth of both sexes run to harm, folly, and debauchery.... The money,
too, which ought to be expended in the honest maintenance of families
and the payment of debts is squandered on sharpers, gamblers and
sutlers.”
If some fact or custom was referred to, which Cramer considered morally
wrong, or which might disparage Pittsburgh in the eyes of the world
at large, he spoke out vigorously in opposition. In the _Navigator_
for 1811,[311] the statement was made that there were “two or three
whisky distilleries in the town.” This was immediately followed in the
text by a disapproval of distilleries, and a quaint homily on the evils
of intemperance. “We cannot say anything in praise of these,” Cramer
wrote. “Whisky as a medicine is good, that is, to take it only when the
system requires it and no more than is sufficient to perform the part
of a gentle stimulant; but to drink it as is now universally practiced,
is destructive of health, strength, morals, religion, and honesty; and
is a serious national calamity, in which man sinks in the estimation of
himself, and becomes an abhorrence in the eyes of God.”
Cramer’s career was short. He had never been robust, and close
attention to business had undermined his constitution; consumption
developed. He attempted in vain to obtain relief in southern travel,
and died on August 1, 1813, just before reaching his fortieth year, at
Pensacola, Florida, while on the way to Havana, the journey having been
recommended by his physician. In Pensacola his remains were buried and
there they lie in an unmarked grave. To the last he was planning new
business projects, and preserved his cheerfulness to the end. Not once
was he known to be fretful or ill-natured. He left his widow and one
child, a daughter, Susan. The firm was continued for many years, first
by the widow, in conjunction with John Spear, and after her death on
May 5, 1818, by the daughter. The affairs of the partnership were not
wound up until July 6, 1835.
In early life the daughter married Dr. J. B. Cochran in Pittsburgh.
Becoming a widow, she removed to Beaver, Pennsylvania, with her three
children. Her children were Zadok Cramer Cochran, James Spear Cochran,
and Mary Cochran. After their mother’s death in 1854, the children
removed to Coatesville, Pennsylvania. From Coatesville they went to
Freeport, Illinois. Here the two sons engaged in teaching and conducted
an academy. James later took up the study of the law, and was admitted
to the Bar. Drifting into politics he was elected to the State Senate.
The two brothers are both dead, but the sister is still living, being
the wife of Joseph Emmert, of Freeport, Illinois.
REFERENCES
CHAPTER IX
[285] _Tree of Liberty_, August 7, 1802.
[286] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 10, 1800.
[287] _Tree of Liberty_, January 16, 1802.
[288] _Tree of Liberty_, October 8, 1803.
[289] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, April 19, 1808.
[290] _Tree of Liberty_, May 21, 1803.
[291] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 9, 1801.
[292] _The Commonwealth_, August 14, 1805.
[293] _The Commonwealth_, September 29, 1811.
[294] _Tree of Liberty_, November 6, 1802.
[295] _The Navigator_, Pittsburgh, 1814, pp. 272–277.
[296] _The Navigator_, Pittsburgh, 1814, pp. 31–32.
[297] _Tree of Liberty_, June 4, 1803.
[298] _The Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac for 1810._
[299] _The Pittsburgh Magazine Almanac for 1807._
[300] REUBEN GOLD THWAITES: Fortescue Cuming, _Sketches of a Tour to
the Western Country in 1807–1809_, Cleveland, Ohio, 1904, p. 9.
[301] H. M. BRACKENRIDGE: _Views of Louisiana_, Pittsburgh, 1814, p. 4.
[302] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, January 28, 1814.
[303] THE RECLUSE: _The Art of Domestic Happiness and Other Poems_,
Pittsburgh, 1817, pp. 1–317.
[304] _The Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and
Literature_, Pittsburgh, 1814, vol. ii., pp. 185–186.
[305] DAVID BRUCE: _Poems entirely in the Scottish Dialect, originally
written under the signature of the Scots-Irishman_, Washington, 1801,
p. 46.
[306] _The Echo_, pp. 32–39.
[307] _The Echo_, pp. 150–151.
[308] _Tree of Liberty_, January 24, 1801.
[309] F. CUMING: _Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country in
1807–1809_, Pittsburgh, 1810, p. 231.
[310] _Pittsburgh Gazette_, October 16, 1801.
[311] _The Navigator_, Pittsburgh, 1811, p. 63.
INDEX
Adams, George, 114, 128
Adams, Henry, 81
Adams, John, 165;
_History of_, 200
Addison, Alexander, Judge, impeachment of, 47–48, 139, 195;
Federalist, 131, 132
Adgate & Co., 104
Allegheny County, 22, 23
Allegheny County Courts, 157
Allegheny County Militia, 74, 75
Almanacs, 4, 165, 172;
Cramer’s, 172–174;
“Common,” 174;
“Magazine,” 174
Alsop, Richard, 197
Amberson, Beelen, & Anshutz, 152
_American Coast Pilot_, 182
Amusements, 67–74, 186, 203
Arnold, actor, 70
Ash, Thomas, 181
Ashton, Capt. Joseph, 95, 151
Ashton & Denny, 152
Audrian, Peter, 49
_Aurora_, newspaper, 51
Baird, Thomas, 96, 128, 130
Baldwin, Henry, 96, 141, 148, 149;
attacked by Pentland, 145, 146
Balls, 68, 72;
for Gen. Lee, 69
Bank of Pennsylvania, branch, 93, 116
Baptists, 95
Barker, Abner, 116, 117, 132
Barker, Jeffe, 116, 117
Barker, Jeremiah, 117, 132
Barrett, William, 121
Bartholf, Francis, Baron de Belen, 152
Bates, Edward, 145
Bates, Frederick, 143, 145, 148
Bates, James, 145, 148
Bates, Tarleton, 96, 131, 141 ff.;
duel, 142–150
Bausman, Elizabeth, marriage, 125
Bausman, Jacob, 30;
varied career, 41–42
Bausman, Nicholas, 41
Bayard, Colo. Stephen, 5
Beaujolais, Count of, 111
Bedford County, 2
Beelen, Anthony, 96, 150, 152
Beelen, Francis, 152
Beltzhoover, Melchoir, 41
“Black Charley,” 39
Blunt, Edmund, _American Coast Pilot_, 182
Boat yards, 8, 40, 92
Books, in households, 14;
sale of, 14, 15, 27;
interest in, 27;
most popular, 169–171;
Cramer’s publications, 189 ff.;
contemporaneous history, 190;
of local interest, 195–196;
contemporary publications, 199;
in Cramer’s bookstore, 199 ff.
Bookstores, 95;
first, 27;
Cramer’s “Pittsburgh Bookstore,” 116, 163, 186, 188, 199 ff.;
Christy’s and Wrenshall’s, 184
Boyd, John, 15, 16
Brackenridge, Henry M., Judge, recollections of Grant’s Hill, 71;
account of horse racing, 73;
on the Court of Allegheny County, 118;
_Views of Louisiana_, 193
Brackenridge, Hugh Henry, Judge, 49, 71;
author, 26, 195, 197, 198, 202;
_Modern Chivalry_, 26;
political leader, 55;
Fourth of July speech, 56;
Justice of Supreme Court, 58;
opposed to Brison, 58 ff.;
and the _Tree of Liberty_, 62–63;
and the Whisky Insurrection, 81, 106, 124, 195;
Freemason, 95;
residence, 97, 115;
antagonizes soldiers, 115–116;
candidate for Congress, 125, 198;
attacks on, 133–134;
and impeachment of Addison, 139;
settles Gilkison’s affairs, 163;
Bruce’s lines to, 196;
satires on, in _The Echo_, 197–198
Braddocksfield, 119
Brantz, Lewis, notes on Pittsburgh, 9, 30
Breweries, 78, 92
Brickyards, 31, 92
Brison, James, 58–59
Bromley, actor, 70
Bruce, David, author of political volume, 196
Brunot, Dr. Felix, 48, 51
Bryan, George, Justice, 118
Building lots, value of, 98–99, 100
Burr, Aaron, 57;
election of, 165–167;
suppresses _History of John Adams_, 200
Business centre of the town, 164
Butler, General Richard, 95, 122–123
Butler, Colonel William, 95
Calhoun, John, 117
Calhoun, Samuel, 117
Campbell, Colonel John, 4, 5
Campbell, Robert, 34
Card industry, 104
Card playing, 67, 186
Carlisle, 2
Chapman, Thomas, 30–31
Cheetham, James, 201
Christy, William, Merchant, 107, 131–132, 154, 184
Church records, 174
Churches, German, 10, 93, 186;
Presbyterian, 83, 93;
Episcopalian, 93;
Roman Catholic, 94;
Methodist, 94–95
City Hall, 50
“Clapboard Row,” 127;
political methods, 128;
opposed, 131, 132
“Clapboard Row Junto,” 127
“Clapboardonian Democracy,” 127
Clark, General George Rodgers, 141
Clark, Josiah, 188
Clothing materials, 64–65
Coal, 7, 91, 92
Cochran, Dr. J. B., 206
Cochran, John Spear, 206
Cochran, Mary, 206
Cochran, Susan Cramer, 206
Cochran, Zadok Cramer, 206
Comforts and luxuries, 63–64
_Common Almanac_, 174
_Commonwealth, The_, newspaper, 138, 140
Concerts, 69
Constitutionalists, 140
Coppinger, 78
Cotton mills, 92, 93
County jail, 24, 157
Court House, present, 50;
first, 117, 118;
in 1800, 155–156
Craig, Major Isaac, buys land in Pittsburgh, 5;
starts glass factory, 32;
Freemason, 96;
tenement of, 106;
Federalist, 131;
Deputy Quarter Master, 142
Cramer, Elizabeth, 189
Cramer, Susan, 206
Cramer, Zadok, 161 ff.;
birth, 162;
bookbinding, 116, 162–163;
bookstore, 116, 163, 184, 188–189;
publisher, 164–165,184;
publications, 165, 167, 172, 174, 176 ff., 179, 180, 187, 189;
opens Circulating Library, 168–171;
partners, 171, 188;
advertisements, 185;
accuses Harris and Ash of plagiarism, 181;
new lines of business, 185–186;
printing business, 187;
offices held, 187;
farming and sheep raising, 188;
travels, 189;
meets H. M. Brackenridge, 193;
mercantile instincts, 196;
opposes moral wrong, 204;
condemns horse racing, 204;
on whisky drinking, 205;
death, 205
Cramer, Mrs. Zadok, 206
_Cramer’s Almanac_, 172–174
Culture, 3, 4, 26, 184 ff.
Cumberland County, 2
Cuming, F., _Tour of the Western Country_, 192–193
Dancing, 67–69, 154
Davis, Joseph, 131, 154
Declary, Peter, 69
“Democratic” party, 54
“Democratic Republican” party, 54
Denny, Major Ebenezer, 131, 150–151
Denny & Beelen, 150, 151
Dent, Julia, 153
Dobbins & McElhinney, 110
Dress, Freemasons’, 12;
men’s, 65–67
Drinking, 80–82
Duane, William, 51
Dubac, Gabriel, Chevalier, 48, 111
Du Lac, Perrin, 64
Dunlap (James) & Co., 155
“Dutch,” 43, 44
_Echo, The_, 197–198
Education, in early days, 3–4;
schools established, 14;
higher, 17
Eichbaum, William, 40, 41, 79
Eichbaum, William, Jr., 188–189
Emigration westward, through Pittsburgh, 6–8, 29, 175, 179
Emmert, Mrs. Joseph, 206
Emmett, Samuel, 30, 80
English language, 38, 40
English-speaking population, 38, 40
Episcopalians, 93, 94
Ewalt, Samuel, 41, 96, 104, 130
Farmers’ dress, 66
Federal party, opposition to, 52–53, 54;
supporters of, 62, 76, 131–132;
emblem of, 74–76;
in the House of Representatives, 165
Ferree, Thomas, 13, 157–158
Ferries, over Monongahela River, 29, 42;
over Allegheny River, 30;
and taverns, 80
Food, 63, 64
Forman, Major Thomas S., 35
Fort Fayette, 33
Fort Pitt, 9, 10, 31, 33
Fort Stanwix, 8
Forward, Walter, 141–142
Fowler, General Alexander, commander of militia, 74;
republican, 75;
left Republican party, 127;
controversy with Gazzam, 128–130
Francis, Tench, 5
Freemasons, first lodge in Western country, 11;
start temperance movement, 95–96;
_See also_ Lodge, 45
French, 38;
emigration of, 51–52
French influence, 46, 51, 65, 199
French language, 39
French radicalism, influence of, 53
Freneau, Philip, 26
“Friends of the People,” 140
Fulton & Baird, 121, 130
Gallatin, Albert, 57, 162;
glass factory, 32, 122;
political honors, 46–47, 125;
at Marie’s tavern, 49;
on Western Pennsylvania, 52;
candidate for Congress, 55
Gallitzen, Demetrius Augustine, 94
Gazzam, William, 121;
controversy with Fowler, 128–130
German church, organized, 10;
conducts schools, 14, 186;
treasurer, 42;
followers, 40, 45
German language, 39, 40, 45, 186
_German Farmers’ Register, The_, newspaper, 45
Germans, 38;
organize church, 10;
second in numbers to English, 40;
confused with the Dutch, 43, 44;
social intercourse, 45;
establish newspaper, 45;
and religion, 83
Gilkison, John C., bookseller, 27, 163;
prothonotary, 59, 163;
starts library, 168
Glass factories, 32, 92
Grant’s Hill, pleasure ground, 49, 70–71, 77
“Grant’s Hill,” tavern, 49, 50
Gregg’s (Isaac) Ferry, 30
Hall, Joseph, 14
Hamilton, report on manufactures, 91
Hamsher, John, 40, 41, 155
Hancock, Richard, 122, 125
Hannastown, 2;
attacked by British and Indians, 11, 43, 58
Harmar, General Josiah, 151
Harris, Joseph, 157
Harris, Rev. Thaddeus Mason, 181
“Hartford Wits,” 197
Haymaker, Jacob, 40, 42, 126
Henderson, Rev. Matthew, 57
Henderson, Robert, 30, 80
_Herald of Liberty_, newspaper,62
Herd, William, 121
Herron, Rev. Francis, 83–84
Hilliard, Elizabeth Bausman, 125–126
Hilliard, James, 125, 126
Horse racing, 72–73;
condemned, 203–204
Houses, construction, 31 ff., 101;
numbered, 33;
comforts in, 63
Hufnagle, Michael, 43, 96
Hughes, Rev. James, 190
Hutchins, Capt. Thomas, 175–176;
_Topographical Description of Pennsylavnia, Maryland, and
Virginia_, 175
Imlay, Gilbert, _North America_, 176
Incorporation of Pittsburgh, 24
Indians, the Penns’ dealings with, 6;
treaty with, 8;
attack Hannastown, 11, 43;
recede westward, 13
Industries, 91–93
Insurgents, 71, 81, 119–120;
conference with, 123–125
Irish, 38, 55
Irish, Nathaniel, 130, 153
Iron industries, 91–92
Irvine, General William, 123
Irwin, Captain John, 96, 107, 154
Irwin, William, 69, 96, 107, 154
Israel, John, 62, 141, 187
Italians, 38
Jackson, Andrew, doctrine, 58
“Jacobins,” 56
Jefferson, Thomas, radical ideas of liberty, 53–54;
reception of these ideas in Pennsylvania, 54–55;
Republican dinner in honor of, 56–57, 108;
presidential election of, 165–167;
_Notes on the State of Virginia_, 200
Jockey Club, 72, 79
Johnson, John, 117
Jones, Ephraim, 29, 80
Jones, Samuel, 35, 108;
on social life, 71–72
Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., 148
Justices of the peace, 101
Kramer, Baltzer, 32
Kramer, Christian, 32
Land, sales of, 5–6, 100
Lawlessness, 25
Laws, 24
Lee, General Henry, 59, 69, 115
“Lee, Light-Horse Harry,” 59
Lee, Rev. Wilson, 78
Lewis and Clark expedition, 179
Liberty, new ideas of, 53
Libraries, private, 14;
circulating, 16, 19, 168–171
Liquors, 64;
manufacture and sale of, 77–79;
drinking of, 80–82
“Lodge 45 of Ancient York Masons,” first masonic lodge in Pittsburgh,
11;
observance of St. John the Baptist’s Day, 12;
observance of St. John the Evangelist’s Day, 13, 108;
meeting place, 78, 95, 155;
temperance movement, 95–96;
secretary, 108
Louisiana Purchase, furthers trade, 90;
and the _Navigator_, 179
Lucus, John B. C., 47–48, 151
Luxuries, 63–64
McClurg, Joseph, 122, 128, 130
McKean, Thomas, 108, 118;
turns Republican, 54, 56;
candidate for Governor, 57, 140;
takes office, 58;
recommends militia emblem, 75;
Commissioner to meet Insurgents, 123;
reappoints Tannehill, 131;
vetoes revolutionary bills, 138;
refuses to remove Brackenridge, 139;
supporters and opponents of, 140, 141;
alluded to by Bruce, 196
McLane, D., 34
McLaughlin, Alexander, 132, 153
McMillan, Rev. Dr. John, 57, 81
McNickle, A., 130
Madison, James, 57
_Magazine Almanac_, 174
Magee, Samuel, 121
Magee, Thomas, 121
Mail robbed, 119
Map of Pittsburgh published, 192
Marie, John, 49, 50
Marie, Mrs. John (Jane), divorce case, 50–51
Marie’s tavern, 56, 75
Market House, 155
Market Street, 96–98, 99, 104
Mechanical Society of Pittsburgh, 17–19, 78, 187
Mellish, John, 181
Methodists, 94–95, 201
Michaux, Dr. F. A., 48, 50
Mifflin, Thomas, 54, 56
Military plan of the town, 30–31
Military spirit, 74
Militia of Pennsylvania, 74–77
_Modern Chivalry_, by H. H. Brackenridge, 26
Money, circulation of, 15, 28–29
Montpensier, Duke of, 111
Moore, Hamilton, _Practical Navigator_, 182
Moreau, Jean Victor, 199
Morgan, General Daniel, 69, 115–116
Morrow, William, 12, 79
Morse, Jedidiah, _American Gazetteer_, 176
Mowry, Dr. Peter, 114, 132
Murphy, Mrs. Mary (Molly), 122, 152
Nail factories, 92, 93
National currency established, 99
_National Gazette_, 51
Nationalities in Pittsburgh, 38
_Navigator_, 174, 187;
sources of its material, 175, 176, 178;
various editions, 176–182;
advertised, 177;
local information in, 180–182
Negley, Alexander, 41
Negley, Jacob, 41
Negroes, 38–39
Neville, Emily Morgan, 144
Neville, General John, Freemason, 95;
residence, 105;
offices held, 106;
Federalist, 131
Neville, Morgan, 48
Neville, Colonel Presley, public offices, 105, 106;
residence, 115;
saves Brackenridge, 116;
Federalist, 131;
opinion of Democrats, 144
New Era in 1800, 90
_New Orleans_, steamboat, 189
Newspapers, first, 14;
German, 45;
see also _Pittsburgh Gazette_ and _Tree of Liberty_
Nicholson, James W., 32
“Office of Discount and Deposit,” 116
O’Hara, Colonel James, 95, 120, 131;
glass manufacturer, 32;
brewer, 78;
candidate for burgess, 105
_Ohio and Mississippi Navigator_, 176–177
Ohio River, navigation of, 7, 176–178
Orleans, Duke of, 111
Ormsby, John, 78, 95
Ormsby, Oliver, 184
Patterson, Rev. Joseph, 81
Penn, John, 4–5, 6
Penn, John, Jr., 4–5, 6
Penn, William, 4
Penns, the, 42, 98
Pentland, Ephraim, editor, 138;
attacks on Bates and Baldwin, 145–147, 149
Peters, Judge Richard, 106
Philadelphia, post route from Pittsburgh, 17
Pipe manufactory, 92
Pittsburgh Academy, 17
“Pittsburgh Bookstore,” 116, 163, 184, 186 ff.
Pittsburgh Circulating Library, 167–171
Pittsburgh Fire Company, 24, 130
_Pittsburgh Gazette_, established, 14;
and politics, 56, 62, 133;
contributors, 75;
in religious revival, 85;
owner, 114;
Cramer’s advertisement in, 162–163;
advertises _Navigator_, 177
Pittsburgh Library Company, 171
“Pittsburgh” manor, 5
Pitt Township, 23, 28
Plan of town, 4, 5, 30–31
Population, in 1786, 9;
nationalities, 38;
in 1800 and 1810, 90;
Protestant, 93
Porter, William, 122
Post office, 17, 114, 128
Post route, 17
_Practical Navigator_, 182
Presbyterian Church, 9, 10, 83, 93, 94
Printing offices, 187
Protestants, 10, 93–94
Public improvements, 98
Publishing business, 164, 184–185
Race horses, 73
Reed, John, 79, 157
Reel, Casper, 41
Religion, 9–11, 82–83, 93;
revival, 84–85;
books on, 191
Republican General Assembly, radical, 138–139
Republican party, headquarters, 50;
“Democratic Republican,” 54;
rapid growth in Pennsylvania, 55;
leader in Pittsburgh, 55;
French influences, 55, 56;
influence on dress, 65;
spoils doctrine, 58;
emblem, 75–76;
dominant throughout country, 132;
in national election, 165–167
Richards, Charles, 39
Richardson, Dr. Andrew, Freemason, 96, 108;
conducts drug store, 107;
political leader, 108;
speech on Freemasonry, 108–109;
left Republican party, 109–110;
death, 110
Riddle, James, 96, 121, 128
Robinson, James, 30, 80
Robinson and Ensell, 92
Roman Catholics, 94
Ross, James, trouble with Mrs. Marie, 50–51;
candidate for governor, 50, 57;
Freemason, 96;
Commissioner to meet Insurgents, 123;
political leader, 131, 132
Roup, Jonas, 41
St. Clair, General Arthur, 151
St. John the Baptist’s Day, observance of, 12–13
St. John the Evangelist’s day, observance of, 12, 13, 108
St. Patrick’s Church, 94
Schoepf, Dr. Johann David, 7
Schools, 4, 14, 50, 186
Schultz, Christian, on _Navigator_, 181–182
Scotch, 38
Scott, Dr. Hugh, 96, 121, 128
Scott, John, 117
Scott & Trotter, 120
Scull, John, establishes _Pittsburgh Gazette_, 14–15;
postmaster, 17;
printer, 26, 187;
residence, 114;
attacks on Brackenridge, 133–134
Semple, Samuel, 78
Semple, Steele, 116
Semple, William, 27, 115
Shippinsburg, 2
“Sign of the Black Bear,” 13, 158
“Sign of the Cross Keys,” 57, 79
“Sign of the Franklin Head,” 116, 164
“Sign of General Butler,” 125;
and social affairs, 68;
name, 122;
during Whisky Insurrection, 123, 124;
political headquarters, 127
“Sign of General Washington,” 34
“Sign of the Green Tree,” 13, 34, 68;
meeting place of masonic lodge, 12, 96
“Sign of the Indian Queen,” 79–80
“Sign of the Negro,” 122
“Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat,” 153
“Sign of the Waggon,” 68, 79, 157
Six Nations, treaty with, 8
Slavery, 38, 39, 41
Smith, Thomas, 130
Smith, Rev. Dr. William, 44
Smith & Shiras, 78
Smur, John, 126
Snyder, Simon, 50, 51, 140
Social life, 71–72, 77
South School, 50
Spanish milled dollar, 99
Spear, John, 171, 188, 206
Spoils doctrine, 58
Steele, Rev. Robert, 13, 96, 129;
dress, 66;
appointment, 85
Stevenson, Dr. George, 120–121, 131
Stewart, Thomas, 147, 149
Stores, 102, 103, 116–117, 120 ff., 150, 154 ff., 184
Streets, 35, 98
Sturgeon, Jeremiah, 57, 79
Supreme Court, 118, 130, 139
Swiss-Germans, 10, 38
Tannehill, Adamson, 130
Tanneries, 92
Tavern-keeping, 78, 79
Tavern signs, 33–35
Taverns, 33, 68, 77, 78
Temperance movement, 96
Theatrical performances, 69, 70
Thorn, William, 82–83
Tinware manufactory, 92
Town meetings, 102
Town officials, 101
Townships, 23, 28
Trade, 7, 102
Trade centre, 7, 29
Transportation, 25, 93
_Tree of Liberty_, established, 62;
contributors, 75;
office, 115;
charge against editor, 127;
in politics, 132, 140;
in mourning, 149;
advertises _Navigator_, 177
_Tree of Sedition, Blasphemy, and Slander_, 56
Trees, 33, 97
Trinity Church, 93
Turnbull, William, 115
United States Mint authorized, 99
University of Pittsburgh, 17
Veech, Judge James, on whisky, 80–81
Wallace, Judge George, 117
Washington, George, President, 78, 123
Washington County, 22
Water Street residences, 105–107
Watson, Andrew, tavern, 18, 117, 118
Weber, Rev. Johann Wilhelm, 10–11
Welsh, 38
_Western Gleaner, The_, magazine, 193–195
Westmoreland County, 2, 22
“Whale and the Monkey,” Sign of, 34
“Whisky Boys,” 81
Whisky Insurrection, 29, 59, 106;
cause, 25, 77;
expedition against, 29, 59;
at its height, 119–120;
Government conference with Insurgents, 123–125
Wilkins, John, 117
Willock, Andrew, Jr., 153
Wills, Alexander, 158
Wills, James, 153
Wills, John, 158
Wilson and Wallace, sale of books, 14
Winebiddle, Conrad, 41
Wood, John, _History of John Adams_, 200
Woods, George, 5
Woods, General John, 125, 131, 132, 198
Woods (Wm.) & Company, 155
Wrenshall, John, local preacher, 84, 201;
_Farewell to Pittsburgh and the Mountains_, 153;
bookstore, 184
Wusthoff, William, 41, 96
Yeaman, James, 78, 158
Yeates, Jasper, 123, 130
“Young Messenger,” race horse, 73, 79
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references.
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