F 152 
 . L2 H62 
 Copy 1 
 
 THE SHIPPEN HOUSE 
 
 Some Account of One of the 
 Historical Residences of Lancaster 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 READ AT THE 
 
 COMMEMORATION OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 1910 
 
 W. U. HENSEL 
 
 AT THE 
 
 SHIPPEN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
 Presu OF 
 
 Th« new era Printing company 
 
 Lancaster pa 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/shippenhousesome01hens 
 
THE SHIPPEN HOUSE 
 
 Some Account of One of the 
 Historical Residences of Lancaster 
 
 A SKETCH 
 
 READ AT THE 
 
 COMMEMORATION OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY 
 
 1910 
 
 BY 
 
 W. U. HENSEL 
 
 AT THE 
 
 SHIPPEN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
 press of 
 
 The New Era Printing company 
 
 Lancaster, pa. 
 
s \* * Ji 
 
J 
 
 
 THE SHIPPEH HOUSE. 
 
 FOREWORD. 
 
 On the evening of February 21, 
 1910, by invitation of the mistress of 
 the Shippen School for Girls, a large 
 company assembled at the home of 
 the School, the famous old Shippen 
 house, at the northwest corner of 
 Lime and Orange streets, in the City 
 of Lancaster, Pa., to commemorate 
 the anniversary of Washington's 
 birth. There was a programme of 
 musical and literary exercises, in the 
 course of which the following paper 
 on "The Day We Celebrate and the 
 Place We Celebrate It" was read by 
 W. U. Hensel. 
 
 THE SHIPPEN HOUSE. 
 
 I trust the time will never come 
 when any patriotic citizen of these 
 United States, called to make any 
 public utterance, anywhere, suggest- 
 ed by the anniversary, on the eve of 
 which we stand now and here, shall 
 be unmindful of "the day we 
 celebrate," or inconsiderate of the 
 way in which it is observed. 
 
 Although more than a hundred and 
 ten years have passed since George 
 Washington died, none has been so 
 bold as to challenge his right to be 
 remembered and recalled as the 
 "Father of his Country." Even in an 
 impatient era of impetuous statea- 
 manship.none has yet arisen so brash 
 as to deny that as a soldier he was 
 "first in war," as a statesman he was 
 "first in peace," and as a citizen he 
 was "first in the hearts of his coun- 
 trymen." 
 
(4) 
 
 He stood so high among his con- 
 temporaries, and he has lasted so 
 well among his successors, that no 
 occasion should be lost to point any- 
 moral and to impress any lesson that 
 may fairly be gleaned from his life 
 and character; and no assemblage of 
 American people, however mingled 
 in years and creed and political be- 
 lief, should ever fail or falter when 
 called upon to do homage to his 
 blessed memory. 
 
 To have Oeen either the success- 
 ful captain in a great war or master 
 in a great political revolution would 
 merit "fame to fill the earth;" to 
 have been the wisest of constructive 
 statesmen and the most blameless of 
 chief magistrates took nothing from 
 his laurels as a soldier, while it add- 
 ed new claims to his immortality of 
 fame as a leader of men. But to 
 have so survived in the honor and af- 
 fection of his countrymen that after 
 a century generations tottering to 
 the grave tell the story of his worth, 
 with ever-increasing adoration, to 
 their lisping grandchildren, is to have 
 rounded out the nearly perfect earth- 
 ly career. 
 
 Had he been less human in those 
 "personal characteristics" to whose 
 recital we have just listened with 
 such interest and instruction, per- 
 haps even the loftiest and stateliest 
 sentiments of his "Farewell Address" 
 might have endured less firmly in the 
 minds and memory, in the hopes and 
 hearts of his countrymen. He has 
 been fitly described as "a man with 
 good red blood in his veins; good 
 common sense in his head; good 
 kindly feeling in his heart." It was 
 because he was a man in the stature 
 of his mind and soul, as well as in 
 his body, that youth and age, pupils, 
 teachers and patrons of an institution 
 
 
(5) 
 
 of refined learning meet here to-night, 
 alike glad to do him honor; and it is 
 right fit, too, that we should briefly 
 recall the history of a house and 
 home that were founded not long 
 after he was born, have endured 
 through all the intervening years^ 
 and around which cluster personal 
 and historic associations of every 
 period of our country's fruitful ex- 
 perience. 
 
 Washington in Lancaster. 
 
 And, as it has long been the high 
 renown of old Antioch that the dis- 
 ciples of the early church were there 
 first called "Christians" so here, in 
 this good city of Lancaster was 
 originally bestowed upon our chief 
 national hero the title of "Des Landes 
 Vater;" and, of all the chaplets laid 
 upon his tomb to-morrow, none will 
 be more fragrant than that of Lan- 
 caster's gifted authoress,* which I am 
 permitted to read for the first time: 
 
 "Des Landes Vater!" Little Bailey 
 
 thought 
 He gave eternal glory to this name, 
 How it would live upon the scroll of 
 
 Fame, 
 Nor dreamed the tribute which his 
 
 brain had wrought. 
 The Father of His Country! Time has 
 
 brought 
 A mighty nation proudly to proclaim 
 The meed of gratitude which he can 
 
 claim 
 The gift of Liberty, for which he 
 
 fought! 
 In former days we knew his presence 
 
 here, 
 What time he trod our old historic 
 
 streets; 
 To-day we venerate and hold him dear. 
 As this his birthday our fair city 
 
 greets, 
 In honor of the Nation's noblest son 
 The Father of our Country! Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 *Mrs. Mary N. Robinson. 
 
(6) 
 
 William Penn,proprietor and found- 
 er of the Commonwealth,was the first 
 person, responsive to organized soci- 
 ety, who owned his lot; and the Ham- 
 iltons, founders of Lancaster, were 
 acquiring title to it and plotting this 
 section just about the time Washing- 
 ton was born. When James Hamil- 
 ton made title to Thomas Cookson 
 for the piece of ground now occupied 
 by this home and schoolhouse, in 
 1750, he conveyed the exact dimen- 
 sions and area which comprise it to- 
 day, and its integrity has never been 
 disturbed in the one hundred and 
 sixty intervening years — either by en- 
 largement or diminution. That 
 Thomas Cookson, like many of the 
 foremost men of old Lancaster, came 
 from England. He was a justice of 
 the peace, register and surveyor and 
 early member of St.James,' where his 
 memorial tombstone is yet to be read 
 of all men.* His widow's second hus- 
 band, George Stevenson,laid out York 
 and Carlisle, which, like most good 
 places west of us, are step-children 
 of Lancaster. Cookson's one daugh- 
 ter dying in her minority, two-thirds 
 
 *Thomas Cookson's gravestone is in 
 the Robing Room of the Church, and 
 the inscription upon it is as follows: 
 
 "Here are interred the Remains of 
 
 THOMAS COOKSON 
 
 (Late of Richmond, in Yorkshire, Great 
 
 Britain), Esquire. 
 
 He held and discharged with integrity 
 
 several of the first offices 
 
 in this County of Lancaster, 
 
 and thereby, 
 
 And by his generous Benefaction to 
 
 this Church, as well as many good 
 
 offices to his Neighbours, 
 
 he deservedly acquired 
 the esteem of Mankind. 
 He died the 20th day of March, 1753, 
 Aged 43 years." 
 
 The monument to Edward Shippen 
 is in the churchyard, behind the chan- 
 cel, but the inscription upon it is il- 
 legible. 
 
(7) 
 
 of his estate in this and other exten- 
 sive properties went to his daughter, 
 Hannah, who had married Joseph 
 Galloway, of Maryland. Partition pro- 
 ceedings vested the title in her and 
 her husband. She died childless, and 
 Galloway got it first for life, as her 
 surviving husband, and then the whole 
 estate by purchase from Cookson's 
 surviving nieces and heirs in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The price paid for the fee in 1768 
 was 2,500 pounds sterling, from which 
 I infer that the terms of Hamilton's 
 grant to Cookson had been complied 
 with, viz., "making, erecting, build- 
 ing and finishing upon the said two 
 lots of ground two substantial dwell- 
 ing-houses of the dimensions of twen- 
 ty feet square, each with a good chim- 
 ney of brick or stone, to be laid in 
 or built with lime and sand." 
 Two Joseph Galloways. 
 
 I should like to be certain this 
 Joseph Galloway was the noted man 
 of that day, born in Maryland, early 
 removed to Philadelphia to practice 
 law, Speaker of the Pennsylvania 
 Assembly, and a member of the first 
 Congress. Like Franklin, he advo- 
 cated a royal Government for the col- 
 ony, but, unlike him, he abandoned 
 the Whig cause, became a zealous 
 Tory, wore the British uniform, and 
 from 1778 to 1803 dwelt in England, 
 with his motherless daughter. He 
 was a ready writer, a conspicuous 
 pamphleteer, an unsparing critic of 
 Sir William Howe. His writings, and 
 especially his testimony before the 
 House of Commons on the conduct of 
 the war in America, are standard au- 
 thorities for the historians in both 
 countries of that eventful period in 
 our history. He has been styled "the 
 giant and corypheus of the Loyalist 
 pamphleteers." Lecky quotes him; 
 
(8) 
 
 Trevelyan praises Mm highly and re- 
 lies on his judgment; and in the Bib- 
 liography appended to Moses Coit Ty- 
 ler's "Literary History of the Amer- 
 ican Revolution" he appears with 
 twenty-two titles. His scheme to 
 avert the war with England was pro- 
 nounced perfect by Edward Rutledge; 
 it failed by the narrow vote of one 
 colony. Despite his loyalty to the 
 Crown's cause, it would add to Lan- 
 caster's many claims to distinction to 
 be certain he lived on this spot 
 for even a brief part of the ten years 
 its title was in his name. The best 
 authority I know on Lancaster's Rev- 
 olutionary history tells me there were 
 two Joseph Galloways — and that the 
 Marylander and Philadelphian of that 
 name were different persons. I saw 
 two pictures of Joseph Galloway in 
 Philadelphia the other day, as hard 
 to reconcile as Peary and Cook, but 
 they were both of Congressman Gal- 
 loway; the man who went to Europe 
 was a widower, as was Cookson's 
 son-in-law; this property was deeded 
 away just about the time the Tory 
 Congressman left. The fact, how- 
 ever, that the latter was born in Kent 
 county, Maryland, and lived a lawyer 
 in Philadelphia in 1778, whereas 
 Cookson's son-in-law is described as 
 a "gentleman" and of Anne Arundel 
 county; also that the acknewledg- 
 ment to the next deed was taken in 
 Lancaster, in December, whereas the 
 Tory Galloway likely had sailed for 
 England in the early fall, make us 
 hesitate to determine that they were 
 the same person. 
 
 Very likely neither ever lived here 
 himself. Of one thing I am quite sure 
 — if he did, like most of the other 
 Tories of his time, he was not a pillar 
 of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at 
 night in the church I attend — because 
 
(9) 
 
 when Joseph Galloway got safely to 
 England he bore cheerful testimony 
 that his dislike of the Revolution 
 was intensified by an aversion to Pres- 
 byterians, who in his own mind he "as- 
 sociated with rioters and the baser ele- 
 ments of society." 
 
 Sold to the Shippens. 
 
 Be this as it may, the next and very 
 distinguished owner of the property 
 was Jasper Yeates, lawyer and Judge, 
 for a long period probably the fore- 
 most citizen of the town. His name is 
 linked with all our city's history of 
 the later eighteenth and early nine- 
 teenth century, and is now associated 
 with a famous local boys' school. 
 Sarah Burd, wife of Jasper Yeates, 
 was the daughter of James Burd and 
 his wife, Sarah Shippen, who was the 
 daughter of Edward Shippen, "of Lan- 
 caster." Hence the Yeates, Conyng- 
 ham, Burd and kindred families. By 
 the marriage of their daughter, Mary 
 Shippen Burd, with Peter Grubb, 
 "Shippen of Lancaster" became the 
 progenitor of unnumbered Bates and 
 Grubbs and Buckleys and Parkers, 
 even to the third and fourth genera- 
 tion of ironmongers and iron-masters. 
 Both Edward Shippen's and Judge 
 Yeates' lineal descendants still have 
 representation at the Lancaster Bar 
 in the person of Redmond Conyngbam, 
 Esq.,Counsellor and Referee in Bank- 
 ruptcy. Judge Yeates owned this cor- 
 ner for less than two months — he 
 never occupied it, and, likely.was only 
 the medium through which it passed in 
 1779 to his wife's mother's brother,Ed- 
 ward Shippen, Jr., of Philadelphia, for 
 £3,030 — thirty more than Yeates paid 
 for it. The new purchaser was the 
 first of the family name this house and 
 school now bear to acquire title to the 
 property. But none associated with it 
 
(10) 
 
 has left deeper and more enduring im- 
 press on the early history of Lancas- 
 ter and of this house. 
 
 We can trace the Edward Shippens 
 back to England, the first born there 
 in 1639; the next of the name, in Bos- 
 ton, in 1674, died in infancy. Another, 
 born 1678, died in Philadelphia in 
 1714; he was Associate Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as 
 early as 1699, and the first Mayor of 
 Philadelphia. He was President of the 
 Council that governed the Province in 
 1703-4; one of Penn's "keepers of the 
 Great Seal," who, with Thomas Story, 
 his son-in-law, and Griffith Owen, 
 signed and sealed the early deeds for 
 Lancaster county lands. One of these 
 I submit to you to-night as a good ex- 
 ample for penmanship as it is not 
 taught in our later day schools — for 
 boys. 
 
 Driven from Boston by persecution 
 of the Quakers, Edward Shippen's 
 third marriage later separated him 
 from the Society of Friends in Phila- 
 delphia. His splendid house and home 
 were celebrated throughout all the 
 Colonies. Though located as far down 
 town as South and Broad streets, his 
 orchard was "great and famous," a 
 "herd of tranquil deer" reposed on 
 his lawn; tulips, carnations and roses 
 grew in wild profusion in his fields; 
 his daughters went to the assemblies 
 In full dress on horseback, and their 
 visiting cards, after the universal 
 fashion of the day, were written on 
 the face of imported playing cards. 
 He had "the biggest person, the big- 
 gest house and the biggest coach" — 
 and of such are the Kingdom of 
 Heaven in Philadelphia even to this 
 day. 
 
 Joseph Shippen was his brother, and 
 it was his son, Edward IV., born in 
 Boston in 1703, who spent most of his 
 
(11) 
 
 public life here, and died in Lancaster 
 in 1781; Edward V., or Junior, who 
 owned this property, was born in Phil- 
 adelphia in 1729, and died there m 
 1806. 
 
 His father, Edward IV., had been a 
 merchant, furrier, Councilman and 
 Mayor of Philadelphia, before he be- 
 came Prothonotary, Recorder and Reg- 
 ister in Lancaster county.which places 
 he held variously from 1745 until after 
 the Declaration of Independence. It 
 was he, I assume — and who knows 
 but, as a tenant of these very prem- 
 ises, sitting out on this fragrant lawn 
 — that balmy Sunday afternoon, July 
 26, 1778, whom Christopher Marshall 
 greeted on his way home from 
 church! Remembering that Mar- 
 shall lived only a few doors up East 
 Orange street from here, you will 
 bear with me to hear this brief but 
 delicious extract from his famous 
 diary : 
 
 "Sunday, July 26, 1778. Fine sun- 
 shine; clear, pleasant morning. I 
 arose past seven; wind eastwardly. i 
 took my walk in (the) orchard and 
 observed the little concerns in our 
 rural plantation. A general stillness 
 now from the noise of drums, fires, 
 &c. The little birds, with their mates, 
 chirping from tree to tree; the fruits 
 and vegetables; plenty and gay; the 
 harvest got in, having been blest with 
 fine crops of grass and grain, and fine 
 weather. Thus has kind Heaven blest 
 and (is) blessing us! Oh! saith my 
 soul, that a universal hymn of praise 
 and thanksgiving may arise and 
 spread in and over our soul to our 
 great and blessed Benefactor! Amen. 
 In (the) afternoon I went to the Dutch 
 Presbyterian Meeting House, where a 
 suitable and good discourse was de- 
 livered on this text, Corinthians, II., 
 Chap. 4:17, by one Fifer, minis- 
 
(12) 
 
 ter of the Church of England living 
 at Frederickstown or Fredericksburg, 
 I did not learn (which). Returned 
 with Ed. Shippen, who pressed me to 
 stop at his house, and drank (a) glass 
 
 of beer of his own brewing After 
 
 drinking tea, past seven, took (a) 
 walk to Robert Taggert's, from there 
 to the above mentioned meeting 
 house, where the aforesaid parson 
 preached to (a) large collection of 
 people on this text, Eccles. 12:l,which 
 held till past nine." 
 
 A morning walk, a chorus of birds, 
 a song of praise, a little beer, a lit- 
 tle tea, two sermons in one after- 
 noon! Those old forbears of ours, 
 after all, were not a half bad lot. Lan- 
 caster won't be Lancaster any more 
 when it fails to mingle good cheer 
 with sound religion, and to appreci- 
 ate that good living is a real part of 
 the better life. 
 
 A Pioneer Presbyterian. 
 
 It was this same Edward Shippen 
 — the fourth, remember — who, as 
 chief burgess of the town, was called 
 out of church that bloody Sunday of 
 the blessed Christmas-tide, 1763,when 
 the sudden foray of the Paxton boys 
 and their massacre of the Conestoga 
 Indians on the site of our present 
 opera house disturbed the worship- 
 ping congregations of Lancaster's 
 church people and stained our soil 
 with a tragedy that has never had a 
 local parallel. Though the victiims 
 found sepulture no further from here 
 than just back of where the Baptist 
 Church stands on East Chestnut 
 street, near Lime, it was described as 
 a location "not far from the town." 
 
 Be it noted that when John Wood- 
 hull came here as the first pastor of 
 the Presbyterian Church — and when 
 it had no mansard-roofed manse in 
 
(13> 
 
 sight — E. Shippen, Esq., was "one of 
 the leading men among the Presby- 
 terians," and when George Whitfield 
 visited America in 1754 the Shippens 
 were his staunchest friends. When 
 Lancaster — then, as now, generous to 
 every worthy appeal — raised a fund 
 "for the distresses of the poor inhab- 
 itants of Boston," Edw. Shippen was 
 in the chair, and was entrusted with 
 the forwarding of the money. 
 
 His son, the younger Edward, was 
 a lawyer of mildly Tory proclivities 
 during the Revolution. When he for- 
 bade his daughters attending the fa- 
 mous British meschianza, it was due 
 to a "feeling of shame at the indel- 
 icacy of the costume" expected, rath- 
 er than to any patriotic sentiment. 
 It was his daughter, Peggy, who be- 
 came Benedict Arnold's second wife; 
 and, though she no doubt often visit- 
 ed her grandparents in Lancaster, her 
 father bought this house most 
 likely as a home for his 
 father — soon after her betrothal 
 to Arnold, but two months be- 
 fore her marriage. He owned it when 
 her husband's treason shocked and 
 stirred the Revolutionary cause. The 
 one bright spot in that sickening and 
 tragic story is Arnold's perfect loyalty 
 to her even to death; and Lecky in 
 his history says, "There is something 
 inexpressibly touching in the tender 
 affection and undeviating admiration 
 for her husband which she retained 
 through all the vicissitudes of his dark 
 and troubled life."* 
 
 *In the huge volumes of delightful 
 gossip which make up "Watson's An- 
 nals of Philadelphia," the recollections 
 of Mrs. Ann Willing Morris include this 
 reference to Peggy Shippen Arnold : 
 "Mrs. Morris as a petted child was per- 
 mitted to be present at the marriage 
 of General Arnold with the daughter 
 of Chief Justice Shippen. Of the char- 
 acter and exploits of the traitor she 
 in after life spoke in detestation; and 
 
(14) 
 
 Was Peggy Shippen Here? 
 
 It requires a vivid imagination to 
 associate Peggy Shippen with the 
 ghostly memories of this house and 
 grounds — and the fact that her father 
 sold it the next year after his father's 
 death confirms the impression that 
 it was bought as a home for him. But 
 is it not pardonable to momentarily 
 indulge the fancy that if Arnold and 
 his bride had come up here to nurse 
 the wound he felt when Congress or- 
 dered his courtmartial, the week be- 
 fore his wedding — if they had drank 
 tea with Christopher Marshall for a 
 week or two of respite from military 
 and political intrigue, and had for a 
 short season looked at and listened 
 
 for far more serious cause did she 
 then sympathize with her grandmother, 
 the aunt of 'the beautiful bride,' in her 
 sorrow and surprise that so great a 
 sacrifice was permitted to one so much 
 her senior, a widower with children, 
 and who, by herself at least, was not 
 regarded with the confidence and re- 
 spect necessary to render the connec- 
 tion desirable or agreeable. Owing to 
 a recent wound, received under circum- 
 stances which alone would have estab- 
 lished a claim to grateful remembrance 
 had not his subsequent extraordinary 
 defection obliterated his name from 
 the roll of his country's heroes, Arnold 
 during the marriage ceremony was 
 supported by a soldier, and when 
 seated his disabled limb was propped 
 upon a camp-stool. These wounds 
 perhaps may have made him more in- 
 teresting to the lovely but unfortunate 
 bride. At all events, her 'hero,' ex- 
 cept for his character for extravagance, 
 was then regarded with a share of pub- 
 lic favor, if not with any feeling of 
 popular affection. He had rendered 
 'some service to the State,' and was 
 distinguished for gallantry among the 
 bravest of the land. It is as unjust as 
 vain to urge, as some have done, in 
 palliation of his stupendous crime, the 
 fashionable and expensive propensities 
 of his accomplished wife. That she 
 was addicted to displays of wealth in- 
 consistent with the spirit of her time 
 and the condition of public affairs may 
 not with propriety be questioned; but 
 no external influence can move a truly 
 great and honorable mind and heart 
 from a fixed purpose of patriotic or 
 social duty." 
 
(15) 
 
 to "the little birds with their mates 
 chirping from tree to tree on these 
 grounds," and had watched the mag- 
 nolias unfold their rich and velvety 
 purple to the balmy air of early 
 spring, and marked "the patient 
 stars" "climb the midnight sky" as 
 they glittered through the dark pines 
 that stood just back of yon rearmost 
 kitchen, and maybe heard a sermon 
 or two at the "Dutch Presbyterian 
 Church," things might have gone dif- 
 ferently — poor Andre would have 
 been spared from the gibbet and Ar- 
 nold from everlasting disgrace. 
 
 That the people of the Common- 
 wealth harbored no resentment 
 against Shippen for his son-in-law's 
 crime appears from the fact that he 
 had been Chief Justice of the State 
 for more than six years preceding his 
 death. 
 
 He had studied law at the Inns of 
 Court in London, and prepared with 
 his own hand the first "common re- 
 covery" ever suffered in Pennsyl- 
 vania. It was to his pen we owe the 
 first law reports published in this 
 State. He had been an Admiralty 
 and Common Pleas Judge in Philadel- 
 phia, and an associate on the High 
 Court of Errors and Appeals. He 
 pacified the tumultuous popular as- 
 semblage gathered at Lancaster in 
 April, 1756, to resent and avenge the 
 Indian massacres to the west of us. 
 
 After his father died he sold this 
 place to his brother, Joseph, of Ken- 
 nett Square, who kept it from 1782 
 until his death, February 11, 1810. 
 His wife, who was one of the Mary- 
 land Galloways, died in 1801, and her 
 husband's executors sold it for 1,100 
 pounds in 1810 to Edward Shippen 
 Burd, a grandson, who at once trans- 
 ferred it to a son, Robert Shippen. 
 He held the place for seventeen 
 
(16) 
 
 years, when it passed to Hon. Walter 
 Franklin, for the consideration of 
 12,500. 
 
 Poet and Judge. 
 
 Joseph Shippen was a man of no 
 mean distinction. He had served as 
 a trooper in the expedition that cap- 
 tured Fort Duquesne. He cultivated 
 himself by European travel and study. 
 He recruited his health in rural pur- 
 suits about Kennett, and was appoint- 
 ed justice of Lancaster county in 1786. 
 He was a scholar and a poet — in a 
 day when Lancaster county poets 
 were even rarer than now. He was 
 a patron of Benjamin West and had 
 I the time to read some of his verses 
 — which I shall ask "leave to print"* 
 
 *He is said to have written the fol- 
 lowing lines, which give us the names 
 of the belles of the day: 
 
 LINES WRITTEN IN AN ASSEMBLY 
 ROOM. 
 
 "In lovely White's most pleasing form, 
 
 What various graces meet! 
 How blest with every striking charm! 
 
 How languishingly sweet! 
 
 "With just such elegance and grace, 
 Fair, charming Swift appears 1 ; 
 
 Thus Willing, whilst she awes, can 
 please; 
 Thus Polly Franks endears. 
 
 "A female softness, manly sense, 
 And conduct free from art, 
 
 With every pleasing excellence, 
 In Inglis charm the heart. 
 
 "But see! another fair advance, 
 With love commanding all; 
 
 See! happy in the sprightly dance, 
 Sweet, smiling, fair McCall. 
 
 "Each blessing which indulgent 
 Heaven 
 
 On mortals can bestow, 
 To thee, enchanting maid, is given, 
 
 Its masterpiece below. 
 
 "In Sally Coxe's form and face, 
 
 True index of her mind, 
 The most exact of human race 
 
 Not one defect can find. 
 
(17) 
 
 — you would believe he was quite a 
 gallant. As his second wife died in 
 1801, and his gravestone in St. James 
 records that he was not buried until 
 1810, I cannot understand why he did 
 not wed a third — unless the example 
 of his ancestor deterred him with 
 the fear of being put out of meeting. 
 An advertisement of the property 
 in the Lancaster "Journal" April 28, 
 1810, describes it as "that large two- 
 story brick house and lot of ground 
 on the north side of Orange street, 
 in the borough of Lancaster, late the 
 property of Joseph Shippen, Esq., 
 deceased. The lot is 51 feet 7 inches 
 and a half front on Orange street 
 and 245 feet deep, and has the 
 privilege of an 8 feet alley on the 
 west. The house contains four 
 rooms besides a kitchen on the first 
 floor and five on the second story. 
 Also a handsome building lot adjoin- 
 ing the above on the east, measuring 
 34 feet in front on Orange street, 
 and 245 on Lime street. Also another 
 lot west of said house measuring 39 
 feet 2 inches front and 245 feet deep. 
 This lot has the privilege of an 8 
 feet alley which is to be in common 
 between this and the house lot." It 
 was sold as an entirety, and com- 
 prised what are now the halls, stair- 
 ways and east side of the house. 
 The traditional associations of the 
 
 "Thy beauty every breast alarms, 
 And many a swain can prove 
 
 That he who views your conquering 
 charms 
 Must soon submit to love. 
 
 "With either Chew such beauties dwell, 
 Such charms by each are shared. 
 
 No critic's judging eye can tell 
 Which merits most regard. 
 
 " 'Tis far beyond the painter's skill. 
 To set their charms to view; 
 
 As far beyond the poet's quill 
 To "ive the praise that's due." 
 
(18) 
 
 house with, the legal profession and 
 with owners of high social station 
 were maintained. Judge Franklin 
 had been Attorney General of the 
 Commonwealth, and was then Presi- 
 dent Judge of the Second Judicial 
 District, including not only Lancas- 
 ter, but also, for part of his term, 
 York, Dauphin, Cumberland and Leb- 
 anon — a district now comprising 
 nine judges. Upon his death the 
 property, still intact, was devised to 
 his widow, Mrs. Anne Franklin, who 
 continued in possession of it until 
 her death, and it was sold by her 
 executors, in 1853, to Emanuel C. 
 Reigart, for $7,910. The names at- 
 tached to his deed, of Judge Frank- 
 lin's two sons, the late Hon. Thomas 
 E. and Col. Emlen Franklin, and his 
 son-in-law, Dr. John L. Atlee, first, 
 will readily suggest to my patient 
 hearers, without extended sugges- 
 tion, the illustrious company of 
 Lancastrians whose ancestral asso- 
 ciations extend over the twenty-six 
 years of Franklin ownership and oc- 
 cupation, and many of whom honor 
 and dignify this occasion by their 
 presence. 
 
 The Reigart Regime. 
 
 The next change of title made it 
 the property of another leading 
 lawyer and the home of a conspicu- 
 ous family. Emanuel C. Reigart, of 
 notable local and patriotic lineage, 
 from the time of his admission to the 
 bar, in 1822, to his death, in 1869. 
 after twenty-one years' retirement 
 from professional activity, was a 
 leading citizen of Lancaster and of 
 the Commonwealth, distinguished for 
 his learning, benevolence, civic 
 spirit and social excellences. 
 To his numerous descendants, 
 of whom several representa- 
 
(19) 
 
 tives are also here to-night, this 
 roof tree is a memorable shrine. 
 Mr. Reigart made very considerable 
 alterations and extensions to the 
 house. There is a current belief — 
 which I have no right and cer- 
 tainly no disposition to disturb — 
 that the east side of the house re- 
 mains a part of the first pro-Revolu- 
 tionary structure erected on the 
 grounds. The memory of living 
 man or woman runneth not to the 
 contrary. The west wing and the 
 present back buildings were built by 
 Mr. Reigart. The rear kitchen was 
 originally a separate building con- 
 nected by a gallery and joined in the 
 Reigart improvements. The front door 
 in the center of the building, and the 
 front to the east of the door.containing 
 two windows, were undoubtedly the 
 old part of the house, and there may 
 have been some small part of a 
 building to the west of this, but this 
 was torn down by Mr. Reigart. He 
 had an office in the front room to the 
 west, and it formerly had a door en- 
 tering from the front porch into the 
 west room, this door being now re- 
 placed by one window. There can 
 be no mistake that the part of the 
 old house now standing is three- 
 fifths of the front building. Since Mr. 
 Reigart's changes there has been no 
 material alteration in the general 
 lines of the building, and it remains 
 only to say it is one of the most at- 
 tractive and generally admired of 
 Lancaster's many beautiful homes. 
 
 During his ownership of the place 
 Mr. Reigart made it the seat of gra- 
 cious hospitality, and when his 
 daughter, the ever-young Mrs. Brin- 
 ton — long live her ladyship — was 
 married in these parlors, James Bu- 
 chanan, her father's steadfast friend, 
 and then just chosen President of the 
 
(20) 
 
 United States, led her from the altar 
 to the marriage feast. Indeed, three 
 daughters of this household were 
 married here within a year; and Mr. 
 Reigart used to say, three weddings 
 in one year, like Franklin said of 
 three removals, were as bad as a fire. 
 His great grandchildren are now pu- 
 pils here. 
 
 The Shroder Ownership. 
 
 Mr. Reigart's executors sold the 
 property in 1870 to the late Francis 
 Shroder, and Mrs. Shroder parted 
 with it for the purpose for which it 
 is now devoted in 1905. Many wit- 
 nesses here can attest that during the 
 Shroder proprietorship, t(he longest 
 in its history, it lost nothing of its re- 
 pute as the home of refined culture 
 and a center of social pre-eminence. 
 One of the pleasantest recollections 
 of the famous Polish actress, Coun- 
 tess Modjeska, whose charming me- 
 moirs are now running through the 
 "Century," was of her entertainment 
 here as the guest of the Shroder 
 homestead. It ceased, with the with- 
 drawal from it of Mrs. Shroder, to 
 be the private residence of a single 
 family, after a century and a half of 
 rich historical associations, such as 
 have attached to no other single 
 property in the town. The last child 
 born under its roof is a young woman 
 in this company to-night. 
 
 It was the proud boast of an his- 
 toric house in Virginia that none of 
 our sex "but a gentleman" had ever 
 crossed its threshold; and there is a 
 romantic incident related to prove 
 that this tradition was maintained 
 even when the murderous blows of a 
 bloody civil war were given and par- 
 ried at its very door, and the battle 
 lines of hostile armies were drawn 
 all about it. So,without odious com- 
 
(21) 
 
 parisons or invidious distinctions, it 
 may be fairly said those who have 
 wrought the chain of title to this 
 property, running from 1750 down to 
 this day, to our city's lasting credit, 
 have "worn without abuse the grand 
 old name of gentleman." 
 
 And if I have taxed your patience 
 and mayhap "vexed your ears with 
 a twice-told tale," I can only plead 
 that, as one fond of this good city, 
 and to whom nothing that concerns it 
 is foreign, I rejoice in the illustration 
 of stability afforded by a piece of 
 property so handsome and eligible, 
 preserving its exact outlines free 
 from spoliation for more than a cen- 
 tury and a half; as a lawyer, it has 
 been a pleasure to recall the associa- 
 tions of this place with the distin- 
 guished Judges and advocates whose 
 names and families are entwined 
 through its history; and as a neigh- 
 bor, I greet with acclaim the reso- 
 lute purpose of the men who stand 
 behind this enterprise and the en- 
 nobling aspirations of the gifted and 
 gracious women who have pledged 
 their unselfish labors to realize its 
 lofty ideals. 
 
 [Since the foregoing went to press 
 I have ascertained that Joseph Gal- 
 loway, the owner of the Shippen 
 House, was the son-in-law of Chief 
 Justice Benjamin Chew, of the Su- 
 preme Court of Pennsylvania, who 
 was commissioned April 9, 1774, 
 whereas Joseph Galloway, the loyalist, 
 was a son of his half-brother, and, 
 therefore, a nephew of Joseph, of 
 Anne Arundel. Edward Shippen was, 
 therefore, a connection by marriage 
 with both of them. The fine old Gal- 
 loway house, known as "Tulip Hill," 
 at West River, Anne Arundel county, 
 Md., is still standing, and has re- 
 mained in the hands of the Galloway 
 family for two centuries. — W. U. H.] 
 
(22) 
 
 The Shippen School For Girls. 
 
 The Shippen School for Girls was 
 formed in January, 1908, by a combi- 
 nation of Lancaster College with Miss 
 Stahr's School, and is now under di- 
 rection of Miss Waterman. It was 
 named from the Shippen family, by 
 whom the house now used as a dor- 
 mitory was occupied at the end of the 
 eighteenth and beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century. 
 
 The school aims to give such an 
 education, both primary and secondary, 
 as is especially suited to a girl's 
 needs, whether she be preparing for 
 college or finishing her education in 
 this school. Graduates of the school 
 who have finished the college pre- 
 paratory course may 'enter Wellesley, 
 Smith, Vassar, Oberlin and Goucher 
 Colleges by certification. 
 
 The regular college preparatory 
 course is supplemented by studies de- 
 signed to round out a girl's knowledge 
 and to give a practical application to 
 her wont, and it is the aim of all the 
 teaching of the school to add to men- 
 tal training the development of the 
 faculty of appreciation and a high 
 standard of taste. 
 
 The health and physical training of 
 the pupils are considered of primary 
 importance. Special attention is given 
 to so adapting studies and exercises, 
 both in and out of doors, to individual 
 needs as best to promote the healthful 
 development of the body and the 
 mind. 
 
 Considerationi for others, simplicity 
 and honesty of work are expected 
 from the pupils, and co-operation in 
 securing regularity and promptness or 
 attendance and the thorough prepara- 
 tion of assigned work is requested 
 from the patrons. 
 
 While elaborate or expensive en- 
 tertainments are discouraged, the 
 
(23) 
 
 school fosters a social life which is 
 shared hy teachers and. students. It 
 is undenominational, but distinctly 
 Christian in spirit. The girls are -en- 
 couraged to take a personal interest 
 in civic and philanthropic movements, 
 and, as womem, its graduates feel the 
 obligation to be useful members of 
 society. 
 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 Florence Waterman, Principal, B.A. 
 Western Reserve University. Latin 
 and Greek. 
 
 Jane Allen, B.A. Bryn Mawr Col- 
 lege; graduate student, Bryn Mawr 
 College. English. 
 
 Anna L. Mclntyre, B.A. Western 
 Reserve University. History. 
 
 Estelle E. Littlefield, B.A. Welles- 
 ley College. Mathematics. 
 
 Emily R. Underhill, B.A. Swarth- 
 more College. Studied at the Uni- 
 versity of Grenoble and McGill Uni- 
 versity. French and German. 
 
 Alice R. Appenzeller, B.A. Welles- 
 ley College. Assistant in French and 
 German. 
 
 Edna J. Thomas, graduate of the 
 New Jersey State Normal School. 
 Director of the Intermediate and Pri- 
 mary School. 
 
 Madeline Morrison, B.A. Swarth- 
 more College. Assistant in the In- 
 termediate and Primary School. 
 
 Ruth L. Walker, graduate of the 
 Boston Normal School of Gymnastics. 
 Physiology and Gymnastics. 
 
 Miriam Shaub, Philadelphia Mu- 
 sical Academy. Vocal Music and In- 
 termediate work. 
 
 Virginia Gerhart, Philadelphia 
 School of Design. Drawing. 
 
 George E. Benkert. Instrumental 
 music. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 365 162 9