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ARTOTYPG, E. BIERSTADT, N. Y.

memoFrs of

MATTHEW CLARKSON

OF PHILADELPHIA,

1735-1800,

BY HIS GREAT-GRANDSON

JOHN HALL,

AND OF HIS BROTHER

GERARDUS CLARKSON

1 737-1 790,

BY HIS GREAT-GRANDSON

SAMUEL CLARKSON

iseo

TWO HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED.

PREAS or
Thomson F-reiNTiNa company
PHIL-AdeLPniA.

These twin memorials of brothers, by their great-grand
sons, have been prepared independently, but with such
mutual consultation, that it is hoped no important discrep
ancy or needless repetition will be detected, and that they
will supply each other's deficiencies.
It affords me much gratification to assist in furnishing a
large circle of relatives with this filial commemoration of
our worthy ancestors; and it is a subject of devout ac
knowledgment that I am allowed to date this note upon
the first day of the eighty -fifth year of my life.
J. H.
Trenton, N. J., August 11, 1890.

CONTENTS.

MATTHEW CLARKSON

PAGE

1.

Ancestry 

9

2.

Boude. Grimstone ....

. 17

3.

Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, 1766

27

4.

Western Pennsylvania, 1766-7

. 39

5.

Occupations ....

43

G.

Belknap and Hazard

. 51

7.

Mayoralty

57

8.

Du Simitiere — Close

. 75

Appendix ...

. 81 A

CONTENTS.

GERARDUS CLARKSON.

PAGE
1. English Ancestors  85
2. Education — Profession ..... 95
3. Belknap and Hazard  101
4. Philadelphia in 1787  Ill
5. Centennial College of Physicians . . . 159
6. In the Church  183
7. Close — Descendants . . 187
Appendix A . 241
Appendix B . . . 244
Appendix C .246

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
Matthew Clarkson . . . 8
Book-plate ... .... 10
Rev. David Clarkson  12
Arms of the Family .... .14
Parish Church at Bradford  86
Tablets, College of Physicians . . . 180-181
Joseph Clarkson .... . . 216
Old Swedes' Church, Philadelphia ... 217
Old Swedes' Church, Wilmington, Del. . . .218
St. James' Church, Lancaster, Pa. . . . 220
Christ Church, Shrewsbury, N. J  247
Canopied Pew  248

MATTHEW CLARKSON

1735-1800.

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MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
ANCESTRY.
In preparing a biography it is customary and natural to
trace the ancestry of its subject so far as the facts can be
ascertained and creditably remembered. This part of my
undertaking has been performed to my hand, in a work that
leaves nothing to be explored in that direction. I allude to
the printing in New York, in 1875, of two sumptuous volumes
copiously illustrated with portraits, views of public buildings
and dwellings, fac-similes and genealogical tables, under the
title of " The Clarksons of New York. A Sketch."
As only seventy-five impressions were made, the sketch
has been seen by few out of the family ; and as the New
York and Pennsylvania houses are branches of the same
English stock, I have only to avail myself of these laborious
10 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
researches to supply a proper introduction to my humbler
purpose.
The family is traced to Bradford, in Yorkshire, and to the
year 1544, in the reign of Henry VIII. There were also
Clarksons in the county of Nottingham, who had the same
coat-of-arms with those of Bradford, and which is still found
on the plate and books of the families in New York and
Philadelphia. Its description in heraldry is, " argent, on a
bend engrailed sable, three annulets, or." The Yorkshire
crest is " a griffin's head couped between two wings, ppr. ; "
the Nottingham crest is " an arm in armour, fessewise, hold
ing a sword, from which flows a pennon."
Among the connections of the English house are several
names of title and note, but none of the forefathers are more
worthy of remembrance than the Rev. David Clarkson, B. D.,
1621-1686. He was a Fellow of Cambridge University, and
a tutor of the future Archbishop Tillotson, who succeeded
him in the fellowship. His first wife was a daughter
of Sir Henry Holcroft, a family of high pedigree. Mr.
Clarkson was for a short time an incumbent of the church
at Crayford, and it was probably his daughter Lettice who
is registered in that parish as baptized May, 1652, and buried
March, 1653 ; but he was rector of Mortlake, in Surrey,
when he united his destiny with the famous two thousand
beneficed ministers of the Church of England, who surren
dered their livings rather than submit to the Act of Uni
formity of 1662. A selection of his sermons was published

COPY DF BODK-FLATE IN USE ABOUT 1724 BY DAUID CLARKSON,
SDN OF THE SECRETARY

ANCESTRY. 11
in London, 1696, in a folio of 1038 pages, and as late as 1864
they were republished in Edinburgh as part of his " Select
Practical Works," in three volumes of " Nichol's Series of
Standard Divines. Puritan Period." Besides this huge book,
a volume of selections was published in 1846 by the " Wick-
liffe Society." The title of the first edition is "Sermons
and Discourses on several Divine Subjects, by the late Rev.
and learned David Clarkson, B. D., and sometime Fellow of
Clare Hall, Cambridge." The publication was introduced
by the following prefatory address, signed by the eminent
John Howe and Matthew Mead.
" Christian reader, the Rev. Mr. Clarkson was so esteemed
for his excellent abilities; that there needs no adorning testi
mony to those that knew him ; and the following sermons,
wherein the signatures of his spirit are very conspicuous,
will sufficiently recommend his worth to those who did not
know him. They are printed from the original papers, and
with the Divine blessing, will be very useful to instruct and
persuade men to be seriously religious." As late as after
his conscientious secession from the National Church, he
was colleague and successor of the eminent Dr. John Owen
in the pastorship of his congregation in London. In 1662-3
Mr. David Clarkson married again, his wife being Elizabeth,
widow of Wolrave Lodwick, and daughter of Matthew Ken
rick, of London. The Kenricks have been seated at Woore
Manor, Salop, for generations. It is a Welsh family of great
antiquity, and claims a descent from David Kenrick, in the

12 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
time of Edward III, who was a companion to the Black Prince
in the battles of Crecy and Poictiers. He formed the Church
of Ashley, County Stafford, in which a brass bears an in
scription to his memory. In the list of his children we first
find the name of Matthew, which, with Cornelia for the
other sex, became frequent in the following generations and
their branches, to the present day. In the times when lot
teries were resorted to for the benefit of churches, libraries
and the best, purposes, his grandson David (1764) drew a
sum equivalent to twenty-five thousand dollars in gold, in
a lottery for the foundation of the British Museum. Of one
of his family we only know what is read on a tombstone in
Hitchin, Herts : " M. Katharine Clarkson, died January
11th, 1757, aged eighty -four years. She was daughter of the
learned and eminent David Clarkson, B. D., who was ejected
from Mortlake, Surrey, in 1662, and died in 1686."
That my great-grandfather was actively engaged in seek
ing materials for the family history, appears in the following
extracts from a letter of his, to his namesake in New York,
dated December 13, 1793 :
" The superscription of the letter which you enclosed war
ranted your breaking the seal. It is from Granville Sharp,
Esquire, between whose family and ours a connection was
formed many years ago. He hath furnished me with infor
mation concerning our ancestors, which will enable me to
trace our pedigree in a respectable line through a period of
upwards of two centuries.

EEV:DAVID CLARES O N. B.D.

PROM AN ENGRAVING PREFIXED TO A POLIO EDITION.
OP HIS SERMONS PUB. IN LONDON 1S9S.

ANCESTRY. 13
" I wish to be possessed of some information concerning
my grand, your great-grand-father, Matthew Clarkson, the
first of our family who came to America, who was, as you
have been informed, Secretary of the Province of New York.
 I will undertake the compiling of the
whole, and thank you for your assistance in procuring mater
ials. Your approbation of my conduct on a late occasion
[the yellow fever] and the assurances which you so affection
ately express, are very pleasing to me 
"I am, with real esteem, dear sir, your affectionate and
most obedient servant,
Matthew Clarkson.
" Gen'l. Matthew Clarkson."
Granville Sharp, whose letter was opened by mistake, was
the philanthropist (1734-1813) so well-known in the anti-
slavery movements in England. He was the son of Thomas
Sharp, Archdeacon of Northumberland, and grandson of
John Sharp, Archbishop of York (1691-1714), who was a
native of Bradford. The relationship of the Sharps that is
referred to, began in the marriage of a brother of the Rev.
David Clarkson, already mentioned, the Rev. William Clark
son (1613-1660), Vicar of Adel, near Bradford, patronized by
Lord Fairfax, to a daughter of Thomas Sharp. Mary Clark
son, the vicar's daughter, was married in 1632 to John Sharp.
Calamy says that Rev. Thomas Sharp, their son, and the

14 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Archbishop were cousins. On the tablet of Abraham Sharp,
a younger brother, in the Bradford church, is a long Latin
inscription, in which he is said to have been " descended
from an ancient family and united by the tie of blood rela
tionship to the Archbishop of York of that name." He is
further described as a skilful mathematician, " intimate
especially with Flamsteed and the renowned Newton." He
was in his ninety-first year at the time of his death in 1742.
Matthew, as mentioned in the letter before quoted, was
the immediate ancestor of the American Clarksons. He
made a visit to New England in 1685-6, and upon his re
turn applied to the throne (William and Mary) for the Sec
retaryship of the Province of New York, which was given
him. One of the signers of his recommendation was Daniel
Foe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe," before he adopted the
prefix of " De." Mr. Clarkson arrived in New York in the
"Beaver," Thursday, January 29th, 1690-1, and two years
later, on the 19th of January, married Catherina, a daughter
of the Hon. G. Gerritse Van Schaick, of Albany. By his
marriage, Mr. Clarkson became connected with many of the
prominent families in the province, the Van Cortlandts,
Van Rensselaers, Livingstons and Verplancks. In 1698 he
was chosen one of the Vestry of Trinity Church, New York,
and the pew-right which he bought in the first building has
remained in the family to this day. He died in 1702. His
son Matthew, who died in 1739, married Cornelia De Peyster,
and from them descended six children, one of whom was

Al H.S AND SIGNATUH.I COPIED FROM A. C^WFYANCI
EXECTJTEU BV MATTHEW CLARKSON. FEBTRUA'RY 18T701

ANCESTRY. IB
the subject of our memoir. Among the names of that family
we find Matthew, Levinus, Gerardus and Cornelia, as per
petuated in every direction ; the last two are found as far
back as the DePeysters of 1651, besides a son Cornelius.

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II.
BOUDE. GRIMSTONE.
This brings us to the more particular history of the Penn-
sj'lvania family and the special personage of this memorial.
Matthew Clarkson, of Philadelphia, was a son of Matthew
Clarkson and Cornelia DePeyster, both of New York. The
father was baptized April 9, 1699 ; the mother December 15,
1695, and died May 23, 1753. Matthew Clarkson was born
in New York April 15th, 1733. He was married June 13th,
1753 to Mary, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Boude (born
February 14th, 1734-5), and grand-daughter of Grimstone
and Mary Boude. Mr. Boude died at the home of his son-
in-law, September, 1782. Dr. Boude, of Lancaster, Pennsyl
vania, who married Mary Bethel, was a brother of Mrs.
Clarkson. Her sister, Henrietta, became the wife of Michael
Hillegas, Treasurer of Pennsylvania, 1775. After the death
of Clarkson's father, which occurred in his boyhood, his
mother married the Rev. Gilbert Tennent an eminent minis
ter of the Presbyterian Church, then a pastor in New
Brunswick, New Jersey. The family removed to Philadel-
18 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
phia in 1743, here Mrs. Tennent died in 1753, her husband
surviving until 1764. Matthew Clarkson's will, proved in
1739, made executors "his wife Cornelia, David Clarkson
and Gerardus DePeyster."
An episode in the family story may be introduced at this
point in connection with the Boude name. The histories of
Hume, Burnet, Clarendon, and others mention Sir Harbottle
Grimstone as a popular member of the House of Commons in
the reign of Charles I, Speaker at the Restoration and
Master of the Rolls. He was born in Essex, about 1596, and
died 1683. In Ward's Edition of Pope's Works the follow
ing note is appended to the Imitation of Horace, book 2,
satire 2 : " Gorhambury near St. Albans, the seat of Lord
Bacon was at the time of his disgrace conveyed to his quon
dam secretary, Sir J. Meantys, whose heir sold it to Sir
Harbottle Grimston, whose grand-son left it to his nephew
(William Lucklyn, who took the name of Grimston) whose
second son was in 1719 created Viscount Grimston. This is
the " booby lord " to whom Pope refers in this couplet :
" Shades that to Bacon could retreat afford
Become the portion of a booby lord." *
* For our consolation under this disparagement of an ancient relative, I
have received this original epigram from the witty friend who had told me
of the note ; " Pope's judgement eames little weight,
Too much a dog in wit ;
According to his love or hate
He wagged his tail, or bit."

BOUDE. GRIMSTONE. 19
The Grimston or Grimstone (originally De Grymestone)
house is traced in the English peerage to Normandy and
the year 1066, and the granting of the Grimston estate by
William the Norman. Many generations had notable mem
bers of the name. About 1589 Edward Grimston married
a grand-daughter, maternally, of John Harbottle of Cross-
field, in Sussex. A daughter of the first baronet was married
to Adlord Boude and was the ancestress of the American
name. Her son John was the father of Adlord and
Grimston Boude, who came to America and settled
at Perth Amboy as agents of the New Jersey Proprie
tors. In the " Documents relating to the Colonial History
of New Jersey," (vol. iii) are papers relating to cer
tain proceedings of Lewis Morris and others at Perth Am
boy, one of which is a deposition of " Grimston Boude, mer
chant, age thirty -eight years, or thereabouts." The document
is dated May 10, 1699 ; the name is so written in the open
ing sentence, but the signature has the final e to the first
name. Grimston afterwards removed to Philadelphia, and
the name of his son John is on the record of burials in the
church-yard of the Swedes' Church of Gloria Dei, in that
city, but spelled Bood, which was probably tlie pronuncia
tion of the day, as Bowd became afterwards. Another son,
Thomas, was the ancestor of Mrs. Matthew Clarkson, from
the affiliations of which descended General Lewis Merrill,
now of Philadelphia.
The children of Matthew and Mary (Boude) Clarkson (all

20 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
of whom, excepting the first infant, were like their mother,
baptized at Christ church) were Cornelia, 1755-6 ; Thomas,
1756; Anna (or Nancy), 1758 (married to George Bring-
hurst by the future Bishop White, July 27th, 1780 ; died
1813) ; Matthew, 1761 ; Levinus, 1762, (married Miss Graves,
of Maryland, and died at the house of William Graves,
Kent Co., Md., aged fifty, January 18th, 1812); Cornelia,
1764; David Matthew, 1765; Sarah, 1766, (married to
Robert Ralston, 1785) ; Gerardus (or Gerard), 1772, who
graduated at the College of Philadelphia, before it became
the University of Pennsylvania, in 1790, and died at St.
Kitt's (St. Christopher's), in the West Indies, 1793. David
Matthew, the seventh of the family, was born in Philadel
phia, March 28th, 1765 ; married December 27th, 1787, at
St. Kitts, Ann Amory, (born there July 7th, 1769). Their
daughter Mary married Isaac Prince. Their other children
were Robert, Matthew Amory, Benjamin Hartman and
John William Truxton. Two of the sons-in-law of Matthew
and Mary (Boude) Clarkson were prominent in the member
ship of their respective churches in Philadelphia. Mr.
Bringhurst was a vestryman of Christ Church for many
years, until his death in 1829.* Mr. Ralston was an
elder of the Second Presbyterian Church from 1802 to
his death, in 1836. Mrs. Ralston will always be known
*Dr. J. W. Alexander, writing of Mr. Bringhuist, says, "whom I well
remember as the sweetest looking old gentleman I ever saw." (Cor. ii. 229.

BOUDE. GRIMSTONE. 21
as connected with the origin, support and management
of the " Orplians' Asylum, " and of the " Indigent Widows'
and Single Women's Society," both of which have grown
to be among the largest and best endowed charities of the
city. Two of Mr. Ralston's sons bore the traditional names
of Matthew and Gerard. In Grace A. Oliver's "Study of
Maria Edgeworth," Boston, 1882, it is related that " Miss
Edgeworth met Mr. [Gerard] Ralston, of Philadelphia," and
in a letter of her's about 1812, she wrote " his father and
mother are grand, and what is rather better, most benevolent
people in Philadelphia; introduced him to Dr. Holland,
Mackintosh and others." And in 1835, to Mr. Peabody,
Boston, " I wrote orders to a bookseller in London, to for
ward to you by my friend, Mr. Gerald [Gerard] Ralston,
a copy of my father's" books; and in 1841 "Miss Edge-
worth visited her friend Gerard Ralston in Croydon."
A sister of Mr. Clarkson (Catharine), was married by
Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton in October, 1739, to Samuel
Hazard who were the parents of Ebenezer Hazard, Post
master General of the United Colonies, 1782-9, and grand
parents of Samuel Hazard, so well known as the annalist
and genealogist of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hazard was born
in New York January, 1720, died there 1788 at the house
of her son Ebenezer, and is said to to be the first buried in
the vault of the old Wall Street Presbyterian Church.

22 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
The following reminiscence of the Postmaster General's
official life is of interest here : *
" On July 26, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress rec
ommended my grandfather, Ebenezer Hazard, to the Contin
ental Congress as a fit person for Postmaster, and on October
5, 1775, he was duly appointed by that body the first Post
master of New York — nine months before the Declaration
of Independence. Mr. Hazard was a merchant of this city,
and his mother, Catharine Clarkson, was a daughter of
Matthew Clarkson and Cornelia de Peyster, of New York.
Washington retreated from Long Island during
the night of August 29, 1776. The next day the Committee
of Safety ordered Mr. Hazard to Dobbs' ferry. For several
months, the post-office, at least its Postmaster, was not in
clover. Ostensibly it was kept at Hercules Cronks', next
door to Mayor Abraham Storm's, a mile above the ferry.
In fact it was peripatetic and might easily have been mis
taken for a pedler on a tramp. It had to be near the Pro
vincial Congress, then at Fishkill, and at the same time near
Washington and his movable headquarters, as most of the
letters were army letters. On November 28, 1783, three days
after the evacuation, the post-office turns up alive and well
at No. 38 Smith street, William Bedlow, postmaster. Mr.
Hazard's first difficulties were with the anti-Federalist news-
* From the New York Tribune,Decembei 0, 1884. Extract of a paper read
before the New York Historical Society, " The Post-Office in Colonial Times,"
by Rev. Br. Ashbel G. Vermilye.

BOUDE. GRIMSTONE. 23
papers, which he was accused of suppressing from the mails.
But, by law, they were not mail matter ; they made their
own arrangements with the riders. Then contractors of
stages (introduced in 1785) attacked him, since he would
not pay their exorbitant prices. Mr. Hazard was able to
say to the President that, with 1,500 miles of road under his
care, on a salarj^ of $1,250, without clerk hire, which he
could not afford without the aid of the treasury, he had
made the office pay its way — which it did not do after
wards." In 1877 tlie Massachusetts Historical Society, in two vol
umes of its Collections, published the correspondence of Dr.
Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire, with
Ebenezer Hazard, from 1779 to 1800. The letters are full
of allusions to the Philadelphia family, as may be seen
hereafter. My present object in introducing the Hazard
name, is to claim, however remotely, some kindred with the
American painter, Benjamin West. A Joseph West mar
ried an Elizabeth Hazard, who died in Philadelphia, July
14th, 1758. John Clarkson, of the New York branch,
married a Rachel West. " Elizabeth Shewell, wife of Benja
min West, died in London, December 6th, 1814, [according
to Allan Cunningham, 1817], a native of Philadelphia."
Whatever the connection may have been, it is evidently
recognized in two letters from West to Clarkson, found
among my ancestor's papers. One of these was long, and
chiefly occupied with expressions of concern and offers of

24 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
advice for some wayward lad. I copy the other, the refer
ence in which is to George III, the patron and friend of the
artist. It is dated London, January 23d, 1772.
" Dear Sir — Your kind letter by Captain Falconer I
have received, and permit me to return you my thanks for
it. I am never made happier than when favoured with a
letter from a friend, and I presume others are not without
those sensations ; but as writing and holding a regular cor
respondence is of so much difficulty to me, I am the oftener
deprived of the above pleasure, and of course, deprive others
of the same — so I hold it the kinder in your writing to me.
" In regard to what you mentioned to me in one of your
former letters of a certain office, there are difficulties in
obtaining a thing of that sort with me that are insur
mountable. I am happy in having the countenance of a
certain great person ; some little abilities I have in the art
have procured me that, but the giving of places under the
crown comes from another quarter. When vacancies are in
offices, administration strengthen themselves by bestowing
them on their favourites, upon the principle that one good
turn deserves another. Was I to hold a seat in parliament,
a thing of that kind might be obtained with some ease.
" I have advanced with Mr. Penn's picture, and early in
the Spring I expect to have it done, when I beg to receive
your commands concerning the Indians' dresses. I am
afraid they never can be disposed of at a price that is worth

BOUDE. GRIMSTONE. 25
attending to. Though they are great novelties, yet few
there are that will give money for them. I should be
happy if I could turn them to your advantage.
" I much rejoice for what has been done for  [the
young relative], it does you great honour to take care of his
education, for by that he may be of use in the world.
" I pray my most respectful compliments to Mrs. Clarkson,
your brother and family, Mr. [Francis] Hopkinson and his.
" I am, dear sir, your obliged and most obedient and
humble servant,
BENJAMIN WEST."

^l^^B

III.
PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH,
1766.

In the earlier part of his life, Mr. Clarkson was engaged
in mercantile business in Philadelphia. In 1766 he was
connected with the house of Baynton, Wharton & Morgan,
and in that year, went, in the interest of the firm, which, I
presume, constitutes in whole or in part, what he calls
" the company," to explore the prospects of the opening for
trade on the Ohio, and the regions of the new West.
Before entering on the account of his journey as given by
himself, it may be well to peruse the description of the
route of travellers in that day as given in McMaster's
" History of the People of the United States." The con
trast of the journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, with
the present mode and rate of transit, will contribute much
to the enjoyment of reading both our contemporary his
torian and the journal of the traveller, one hundred and
thirty -four years ago.

28 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Mr. McMaster writes : — " From Philadelphia ran out the
road to what was then the far West. Its course, after leav
ing the city, lay through the counties of Chester and Lan
caster, then sparsely settled, now thick with towns and
cities, and penetrated with innumerable railways, and went
over the Blue Ridge mountains to Shippensburg and the
little town of Bedford. Thence it wound through the beau
tiful hills of western Pennsylvania, and crossed the Alle
ghany mountains to the head waters of the Ohio. It was
known to travellers as the northern route and even declared
to be execrable. In reality it was merely a passable road,
broad and level in the lowlands, narrow and dangerous in
the passage of the mountains, and beset with steep declivi
ties. Yet it was the chief highway between the Mississippi
valley and the East, and was constantly travelled in the
summer months by thousands of emigrants to the western
country, and by long trains of wagons bringing the produce
of the little farms on the banks of the Ohio, to the markets
of Philadelphia and Baltimore.
" His troubles over, the traveller found himself at a small
hamlet known as Pittsburgh. The place bore no likeness
to the great and wealthy city now standing on the same spot,
and bearing the same name, whose streets are bordered with
stately dwellings and stores, whose population numbers more
than 150,000, and whose air is thick with the smoke and soot
of a hundred foundries, machine shops and factories. Yet,
small as the town was, many historical associations gathered

PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH, 1766. 20
around it. At that very point where the Alleghany, sweep
ing from the north, and the Monongahela from the south,
mingle their waters to form the Ohio, had stood, years before,
Fort Duquesne, one of the long chain of posts the French
erected from St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. Not far away
was " Braddock's Fields," a little patch of land whereon the
English general had sustained his memorable defeat, and
whence the young Virginia captain had led the remnant of
his troops. Just back of the town, and hard by the banks of
the Monongahela, rose " Grant's Hill," on whose summit a
detachment of Highlanders were surprised and massacred
by the French and Indians. So late as 1784, the top was
strewn with their whitened bones and with arrow-heads
and tomahawks used in the battle. On the destruction of
Fort Duquesne the place passed into the hands of the Brit
ish, who built Fort Pitt. In 1764, at the end of the Indian
war, Colonel Campbell laid out the town in four squares,
just without the walls ofthe fort, and named it Pittsburgh,
in honor of the great Commoner. It was the centering
point of emigrants to the west, and from it the travellers
were carried in keel-boats, in Kentucky flat-boats and In
dian piroques, down the waters to the Ohio."
Mr. Clarkson made the journey from the city to Fort
Pitt or Duquesne, on horseback, two years after the begin
ning of its conversion into Pittsburgh. From the hasty
journal kept by him on the way, I proceed to condense a
narrative which cannot be read without curiosity and

SO MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
instruction, at this distance of time from its date.
On Wednesday, August 6, 1766, Mr. Clarkson with a ser
vant left Philadelphia before seven in the morning, accom
panied as far as "the ferry" (Gray's) by a Mr. Robert
Levers. Soon afterward he met a wagon loaded with skins
from the Indian country, and at the Spread Eagle Tavern
found another with a load of pork for the garrison at Fort
Pitt and then three more on the way from the Fort with
skins for Dr. Bond in the city. At noon he dined at George
Ashton's [Admiral Warren] twenty-three miles from town ;
met a load of skins from Virginia, " overtook our four Ger-
mantown wagons," and lodged at the "Ship," thirty -five
miles. Next morning he breakfasted at Miller's forty-seven
miles ; met three loads of skins from the Fort for Baynton
& Co., stopped at the Duke of Cumberland, fifty -seven miles ;
lodged that night at his kinsman, Joseph Boude's, in Lan
caster. On the 8th he crossed the Susquehanna at Wright's
ferry, and at sundown reached Greber's at York. On the
9th he crossed Conewaga creek, stopped at Stevenson's, half
way between York and Carlisle, reached Carlisle for the night
at Pollock's, and speiit the Sabbath there, attending Mr.
Steele's church. On Monday " had a long conversation with
Colonel Armstrong about the Ohio scheme of Mr. Hazard,
which he did not seem entirely to approve of." The 12th
found the travellers at Shippensburgh for dinner, and seven
miles further at Joseph Finley's for lodging. Thirty head of
cattle were on the way from Pitt to the Baynton Company.

PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH, 1766. 31
The next morning's breakfast was at Campbell's; eleven
horse-loads of skins for the company were met at Conegojig
creek, and at the Burnt Cabins thirty-two horse-loads of flour
going to the fort, and then five of skins for the city company.
At Fort Littleton, one hundred and eighty-two miles from
Philadelphia, four soldiers were posted, who had been on
duty there for nine months.
August 14th, the breakfast was at the foot of Sideling hill ;
dinner at the crossings of the Juniata, the night in Bedford,
at George Wood's. " Entered into an agreement with George
Wood about five tracts of land, three of them in Cumber
land Valley, about seventeen miles from Bedford, on the
road to Fort Cumberland ; one on the waters of Dunning's
creek, about three miles to the North-Eastward of Bedford,
and the other in Woodcock Valley, about forty miles North
of Bedford, and ten west of Standing stone, amounting to
eighteen hundred acres, one-half of which I am to have on
paying him £90, three months after they are warranted and
accepted in the surveyor's office, provided Ed. Duffield, of
Philadelphia, agrees thereto in that time."
On the 16th " baited at the foot of the Alleghany moun
tains at Higgins' ; on the hill met a party of Indians en
camped, under the command of Captain Green, gathering
and drying huckleberries ; got to Atkin's at Stony creek and
lodged there."
The next day, though Sunday, found the traveller baiting
at McMahon's, dining in Ligonier at Bonjour's, and lodging

32 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
at Wm. Proctor's at the Twelve-mile run. " Proctor gave me
a location of some land upon the head-draughts of the Fifteen
mile run from Ligonier, between that and Pittsburgh, about
four miles up the stream from the road, above one thousand
acres. I observed an excellent parcel of land in the Nine-
mile run from Ligonier, which lies beyond the creek and
extends along the road for a mile or more, and down the
creek which runs to the southward from the road. On the
creek Proctor tells me there is excellent bottom."
August 18. At Byerly's Brush-run, and crossing of Turtle
creek. " About a mile after passing the first crossing of this
creek you pass through the finest land I ever saw, being a
continued bottom, prodigiously rich, covered with locust,
black walnut, &c, and continues of that quality till after I
passed the house where I dined." Fort Pitt was reached that
evening, twelve days since starting from home. The fort or
town seems to have been the main point of his business, and
the concentration of " the Company's " plans for the Ohio
trade. The entries on the journal tell of ship yards, four
boats finished and three on the stocks. The officers named
were Major Murray, Captain Belmeavis, Lieut. McCoy,
Mcintosh, Charles and George Grant, Hall, Dr. Murdoch,
Mr. McCleggan the Chaplain, John Reid, Commissary. Mr.
Clarkson was employed in examining and reporting the con
dition of the store and the general enterprise, making a
draught of the Ohio, and inspecting the opportunities of
securing the benefit of the probable rise in the price of land.

PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH, 1766. 33
For example, he describes Mr. Croghan's place, four miles
from the fort up the Alleghany, as an excellent piece of land
or rich bottom, extending from the fort to the place, bounded
by a ridge of hills of the' distance of less than a mile from
the river. " Above Mr. Croghan's is an Indian settlement
of the Mingoes. On our return from Croghan's found Kay-
ashuta, a Seneca chief, who had been with Mr. Jennings to
the Illinois, and returned with a packet from the Commander
at Fort Chartres to Major Murray. I find by the advices
that provisions were very scarce and dear ; Indian flour five
pounds sterling per hundred, and ordinary meat three
shillings a pound. The French, on the opposite side of the
river in plenty. Indians somewhat unruly. The Ottowas
had taken a soldier prisoner at half a mile from the fort.
Kayashuta and his party had been after them and discovered
their tracks, but could not come up to them."
Then we have an account of an altercation with some one
who had given directions contrary to Clarkson's in appro
priating a boat to his private use and fitting it up with a
cabin. The position taken by Clarkson shows that he was
superior in authority at the place and that any interference
was a " calling in question the charge with which I am en
trusted by the company."
On Sunday August 24th, Mr. Clarkson heard the Chaplain
McCleggan preach to the soldiers in the Irse language which
he used on alternate Sabbaths with the English.
The mail operations of the time may be conjectured by

34 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
such entries as : " delivered the letters from the Illinois with
those I wrote, to the commanding officer to forward by the
express who sets off directly with the monthly returns. They
are forwarded by soldiers to Shipp'ensburgh, where they are
put in the Post Office and forwarded to Philadelphia. The
returns are made up the 24th of every month."
On the 25th, " Kayashuta came to see me with Mitchell
the interpreter. I inquired of him whether he would be
willing to go down with me to Fort Chartres. He said he
had no objection, but that he must first go and see his family
at the White Mingo Town ; he would go and warm the
hearts of his nation and know how things stood with them.
For this purpose he wanted a couple of bottles of rum. He
says that the Indians along the river are friendly except the
Ouatomies, who endeavour to make uneasiness. He will in
form me of what passes among his people as soon as he re
turns, which will be shortly."
On the 26th the diary begins to speak of employing men
for the batteau-service, and other preparations for loading
the boats to go down the river. Among the freight were " a
number of casks of liquors." The 28th found the cargo
going into the two boats, and bakers making biscuit. " Much
troubled with a set of unruly fellows of Ballcummen." The
boats got off the next day " with a favourable current and
plenty of water."
We meet with the Indians again on the 30th, when " Cap
tain Murray had a conversation with Kayashuta, the white

PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH, 1766. 36
Mingo, and sundry other Six-nation chiefs. They showed a
couple of strings of wampum which they said Mr. Croghan
had delivered at Scioto, and was sent to the Indians of the
Six nations that are settled about the Ohio, desiring them to
be strong and to sit still until he returned. Those strings,
they said, they had accepted, and as they engaged not to
stir, desired Captain Murray to furnish them with some
powder, lead, &c. They likewise conversed about the white
people who are settled on their lands at Redstone creek, of
which they had formerly complained, and whom Murray
had sent to remove, but was prevented by some of the
Indians. He now told them that if they would send some
of their people with such a detachment as he would order
up to remove the intruders he would do it. This they at
length agreed to, only four houses excepted, which the
Indians desire may remain to furnish their young men and
warriors with corn, &c, as they pass and repass."
On the 1st of September Clarkson rode with Murray,
McCoy and Hall to view Braddock's field, but they " could
discover nothing of the ruins of that campaign on account
of the thickness of the weeds." Wagons came with fresh
goods for transportation down the river ; Clarkson prepared
for going with them accompanied by Kayashuta and
Chaquettite, allowing them forty bucks each for their ser
vice. Hugh McSwain, also was hired as an interpreter at
twelve dollars a month. But going in a small boat to the
lower end of Shortier's Island, to ascertain the depth of

36 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
water, it was found too shoal to get over. On his return he
found the cooper's shop, with all the stuff and some barrels
burnt up and leaving him without other means of procuring
casks for the flour, or a barrel of provisions. This record
was made Friday, September 5th, in the evening : " Mr.
Beatty and Mr. Duffield arrived on a message among the
Indians to preach the gospel. Supper with them at the
mess." These Missionaries were the Rev. Charles Beatty, pastor
of the Presbyterian church of Neshaminy, Pennsylvania,
and the Rev. George Duffield, pastor at Carlisle. Dr.
Franklin who knew Mr. Beatty, as chaplain of the troops
sent to the defence of north-western Pennsylvania in 1755,
tells the story that when the chaplain complained of the
men's neglect of his ministrations, the philosopher advised
him to have their gill of rum served " only just after
prayers," which proved a successful device, " so that " said
the Doctor, " I think this method preferable to the punish
ment inflicted by some military laws for non-attendance on
divine service." Mr. Beatty was present at the coronation
of George III, (1760) and received from the new king a
donation to the fund for the relief of poor Presbyterian
ministers, for procuring aid to which his Synod had sent
him to England.
Mr. Duffield, in conjunction with Bishop White of the
Episcopal church, was a chaplain of the Colonial Congress
in Philadelphia. He was at that time pastor of the Third

PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH, 1766. 37
Presbyterian church there, and President John Adams was
an attendant on his ministry. When (1766) the Synod de
termined to ascertain the religious condition of the Indian
tribes on the western frontier, Mr. Duffield and Mr. Beatty
were selected for the mission. They went as far as the chief
town of the Delawares, on the Muskingum, one hundred and
thirty miles beyond Fort Pitt, and returned in the end of
September. Mr. Clarkson's minute of Sunday, September 7th, is : " Mr.
Beatty preached this morning in the fort, and Mr. Duffield
in the town. Dined with them at the mess. Afternoon
went to hear Mr. Beatty in the town." Mr. Beatty's mem
orandum in his own journal was : " At the invitation of Mr.
McLagan, preached in the forenoon to the garrison in the
fort, while Mr. Duffield, at the same time, preached to the
people who live in some kind of a town without the fort,
to whom I also preached in the afternoon. The audience
were very attentive and much engaged." Both of the min
isters wrote narratives of their mission. Mr. Beatty's was
published in London 1768, and in Edinburgh 1798, extracts
from which are given in the history of the Neshaminy
church, by Rev. D. K. Turner, Philadelphia, 1876 ; also, in
Sprague's " Annals of the American Pulpit," vol. iii, 122-128.
To return to Mr. Clarkson's journal: on the 9th Septem
ber, he " went with Mr. McCoy over the river, to Coal Hill,
from which there is a most beautiful prospect of the fort
and the land adjacent, with part of the Alleghany River.

38 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
On the top of the hill is a level spot of excellent land, the
ground covered over with pea vines and plentifully
timbered with hickory, etc." Here he again met and
dined with the missionaries, and records " that in the even
ing Mr. Duffield preached in the town a very judicious and
alarming discourse." The motive to the " alarming " feature
of the sermon may perhaps be found in the next line,
" sixteen kegs of spirits arrived on pack-horses."

'.~^ *^>
p ^-?=-
^^^=<!^fe
viSSpr^'ilk
iNs|S
S^Wf2~\ ji
oi©
mS^
^^^(^Mk^W"
v «1 fflrttt
— ' " ^^*
Mutt
V»^ 'If'Wr* ^i-. ^
IV.
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, 1766-7.
Here the diary ceases as to daily details. Nothing is told
of the next two months besides " Tuesday, September 16,
embarked from Fort Pitt." The next record is " November
26, Mons. Maisonville informs me that one Bolon, from
Detroit, was at Pacontel (?) about thirty leagues from Fort
Port Vincennes, where he had bought a parcel of goods,
which he sold at the prices, or told Maisonville he had
orders to sell at, a blanket of two and one-half points, for
three raccoons or two beavers."
Then follow these short memorandums ; they show some
additional features of the old time: "December 11th,
1766. The boats arrived at Fort Chartres from the mouth
of the Ohio. Boats went from Fort Chartres to Kaskaskia,
December 13. I went to Kaskaskia December 16, returned
December 21. December 16, a number of Osages and
Mingo Indians came to the Fort; had some trade with
them. December 23, another party of Osages came, about
fifteen in number. Tawanahah, the chief Shakenah, an
40 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
old man, who interpreted into the Illinois language ; Sakes-
hinga, another Indian."
" Mons. Geredot, the elder, who has been a trader for
many years, among most of the Indian nations about the
river Mississippi informed me that the Osages live on a
river of the same name, which falls into the Missouri from
the southward, at the distance of about sixty leagues from
its conflux with the Mississippi ; that they have about
men capable of bearing arms. He says they have a feast
which they generally celebrate about the month of March ;
then they bake a large cake of three or four feet diameter
and two or three inches thickness. This is cut into slices
from the centre, and the principal chief or warrior arises
and advances to the cake, when he declares his valour and
recounts his noble actions. If he is not contradicted, or
none has aught to allege against him, he takes a piece of
the cake and distributes it among the young boys of the
nation, repeating to them his exploits and exhorting to
imitate them. Another then approaches, and in the same
manner recounts his achievements and proceeds as before.
Should any attempt to take of the cake to whose character
there is the least exception, he is stigmatized and set aside
as a poltroon."
A set of looser notes gives some particulars that furnish
incidental information of the state of what was then as a
foreign country to the Atlantic coast. "January 13, 1767,
I went to Kaskaskia. January 15, bought at Mons. La-

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, 1766-7. 41
grange's auction, one snuff-box and spying glass, 44 liv.
(livres); two Indian calumet staves and an otter pouch, 18
liv. January 22, agreed with Mons. Janies to furnish us
with bread for the family use, that is to say, he is to give
one hundred and twenty bread for one hundred flour, and
I am to pay him besides, 5 livres a hundred. 23d, carried
from Kaskaskia to Fort Chartres, six broad and fourteen
narrow arm-bands. 27th, sent Shawang Jack and Capt.
Greenway with letters to Capt. Smith at the mouth of the
Ohio. 30th, went to Kaskaskia with Col. Cole. The boats
from New Orleans, of the largest size, carry about eighty
hogsheads of claret ; twenty-two to twenty-four men who
have 400 livres each, and three months are accounted a
good passage. A hogshead of claret on freight pays 300
livres. February 17, John Irwin set off for Fort Pitt with
Louis Richard, a Frenchman, who is to conduct him to the
post for 150 livres. February 18, Mr. Pitman informed
me that old Mons. Lacoudray told him this morning that
he had heard the Indians designed to strike the English
this spring."
Under February 28, is an inventory of what is called,
"silver truck" left with him, which shows some of the
materials of trade with Indians ; they were small crosses,
nose crosses, long and short drop nose and hair bobs,
broaches, rings, armbands, scalloped and plain wristbands,
half-moons, moons and large gorgets, hair plates. He filled
several pages of his note-book with an Osage-English vo-

42 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
cabulary, other pages with a detail of distances from Fort
Pitt to Pensacola, by the way of Muskingum, falls of Ohio,
mouth of Ohio, Natchez, New Orleans, making two thou
sand, five hundred and forty miles.
It may not be without use to record the customary articles
of trade at Chartres in the old time — certainly amusing
when compared with those of our day at the same locality.
We read of " four raccoons equal to two foxes or two cats,"
dressed buckskin, dressed does, otter, bear skin, fisher,
minks, beaver. Peltry, to deal with the French, consisted of
beaver, dressed leather, otter, red or short hair buckskins,
muskrats, wolves, panthers, martins, fishers, minks. In the
liquid line we find shrub, West India and New England rum.
Not that the people of that remote region were, any more
than their opulent descendants, strangers to luxuries, even
exotic ones, in their living and commerce. They had their
olives, capers, mushrooms, Rhenish wines. The blending
of the elegant with the essential, in the nascent civilization,
might be thought symbolized in the miscellany of Mr.
Clarkson's saddle bags at Pittsburgh, the inventory of
which began with ruffled shirts, silk stockings, kid gloves,
and ended with gimlet, pliers, pruning knife, screw driver,
tinder-box, pistol.

V.

OCCUPATIONS.

In 1769, Mr Clarkson was engaged in some work which
his memorandums call " viewing, levelling and surveying
the ground between Chesapeake and Delaware bays." This
employed him from May 23 to 30. The first entry is " May
23, 1769, Tuesday, left Philadelphia at quarter past six, in
company with Mr. R. Hoopes ; dined at Newcastle ; at half-
past seven arrived at Witherspoon's, where we met with
John Lukens, Esq., Surveyor-General, John Sellers, of
Darby and John Stapler, of Wilmington." He was often
interested in work of this kind, as " February 7, 1774, Mr.
Luke Morris and Artr. [Arthur] Donaldson measured from
south side of Almond street on the ice to Windmill Island."
His papers show that he was more than a mechanical sur
veyor, being abundant in mathematical, astronomical,
navigation and gauging problems and calculations done
in the neatest style of penmanship and drawing.
Mr. Clarkson must have been one of those prominent,
practical and popular citizens, who are judged, in a better

44 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
than the modern political meaning, as "available" for
responsible positions. Their character is their accepted
credentials. He probably returned from his western expe
dition soon after the time of the latest quotations from his
journal. I find in the newspapers of 1770, an advertisement
showing that he had an office in Arch Street, and describing
his employment as "Notary and Tabellion Public." The
disused title of Tabellion is defined as that of '' an officer in
the civil law, whose functions are similar to those of .the
modern notary," (Burrill's Law Dictionary). It was, there
fore a public appointment, and not merely another name
for scrivener. In 1774 his name was on the list of six
'' Notaries Public." August, 20th 1771 he was commis
sioned a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Quar
ter Sessions and Orphans' Court. April 27th, 1772, he
is on Mr. Martin's List (' Bench and Bar ') of " Justices,
specially commissioned as Justices of the Common Pleas,
as one of the Notaries Public, to assist them in their office."
In 1776, by ordinance of the convention of Pennsylvania
of September 3d, his name is on the same list of Justices
of the Philadelphia county Courts, with Dr. Franklin,
John Dickinson, John Cadwalader and others of like
prominence. In 1773 and after, he was Clerk of the Phila
delphia Contributionship Insurance Company, and a stock
holder and director of the Library Company of Philadelphia,
often called the Franklin Library from one of its most
efficient founders. April 10th, 1776, he was appointed

OCCUPATIONS. 46
Marshal of the Admiralty of the United States, for Pennsyl
vania, and in consequence of that appointment, he resigned
another office — an Auditor of the Accounts of the Main
Army. The invitations to the funeral of George Ross,
Judge of the Admiralty, July 14th, 1779, are signed " Mat
thew Clarkson, Marshal, Andrew Robeson, Register." In
1780, he was one of the original stockholders of the Bank of
Pennsylvania, his investment being two thousand, five
hundred pounds, currency; the immediate object of the
institution being " for furnishing a supply of provisions for
the armies of the United States."
The following explanation of this measure is found in a
Philadelphia newspaper of 1787 :
" At a critical period of the revolutionary war when there
was great difficulty in procuring supplies for the American
army, and when there was great danger of dissolution for
want of provisions to keep it together, a number of patriotic
gentlemen gave their bonds to the amount of 260,000 pounds
sterling, in gold and silver, for procuring them. The pro
visions were procured, the army supplied and kept together,
and as a consequence of this act of patriotism, our independ
ence was achieved.
" In order that the names of those choice spirits may not
be forgotten, we select the present occasion to hand them
down to this generation. Let their memories be cherished
in the fondest recollection."

46 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Then follow eighty-two names, and among them :
Matthew Clarkson, - - £2500
Gerardus Clarkson, 2000
" It is a page in our national history, one most gratifying
to the citizens of Philadelphia, and especially to those who
inherit the names of these worthies."
On the 19th of February, 1785, the Legislature of the
state elected two delegates to the Congress of the United
States. In the journal of that body, New York, April
21st, 1785, is this minute : " Mr. David Jackson, a delegate
from Pennsylvania, attended and produced credentials
by which it appears that on the 19th day of February,
1785, the Hon. Matthew Clarkson and David Jackson,
Esq's., were elected delegates to represent said State in the
Congress of the United States for the present year ; " but I
find no record of Mr. Clarkson's taking his seat, nor of his
name in the daily calls of ayes and nays. Mr. Jackson's
name, as present, first appears in the journal of May 19th.
I conclude that Mr. Clarkson declined the place ; perhaps
on account of holding the office of Marshal, and Congress
having its sessions out of Philadelphia. Mr. James Wilson
was elected from Pennsylvania, April 7, 1785, and appeared
in Congress April 26th, having probably been chosen in
Clarkson's place, and holding, as has been said of him, in
that body, the first name " among the ablest men of the
country."

OCCUPATIONS. 47
In 1790 Clarkson was a Commissioner of Bankruptcy in
his State, in association with Major Lenox, Richard Bache,
Peter Baynton and George Hughes. In January, 1794, he
was elected one of the Directors of the Bank of the United
States. In the history of the New York family, Colonel, afterwards
General Matthew Clarkson is said to have entered into part
nership with John Vanderbilt for the purpose of engaging
in trade with Holland ; and their correspondents in Amster
dam were the wealthy and highly respectable firm of Daniel
Crommelin & Sons ; and meeting with success, gradually
extended their business to England, France and Spain.
Two other mercantile houses in which different members of
the family were interested, were established about the same
time (1785), one of these, under the name of Van Home &
Clarkson, was composed of Garrit Van Home and his brother-
in-law, David M. Clarkson ; the other, in which the brothers
of the Colonel were associated, was known as Freeman, Streat-
field & Levinus Clarkson. Colonel Clarkson's partnership
was afterward dissolved, and he became connected with his
brother's firm, subsequently known as S. & L. Clarkson & Co.
My great-grandfather had some connection with the busi
ness of these prosperous merchants, as his accounts show pay
ments to Crommelin & Sons to the amount of more than
$50,000. That he had some interest in foreign commerce
transpires from such notes as these, made by a relative of
his, a contemporary in the same business : In 1801 " the brig

48 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Franklin, for St. Bartholomew's, was loaded by M. Clarkson
for account of himself and two others. . . . Brig
George, from St. Bartholomew's : by this and other vessels
no less than $15,000 in drafts appeared for Mr. Clarkson.
. . . " Drafts passed upon me by D. M. C. on the strength
of property from the West Indies. . . ." " Mr. Tread-
well, from St. Kitts, going to Washington to settle Mr. Clark
son's account with the public." Mrs. Drinker's " Journal,"
Philadelphia, November 12, 1780 (edited by Henry D.
Bid die, 1889), tells of the robbery of " the store over ours,
in which Matthew Clarkson had a large quantity of prize
goods." Among the names occurring incidentally in the
references of 1774, which disclose some of the men of busi
ness of the year, are Thomas Murgatroyd, Joseph Russell,
Job Bacon, John Taylor, George Graham, Hugh Roberts,
Joseph Sims, Thomas Penrose, Edward Bonsall, Redmond
Conyngham, Charles Cox.
The Philadelphia philanthropist is probably the person
referred to in an interleaved almanac of 1774 : " Lent Mr.
Benezet, at different times, thirty-two dollars," though there
was a Daniel as well as Anthony of that name. I should not
have mentioned this but for the coincidence suggested on a
page of Appleton's Cyclopaedia : " The worth of Benezet's
writings is alluded to by the British philanthropist, Thomas
Clarkson, who confesses that one of them enlightened his
own mind and quickened his zeal in the early part of his
life." I am sorry not to find any trace of a direct connection

OCCUPATIONS. 49
with the great coadjutor of Wilberforce. In 1788 Dr. Belk
nap, referring to the " Essay on Slavery," asked of Mr.
Hazard, " Is he a Clarkson of your kindred ?" To which
his correspondent answered, " I suppose Clarkson has sprung
from the same root with our part of the family, but we have
no knowledge of him, except from his treatise on slavery."
It is certain, however, that in letters from him to several
Clarksons of New York, he usually subscribed himself
" your kinsman."
Mr. Clarkson's various offices during the eventful period
of his public life, brought him into occasional correspond
ence with many prominent characters. A few of the letters
addressed to him are extant, but they furnish little beyond
business matters, of any general interest, but showing the
surroundings of his public life. William Gordon writes to
Arthur Lee, 1782 : " By a private hand, I think Mr. Clark
son, of Philadelphia, I answered your letter that I received
some time before " (Life of Arthur Lee, ii. 289). Some of
the existing letters were from William Alexander, known as
a claimant to the earldom of Stirling, which is his signature
in these letters. Their subjects are of ephemeral official
business. But here again comes up a family association
through the marriage of General Matthew Clarkson, of New
York, and a daughter of Walter Rutherfurd and Catharine
Alexander, in May, 1785.

VI.

BELKNAP AND HAZARD.

I have mentioned the published correspondence of Dr.
Jeremy Belknap and Ebenezer Hazard. Some additional
items may be gleaned from these two large volumes illustra
tive of our subject. As in other instances, I quote more than
directly pertains to the individual subject of the memoir,
because some of the literary and other details, local and per
sonal, may be interesting as matters of history, that could not
be preserved if we should be confined to the one name of our
work. Writing from New York, January 20, 1787, Hazard says
to Belknap : " Mr. M. Clarkson and I laid our heads together
about you. You must know that some time ago he wrote
me that a magazine ["Columbian"] was established at
Philadelphia, and the proprietors proposed to employ men
of genius as writers, and to pay them for it, and asked
me ' could not our friend Belknap be helped in this way ? '
I found upon inquiry that the proprietors could hardly
form a conjecture how much they could afford to give

S2 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
writers, as they could not yet judge what encouragement
they themselves should meet with. When I was at Phila
delphia I conversed with Mr. Clarkson upon this subject,
and in the course of the conversation he suggested a new
idea ; that it would be worth while for the proprietors
to have a proper person for editor of the magazine and
make it worth his attention. This was a good thought,
and it led to another; that it was very probable if you
were the editor, we might find means to get you ap
pointed keeper of the Library in Carpenters' Hall, which
is about £60 Pennsylvania currency per annum. When we
had so far digested the plan, I got Mr. C. to go at once to
Mr. Carey, who seems to be the acting proprietor, and broach
it to him. This produced an interview between Mr. Carey
and me the next day. Mr. Clarkson had referred him to
me for particular information about you. I informed him
that I could not tell what your views and intentions were ;
but, from the attachment to Philadelphia you had discov
ered, I apprehended you might be removed thither if suit
able encouragement were given, and that I thought you
would be a valuable acquisition. He said they could hardly
determine yet what encouragement they could give, but had
thought of two guineas for each original piece of four or five
columns (two pages or two and a half), and he supposed that
would be their offer for one piece a month. However, when
they met he would let me know what they had determined
on, and at that time he would suggest to them the idea of an

BELKNAP AND HAZARD. 83
editor. I told him that you were a perfect stranger to the
whole of this business, and did not know that anything
respecting you was in contemplation ; that the matter had
originated with Mr. Clarkson and myself, who, from the
opinion he had of you, wished to make you a Pennsyl-
vanian, and if the offer was such as I thought would be an
inducement, I would see what could be done. He said that
it could not be expected that the undertaking, especially in
its infancy, would enable them to offer a sum equal to the
support of a family, but if Mr. Belknap could follow some
other employment too, this might be a valuable addition ;
however, whatever it was, he would let me know. I must
add here that Mr. Carey proposes publishing a '' Museum,"
upon the plan of Almon's Remembrancer, which is intended
as a repository for good fugitive pieces, which would other
wise be lost. This is to be a distinct work from the maga
zine ; and, indeed, I find Mr. Carey is not to be concerned
in the magazine after March next."
Hazard then refers to two enclosed letters, and continues :
" You see, the proprietors offer £100 (266f dollars) per
annum, " writing included." This expression must either
mean that if you write any pieces for the magazine you
shall not make an extra charge for them, or that besides
being the editor, you should be obliged to furnish a piece
each month for that sum ; of this I shall desire an explana
tion. Now think all over and make up your mind about
it. All that is positively offered is £100 per annum. You

64 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
may perhaps get to be librarian — £60. This will assist you
much both as a writer and editor. . . . The expense
of living in a plain but decent style in Philadelphia, I
suppose, will be about £400, that currency."
In his reply, Boston, February 2, 1787, Belknap writes :
" I thank you, sir : I thank Mr. Clarkson, and I beg you
will communicate my thanks to him in your own words.
I remember the benignity that beamed in his countenance
during the very short and only opportunity I had of con
versing with him at his house ; and it led me to wish for
a further acquaintance with him. There is something sin
gularly good in that worthy family, and that peculiarly
engages my affections and esteem."
Carey then offered Belknap £100 " for the editorship of
the magazine per annum, including writing, compiling and
revising," but he preferred the pastorship of the Congrega
tional Church, Long Lane, Boston.
In January, 1791, Mr. Hazard writes to his friend in
Boston : " Good Mrs. Finley, who has long been ripe for
heaven, now lives with her brother, Alderman Clarkson."
Mrs. Anna (Clarkson) Finley deserves a place in our
domestic sketches. She was married to Samuel Finley,
D. D., in 1761, the year in which he succeeded Dr. Samuel
Davies as President of Princeton College, and became his
widow in 1766. She survived him until January, 1808.

BELKNAP AND HAZARD. 88
For many years her home was with Mrs. Hannah Hodge,
the widowed aunt of Charles Hodge, D. D. and Hugh Lenox
Hodge, M. D. Dr. Ashbel Green and Dr. J. J. Janeway
were the pastors of both these estimable Christian women,
and one of them doubtless was the writer of an obituary
notice of Mrs. Hodge, which testifies that Mrs. Finley's
" company and conversation were the principal earthly
solace of Mrs. Hodge in the last years of her life, and to
whom the writer here begs leave to dedicate these memoirs
of her dear departed friend." — (General Assembly's Maga
zine, 1806). As a note of the change of customs I quote
from the diary of one of the family at the funeral of "Aunt
Finley :" " Storm prevented the corpse being carried except
in a hearse."
Two of Matthew Clarkson's great grandsons are now (1890)
in the ministry of the Episcopal church, and a third in the
Presbyterian. At the celebration of the Washington cen
tennial in Trinity church, New York, 1889, one ofthe com
mittees was selected, " in accordance with a desire to give
prominence to the members of historical families." Among
these were "David Augustus Clarkson, a descendant of
Chancellor Livingston, Warden in 1785, and of David
Clarkson, Warden in 1770 ; Banyer Clarkson, a descendant
of Chief Justice Jay, Warden in 1789 ; and of General Mat- >
thew Clarkson, Vestryman in 1789; Dr. John Clarkson
Jay, Jr., great-grandson of Chief Justice Jay."

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VII.
MAYORALTY.
In the year 1790, Mr. Clarkson was chosen an Alderman,
under the new charter of Philadelphia, an office held in
those times of the chief city by many of the most promi
nent citizens. Franklin was one in 1774. From the body,
at first the Aldermen themselves, and afterwards the City
Council annually chose one for the office of Mayor. This
honor fell, by selection of Council, to Mr. Clarkson, April
16th, 1792, and he was re-elected annually three times.
The Mayor and Aldermen constituted the Mayor's court.
In 1792 he presided at a meeting of citizens called to discuss
the best mode of selecting candidates for Presidential Elec
tors and Members of Congress. It was in his official term as
Mayor that the city was desolated by the yellow fever, which
made its appearance in the summer of 1793. In Matthew
Carey's " Short Account " of the pestilence (4th edition, 1794),
it is stated that " the first official notice taken of the disorder
was on the 22d of August, on which day the Mayor of
Philadelphia, Matthew Clarkson, Esq., wrote to the City
88 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Commissioners, and after acquainting them with the state of
the city, gave them the most peremptory orders to have the
streets properly cleansed and purified by the scavengers, and
all the filth immediately hauled away. These orders were
repeated on the 27th, and similar ones given to the clerks
of the market." Mr. Carey, who was a member of the com
mittee he mentions, says " this magistrate deserves particu
lar praise. He was the first who invited the citizens to
rally round the standard of charity, and convened the
meeting at which the committee for relief of the sick was
appointed, as well as the preceding ones ; of this committee
he was appointed president, which duty he punctually ful
filled during the whole time of the distress." On another
page "the magistrates of the city, except the Mayor and
John Barclay, Esq., were away." So in a letter of Mr.
Hazard to Dr. Belknap, " the Mayor has stayed and been
useful among us, though our Recorder and all our Alder
men have fled. His wife is not dead but getting well."
(ii. 341). This was in October 1793, and Mrs. Clarkson
lived to November 27, 1794. On the 28th, Mrs. Drinker's
journal says : " Mrs. Clarkson, wife of our present Mayor, was
buried this afternoon. She was a pretty girl, when Polly
Boud [Boude], I went to school with her."
In 1848, the City Councils printed in a book of 250 pages,
the " minutes of the proceedings of the committee appointed
on the 14th, September 1793, by the citizens of Philadel
phia, the Northern Liberties and the District of Southwark,

MAYORALTY. 89
to attend and alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted with the
malignant fever, prevalent in the city and its vicinity."
These minutes show the almost uninterrupted presence and
chairmanship of Mr. Clarkson, at the meetings, usually
every day, of the committee from September 18th, 1793, to
March 4th 1794. On the Sth March, he signed a report to
the citizens of the committee's work. During the preva
lence of the plague, from August 1st to November 9th, 1793,
four thousand and forty-one burials were made in the
grave-yards of the city. As the population of the city
proper in 1790 was 45,250, it is probably true that nearly
one-tenth of the inhabitants were victims of the pestilence.
The committee, assisted by a sub-committee of 45, distributed
money, provisions and fire-wood to more than a thousand
families weekly. On the 8th March, 1794, a public meeting
was held, at which resolutions were passed acknowledging
" the important, hazardous and successful services which
were rendered by the committee of health during the
calamity." A committee, composed of such men as Thomas
McKean, Alexander J. Dallas, Anthony Morris, Jonathan
B. Smith, John Swanwick, Charles Biddle and Rev. Dr.
Rogers, were directed to report to an early meeting of
citizens, an appropriate expression of the gratitude of the
community. The meeting took place on the 15th March,
when it was resolved to present an article of silver of the
value of one hundred dollars to each of the committee of
twenty-one. The plate was to be " of such form as the

60 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
members chose." The Mayor's selection was a handsome
urn for punch, with appendages for its use, with no in
scription, but having his coat of arms engraved on one side.
A few particulars may be drawn from these " minutes," to
give additional insight into this part of the Mayor's admin
istration. On the 10th September, 1793, the Overseer of the Poor
called on the citizens to give their personal assistance to
that body in the prevailing distress, and requested all who
were so disposed, to apply to the Mayor for specific direction
how to be most useful. Five days afterwards, at a meeting
in the City Hall, at which the Mayor presided, ten persons
offered their services and were requested to report the state
of the sick and poor, and measures for their relief. At the
instance of this committee, another public call was made
in order to meet the distress they had discovered, and at the
same time express the urgent need of more extensive provi
sion for the sick poor than was then supplied by the hospi
tal at Bush-hill, and the expediency of applying to the State
Legislature to aid in some arrangement for the permanent
separation, in the future, of cases of malignant disease. An
unfavorable report of the condition of the Bush-hill hospital
was made to the adjourned public meeting, and a com
mittee of twenty -seven, with the Mayor at the head, was ap
pointed to collect funds, procure physicians and nurses, and
superintend the general measures for the emergency.
This was the committee whose record is published, and who

MAYORALTY. 61
held their first meeting September 14, and thenceforth until
the end of that year's calamity. Three members attended
at the City Hall daily, for five hours, to receive and dispose
of applications for relief. Stephen Girard and Peter Helm
offered their services for personal superintendence of the
hospital, which they faithfully executed. Such melancholy
records begin to appear as the purchase of a horse and the
hiring of two men "to attend the cart;" "last night they lost
eight patients and required twelve coffins." A citizen com
plained of the route taken by the carters employed to re
move the dead ; others that " the coffins are not properly
pitched." 1008 interments were made in the ground allot
ted to the poor. One of the physicians was Dr. De Veze
from Cape Francois, sometimes confounded with Dr. Dewees,
better known afterwards in the city, but who also became a
professional helper in the benevolent work. Others than
the indigent found help at the hospital, as we read of a
French citizen, leaving there, at his death by the fever, silver
buckles, ring, watch, etc.; a broach, the property of a person
unknown; a Frenchman and his wife dying, leaving infant
twins and " effects said to be of considerable value," as three
gold watches, silver forks and spoons ; a merchant of Ken
tucky executed his will before he died ; watches, pocket-
books and other articles of value were sold at the closing
of the hospital in the absence of surviving claimants.
It became necessary to open a house for children made or
phans by the death of one or both parents. The Mayor cor
responded with the Minister of France in relation to French

62 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
soldiers and sailors, imprisoned as deserters, and in danger
of spreading the pestilence ; he attended to the admission
of convalescents to the house of employment, and to the
daily orders issued from the committee for interments, recep
tion of patients and employment of assistants. The north
west public square was used for burials, besides the Potter's
Field (now Washington Square) ; a house " lately occupied
by the Loganian Library," was used as an orphan-asylum ;
a house was built in addition to the hospital, and to the
barn which was used for the sick ; 400 hand-bills were
printed to obtain a supply of " a great want of the herb
centaury ; " the Bank of North America made loans to
the committee at different times, amounting to many
thousand dollars, in addition to large sums contributed by
citizens and individuals in other places. The Common Coun
cil of New York sent the Mayor five thousand dollars,
"And may you, sir, and those with you who have remained
faithful to your trust and borne the heat and burden of the
day, in the midst of surrounding and threatening dangers, be
the peculiar care of heaven." Our Mayor replied :
" Sir: I am favoured with your letter of the 12th inst.,
which I have communicated to the committee for the relief
of the poor and afflicted of this city.
" It is with peculiar satisfaction that I execute their
request by making in their name, on behalf of our suffering
fellow-citizens, the most grateful acknowledgments for the
seasonable benevolence of the Common Council of the city
of New York ; their sympathy is balm to our wounds.

MAYORALTY. 63
" We acknowledge the Divine interposition whereby the
hearts of so many around us have been touched with our
distress and have united in our relief.
" May the Almighty Disposer of all events be graciously
pleased to protect your citizens from the dreadful calamity
with which we are now visited, whilst we humbly kiss the
rod and improve by the dispensation.
" The part, sir, which you personally take in our afflic
tions, and which you have so pathetically expressed in your
letter, excites in the breasts of the committee the warmest
sensations of fraternal affection.
" The refreshing rain which fell the day before yesterday,
though light, and the cool weather which hath succeeded,
appear to have given a check to the prevalence ofthe disorder;
of this we have satisfactory proofs, as well in the decrease of
the funerals as in the applications for removal to the hospital.
" I have, at your request, this day drawn upon you at
sight, in favour of the President and Directors of the Bank
of North America, for the sum of five thousand dollars, the
benevolent donation of the Common Council of the city of
New York.
" With sentiments of the greatest esteem and regard,
" I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant,
" Matthew Clarkson.
" Philadelphia, October 17th, 1793.
"Richard Varick, Mayor of the city of New York."

64 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Another specimen of the large correspondence which
employed the Mayor, is subjoined:
" Committee Chamber, City Hall,
" Philadelphia, October 18, 1793.
" Sir : I am favoured with your letter of the 15th inst.,
covering a check for one hundred and fifty dollars, the
donation of five or six gentlemen of Elizabethtown, to the
suffering poor of this city, which I have presented to the
Committee. "This benefaction, in addition to the sympathetic and
humane resolves passed by your town, at a period of our
distress, when our terrified fugitive brethren were almost
everywhere refused an asylum, have impressed upon our
minds the most lively gratitude.
" Be pleased, sir, to communicate to our benefactors, the
thankful acknowledgement of the Committee, for these
instances of their attention to their suffering fellow citizens.
"I am, with great esteem, sir, your most obedient servant,
Matthew Clarkson.
Elias Boudinot, Esq."
The following record on the minutes gives, probably, only
one of many instances of the extent of the misery that pre
vailed, and the insufficiency of the means of meeting it :
" One of the carters in the service of the Committee, re
ports that in the performance of his duty, he heard the cry

MAYORALTY. 68
of a person in great distress ; the neighbours informed him
that the family had been ill some days, and that being
afraid of the disease, no one had ventured to examine the
house. He undertook the task, went up stairs and found
the father dead, who had been lying on the floor for some
days, two children near him, also dead, the mother in labour ;
he tarried with her, and in a short time both she and her
infant expired ; he came to the City Hall, took coffins and
buried them."
At the meeting of October 26th, the Mayor was warranted
in informing the public " that the abatement of the disorder is
beyond all expectation and affords the most flattering pros
pect of our being soon freed from it entirely." Among the
contributions of the day, through the Mayor, were "6,245 gal
lons of vinegar, about 8,000 pounds of tallow candles, 270 jugs
of lemon juice and $2,500 in money" from citizens of Boston.
Among his many official correspondents at that time,
were Citizen Genet, Minister of the French Republic, and
Citizen Bournonville, Secretary of Legation. In November,
he signed a report to Governor Mifflin, in answer to inqui
ries made by him as to the work of the committee and with
a view to legislative action, and in December an appeal to
the Legislature on behalf of the orphan children. It may be
noted here that in January, 1794, "a committee of three
members from the society for promoting first day or Sunday
schools, attended and offered to receive the orphans, to par
take of the benefits of that institution."

66 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
Although the disorder had greatly abated, it was still ne
cessary to maintain the hospital, orphan houses and other
means of helping the sick and bereaved, including the find
ing of places and employments for those who were dis
charged and the daily relief of many destitute families.
Contrbutions of money, food, wood and clothing were gener
ally sent to the Mayor and acknowledged by him. One of
the sad memorials of the ravages of the fever is found in a
list of one hundred names of orphan children, directed to be
published in order that their nearest connections might
know of their surviving.
It appears that the publication of the Minutes of the
Committee, with a history of the calamity, was contemplated
at the time, and the Mayor was requested to undertake the
service, with such assistance as he should find necessary, but
nothing seems to have been accomplished until the publica
tion of 1848.
The committee did not lose sight of the possibility of
a return of the malignant disease, and made provisions for
the future possession of Bush Hill. This was the well-
known property of William Hamilton, whose country seat
in its neighborhood was the Woodlands. It may gratify a
local curiosity in Philadelphia to read a description of the
place as made in 1793, when Mr. Hamilton conveyed " for
the use of the citizens of Philadelphia and vicinity all that
part of his interest at Bush Hill, comprised within the cir
cular Ha-Ha on the south, bounded by a line extending

MAYORALTY. 67
from the western end of the said Ha-Ha to the southeast of
the graveyard, thence by a line to the new ditch which
encloses the pine grove on the north, thence by the several
courses of said ditch round the grove to the northeast
corner of the old green -house foundation, thence along the
northern side of the coach-house and stables, and the
eastern side of the same to the gate on Callowhill street,
with the use of the lane to the east end of the Ha-Ha wall,
with the mansion-house, kitchen, stables, etc., now occupied
by the committee." The lease was to March 25, 1795, " for
the relief and accommodation of such persons as may be
afflicted by a return of the yellow fever, or any other similar
infectious disease, and for no other use or purpose whatever."
In the Summer of 1794, the fever again appeared. In a
letter to the Mayor, September 2d, Dr. Benjamin Rush, his
" sincere friend," reported nearly thirty cases that had come
under his treatment, and in accordance with his theory, so
much criticised, and by Cobbet libelled, the eminent phy
sician affirms that " the only cass in which those remedies
failed, was where blood-letting was not used in the quantity
nor at the time I prescribed it. Twelve bleedings in
six days (amounting to about one hundred and forty-four
ounces of blood) and nearly one hundred and fifty grains of
calomel mixed with strong purgative medicines, were found
necessary in one instance to subdue the fever. I mention
this case only to encourage intrepidity in the practice of
physicians in this city and in such other parts of the

68 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
United States as are at present visited by this powerful and
obstinate disease. Dr. Say, Dr. Physick and Dr. Dewees (of
New Street), have informed me that they have lately met with
several cases of the yellow fever, and that they have treated
it with success by means of plentiful bleeding and purging."
In 1793, Talleyrand came to the United States, a political
refugee from both France and England. In Philadelphia
he appeared before the Mayor for the purpose shown in the
following document : when his autobiography, so long
witheld, shall appear, those who live to see it may find
some clearer explanation of the reason for his making the
declaration than we can now offer.
"I, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Perigord, formerly
Administrator of the Department of Paris, son of Joseph
Daniel de Talleyrand Perigord, a General in the armies of
France, born at Paris and arrived at Philadelphia from
London, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true alle
giance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to the
United States of America; that I will not at any time wil
fully and knowingly do any matter or thing prejudicial to
the freedom and independence thereof.
Ch. Matj. DE TALLEYRAND PERIGORD.
Sworn on May 19th, 1794, before M. CLARKSON,
Mayor"

MAYORALTY. 69
In the year 1793 the following proclamation appeared,
which will answer for itself;
"By the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia.
"A Proclamation.
"(My of Philadelphia, ss.
" The daring outrages which were committed
yesterday and this day, on board the ship Rebecca, Ben
jamin Wyatt, master, just arrived from Cape Francois, by a
number of Frenchmen, who from their dress might have
been taken for gentlemen, are scarcely to be paralleled.
With premeditation, they assembled to sacrifice a passenger
on board the said ship to their vengeance, for crimes which
they alleged he had committed in the Island of St.
Domingo ; and with the basest treachery, after decoying
him upon the deck of the vessel out of the cabin, by
specious promises, attacked him with swords, sticks and
fists, and knocked him overboard ; and while in the water,
attempted to accomplish the assassination by throwing
stones and other things upon him, by which he hath
received many dangerous wounds in his head and body,
and would there inevitably have perished had not a number
of the citizens, at the peril of their lives, come to his rescue.
" This insult offered to our laws, by a set of men to whom
an asylum from fire and sword hath been so recently
offered, indicates the basest ingratitude; and not content
with what had just been perpetrated, many of them had the

70 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
superlative audacity to assemble at the city hall, where the
wounded person had been brought for safety, and there inso
lently uttered threats of their future murderous intentions.
"In order, therefore, that the perpetrators of those nefari
ous acts may be brought to condign punishment, the good
citizens who were witnesses to what passed, are requested for
the public honour and the safety of themselves and fellow
citizens, to point out every person who was concerned in
the breach of the peace, wounding and threatening afore
said; and in the meantime, vigilantly to attend to the
conduct of persons so capable of insulting the laws of
hospitality. " Matthew Clarkson,
" November 8th, 1793." " Mayor.
January 21st, 1794 being the first anniversary of the
execution of Louis XVI., it was the intention of some
French loyalists in Philadelphia, to commemorate the event
by religious services, according to the Roman Catholic
ritual, in favor of the departed martyr. Citizen Cassan,
Vice Consul of the new Republic, remonstrated with
Governor Mifflin against the allowance of what he con
sidered a political demonstration. In reply, Alexander J.
Dallas, Secretary of State, avowed the neutrality of this
country in such matters, and adds " the Governor is happy
to perceive by the publication of a paper under the signa-

MAYORALTY. 71
ture of the Mayor of this city, that there is in reality, no
ground for the dissatisfaction which you have expressed."
The paper referred to was a communication addressed to
the editor of the General Advertiser of Philadelphia, as follows :
"Mr. Bache: — Your correspondent, 'A friend of Peace,' in
forms the public, in the General Advertiser of the 16th inst.,
that he hath seen, 'in a French paper published in this city,
an invitation to French citizens, friends to the late king of
France, to attend a service to be performed at the chapel, on
the 21st, in honour and in commemoration of Louis XVI.'
"A notification of so extraordinary a nature, hath excited
uneasiness in the minds of many citizens, who are appre
hensive that disagreeable consequences might arise if such
service should be performed.
"I have the satisfaction to inform my fellow citizens, that
having conversed with one of the Rev. Clergy of St. Mary's
Church, and with both of the gentlemen of the Holy
Trinity, they unanimously declare that no application has
been made to either of them for the purpose above men
tioned, or for any similar purpose ; that if such applica
tion had been made, they should undoubtedly have
refused to comply therewith, declaring at the same time,
that blending religion with politics is contrary to the
principles of their church.
"Matthew Clarkson,
" Philadelphia, January 17th, 1794." " Mayor.

72 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
The Mayor was much distressed by the prevalence of dis
order and vice among the subjects of his own authority,
especially the young. "The evils do not only exist, but
abound among us ; not merely occur, but our city is remark
able for them." His sense of moral responsibility led to a
publication in the Philadelphia Gazette, June 6th, 1795, of
an appeal to the public, which was afterwards circulated in
a pamphlet of twenty-four pages, under the title of "An
Address to the Citizens of Philadelphia, Respecting the
Better Government of Youth, by Matthew Clarkson, Esq.;
Mayor." The actual authorship of this paper is given in
the autobiographical portion of Dr. Jos. H. Jones' "Life
of Dr. Ashbel Green," then a Presbyterian pastor in the city,
afterwards President of Princeton College : " I wrote, at the
request of the Mayor of the city, Matthew Clarkson, an
address to the citizens on the subject of restraining their
children and apprentices from sports and practices trench
ing on law and morals. In availing himself, under his
own name, of the pen of another for an official purpose, the
Mayor did no more than is understood to be usual and
justifiable with the highest, as well as humbler, digni
taries. It was his personal as well as official feeling that
was expressed, and probably dictated, in the opening
paragraph: "Having lately been appointed to exercise
anew the office of Mayor in this city, I know not how I
can make a more suitable return for the confidence re
posed in me than by calling your attention to an object

MAYORALTY. 73
with which both the comfort and the reputation of our city
are connected, and for the attainment of which your concur
rence and endeavours are essential. This object is the better
government of youth." In the private diary of a contem
porary, already quoted, I find at the date of 1798, an
evidence of Mr. Clarkson's interest in public morals on its
best foundation, after his retirement from office, and of his
resorting to the same hand to diffuse his principles of
national virtue, as before of the municipal. The hasty
entry is, " Mr. Clarkson so pleased with Dr. Green's sermon
on the national fast-day (May 9), that he asked it for publi
cation." This was done under the title of " Obedience to
the Laws of God, the Sure and Indispensable Defence of
Nations." The following memorial to the Legislature of Pennsyl
vania, adopted by the Committee of Citizens, December
24th, 1793, will give additional illustration of the condition
of many of the orphan children mentioned on page 66.
" The Senate and House of Representatives of the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania, in general assembly met :
"The memorial of the committee appointed by the
citizens of Philadelphia, for the relief of the sick, etc.
" Respectfully showeth that in the discharge of the trust
committed to them by their fellow-citizens, a number of the
children who were deprived of their parents by the late
sickness, were presented to the consideration of the com
mittee, for whom they have hitherto provided out of the

74 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
donations which have been so liberally handed to them by
the generous and humane of this and other states.
"That the number of children who have thus come under
the notice of the committee, amounts to one hundred and
ninety -four, of whom eighty-two have been delivered to the
surviving friends, nineteen have died, and ninety-three
remain still under the charge of the committee, thirty -eight
of whom are sucking infants.
" That the committee having nearly completed the business
for which they were appointed, and feeling anxious for the
future welfare of these innocents, so peculiarly placed by
Divine Providence under the care of the public, request the
General Assembly, as the fathers of the people, to take the
case of these orphans into their serious consideration, and
make such further provision for their maintenance and edu
cation as in their wisdom shall seem proper.
"Signed at the request of the Committee,
"Matthew Clarkson,
"President."

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VIII.
DU SIMITIERE. CLOSE.
Mr. Clarkson's last residence was on Arch (Mulberry) street,
near Fourth, according to the numbering then used, 109.
One of his neighbours, at lodgings, was a person whose name
deserves to be introduced as an intimate friend, as well as
a somewhat historical character. This was Pierre Eugene Du
Simitiere, designated by Mr. Wm. J. Potts in an extended
notice in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biogra
phy." October, 1889, as " artist, antiquary and naturalist, pro
jector of the first American Museum." Mr. Clarkson was one
of the administrators of what property he had at his death in
1784. The other administrator was Ebenezer Hazard, who
writes to Dr. Belknap, Philadelphia, November 13, 1784, " I
have lately undertaken part of the administration of Mr.
Du Simitiere's estate, with a view to prevent his museum, of
which you have doubtless heard, from being scattered."
Hazard was also a neighbour, for he writes to Belknap, July,
1784, "Lest I should forget it hereafter, I tell you now that
I live in Arch street, No. 145, between Fourth and Fifth
streets, and nearly opposite the Christ Church burial-ground
76 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
gate." In 1782, Belknap again, '• I observe in your papers
an advertisement by one Simitier, [not so blundering a mis
nomer as that of the Marquis de Chastellux, who for the
sake of the pun or from ignorance called him Cimetiere
[grave-yard], 'a name better suited to a physician than a
painter ']. Are you acquainted with him ? Is he a man of
genius and real solid knowledge in natural history ? If so,
I beg you will ask him a question in my behalf. There is
a bird found on some of the mountains in New Hampshire,
called the cross-bill. I understand one of them has been
lately sent to him by a gentleman in these parts. I want
to know, etc.," Hazard answers, " I am acquainted with
Simitiere. He appears to me to be possessed of no extraor
dinary genius, but is a mere collector of curiosities." Mrs.
Drinker's journal, November 6, 1784, mentions some of her
family taking strangers "to Simiters to see Pele's paint
ings." Her editor adds, that " in 1782 he opened in Phila
delphia, what he called the American Museum. He was
also a clever artist and painted numerous portraits. He
died in 1784." I inherit a folio volume of 530 pages in
which he had begun to copy in alphabetical order, notes
from his multifarious reading. The title page, in pen
manship as regular as typography, is " Common-Place Book
of Pierre Eugene Du Simitiere, of Geneva. Philadelphia,
MDCCLXX," with a coat of arms, two sabres crossed on a
shield, the crest a helmet and motto " J' espere. " I have
given to the Pennsylvania Historical Society, from Mr.

DU SIMITIERE. CLOSE. 77
Clarkson's relics, five portraits, in black lead, which I believe
to be his drawings, without name, but supposed to be like
nesses of American or English personages of the revolution.
The researches of Mr. Potts and Mr. Hildeburn show that
Simitiere had made a collection of coins, medals, shells, In
dian antiquities and botantical specimens, in the course of
his travels, as an artist, in Europe, America and the West
Indies. This collection was sold by his administrators in
1785, and it is probable that the " valuable cabinet, contain
ing silver and copper coins, medals, etc., some of which are
very ancient," which were sold as part of Mr. Clarkson's
furniture after his death in 180U, were gifts or purchases
from his friend's museum. Du Simitiere was a member of
the American Philosophical Society 1768-1781. President
John Adams wrote of him as " a very curious man," and as
having begun to gather material for a history of the Ameri
can revolution. A series of portraits, by him, of thirteen
American patriots, including Washington, was engraved and
published in London, 1783. He died in October, 1784, and
lies buried in St. Peter's church-yard, Philadelphia. Twelve
volumes of his manuscripts are in the Ridgway department
of the Philadelphia Library, and it is conjectured that his
cabinet was the nucleus of Peale's celebrated museum.
During his residence on Arch street, it was publicly ex
hibited three days in the week. Some of the manuscript
note-books are in the library of Congress.
Watson's Ms. Annals of Philadelphia, in the library of

78 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, preserve a letter of
his of 1 766. Watson says his collections " may be deemed
the curious gleanings of a curious mind, and among some
rubbish may be found some day, some useful and unex
pected elucidations of difficult points in our history." In
the minutes of the Philadelphia Library, March 3d, 1785, it
is recorded, " Matthew Clarkson, Esq., one of the administra
tors to the estate of Mr. Du Simitiere, returns to the library,
Brown's Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, which has
been a long time missing and which was found in the col
lection of the deceased."
Mr. Clarkson died at his residence in Arch Street, October
5th, 1800. In the newspapers of October 7th, is this notice:
"Died on Sunday morning, in the 68th year of his age, Mat
thew Clarkson, Esq., formerly a respectable merchant, and of
late years an enlightened and faithful servant of the public,
in several important stations. His fortitude and humanity in
the memorable and gloomy year 1793, as Chief Magistrate of
the city, endeared him to thousands, and will long be remem
bered with gratitude and respect, by citizens of Philadelphia."
The burial was made in the old cemetery of Christ
Church, Arch and Fifth Streets, where the grave is marked,
by a plain head-stone inscribed, " In memory of Mary, the
wife of Matthew Clarkson, who departed this life November
27th, 1794, in the 60th year of her age; also, Matthew
Clarkson, Esq., who departed this life the 5th day of Octo
ber, A. D., 1800, in the 67th year of his age."

DU SIMITIERE. CLOSE. 79
And near by, "Here lieth the body of Cornelia, the
daughter of Matthew and Mary Clarkson, who departed this
life the 9th of June, 1756, aged 1 year and 12 days."
On the 30th October, the administrators with the will
annexed, who were George Bringhurst, his son-in-law and
Ebenezer Hazard, his nephew, disposed of his furniture by
vendue. The advertisement includes " silver and plated
ware, a good eight day clock, a verj- curious bedstead,
peculiarly constructed for the use of a sick person ; an iron
chest and a valuable cabinet, containing silver and copper
coins, medals, etc., some of which are very ancient; also,
a very excellent family horse and Berlin phaeton, at pri
vate sale." Of the few books retained by the family one was
the first American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries,
published by Robert Bell, Philadelphia, 1771-2. It has the
unusual addition of a volume numbered V, containing con
troversial pamphlets caused by the commentaries. It is
now in the Lenox Library, New York.
His will was dated April 19th, 1799. His sons-in-law,
Bringhurst and Ralston, were appointed his executors, but,
upon his death, both renounced the execution. In this in
strument he calls himself " merchant." After bequeathing
$2000 to each of his four children, Levinus, David M., Mrs.
Bringhurst and Mrs. Ralston, the will directed the remain
der of his property to be divided into four parts, an equal
share to be distributed to each family of grandchildren.
To his grandson Robert, the son of David, was left what I

80 MEMOIR OF MATTHEW CLARKSON.
suppose to be the public testimonial of his services in the
fever year — 1793, which the will described as "my silver
punch-cup, on which the arms of my family are engraved,
together with the punch-strainer, ladle and other things
contained in the mahogany box or case in which they were
imported." The careful transmission of this prescriptive
token of the old-country alderman, was further provided
for, by directing that if Robert should die in his minority,
the articles should become the property of his grandson
Matthew, son of Levinus, or on the failure of his coming of
age, they must go to his grandson Matthew, son of David M.
According to a pastel portrait in my possession, taken
when his hair was entirely white, but thick, and contrast
ing beautifully with the olive complexion, Mr. Clarkson's
personal appearance must to have been dignified and attrac
tive. The execution of the portrait is remarkably fine, but
the artist is not known. It hardly seems to be in the line
of Du Simitiere's pencil, but comes up rather to what is
told of the superior workmanship of a James Sharpless, an
Englishman mentioned in Mrs. Drinker's journal, 1800, " as
a capable hand at the business " of pastel portraits, a num
ber of whose productions were at the centennial exhibition
in Philadelphia in 1876. A photograph copy of the Clarkson
picture is in the almost complete collection of likenesses of
the Mayors of Philadelphia, on the walls of the City Hall,
and the original has been copied for this memoir.

APPENDIX.

(8iA)

Another of the letters mentioned on page 65 is now
given : " Philadelphia, February 14th 1794.
" Gentlemen : —
" I have received your favour of the 28th ultimo, covering
a note of the Bank of New York for eight hundred and
sixty-six dollars and 40 cents, a donation from a number
of citizens of Albany, for the relief of the poor of this city.
This testimony of sympathy for our distress, at a time when
you are labouring under the effects of a dreadful calamity
which hath reduced the most flourishing part of your city
to ashes, enhances the value of the donation and of the
obligation conferred.
" With sentiments of esteem and gratitude, I am,
gentlemen, " Your most obedient servant,
"Matthew Clarkson.
" To Messrs. Banyar, J. J. Lansing, Staats, Lush, Wendell,
J. Lansing, Ten Eyck and Van Rensselaer."

II.
To the statements on page 44, it should be added that
Matthew Clarkson was elected a member of the American
Philosophical Society December 21st, 1768, elected Treasurer,
March 19th, 1779, Councillor, January 5th, 1781.

in.
The following amendment of a sentence on page 55 is
now made :
Five of Matthew Clarkson's great-grandsons have been
clergymen : Charles R. Bonnell and George Bringhurst in
the Protestant Episcopal Church; John Hall, Alexander
Proudfit and Robert R. Proudfit in the Presbyterian.

GERARDUS CLARKSON

1737-1790.

INTRODUCTION.

In compiling the records that are contained in the pages
that follow, the almost entire absence in the family of
material to make a " sketch " of our ancestors, is sensibly
felt. After persistent effort in search of diaries and letters
without success, the writer can do little better than bring to
your notice the testimonies of those who lived in their day,
or who have studied their honored lives.
I am indebted to Mr. Frederick D. Stone, Librarian of
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, for information con
tained in the Belknap and Hazard Letters, edited by the
Massachusetts Historical Society, and the diary of Rev.
Manasseh Cutler, published in Cincinnati in 1888. From
both these works I have drawn largely.
I trust the work may prove acceptable to the members
of the family for whose exclusive use it is published.
S C
Philadelphia, July, 1890.

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MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
ENGLISH ANCESTORS.
The history of the Clarksons of Philadelphia begins with
the Stuart period. During the reign of James I. the family
were residents of Yorkshire and though tradition is silent
on the subject there can be little doubt their ancestors had
their homes in the same county. In the archives of York
shire the name may be traced 500 years.
Early in the 17th century, Robert Clarkeson was living at
Bradford in a street called the Fayre Gappe, probably one of
the oldest thoroughfares in the town. He had large estates
and his family, it is said, were " possessed of high moral
worth and social influence." In 1615 he was a warden of
the Parish Church of S. Peter's and some years later served,
in company with the Vicar and others, as trustee for the sale
86 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
of the Manor of Bradford. Little, however, is known of his
life. His death is recorded as having occurred on the 10th
March, 1631-2. He spent his last days where his first had
been spent in the town of Bradford and his remains were
laid to rest "among his own people" in the old Parish
Church. William was the son and next heir of Robert Clarkeson.
He was born March 13, 1613-14 and was at the time of his
father's death a lad of nearly eighteen. He was educated
for the ministry and in 1645 became the Vicar of Adel, near
Leeds. The Church at Adel was erected, probably, within
the first century after the Conquest and was dedicated to
S. John the Baptist. Clarkson held, doubtless by inher
itance, as no provision was made for him in his father's will,
" the Lordship of Idle " including the " Mansion House,"
called the " Smythies " at Windhill and the " Chappel " at
Idle, besides the building wherein from time to time the
Lords of the Manor of Idle used to hold their courts. In
the exercise of his profession he remained at Adel until his
death in April 1660 and was buried in the grounds adjoin
ing the church. He was twice married. His first wife was
Elizabeth, a daughter of Thomas Sharp, and sister of John
Sharp, the Parliamentarian. John Sharp had married Mr.
Clarkson's sister Mary, and was a relative of the once famous
Archbishop of York of the same name. Clarkson's second
wife was Frances, a daughter of Mr. Maud of Bierly.

ENGLISH ANCESTORS. 87
Robert, a brother of the Rev. William Clarkson, was bap
tized at S. Peter's, Bradford, on the 15th February, 1617-18.
He removed to London where he acquired a large property,
the personalty alone being estimated at £40,000. At one
time he was an alderman of that city. His wife was a Miss
Taylor. Her mother was a daughter of the Rev. William
Wilson, D. D. of Merton College, Oxford, who had married
Isabel Woodhall, a niece of Edmund Grindall, Archbishop
of Canterbury, temp, Elizabeth. One of Mr. Clarkson's
daughters, Hannah, named after her mother, became the wife
of Edward Hopton and had a son Richard who married
Elizabeth Geers, great grand-daughter of the first Earl of
Westmoreland. Clarkson's death occurred at his residence at
Little Chelsea, in the Parish of Kensington, Middlesex, in
1695-6. The youngest of the sons of Robert of Bradford was David
Clarkson. He was baptized on the 3rd March, 1621-2. From
the grammar school in his native town he went up to Cam
bridge University. His admission at Trinity College bears
date October 22, 1641 where he took his degree in 1644-5.
He was appointed, by the warrant of the Earl of Man
chester, to a Fellowship at Clare-Hall, and had the honor of
presiding over a community of which the eminent Ralph
Cudworth had previously been made Master. The following
letter, written by his brother-in-law John Sharp, of Horton,
doubtless had considerable influence in obtaining the prefer
ment. It bears the endorsement :

88 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
" Copy of ye letter to ye Earl of Manchester. "
3rd October, 1644.
My Lord, This gentleman show by these presents to yr. Lordship
hath deserved for his sufferings to be pittyed, for his con
stancy to be rewarded, now since his condicon requires the
one no less than it deserves the other. I thought it con
venient to manifest that I pitty him by desiring yr. honor
able assistance to reward him. He was a student in Cam
bridge till the beginning of this kingdom's troubles, when
he was forced by the strict urging of some ceremonies to
leave it. Coming into the country he resided at Bradford
till that towne was taken and himself in it. Since then, for
his affection to the Parliamt. he hath continued 10 months
a prisoner by wh. he lost both his degree in the University
and the benefit of his estate in the country, so that now he
is rendered unable not only to provide for the expenses
ordinary at the taking of a degree but also to mayntayne
himself in the University as heretofore he had done. I
desire therefore your Lordship in consideration of the
promises you would confer on him such preferment in the
College as may both enable and encourage him to continue
his progress in his stud'ys, yet no other than what after
examination he shall be thought worthy of; and I shall be
further engaged. (Signed)
JOHN SHARP.

ENGLISH ANCESTORS. 89
David Clarkson left Trinity for Clare in 1645, and on the
5th May of that year received his Fellowship. At Clare the
degree of B. D. was conferred on him and he held his
position as Fellow until 1651, when he left the University.
During his residence in the University he had placed under
his care, among other pupils, John Tillotson, afterwards the
Archbishop of Canterbury.
It is not probable that Clarkson had possessed any prefer
ment in the church before he was invited, about 1651-5, to
become the minister of Crayford, in Kent. Subsequently,
February 13, 1655 he received his appointment to Mortlake,
not far from Battersea, in Surrey, and continued to hold this
cure till his ejection by the Uniformity Act in 1662. For
several years succeeding this date, his pen was constantly
engaged in the religious controversies of the time, and his
name is always enumerated among the chief literary cham
pions of Non-conformity.
In 1682 he became the colleague of Dr. John Owen, as
pastor of an Independent Church in London, and on Owen's
death, in the following year, his successor. Clarkson did
not long hold this office, dying rather suddenly at his resi
dence in the Parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, on the 14th
June, 1686, and was buried in Bunhill Fields Cemetery.
His funeral sermon was preached by Dr. William Bates.
Baxter, Ridgely, Howe, and Mead all bear testimony to
his talents. Baxter speaks of him as " a divine of extraor
dinary worth for solid judgment, healing, moderate prin-

90 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
ciples, acquaintance with the fathers, great ministerial
abilities, and a godly upright life." Birch, in his life of
Tillotson, refers to the singular respect that the Archbishop
entertained for him ; and De Foe thought that the reasoning
in two of Clarkson's works, though often attacked, had never
been refuted.
His writings are very numerous, and many of his sermons
and discourses were collected and published, in 1696, in one
of those folios, at one time to be seen in old Dissenting
chapels secured to the desk by a chain.
In 1651 Mr. Clarkson was married to a daughter of Sir
Henry Holcroft, Knight, of East Ham, County of Essex,
and of Long Acre, County of Middlesex. The Holcrofts
were settled for centuries in Lancashire, and have been rep
resented in the Royal Parliament as early as the reign of
Edward III. One branch, known in history as that of
Vale Royal, was greatly enriched under Henry VIII., at
the time of the sequestration of the monasteries, and received
an accession of dignity under Queen Mary, when Sir
Thomas Holcroft was made Knight Marshal of England.
Another branch of the family established itself at Basing
stoke, in Hants; while still another settled at Hurst, in
Lancashire. The Holcrofts at East Ham, Essex, came of
the latter branch.
In 1662-3 Mr. Clarkson married again, his wife being
Elizabeth, widow of Wolrave Lodwick, and daughter of
Matthew Kenrick, of London. The Kenricks have been

ENGLISH ANCEST/ORS. 9i
seated at Woore-Manor, Salop, for generations. It is a
Welsh family of great antiquity, and claims a descent from
David Kenrick, who was standard-bearer to the Black
Prince, temp. Edward III., in the battles of Crecy and
Poictiers. Before leaving his native village, Ashley, in the county of
Stafford, to join his gallant countrymen, Kenrick, it is said,
threw his spear into a hillock and vowed, " if the Almighty
spared his life, he would build on that very spot a temple to
the Most High God." His life was spared and on his return
" he devoted the spoils of war and gave of his own substance
to the erection of the sacred fane " which the people of
Ashley now call their Parish church.
In the interior of the edifice, immediately over the pulpit,
is a brass plate, which bears the following inscription :
"In perpetuam Rei memoriam
Manubias Deo,
David Kenricus Pietas ejus memoriae
Hoc virtutis Fraemiolum dicavit.''
Mr. Clarkson is represented in his portrait with a round
handsome face, with an ample forehead and long flowing
hair. An expression of cheerfulness and good humor, con
firm what his writings suggest, that he was blessed with
great equanimity of temper and a natural gaiety of man
ners, that contributed much to his own happiness and to
the pleasure of those who were privileged to be connected
with him.

92 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
It appears that he had eight children, three sons and five
daughters, but whether this number comprised his whole
family is not known. His will gives no information on the
subject. It is singularly brief and hurried, and as his
decease was unexpected, it was only executed the day before
he died.
The eldest child Letes (Lettice), who bore the name of
her grandmother, the wife of Sir Henry Holcroft, was bap
tized on the 25th May, 1652, at Crayford, Kent, during her
father's residence there, and died in March of the following
year. Rebecca was married to a Mr. Combe. She died on
the 20th November, 1744, aged seventy-nine, having out
lived her husband, and was buried in Bunhill Fields
Cemetery. There was no issue, it is believed, by this mar
riage. Another daughter, Mary, died young, in March,
1669, and the two other daughters remained unmarried.
Gertrude died in London, April 23, 1701. Her pastor, Dr.
Ridgley, preached her funeral sermon, which he also
published and inscribed to Mrs. Elizabeth Clarkson, the
venerable relict of Mr. Clarkson. The fifth daughter,
Katherine, died at Hitchin, Herts, January 11, 1757, aged
eighty-four years. Gertrude and Katherine were both
baptized at Mortlake, the former on the 18th November,
1669, the latter on the 4th July, 1672.
Of the three sons — David, Matthew, and Robert — it is
known that David married about 1690, Lady Sands, the
widow of Sir William Sands. She survived her husband,

ENGLISH ANCESTORS. 93
and died in 1714, providing by her will that she should " be
carried to my grave at night, privately, but decently," and
that the interment should be made in St. Warburgh's
Church. Of Robert, it is recorded that he was baptized at the
Mortlake Church on the 8th February, 1670, and his
father's will bequeaths to him all his books if he would
prove a scholar, but neither tradition nor the records reveal
anything of his after life.
The other son, Matthew, went to America, and after a
short stay in the provinces returned to England. He then
preferred a petition to the King for the position of Secretary
of the Colony of New York. The petition was referred to
the Right Hon. the Lords of the Committee for Trade and
Plantations, and upon their recommendation, and as a testi
mony of his respect for the memory of the Rev. David
Clarkson, the father of the petitioner, King William III.
caused the commission to be issued. Matthew sailed from
the Isle of Wight on board the Beaver on the 1st December,
1690, and arrived at New York on Thursday, January
29th, 1690-1. Two years later, on the 19th January, 1692,
he married Catharina, a daughter of the Hon. G. Gerritse
Van Schaick, of Albany, a family of Dutch descent, and
became in this way connected with most of the prominent
families in the province. Mr. Clarkson retained his office
until his death. He and his wife both fell victims to an
epidemic, supposed to have been the yellow fever, which

94 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
suddenly appeared in New York. The exact date of Mrs.
Clarkson's death is not known. Her husband, it is said,
survived her a few days only, and died July 20th 1702.
Many of his descendants have held high and responsible
positions in America, the duties of which they have dis
charged with fidelity and ability.*
* Contributed by the compiler of " The Clarksons of New York." 2 vols.,
1875-6.

II.

EDUCATION— PROFESSION.

Gerardus Clarkson, grandson of the Secretary, was
born in the City of New York, in the year 1737. He
was the youngest of six children of Matthew Clarkson
and Cornelia De Peyster, his wife. At the age of 40
the father was removed by death, when Mrs. Clarkson,
with her children, took up her residence at New Brunswick,
N. J., and later on married Reverend Gilbert Tennent, pas
tor of the Presbyterian Church in that place. In 1743 Mr.
Tennent, with his family, removed to Philadelphia, preach
ing to the First Presbyterian congregation, and afterwards
founded the Second Presbyterian Church, situated at the
northwest corner of Arch and Third streets. Their home
in this city, is called in Watson's "Annals," Bedminster
Country Seat, on the northeast corner of Fourth street and
Brewers Alley (now Wood street).
Mr. Tennent took a lively interest in what was known as
the *"Log College," founded by his father, the Rev.
* See notice of Centennial in September 1889.

96 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
William Tennent, about one mile south of the present
village of Hartsville, in Bucks County, Pa. He was also
one of the first Trustees of the College of New Jersey, his
name occurring in the second charter granted to that insti
tution in 1748.
There is no record of Gerardus or his brother Matthew
having pursued their studies at either of the schools of
learning mentioned, but it is said that the education of the
brothers was conducted under the immediate supervision of
their step-father, and the character of the training may
reasonably be deduced from what is known of this pious
and worthy man.
Mrs. Tennent died May 23d, 1753. Her husband sur
vived until 1764.
Upon finishing his classical studies, the subject of this
memoir entered upon the study of medicine in Philadelphia,
with the celebrated * Dr. Thomas Bond, and on concluding
the course, his desire of travel induced him to make the
tour of Europe about the year 1759-60. After a prolonged
absence, during which he visited the Hospitals of Edin
burgh, Paris and Italy, he returned and settled in Philadel
phia as a practitioner of medicine. As stated in the records
of Christ Church, he was married May 13th, 1761, by Rev.
Jacob Duche, to Mary, daughter of Samuel Flower, and his
* Dr. Thomas Bond, one of the physicians at the Pennsylvania Hospital,
which was started in a rented house on south side of Market street, west of
Fifth street (1752)— History of Pennsylvania Hospital, by Geo. B. Wood, M. D.

EDUCATION— PROFESSION. 97
wife Rebecca, daughter of William Branson, a wealthy
merchant of Philadelphia, another of whose daughters
married Lynford Lardner, the Provincial Councillor of
Pennsylvania, and another Richard Hockley, who suc
ceeded Lardner as Receiver General of the Province. Mrs.
Clarkson's sister Hannah, subsequently (in 1767) married
Thomas Asheton, a relative of the Proprietaries.
Dr. Gerardus Clarkson, at the commencement of his
career, had the advantage of refined and cultivated sur
roundings. From the record, we find that he was a reli
gious man, amiable and generous, and endowed with a
kindness of heart that stood for much in his profession.
He associated with men of intellect, character and educa
tion in a growing community. The population of Philadel
phia in 1750, was estimated at 16,000. — in 1777, according to
census made by Lord Cornwallis, it was within 24,000.*
We find him, in probably 1766 or 1767, with Dr. John
Morgan and others joined in establishing the Philadelphia
Medical Society, the first medical society in the city.f The
compiler of the " Lives of Eminent Philadelphians now
Deceased," informs us that he was practising medicine as
early as 1774. He was elected a member of the American
Philosophical Society October 14th, 1768, and a Trustee of
the University of the State of Pennsylvania July 21st, 1780.
The minutes show that he was rarely absent from the
* Pennsylvania Letters Portfolio, vol. i., Philadelphia, 18n.
t Institution of College of Physicians, page 15 — Ruschenberger.

98

MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.

meetings of the Board of Trustees. He attained eminence
in his calling and was one of the founders of the College of
Physicians, and the Treasurer of that society named in the
charter granted March 26, 1789. As a matter of interest
to the reader, we insert the form of the Constitution
of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, as pub
lished in the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser,
Feb. 1st, 1787, p. 2.
"The College was to consist of twelve senior fellows, who
were the only fellows eligible to office, and an indefinite
number of junior fellows.
" At the date of publication of the constitution the list of
members was printed as follows :

Senior Fellows.
John Redman,
John Jones,
William Shippen, Jr.,
Benjamin Rush,
Samuel Duffield,
James Hutchinson,
Abraham Chovet,
John Morgan,
Adam Kuhn,
Gerardus Clarkson,
Thomas Parke,
George Glentworth,

Junior Fellows.
Robert Harris,
Benjamin Duffield,
John Foulke,
James Hall,
Andrew Ross,
William Currie,
John Carson,
William W. Smith,
Samuel P. Griffitts,
John Morris,
William Clarkson,
Benjamin Say,
John Lynn.

EDUCATION— PROFESSION. 99
" All communications that are included in the objects of
the College, specified in the preamble of the constitution,
may be addressed to the Secretary (post paid, when they
are sent by that conveyance), or to any fellow of the College.
" It is to be hoped the friends of medical science in every
part of the United States will concur in promoting by useful
communications the important designs of this institution.
" Published by order of the College.
"James Hutchinson,
" Secretary.
" The present officers of the College are :
President, Treasurer,
John Redman, Gerardus Clarkson.
Vice-President, Secretary,
John Jones. James Hutchinson.
Censors.
William Shippen, Jr., John Morgan.
Benjamin Rush, Adam Kuhn.

le different printers in the United States are
requested to publish this in their papers."

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III.
BELKNAP AND HAZARD.
Dr. Clarkson is frequently mentioned in the correspon
dence between Jeremy Belknap and Ebenezer Hazard,
covering a period of twenty years.* We propose to bring
out certain points somewhat in detail, in order to show the
esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries.
Ebenezer Hazard was the son of Samuel Hazard, who
in 1739 married Catharine, the oldest sister of Gerardus
Clarkson. He was born at Philadelphia, January 17th,
1744, graduated at Princeton College in 1762 and devoted
himself to a business career in New York. From 1775 to
1789 he was connected with the Post Office Department
of the Government. In 1779 he was appointed Surveyor
of Post Roads and Offices, throughout the United States,
and until 1782, was accustomed, in performing the duties
of his office, to travel on horse-back from New Hampshire
to Georgia. In the year last named, he was appointed
Postmaster General of the United States, as successor to
*Belknap Papers, published by Massachusetts Historical Society.
102 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
Richard Bache, who had succeeded Benjamin Franklin
as first Postmaster General under the authority of Con
gress. He held the office seven years, until the adoption
of the Constitution of the United States.
The closest intimacy appears to have existed between uncle
and nephew, there being but a few years difference in age.
The principal facts in Dr. Belknap's life are well known.
He was the eldest child of Jeremiah Belknap and was born
at Boston, June 4th, 1744. He graduated at Harvard
College in 1762, at the age of eighteen. On February 18th,
1767, he was settled over the parish in Dover, New Hamp
shire, where he remained for twenty years a faithful and
honored minister. In the autumn of 1786, at the earnest
solicitation of Mr. Hazard, Belknap visited Philadelphia
and made the acquaintance of many distinguished men in
that city.*
In June 1783, Belknap writes to Hazard in reference to
his son in his 14th year, whom he wishes to indenture to
Mr. Aitken, the printer, at Philadelphia. For some unex
plained reason Dr. Clarkson is often spoken of in the cor
respondence as "Ulysses."
On October 8th, Hazard writes to Belknap : — " I called to
see (Ulysses) Clarkson the other evening, he asked me if I
had heard lately from you," . . . . "I told
him that I had and that one of your sons was coming to be
apprentice to Mr. A. I then mentioned some difficul-
* Belknap Papers.

BELKNAP AND HAZARD. 103
ties you labored under, about sending him here, particularly
that he had not had the small-pox and what I had said
about the expense of inoculating him. Ulysses imme
diately told me that from the opinion he had formed of Mr.
B., he should be happy in rendering him any service
in his power, and when his son was to be inoculated, he
would cheerfully do it gratis."
October 15, 1783, Hazard writes, referring to Belknap's
History of New Hampshire, printed by Robert Aitken, at
Philadelphia. " Ulysses is at work for you. It popped into
my head, that as his business at this season of the year,
leads him to see many people, he might procure you a
number of subscribers, and I asked him to carry a subscrip
tion paper in his pocket and produce it as occasion offered,
to which he immediately consented in a way which con
vinced me he entered fully into my views. He was at my
house the other evening and showed me subscriptions for
twenty-two books. He told me ' he felt an ambition to pro
cure these for one hundred and hoped to be able to do it.' "
" He is not apt to be sanguine, and therefore I expect it."
October 27th, Belknap to Hazard : — " Since I wrote you
last week, I received yours of the Sth, and beg you will
return my most cordial thanks to Ulysses for his very kind
and generous offer.
In due course, Joseph Belknap, his eldest son, arrived in
Philadelphia and was installed in Mr. Aitken's family. The
dread of small-pox, then so prevalent in the city, must have

104 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
been a source of great solicitude, on the part of the devoted
parent, for he writes December 30th, 1783 : " God be
praised, that appearances when you wrote were so favorable,
and that he has fallen into so good hands as Dr. C,
to whom I am under sensible obligations, and wish you
would give my most respectful compliments."
January 13th, 1784, Belknap to Hazard :
" My Dear Sir :" " Yours of the 19th and 21st of Decem
ber, with Dr. Clarkson's and Mr. Aitken's and Josey's, com
ing all together, produced a flood of gratitude to our Divine
Benefactor, and to the worthy instruments which he has
been pleased to make use of in conferring benefits on me
and mine.
" It would be vain for me to attempt to express the feel
ings of my heart on this occasion ; but I shall not fail to
return my thanks to the ' beloved physician,' as well as to
the careful master, who seems to have the interest of my
son so much at heart ; and if I add that I am more than
ever attached to my first friend, who introduced me to the
others, I shall but do him justice, while I do myself peculiar
honor." The salary of Belknap was a very meagre one and could
not be collected; he was often compelled to labor in the
field to keep his family from want. At this point, January
16, 1784, Hazard writes to Belknap: "As Mr. A. and
Dr. C. appear to feel an interest in what concerns
you, I let them read your letter. They were astonished

BELKNAP AND HAZARD. 105
and as much hurt as myself, at the thought that a man of
your genius and education should be doomed to drag out
a miserable existence among such savages. The Doctor
immediately asked me if there were no vacancies within
the bounds of the Synod. It would make him very happy,
if you could be fixed in our neighborhood."
February 27th, 1784, Belknap replies : — " I am much
obliged to you and Clarkson and Mr. Aitken, for your pity
and good wishes. To live in a warmer climate and among
a more polished people would be very agreeable ; but could
a man be a member of a synod without subscribing formu
laries?" Again, he says: "I cannot enough express my
gratitude to the good Ulysses, for his superlative kindness
to me and mine. How should I enjoy myself in the fre
quent company and conversation of such friends ! but this
is not the case. I have not one of the right sort within a
dozen miles of me ; I mean a sympathetic soul and con
genial soul with whom I can mix essences and talk on every
subject with equal ease and pleasure."
May 11th, 1784, he writes : — " I ought to have taken
notice of one sentiment in one of your letters, viz ; that
Ulysses and you and I would, if together, enjoy congeniality.
0, how desirable is such a situation ! I cannot but hope it
will some day or other be realized. I think on coming to
Philadelphia, with as much earnestness as the crew of
iEneas's ship did on Italy, Commodore Anson's on the
island of Juan Fernandez ;...."

106 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
A year later Hazard's duties compelled him to remove to
New York, and under date of April 16th, 1785, Belknap
writes : " Your kind attention to my son is very pleasing
to me and deserves my warmest gratitude. I am sorry, on
his account, you cannot reside at Philadelphia. To lose
one out of the few friends he has there, and the chief of
them too, is a great loss." . . . . "I cannot
help dreaming that I shall see Phiadelphia, and call on you
on my way thither ; but at present it is only a dream."
On September 17th, 1785, Dr. Belknap left home on
the journey to Philadelphia, which he had so long contem
plated. He spent some time on the way at Boston, Provi
dence, Newport and New York, where he saw his friend
Hazard. At Philadelphia, he was the guest of Mr. Aitken,
with whom his son Joseph was apprenticed. He made the
acquaintance of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson and of other well
known persons. He was absent seven weeks, reaching
home on the 5th of November.*
On December 10th 1785, Hazard writes to Belknap:
" Mr. Matthew Clarkson's daughter was married on the
24th ult, to Mr. Robert Ralston." Later on Belknap writes
to Hazard : " I do so much rejoice in the connexion formed
between us and that worthy family, for the introduction to
which I am greatly obliged to you." And again, June 21st,
1786 : " Pray give my best regards to the worthy Ulysses,
* A full account of this journey, largely narrated by himself, is told in the
admirable " Life of Dr. Belknap," by his grand-daughter, Mrs. Jules Marcou.

BELKNAP AND HAZARD. 107
and thank him for the valuable books he sent me through
your hands."
" I would write to him, and write largely on the subject
of the Common Prayer, Articles, etc., on which we dis
coursed at his house,* but he must excuse me for the
present and so must you, from being very particular and
punctual, until the grand affair of my removal from hence
is fully accomplished. The etiquette of removing a minis
ter from a parish in New England, is as tedious as obtaining
a divorce in the Spiritual Courts. . . ."
From the correspondence, up to this time, it seems that
the effort to procure the removal of Dr. Belknap and family
to Philadelphia, was still under contemplation. Hazard
writes as follows : " You left a good name in Philadelphia,
and there are some folks there who have almost as good an
opinion of you as I have."f
Belknap in reply, expresses a fondness for Philadelphia,
but nothing can exceed his attachment to his native Boston,
and he therefore accepts the invitation of the Congregational
Society to settle with them.
Within the next few months a difficulty arose between
Aitken the master and Joseph (Belknap's son), the appren
tice. Hazard, who executed the indentures, resided at this
time in New York, and Dr. Clarkson was appealed to in the
* It was about this time, that the Proposed Book was under consideration.
f My colleague has given this letter in full, in the Memoir of Matthew
Clarkson.

108 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
interest of peace. Belknap writes to Hazard : " By the last
letters received from Aitken and Josey, I find the breach
is grown so wide that they both desire a separation. A.,
by his own account, has made a very free use of ' the fist '
and the 'knotted cord,' both very bad instruments of
reformation in the hands of a perfervid Caledonian."
" This, with Master Bob's mode of correction, has entirely
disgusted Jo, and alienated his affections. One cause of
complaint is that Jo once absented from the afternoon
and evening meeting. Jo says it was in consequence of a
blow received from his master's fist, on the Sunday noon at
dinner, which gave him a black eye, and unfitted him for a
decent appearance in any worshipping assembly. Neglect
of business, and company of bad boys, form another com
plaint. Jo says his almost only companions are Oswald's
apprentices, and that they are not bad. He also says that
A. has had six apprentices and that but one ever served
his time out, and that he has shown his marks of the old
man's cruelty. A. has appealed to Dr. Clarkson, and
says that the Doctor thinks I had better remove Josey. In
this state of the controversy, I feel myself very unhappy
that I cannot be on the spot, that you are not on the spot,
and that I am not able to converse with you but by this
dilatory method of writing. To remedy as far as possible,
these inconveniences, I have taken advantage of the per
mission which passed through your hands to me, from
A., to let Jo make us a friendly visit. I have agreed

BELKNAP AND HAZARD. 109
with a Captain Dagget, who is now under sail out of this
port, to convey Jo hither. I have written to Dr. Clarkson
and Mr. Ball, desiring their advice about Jo's returning to
Philadelphia after he has been here, either to serve out
his time with A., or go to some other master there. If
they advise to his not returning at all, then I have desired
them, after examination, to certify as much as they can in
his favour, that he may be recommended to some person
here. But I had much rather he would return to Philadel
phia, if matters can be accommodated with A., or he can
get another master. I have also written with great mod
eration to A., and have advised Jo to make all proper
submissions and acknowledgments, and, if possible, part
in peace. I should be very much obliged to you if you
will write to Dr. C. and give him your ideas of what you
deem best. I am sorry to trouble you or the Doctor with
such a matter, but know not how to avoid it."
This consultation resulted in the indentures being
cancelled. From this date until 1788, the allusions to members of
the Clarkson family are brief, and in connexion with this
narrative, unimportant.
July 3, 1788, Hazard writes : " My mother continues very
ill." July 17th: " My mother is so ill that I have thought
it advisable to send for my sister from Philadelphia.
August 7th : " My good mother still languishes, and from
appearances, will leave us soon. Death will not find her

HO MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
unprepared." August 21st, 1788 : " Death has made a
breach in my family, by removing my good mother from
us. She died last Friday night, having set us a bright
example of both faith and patience."
Two years later, from New York, under date of October
4th, 1790, Hazard writes to Belknap : " I have lately been
informed of the death of the good Dr. Clarkson. He lived
an ornament to the christian name and died the death of the
righteous. No death has lately happened in which I have
felt so great a loss. However, it cannot be many years
before we shall be re-united, and the friendship begun on
earth will be perfected in Heaven." Belknap in turn writes :
" Dr. Rush has written me an excellent letter, giving me an
account of the death and character of Dr. Clarkson, of whom
he speaks in the most exalted terms, as one of the best of
men, and to whom he was greatly indebted, especially on a
religious account. One of his expressions is : ' He was
twenty years ahead of me in his attention to the one thing
needful.' " Hazard to Belknap, January 14th, 1791, writes :
" Dr. Rush has not written in too exalted terms of Dr.
Clarkson, for though his attachment to him was strong, the
Doctor's merit was equally great."

IV.

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787.
We turn now from the Belknap papers and in our search
for items of interest to make as complete as possible the
record we have in hand, there has lately come to us a work
published in Cincinnati (1888), that gives a glimpse of the
social life and customs of our ancestors in Philadelphia
in 1787.* "Philadelphia in 1787."

" Friday, July 13. The Indian Queen Tavern is situated
in Third Street, between Market Street and Chestnut Street,
and is not far from the center of the city. It is kept in an
elegant style, and consists of a large pile of buildings, with
many spacious halls, and numerous small apartments,
appropriated for lodging rooms. As soon as I had inquired
of the bar-keeper, when I arrived last evening, if I could be
* The journal of Rev. Manasseh Cutler. We quote in full from the jour
nal, vol. i, pages 253 to 285.

112 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
furnished with lodgings, a livery servant was ordered
immediately to attend me, who received my baggage from
the hostler, and conducted me to the apartment assigned by
the bar-keeper, which was a rather small but a very hand
some chamber (No. 9), furnished with a rich field bed,
bureau, table with drawers, a large looking-glass, neat
chairs and other furniture. Its front was east, and, being
in the third story, afforded a fine prospect toward the river
and the Jersey shore. The servant that attended me was a
young, sprightly, well-built black fellow, neatly dressed —
blue coat, sleeves and cape red, and buff waistcoat and
breeches, the bosom of his shirt ruffled, and hair powdered.
After he had brought up my baggage and properly deposited
it in the chamber, he brought two of the latest London
magazines and laid on the table. I ordered him to call a
barber, furnish me with a bowl of water for washing, and
to have tea on the table by the time I was dressed. My
intention was to have taken a walk, and delivered some of
my letters in the evening, but so much time was occupied
in shifting my clothes, getting from under the hands of the
barber, and taking tea, I found it too late, and besides felt
myself not a little fatigued with my day's journey, which
had been 43 miles since 10 in the morning. Distance from
New York, 95 miles, and from home, 397.
" Being told, while I was at tea, that a number of the Mem
bers of the Continental Convention, now convened in this
city for the purpose of forming a Federal Constitution,

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 113
lodged in this house, and that two of them were from
Massachusetts, immediately after tea, I sent into their Hall
(for they live by themselves) to Mr. Strong, and requested
to speak with him. We had never been personally ac
quainted, nor had I any letter to him, but we had both of
us an hearsay knowledge of each other, and Mr. Gerry had
lately mentioned to Mr. Strong that he daily expected me,
in consequence of a letter he had received from Governor
Bowdoin. Mr. Strong very politely introduced me to Mr.
Gorham, of Charlestown, Mass.; Mr. Madison and Mr.
Mason and his son, of Virginia ; Governor Martin, Hon.
Hugh Williamson, of North Carolina ; the Hon. John Rut-
ledge and Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina ; Mr. Hamilton,
of New York, who were lodgers in the house, and to several
other gentlemen who were spending the evening with
them. I spent the evening with these gentlemen very
agreeably. Mr. Strong and Mr. Gorham insisted on my sit
ting a while with them, after the other gentlemen retired,
that they might inquire with more freedom and more
minutely into state affairs in the Massachusetts. We sat
until half after one. They both of them very politely
offered to wait on me to any part of the city, and to introduce
me to any gentlemen of their acquaintance I should wish to
see. But I assured them that my business with Congress
required so speedy a return to New York that I should be
able to spend very little time in Philadelphia, and that
my introductory letters were so numerous I doubted whether
J5

114 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
I should be able to deliver them all. Mr. Strong proposed
going with me in the morning to Mr. Gerry's, as early as I
pleased, and so wished them good-night.
" I rose very early this morning, and the servant assigned
me came into the chamber before I was dressed, to know
my commands. Mr. Strong was up as early as myself, and
we took a walk to Mr. Gerry's, in Spruce street, where we
breakfasted. Few old bachelors, I believe have been more
fortunate in matrimony than Mr. Gerry. His lady is young,
very handsome, and exceedingly amiable. She appears to
be possessed of fine accomplishments. I should suppose her
not more than 17, and believe he must be turned of 55.
They have been married about eighteen months, and have
a fine son about two months old, of whom they appear both
to be extravagantly fond. Mr. Gerry has hired a house,
and lives in a family state. I was surprised to find how
early ladies in Philadelphia can rise in the morning, and
to see them at breakfast at half after five, when in Boston
they can hardly see a breakfast table at nine without falling
into hysterics. I observed to Mrs. Gerry that it seemed to be an
early hour for ladies to breakfast. She said she always rose
early, and found it conducive to her health. She was
inured to it from her childhood in New York, and that it
was the practice of the best families in Philadelphia. Mr.
Gerry had received a letter from Governor Bowdoin,
requesting that he would wait on me to Dr. Franklin's in
person, when I arrived in the city. Although I had several

Philadelphia in 1787. nd
introductory letters to the Doctor, yet I wished for the
company of some gentlemen of my acquaintance when I paid
my respects to that venerable sage. Mr. Gerry expressed a
great deal of pleasure and satisfaction in having the oppor
tunity of introducing me to the Doctor, and supposed the
best time would be about five in the afternoon — which was
agreed on.
" Mr. Strong went with me, after breakfast, to Dr. Mor
gan's, in Pine Street, to whom I had letters from Dr.
Warren, of Boston, and his brother, at Princeton. The
Doctor received me with politeness, and I had the pleasure
of introducing Mr. Strong to him, who had not been
acquainted with him. But we were very soon interrupted
with an urgent message to the Doctor to visit, instantly, a
person in a desperate situation. The Doctor, however,
while his carriage was getting ready, went with us to Dr.
Clarkson's, in the same street, where he and Mr. Strong
left me. Dr. Clarkson is one of those fine, accomplished,
benevolent characters which inspire the most exalted
ideas of human nature. I found him fully to answer the
character I had received of him. My letters to him were
from his much-esteemed friend, Mr. Belknap, and his
brother-in-law, Mr. Hazard. When he had read my letters,
he received me, not merely in the common formalities of
politeness, but with the warm affection and friendship of an
intimate acquaintance that had been long absent. When
he found my stay in the city must be very short, he dis-

116 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
missed all his business, sent his servant to inform his
patients that it was not probable he should be able to see
them on that day or the next ; if any thing special occurred,
he must be particularly informed, and devoted himself
entirely to wait on me. I was formally introduced to his
son, who had just before received Episcopal Ordination
from Dr. White, the Bishop of this State, and is about to be
settled in one of the churches in this city ; and to his three
little daughters. Mrs. Clarkson was confined above stairs
by a nervous weakness of long standing, which prevented
my seeing her. After engaging me to dine with him, he
ordered his Phaeton to be harnessed, that we might take a
general view of the city, etc. We rode out of the city on
the western side, toward the Schuylkill, and passed by the
Hospital and Bettering-house.
" We continued our route, in view of the Schuylkill, and
up the river several miles, and took a view of a number of
Country-seats, one belonging to Mr. R. Morris, the Ameri
can financier, and who is said to be possessed of the greatest
fortune in America. His country-seat is not yet completed,
but it will be superb. It is planned on a large scale, the
gardens and walks are extensive, and the villa, situated on
an eminence, has a commanding prospect down the Schuyl
kill to the Delaware.
" We returned to the northern side of the city, and passed
through the principal streets in the longest direction of the
city and parallel with the Delaware. We also passed up

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 117
and down most of the streets in the cross direction. This
gave me an opportunity of seeing the whole of the city, of
viewing it in several directions, and observing all the pub
lic buildings. In this tour I delivered most of my letters,
but had only time to deliver them, for the Doctor waited
for me in his carriage. I was therefore obliged to inform
them that my stay would be very short in the city, and was
obliged to decline all their invitations. We returned to the
Doctor's house about twelve, having rode, by the Doctor's
computation, near twenty miles. His horses were very
large and fine, and he had as much as he could well do to
rein them.
" After refreshing ourselves, we took a ramble on foot,
called on Dr. Rush, whom we fortunately found at home.
The Doctor is the complete gentleman, and one of the first
literary characters in America. After reading my letter,
and usual ceremony, he expressed much satisfaction in hav
ing an opportunity to see me, and told me he had for some
time wished for a correspondence. He thanked me very
particularly for my Botanical Paper in the Memoirs of the
American Academy, and said that Dr. Franklin and he
had desired the printers of the Columbian Magazine to
publish the extracts from it, which had appeared in that
publication. He approved of my plan, and appeared very
anxious that I should pursue it. He observed that they
were endeavoring to raise a fund for establishing a Botanical
Garden in that city, which he hoped they should be able to

118 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON,
effect, and assured me that I was the only person who had
been in nomination to take the superintendency, and give
the Botanical lectures to the students in Physics of the
University. This led me to inquire after Mr. Cox, the
present Professor of Botany in the University here, and to
observe that I was not so fortunate as to have a letter to
him, but wished for the favor of being introduced, as I
understood he had studied under the immediate instruction
of the great Linnseus. Both of the gentlemen readily
offered to introduce me, but both observed they believed
it would afford me very little satisfaction ; that he did not
pretend to give lectures, had never attended to the practical
part, and perhaps was not a very complete master of the
theory. Finding that they seemed inclined to keep their
Botanist out of sight, I did not insist on seeing him. But
Dr. Rush observed that Mr. Bartram had much more
botanical knowledge than Cox, and employed much of his
time in the explanation of plants. He imagined I would
be pleased with him, and wished I would find time to visit
him. Dr. Clarkson proposed a ride early the next morning
to Bartram's seat, two miles beyond the Schuylkill. Dr.
Rush said he should be very happy to accompany us, but it
was the day for his formal visit to the Hospital, which
must commence precisely at 11 o'clock, and he had some
special business to settle with the Directors, whom he had
engaged to meet at seven in the morning, and was of such a
nature that it could not be postponed. He asked me if I

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 119
had seen the hospital, or had any inclination to attend the
visitation with him. I then concluded to go out to Bartram's
with Dr. Clarkson in his Phaeton at six, and we were to
meet Dr. Rush at the Hospital at 11 o'clock, and engaged to
dine with him. We returned to Dr. Clarkson's and dined.
" Immediately after dinner we called on Mr. Peale, to see
his collection of paintings and natural curiosities. We were
conducted into a room by a boy, who told us that Mr. Peale
would wait on us in a minute or two. He desired us, how
ever, to walk into the room where the curiosities were, and
showed us a long narrow entry which led into the room. I
observed, through a glass window at my right hand, a gen
tleman close to me, standing with a pencil in one hand, and
a small sheet of ivory in the other, and his eyes directed to
the opposite side of the room, as though he was taking some
object on his ivory sheet. Dr. Clarkson did not see this
man until he stepped into the room, but instantly turned
about and came back saying, ' Mr. Peale is very busy, tak
ing the picture of something with his pencil. We will step
back into the other room and wait till he is at leisure:'
We returned through the entry, but as we entered the room
we came from, we met Mr. Peale coming to us. The Doctor
started back in astonishment, and cried out, 'Mr. Peale,
how is it possible you should get out of the other room to
meet us here ? ' Mr. Peale smiled. 'I have not been in the
other room,' says he, ' for some time.' ' No ! ' says Clark
son, ' Did not I see you there this moment, with your pencil

120 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
and ivory?' 'Why, do you think you did?' says Peale.
'Do I think I did? Yes,' says the Doctor, 'I saw you
there if I ever saw you in my life.' 'Well,' says Peale,
' let us go and see.' When we returned, we found the man
standing as before. My astonishment was now nearly equal
to that of Dr. Clarkson ; for, although I knew what I saw,
yet I beheld two men, so perfectly alike that I could not
discern the minutest difference. One of them, indeed, had
no motion ; but he appeared to me to be as absolutely alive
as the other, and I could hardly help wondering that he did
not smile or take a part in the conversation. This was a
piece of wax-work which Mr. Peale had just finished, in
which he had taken himself. So admirable a performance
must have done great honor to his genius if it had been that
of any other person, but I think it is much more extraordi
nary that he should be able so perfectly to take himself.
To what perfection is this art capable of being carried !
By this method, our particular friends and ancestors might
be preserved in perfect likeness to the latest generation.
We seem to be able in some degree to disappoint the
ravages of time, and prevent mortality itself, the common
lot of man, from concealing from us in its dreary retreats
our dearest connections. This room is constructed in a
very singular manner, for the purpose of Exhibitions,
where various scenery in paintings is exhibited in a man
ner that has a most astonishing effect. It is very long but
not very wide, has no windows, nor floor over it, but is open

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 121
up to the roof, which is two or three stories, and from above
the light is admitted in greater or less quantities at pleasure.
The walls of the room are covered with paintings, both por
trait and historic. One particular part is assigned to the
portraits of the principal American characters who appeared
on the stage during the late revolution, either in the coun
cils or armies of their country. The drapery was excellent,
and the likenesses of all of whom I had any personal
knowledge were well taken. I fancied myself introduced to
all the General Officers that had been in the field during
the war, whether dead or alive, for I think he had every
one, and to most of the members of Congress and other dis
tinguished characters. To grace his collection, he had a
number of the most distinguished clergymen in the middle
and southern states who had, in some way or other, been
active in the revolution. In other parts were a number of
fine historic pieces, executed in a masterly manner. At the
upper end of the room, General Washington, at full length
and nearly as large as the life, was placed, as President of
this sage and martial assembly. At the opposite end, under
a small gallery, his natural curiosities were arranged in a
most romantic and amusing manner. There was a mound
of earth, considerably raised and covered with green turf,
from which a number of trees ascended and branched out in
different directions. On the declivity of this mound was a
small thicket, and just below it an artificial pond ; on the
other side a number of large and small rocks of different
16

122 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
kinds, collected from different parts of the world, and repre
sented the rude state in which they are generally found. At
the foot ofthe mound were holes dug and the earth thrown
up, to show the different kinds of clay, ochre, coal, marl, etc.,
which he had collected from different parts ; also, various
ores and minerals. Around the pond was a beach, on
which was exhibited an assortment of shells of different
kinds, turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, water snakes, etc. In
the pond was a collection of fish with their skins stuffed,
water-fowls, such as the different species of geese, ducks,
cranes, herons, etc.; all having the appearance of life, for
their skins were admirably preserved. On the' mound were
those birds which commonly walk on the ground, as the
partridge, quail, heath-hen, etc.; also, different kinds of
wild animals — bear, deer, leopard, tiger, wild-cat, fox, rac
coon, rabbit, squirrel, etc. In the thickets and among the
rocks, land-snakes, rattle-snakes of an enormous size, black,
glass, striped, and a number of other snakes. The boughs
of the trees were loaded with birds, some of almost every
species in America, and many exotics. In short, it is not in
my power to give any particular account of the numerous
species of fossils and animals, but only their general
arrangement. What heightened the view of this singular
collection was that they were all real, either their substance
or their skins finely preserved. I was much mortified that
it was not in my power to see one of his exhibitions ; but
these can be performed to advantage only in the night,

Philadelphia in 1787. 1231
require very considerable and expensive preparation, and
this is not the season of the year in which they are given.
This view seems to give some idea of what can be done, but
Dr. Clarkson's account of them exceeds all credibility. Mr.
Peale's animals reminded me of Noah's Ark, into which was
received every kind of beast and creeping thing in which
there was life. But I can hardly conceive that even Noah
could have boasted of a better collection. Mr. Peale was
very complaisant, and gave us every information we desired.
He requested me to favor him with any of the animals and
fossils from this part of America, not already in his
museum, which it might be in my power to collect.
" From Mr. Peale's we went to the State House. This is a
noble building ; the architecture is in a richer and grander
style than any public building I have before seen. The
first story is not an open walk, as is usual in buildings
of this kind. In the middle, however, is a very broad cross-
aisle, and the floor above supported by two rows of pillars.
From this aisle is a broad opening to a large hall, toward
the west end, which opening is supported by arches and
pillars. In this Hall the Courts are held, and, as you pass
the aisle, you have a full view of the Court. The Supreme
Court was now sitting. This bench consists of only three
judges. Their robes are scarlet ; the lawyers', black. The
Chief Judge, Mr. McKean, was sitting with his hat on,
which is the custom, but struck me as being very odd, and
seemed to derogate from the dignity of a judge. The hall

124 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
east of the aisle, is employed for public business. The'
chamber over it is occupied by the Continental Con
vention, which is now sitting, but sentries are planted with
out and within — to prevent any person from approaching
near — who appear to be very alert in the performance of
their duty.
"We passed through this broad aisle into the Mall. It
is small, nearly square, and I believe does not contain more
than one acre. As you enter the Mall through the State
House, which is the only avenue to it, it appears to be
nothing more than a large inner Court-yard to the State
House, ornamented with trees and walks. But here is a
fine display of rural fancy and elegance. It was so lately
laid out in its present form that it has not assumed that air
of grandeur which time will give it. The trees are yet
small, but most judiciously arranged. The artificial
mounds of earth, and depressions, and small groves in the
squares have a most delightful effect. The numerous walks
are well gravelled and rolled hard ; they are all in a serpen
tine direction, which heightens the beauty and affords con
stant variety. That painful sameness, commonly to be met
with in garden-alleys, and other works of this kind, is
happily avoided here, for there are no two parts of the Mall
that are alike. Hogarth's ' Line of Beauty ' is here com
pletely verified. The public are indebted to the fertile
fancy and taste of Mr. Sam'l Vaughan, for the elegance
of this plan. It was laid out and executed under his

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 123
direction about three years ago. The Mall is at present
nearly surrounded with buildings, which stand near to the
board fence that encloses it, and the parts now vacant will,
in a short time, be filled up. On one part the Philosophical
Society are erecting a large building for holding their
meetings and depositing their Library and Cabinet. This
building is begun, and on another part, a County Court
house is now going up. But, after all the beauty and
elegance of this public walk, there is. one circumstance that
must forever be disgusting, and must greatly diminish the
pleasure and amusement which these walks would other
wise afford. At the foot of the Mall, and opposite to the
Court-house, is the Prison, fronting directly to the Mall. It
is very long and high, I believe, four stories, and built of
stone. The building itself, which is elegant, would appear
well, were it not for its unsavory contents. Your ears are
constantly insulted with their Billingsgate language, or
your feelings wounded with their pitiful complaints. Their
long reed poles, with a little cap of cloth at the end, are
constantly extended over into the Mall, in order to receive
your charity, which they are incessantly begging. And if
you refuse them, they load you with the most foul and hor
rid imprecations. In short, whatever part of the Mall you
are in, this cage of unclean birds is constantly in your view,
and their doleful cries attacking your ears.
" We next made a visit to the University. On our way
we called at Dr. Ewing's, the Provost of the University, who

126 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
was gone with Mr. Rittenhouse and Mr. Hutchins to settle
the line between New York and Massachusetts, and whom I
had seen at New York. Dr. Ewing gave me a letter to his
lady, which I delivered. She told me that she had already
received a letter from the Doctor, informing her that I
should be in the city that week, and that I had given him
encouragement, if I spend the Sabbath in Philadelphia, of
supplying his Pulpit, for the Doctor is not only the Presi
dent of the University, but the minister of one of the largest
congregations in the city. I assured Mrs. Ewing that it
would not be in my power to supply his Desk, as I was
absolutely obliged to leave the city the next day. The
University is near the Doctor's house. It is a pretty large,
but an old and odd-built fabric. It makes no appearance,
and the accommodations are very indifferent. The hall is
the most elegant part ; it is pretty large, handsomely orna
mented, and the inside work consists of considerable carv
ing, in an old-fashioned style. There are very few students
that reside within the walls, not more than fifty ; but if you
inquire the number of students that belong to the Univer
sity, they will tell you between three and four hundred, for
all the principal schools in the city come within the limits
of the charter of the University, and are under its govern
ment, and scholars belonging to them are admitted to
Degrees, after having made proper proficiency in science.
This University was originally designed for educating stu
dents in Physics only, and was established by Episcopalians

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 127
and Quakers, but, since the Revolution, the charter and
privileges are extended, and it furnishes many young gen
tlemen for the desk and the bar. The endowments are
very ample, supporting a large number of professors. The •
shortness of my time did not admit my calling on any of
them. We waited on only two of the tutors. The Library
is very small, consisting only of a few antiquated authors,
and the apparatus not much better. Mr. Rittenhouse's
orrery is the only instrument worthy of notice ; the Cabinet
is trifling. But the want of these in the University is
pretty well supplied by the large and valuable collection of
books, instruments, and natural curiosities in Carpenters'
Hall. " From the University we went through those streets
where the Meeting Houses and Churches are situated, and
took a view of them. The principal are the two large
Meeting Houses belonging to Dr. Ewing and Dr. Sproat;
two Churches, the one where Bishop White officiates, and
the other, that of the late Mr. Duche. There are a great
number of other houses of Worship of different demomina-
tions, beside the Roman Catholic Church, and a Synagogue
of the Jews. In our ramble we called a few minutes on
Bishop White, who was just going out, and we did not
detain him, for we had but a moment's time. I also called
a minute on Dr. Sproat, to whom I had letters. He is
between seventy and eighty, and the very picture of Father
Rogers, of Ipswich. The old gentleman urged us exceed-

128 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
ingly to tarry, but it was not in our power. He is the
minister of the Meeting House built for the famous Gilbert
Tennent, and his immediate successor, but has now a col
league settled with him. Our next call was on Mr. John
Vaughan, son of Samuel Vaughan, Esq., and the brother of
my friends, Charles and Samuel Vaughan. I had letters to
the old gentleman, but, very unfortunately for me, he was
gone on a journey into the Ohio country. The young gen
tleman, however, received me with every expression of
warmest friendship, urged me to take lodgings with him,
and dismissed all business, to devote himself to me. He
mentioned his brothers having often spoken of their ac
quaintance with me, and was acquainted with the corres
pondence which his brother Samuel and I had continued
from our first acquaintance. He is not married, and,
since his mother and sisters went to London in the Spring
with his brother Samuel, he and his father keep bachelors'
hall in a very elegant home in fore street. He is in a very
large circle of trade, in partnership with another young
gentleman. I informed him of my engagement to go with
Mr. Gerry to Dr. Franklin's, and that the hour was then
arrived. He could not be denied the pleasure, he said, of
going with us, for Dr. Franklin he considered as his father,
having lived a number of years with him, and the two
families were so strongly connected that they considered
themselves as one and the same.
"When we came to Mr. Gerry's he was waiting for us;

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 129
but, as he supposed we had time enough, and feeling my
self much fatigued, we sat about half an hour. There were
two young ladies by the name of Hamlinton on a visit to
Mr. Gerry. They were dressed very rich indeed, but were
entirely sociable and agreeable. Mr. Vaughan took a large
share in the conversation, and with his easy and natural
pleasantry, kept us in a burst of laughter. I knew that Mr.
Vaughan was not acquainted with Mr. Gerry. I therefore
introduced him, which Mr. Gerry likewise did to his lady
and the company. But I immediately supposed the young
ladies, from his instant and free sociability, were of his
most intimate acquaintance. He appeared to me to know
everything about them and every body else that was men
tioned in the course of the conversation. But, on our way
to Dr. Franklin's, he asked me if those young ladies were of
my acquaintance, and what were their names, for they had
slipped his memory. This excited my astonishment. I
asked him if he had never seen them before. He said no,
and he was sure they did not belong to Philadelphia, or he
certainly should have had some knowledge of them. Mr.
Mr. Gerry informed us they were from New York, and of
Mrs. Gerry's particular acquaintance. What advantages
are derived from a finished education and the best of com
pany! How does it banish that awkward stiffness, so
common when strangers meet in company ! How does it
engage the most perfect strangers in all the freedom of an

130 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
easy and pleasing sociability, common only to the most
intimate friends !
" Dr. Franklin lives in Market Street, between Second
and Third Streets, but his house stands up a court-yard at
some distance from the street. We found him in his
Garden, sitting upon a grass plat under a very large Mul
berry, with several other gentlemen and two or three ladies.
There was no curiosity in Philadelphia which I felt so
anxious to see as this great man, who has been the wonder
of Europe as well as the glory of America. But a man who
stood first in the literary world, and had spent so many
years in the Courts of Kings, particularly in the refined
Court of France, I conceived would not be of very easy
access, and must certainly have much of the air of grandeur
and majesty about him. Common folks must expect only
to gaze at him at a distance, and answer such questions as
he might please to ask. In short, when I entered his
house, I felt as if I was going to be introduced to the pres
ence of an European Monarch. But how were my ideas
changed, when I saw a short, fat, trunched old man, in a
plain Quaker dress, bald pate, and short white locks, sitting
without his hat under the tree, and, as Mr. Gerry intro
duced me, rose from his chair, took me by the hand,
expressed his joy to see me, welcomed me to the city, and
begged me to seat myself close to him. His voice was low,
but his countenance open, frank and pleasing. He instantly
reminded me of the old Captain Cummings, for he is nearly

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 13l
of his pitch, and no more of the air of superiority about
him. I delivered him my letters. After he had read them,
he took me again by the hand, and, with the usual compli
ments, introduced me to the other gentlemen of the com
pany, who were most of them members of the Convention.
Here we entered into a free conversation, and spent our
time most agreeably until it was dark. The tea-table was
spread under the tree, and Mrs. Bache, who is the only
daughter of the Doctor and lives with him, served it
out to the company. She had three of her children
about her, over whom she seemed to have no kind of
command, but who appeared to be excessively fond of
their Grandpapa. The Doctor showed me a curiosity he
had just received, and with which he was much pleased.
It was a snake with two heads, preserved in a large
vial. It was taken near the confluence of the Schuylkill
with the Delaware, about four miles from this city. It
was about ten inches long, well proportioned, the heads
perfect, and united to the body about one-fourth of an
inch below the extremities of the jaws. The snake was
of a dark brown, approaching to black, and the back beau
tifully speckled (if beauty can be applied to a snake) with
white ; the belly was rather checkered with a reddish color
and white. The Doctor supposed it to be full grown, which
I think appears probable, and thinks it must be a sui generis
of that class of animals. He grounds his opinion of its not
being an extraordinary production, but a distinct genus, on

132 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
the perfect form of the snake, the probability of its being of
some age, and having been found a snake entirely similar
(of which the Doctor has a drawing, which he showed us)
near Lake Champlain, in the time of the late war. The
Doctor mentioned the situation of this snake, if it was
travelling among bushes, and one head should choose to go
on one side of the stem of a bush and the other head should
prefer the other side, and that neither of the heads would
consent to come back or give way to the other. He was then
going to mention a humorous matter that had that day
taken place in Convention, in consequence of his comparing
the snake to America, for he seemed to forget that every
thing in Convention was to be kept a profound secret ; but
the secrecy of Convention matters was suggested to him,
which stopped him, and deprived me of the story he was
going to tell. After it was dark, we went into the house,
and the Doctor invited me into his library, which is like
wise his study. It is a very large chamber, and high
studded. The walls were covered with book-shelves filled
with books ; besides, there are four large alcoves, extending
two-thirds of the length of the Chamber, filed in the same
manner. I presume this is the largest, and by far the best,
private library in America. He showed us a glass machine
for exhibiting the circulation of the blood in the arteries
and veins of the human body. The circulation is exhibited
by the passing of a red fluid from a reservoir into numerous
capillary tubes of glass, ramified in every direction, and

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 133
then returning in similar tubes to the reservoir, which was
done with great velocity, without any power to act visibly
on the fluid, and had the appearance of perpetual motion.
Another great curiosity was a rolling press, for taking the
copies of letters or any other writing. A sheet of paper is
completely copied in less than two minutes, the copy as fair
as the original, and without effacing it in the smallest
degree. It is an invention of his own, and extremely use
ful in many situations in life. He also showed us his long
artificial arm and hand, for taking down and putting books
up on high shelves which are out of reach ; and his great
armed chair, with rockers, and a large fan placed over it,
with which he fans himself, keeps off the flies, etc., while he
sits reading, with only a small motion of his foot ; and
many other curiosities and inventions, all his own, but of
lesser note. Over his mantel-tree, he has a prodigious
number of medals, busts, and casts in wax or plaster of
Paris, which are the effigies of the most noted characters in
Europe. But what the Doctor wished principally to show to
me was a huge volume on Botany, and which, indeed,
afforded me the greatest pleasure of any one thing in his
library. It was a single volume, but so large that it was
with great difficulty that the Doctor was able to raise it
from a low shelf and lift it on to the table ; but with that
senile ambition common to old people, he insisted on doing
it himself, and would permit no person to assist him,
merely to show us how much strength he had remaining.

134 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
It contained the whole of Linnaeus Systema Vegetabilia,
with large cuts of every plant, and colored from nature. It
was a feast to me, and the Doctor seemed to enjoy it as well
as myself. We spent a couple of hours in examining this
volume, while the other gentlemen amused themselves with
other matters. The Doctor is not a Botanist, but lamented
that he did not in early life attend to this science. He
delights in natural history, and expressed an earnest wish
that I would pursue the plan I had begun, and hoped this
science, so much neglected in America, would be pursued
with as much ardor here as it is now in every part of
Europe. I wanted for three months at least to have devoted
myself entirely to this one volume. But fearing I should
be tedious to the Doctor, I shut up the volume, though he
urged me to examine it longer. The Doctor seemed
extremely fond, through the course of the visit, of dwelling
on Philosophical subjects, and particularly that of natural
History, while the other Gentlemen were swallowed up with
politics. This was a favorable circumstance to me, for
almost the whole of his conversation was addressed to me ;
and I was highly delighted with the extensive knowledge
he appeared to have of every subject, the brightness of his
memory, and clearness and vivacity of all his mental facul
ties. Notwithstanding his age (eighty-four), his manners
are perfectly easy, and every thing about him seems to
diffuse an unrestrained freedom and happiness. He has an
incessant vein of humor, accompanied with an uncommon

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 13S
vivacity, which seems as natural and involuntary as his
breathing. He urged me to call on him again, but my
short tarry would not admit. We took our leave at ten,
and I retired to my lodgings.
"The gentlemen who lodged in the house were just
sitting down to supper ; a sumptuous table was spread, and
the attendance in the style of noblemen. After supper, Mr.
Strong came in and invited me into their Hall, where we
sat till twelve. Mentioning my engagement the next
morning, Governor Martin, Mr. Mason, Mr. Strong, and
several of the other gentlemen wished to be of our party,
but would have preferred an earlier hour than six, on
account of returning in season to attend the Convention.
They wished to know if 5 o'clock would not be agreeable to
us. As the matter lay with Dr. Clarkson, I sent a servant
to know if it would be agreeable to go out of the city at five
in the morning. He returned me an answer that he should
on his own part prefer five to six, and would be happy to
be favored with the company of the other gentlemen. We
then agreed that the first who awaked in the morning
should call the servants, the gentlemen having already
ordered them to have two coaches harnessed by 5 o'clock,
but were doubtful whether they would awake in season.
" July 14. As my chamber fronted to the east, and hav
ing my mind much engaged, I awoke just as the first
dawning appeared and rung for a servant. When I had
given him his orders, I took a walk to the Market, while

136 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
the carriages were getting ready. It was then so dark that I
could not distinctly see a man but a few rods ; but, to my
astonishment, found more than 100 people in the market,
and crowds coming from every street. The market is
considered by many as the greatest curiosity in the city. It
is a building of near half a mile in length, of one story
high, supported by brick pillars at a small distance, the
distance between them being open ; but a vacancy is left for
the cross streets, of equal width with the streets. The floor
is raised about two feet above the level of the street. It is
perfectly straight, in the center of Market Street, which is
100 feet wide, and is nearly in the center of the city. The
part of the market near the river is devoted to fish of
various kinds, the other parts to meat. The butter markets
are next the houses, in several clusters. Along the sides of
the houses in this, and for some distance in the cross streets,
are arranged the vegetables and fruits. Every thing is
adjusted in perfect order, and as neat and clean as a dining-
hall. By the time it was fair daylight, the marketers
seemed to be all in and every thing arranged. The crowds
of purchasers filled every avenue so that it was almost
impossible to pass. The stalls were furnished with excel
lent meat, and there was every kind of vegetable and fruit
which the season afforded. The crowds of people seemed
like the collection at the last day, for there was of every
rank and condition in life from the highest to the lowest,

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 137
male and female, of every age and every color. Several of
the market women who sold fruit, I observed, had their
infants in their arms and their children about them, and
there seemed to be some of every nation under Heaven.
The ladies, indeed, are the principal purchasers, but are in
a dress not easily to be known by their most intimate
acquaintance, and are always attended by a servant with his
basket. What would the delicate Boston ladies think, if
they were to be abroad at this hour? There is, I presume, as
much real delicacy in Philadelphia as Boston. All, by this
time, was bustle and hurry. A buzzing murmur of voices
resounded through the crowds, but no clamorous noise nor
crying of wares of any kind. This scene was so novel that
I could not deny myself the pleasure of attending to it for
a little time. I made myself very busy in traversing from
one end of the market to the other, viewing every thing
that was going on, and gazing at the numerous strange faces
which appeared wherever I turned my eyes. At length I
found myself obliged to give up this pleasure for the enjoy
ment of another.
"When I returned, I found the gentlemen in their carriages
and wondering what had become of me. I went on to Dr.
Clarkson's, and desired them to follow. His carriage had
just come out of the yard. We stepped in, and his son ac
companied us on horseback. We crossed the Schuylkill, at
what is called the lower ferry, over the floating bridge, to
Gray's tavern, and, in about two miles, came to Mr. Bart-

138 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
ram's seat. We alighted from our carriages, and found our
company were: Mr. Strong, Governor Martin, Mr. Mason
and son, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Rutledge, and
Mr. Hamilton, all members of Convention, Mr. Vaughan,
and Dr. Clarkson and son. Mr. Bartram lives in an ancient
Fabric, built with stone, and very large, which was the seat
of his father. His house is on an eminence fronting to the
Schuylkill, and his garden is on the declivity of the hill
between his house and the river. We found him, with
another man, hoeing in his garden, in a short jacket and
trowsers, and without shoes or stockings. He at first stared
at us, and seemed to be somewhat embarrassed at seeing so
large and gay a company so early in the morning. Dr.
Clarkson was the only person he knew, who introduced me
to him, and informed him that I wished to converse with
him on botanical subjects, and, as I lived in one of the
Northern States, would probably inform him of trees and
plants which he had not yet in his collection ; that the other
gentlemen wished for the pleasure of a walk in his garden.
I instantly entered on the subject of botany with as much
familiarity as possible, and inquired after some rare plants
which I had heard that he had. He presently got rid of
his embarrassment, and soon became very sociable, which
was more than I expected, from the character I had heard
of the man. I found him to be a practical botanist, though
he seemed to understand little of the theory. We ranged
the several alleys, and he gave me the generic and specific

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 139
names, place of growth, properties, etc., so far as he knew
them. This is a very ancient garden, and the collection is
large indeed, but is made principally from the Middle and
Southern States. It is finely situated, as it partakes of every
kind of soil, has a fine stream of water, and an artificial
pond, where he has a good collection of aquatic plants.
There is no situation in which plants or trees are found but
that they may be propagated here in one that is similar.
But every thing is very badly arranged, for they are neither
placed ornamentally nor botanically, but seemed to be
jumbled together in heaps. The other gentlemen were very
free and sociable with him, particularly Governor Martin,
who has a smattering of botany and a fine taste for natural
history. There are in this garden some very large trees
that are exotic, particularly an English oak, which he
assured me was the only one in America. He had the Paw
paw tree, or Custard apple. It is small, though it bears
fruit ; but the fruit is very small. He has also a large num
ber of aromatics, some of them trees, and some plants. One
plant I thought equal to cinnamon. The Franklin tree is
very curious. It has been found only on one particular
spot in Georgia. His cider-press is singular ; the channel
for the stone wheel to run in for grinding the apples is cut
out of a solid rock ; the bottom of the press is a solid rock,
and has a square channel to carry off the juice, from which
it is received into a stone reservoir or vat. From the house
is a walk to the river, between two rows of large, lofty trees,

140 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
all of different kinds, at the bottom of which is a summer-
house on the bank, which here is a ledge of rocks, and so
situated as to be convenient for fishing in the river, where
a plenty of several kinds of fish may be caught. Mr. Bart
ram showed us several natural curiosities in the place where
he keeps his seeds ; they were principally fossils. He ap
peared fond of exchanging a number of his trees and plants
for those which are peculiar to the Northern States. We
proposed a correspondence, by which we could more
minutely describe the productions peculiar to the Southern
and Northern States.
" About nine, we took our leave of Mr. Bartram, who
appeared to be well pleased with his visitors, and returned
to Gray's tavern, where we breakfasted. This tavern is on
the south side of the Schuylkill, at the foot of the floating
bridge. The land near the river is broken and rocky,
though the rocks are mostly large, and the soil excellent.
These rocks seem to be a species of freestone, that may be
easily wrought into any form. There we were entertained
with scenes romantic and delightful beyond the power of
description. I know not how nor where to begin or end,
nor can I give the faintest idea of this prodigy of art and
nature. I will, however, attempt some account of it, to
assist my own recollection. Nothing appears from the house,
or in passing the street, that would attract the attention of
the most inquisitive traveler, unless it be a flight of steps
cut out of the solid rock at the east end of the house, by

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 141
which you ascend to a beautiful grass plat, shaded with a
number of large trees, in the rear of the house. This house
in front is three stories, in the rear but two, for the back
part of the lower story is underground. The house is a
large pile of buildings, mostly old, but with some new addi
tions. From this grass plat we went into a piazza one story
high, next the street, very pleasant, as it is in full view of
the river. Here we breakfasted. After breakfast, Mr.
Vaughan invited us to take a view of the Gardens. We
returned to the grass plat, from which we ascended several
glaces by a serpentine gravel walk, and came to the Green
house. It is a very large stone building, three stories in the
front and two in the rear. The one-half of the house is
divided lengthwise, and the front part is appropriated to a
green-house, and has no chamber floors. It is finished in
the completest manner for the purpose of arranging trees
and plants in the most beautiful order. The windows are
enormous. I believe some of them to be twenty feet in
length, and proportionably wide. There is a fine gallery
next the other part of the house, where company may view
the vegetables to the best advantage. At this time, the trees
and plants were removed into the open air, and the room
whitewashed and as neat as a parlor. The other part of the
house, which communicates with the gallery, is divided into
Halls and small apartments, for the accommodation of
several large companies (who would not wish to have inter
course) at the same time. All these apartments are hand-

142 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
somely furnished. On the top of the house is a spacious
walk, where we had a delightful view of the city of Phila
delphia. We then took a view of the contents of the green
house, beautifully arranged in the open air on the south of
the garden. Here were most of the trees and fruits that
grow in the hottest climates. Oranges, lemons, etc, in every
stage from blossoms to ripe fruit ; pine-apples in bloom, and
those that were fully ripe. The flowers were numerous and
extremely fragrant. We then rambled over the Gardens,
which are large — seemed to be in a number of detached
areas, all different in size and form. The alleys were none
of them straight, nor were there any two alike. At every
end, side and corner, there were summer-houses, arbors
covered with vines or flowers, or shady bowers encircled
with trees and flowering shrubs, each of which was formed
in a different taste. In the borders were arranged every
kind of flower, one would think, that nature had ever pro
duced, and with the utmost display of fancy, as well as
variety. As we were walking on the northern side of the
Garden, upon a beautiful glacis, we found ourselves on the
borders of a grove of wood and upon the brow of a steep
hill. Below us was a deep, shady valley, in the midst of
which was a purling stream of water, meandering among
the rocks in its way down to the river. At a distance, we
could just see three very high arched bridges, one beyond
the other. They were built in the Chinese style; the rails
on the sides open work of various figures, and beautifully

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 143
painted. We saw them through the grove, the branches of
the trees partly concealing them, which produced the more
romantic and delightful effect. As we advanced on the
brow of this hill, we observed a small foot-path, which led
by several windings into the grove. We followed it ; and
though we saw that it was the work of art, yet it was a most
happy imitation of nature. It conducted us along the
declivity of the hill, which on every side was strewed with
flowers in the most artless manner, and evidently seemed to
be the bounty of nature without the aid of human care.
At length we seemed to be lost in the woods, but saw in the
distance an antique building, to which our path led us. It
is built of large stones, very low and singular in its form,
standing directly over the brook in the valley. It instantly
struck me with the idea of a hermitage, and I found that so
it was called. Every thing was neat and clean about it, but
we saw no inhabitant. We ventured, however, to open the
door, which was large and heavy and seemed to grate upon
its rusty hinges, and echoed a hoarse groan through the
grove. We found several apartments, and at one end a fine
place for bathing, which seems to be the design of the
building. At this hermitage we came into a spacious
graveled walk, which directed its course further along the
grove, which was tall wood interspersed with close thickets
of different growth. As we advanced, we found our gravel
walk dividing itself into numerous branches, leading into
different parts of the grove. We directed our course nearly

144 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
north, though some of our company turned into the other
walks, but were soon out of sight, and thought proper to
return and follow us. We at length came to a considerable
eminence, which was adorned with an infinite variety of
beds of flowers and artificial groves of flowering shrubs.
On the further side of the eminence was a fence, beyond
which we perceived an extensive but narrow opening.
When we came to the fence, we were delightfully astonished
with the view of one of the finest cascades in America,
which presented itself directly before us at the further end
of the opening. A broad sheet of water comes over a large
horizontal rock, and falls about seventy feet perpendicular.
It is in a large river, which empties into the Schuylkill just
above us. The distance we judged to be about a quarter of
a mile, which being seen through the narrow opening in the
tall grove, and the fine mist that rose incessantly from the
rocks below, had a most delightful effect. Here we gazed
with admiration and pleasure for some time, and then took
a different route in our return through the grove, and
followed a walk that led down toward the Schuylkill. Here
the scene was varied. Toward the river the lands were
more broken. The walks were conducted in every direc
tion, over little eminences, or along their sides, or through
a deep bottom or along a valley, with numerous other walks
coming in or going out from the one that we followed.
Indeed, the walks were nearly alike, only leading in
different directions. This piece of ground in some parts is

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 145
extremely rude, but those parts are improved to the best
advantage ; for here we found Grottoes wrought out of the
sides of ledges of rocks, the entrance almost obscured by
the shrubs and thickets that were placed before them, and
the passage into them by a kind of labyrinth. There were
several other hermitages, constructed in different forms ;
but the Grottoes and Hermitages were not yet completed,
and some space of time will be necessary to give them that
highly romantic air which they are capable of attaining.
We crossed the deep valley with the purling stream at the
lower end, next to the river, where we had a fine view of
the lofty Chinese bridges above us. Here is a curious laby
rinth with numerous windings begun, and extends along
the declivity of the hill towards the gardens, but has hardly
yet received its form. At the bottom of the vale, and on
the bank of the river, is a huge rock, which I judged to be
at least fifteen feet high, and surrounded with tall spruces
and cedars. On the top of it I observed a spacious summer-
house, as I supposed, for I could see it only through the
boughs of the trees. The roof was in the Chinese form. It
was surrounded with rails of open work, and a beautiful
winding staircase led up to it.
" From this valley we ascended a steep precipice on to the
grass plat in the rear of the house from which we set out.
During the whole of this romantic, rural scene, I fancied
myself on enchanted ground, and could hardly help looking
out for flying dragons, magic castles, little Fairies, Knight-
"9

146 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
errants, distressed Ladies, and all the apparatus of eastern
fable. I found my mind really fatigued with so long a scene
of pleasure. This tract of ground, in some parts, consists of
gentle risings and depressions ; in others, hills and vales ;
and in others, rocky, rude, and broken. There is every
variety that imagination can conceive, but the whole im
proved and embellished by art, and yet the art so blended
with nature as hardly to be distinguished, and seems to be
only an handmaid to her operations. On the side of the
road opposite to the house is a high hill, which ends
abruptly next the river, in a large extended rock, twenty
feet high. In this rock a flight of steps is cut, in a winding
or kind of lunette form, from the road to the top of the hill,
wide enough for two or three persons to walk abreast, with
little gutters on each side to conduct the water that runs
down. At the summit of the hill you enter a grove of wal
nuts, oaks, and pines, under which are arranged benches
for one hundred people to sit, several long tables, etc. This
is the only work of art on this hill. But, under the trees
and on the sides of the hill, are many blueberry, whortle
berry, and bilberry bushes, raspberries, blackberries, and
some other kinds of wild fruit. It affords a fine prospect
down the Schuylkill and its opposite shore.
" This tavern used to be no more than a common Inn, but
Mr. Samuel Vaughan, Sr., when he came from England a
few years ago, was charmed with the situation, advised the
present owner, who had just purchased it, and was an

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 147
ambitious young fellow, to undertake these works, assuring
him he would soon reimburse his expenses and accumulate
a large estate from the company he would draw from Phila
delphia. Mr. Vaughan promised to plan the works and
furnish him with a gardener from England who would
answer his purpose. This gardener is now with him, and
he constantly employs about ten laborers under the gar
dener's direction. The company from Philadelphia, we are
told, far exceeded the Innkeeper's expectations, and he
finds himself in a fair way to make a fortune. Mr.
Vaughan was so generous as to insist on paying my bill.
We returned to Philadelphia between ten and eleven.
When we came to the Hospital, Dr. Clarkson left me, and
went into the city on his son's horse. Young Mr. Clarkson
conducted me into the hospital. Dr. Rush arrived in a few
minutes after. This building is in the form, as you
approach it from the city, of an inverted J-. It is sur
rounded with a high wrall, and has back of it a very large
kitchen-garden. The door in the center opens into a large
hall. On each end are apartments for the nurses, cooks, etc.
We ascended the stairway out of this hall into another hall
in the second story, at one end of which is a large room,
which contains a fine medical library, where the Directors
were sitting, and a smaller room, where the medicine is
placed. On the opposite end are the apartments for the
attending Physicians. The third story is formed in the
same manner. On one side of this hall is the Museum,

148 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
where there is a collection of skeletons and anatomies.
. It is also furnished with a number of preparations
and preservations relating to Physics and Surgery.
" After we had taken a view of the Museum, we returned
to the upper Hall, where several Physicians and all the
young students in Physic in the City were waiting. Dr.
Rush then began his examination of the sick, attended by
these gentlemen, which I judged to be between twenty and
thirty. We entered the upper chamber of the sick, which
is the leg of the T. It is a spacious room, finely ventilated
with numerous large windows on both sides. There were
two tiers of beds, with their heads toward the walls, and a
chair and small table between them. The room was
exceedingly clean and nice, the beds and bedding appeared
to be of a good quality, and the most profound silence and
order were preserved upon the Doctor's entering the room.
There were only women, and about forty in number. Dr.
Rush makes his visits with a great deal of formality. He
is attended by the attending Physician who gives him an
account of every thing material since he saw them last, and
by the Apothecary of the Hospital, who minutes his Pres
criptions. In every case worthy of notice, he addresses the
young Physicians, points out its nature, the probable ten
dency, and the reason for the mode of treatment which he
pursues. On this occasion the Doctor was particularly
attentive and complaisant to me, and seemed to consider
me as a Physician.

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 149
" From this room we went to the next below it, which is
in every respect similar. It is appropriated to the men.
He began, as before, on one side, and went around the room.
Every patient is on his own bed or chair. Most of the cases
were chronic, many of them swellings and ulcerations, and
some of them very singular ; but I have not time to des
cribe them. Their dressings were all ready to be taken off
and exposed to view the instant the Doctor came to them.
These he imputed to their drinking spirituous liquors, and
- did not fail to remind them of it. He told me the greater
proportion of his patients in the city were similar cases,
and originated from the same cause. There were between
forty and fifty in this room. We next took a view of the
Maniacs. Their cells are in the lower story, which is partly
underground. These cells are about ten feet square, made
as strong as a prison. On the back part is a long entry,
from which a door opens into each of them ; in each door
is a hole, large enough to give them food, etc., which is
closed with a little door secured with strong bolts. On the
opposite side is a window, and large iron grates within to
prevent their breaking the glass. They can be darkened at
pleasure. Here were both men and women, between twenty
and thirty in number. Some of them have beds ; most of
them clean straw. Some of them were extremely fierce and
raving, nearly or quite naked ; some singing and dancing ;
some in despair ; some were dumb and would not open their

150 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
mouths ; others incessantly talking. It was curious indeed
to see in what different strains their distraction raged. This
would have been a melancholy scene indeed, had it not been
that there was every possible relief afforded them in the
power of man. Every thing about them, notwithstanding
the labor and trouble it must have required, was neat and
clean. From this distressing view of what human nature
is liable to, and the pleasing evidence of what humanity
and benevolence can do, we returned to the room where the
Directors were. The scene I had now been attending upon
was totally the reverse of that at Gray's ; but such is the
elegance of these buildings, the care and attention to the
sick, the spacious and clean apartments, and the perfect
order in every thing, that it seemed more like a palace than
a hospital, and one would almost be tempted to be sick, if
they could be so well provided for.
" We then took a view of the bettering house, which is a
large and spacious building, with good rooms and well fur
nished. The Garden is large and laid out in a pretty form ;
abounds with fruit trees and kitchen vegetables. We re
turned to the city with Dr. Rush, and Dr. Clarkson and son
and myself dined with him.
" Soon after dinner, the bell of the Church near Carpen
ter's Hall rang, which informed us that the Library of the
Hall was open, for the purpose of receiving and delivering
books. We immediately repaired to it, as it was a favorable

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 151
opportunity for viewing every part. It is a very large
building, erected by a number of wealthy mechanics, prin
cipally Carpenters, for the purpose of holding meetings,
depositing mechanic models, and a library of books. It is
now grown into one of the most important depositories in
America. The University literati and men of fortune are
become proprietors. As we entered the Hall, we went into
a spacious middle entry, and turned to our right into the
part of the Hall where the models of mechanical instru
ments and various kinds of machines are deposited. The
room was very high and large, and contained models of
almost every kind of farming instruments, such as plows,
harrows, hoes, spades, carts, wagons, etc., constructed in
different forms, some in full size, others in miniature ;
models of all kinds of mills, machines for cleaning grain,
dressing flax, hemp, etc. ; models in the several orders of
Architecture, and various other mechanical instruments,
more than I am able to recollect. It is easy to conceive of
the great utility of such a cabinet. Every ingenious man
has a kind of bounty offered for the exertion of his inven
tive faculties, for here he may deposit his invention, which
he may be assured will be received with particular attention
and respect to him ; and he has the prospect, if he is unable
himself to carry it into experiment and use, that somebody
else will do it, while he secures to himself the honor of the

132 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
invention, and satisfaction of rendering service, if it suc
ceeds, to his fellow creatures.
" We passed from this room through the entry into the
one opposite, which is of the same dimensions. This room
will be famous as long as it is in existence ; for in this room
the Declaration of the Independence of the United States
of America was framed, signed, and declared by Congress.
It is now improved as the depository of the Trophies of
War which established and crowned that bold and glorious
Declaration. These Trophies consist of pieces of Cannon,
small-arms, side-arms of officers and men, Colors, standards,
tents, military chests, and all the various accoutrements of
officers and men ; and many complete uniforms of different
regiments, from field officers down to privates, collected
principally from the two captured armies of Burgoyne and
Cornwallis. There are also in this collection several troph
ies captured by partisans of the American Army, in bold
and desperate attempts, displayed in honor to those Heroes
who obtained them. We then ascended a staircase to the
room over the trophies of war, which is the library. This
is a large and excellent collection, and is now become the
public library of the University and the city. Every
modern author of any note, I am told, is to be met with
here, and large additions are annually made. The books
appeared to be well arranged and in good order. But the
number of books, and the arrangement, are not so large nor

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787 153
so ornamental as the library at Cambridge, but approaches
nearer to it than any other on the continent. I was pleased
with a kind of net-work doors to the book-shelves, which is
made of a large wire sufficiently open to read the labels,
but no book can be taken out unless the librarian unlocks
the door. This is a necessary security from any persons
taking books without the knowledge of the librarian. Here
were a large number of gentlemen. I was introduced to a
number of the members of the Philosophical Society.
" From the Library we were conducted into a Cabinet,
which is a large room on the opposite side of the entry, and
over the room where the Mechanical models are deposited.
Here we had the pleasure of viewing a most excellent col
lection of natural curiosities from all parts of the globe.
They are well arranged, and are contained principally on
shelves which are inclosed, having glass casements in front,
the panes of which are very large. Here is a tooth of the
large animals found in the Ohio Country, which weighs five
pounds, and a thigh bone, four feet and some inches in
length, and very thick in proportion to its length. The
articulations have a fine polish, and the body of the bone is
smooth. It is of a dark color, as is also the greater part of
the tooth, which is one of the grinders. The thigh bone
was on a high shelf, where I could not well make the
attempt to lift it ; but, by the weight of one end, which I
raised from the shelf, judged that it would scarcely be in

154 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
my power to take it up from the ground. There are several
botanical volumes in this Museum, lately published. They
are folios, and every plant is represented in large copper
plate cuts, colored from nature, very large and finely ex
ecuted. The author's name I can not recollect. They were
presents, and no person is to be permitted to take them out,
but may examine them here as much as they please. For
this reason they are in the Museum, and not in the Library.
After we had taken a view of this Hall, I took my leave
of Dr. Clarkson and Dr. Rush. Young Mr. Clarkson accom
panied me to my lodgings, and, in our way, I just called on
several gentlemen to whom I had letters, and took my
leave. At the Indian Queen I found Mr. Gorham, Governor
Martin, Mr. Mason, and Dr. Williamson, of the Convention.
They were so complaisant as to express much regret at my
leaving the city so soon, and complained that I had spent
no more time with them. Mr. Gorham said he could not
conceive how I came to be in so great demand in Philadel
phia, as I had never been there before, for that there had
not been ten minutes in the day but somebody was inquir
ing for me, or letters or packets were left. This, however,
was easily accounted for, from my having a very large num
ber of introductory letters, many of which I had left with a
card, without seeing the gentlemen to whom they were
addressed, and they were so complaisant as to call at my
lodgings. I found that the gentleman who was my com-

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787 133
panion from Princeton to this city had frequently called,
but I was not so happy as to see him, which I very much
regretted. " At half after six I left the city on my return. Through
misinformation, I returned the same road to Bristol which
I traveled when I went to Philadelphia, but afterward
found I might have gone through Germantown, Bethlehem,
and Easton, which would have been a more direct way to
the part of the Jerseys to which I was bound, and would
have been a very considerable gratification. My bill at the
Indian Queen, 36s. 9d.
" Philadelphia is the capital city in America. It is large,
elegant, and populous, situated on the River Delaware,
about 150 miles from the sea, with a good harbor, in which
there is a great number of large ships, besides numerous
smaller vessels of every description. It contains 10,000
houses, and covers twice the quantity of ground to that of
Boston. The State House, Hospital, and most of the other
public buildings, are magnificent, but it is singular that
there are only two steeples in the city, where there are up
ward of twenty houses for public worship. There is an
Academy belonging to the members of the Episcopal
Church, and an Infirmary which is said to be of more
utility to the city than the Hospital. There is no public
building for this institution, as it is of very recent establish
ment. There are a number of large houses contiguous to

156 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
each other, occupied as an Infirmary, where the sick,
nurses, etc., are well accommodated. Dr. Clarkson showed
me the houses, but we did not go into them. He assured
me there were more than 400 patients. It is supported by
an annual subscription, and attended by all the Physicians
in the city. No person subscribes less than one guinea, and
is allowed to recommend two persons, of their poor neigh
bors, who are provided with every thing necessary for a
sick person, together with medicine, attendance, etc. A sub
scriber of two guineas may recommend four, and a great
subscription is not limited to any particular number. Par
ticular attention is here paid to persons who have been re
duced from affluent circumstances by misfortunes. The
situation of the sick in this Infirmary is said to be equal
to that of the best private families in the city. Whatever
may be said of the private benevolence of the Philadel-
phians, there is certainly a greater display of public charity
here than in any other part of America. The streets in this
city are at right angles, the buildings on a straight line.
They are well paved, and, at a distance of ten feet from the
house, is a row of posts, and in this range of posts are all
their pumps. It is well furnished with lamps. The pave
ments between the posts and houses are laid with free-stone
or large tile, and entirely smooth, which makes the walking
on them delightful. They are kept perfectly clean, being
washed every day, and here all the foot passengers pass.

PHILADELPHIA IN 1787. 137
While I was walking with Mr. Strong, I happened to step
without the posts, and walked a few steps in the street. He
desired me to come within the posts, for he said they would
certainly call me a New England man, if I walked there.
The middle part of the streets are generally very dirty, and
the view of these extended streets interrupted frequently by
piles of various kinds of lumber. The streets parellel with
the Delaware are Water Street, next the river ; then Fore
Street, First Street, Second Street, and so on to Ninth Street,
which is the furtherest yet built upon. The streets that in
tersect these are Market Street, which is near the center of
the city ; and each way from it, they are named after some
tree, vine, or shrub. I rode to Bristol without making a
stage, and arrived about ten. Lodged at Bissennet's. Stage
twenty miles."

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V.
CENTENNIAL OF THE COLLEGE
OF PHYSICIANS.
Having referred to the first Medical Society established
in Philadelphia about 1766-7, by Dr. John Morgan, includ
ing Drs. John Kearsley, Jr., Gerardus Clarkson, James A.
Bayard, Robert Harris and George Glentworth, we give, as
of interest to the reader, an account of the proceedings on
the occurrence of the Centennial of the foundation of the
College, and extracts from the commemorative address of
the President.*
"In accordance with the plan devised by a committee,
appointed for the purpose Nov. 5, 1 885, the president of the
college, S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., LL.D., delivered a ' Com
memorative Address,' Monday, January 3, 1887, at 7.30
p. m. in Association Hall (S. E. corner of Chestnut and
Fifteenth Streets), in presence of the fellows of the college
* Transactions of the College of Physicians, Centennial volume, W. S. W.
Btischenberger, M.D.
160 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
and many distinguished guests. After the address, at nine
o'clock, there was a general reception in the hall of the
College of Physicians.
" A special meeting of the college was held at noon Tues
day, Jan. 4, 1887.
"Professor Alfred Stille, M.D., LL.D., delivered an
address, ' Reminiscences of the College.'
" Eleven recently elected associate fellows were individu
ally introduced. The president, appropriately addressing
each in turn, delivered to him a diploma of his associate
fellowship. " Then, Professor J. M. Da Costa, M.D., LL.D., welcomed
them all to the college roll in an address.
" As soon as the meeting adjourned those present were
entertained at luncheon in the department from which the
Mutter Museum had been very recently removed.
" At seven o'clock in the evening a hundred and twenty
fellows, associates and guests of the college assembled in a
hall of the Union League (Broad and Sansom Streets) and
dined. There were toasts, the loving cup was circulated,
and speeches were made. The company separated at
midnight. " From ten o'clock a. m. till five o'clock p. m. on Wednes
day and Thursday, Jan. 5th and 6th, a collection of por
traits of eminent physicians and objects of professional
interest, borrowed for the occasion, were exhibited in the
hall of the college to hundreds of visitors.

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 161
" The demonstrations of satisfaction, and the interchange
of cheering words about them, among the fellows and their
friends, because the College of Physicians of Philadelphia,
still of good repute, had attained the age of a hundred years,
closed with this display. Attention of the local public had
been attracted. The institution was published more widely
than it had been. The centennial celebration, which in no
sense affected the intrinsic worth of the college, simply made
its existence more broadly known in the community, and in
some degree spread knowledge of its value as an agency in
fostering the cultivation of medical science in many ways —
an object of much general importance, which is not justly
appreciated, nor encouraged as it deserves to be outside of
the profession.
" At the close of 1849, when the society had existed sixty-
three years, including the founders, 180 fellows had been
elected. As a rule, they were dignified men, without
exuberant estimate of themselves, and therefore free from
the littleness of self-commendation, notable for persevering
and industrious ways, probity and frugality, discernment,
caution, and professional ability, qualities which secured
general confidence and respect, and enabled them to sur
mount obstacles which insufficient means from time to time
opposed to the progress of the society. They laid the founda
tion of the respectability, the reputation of the college, and
sustained it. Its present satisfactory condition is ascribable

162 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
largely to their acumen and wisely prudent management,
without which occasion for a centennial celebration might
have never come. The building fund, started in 1849,
strengthened the attractions and ties of fellowship, and by
its completion gave stability to the institution.
" More than twenty-eight hundred dollars, contributed by
the fellows, were expended on this rare anniversary. A
comparison of the state of the college a hundred years ago
with its present condition may be interesting in this con
nection. The annual contributions paid by the fellows
during the year 1787 amounted to $54, and the entrance
fees to $216. With such moderate income the college
willingly accepted the use of a room for its meetings in the
Academy, rent free, during nearly five years. To obtain
more convenient accommodations the entrance fee was
increased to £10, or $26.66, and the annual contribution
was doubled. In December, 1791, the college leased a room
in the hall of the American Philosophical Society for three
years and a half, ending June 1 0, 1794, paying the rent for
the whole term in advance, $79.80, at the rate of little less
than $23 a year. The furniture of that room cost the
college $72.
" Neither Redman, nor Morgan, nor Shippen, nor Kuhn,
nor any founder, ever dreamed of or foresaw the day when
the college would willingly see expended in the celebration
of one anniversary of the institution five or six times as
much as the income of a whole year of that period. The

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 163
fellows of the olden time were careful that the slender income
of the college should not be expended for any purpose
unlikely to promote the objects for which the society was
instituted — to increase and diffuse knowledge of the healing
art. They did not consider that the intervention of college
festivity on any occasion was necessary to ease the task or
enhance the worth of the labors of the fellows, or promote
the interests of the institution. Their acts and words, as
the record shows, imply that such was their opinion. They
were right; but changed conditions justify different con
duct. Had they been present with us (wearing queues as of
old), they might have called our attention to the ancient
views of the college on temperance, and turned away ; or
they might have cheerfully acquiesced in the methods of
the present day, and congratulated the college on its pros
perity, the contents of its published Transactions, the posses
sion of a great library and museum; and possibly have
been pleased to join in rejoicing over the harvest grown
from seeds of their planting."

164 memoir of gerardus clarkson.
Commemorative Address,
BY
S. WEIR MITCHELL, M.D., LL.D.,
PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE.
[Delivered January 3rd, 1887.]

"We are met this evening to commemorate the hun
dredth birthday of the oldest medical society in America
which is not a State organization. New Jersey and Massa
chusetts have State societies of older date, which of necessity
met rarely, and were chiefly meant to give unity, force and
discipline to a profession, the members of which were
widely scattered over a thinly peopled country.
" One hundred years ago the grave and kindly man
whose portrait hangs above me at our meetings, met the
Fellows of this ancient College as their first President.
" In words which quaintly represent to-day my own feel
ings, John Redman expressed his sense of the honor then
conferred upon him and of the responsibility created by
such an audience ; ' for,' said he, ' when I look around me I
see so many gentlemen of character for learning, ingenuity,
and integrity in the profession and practice of physick, and
some whose talents have early called them forth into publick
notice, and offices of dignity in the medical line, and who
have conducted therein for many years so much to their
own reputation, and to the advancement and satisfaction of
their pupils and of their fellow-citizens.'

CENTENNIAL-COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 163
" At the close of his address he confesses that his mind
has taken a more serious turn and says, ' I think it is very
becoming in us at the commencement of this our Institu
tion, to acknowledge the Supreme Being to be our sovereign
lord and ruler,' and thus goes on into a simple and straight
forward prayer, ' that through all the days of this College,
they who sat about and all who are to come, publickly and
privately serve their generation faithfully, according to God's
will, that they may find rewards beyond the grave.'
" When John Redman thus seriously addressed the foun
ders of what he called a ' collegiate society,' he was sixty-five
years of age. He was born forty-one years after William
Penn laid out this city. The men he so feelingly counselled
were all his juniors. He looked back over the larger part
of a century, during which his newborn country had leaped
to sturdy life, and set an example that had helped to bring
unthought-of changes to its great European ally — a century
of disturbing political and social thought — fertile in revolu
tionary activities.
" To understand the men over whom he presided, to com
prehend the inheritance of examples they left us, to realize
above all how peculiar have been the relations of the physi
cian to the social and political existence of Philadelphia, it
is necessary to look back through the century which pre-
ceeded the foundation of this College.
"The history of any profession in connection with the
progress and growth of a new country is of the utmost

166 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
interest, and of no profession is this more true than of ours.
The bar, the army, the navy, and, in other lands, the church,
have distinct natural relations to the government, but the
physician has none, and in monarchial countries this fact
has served to create for him annoying social limitations
which are but too slowly fading as communities grow into
intelligent disregard of feudal traditions. His position in
any community is a fair test of its good sense. But in new
lands, peopled by the self-selection of the fittest, by those
who have the courage of enterprise, and the mental and
moral outfit to win for it success, the physician is sure to
take and keep the highest place, and to find open to him
more easily than to others wealth, social place, and, if he
desire it, the higher service of the State. Nowhere was this
more true than in this city. In New England the clergy
were for a long time dominant. In New York then, as now,
commercial success was the surest road to social position.
South of us it was the landholder who ruled with undisputed
sway. But in this city — I may say in this State — from the
first settlement until to-day the physician has held an almost
unquestioned and somewhat curious pre-eminence. He is
and always has been relatively a more broadly important
personage here than elsewhere 
" Says a learned historian, writing of the Philadelphia of
1828, ' Nothing struck me so much as the social force and
influence of the physicians. I was familiar with other

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 167
cities, and nowhere else did they seem to me to be so dis
tinctly the leaders of social life.' ....
"Who first suggested the formation of this College is
unknown, but as many of our Fellows were educated in
Edinburgh, it is likely enough that the success of its Society,
which dated from 1733, may have led them to imitate it
here. I have myself seen on its diploma the name of
' Caspar Wistar Prseses annuus.'
" We know as little of the earlier steps taken toward the
foundation of this College. John Redman, your first Presi
dent, says that ' at the first meeting to organize ourselves by
choosing proper officers and members so as to constitute a
body,' he was elected President. He adds, ' I went home
under a strong impression of the weight both of the office
and my obligations to you.' Then he tells us that he was
unable to attend the next meeting, and apparently it is at a
third meeting that he delivers the address from which I
have already quoted. Its faded ink and formal, patient
writing seems to take one back to a less hurried era, and
speak eloquently of the busy years which have come and
gone since my serious-minded predecessor looked forward
hopefully anticipating your future usefulness.
" It would seem that the College was organized some time
in 1786, but as to this we have no record other than that
just mentioned. The first meeting of which we have a
minute took place on January 2, 1787, and to this date we
have always referred as our natal day.

168 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
" On that 2d of January, 1787, in the evening, in a little
house used by the University and known as Surgeons' Hall,
on Fifth Street south of Library, assembled a portion of the
notable group of men who then constituted this College.
By the dim light of candles, for which I have found the
modest bill, clad after the fashion of the day, some in
Quaker dress and some in knee breeches, silk stockings, and
low shoes with buckles, most of them carrying, I fancy, the
gold-headed cane and the meditative snuff-box, some with
queues or powdered wigs, a fading fashion, were John
Jones, William Shippen, Jr., Adam Kuhn, Benjamin Rush,
Thomas Parke, Gerardus Clarkson, Samuel Duffield, James
Hutchinson, William W. Smith, Andrew Ross, William
Clarkson, James Hall, William Currie.
" The full roll of Fellows and Junior Fellows in January,
1787, adds the names of John Redman, John Morgan,
George Glentworth, Abraham Chovet, Benjamin Say, Samuel
Powel Griffitts, Benjamin Duffield, John Morris, John Car
son, John Foulke, Robert Harris.
" Before our charter was obtained in 1789, there were
added Nathan Dorsey, John R. B. Rodgers, Caspar Wistar,
Jr., James Cuningham, Charles Moore, Michael Leib, John
H. Gibbons.
" They were in all twenty-four when they met in January,
1787, and thirty-one when they were incorporated in 1789.
Only three of their names are to-day represented on our
present list ; but many more are familiar to your ears, and

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 169
if we include the men I have previously mentioned, you
will find that a large share of the best known families of
our city trace their lineage from one or other of this mem
orable group. It would, in fact, be easy to give you a long
catalogue of families distinguished in our national and
local history, or in our social life, who inherit the blood of
one or more of the physicians I have named or have yet to
name ; but as some of those here present may have the mis
fortune not to be able to claim the honor of medical ancestry
I generously refrain 
" These as physicians assisted at the troublous birth
of a great nation. I fancy that I can see in their resolute
faces the lines left by the sorrows and trials of those
eventful years when they road with the great Virginian,
and shared with him the hardships of doubtful campaigns
and the triumphs of the Princeton and Yorktown. Among
them were the friends and physicians of Washington,
Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Adams. They held to
their medical opinions, as we shall see, with the same abso
lute belief that controlled their political action, and were
nearly as ready to fight for the one as for the other. As to
their medical ancestry, the best of them had been educated
at Edinburgh, which school is the parent of our Univer
sity. Genealogically, we might speak of our College and of
the University as children of Edinburgh, and Grand
children of Leyden.

170 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
" Linger with me a little, and learn who and what were
these our medical forefathers ; the men who had won fame
and matured character on the field and in the hospital
wherewith to face the yet darker hours of the deadly plague
so soon to thin their ranks.
" The most illustrious of our profession are not always the
most lovable. Your first president, John Redman, was a
man whom all men respected and all men loved. He spent
a year at Edinburgh, was graduated at Leyden, in 1748,
under A.lbinus, and returned home to practice finally only
medicine, declining midwifery and surgery. In his medi
cal creed he was a sturdy follower of Sydenham. Like the
most of his fellows, he bled without hesitation and believed
that the American needed more positive treatment than his
degenerate British ancestor. Except his thesis on abortion,
a defence of inoculation, and his excellent account of the
yellow fever of 1764, he left little behind him. A man
gentle without lacking force, religious without a trace of
bigotry, and finding in his faith only larger reasons for
cheerfulness. Quick of temper and as quick to regret it ;
punctual, charitable, exact, a type of what the practice of
our profession makes out of the best characters, he con
stantly declined political place. We are told 'that he
suspended pain by his soothing manner or chased it away
by his conversation.' One would like to possess the secret
of this anaesthetic kindness. He died in 1808 at the age of
eighty-six, and, we are told, was mourned and missed most

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 171
by the destitute, being like that physician of whom Somer-
vile says
" For well thy soul can understand,
The poor man's call is God's command."

"With reverent doubt of my powers to do justice to the
greatest physician this country has produced, I approach
the task of briefly recalling to your memories the vivid and
emphatic personality of Benjamin Rush. His life invites a
less hasty biographer, and is full of such seeming contradic
tions as can only be explained by the belief that the
earnest, decisive, and mutinous nature of a man, proud,
rather than conceited, got the better of the principles by
which he honestly strove to guide his conduct. That he
won at last in this contest, was shown by the grief with
which a nation mourned his death, when the poor, in
crowds, besought a sight of his face, or, at least, to touch his
coffin. Look at his portrait by Sully, in our hall. It has
the scholar's hands, the largely modelled head, the contem
plative blue eyes of the observer, the nose and chin strong,
firmness in the mouth, and a trace of too critical tendencies
in the droop of the lines of the lips, withal a general expres
sion of tranquil benevolence, a face like the man's life and
character, full of dissimilars, with a grand total of good.
" How shall I briefly bring before you the career of this
restless being? Relentless energy drove him through a
life in which ardent sense of duty, large-minded philan-

172 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
thropy, love of country, devotion to his art and its science,
immense belief in himself, were the motives to industry,
which made note-books the companions of his student
youth, and which failed not until the pen fell from a hand
enfeebled by the close approach of death.
" He was a statesman, a scholar, an army surgeon, a
punctual and careful physician, an actively religious man,
a far-seeing and courageous philanthropist, and a sanitarian
far in advance of his day. These are what I might call four
careers, in all of which he excelled unaided by secretaries
or modern means of condensing and relegating labor : one
such suffices most men. He was a member of every im
portant political assembly which met in this State while he
lived. When timid men fell out of the Continental Con
gress, he was elected to that body, that he might sign the
Declaration of Independence, and was the only physician
whose name is on that energetic arraignment of the Crown.
I have neither time nor desire to speak of his relations to
Washington. He criticised him with his usual courage
and with a severity in which at that time he was not alone,
and, although later in life he somewhat relented, he never
quite forgot the bitterness which arose out of his too famous
letter, and to the end of his days looked upon the great
leader as one not above the judgment of his fellows. As
regards the patriotism of Rush there can be no doubt. It
approached the earnestness of religion, and its very inten
sity made him unhappy and critical when others seemed to

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 173
him to be showing that want of energy which in the first
years of the war he thought was seen in the Fabian policy
of Washington.
" Rush was Surgeon-General to the Middle Department,
and later Surgeon-General, and served faithfully in the
New Jersey Campaign and in the dreary camp at Valley
Forge. He resigned in 1778, after his difficulty with his
chief, and declined pay for his services.
" As a broad-minded philanthropist, I view him with
wonder. The higher education of women he urged as a
special need of a Republic, and as boldly wrote of public
punishments and against the penalty of death. With like
courage he denounced slavery, or turned to demand legisla
tion against the abuse of alcohol, or to implore care in the
use of this agent in disease, and, although a scholarly man,
eloquently represented the waste of time in the too general
study by the young of the classical tongues.
" On his medical career I cannot linger. His views as to
bleeding were extreme. They were greatly modified in
his later years, but have been misrepresented by the enmity
his positive nature excited, and can be fitly judged, not by
his occasional vigor of statement, but also by the many
tempering remarks to be found in his works. His ideas on
the contagion of yellow fever and its domestic origin excited
the hostility of commerce, and embittered his existence ;
but, although as to the former he changed his beliefs later
in life, as to the latter he seems never to have faltered.

174 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
" I presume that he held his opinions tenaciously, and was
so conscious of his own general superiority to those about
him, that he found it hard to weigh their reasons justly.
He says, ' I early discovered that it was impossible for me,
by any reasonings, to change the practice of some of my
brethren.' Then he adds, ' humanity was therefore on the
side of leaving them to themselves, because what is done in
these consultations is the ineffectual result of neutralized
opinions ; for the extremity of wrong in medicine, as in
morals and government, is often a less mischief than that
mixture of right and wrong which serves, by palliating, to
perpetuate evil.' How interesting is this irritable confes
sion, which tells so much more of the man than he meant
to put into it. Let me add, as a thoughtful physician, that
no one can read what he wrote — and I have read most of
it — without a strong sense of his sagacious and intelligent
originality, and admiration of his clear and often fervid
style. His work on insanity is a masterpiece. A recent
English writer calls his book on ' the bilious remitting
yellow fever ' a wonder, and says of that remarkable des
cription of his sensations during the height of the epidemic,
' it is as if he were talking to you, a ghostly whispering
through a veil of nine-tenths of a century.' He has been
called the American Sydenham. He was not as I see it, so
great a physician, but taking his whole career — and both
were earnest republicans — Rush was the larger personage,

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 178
and surely, next to Franklin, the greatest citizen of
Pennsylvania. " His bitterest foes are best remembered because of the
man they reviled. Even before death came to heal all
wounds, he stood where few have stood in the estimate of
men. He could not but feel this tribute. It gentled the
positive and ardent nature, once ready to cross swords with
all who dared to differ. He says, ' I was once an aristocrat,
then a democrat, now I am a Christocrat.' Certain of his
words should have been placed on his tombstone. With
them we may leave him to his repose, near the yet greater
Franklin. ' Posterity,' he says, ' is to the physician, what
the day of judgment is to the Christian.'
" Still among honored Philadelphia names we find next
that of Gerardus Clarkson, chief of the founders of the
Episcopal Academy, and brother of the Matthew Clarkson,
emigrant from provincial New York to this gayer capital,
who earned as mayor, in the yellow fever of 1793, a charac
ter for manly courage and self-possessed official calmness.
"To the physician epidemics are his battlefields. His
daily life is hard enough, and, unlike the soldier, he lives
amidst constant perils, of which habit has made him negli
gently forgetful. He is assisted to be unthoughtful as to
risks by the fact that the community thinks little of those
which are not, like the soldier's, occasional, or which it does
not largely share. You must have lost sense of heroism if

176 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
you do not feel some thrill of pride when you look back
with me over those sad years in which the Fellows of this
College, amidst the contagion of terror, faced the storms of
death which from 1793 to 1804 swept over this city and
forever ruined its mere commercial supremacy.
" Let us see how well this College met it. Several of its
Fellows could recall the epidemic of 1762 — the Barbadoes
Plague — the dreaded yellow fever. Rush, a student, made
notes of it in his constant way, and Redman, an older man,
described it with accurate skill. A few hundred died, and
for thirty-one years the great town flourished undisturbed.
For two years the College had at times been urgent as to
quarantine, but selfish, shortsighted commerce had been
more potent. On the 25th of August, 1793, a special meet
ing of the Fellows was called ' to consider their duty because
of the fever of alarming nature.' Rush, Hutchinson, Say,
and Wistar were to report on the 26th. Nothing, on the
whole, could have been better than the calm, good sense of
the letter of public advice which the Fellows, at the instance
of their committee, addressed to the Mayor, Matthew Clark
son, and to the people at large. At this meeting, the
President describes the fever of 1762. Tilton, our associate,
advises tents as hospitals, and the College decides to meet
every Monday. How simple it all sounds, the quiet coun
cils, the talk as to treatment. The Fellows assemble on the
3d, 6th, 10th and 17th of September, and consider Alexander
Hamilton's letter of inquiry as to the fever, and answer

CENTENNIAL-COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 177
Dr. Warren, of Boston. Meanwhile the plague is on the
people, and the College meets no more until November.
" To speak of this awful summer, is to speak of the popu
lation degraded by the very insanity of fear. The rich fled
first, and at last almost all who could go. In round num
bers, Philadelphia had 6000 houses and 49,000 souls.
Some 3000 houses were closed. 12,000 persons fled to the
country — Carey says 17,000. Of those left behind, 11,000
took the fever, and one-third of these died. Before this
appalling death-rate, all but a rare few gave way. In
deserted streets, between rows of closed houses, where
commerce had ceased, men walked down the middle of the
causeways and declined to shake hands with friends, or
turned aside from any who wore the badge of mourning.
Thousands of both sexes smoked tobacco to avoid disease,
or carried vinegar or camphor or bits of tarred rope for pro
tection, while bonfires at night and firing of muskets to
disperse contagion ceased only when the Mayor forbade
them. The churches were shut ; most of the weekly papers
ceased to appear. For the laborer there was no work.
Starvation drove him to crime, and thieves lived riotously
in deserted houses. At last family ties were broken ; men
fled from their dearest ; whole families deserted the bed
where the father lay dying; nurses were hardly to be had ;
and still the sombre death-cart went its nightly round with
its negro driver, and in answer to the dreary cry, " Fetch
out your dead," corpses were lowered from open windows

178 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
on to the cart, backed up on to the sidewalk, or were carried
out in haste, to be put across the shaft of what was called a
chair, and hurried away for swiftest burial. So lower and
lower men sunk, as the plague increased, until at times the
dead lay unburied, corpses were found in the streets, and
the climax of misery, neglect, and profligate riot was
reached at Bush Hill Hospital for the poor. Amidst this
horror of disease, of selfishness, of crime, there were men
who grew morally stronger through that which enfeebled
the mass. The most of the physicians of the blighted town
went about their duties untouched by panic — undisturbed
by fear. In our own ranks were none who failed. Their
names are to be read on every record of those dreary
hours. Theirs was what Ruskin speaks of as ' that consti
tutional serenity in danger, which, with the wise, whether
soldier or physician, is the basis of the most fortunate
action and swiftest decision of deliberate skill.'
"I close with satisfied pride these annals of the past, and
its dead. I see about me men whose books are in every
tongue of Europe, whose works are known and honored
among the learned of every land, men who wear by just
degree of their fellows the unseen crowns of honorable
estimate. I see, too, the young in work, the men who are
to follow us. To them we shall soon consign this precious
heritage, the record of a century of duty; an hundred
years without one break in our meeting, save when pesti-

CENTENNIAI  COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 179
lence thrust upon us a more imperative service. There is
that in these years to make them proud of a fellowship
which in war and in peace has left us examples of single-
minded workers unknown to fame, of the charity without
taint of selfishness, of heroic lives lost in battle with disease,
of gentle scholars, of daring surgeons, whose very fingers
seemed to think, of physicians rich with every professional
grace. The pride of lineage is valueless which does not
secure to the future vitality of usefulness, and I must have
told my story ill if to every physician who hears me its
illustrations have not the invigorating force of moral tonics.
" I turn now from the present and face the silence of
futurity. As earnestly as our first President, I pray with
him that all those who sit around me, and all who are to
come, do publicly and privately serve their generation.
" Feeling, like him, the weight and dignity of my office,
and to-day more than ever, I look onward thoughtfully to
that next centennial time. Every heart that beats in this
hall to-day will have ceased to pulsate. Another will stand
in my place. Reviewing our works and lives, he will be
able, I trust, to say as confidently of us as I have said of
your fathers, — these, too, belonged by right of dutiful lives
and sincere work, to our great, undying brotherhood."

180 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.

CORRESPONDENCE.

" 1524 Walnut Street.
"Philadelphia, March 14th, 1885.
" My dear sir :
" Your ancestor, Dr. Clarkson, was one of the small
group of distinguished physicians who in 1787 founded the
Philadelphia College of Physicians, now the oldest of our
Medical Societies.
" The Museum is very large and useful and its Library
one of the half dozen greatest medical collections in the
world. " Books and Museum have out-grown the space for them
in the building at Thirteenth and Locust. To enlarge it,
the physicians who are fellows have given $15,000, we need
$12,000 more.
" The College has decided to ask aid from the descendants
of the original corporators, and that the names of the
founders shall be placed on a tablet in our new hall, and
on another those of the benefactors, their descendants.
Several of these latter have liberally met our call, and I
hope to add your own name to those who have shown their
desire to help onward the noble purposes with which their
forefathers founded the society of which I am proud to be

* COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS ^
QF PHILADELPHIA
"NSTITUTED 1787 INCORPORATED FSf
FOUNDERS-
-john redman
john jones
john morgan
wm:shippen,jr, ¦ adAmkuhn
benjamin rush
gerardus clarkson
samuel duffield
thomas parke
james hutchinson
george glentworth
abraham chqyet
andrew ross
william w. smith
james hall
william clarkson
william currie
; ¦ BENJAMIN SAT
SAMUEL PQWEL GRIFFITTS
BENJAMIN DUFFIELD
JOHN MORRIS
JOHN CARSON
JOHN FOULKE
ROBERT HARRIS

TABLET INTH]

KALL DF THE CDLLEDE DF PHYSICIANS
DF PHILADELPHIA

BENEFACTORS' *
R E P R ES E N TATI V ES" 0 F Q R 1 C 1 N A L
CORPORATORS.
HARTMAN KAJHN
JULIA W 1LL1AMS B ID D L E
CATHERINE MURRAY RUSH
MARY THERESA RUSH
SAMUEL CLARKSON
JAMES HOWELL HUTCHINSON
WILLIAM PARKER ROULK.E
MIFFLIN WISTAR
GEORGE LE1B HARRISON

TABLET IN THE HALL DF THE COLLEGE DF PHYSICIAIIS
DF PHILADELPHIA

CENTENNIAL— COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS. 181
one of the officers. Please to let me know when you reply
where there is to be seen a good portrait of Dr. Clarkson,
and if one could in any way be had for the College.
"Yours truly,
"S. WEIR MITCHELL,
"Chairman of Committee on Buildiny Fund.
"To Mr. Samuel Clarkson."

"Philadelphia, March 25th, 1885.
" My dear sir :
" Your esteemed favor to hand. It will give me
much pleasure to make a contribution to the Building Fund
of the College of Physicians of which my great-grandfather
Dr. Gerardus Clarkson was one of the founders 
" Dr. Walter F. Atlee wrote me a year ago in reference to the
portrait, of which I am sorry to say none can be found in
possession of the descendants. If at any time one is dis
covered I will cheerfully donate a copy to the College.
" Yours very truly,
"SAMUEL CLARKSON.
" To S. Weir Mitchell, M.D.,
"Chairman of Committee on Building Fund."

182 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
" College of Physicians,
"N. E. Cor. Thirteenth and Locust Sts.
"Philadelphia, April 8th, 1885.
" My dear sir :
" I have the pleasure of transmitting to you the
following copy of a resolution passed at the stated meeting
of the College held April 1st, 1885.
" Resolved, that the thanks of the College of Physicians of
Philadelphia be tendered to Mr. Samuel Clarkson for his
liberal donation to the Building Fund of the College . . .
in commemoration of his ancestor, Dr. Gerardus Clarkson,
one of the original founders of the College.
" I am yours, very sincerely,
"RICH'D A. CLEEMANN,
"Secretary.
" To Samuel Clarkson, Esq."

VI.

IN THE CHURCH.

After his return from Europe, Dr. Clarkson connected
himself with Christ Church, and there he was married
on May 13th, 1761, to Mary, daughter of Samuel Flower.
On September 4th, 1761, St. Peter's Church was opened
on equal footing with Christ Church, and the Vestry resolved
that henceforth "The congregations shall be styled the
United Congregations of Christ Church and St. Peter's,
in the City of Philadelphia."
The children of Gerardus and Mary Clarkson, eight
in number, were all baptized in Christ Church, and
four were buried either in infancy or mature years in Christ
Church or St. Peter's grounds.
In 1776 Gerardus Clarkson was one of the vestry of
Christ Church, and from the record we give this minute
entire :
" At a meeting of the Vestry at the Rector's, July 4th,
1776:

184 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
"Present, Rev. Jacob Duch6, Rector; Thomas Cuthbert,
Church Warden; Jacob Duch6, Robert Whyte, Charles
Stedman, Edmund Physick, James Biddle, Peter De Haven,
James Reynolds, Gerardus Clarkson, Vestrymen.
"Whereas, the honorable Continental Congress have
resolved to declare the American colonies to be free and
independent states, in consequence of which it will be
proper to omit those petitions in the liturgy, wherein the
King of Great Britain is prayed for, as inconsistant with
the said declaration ; therefore,
" Resolved, that it appears to this Vestry to be necessary
for the peace and well-being of the churches, to omit the
said petitions ; and the Rector and Assistant Minister of the
United Churches are requested in the name of their Vestry
and their constituents, to omit such petitions as are above
mentioned." In 1783 William Pollard and Gerardus Clarkson were
Wardens of Christ Church.
On October 27th, 1784 is this minute: "The Vestry
being informed that many persons wish to see an Academy
instituted in connection with these churches," appointed a
committee, who at a subsequent meeting, November 8th,
made the following report :
" The committee appointed at the last meeting of Vestry,
report that the design of instituting an Academy of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in this city, is in their opinion
expedient and practicable ; and for carrying it into execu-

IN THE CHURCH. 183
tion, they recommend that a subscription be encouraged
by the Vestry ; and that all persons who shall on the first
day of January next have subscribed at least ten pounds to
the intended seminary, be invited to meet in Christ Church
on the day above mentioned, in the forenoon, immediately
after divine service, to enact fundamental laws and elect
visitors for the government of the same ; and they further
recommend that it be declared to the subscribers, as essen
tial to the intended seminary, that it shall be under the
government of sixteen persons, every one of whom shall
either be a clergyman of some church of the Protestant
Episcopal communion, now or hereafter being in this city
or within five miles thereof — or he shall be qualified to be
elected a vestryman in one or more of the said churches
and have either subscribed the sum of at least ten pounds
to the said seminary, or received his education therein, and
left it with an honorable certificate of his conduct and
proficiency." Signed :
William White,
Benjamin Wynkoop,
Matthew Clarkson,
John Chaloner,
Gerardus Clarkson.
The following is taken from " Dr. Dorr's History of Christ
Church." " Whitsun Monday, May 28th, 1787." " Bishop
White, having returned from England, he, this day held an

186 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
ordination in Christ Church, for the first time, and admitted
Mr. Joseph Clarkson and Mr. Joseph Couden, to the holy
order of Deacons. On this most interesting occasion, the
Rev. Dr. Magaw, Rector of St. Paul's Church, and Vice-
Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, preached the
ordination sermon.
" In the dedication to Bishop White, the author remarks ;
' that the occasion which required its being delivered was
great and delightful,' and at the conclusion of his dis
course, he says : ' a new era hath opened in our church,
that will be remembered for ever. Our Episcopal system is
completed; the first fruits of so distinguished an event
come forward on the present day. I join with thousands
to meet and welcome the blessing.' "
We who survive can imagine the feelings that stirred the
souls of our pious ancestors on this occasion.
Dr. Clarkson was a delegate to the convention of 1789,
where was effected the Union of the Church in America,
through the efforts of Bishop White and others.
His brother, Matthew Clarkson, had been a delegate to
the Convention that met in New York, October 6th, 1784,
and was a member of the Committee, of which Rev. Dr.
William Smith was Chairman, " to frame and propose to
the Convention a proper substitute for the State prayers, in
the Liturgy, to be used for the sake of uniformity, until a
further review should be undertaken by general authority,
and consent of the church."

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Dr. Gerardus Clarkson died on September 19th, 1790, and
was buried on the 21st in St. Peter's churchyard ; Bishop
White officiated at the funeral. Letters of administration
on the estate were granted to his sons, Samuel and William
Clarkson, and Robert Ralston, September 23d, 1790, John
Wilcocks and his brother, Matthew Clarkson, being sureties
in the sum of £3000. "Family pictures," are included
in the inventory of his personal property. Unfortunately
none of these remain at this date. As the estate was
small, it was thought advisable for the family to separate.
Two daughters, Cornelia and Rebecca, went to reside with
their brother, Dr. William Clarkson, and the widow with
another married son, Joseph, at the time assistant min
ister in the Swedish Churches, of which Rev. Nicolas
Collin was Rector, and with whom she continued to
reside until the 5th of Octocer, 1792, the time of his
removal to Wilmington, Del., when she took up her abode
with her son Samuel. She died January 18th, 1795, aged
fifty-one years, and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard.
188 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
Mrs. Finley, widow of Rev. Samuel Finley, was at this
time living with her brother Matthew Clarkson.
OBITUARY NOTES.
The following obituary notice occurs in Tlie Pennsylvania
Gazette, of September 22d, 1790 :
" On Sunday, September 19th, departed this life, Doctor
Gerardus Clarkson, of this city, in the fifty-third year of his
age; a gentleman beloved and regretted by all who had
the pleasure of his acquaintance. His conduct as a hus
band, a parent, or a friend, was equally exemplary and dis
tinguished. As a christian, he was devoutly sincere and
pious. As a physician, exceedingly tender and humane,
like the friendly Samaritan, pouring wine and oil into the
wounds of his afflicted patients ; and many of these were of
the poorer class, who found from him gratuitous relief. As
a member of public bodies, and as a citizen, he was liberal
to the utmost extent of his abilities, and desirous to be use
ful in an eminent degree. To a character so elevated and
amiable, death could only exhibit the gates of an happy im
mortality. No wonder, therefore, if he passed through them
with uncommon firmness and dignity of mind, expressing
in every motion to the last, that sure and certain hope of
everlasting life, to which his whole existence here had been
the most uniform introduction. He has left a numerous
and respectable family to lament his loss, but also greatly

OBITUARY NOTES. 189
to repair it to society, by the excellent lessons derived from
his venerable example, and the inestimable riches he gave
them in a good and polished education."
Immediately after this beautiful encomium, are these
lines on the decease of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson.
LINES OCCASIONED BY THE DECEASE OP DR. GERARDUS CLARKSON, OP
THIS CITY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1790.*
Farewell, my friend, it seems we meet no more,
Amid the perils of this hostile shore ;
These eyes no more thy form rever'd shall see,
Nor more thy friendly councils visit me,
Amid the gloom of sickness or of woe,
No further solace shall thy cares hestow,
Nor 'mid the mazes of this checquered scene,
Thy wisdom aid me or thy bosom screen!
Gone aie the days of friendship so sincere,
Tho' once they sooth'd me, they now urge the tear,
As flowers of spring — so lovely once to view,
But now turned painful, what regrets pursue ;
With unavailing grief, I seek thy urn,
, And look for pleasures that are past return !
Thine now are joys beyond what thought can paint,
Such as the just console, and bless the saint,
Crown'd with rich fruits beneath autumnal skies,
The master saw thee and bestowed the prize ;
He spared thee winter's desolating sway,
And took to regions of perpetual May !
There rest in peace — the Sabbath of the tomb,
For thee prepares an everlasting bloom ;
Let not thy friend then foolishly repine
At pleasures lost to him, so well exchanged for thine
* By John Swanwick, Esq., one of the representatives in the Congress of
the United States, from the State of Pennsylvania.

190 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
From an original manuscript, supposed to have been
written about the time of Dr. Clarkson's death, by his ven
erable sister, Mrs. Anna Finley, we quote.
" By a course of divine trials, did it please the Lord to
bring this good man to the safe possession of the heavenly-
rest. He was a most constant observer of private devotion,
his patience and thankfulness to God under trials of the
most severe nature, was peculiarly eminent. He was uni
versally esteemed by all whom he attended in his profession,
as physician for the soul as well as the body ; and frequently
was the happy instrument of leading persons to think of
their eternal state.
" As a parent he was eminently conspicuous in training up
his children in the fear of the living God, in setting before
them, both by precept and example, the power of that re
ligion which he possessed.
" He entertained for some time a presentiment of his death
and mentioned to his sister his apprehensions that the time
of his departure was near. He was a constant attendant
upon the means of grace, and frequently expressed to his
children when on their way to the House of God, his desire
to die on a Sabbath morning, as the people of God were
going to the Militant Church. His desire was literally ful
filled, his death occuring about ten o'clock on the Sabbath
morning. " At the time of his death some of his children were mar
ried and settled at a distance from the city, but it was so

DESCENDANTS. 191
ordered that they should all be present at the dying exhor
tation of their father. He was much affected with stupor
during his last illness.
" The Thursday before his death, apprehending his end
approaching, and having frequently when in health ex
pressed a wish that before his departure he should be
able to speak to all his children, he was indulged in this
desire. All his children were around him. In imitation
of the dying patriarch, commencing with his first born, he
proceeded to bless them one by one, exhorting them with his
dying breath of the great importance of a christian life."
With this account so tender and sacred, we close the
record of this good man's life. A century has passed and
in it many of his descendants have added their testimony
to his. Let those who remain and others who may come
after " mark the perfect man."
Dr. Gerardus Clarkson had eight children, five sons and
three daughters, as follows :
1. Samuel, born July 31st, 1762, married Sarah Gibbons
and died August 14th, 1832, and left issue Joseph Gibbons,
Mary Flower, George and J. Minor Clarkson.
2. William, born November 7th, 1763, married Catha
rine Floyd and died at John's Island, S. C, September 9th,
1812, and left issue.
3. Joseph, born February 27th, 1765, married Grace
Cooke and died January 25th, 1830, and left issue.

192 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
4. Jacob, born April 13th, 1768, married Jane Stevenson
and died September 24th, 1832, and left issue as follows :
Hannah Clarkson, born November 14th 1796, and
died June 28th, 1848, unmarried.
Robert Stevenson Clarkson, born June 28th, 1798,
married Catharine Howell Wheeler and died August
16th, 1881. Catharine Howell Wheeler, born June
5th, 1808 and died February 21st, 1887, leaving issue.
Gerardus Clarkson, born January 5th, 1800 and
died at New Orleans, August 24th, 1817.
Jane Clarkson, born February 1st, 1802, married
William Stewart Hill and died June 4th, 1872, leav
ing issue.
Mary Clarkson, born December 13th, 1803, and
died December 31st, 1861, unmarried.
Susan Clarkson, born March 14th, 1806, married
Robert Carmer Hill and died March 7th, 1872,
leaving issue.
Jocob Clarkson, born October 2d, 1807, married
Elizabeth Gardner Crowell and died May 24th, 1869,
leaving issue.
Charles Clarkson, born October 6th, 1810, married
Matilda Wyckoff Schureman, and died September
14th, 1873, leaving issue.
Archibald Alexander Clarkson, born September
12th, 1811, and died March 20th, 1882, unmarried.

DESCENDANTS. 193
5. Cornelia Clarkson, born 1770, married Isaac Snowden
and died February 16th, 1834, and left issue as follows :
Isaac C. Snowden, born December 31st 1791, mar
ried Maria Meares, and died November 8th, 1843,
leaving issue.
Cornelia Clarkson Snowden, married Dr. Hayes, no
issue. Mary Snowden, married Rev. Dr. How, and died
leaving issue.
Rebecca Snowden, who died in 1876 unmarried.
6. George Clarkson, sixth child and youngest son of Dr.
Gerardus Clarkson, born March 30th, 1772, was a youth of
bright promise and fine attainments. Dr. S. D. Alexander,
in his work on " Princeton College in Eighteenth Century,"
says: "he graduated in his seventeenth year with the
highest honors of his class " (1788).
His father lavished great affection upon him, owing in
a measure, no doubt, to his qualities of mind and heart.
On the fly-leaf of an old volume in my possession is this
inscription: "George Clarkson having received the first
honours of college at Nassau Hall in his seventeenth year,
this handsome volume is presented to him in testimony of
his good proficiency in learning and of his filial conduct, by
his affectionate father, October, 1788."
It is worthy of notice here, that on the inside cover of the
same volume, the book-plate of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson is
placed, practically the same as that of David Clarkson,
25

194 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
which is illustrated in this work, and no doubt ordered by
him when in England, and used as early as 1724. It was
not until 1790 that any of these plates were produced by
American engravers.
George Clarkson was admitted to the Philadelphia bar
March 9th, 1793, and died at the age of thirty-two, April 3d,
1804. He was baptized at Christ Church, October 26th,
1772, and buried in St. Peter's churchyard, April 5th, 1804.
7. Rebecca Clarkson, born March 30th, 1773, married
David Jackson and died leaving issue three daughters,
Anna, Mary and Susan.
8. Mary Clarkson, born August 22d, 1775, baptized
at Christ Church, July 1st, 1776 and died March 4th,
1777; buried in St. Peter's Churchyard.

WILLIAM CLARKSON.
William Clarkson, second child and son of Gerardus
Clarkson, M. D., and Mary Flower, was born at Philadel
phia, on the 7th of November, 1763. He received a
liberal education, graduating from the College of Phila
delphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, and choosing
the profession of his father, he continued his studies in the
same institution of which he was an alumnus, and grad
uated as Bachelor of Medicine, May, 1785.
While attending his College course, he met the family of
General William Floyd, a delegate to the Continental

DESCENDANTS. 19S
Congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde
pendence. In " W. C. Rives' life of Madison," the following appears :
" The attraction of this circle was greatly enhanced to
him, during the last winter of his residence in Philadelphia,
by the presence of Mr. Jefferson, who, on his suggestion,
had been again and unanimously appointed one of the
Commission to treat of peace  To this
new source of pleasure to Mr. Madison, was added a yet
stronger fascination, in an attachment to an interesting
and accomplished young lady, daughter of an old friend of
Mr. Jefferson, who was a co-signer with him of the Declara
tion "of Independence.
" This attachment, which promised at one time, the most
auspicious result, terminated at last in disappointment. We
cannot forbear to add the following extract of a letter
addressed to him by Mr. Jefferson, (August 31st, 1783,) as
connected with an event which is never without importance
in the life of a man of virtuous sensibilities, and as afford
ing a touching proof of the intimate and fraternal sympa
thies which united the two friends.
" ' I sincerely lament ' he said : ' the misadventure which
has happened, from whatever cause it may have happened.
Should it be final, however, the world still presents the same
and many other resources of happiness, and you possess
many within yourself. Firmness of mind and intermitting

196 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
occupation will not long leave you in pain. No event has
been more contrary to my expectations, and these were
founded on what I thought a good knowledge of the ground.
But of all machines, ours is the most complicated and
inexplicable.' "
It thus appears that the rivalry for the hand of Miss
Floyd was earnest and well pressed by both aspirants ; and
that the subject of our sketch won the prize, for on the 2d
of August, 1785, he married at Mastic, L. I., Catharine, the
second daughter of General William Floyd and Hannah
Jones, born April 24th, 1767.
Mr. Clarkson engaged in the practice of his profession
and was quite successful, following his father who had
become eminent as a physician. He was one of the founders
of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and a member
of the American Philosophical Society.
In the Fall of 1791, he was confined to his house by in
disposition, and during this illness his mind was directed to
religious questions, which resulted in his conversion and in
a fixed purpose that his energies should be actively en
gaged in labours for the souls of men.
From the diary he has left, beginning June 24th, 1792,
we learn that the desire to be a clergyman became more
and more the purpose of his life. Thus July 6th, 1792, he
wrote : " 0 that I could persuade one single soul, now
wallowing in the miry pit to come and taste of the unspeak
able joys which flow from the love of God."

DESCENDANTS. 197
While attending to his duties as a physician, he began
the study of theology, and to accomplish this he adopted
rising at 4 A. M. ; thus October 3d, the same year he writes :
" I find that by rising at 4 o'clock, and husbanding pre
cious time, I am enabled not only to attend to all the duties
of my medical profession and relative duties, but am there
by enabled to devote six to eight hours daily to the prosecu
tion of my study of divinity." He adds : " may that God,
who by His Spirit has influenced me to this conduct, still
carry on His divine work, that His unworthy servant may
in God's own time and way, be enabled to go forth as a
faithful watchman, to warn sinners of their danger and
encourage saints to persevere."
Two days later, (October 5th,) he says : " 0 what a privi
lege, what an honour for me who persecuted the Lord
Jesus, for so long a time, to be enabled by His grace to
warn others of their danger, and to be enabled to invite
them to accept of Jesus. May the Lord bless the conversa
tion, and furnish his unworthy servant with many such
opportunities of speaking for him."
On November 6th, he writes : " Though I rose an hour
earlier than common, I am sorry to say that I have studied
less than usual."
December 26th, he says: "See more and more clearly
that I must withdraw from business for the purpose of
prosecuting the study of divinity. May God, whose kind
and wise directions have influenced me hitherto, still con-

198 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
tinue to direct me in this glorious undertaking of seeking
qualifications to engage in the divine employment of being
an ambassador for my Heavenly Master."
That he was subject to the temptations of the world and
the flesh is evident by his writing under date of January
10th, 1793: "I have this day, as before, felt a disposition
of mind coming on me, in which a little encouragement
would probably have led me to have seriously wished
for an honourable release from my undertaking to prepare
for the sacred office of the ministry ; not because the law of
Christ was irksome, but because an indolence of soul would
seem to intimate that God's cause could prosper without my
feeble instrumentality ; and that I was unnecessarily expos
ing myself to the labourious ministerial functions, and that
by continuing in my present professional calling in which
I was established, I might glide more smoothly along the
probationary stream."
On February 20th, 1793, he writes : " Were I to go over
the same ground I would certainly pay more attention to
my precious Bible. I seem to thirst after an opportunity to
give up myself almost wholly to its study, but am disa
greeably prevented by a necessity imposed on me of
reviewing my classical studies, &c, for a Presbyterial
examination in April next."
April 20th, he says : " Returned last evening from a
visit to Bridgeton, at which place I put myself under the
direction of the Philadelphia Presbytery. I have reason to

DESCENDANTS. 199
thank God for his kind protection of me during my absence
from home, and for the chain of favorable circumstances
which have attended in this my first appearance in public
as a candidate for the ministry."
Now that the time was rapidly approaching when he
would be able to go forth as the accredited messenger of
"good news," he writes under date of June 10th: "My
soul pants for the time when I shall be honoured with a
commission to declare the glad tidings of salvation;" and
again on June 25th : " 0 that I could attain to that close
ness of walk with God, which so greatly adorned the life of
a primitive Christian."
His examination by Presbytery began April 16th, 1793,
continued on April 17th, when an exegesis and a "Presby-
terial exercise " were assigned him to prepare ; and Presby
tery adjourned to November 19th, 1793, when additional
exercises were assigned, and on April 15th, 1794, his final
examination was begun, and was completed the following
day and he was duly licensed.
In August 1794, he was presented with a call from the
First Presbyterian Church, at Greenwich, N. J. and the
Presbyterian Church at Bridgeton, N. J., a joint call from
those two churches, which were eight miles apart ; this call
he accepted, and on the 14th of November, 1794, he was
ordained, and installed as pastor over these two churches
by the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

200 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
His labours among the people of his charge seem to have
been blessed, for he writes in his diary, October 4th, 1795,
"Both my congregations considerably serious, some much
affected. May His word be as good seed sown on good
ground and bring forth abundantly to His glory. Oh ! to
be a winner of souls to Jesus."
Family cares and expenses increased and he found his
salary from his charge was not sufficient, and gradually he
expended several hundred pounds of the patrimony from
his father and mother, and on February 22d, 1800, he
writes : " I am now about to take a new and important
step in life," for he found that he must assist his income by
teaching school, or by resuming his profession of medicine.
So with the consent of the physicians of the place, he
announced from the pulpit his intention of resuming the
practice of medicine and the reasons therefor ; but after a
trial of three months he found that the two callings were
incompatible, and he relinquished the duties of a physician.
In October, 1801, he was called to the First Presbyterian
Church of Schenectady, which call had been approved by
the Presbytery of Albany, August 1801, and he was dis
missed to the Presbytery of Albany October 20th, 1801.
The records of the church show a marriage by Mr. Clark
son, December 19th, 1801.
In due course the Presbytery proceeded to the installa
tion of Rev. Mr. Clarkson ; Rev. Eliphalet Nott, then pastor
of a Presbyterian church in Albany and two years after-

DESCENDANTS. 201
wards made president of Union College in Schenectady,
delivered the charge to the people.
At the meeting of Presbytery, August 18th, 1803, two
calls were placed in the hands of Mr. Clarkson ; one from
the congregation of Westmoreland and one from the congre
gation of Rome ; and he made application for the dissolution
of the pastoral relation with the church at Schenectady.
At the meeting of the Presbytery, April 5th, 1804, Mr.
Clarkson made answer to the two calls spoken of above,
" That he did not deem it his duty to accept of either, but
he desired that he be dismissed from his present charge,"
and the congregation having voted to unite in that request,
the pastoral relations were accordingly dissolved. The
records of the session show that during his pastorate twenty-
three were added to the church. Mr. Clarkson informed
Presbytery that he wished to travel southward, and that it
was not improbable he would settle there.
He was accordingly given a certificate of good standing
and the clerk was authorized to dismiss him to join any
Presbytery, should he apply for it.
Travelling southward, Mr. Clarkson visited Savannah,
Ga., where he was invited to supply the pulpit of the
church now and then known as the " Independent Presby
terian Church."
The pastor, Rev. Robert Smith, was in declining health
and absent, and died while Mr. Clarkson was the supply,
which he continued, without a call, for nearly three years,

202 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
until during 1806, when he was called to the Presbyterian
Churches of John's and Wadmalaw Islands.
In 1808, this church was reported as one of the seven
churches, and Dr. Clarkson one of the five ministers belong
ing to the Presbytery of Charleston. Dr. Clarkson con
tinued as the pastor of this church until September 9th,
1812, when death ended his labours. Rev. William Clark
son was greatly beloved by the people of his charge. As
late as 1855, more than forty years after his decease, the
older members of the congregation of John's and Wadma
law Islands, always spoke of Dr. Clarkson to the then pas
tor of the same church, Rev. John R. Dow, with great affec
tion, and esteemed him as a man of " deep-toned piety ;"
and as a preacher who had great earnestness, and as a
labourer who was constantly sowing the precious seed " be
side all waters." While loving his own church, he was very
charitable and affectionate towards all who love the Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity, so that he was not sectarian or
narrow minded ; but broadly catholic.
The congregation and church officers deeply mourned his
departure. In " Dr. Ramsay's History of South Carolina," *
the following notice is to be found :
" He had the affection of his congregation, and was well
esteemed by his brethren in the ministry as a man of more
than usual ability and worth. He was commonly known
as Dr. Clarkson, his title being derived from his degree as
* Page 230.

DESCENDANTS. 203
Dr. of medicine." The following is the inscription upon
his tombstone :
" In the memory of Rev. Wm. Clarkson, who during the
last six years of his life, sustained the pastoral charge of the
United Presbyterian Church on this Island and on Wad
malaw, and while zealously discharging the important
duties of his ministry, was by a short illness summoned
from his labours to enter into the joy of his Lord, on the 9th
day of September, 1812, and in the fiftieth year of his age.
" He was a native of Philadelphia, and of very respectable
parentage and connections. As a husband, a father, a
friend, and in the various relations of life, he exhibited an
amiable example of affectionate tenderness and christian
integrity. " In his public character, and service as a minister of
Christ, he was simple, grave, sincere ; in doctrine, uncorrupt ;
in language plain, and plain in manner.
" Much impressed himself, as conscious of his awful
charge, and anxious mainly that the flock he fed might feel
it too ; affectionate in look and tender in address, as well
became a messenger of grace to guilty men, ' for him to live
was Christ, to die was gain.' "
Rev. William Clarkson had four children.
1. Harriet Ashton.
2. Hannah Floyd.
3. William Nicoll.
4. Samuel Floyd.

204 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
Harriet Ashton, married William Bedlow Crosby, of New
York, February 7th, 1807. It proved a most happy union
of fifty-two years. It is said of her, " that her first thought
was to make a happy home for her children — more alluring
to them than any other place — where every indulgence of a
good tendency was granted, libraries filled with choice
books, a fine organ suited to the musical taste of all the
family, and one room set apart as the place where the utmost
freedom of noise and merriment was allowed. She used to
say, her boys must be gentlemen in the parlor, but they
may be boys in the play-room. The order of the household
was noticed by visitors, who often wondered whence it came,
since all was so quiet and mother never seemed pressed with
care, although as father remarked, he had never seen her
unoccupied, and she wished us all to be so interested in work
or book, that even a rainy day would not seem dull,;_and
that we should not depend on out-door excitement for our
happiness. One day in the week she thoughtfully set apart
for sewing for the poor, and many a bundle was thus sent
to church societies or individual poor. But her chief trait,
was a sympathetic tenderness — she was the confidante of her
children when at home, when away their most tireless
correspondent." The following obituary notice, at the time of her death,
appeared in the New York Observer : " Died, on December
13th, 1859, Harriet A. Clarkson, the beloved wife of Wm. B.
Crosby of this city, an eminently excellent Christian lady,

DESCENDANTS. 208
of whom one who was her pastor for sixteen and a half
years, may speak with confidence. It was early in life that
she connected herself by public profession with the people
of God and onward, to the close of her pilgrimage in her
seventy-fourth year, did she maintain a most consistent
Christian course. She aimed to be useful in all the relations
she sustained, and though from a retiring disposition she
did not come out in public engagements, as many Christian
ladies are enabled to do, she was always concerned in some
good work in a quiet way, and made herself constantly felt
in acts of benevolence. Her's was a very warm interest in
ministers, as she was the daughter of the Rev. Wm. Clark
son, a Presbyterian clergyman, and she knew the trials and
responsibilities of the ministerial life. She cherished a
great sympathy for young females who were solicitous for a
liberal education, which might give them a position in
social life and open to them fields of usefulness as teachers,
and numbers of such are now living to bless her memory.
" In her family she was the counsellor of all, and blessed
have been the results, for she was over seventeen years since
permitted to see all her children with her on the Lord's
side, while the crowning joy of the closing days of her life
was, the seeing and hearing her youngest son, (Rev. Dr.
Howard Crosby,) proclaiming as a preacher ' the unsearch
able riches of Christ.' Through a married life of nearly
fifty-three years she was the charm of the family circle
gathered around her, and to the last hour of the possession

206 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
of her intellect, was the same cheerful, vivacious wife and
mother, though beyond three-score and ten. She was from
the moment of her attack by paralysis, unconscious, and
lingered thus three days, when the Master was pleased to
release her from her frail tenement. A great chasm has
been made by her removal. A very large circle sympathize
with the stricken household, and especially with him who
is left in widowhood."
Children of William Bedlow Crosby and Harriet Ashton
Clarkson :
William Henry, born June 28th, 1808, married
November 4th, 1850, Josepha Matilda, daughter of
John Neilson, M. D., of New York City ; ten children.
John Player, born May 22d, 1810, married Feb
ruary 10th, 1835, Ellen Murray, daughter of John
Murray, of New York. She died 1836. He married
May 15th, 1840, Margaret, daughter of Hon. Benjamin
F. Butler, of New York City. He was drowned at
Fire Island, N. Y., September 19th, 1876; eleven
children. Catharine Clarkson, born May 5th, 1812, married
November 9th, 1836, to Henry H. Stevens of N. Y.
City ; five children.
Clarkson Floyd, born May 17th, 1814, died Nov
ember 20th, 1816.
Robert Ralston, born December 3d, 1815, married
April 27th, 1859, Jane Murray, daughter of Henry

DESCENDANTS. 207
Livingston, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; six children.
Clarkson Floyd, born November 3d, 1817, married
September 5th, 1838, Angelica, only child of John
Schuyler, of West Troy, New York, he died February
22d, 1853 ; three children.
Eliza Smedes, born June 21st, 1819, married May
20th, 1840, to Wm. Rhinelander Renwick, of New
York City. She died September Sth, 1877; five
children. Edward Nicoll, born March 12th, 1821, married
January 26th, 1849, Elizabeth M., only daughter of
James Van Schoonhoven, of Troy, New York. Died
May 31st, 1865 ; eight children.
Mary, born December 11th, 1822, unmarried.
Anna Bancker, born August 16th, 1824, died July
30th, 1826.
Howard, born February 27th, 1826, married March
17th, 1847, Margaret Evertson, daughter of John
Givan, of Westchester ; seven children.
Rev. Howard Crosby, great-grandson of Dr. Ger
ardus Clarkson, and seventh in descent from Rev.
David Clarkson of England, graduated at the Univer
sity of New York in 1844. Was Professor of Greek in
the same University 1851-59. Professor of Greek in
Rutgers College 1859-63. Pastor of First Presby
terian Church, New Brunswick, 1861-62. In 1863
he was installed Pastor of the Fourth Avenue Pres-

208 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
byterian Church, New York, where for twenty-seven
years he has been the devoted minister to an equally
devoted flock. He was Chancellor of the University
of New York 1870-81. President of the New York
Young Men's Christian Association 1852-55. Mod
erator Presbyterian General Assembly 1873. Member
of the First Presbyterian General Council, in Edin
burgh, 1877. One of the Bible Revisers 1872-81.
President of the Society for the Prevention of Crime
1877. Member of the State Commission to frame a
License Law 1888.
A voluminous writer, he is the author of the follow
ing works : " Lands of the Moslem," " GEdipus
Tyrannus," with notes. " New Testament Commen
tary," " Life of Jesus," " Annotated New Testament,"
" Bible Manual," " Notes on Joshua," " Notes on Ne-
hemiah," " Thoughts on the Decalogue," " Bible view
of the Jewish Church," " The seven Churches of
Asia," and a large number of pamphlets on the public
questions of the day.
Harm an Rutgers, born April 10th, 1828, died July
30th, 1830.
Hannah Floyd Clarkson, born at Philadelphia, Pa., Jan
uary 31st, 1793; died at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., May 31st,
1870; unmarried.

DESCENDANTS. 209
Wm. Nicoll Clarkson, M. D., married Margaret O'Hare,
daughter of John Fabian of St. Simon's Island, Georgia,
with issue as follows :
Mary Catharine, born at Wadmalaw Island, Decem
ber 25th, 1824, married December 25th, 1849, Theodore
Dehone Miiller, M. D., died June 7th, 1880; no
children. Samuel Eliphalet White, born at Wadmalaw
Island, February 1st, 1828, married December 25th,
1849, Elizabeth, daughter of William Davis, of Wad
malaw. He died August 16th 1855; one child.
Sarah Caroline, born September 2d, 1830, died
February 13th, 1832.
Harriet Hannah, born March 18th, 1833, died Sep
tember 7th, 1833.
William John, born September 26th, 1834, married
December 31st, 1865, Mary Jane, daughter of James
David Gordon of Williamsburgh, South Carolina;
eight children.
Emily Eliza, born December 6th, 1837, died April
23d, 1838.
Nathaniel Bowen, born at John's Island, September
23d, 1839, married December 31st, 1862, Laura Ber-
nell, daughter of James David Gordon, of Williams
burgh, South Carolina. Licensed by Methodist Epis
copal Church in South Carolina, March 14th, 1877,
27

210 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
and admitted to Conference, December 18th, 1880.
Ordained Deacon July 4th, 1881, as Elder, December
21st,. 1884; nine children.
Samuel Floyd Clarkson, fourth child and second son of
Rev. William Clarkson, M. D., and Catharine Floyd, was
born at Bridgeton, N. J., May 29th, 1797.
He was educated at Norristown, Pa. On the death of his
father in 1812, in South Carolina, the widow with her three
children came north and resided in New York City with
her daughter, Harriet Ashton, who had married William
Bedlow Crosby.
He studied law with Judge Harris Scovil and Samuel
Blatchford, and was licensed in May, 1822, to practice law.
He formed a partnership with Peter V. Remsen, under the
firm name of Remsen & Clarkson, which continued until
May, 1833.
Mr. Clarkson joined the Rutgers Street Presbyterian
Church by profession of faith, December 28th, 1820, and was
dismissed, February 18th, 1833, to the Associate Reformed
Presbyterian Church in Murray Street, with which he
united, March 9th, 1833.
On the 14th of November, 1826, he married Amelia Ann,
daughter of William Frederick Baker and Maria Elizabeth
Sperry of New York City. Rev. Wm. Berrian, D. D.,
performed the ceremony. He always took an active inter
est in church matters; was ordained an Elder of the
Associate Reformed Church, August 7th, 1836, and was a

DESCENDANTS. 211
delegate from the Presbytery of New York, to the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that met in Philadel
phia, in 1837, and which took such action as led to the
division of that body for several years. He was also elected
a trustee, and when the church was moved to Eighth Street,
he was the Chairman of the Building Committee.
Rev. Thomas Macauley, D. D., who had been called from
the Rutgers Street Presbyterian Church, to the Associate
Reformed Church in Murray Street, was still the pastor
when the building was taken down and removed up town.
On his resignation, Rev. Mr. Chapman was called from
Boston, Mass., but after a struggle of two years he was
forced to yield, and the church was sold.
Mr. Clarkson then united, in June, 1851, with the
Collegiate Reformed (Dutch) Church, attending the Ninth
Street Church, between Broadway and Fourth Avenue,
(then the Bowery,) afterwards he went to the Lafayette
Place Church, where he was the Superintendent of the
Sunday School for several years.
His health and eye sight failing, he removed to Brooklyn,
and united with the First Reformed Church on Jerolamon
Street, in September, 1867 : here he continued to live and
worship until he died, December 31st, 1868.
His family removed to Flushing, L. I., in 1870, and there
his widow died, September 7th, 1870.
Mr. Clarkson practiced law until about 1867 ; in his
younger days making a specialty of Chancery practice, and

212 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
when the Code came into effect, followed more particularly
Equity Pleadings.
He was a conscientious advocate, entering into the right
of his clients with every talent he possessed ; avoiding liti
gation if possible, but espousing what he felt was the wrong
done his clients, and earnestly endeavoring to secure for
them justice.
In all his church connections he was an active man ;
greatly gifted in extemporaneous prayer, he was invariably
called upon to lead in that most important and blessed
privilege ; and having been a close student of the Bible, he
continued a teacher in the Bible Class, until called to be the
Superintendent. Children of Samuel Floyd Clarkson and Amelia Ann
Baker : William Baker, born August 22d, 1827, died Feb
ruary 10th, 1828.
Julia La Roche, born October 8th, 1829, unmarried.
Floyd, born February 27th, 1831, married October
27th, 1857, Harriet Anna, daughter of John Van
Boskerck, of New York City ; had ten children.
Floyd Clarkson received a liberal education, and
in 1859 embarked in business. On the call for troops
by President Lincoln, in April, 1861, as a member of
the Seventh Regiment National Guard of New York,
he went to Washington, D. C, and from that time
until the close of the war was identified with the

DESCENDANTS. 213
operations of the army in North Carolina. On Nov
ember 11th, 1861, he was mustered as Major of the
Sixth New York Cavalry, and on June 14th, 1864,
was appointed Assistant Inspector General on the
staff of Brigadier-General Edward Harland, com
manding the sub-district of New Berne, N. C.
On the 21st of February, 1865, Major Clarkson re
signed his commission as Major of the 12th New
York Volunteer Cavalry. The resignation was ap
proved by the Colonel of the regiment, and by Briga
dier-General Edward Harland, but Brigadier-General
Innis N. Palmer, commanding the district of North
Carolina, placed upon it the following endorsement :
" This cannot be approved at this time ; Major
Clarkson is too valuable an officer to be spared now."
The resignation was returned from the head-quarters
"Army of the Ohio" disapproved. Major Clarkson
was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel on the 22d of April
1866, " for faithful and meritorious services."
Colonel Clarkson has always been an earnest Free
mason, and has held many offices of trust in that
Order. He is connected with the Military Order of
the Loyal Legion, and for some years served as Chan
cellor of the New York Commandery, and at this
date is Department Commander of the G. A. R. for
the State of New York. It is a coincidence that
Thaddeus Stevens Clarkson, another great-grandson

214 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson, is in the same year Depart
ment Commander of the G. A. R. for Nebraska.
Colonel Floyd Clarkson is also a member of the
" Veterans of the Seventh Regiment" N. G. S. N. Y,
and of the society of the Army of the Potomac, and
of the society of the Army of the Cumberland, and is
President of the society of the War Veterans of the
Seventh Regiment, N. Y. He is also, a life member
of the New York Historical Society, and of the St.
Nicholas Society; a member of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art; the New York Genealogical and
Biographical Society, and Vice-President of the
society of the Sons of the Revolution.
Upon the appointment of the Citizen's Committee
for the Centennial celebration of the inauguration of
General George Washington as the first President of
the United States, Colonel Clarkson was appointed
one of that committee. He was selected by the com
mittee on States as Marshal of the President's escort
on his arrival in New York, and in a letter under
date of May 9th, 1889, Elbridge T. Gerry, Esq.,
chairman of the Executive Committee, desires to
" express the warm and hearty thanks of the Com
mittee for the services rendered by Colonel Clarkson
during the celebration."
Rutgers, born December 8th, 1832, married Jan
uary 7th, 1858, Margaret Ann, daughter of Rev.

DESCENDANTS. 21S
John Niel McLeod, of New York City; had eight
children. Catharine, born September 9th, 1834, died Feb
ruary 11th, 1836.
Varick, born May 14th, 1836, died January 19th,
1837. Harriet Crosby, born October 20th, 1837, unmarried.
William Crosby, born December 9th, 1839, married
September 5th, 1866, Sarah Augusta, daughter of
Daniel S. Greene, of Brunswick, New York. He died
December 23d, 1887, leaving two children.
Gerardus, born December 8th, 1843, married Sep
tember, 1884, Ella Chandler; no children.
Samuel Floyd, born October 11th, 1845, married
December 10th, 1879, Courtenay N., daughter of
Cincinnatus W. Newton, of Norfolk, Virginia. He
died at Nice, France, January 8th, 1883, being then
a Lieut. U. S. Navy ; no children.
Amelia, born October 12th, 1847, married June
19th, 1873, to John W. Clarkson, of Philadelphia.
She died August 1st, 1880, leaving two children.

216 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
JOSEPH CLARKSON.
Joseph Clarkson, the third son of Dr. Gerardus Clarkson,
was born at Philadelphia, February 27th, 1765, baptized at
Christ Church, April 18th, 1765, by Rev. Richard Peters,
D. D. In his youth he attended a classical school, then of
great repute, kept by Dr. Robert Smith, a Presbyterian
clergyman, in Lancaster County, Pa. He graduated at the
University of the State of Pennsylvania, at the age of seven
teen, and received the degree of Master of Arts from the
College of New Jersey, in 1785. A portrait of Joseph Clarkson
copied from a miniature, supposed to be by Du Simitiere,
is inserted in this memoir. Young Clarkson seems to
have been imbued with serious impressions from early years,
and with a desire to enter the ministry of the Church,
though uncertain as to how or where he could receive
orders, he placed himself under the guidance of Rev. Robert
Blackwell, at the time Assistant Minister of Christ Church
and St. Peter's. Mr. Blackwell thirteen years before had
sailed for England, and at the little suburb of London
called Fulham, at a "special ordination," was by the then
Bishop of London, Right Rev. Richard Terrick, D. D.,
admitted to the holy order of Deacons, " according to the
manner and form prescribed, and used by the Church of
England." While reading divinity, it is more than proba
ble that Rev. Mr. Blackwell encouraged his young student
to whom he was greatly attached, to hope for like success
in an application to the Bishop of London, for admission

JDSEPH CLilRKSDTsT

FRDM A MINIATURE IN POSSESSION OF THE FAMILY.

OLD SUJEEES' CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA

DESCENDANTS. 217
into the holy order of Deacons. The sequel shows how if
such was the plan it was over-ruled, when on May 28th,
1787, Bishop White, held in Christ Church, his first ordina
tion, and Joseph Clarkson and Joseph Couden, were
admitted to the holy order of Deacons." *
Upon his ordination, Rev. Joseph Clarkson became
Assistant to Dr. Nicolas Collin, rector of the Swedish
Churches, Wicaco, Upper Merion and Kingsessing, and con
tinued in that capacity until 1792.
In 1789, Mr. Clarkson acted as Secretary to the House of
Bishops, first convened at Philadelphia. " The meeting in
Christ Church being found inconvenient to the members in
several respects" adjournment was had to the apartments of
the General Assembly in the State House.
f " While the Convention sat in Christ Church, the ' House
of Bishops,' consisting of Bishops White and Seabury, sat
in its 'Vestry Room,' a small place on the north of the
pulpit, about seven feet wide by twelve feet long. The
'House' was a very small one, no doubt, but still large
enough for the two persons who composed it and their Sec
retary, the Rev. Mr. Clarkson."
In 1791, the Rev. Lawrence Girelius, the last of the Swed
ish Ministers, resigned his charge at Wilmington, Del., and
returned to Sweden. He was succeeded by Rev. Joseph
* This service is referred to on pages 185-6 of this work.
f Life of Bev. William Smith, DD. Vol.*II, fol. 289.
28

218 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
Clarkson, at which time the Church at Christina became
connected regularly with the P. E. Church.
Rev. Dr. Collin, Minister of the Swedish Mission in Phila
delphia and parts adjacent, always during his ministry,
covering a period of forty-five years, used the prayer book
of the Episcopal Church, and the many assistant Ministers
that he had during his rectorship were of that Church.
As a matter of interest, a print of each of these venerable
buildings, now Gloria Dei, Philadelphia, and Trinity Church,
Wilmington, Del., is inserted. Both were erected about the
year 1700.
On July 8th, 1799, Rev. Mr. Clarkson entered upon his
duties as Minister of St. James' Church, Lancaster, Pa. At that
date Hon. Jasper Yeates and Edward Hand were wardens.
His field of labour embraced beside the town of Lancaster, the
country parishes of St. John's, Pequea, and Christ Church,
Leacock. The Rev. Thomas Barton, a Missionary appointed
by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, was Min
ister in charge of St. James' Church in 1766. This church
was of stone, and built about 1745 ; it was a small structure.
The cash account for building kept in the mss. of George
Ross, the signer, is still in existence. All efforts to find a
picture of the church have failed. Rev. Mr. Barton re
mained until 1778, and was succeeded by the Rev. Elisha
Riggs, and he in turn by Rev. Joseph Clarkson. In 1818
measures were taken to re-build St. James' Church, and
Robert Coleman, Charles Smith and Adam Reigart were

DESCENDANTS. 219
appointed a committee to fix upon a proper place for the
new structure, and to superintend its erection. Subscriptions
to the building fund were solicited from the citizens, and
John Passmore was appointed treasurer.
* " On Sunday, the 15th of October, 1820, the Right Rev.
William White, D. D., assisted by the Rev. Joseph Clarkson,
Rev. Levi Bull and Rev. W. A. Muhlenberg, performed the
ceremony of consecrating the new church in the presence of
a large congregation of citizens, after which the Rev. Mr.
Snowden was admitted to the order of priesthood.
" On Monday, October 16th, a confirmation took place
when the Bishop confirmed thirty persons."
The Rev. W. A. Muhlenberg at this time was called to be
co-rector. He remained until 1824, and was succeeded by
the Rev. Levi Silliman Ives, who resigned to become assist
ant Minister at Trinity Church, New York. The Rev.
Samuel Bowman succeeded Mr. Ives in 1827. Consecrated
assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania on the 25th day of August,
1858, he continued to reside at Lancaster, and remained in
the parish until his death on the 3d day of August, 1861.
Bishop Bowman was in the western part of the Diocese on
his way to meet an appointment at Butler, Pa. The des
truction of a bridge compelled the passengers of the train
in which he was journeying to make a walk of four miles.
The Bishop lingered behind, and when the party had
reached the end of the journey he was nowhere to be found.
• From the minutes of St. James' Church, Lancaster.

220 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
A workman returning with a hand-car to the broken bridge
found him lying on his face by the roadside, quite dead.
The body was tenderly cared for, and at once returned to
Pittsburg, and thence removed to Lancaster, where it was
buried in St. James' Churchyard.
The Rev. Joseph Clarkson continued his charge until his
death, which occurred at Lancaster, January 25th, 1830.
For thirty years rector of this church " he was a man well
beloved by his parishioners, and had during his long life a
very peaceful ministry." A print of the church built in
1818-20 is here inserted.
On July 20th, 1788, Joseph Clarkson married Grace, one
of the six daughters of Rev. Samuel Cooke, at that time
settled at Frederickton, New Brunswick. An account of the
life of this good man, so full of events and connected as
he was with the early history of the Church and its strug
gles in America, we have reserved for another chapter.
The children of Joseph and Grace Cooke Clarkson were
eight ; four sons and four daughters.
Mary was born, Philadelphia, September 10th,
1790; married John Passmore, and died January
22d, 1856, and left issue, two sons and one daughter.
These two sons became clergymen of the Protestant
Episcopal Church.
Gerardus was born, Wilmington, Del., October
13th, 1792; married Susan Trissler, December 1st,
1824, and died January 24th, 1857. Susan Trissler

ST. JAMES' CHURCH, LANCASTER, PA.

DESCENDANTS. 221
was born June 9th, 1803, and died May 9th, 1861,
leaving issue.
Esther Cox was born, Wilmington, Del., Juno 3d,
1795 ; married George Louis Mayer, May 30th, 1816,
and died December 29th, 1881, leaving issue.
Harriet Rumsey was born, Wilmington, Del., Octo
ber 4th, 1797 ; married Rev. Samuel Bowman, June
28th, 1836, and died August 10th, 1852; no issue.
The first wife of Rev. Samuel Bowman (Miss Sit-
greaves, of Easton, Pa.), died leaving issue, one son
now deceased, and a daughter, the widow of Bishop
Vail. Michael Cooke was born, Pequea, Lancaster County,
April 5th, 1800 ; married Louisa Harper, of Gettys
burg, Pa., September Sth, 1822, and died July 11th,
1871, leaving issue.
Robert Blackwell was born, Pequea, Lancaster
County, Pa., January I8th, 1802 ; married Maria
Booker, of Tennessee, and died in 1846, leaving
issue. Joseph was born, New Holland, Lancaster County,
Pa., November 9th, 1804, and died in infancy.
Lydia Cooke was born, New Holland, Lancaster
County, Pa., October 11th, 1806 ; married Dr. George
Moore, of Columbia, Pa., in 1824, and died October
24th, 1842, leaving issue.

222 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
Grace Cooke Clarkson, died at Lancaster, Pa., August
25th, 1824, in the 58th year of her age.
Rev. Joseph Clarkson, died January 25th, 1830, in the
64th year of his age.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson are buried in St. James'
Church Yard.

BISHOP CLARKSON.
Robert Harper Clarkson, great-grand-son of Dr. Gerardus
Clarkson, and seventh in descent from Rev. David
Clarkson, was born at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November
19th, 1826. His father, Michael Cooke Clarkson, the son of
Rev. Joseph Clarkson, began life as a clerk in the office of
the late President Buchanan, at Lancaster, Pa. In 1822 he
removed to Gettysburg, Pa., and married Louisa, daughter
of Robert Harper, the founder and editor of " The Adams
Sentinel," a paper that has passed its centennial and still is
published. He was a man of affairs in Adams County, and for
many years a prominent politician in Pennsylvania, a con
temporary and warm personal friend of the late Thaddeus
Stevens. He was a genial, cheerful, Christian gentleman,
with remarkable social qualities that endeared him to all
with whom he came in contact.
An incident is worthy of record here. The battle of
Gettysburg, to which all hearts will ever turn with grati-

DESCENDANTS. 223
tude and reverence, was fought and decided upon the farm
where Robert Harper Clarkson was reared. The writer re
members well how the Bishop, upon a return from Europe,
where he had been sojourning, recounted his experience when
on going into a free reading room in the City of Florence,
in the early evening, he found there on file, the American
papers containing a detailed account of the battle on July 3d,
1863, and with what avidity he took in the story, going over
the ground, every foot of which he had trod in his boyhood,
from Cemetery Hill to Round Top, and along the Emmetts-
burg road. So absorbed was he that he knew not that mid
night was come, and by payment of a coin to the janitor at
intervals, he remained until the day dawned, having lived
over again, in his once peaceful home, the days of his
youth, amid scenes of blood, suffering and death.
* Bishop Clarkson's academic education was received at
Pennsylvania College in the town of his birth, where he
was graduated B. A., in 1844. Shortly afterward, he became
tutor at the College of St. James', in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The head of this interesting institution was the Rev. Dr.
Kerfoot, afterward Bishop of Pittsburg. While there,
young Clarkson studied theology, under Dr. Kerfoot, and
was ordained Deacon, June 18th, 1848.
"In some of its circumstances, his early life was most
* This biographical sketch of Bishop Clarkson is taken largely from Bishop
Hare's memorial sermon delivered at the Cathedral in Omaha, Sunday March
15th, 1884, and from the Omaha Herald March 11th, 1884.

224 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
happy. Far beyond what falls to the lot of most young
persons, he enjoyed the advantage of the love and care and
association of very rare men. While at the College of St.
James' he learned to love, and was in turn greatly loved by,
the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, whose memory still lives and will
always live in St. Luke's hospital, New York, which he
founded, and in the lines of the hymn, ' I would not live
alway,' which he wrote. This eminent divine was co-
rector with the elder Dr. Clarkson, of St. James' Church
in Lancaster, and this strongly attached him to the young
man, who through life was as a son to him. Dr. Bowman,
also a rector of the same church and afterward assistant
Bishop of Pennsylvania, was his uncle. For his piety,
learning and great labor, his name is a treasure in the
Church to this day. He gave his kinsman his solicitous
affection and assistance. Dr. Kerfoot lavished upon him
the vast stores of his learning, and made known to him
not only the beauty of godliness, but the power and joy of
exquisite literary graces.
" He was, we are told, as a boy, just what those of us who
knew him only as a man would have inferred — full of life
and spirits, susceptible to every impression from without,
endowed with a keen sense of the ludicrous, hungry for all
sorts of fun, at the bottom of every piece of mischief that
was current, but clever enough never to be caught.
"At about sixteen, the first crisis in his moral and religious
life came, and under the earnest preaching of the Gospel,

DESCENDANTS. 22B
he was awakened to the seriousness of life, and the sacred-
ness of the claims of his Redeemer. He openly confessed
His name, and soon began to consider whether it was not
his duty to devote his life to the Master's special service in
the ministry. This was his first overcoming, the over
coming of his boyish thoughtlessness.
" On May 8th, 1849, he was married to Miss McPherson, of
Hagerstown, Maryland, and with little knowledge of men
and no experience in affairs, he went to Chicago to become
Rector of St. James' Church. It was a great venture.
Hardly were they settled in their new home, before the
cholera came to mercilessly scourge the city. Others in the
sacred office fled before the terrors of the plague ; they were
steadfast through the whole period of its ravages. Day and
night the young deacon held his way among the stricken ;
nursing the sick, helping the poor, holding up the hearts of
the afflicted, holding the Cross before the eyes of the dying,
and burying the forsaken dead. Stricken down himself, he
conquered the disease by his indomitable spirit ; and weak
and weary as he was, he went out again to the utter misery
all about, never stopping to rest, never heeding the cries of
fear. The records of Christian heroism tell no more affect
ing tale of devotion and self-sacrifice. He came out of the
ordeal a conqueror, for he had conquered a city. Known of
all for what he had been in the hour of agony and trial,
ever afterward men as he passed among them paid him a
loving, almost worshipful homage. 29

226 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
" He was ordained priest, January 5th, 1851. Seventeen
years he lived among that people. He built a great Church,
in its beauty surpassing all others in the city. He gathered a
great congregation from all conditions of men. He set on
foot, and nursed, and made secure many charities. Every
young man coming there, of whom he could hear, was sought
out and helped, and encouraged, and put in the good way.
Every poor, or sick, or afflicted, or friendless person found
a hand stretched out, a heart opened wide for him ; and the
more he needed of any sort of help, the more was pressed
upon him. The whole was a life of arduous work ; a joy
and a blessing to every one. The friendships then formed
still live, their strength unrelaxed, and the gratitude to-day
all it was when the service was rendered.
"In 1857, he received his Doctorate in Divinity from his
alma mater and also from Racine College. And there, in
that young school he had his place. It was he who named
the sainted DeKoven for its head, and by much persuasion
secured the appointment. In 1872, the University of
Nebraska honored itself by conferring upon him the very
first of its degrees of Doctor of Laws.
" In 1865, the General Convention of the Church elected
him Missionary Bishop of Nebraska and Dakota. The an
nouncement drove the blood from his cheek, and left him
speechless for minutes. Thus he describes his emotions in
the sermon in which he announced to his parish his de
cision : ' Entirely unexpected, without the slightest desire

DESCENDANTS. 227
on my part, and with scarcely the shadow of a training, the
announcement of the Church came upon me. The very
thought of the necessary severing of ties, and disturbing of
the associations of seventeen years of a happy pastorate, was
more than I could bear. And whilst I was enduring an
guish and agitation in the balancing of inclination with
duty, such as I pray God I may never again experience, I
went to one of the Bishops, and told him that I could not
and would not go, and laid before him the reasons for my
decision, ultimate as I then thought. When I told him of
my ministry here, commenced in the fervor and enthusiasm
of youth, and deep-rooted in the spiritual services and pas
toral experiences of so many years — of my flock united in a
most remarkable degree, and precious to me, every one,
without an exception, and of my delightful home, filled with
numberless testimonials of your attachment, — and of my
beautiful church, every stone of which was cemented by my
anxieties and my prayers, — and of the city with which I
had grown up, the only dwelling-place of my manhood's
years, the birth-place of my children and the sleeping-
ground of my dead, — I supposed this was enough to satisfy
any reasonable man that I ought not to be asked to go.
His only reply, as he laid his hand upon my shoulder and
looked me calmly in the eye was : ' Your Master in Heaven
left infinitely more than this for you. Life is short. The
account you must give will be strict. Go where he has sen t
you.' What could I say? Shame and silence sealed my

228 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
lips. From that hour, the more I thought over the matter,
and the more I prayed over it, and the more I discussed it
with holy men, who believe that there is a God, and that
there are such things as duty, accountability, necessary self-
surrender, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the clearer
grew the whole subject, and more insignificant and sinful
seemed the thought of personal sacrifice, and the more im
perative became the demand of conscience ; and, although I
reserved the right of final decision until I came home, and
did not definitely determine until since my return, yet every
day has settled me firmer in the wish best expressed in the
lines of the text, ' What am I that I could withstand God ? ' "
It was a splendid triumph of duty over his tenderest
affections and deepest love of friends.
" On the 15th of November, 1865, he was consecrated in his
own Church. The services of that occasion are a memory
still. The Rt. Rev. John Henry Hopkins, the presiding
Bishop of the Church, was consecrator, assisted by Bishops
Kemper, McCoskrey, Lee, Whipple and Talbot. In 1868,
Nebraska was erected into a Diocese, and he was unani
mously elected its first Bishop. He retained jurisdiction in
Dakota for some years, when the western part of that terri
tory was detached and made a separate district with a Bishop
of its own. Last fall he was, at his own request, relieved of
his missionary jurisdiction, the work having outgrown his
strength. And he now looked forward to years of labor to
be given wholly to Nebraska.

DESCENDANTS. 229
" He repeated in his higher office of Bishop his work as
Priest. He came again to a new, raw land, whose prairies
stretched out a vast waste, with a few little towns, where
little Churches had been built, and a sparse and poor popu
lation. It was as un-toward a prospect as a Christian Bishop
ever looked upon. But he was no more dismayed than
when he first left the home of his fathers. With what heed
lessness of self; with what buoyancy of spirit; with what
resolute patience, despite great discouragements, with what
abundant, trying, exhausting labors he has gone on and
carried on the work none knew, or ever will know, who
were not admitted to his inmost heart. He has built fifty
churches. He has carried to success his two schools. He
has been the head and moving spirit, and source of strength,
to all the work of his Church. He has not kept himself to
the places of ease, nor even to his own home ; but has gone
up and down all the country, preaching in school-houses, as
well as Churches, to a few disciples wherever they could be
gathered. No journey has been too long or too hard for him
to travel in all seasons, so that he could reach, and help, and
encourage any servant of the Lord. He has preached such
sermons that men, who cared little for such things, have said
they never heard him, but they longed to be better ; and he
has taught multitudes the very rudiments of our divine re
ligion. " Bishop Clarkson died at Omaha, March 10th, 1884. He
had a presentiment from the first that this sickness was his

230 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
last, and immediately, on being taken ill, began to make
preparations for his departure ; but it would be a great mis
take to suppose that his will-power gave way, that he died
from want of endeavor and determination to get well, and
that a man of stronger will and greater desire to live would
have recovered. To the last, he was master of himself and the
situation. To the last he was the director and the comforter
of all. The physicians marvelled at the clearness and vigor
with which he read and described his symptoms. He wrote
daily in his journal, for ten days after he was laid upon his
bed, and one entry reads, ' I am feeling better to-day. Per
haps I shall yet be up.' He kept the little details of business
well in hand, and even was at pains to see that replies to
telegrams, inquiring as to his condition, should be prepaid.
Two days after he was declared by his physicians to be dying,
he called for the daily paper and read the local items. When
told that he could not live, he argued that he had ' too much
vitality to die yet.' He proposed vigorous treatment, and
thought that if it was resorted to he might yet recover. Five
minutes before his death, he calmly and collectedly inquired,
'Do you see any great change?' His self-command — his
self-possession, was complete. From his bed of sickness he
sent a message first by the telephone, and then by a special
messenger to a non-Episcopal minister in the city, asking
the prayers of himself and his people. ' Some may criticise,'
he said, ' a Bishop's asking the prayers of persons outside
his own Church ; but no matter. I value the prayers of all

DESCENDANTS. 231
good men.' While on a visit, once, to one of the towns of
the state, he learned that an effort was being made to build
a house for an aged Methodist minister, and at once en
closed a check for ten dollars, with the expression of his
pleasure that there was a prospect that the good man would
have a roof over his head in his old age. And since his
death, a touching letter has come from a Baptist minister,
residing now in Michigan, telling of the cheer which had
been brought to his heart, when he was about to leave Ne
braska for a strange field of labor, by receiving from the
Bishop, whom he had frequently met in travelling, a note
expressing his regret that he was about to leave the state,
and wishing him God speed in his new sphere. There was
nothing about your Bishop which you could measure in a
bushel. He was too large-hearted to be entirely contained
even wdthin the bounds of our own comprehensive Church.
" From his sick-bed three days before his death, he tele
phoned his congratulations and best love to a young mother
upon the birth of a daughter, asked that oranges might be
sent to a little lamp-lighter who had broken his leg, and
charged that one of the clergy should be sure to search out
a sick man, almost a total stranger to him, of whose illness
he had read in the newspaper, and who, he feared, might be
friendless. But this tender concern to those who were
bound to him by reason of his office never drew him from
those who were united to him by the ties of nature. The
moment he could break away from the ties of official duty,

232 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
he made for his home, like a carrier-pigeon set free. To
reach it he would often take a caboose on a freight train on
Sunday at midnight, rather than wait for the regular
passenger train the next morning. Arrived at home, he
was radiant with delight. Love exhaled from his soul, like
perfume from a flower, toward every member of his family.
And ere death clouded his faculties, he called them all to
his bedside, spoke to each one an appropriate parting word,
and poured forth his soul for each one before the Mercy Seat
in passionate and specific supplication.
" One would have supposed that the approach of death to a
man so wrapped up as he was, in wife and children, friends
and home, would have been attended with peculiar terrors ;
that the loosening of the embrace of love would have been
accompanied with exhibitions of uncontrollable anguish.
There was nothing of the kind. For three weeks he lay in
death's presence, but its presence did not disturb him in the
least. It was then that the essential characteristic of his re
ligion shone forth in its peculiar glory. He had implicit
faith in God, the unerring, wise, loving, ever faithful Father
and Redeemer. He was God's dear child. Throughout he
behaved as a child in the house of his father. He did not
act as if he felt that he was nearing a tremendous juncture
and must brace himself; he acted as he always acted ; was
as natural as a child in a garden, unconscious of the
presence of the asp. He was even playful sometimes. He
talked of his interment without a shudder ; of his being

DESCENDANTS. 233
shrouded in his robes of office without shrinking ; he had
his robes brought to his room, and asked that he might be
buried in the robes in which for eighteen years he had done
his work ; not in his new ones, which might be given to
another ; chose the hymns to be sung at his funeral.
"With sublime composure he said a little before his death,
' I shall soon be with all the dead,' and again, ' I believe
as I preached, I shall close my eyes on this world and open
them on a better.' " THE LAST RITES.
On the morning of March 13th, 1884, the funeral proces
sion moved from " Overlook," the residence of the late
Bishop, in order given :
The Mayor and City officers.
The vestries of Churches not of Omaha.
The vestry of St. Barnabas' Church.
The vestry of St. Mark's Church.
The vestry of the Cathedral.
The lay members of the chapter.
The visiting clergy, including delegations from the dio
ceses of Minnesota, Chicago, Quincy, Missouri, Kansas,
North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa.
The Diocesan clergy.
The Cathedral clergy.
The body was borne on the shoulders of eight strong men,
most of whom had worked on the Cathedral, while the

234 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
others had been in the service of the Bishop. The casket
of cedar wood, covered with black cloth, was draped with a
large pall of royal purple, having through its centre a white
cross. The pall bearers were :
The Rev. Mr. Shaw, The Rev. Dr. McNamara,
Mr. C. W. Mead, Mr. H. G. Clark,
Mr. E. Wakely, Mr. J. M. Woolworth,
The Rev. Dr. Oliver, The Rev. Dr. Goodale.
Following them were the gentlemen of the family ; (the
ladies being in carriages), Bishops Vail, of Kansas ; Spauld-
ing, of Colorado ; Hare, of South Dakota ; Walker, of North
Dakota ; McLaren, of Chicago ; Brewer, of Montana ; Brown,
of Fond du Lac, and Robertson, of Missouri, and distin
guished gentlemen from abroad and of Omaha.
All places of business and the public schools were closed ;
and as the procession passed to the Cathedral, the streets
were thronged with people, who reverently uncovered.
At the door of the Cathedral, the procession opened, and
the body of the deceased prelate was carried into the porch,
followed by the family and friends.
His Excellency the Governor, and other state officers, the
General commanding the department, his staff, the Judges
and officers of the Federal and State Courts, and the min
isters of other denominations, occupied seats specially as
signed to them.

DESCENDANTS. 23S
The Bishops, having passed through the chapel and rob
ing room, came down the aisle to the inner door of the
Cathedral, and then returned, followed by the body, borne
by the clerical and lay pall bearers.
Then came the family and friends, and those who were in
the procession from the house, in inverse order, the Rt. Rev.
Dr. Walker reading the sentences.
The burial chant was sung by the choir.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. McLaren read the lesson. The Rt. Rev.
Dr. Hare said the prayers. The hymn, " Jerusalem, My
Happy Home," was sung by the choir, when the Bishops
passed down the aisle, followed by the clerical and lay bear
ers, carrying the body, and by the family and friends, and
after them the clergy, the organ playing the dead march
in "Saul."
The hymn " Jerusalem the Golden" was sung while the
body was lowered into the grave.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Spaulding said the sentences. The Rev.
Dr. McNamara said the committal to the ground, the Rev.
Dr. Batterson casting in the earth. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Brown
said the sentences after the committal, and the Rt. Rev. Dr.
Robertson said the concluding prayers. The hymn, "0,
Paradise, 0, Paradise I" concluded the services.
A great concourse was assembled in the Cathedral yard,
and before the grave was filled, multitudes looked down
upon the heavy stone strewn with flowers.

236 MEMOIR OF GERARDUS CLARKSON.
The tomb is of hard brick laid in with Portland cement.
A heavy stone is embedded in the walls just above the
casket. The walls carried to the surface of the ground are
covered again with another thick stone, which will form the
foundation of the monument.
The resting-place is a spot selected by the Bishop for the
purpose, and south of the south transept of the Cathedral.
The place will be marked by a horizontal monument and a
cross, like those at the graves of the Christian poet, Keble,
and of the Rev. Dr. DeKoven, at Racine College; and it
will be kept as a sacred spot, to which multitudes will resort
to pay the tributes of a loving memory to their beloved
Bishop.

APPENDICES.

THE FAMILY OF DE PEYSTER. 241
APPENDIX A.
THE FAMILY OF DE PEYSTER.
The de Peysters were of Huguenot origin. Johannes,
the ancestor of the family in this country, was born at
Haarlem, Holland, in the early part of the seventeenth
century. After making a visit to America he returned to Europe,
and in his native town married, on the 17th of December,
1651, Cornelia Lubberts. Two years later he was again in
New Amsterdam, and finally established himself there in
trade. He is said to have been posessed, by inheritance, of
considerable wealth. Several pictures, costly articles of
furniture, and massive pieces of plate, which he brought
with him from Holland, are still preserved by his descend
ants. He held many offices of trust and honor under
Dutch and English Colonial rule, and took a prominent
part in public affairs. He was, at different times, Schepen,
Alderman, Burgomaster, Deputy-Mayor, and on the 15th
of October, 1677, he received the appointment of Mayor,
but this latter office was declined in consequence of his
imperfect knowledge of the English language. He died
previous to 1686, after a long life of activity and usefulness.
His widow survived him many years. He had issue, seven
sons and two daughters. Of these seven children, two only
will be noticed in this article.

242 THE FAMILY OF DE PEYSTER.
Abraham, one of the sons of Johannes de Peyster and
Cornelia Lubberts, was born on the 8th of July, 1657,
and married at Amsterdam, on the 5th of April, 1684,
Catharina de Peyster. On the 13th of the following
September he returned to New York, where he held suc
cessively the offices of Alderman, of Mayor of the city, of
a Judge of the Supreme Court, of Treasurer of New Jersey
and New York, and was for a time the acting Governor of
the latter Province, having for many years been a member
of the King's Council. He died in August, 1728, aged 71
years. He had issue, eight sons and five daughters.
Abraham, one of the sons of Abraham de Peyster
and Catharina de Peyster, was born on the 28th of
August, 1696, and married, on the 1st of July,
1722, Margaret, the eldest daughter of Jacobus Van
Cortland t (son of Hon. Oloff Stevens Van Cortlandt
and Annetje Lockermans) and Eva Philipse.1
Abraham was made Treasurer of the Province of
New York on the 2d of June, 1721, and remained in
office until his death, which occurred on the 17th of
September, 1767, aged 71 years. He had issue, five
sons and six daughters. One of his children, James,
who married Sarah, a daughter of the Hon. Joseph
Reade, was the grandfather of the late James F. de
Peyster, and another child, Elizabeth, married
Matthew Clarkson, and is now represented by the
descendants of her grandchildren, John Charlton

THE FAMILY OF DE PEYSTER. 243
Clarkson, and Maria Charlton, wife of John L.
Holthuysen.
Johannes, another son of Johannes de Peyster and
Cornelia Lubberts, was born on the 21st of September, 1666,
and married on the 10th of October, 1688, Anna Bancker,
eldest daughter of Garrett Bancker and Elizabeth Dircks.
Bancker came to Beverwyck about 1656, probably from
Amsterdam. Mr. de Peyster was an Assessor of the Dock
Ward, an Assistant Alderman of the same, Mayor of New
York, and a prominent member of the Provincial Legis
lature, acting as Chairman of several Committees. About
the year 1710, he visited his relatives in Holland. He had
issue, seven sons and five daughters. One of his daughters,
Cornelia, married Matthew, a son of Matthew Clarkson,
Secretary of the Province of New York, by his wife,
Catharina Van Schaick, and had issue, who became the
ancestors of the Philadelphia branch of the Clarkson
family. Cornelia survived her husband Matthew Clarkson,
and married Gilbert Tennent.

Extracted from the Pedigree of the de Peyster family by
Maj. -Gen. J. Watts de Peyster, and from Valentine's Manual
for 1861, p. 556.
Note — ' See article, Frederick Philipse, in the "Memoirs ofthe Long Island
Historical Society," vol. 1, p. 362, and de Peyster pedigree, p. 117, and
" Potter's American Monthly," vol. 4, p. 332.

244 THE FAMILY OF FLOWER.
APPENDIX B.
THE FAMILY OF FLOWER.
Enoch Flower came to America with the Proprietaries
and was appointed by William Penn on the 26th of October
1683, the first schoolmaster in the Colony of Pennsylvania,
" having exercised the like employment in England during
a period of twenty years."
Henry Flower, the son of Enoch Flower, was born in
1660 and married Elizabeth Paschall in 1689. Of this
marriage there was issue, seven children.
Enoch Flower, 2d, son of Henry, was born in 1705,
married Ann, daughter of John and Elizabeth Jones. Of
this marriage there were nine children. As shown on the
records of the Pine Street Monthly Meeting, Enoch Flower,
2d, died January 21st, 1773. His will was probated
February 2d, 1773. He signed the Provincial paper money
for the year 1756, was one of the original contributors to
the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751, and number two of the
original members of the Colony and State in Schuylkill,
May 1st, 1732.
Samuel Flower, brother of the above, was born in 1711,
and as before stated, married Rebecca, daughter of William
Branson. Their daughter Mary married Dr. Gerardus
Clarkson.

THE FAMILY OF FLOWER. 248
Samuel Flower died on December 14th, 1769 and was
buried in Christ Church grounds.
He was a man of wealth, and there are many curious
and entertaining papers on file in the courts of that period,
growing out of the complications of a second marriage.
Also an inventory of personal effects. The will with codicils
was set aside by decree of court dated February 22d, 1770.
This decree is signed by
BENJAMIN CHEW,
Pres. Gen'l.
Gerardus Clarkson and Thomas Asheton, his sons-in-law,
and Daniel Williams, were appointed administrators of the
estate. His son Samuel Flower, Jr., inherited what is now
one of the most valuable sections of the City of Philadel
phia, to-wit : — " All that certain messuage, plantation and
tract of land situate in Blockley Township, in the City of
Philadelphia, comprising fifty-eight (58) acres, extending
from the River Schuylkill to the great road leading from
Philadelphia to Lancaster, with the ferry-house, ferry-wharf,
landings and landing-places, to the aforesaid last described
messuage and tract of land, belonging as well on the west
side of said Schuylkill river as on the other side thereof."
Mrs. Clarkson and her sister Hannah, the wife of Thomas
Asheton, inherited real estate from their father, situated in
what was known at that time as "Society Hill."
After diligent search I fail to find any of the name,
who are descendants of this family of Flower.

246 THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
APPENDIX C.
THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
This work would be incomplete as a record without men
tion of Rev. Samuel Cooke, whose strong character, loyalty
to conscience, and devotion to his family under the most
trying circumstances, is a precious heirloom handed down
from the past to his descendants.
Samuel Cooke was born in London, in 1723, a graduate of
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he was ordained
Deacon by the Bishop of Ely, in the Chapel belonging to
Caius College, June 5th, 1748. Ordained Priest by Thomas
Haytee, Bishop of Norwich. His first charge was at Beccles,
in Suffolk County, England, where he remained for two
years, and preached his farewell sermon there on May 6th,
1751. In the same year he was licensed by the Bishop of
London, (Dr. Sherlock,) to perform the ministerial office in
Monmouth County, N. J., and was stationed at Shrewsbury,
as a missionary of the society for the propagation of the
Gospel in foreign parts, with churches at Middletown and
Freehold, and the region round about, over which
he had jurisdiction. It has been well said, that
"nothing but the love of souls, and a desire to estab
lish permanently on this continent the church they
so strongly loved, could have induced the early missionaries
of the mother church of England, to leave the comforts and

ERECTED 17B3

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 247
congenial associations of their English homes, to spend a
life of weariness and labour among rude and unaccustomed
scenes." In 1766, such had been the growth of this mission
that it was divided, and Mr. Cooke confined his labors to
Shrewsbury and Middletown. Among the earliest of the
Colonial Churches, is that of Christ Church, Shrewsbury,
N. J. From the best information to be had, it is quite cer
tain that the first church built in Shrewsbury, was between
1703 and 1705. The second 1748, and the present building
1769. On the corner-stone are Mr. Cooke's initials, S. C,
with date 1769. At a meeting of the vestry on July 10th,
of that year, it appears that in placing the new structure
there was a difference of opinion as to where the north-east
corner should be fixed. It was finally voted to place it two
feet south of the front of the old building. The timber was
given by Captain Haggerty. All the materials are yet
sound, and, if well cared for will last another century. In
its external form, the church to-day remains the same. It
once had the high pulpit and sounding board, and high
backed pews ; the reader will find an illustration of the
building as it stands to-day, also a canopied pew. These
illustrations reproduced by kind permission of the Century
Company, are taken from an article on Christ Church,
Shrewsbury, N. J., by Edward Eggleston in Century Maga
zine, May 1888.
There are two of these canopied pews ; one used on the
right, then as now for the rector's family, the other is now

248 THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
used as a Baptistery, in the olden time by the Governor and
family. The large Bible, still used, and in perfect preservation, was
presented during the Rectorship of Mr. Cooke, in 1752, by
Robert Elliston, at the time General Controller of his
Majesty's Customs in New York. The old Prayer Book was
presented in June 1752, by Hon. William Franklin, son of
Benjamin Franklin, and the last Royal Governor of New
Jersey, who held the office from 1763 to 1776. In 1844, the
recess chancel was added. The present windows were placed
in 1867, the chancel window being presented in memory of
the De Hart family, who were long identified with this
church. The side windows were, in part, the gift of St.
Thomas' Church, New York. On one occasion during the
Revolutionary war, the church narrowly escaped destruction
by fire. A company of soldiers was encamped in and
around it, and entertained no friendly feeling in its favor,
from the fact that the royal crown of George III, which is
still there, adorned the steeple. They often fired their
muskets at this emblem of British rule ; but as this did not
bring it down, they set it on fire. It was fortunately dis
covered and the building rescued from the flames.
At the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the society
for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, in 1851,
the Rev. Harry Finch, for thirty-four years the devoted
rector of Christ Church, delivered an address in which I find
the following: " In 1751, Mr. Thompson was succeeded by

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 249
Rev. Samuel Cooke, whose faithfulness and devotion in this
parish, secured the love and esteem of his Parishioners.
He remained here a much longer time, than any of his
predecessors, and would no doubt have finished his days
here, but for the troubles of the Revolutionary war. How
ever he remained here until 1775, when his life was threat
ened on account of his loyalty to the government to which
he had taken the oath of allegiance. Making his escape, he
went from Long Branch on board a British man of war, and
on his arrival in England, was appointed Chaplain in the
army. " It was his misfortune to live in troublous times, and
nothing but the most conscientious scruples could have in
duced him to leave a family of small children and mother
less, and flee to the arms of the mother country for
protection." The church of England in the colonies and the mission
aries sent out by the venerable society for the propagation
of the Gospel in foreign parts were associated largely with
England, and came in for a share of the odium merited
by her rulers, and many of the missionaries, whose support
was withdrawn, were compelled to abandon the country ; of
such was Rev. Samuel Cooke. So great was the depletion,
that at the end of the war in 1784, but three clergymen
remained in Pennsylvania.
In the first convention of the church, assembled at Phila
delphia, April 30th, 1760, we find Rev. Mr. Cooke, and other

2SO THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
missionaries from New Jersey present, with the kind inten
tion of giving advice and assistance.*
On October 1st, 1766, an important convention was held
in the old church at Shrewsbury, for the purpose of dis
cussing the necessity and importance of having an Ameri
can Episcopate. The name of Dr. Chandler appears as
President, and Jarvis, Seabury, Inglis and Cooke as being
present. In October 1767, at a meeting of the Clergy at Elizabethtown
N. J., it was resolved to appoint a committee to frame some
plan for the relief of the clergy and their families — and in
pursuance of the appointment, the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty,
Rector of Trinity Church, N. Y. ; the Rev. Dr. Myles
Cooper, President of King's College ; the Rev. Samuel Cooke,
of Shrewsbury, N. J., and the Rev. Dr. William Smith, the
well known Provost of the College and Academy of Phila
delphia, drew up for the approbation of their brethren a
scheme for a company to be known as " the corporation for
the relief of the widows and children of clergymen in the
communion of the church of England in America."
The Rev. Mr. Cooke, married Graham Kearney, daughter
of Michael Kearney and Sarah Morris, his wife, of Burling
ton, N. J. Among the loose fragments of the early records
of Christ Church, Shrewsbury, N. J., is this entry : " Buried,
September 25th, 1771, Mrs. Graham Cooke, wife of Rev.
* Life, Dr. William Smith, vol. I, page 263.

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 2B1
Samuel Cooke, place of interment, Shrewsbury, officiating
clergyman, her husband;" also the interment of a son
Thomas, November 14th, 1763. Among the Baptisms, are
those of their eight children.
It is said that when Mr. Cooke bid farewell to his five
motherless daughters and only son, it was in full confidence
that the war would soon be over, and that very soon he
would return to his family, but alas, for his hopes ten long
years of separation passed ere this devoted family became
united once more. His children at this time were grown
up, the youngest Lydia, being in her seventeenth year.
Here is a copy of an old letter, now yellow with age, its
faded ink and formal patient writing seem to take one back
to the time when this fond parent was able definitely to
announce his return. During his absence, his second
daughter Sarah, had married Dr. Elisha Newell, of Allen-
town, N. J. " London, No. 10, John Street.
" Wednesday, June 1st, 1785.
" My Dear Michael :
" In my last letters to America, about three weeks ago, by
Dr. Chandler, and by whom I sent a few things for your
sisters, and a box of medicines to Dr. Newell, I then in
formed you that I intended taking my passage in a ship
called the Warrior, but as she was to stop at Cork, consider
ing the loss of time, as she may be detained there longer

2S2 THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
than I should have wished — for these reasons, I altered my
mind and have engaged my passage on board the Brig
Chester, Captain Bell, bound to Halifax and St. John's
River. " I expect to embark some time next week, as the vessel is
to fall down to Gravesend on Monday next. I am busy
now in preparing my baggage, and shall put it on board to
morrow or next day, so that I am at present pretty much
hurried, yet I thought it right to give you this intelligence,
acquainting you that I hope very soon to be every day
drawing nearer to you all, and that we shall ere long have
at last a happy meeting.
"Major Frank Kearney, by whom, I mentioned in my last
my intention of writing to you, has deferred his voyage to
America for the present. If you see Dr. Chandler, remem
ber me to him and tell him, that Dr. Cooper died at Edin
burgh, the 10th of last month.
" My duty, love and respects, where due, and be assured
that I am your most affectionate Father.
"Samuel Cooke."
Besides this manuscript letter, there is in the possession of
a member of the family a manuscript sermon, from the text,
" Blessed are they that mourn," written in clear bold
hand, with ink fresh looking and legible, which Mr. Cooke
preached in Beccles, England, 1750 ; Shrewsbury, 1761 ;
and Fredericton, 1793.

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 2SS
The later career of Rev. Mr. Cooke, is so clearly stated
by a citizen of the Province of New Brunswick, where he
ended his days, that I avail myself of it to quote at length.*
THE REVEREND SAMUEL COOKE, D.D.
" Dr. Cooke, who has been justly styled ' The father of the
English Church in New Brunswick,' received his education
at the University of Cambridge, England, and after being
admitted to Holy Orders, was sent out to New Jersey, U. S.,
by the S. P. G., in or about the year 1751. In 1774, he went
to England and did not return to the United States. In
1785, he was appointed Missionary to New Brunswick. On
18th August of that year he landed at Halifax, N. S., where
he received a hearty welcome from Governor Parr. Living
in a time when there were no railways and steamboats, Mr.
Cooke was obliged to come to St. John, N. B., by a circuitous
route. To get there he travelled two hundred miles in a
fortnight, landing on 2d September, 1785. In a letter to the
S. P. G., Mr. Cooke speaks of the kindness he received from
his congregation, who were for the most part ' very indi
gent.' About eighteen months before Mr. Cooke's arrival, a
house, thirty-six feet by twenty-eight, had been purchased
for a church ; but, owing to the want of money and other
*A Historical sketch of the the first fifty years of the church of England,
in the Province of New Brunswick,, 1783 to 1833, by G-. Herbert Lee, A. M.,
barrister at law, published at the request of " The New Brunswick Historical
Society," 1880.

284 THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
causes, it was in such an unfinished state as to be very in
convenient and uncomfortable for the performance of Divine
worship. Dr. Cooke at once set to work to remedy the evil.
A vestry was called and £90 raised from the principal in
habitants, with which they ceiled the house and erected a
gallery in the front and at each end. This building was
used until the opening of ' Old Trinity' in 1791. . . In
addition to his regular pastoral work at St. John, Mr. Cooke
visited in November, 1785, Campobello, St. Andrews and
Digdeguash. He speaks of St. Andrews as being situated on
the Bay of Passamaquoddy, about twenty leagues distant
from St. John. The town was then well settled, and con
sisted of two hundred houses. Owing to the want of a Mis
sionary to perform religious offices, there were no less than
sixty children who had never been baptized, which gave
their parents ' great uneasiness.' Influenced by the neces
sity of the case and desires of the people, coupled with the
request ofthe Governor, who had just been there, Mr. Cooke
undertook a long and somewhat perilous voyage in order to
carry his ministrations where they were indeed required.
He set out for his destination in a brig on the 6th Novem
ber, 1785; but, owing to the severe weather and adverse
winds, did not reach Campobello until the 13th. On this
Island, distant five leagues from St. Andrews, he landed,
read prayers and preached to the settlers. He baptized a
woman forty years of age and her child of two years old,
besides five other children. On the 16th of November, Mr.

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 25S
Cooke reached St. Andrews, where he was kindly received
and hospitably entertained by the people. During his visit
he stayed at the house of Robert Pagan, Esquire. On the
following Sunday he read prayers and preached to a ' very
decent and respectable congregation,' and performed fifty
baptisms. Mr. Cooke then crossed the bay to Digdeguash,
where he baptized ten more. In this last named place he
was detained three days in consequence of the cold weather.
Returning to St. Andrews, he baptized twelve more children.
More would have been baptized had not the extremely cold
weather prevented those living in the country from bringing
their children to the clergyman. Upon his return to St.
John, Mr. Cooke found the work of the church quietly, but
steadily progressing. The little Church, which had been
temporarily erected had been pewed and furnished with a
reading desk, a pulpit and stoves. In this work, Mr. Cooke
says, that much credit is due Mr. Isaac Lawton. During the
first four months of his stay in St. John, he baptized twenty-
six white persons and six blacks ; married ten persons
and buried only four. Owing to the salubrity of the climate
there were few deaths. On New Year's Day (1786,) Mr. Cooke
had twenty -five Communicants at the administration of the
Sacrament. Owing to the extreme cold upon that occasion,
few women attended service ; but the clergyman ' going
warmly clothed stood it tolerably well.' On Easter Day
(1786,) he had thirty-eight communicants, and on Whitsun
day, forty-six. . . . The Society allowed Dr. Cooke £60 stg.

236 THE FAMILY OF COOKE.

per annum. Owing to the seat of Government being changed
from St. John to Fredericton, Mr. Cooke removed to the lat
ter place in 1786. To use his own words, he left ' happy in
the reflection that his unremitted endeavors to establish
the Church at St. John had been so far effectual that he
left his successor in possession of a decent, well-furnished
Church, with a very respectable and well-behaved congre
gation.' During his period of labor in St. John, St. An
drews and elsewhere, he baptized one hundred and fifty-
three persons, thirteen of whom were negroes. Mr. Cooke
arrived at Fredericton in August, 1786, and preached the
first Sunday after his arrival to sixty or seventy persons in
the King's Provision Store, the only place in which a con
gregation could be accommodated ; but being afterwards
glazed and fitted up was thus rendered more commodious
and comfortable  The congregation
seldom exceeded one hundred persons. On Christmas
Day, 1786, Mr. Cooke had only fourteen communicants.
Before the conclusion of the year he had baptized twenty-
three white, three black infants, and one adult; married
five couples, and buried one person. In 1787, the Imperial
Parliament made a grant of £2,000 for the purpose
of building Churches in New Brunswick, a share of which
was allotted to Fredericton. Mr. Cooke accordingly set
about the erection of a Church : £500 being given towards
that object by Government, and over £150 by Governor
Carleton. Little was contributed by the people as they were

1-5

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 2S7
' very indigent.' Owing to this and other causes the Church
was not completed until 1790. In addition to his money
donation, Governor Carleton furnished the Church in a
handsome manner. Mr. Cooke, who resided near the Nash-
waak, opposite Fredericton, describes Fredericton as being
in length upon the river about six miles, and in breadth,
back into the woods, about three. Number of inhabitants
(1790) four hundred ; one hundred of whom attended
Church. This number did not include the officers and
soldiers of the 54th Regt., who were most regular and con
stant in their attendance. In 1788, Mr. Cooke baptized a
family, a man and his wife and their two children ; also
another family of seven children ; besides these, twenty-
eight white children, two black adults and one black infant.
He married nine couples and buried only one person, an
Officer of the 54th Regt. During this year Mr. Cooke vis
ited St. John upon the death of Mr. Bissett, administered
the Sacrament to about forty persons, and baptized nine
children. In 1789, thirty-one white and two black children
and one black adult were baptized ; thirteen persons married
and four buried. In the year 1790, Mr. Cooke was appointed
Ecclesiastical Commissary to the Bishop of Nova Scotia, and
visited Nashwaak twice, where he performed several bap
tisms. In 1791, he instituted Mr. Price of Newfoundland to
the parish of St. Mary's, Nashwaak, the largest in the
County, extending twelve miles in front upon the river St.
John and running back into the country upwards of twenty.

258 THE FAMILY OF COOKE.
It was divided into four districts — one on the river Nash
waak, another on the Penneyock, a third on the river
Nashwaaksis (Little Nashwaak), and the fourth on the river
Madamekeswick. In 1790, Mr. Cooke, acting on behalf of
the Bishop of Nova Scotia, summoned the clergy of the
Province to Fredericton, and received reports from the var
ious missions. All attended except Dr. Byles, who was ill.
The meeting was highly satisfactory, it being found that
the clergy were diligent and the missions in a flourishing
state. In September, 1794, Dr. Cooke called them together
for the second time, and reported to the S. P. G. ' the res
pectability and regularity of all their missionaries in the
Province.' But the time was now approaching when this
indefatigable and faithful missionary was to be removed
from the scene of his labor. His death took place in the
following manner. He had been making some parochial
visits in Fredricton, and was returning to his home on the
opposite side of the river with his son in a bark canoe. The
night of Saturday, May 23d, 1795, was dark and windy ; a
sudden squall upset the canoe and both father and son were
drowned, in spite of the manly efforts of the latter to save
his aged parent. Bishop Inglis, in writiting to the S. P. G.,
said : — ' Never was a minister of the Gospel more beloved
and esteemed or more universally lamented in his death.
All the respectable people, not only of his parish but of the
neighboring conntry, went into deep mourning on this mel-
oncholy occasion.' "

THE FAMILY OF COOKE. 259
The following lines in memory of Mr. Cooke and his son
may be seen in St. Ann's (Christ) Church, Fredericton, N. B :
" Sacred
to the memory of the
Rev. Samuel Cooke, D.D.,
the first Rector of this Church,
and first Ecclesiastical Commissary of the Province,
who, in crossing the river St. John,
to his own home,
from attending the duties of his office at Fredericton,
was unfortunately drowned,
on the 23rd day of May, MDCCXCV, in the 72nd year of
his age.
His philanthropy and those virtues which had secured
to him universal esteem, respect and affection
through life
occasioned his death to be as generally and sincerely
lamented.
Erected as an affectionate tribute of esteem
by
The Wardens and Vestry of this Church.
A Tribute
to the filial affection and distinguished fortitude of
Mb. Michael Cooke,
son of the Rev. Saml. Cooke, D.D., Rector of this Church,
who in his manly efforts and persevering struggles
to preserve the life of his Venerable Parent
in the moment of drowning
added to the public calamity by the loss of his own
in the full vigor of health,
and 31st year of his age.
In him perished an example as worthy of
imitation in the various pursuits and conduct
of his life,
as in the virtuous sensibility and heroic piety
with which it closed.
MDCCXCV (1795.) "