Life and Incidents of Carrel C Ivins
From 1833 to 1898
Written by himself March 1898
(Ivins died Saturday 17 May 1911 at his residence Trenton NJ)
This Book is the property of Foster C Griffith which was written by Carrel C Ivins for him at his request Mar 18/05 Carrel C Ivins
To those that may come after me and to those with whome I have had long and pleasant fellowship this volume is respectfully inscribed by the author -CC Ivins
Chapters Contents Page
1 Birth and Parentage 8
2 When I first went to School 16
3 Some of the teachers I had and that which I did at school 20
4 My first boughten coat 29
5 The first money that I ever had 31
6 My father moved from where I was born 33
7 I commenced to act as salesman for the farm 36
8 My first tirp to Philadelphia Market 40
9
10 My first watch 53
11 Some of the incidents and sports of my young life 56
12 My first carriage 61
13 My first experience as a clerk 64
14 Another experience as a clerk 69
15 My first venture as a farmer 74
16 I became the owner of a farm 82
17 The commencement of my married life 87
18
My first trip to
19 The first money that I borrowed from a nighbor 96
20 Engaged in the ice cream business 99
21 The man who was my neighbor and not my enemy 102
22 The efforts I made at teaching school 104
23 My experience with a bed full of fleas 107
24 Misfortune overtook me and my barn was burnt 111
25 Bought a lot and built a house and quit my farm 114
26
Made a contract to carry the
27 Elected constable and become an officer of the law 123
28 Some of the people I met and the dutys I perform while I was constable 129
29 I had more trouble with my farm and done much other work while I was constable 141
30 I bought another lot and built another house 146
31
My trip to
32 Some of that which I did and saw in the army of the potomac 156
33
Very unexpected I became an employe
in the city of
34 I had another unprofitable experience with my farm 189
35 I sold the house in which I lived 192
36
My trip to the oil regions of western
37 I sold my farm and moved with my family to Kinkora 214
38 My trip to south bend indiania 218
39 I went to work again among the farmers 224
40 I bought another farm 227
41 I commenced the life of a hotel keeper 233
42 My wife was disapointed because her fruit was stolen from a chery tree 242
43 That which I did for those who were tramps 244
44 The quarrel that I had over a small peice of land 248
45 The young man who applied to me for assistance 251
46 The two lodgers who I entertained that robed me 255
47 The controversy I had with my neighbor who wanted a new road 257
48 I entertained and boarded a hotel bummer 261
49 The only suit I ever had at law 263
50 Some of the investments that I made while I kept that hotel and farm 268
51 Some of the scenes and incidents that occured during my hotel life 271
52 That which my farm produced and how I managed it 278
53 Sold my hotel and quit the farm 282
54
My trip to
55 My venture in the tobaco and sugar trade 300
56 The commencement of my mercantile life 304
57 I moved my family and changed my place of business 307
58 My wife and I went on our wedding trip 308
59 I built another store and moved my stock 313
60 Much that I learned in the first years of my mercantile life 315
61
I quit
62 I bought more property and moved my family 321
63 I formed a co partnership with my brothers 323
64 Some of the many men I met in business life 328
65 Some of my transactions in realestate and other investments 332
66 Some of the efforts I made to advance the interest of my children 335
67 My cares and my sorrows 338
68 The odds and the end 342
Preface
In this autobiography may be found a trew story of the many trying scenes and the great struggles that I had with poverty in my early life as well as the many hardships of which I had to encounter and the many changes of which I recollect as they have occured to me during the last sixty years of my eventful life as it includes much that I have experienced and as all the scenes and incidents which I have related has come to my noticed during the various stages of that which has been my lot. It has prompted me to write this work with a desire that it will be read with much interest by some of those who may profit by my story as I have felt that the many obstacles which I have overcome by courage and constancy might be a help and incentive to those who might be struggling with adverse fortune or at the start of life be looking into the future with doubt and despair and my narrative is not designed to give a brief sketch of my busy life and it is written by a plain unpretending man feeling that the effort is full of imperfections I have not attempted to write a history but imperfectly to put together some of the events of my past life and for that reason I have not attempted to exaggerate or extole nor to disguise or conceal but have written the facts without any perversion as they may appear in this volume December 28, 1898
CCIvins
Chapter I
Birth and Parentage
In a little cross road village composed of five or six houses called Bustletown situated in the township of Florence county of Burlington and sate of New Jersey and located at the intersection of the road leading from Jacksonville to the old York road formerly called the Kings highway that runs from Salem New Jersey to New Brunswick which it is said was one of the first roads that was ever established in this state and it is exceedingly crooked as it runs first in one direction then in another seeking the high ground so as to avoide the low and swampy places as it was originally an Indian path in this little village the author of this work was born December 18, 1833 of poor and humble parents the parental ancestors of my father of whom there seems to be no record and the best information that I have of who my great grand Father was is that which I learned when a boy from my grand Father who said that his Father died when he was about six years old and that his name was Solomon and that he was a german descent my grand Father Ivins whoes name was Joseph was soon after his Fathers death bound to a farmer whose name was Antrim who lived near the village of Gobestown in the country of Burlington and who had seven sons of his own which he bound untill they were twenty one years of age that they might learn the various trades that was then carried on in the surounding country in which he lived one he bound to a Carpenter one to a blacksmith one to a Shoemaker one to a wheelwright one to a weaver one to a tailor and one to a cabinetmaker but Mr. Antrim had a number of other peoples boys who was bound to him to help do the work on his farm beside my grand Father who when he had served out his apprenticeship at the age of twenty one received $30 s/s in money and a new suit of clothes as the reward of his labor my grand Father Ivins was born in 1772 and died in 1845 and was buried in the episcopal church yard at Burlington New Jersey my grandmother Ivins whose maiden name was Hannah Carty and of English decent was born in 1762 and died in 1847 and was buried by the side of my grand Father my memory often goes back to that part of my life which was spent with much pleasure and happyness in the days of my youth while in the company of my grand parents for my frand mother was always very kind to me forgiving me of all the mischief I did looking over all my faults and gave me the first pocket knife or Barlow as they were called in that day that I ever had and for a boy of my age to have such a things as a pocket knife at that time was a great luxury which surly made me feel very proud to be the possessor of such a gift but my grand Father was not made of the same kind of metal as he was very quick to discern the right from the wrong and was ever ready to meet out to every one that punishment that to him seemed that they so well deserved but how well do I remember the house in which they lived and how it was then constructed for at this time it would be considerd but a very barron aboad for any one to live in for it was so constructed that there is but few farmers at the present day that does not have much mor comfortable quarters for their horses and cattle to live in for it was but a fraim structure chiefly coverd and floored with rough boards with some rooms petitioned off that was made
(page 10) From the same meterial for when their house was built their was not plaster or lath then in use but in one end of the structure there was that which was then called an open fire place that was about twelve feet long and six feet wide that had such a large chimney in its construction that every time it rained it would nearly extinguish all the fire that they then had as there was no stoves nor other methods then in use for heating and cooking purposes through the centre of the chimney about ten feet above the floor there was placed hugh iron bars which was then called lug poles upon which was placed their trammels upon which they hung their pots and kettles over the fire in which they done their cooking for the family and it was the custom of my grand father in that day to go to his woods and there get that which was then called a back log that at times would be some eight or nine feet long and from two to three feet in diameter and when it was halled up to the house from the woods as there was two doors in his house which was opposite to each other and on the line of his fire place he would then take a chain one end of which he fastend to the log then he carried the other end through the house to which he hooked a pair of horses and then pulled the log into the house and then it was rolled up against the back of the chimney were it then took the fire some days to consume this would now seem a very novel way in which to mantain a fire yet my grand parents seemed to be very happy and contented with their mode of living though they where very frugal in their habits yet it was one of the customs that was very prevalent at that day among all the farmers of that section of country in which my grand parents lived that was
(page 11) Carried out by my grand father as it was one of his established rules to give to every one that was around his humble board each day their morning dram and then to fill a vessel with liquor for to be carried to the field that his men and himself might have what they needed through the day and a man by the name of Schuyler who I remember that was in his employ and he very often drank his quart a day and that without being disqualified from performing his work in a proper manner but my grand mother who during the Revolutionary War in 1776 lived near the village of three tons and on the road of which I have spoken has often related to me in my early life many incidents that occurred in those perilous and trying times when the British were marching through the state of New Jersey and on their way from Philadelphia to New York and during the time that they occupied the city of Trenton I have heard her describe how the British robed their houses and confiscated and took possession of all their horses and cattle and left them without the necessaries of life and to tell many times how her brother in order to save his gun from being stolen or taken from him by the British as there was but few that possessed such a valuable article in that day sunk it in the bottom of their well that it might not be found and she often spoke of one John Bullock that was giving aid and assistance to the British by supplying them with certain quantityes of pork and flour and when some of the Continental authorities who were notified of his transactions very soon sent a squad of soldiers in search of him that came to his home that was near where my grandmother lived and found him at work in his barn and then
(page 12) Without having any mercy they took their guns and bayonets and ran them through his body and pined him to the floor and there they left him to die in the most extreme agony my grandfather and my grandmother Ivins had an issue of three children born unto them Joseph who married Sarah Richardson Susan who married Asa Schooly my Fathe name was Carrel and he was the youngest of the three children of my Grandfathers family and was born in 1807 and died in 1876 my Grandfather and my Father lived and died in the Township of Florence formerley a part of Mansfield where they were both born and neither of them never lived in any other Township my Grandfather Ivins never moved nor was his house changed in any of its forms during his married life which extended for a period of over fifty years and as his residence at his death had became so very old and as it was located in the Township of Florence county of Burlington it was aloud to stand for some years as a relic after he had passed away but during his life he had some relics in store which he prised very highly and looked upon them with much pleasure as he explained like a tale that is often told were he got them from as they was in use at the time of the Revolutionary war and coin prised five or six cannon balls of various sizes and some two or three bayonets as well as one of the flint-lock guns that was then in use which my brother George has in his possession at this writing my Father never changed his residence but twice during his married life and he was twice married his first wife maden name was
(page 13) Basheba
Zelly and daughter of Daniel Zelley
but my Fathers first wife did not live but a short tim
after marrage and died without issue my mothers
maden name was Mariah Cook the daughter of William and Ann
Cook of whome I know but very little in regard
to their parental ancestors but they had an issue of four children three
girls and one boy who their Father soon after their mothers death which
hapend when the youngest child was about six years of age
bound them all out to James Ivins a farmer that
then lived on cream ridg that is located in the
county monmuth and who was in that day looked upon as a man that
retained considerable of wealth but who was of no kin to the family of Ivins of which I belong when my Grandfather Cooks four children
grew up and had served out their apprenticeship Rachel married William Burcalue
Mariah married Carrel C Ivins my Father Reading
married Mary Bunting Hariet married Jacob Burcalue
my Grandfather Cook was a mason by trade and done much work upon the court
house and county Prison which is located at Mount Holly which was made the
county seat of Burlington county in 1807 but soon after he lost his wife
and bound his children out he went to neworleans and there remarried and settled in that city and
there he continued to live for many years and never returned to visit any
of his children that he left living in this state my mother was born in
1811 and died in 1895 my Father and mother was married at Salem New Jersey
in 1831 and had ten children born unto them vuy?
Carrel Joseph William Bathesheba
(page 14)Abigal Georg Elwood and Minor seven of whome are still living at this writing my Brother Joseph was turce married his first wife was Mary Bur his second wife was Rebecca Woodarce but he died without being possess with any children William died when young Bathsheba was twice married and had four children her first husband was Charles Henderkson(?) her second husband was Howard Stokes Lydia died when three years old Robert married Margaret Sutton and they have had three children Abigal married Minor H. Ivins with whome she was of no kin but with whom she has had a family of ten children Georg married Hanah Sutton a sister to my brother Roberts wife and have had but two children Elwood married Fannie Hasard with whom he has had but two children Minor has been twice married his first wife was Elizabet Warren who died without isue his second wife was Eliza Rhodes by whom he has had two children but as I was the first born of my Fathers family I necessarly commenced my earthely career when my parents was poor and they did not have the means to do for me that which would have been one of their greatest pleasures but as the times and the fashons were not then that which they are at the present day the children of the rich did not expect so much and the poor got but little for when I was a child my parents had no money to spend for toys and other things which would then been very pleasing to my sight but it is not within my memory that I ever had one singe penny which was spent for me in that direction when a child although I had a king Father and a loving mother but it was not in their power to bestoe upon their first born the many luxurys
(page 15) Which is now bestoed upon the rich and the poor alike for it then took all of my parents resources which they could comand to mentain their integrity of character and it was necessary for them to use the most ridged economy live and to be honest in their dealings for my Father has often spoke to me of his early lif and said that when he was first married it was necessary for to preform much manuel labour and endure many hardships in order to secure a little money for it was then the custom of the people that to preform a full days work it required a man to work from the rising to the seting of the sun and in the long days of summer the highest wages then paid was but 37 ½ (cents symbol) among the farmers and it was also a custom a among the people to pay their help but very little money for it was then but a matter of trade for the employe was compeled to tak from the farmer in exchange for his labor such product as he might then have for sale and then the laborer went with that which he had earned to some place where merchandise was sold and he there again made another exchange for the common necessarys of life and then the merchant who gathered much of the farmers crops in that manner which chiefley then consisted of pork and grain shiped it to another market where he sold it for cash which enabled him to successfuly carry on his business and such was the custom and the manner of the people in the transaction of their business that I am reminded that it was then the custom of my Father and many of his neighbors to go to some neighboring tan yard and there select and buy such leather as they needed to have made into shoes for their familys to ware during the winter for it was
(page 16) Then no uncommon sight to see a Shoemaker with his kit of tools and the bench upon which he sit straped to his back going from one house to another where he was then employed to make the shoes for a whole family which generaly lasted them for a year and then the people who could aford to have their clothes made by a Tailor alsow gave him work which they had done in their own houses as it was then necessary for the tailor to secure employment among those who were better clothed than the common people as there was no ready made garments then in the market and the Jeweller who repaired the clocks and done other work could then be seen going from one house to another looking for employment but the great progress of the people has wrought many changes for the poor have now more comforts in their homes than did most of the rich in my Father early life he sheard the sheep and my mother carded the wool and then spun it into yarn and with much labor and toil she knit all our stockings and made all the clothes that the whole family then had to weare and in an open fire place she compelled to heat all the water that she needed in washing or scrubing to use as well as for a large family to cook and to stew and it was then that she done her baking without an oven or stove
Chapter II
When I first went to School
When I was about five years of age my father became very anxious that I should go to school for my grand father Ivins never learned to read nor write and my Father could scarsely do much mor so he insisted that it would be much better for me to be at school than to be spending my time in play but the only School which was then kept in that section of country was more than a mile from
(page 17) Where my Father lived and my mother opposed him in his desire as she said that the school was to far away for me to be sent alone while I was yet so young but as my Father was determined in his purpose my mother induced Rachel Richardson who was then a young girl that was going to the school from a neighbouring house to stop and take me with her each day the building in which the school was kept had no resemblance of that which is now a school house for the building was then very old and much delapidated in all its forms and it then looked very much like an old barn but in its early history it was built as a place of worship and used as a quaker or friends meeting house but young as I was I shall never cease to remember those sunshiney days when to me all the world was so lovely and bright and as the face and the form of my first teacher Debroah Craft is vividly stamped upon my memory I do not forget her punishment as well as her kindness and love for those who obeyed rules for she took much care and interest in those who patronized her school and as most of her scholars were very young that came to her during the summer months she had a large bed prepaired in one cornor of the Building in which she sent all the little ones after the noon hour to take a nap and for one very exlant reason do I remember the bed as well as my first teacher for my Father after I had been going to school a few days bought for me a new primmer or spelling book which was the first book of any kind that I ever had and it was then my privilege to call it my own and at first it made me feel very proud and I set a very high value upon it but after I had been the possessor of it for only a short time I began to grow tired of it and
(page 18) I formed a conclusion that the greater part of the book was of no real value to me for as the back part was composed of some plain reading and made up of other matter which I did not understand I supposed and believed that all of my education and all of that which I should then know and all of that which was necessary for me to learn at school would be completed before I reach that part of the book for that reason I spit on my fingers or stuck them in my mouth and wet the leafs as I then punched a hole through the centre of each leaf and strung half of the book on my fingers but during the time I was thus employed I had a watchful eye that was kept upon my teacher to see that she did not discover me at my work which for a time intrested me very much as it kept me quite busy and free from other mischief but one day during the noon hour the teacher discovered that which I had done to my new book and when the school again assembled in the after noon the teacher called me to her desk and with my book in her hand she opend it and displayed to me the part which I had toirn and spoke to me very severe about the mischeif I had done and she then wished to know for what reason I had destroyed my book in my answer I made the plea that I did not suppose that the part which I had so mtilated would ever be of any use to me but my teacher soon informed me that I had committed a gross wrong and one for which I should be most severely punished she then directed me to go to bed and said that when I awoke she would settle with me for that which I had done I went to the bed as she directed but not to sleep but morn over that which I then well knew would be my punishment for the crime in which I had taken so much pleasure
(page 19) but I can asure the reader that I did not on that occasion leave the bed untill I was forced to by my teacher who met out to me that which I deserved a most severe whipping the efects of which lasted me for many days but this going to school in the balmy summer mounths to me it did not last very long for when I was nine years of age I was then kept at home by my Father during most of the time to labor for the best interest of the rest of the family and I was then only aloude to go to School during a part of the cold bleak weather of the winter for young as I was I then had to work and that to without stint for most shurly my Father was no idle man but was ever kept busy and when I was at home he kept me at such work as it was posible for me to do but in the days of my youth schools and school houses were of very different character from that which they are now as it was then no uncommon occurance for a school to be then kept in some old building or shop which was no longer fit for any other use and the schools were but few in number as they were often located from four to five miles apart and it was often necessary for many of the children in order to reach the school to go from their homes through a wooded country over a long and lonesom country road two miles or more and in the country where I spent the most of my youth there was no free schools but the teacher received his or her pay from the parents of the children who then went to school and the teachers salary depended entirely upon the number of scholars that attended his or her school which often made the teachers salary very small as they was then only paid three cents for each day that each scholar attended school and as the neighbourhood was but thinley settled there was but few children who them went to school for in that locality many of the people who then lived was so poor that they could not afforde to pay the teacher and they then aloued their children to grow up to be men and women that then
(page 20) Had but very little knowledg of any books and my memory goes back when I remember some of the teachers who I have seen first going to one farm house and then to another in order to board out a part of his or her bill and it some times hapend that it was nessary for the teacher to make many changes in order to acommodate their patrons and all the fual which was then used in the schools was charged to the children that went to school during the cold weather which made the expences of each scholar that attended the school about three and a half cents each day which they then went the fual that they then burned was wood which was bought by the teacher from some farmer who deliverd it to the school and it was then the custom of the large boys to cut it up and prepair it for use it then was incumbent upon the smaller boys to carry it in the house and pile it up out of the storm and snow
Chapter III
Some of the teachers I had and that which I did at school
In writing out this chapter I must confess that the time which I spent at school though it was only a small portion of my early life that it was not all spent as it was so desired by my Father and it was not all spent as it should of been done in looking after that which was my own interest and in the persuit of that knowledg which was to go with me through life which would of been of much value and use to me in after years but with my many faults I generally had the respect of my teacher as I seldom disobeyed their commands but I was often found at some kind of mischief for such was my nature that I was very quick to resent that which I felt was of any wrong thas was inflicted upon me by any of the other scholars although I never sought to
(page 21) Quarel with any of my companions without some cause and then I was always ready to fight in a minut as though my life was at steak and many was the scratches and the bruises that I received by being over hasty in my conclusions and as I write I am reminded that on one occasion while I was on my way home from school that one James Williams a scholar who as some two years older than myself promised to give me without any cause a most severe floging and attacted to me with great fury and we then fought as though it were for a prize and as though our reputation as punglist were at stake and in our fight we then done much kicking and pounded each other over the head and in the face untill I took from his head his hat which was a new seal skin cap and then threw it down and then while I was in my anger and in my frenzy which knew no bounds I jumped upon his hat with both of my feet and trod it in the ground and then as the road where he attacted me was very soft and deep in mud in our sturgles we rolled each other over on the soft and wet ground in such a manner that we looked much more like two boys that was maid from yellow clay than we did human beings but when our struggles was over and our quarrel was ended my competitor who was so over zelous and who had said that he would use me up in a very short time was so well satisfied with his punishment that he never promised to give me another whipping but when I had growen some years older John Gilbert who was then just entring into his manhood and then felt rather vain and much above many of his neighbors sons and daughters who went to the same school as he was usually dressed and wore much better clothes than did many
(page 22) Of his companions as he was his parents only child for some cause one day he wroat a lettor to a young lady who was then a scholar in the school to which he sign my name and then placed it in her book and I had no knowledg of his transactions and was not apprised of that fact untill I was on my way home that night after school and as the lettor which he had writen was composed of some language which I then felt would be detrimental to my character and standing in the school I determined to meet Gilbert the next morning early at the school and to demand from him some explanation of that which he had done for I then knew that he would be early there and on the grounds for he lived near the school and it was his duty to open it up and to build the morning fire but when I enterd the school house on the next morning the very moment that my eyes rested upon my enemy where he then sit upon a bench waiting for his fire to burn I became so enraged with anger that I lost all controle of my better nature and then without a word of warning I walked up to him and struck him in the face such a terrific blow that it knocked him from his seat down on the floor where we began to strike and pound each other with all of our brutal forces but he being some stronger than I he succeeded in geting me by the thoat and then for a time I could not break nor loosen his hold and he then struck me in both of my eyes untill they were black and they soon became so swollen that it was with some difficulty that I could see but not withstanding all of that which he had done to me he got his full share of hard knocks and many bruises as the blood went streaming down his face for I then fought like a tiger and with my resentful spirit I neve knew when I
(page 23) Should cease to punish my enemy and I stuck to him with such a tenacity of revenge untill he was compleatly conquerd for I made him retreat and he was glad to get beyond my reach and that to with some fear of being more injured and it was then that I with all of my bruses and black eyes felt very proud of the victory which I had then wone in the balmey days of my youth and during the time I went to school I fought many battles some in which I took a very great delight although I was not most generaly the first to start a quarrel and I must now say that I had then one trate in my character which was commendable for when those who was older in years and larger in size saw fit to abuse and impose upon those who was smaller in size and younger in years I was ever ready to do them battle for their rights and give the smaller boy some relief in time of trouble but during my fighting career it was my misfortion to be engaged in a quarrel with one John Lame who gave me the most sever flogging of my life that lasted me for many days for I stuck to him fighting as though it was my last hope of life for such was my nature that I would never give up untill I was compleately exhausted and he clouted me over the head and pounded me around untill I nearly lost my senses but I now feel at this time very thankful to my devine master that when I grew to be a man that I then had gained sufficient knowledg to know that their was nothing that could be added to my crown which would be of any good to me by quarling with my enemies and for that reason I then endeavoured to lead a different life and laid my armor down and shook from my character all of that which then belonged to the fighting fraturnity and from that time on though many times tempted and much vexed I never have had any cause which has led me to strike a blow that was done in anger at any man during my long carrear of a busy life
(page 24) But the schools and the teachers that was employed in my early life has no semblance of that which they are now every vestige of that which was then suficient in its forms for a school house has disapeard the habits and the customs of the teachers and the scholars have all been changed for the school houses which was then but a small and common structure has now expanded untill they have become large and butiful edificies the teachers are much higher and more practically educated and the scholar though his parents may be poor had ample opportunityes now to prepair himself for a better life but in my younger day many of the people who then lived a country life only sent their ofspring to school for a few weeks during the winter months and their sons and their daughters came to school when about to enter their man and womanhood with but very little knowledg that would now prepair them for a common life and very many of the teachers who then taught the schools that was located among the country people did not have but little learning and no stability of character for which reason they had but very little controle over their scholars for as I relate sum of the duings which took place while I was a scholar and in the school I am reminded of one Cyrus Bean a teacher who was large in size and tall in statue and endowed with greate phisical strength and though he was but a young man he was not able to be master of his situation for one day while the school was in session and the teacher in the discharge of his duty was engaged in hearing some part of the school resite their lessons Thomas Richardson
(page 25) One of his scholars who had then growen to be a man picked up a peice of pork from the floor that some one had droped during the dinner hour and threw it aerost the school hous intending to hit Philip Kimble a nother young man that was over six feet tall but as Richardson missed his mark it passed on and struck the teacher who became very much enraged at such pro-ceedings and gatherd up his whip which was a young hickory that was both stout and strong and it was eight feet long and be began to ply it most severe upon the back of Richardson who in his resistance endeavoured to break the teachers gad but the teacher soon grabed him by the throat and threw him to the floor but then a number of large boys and Kimble who was their leader soon went to Richardsons releaf and then they grabed the teacher and put him out side of the house and locked the door and then riot soon ran high and the school was without a master and it was not untill the teacher had cooled in his anger and made a promis to give up the fight that he was admitted to come in through the door and when I go back and look over my past reckord when I was a scholar and at school I do not wonder that I did not become a better studant for it was my misfortune to be sent to school to some teachers who did not have any accomplishments and who was not fit to be at the head of any department Elias Sumas to whom I went knew so little that it was my dictation that he should conduct his school in just such a manner as I desired and that it should not be done in any other way but the teacher did not agree with me and we then had a quarrel over the matter while the school was in cession but he said he would not carry out my wishes and that I should not be master and that he would in order to mentain his
(page 26) Supremacy if I did not leve the school and take my books and go away as he had directed that he would dismiss the entire school and as I would not obey his orders the school was dismissed until the following week and then I met with a more formidable foe and I had met out to me that which I so well deserved for when I reach home and my Father learned of that which I had done he was very much offended for he did not then approve of my behavior and to award me of a just punishment he compelled me to accompany him down in the ceader swamps of the New Jersey pines where he was then employed and there he kept me at work the balance of the winter but such was the doings of some of the schools and their teachers in that period of my history that many of the scholars learned but very little for their was then no law or system by which they could be governed all the book which were then in use in the common schools was of very old tipe and form and it is not in my memory that I ever saw a grammer and but few small gographys in any of the schools to which I went but out principal studys was then simple reading writing and arithmetic and their was then but few who lived in the country that went to no other school that became proficient in the book which they then had and if they did it was supposed by their parents that they then had such an education as would be necessary to enable their children to carry on their business which they might have during their whole lives their was but few parents who then led a country life that had any great desire to so educate their children that they might grow up to be
(page 27) Men and woman of the highest and purest integrity that they might go forth in the world to do honor to their parents and to themselves and many of the parents then had no conception that it was possible to so educate their children that they might become some of the greatest minds of the day but such is history that their is those that are the most skilled in the works of art and in sience and their is some merchants who has been the most successful in all the land and their is others who are the most firmost in every other walk of life that have had all their being and their commencement of life was on the farm but my Father was one of the many who in that day felt and believed that if their ospring had suficent education in which they had learned to read and write and to do some work with figurs that they then had all that they necessarly required for when I was twenty years of age I had then by my industry and most ridged economy saved from that which I had then earned in various ways a small sum of money in which I had a great desire to better my condition for I then began to feel the great want of more education which would then better prepair me to go out into the world to fight the great battles of life for I was then but a very poor scholar but as I had now arrived at an age to be old enough to learn some wis-dom it was my conclusion that to spend my money for a better education and to obtain a better knowledg of books and other matters would be the best possible invetment I could make with my money for which I had so long worked that had been saved up by me through a series of years but my desire to so spend my money did not meet with the approval of my Father and the more determined I was in my purpose the stronger was I met by the opposition of my
(page 28) Parent who said that I should not spend my money in that direction but that if I would be wise I had better spend it for another purpose and something that would be of a better use but time has proven to me that it was a very great mistake on the part of my Father to so oppose me in my thurst for knowledg but it did not originate from his heart for no parent set a higher value and loved his children more neither could any one have a greater desire to advance their interest as best he understood it than did my Father for his great aim in life was to do the very best for his children that he could according to his ability although he was called a man of the world for he never belonged to any orgination of any kind and seldom ever went to church yet with much love for his children he always and under all circumstances commanded and impressed upon them the necesety of obedience to their parents and others and to keep to the truth and none of his children whilst under his controle was never aloued to use profain or vulgar language of any kind and was kept at home and in the house at night and never was aloud to be in bad company but not withstanding the great care and watchfulness of my Father over his children and the great desire that he had that they should grown up to be men and woman that should be respected for their honesty and integrity of character I was often found in some mischief which was very distastful to my parents and very often was it that I received my punishment for my disobedience and my Fathers remedy was to use the rod and when he applied it for that purpose it was done in such a manner that it was not easely to be forgotten but he never made any distinction among his children in that respect for he wipped all of those
(page 29) That merieted it and I feel at this time that he never punished me without a just cause and for that which I deserved but in that day I thought that my parents was very severe but when I grew in years I felt to thank my maker as well as my parents for the kind and watchful care that they had over me in the days of my youth.
Chapter IV
My first boughten coat
When I was quite young and about eight years of age my Father who then had become quite a huckster as he had for some years before their was any Rail Roads built in this state carted and sold much fruit in the new york markets but in my early life he made a change and went quit frequent to Philadelphia market during the summer months for it was then his custom to buy from his neighbors peaches apples and other fruits such as they then might have for sale from which he could make a profit and as I very often expressed my desire to go with him to see that which their was then in that city one day to gratify me in my request he aloued me to accompany him that my joy might be full and when we reach the place and he had then disposed of that which he had for sale he then started out to show me that which would be pleasing to my sight and as we went on our way passing along second street where was then kept nearly all of the principal retail stores of now that great city my Father who was then very much intrested in my behalf called my attention to many of the windowes and to that which they then contained and to that which was there exposed for sale by the merchants of that day and as we viewed the wares and the merchandise as we went on our way their was several basments or common
(page 30) Dark cellars with but a common flat door that was out on the payment in which cast off clothing was kept for sale that we passed but as we reached one of thease places of barter and sale in that period of my history their was then an incident which occured which has ever been kept greene in my memory for it then made such an impression on my mind that I have often been reminded how well it applyes to many in their transactions of every day life for there on one of thease cellar doors where it was exposed for sale my Father espied a coat that was very near my size which then struck his fancy and he steped into the cellar and there he met a big brawny nigrow from whome he inquired the price and to his surprise the negro who was the propriator said it was four dollars my Father shook his head and was about to leave the place when the man of color said sir what will you give for such a garment my Father in his answer said two dollars ok no said the negro that will not do for I will never sell it for any such a price and then my Father left his place but the negro followed after him and kept clost to his heels urgeing him to buy the coat but my Father still presisted and mentained that he would not only give to him the amount which he had offerd and when the clothier found that he could not induce my Father to advance his price and that he must take the two dollars or let him go he called him back and said he might take the coat then my Father and I enterd the cellar and then while the man whose eye balls was so white and his skin so black was tieing up the bundle I looked up into his shining face and with all the simplisity of a child as I had then been taught to tell nothing
(page 31) But which was trew I said sir you have done wrong for you have told a lie for you said you would not take two dollars he then said my son I am very much like you for when you go to the cupboard and you are very hungry if their is no fresh bread then you will then take any old dry crust or the best you can get and my dear boy he said this is my situation for if I canot get that which I want I am compelled to take that I can get and I have never forgoten the truth of that story which the old negro applyed to himself for it has often occured to me in my past life that when I could not get that which was most to be desired that it was necessary for me to be contented with that which was then within my reach but I was very proud of my coat though it had been woren by some one els for it was new to me and it was the first ready made garment that I ever had
Chapter V
The first money that I ever had
When I come to add this story to my history it may be thought to be strange by some of those who may read it but in my early life and when I was but a boy money was scarce and most of the people was poor and the great part of the children who lived in that age of our country history was but cheaply dressed for much of their clothes was made from cotton goods that did not then cost more than twelve or fifteen cents a yard and the children had then no money in their pockets to jingle and while I write it creeps back into my memory that it was in the fall or autumn of 1843 and when I was but ten years of age that their was then a show which was to exhibit in the city of Burlington that was advertised and called a wild beast show and the admission was but twelve
(page 32) And a half cents for children to see that which was then called a grand sight and as no such a thing had ever in my memory been on exhibition there before I became very anxious to go and see it which made me apply to my Father for the means and after much persuasion on my part I prevailed on my Father to permit me to have the time to go and he furnished the means and he gave to me and to my Brother Joseph who was next to me in age each a peice of money then called a eleven penny bit which was old english coin which then passed very curent among all the people for twelve and half cents of our money and memory tells me that it was then the first peice of money which I ever had that it was my privilege to call it my own and then my brother and I who felt so very proud of that which we then had started on our trip which was five miles in distance and there we walked to see the great show and which was then to us a great sight but when we had made the best of our time which was in the afternoon and we had seen all the sights we started on our homeward trip and we was very much pleased and had much pleasure as we went on our way as we was very much gratified with that which we had seen but when my mother in 1844 commenced to go to the home market which was in Burlington with her butter and other pro-duce my Father gave me and the other children who was old enough permission to go in the swamps and on the out lands in the surrounding country and gather the wild berrys that then grew and then to go with my Mother and take then to market where they was then sold and then the money which they brought was taken home and given to each child according to the berrys
(page 33) Which he gatherd that they might keep it as their own and at that time their was no cultivated black berries and but few stawberrys and in that day their was many farmers which made no use of the wild berries which grew upon their lands for that reason they were often quire plenty and my younger brothers and I have gatherd many thousand quarts of the wild strawberry and blackberrys that grew on the land of others and sold them many times for a good fair price and in that manner we secured quite some money which was spent for our good in the way of being better clothed than we would otherwise have been but the first money which I ever made by speculation was done by my geting a few pounds of candies which I bought in a wholesale way and which I took to school and there kept them in a box under my seet which I kept locked and I then sold them out to the other scholars in a small way and made a fair profit and during one winter I made in that way which was my first enterprise six or seven dollars which to me was then quite a sum of money and as the box in which I kept my store was made in a roughf way and with my own hands as a relick to remind me of the past I have kept it as originaly made and have it in my possession untill this day but from that time on I do not remember that my Father or Mother ever gave me a dolar in money to buy my clothes nor to pay for what little schooling I got neither to spend for any other purpose but it was left entirely with me to devise and to lay out my plans to make suficient mony to buy all my clothing and to meet all my other expenses
Chapter VI
My Father moved from where I was born
When I was about five years of age my Father bought twenty six acres of land which was
(page 34) Located about one and half miles distant from where he then lived and where I was born for which he paid four hundred dollars and when I was nine years of age my Father then kept two or three cowes which it then become my duty to milk night and morning and then to drive them during the summer mounths from where we then lived to the pastures on the lands which my Father had then bought and as my Father then spent most of his time in work on his lands it was his coustom to take from his home with him our dinners which was prepaired for us each day and there he kept me at work such as I could do untill night when I returned home with my cattle in 1843 my Father then bought another small tract of land which contained twenty seven acres that lay adjoyining to the tract of land of which he already owned for which he paid six hundred dollars and thereon he built a small barn but in the autmn of 1845 he built upon his lands for himself that which he then called a house and in it he moved his family but the structure which he then built was not a house oney in name for it was but a very common fraim building and then coverd with rough boards and a roof with a floor which was laid on the inside without the rough part being plalined off and their was no lath or poster then used to give it a finish and to keep his family warm but it did protect them from the storm but never theless my Father seemed to be hapy and contented with that which he had in his surroundings and he neve complained but he worked with a will and a determined mind to make something which would be of some benefit to himself and to his family and with much energey and perseverance he taught his children
(page 35) To be ever industrious and frugal in their habits and he made all of those around him contribute their parte to his suport that he might add to his store that he might be better able to meet with success and to be more able to provide for his family but he done without much that would of then been a great source of comfort fir we never had a carage of any kind untill after I was forteen years of age and then my Father bought one at a sale and though it was well woren it was new to us and we all felt very proud of it and was very glad to have such a thing upon the farm but as time went on and my parents who was then established upon their farm where they then lived a very humble and frugal life and raised a large family of children and done much to contribute to their comfirt and for this their children should ever feel very grateful for they then built a nother house and my Father bought more lando adjoining to his farm and built large and commodions out bildings of every kind which was then required to be upon a well regulated farm and while time went on my Father was alsow one of the first farmers in that section of country to add to his convenience all the new machinery which would add to his interest as a practical farmer for he then had every piece of farming implements which there was then to be bought that would faciliate labor and during the latter part of his life which he live upon his farm he should of sold it for tow hundred and fifty dollars per acre which was about the yeare 1865 but such was the depreciation in the value of his land and others which was not sold in acordance to a will which he left at his death until 1895 it then only brought forty dollars per acre but when my Father had lived upon his farm for a period of over thirty years in which he had spent his whole life in the most severe labour and toil for to benefit those who might come after
(page 36) Him but in 1872 he made the purchas of an acre of ground located at Florence Station which is on the line of the Camden and amboy devision of the Pennsylvania Rail Road for which he paid five hundred and fifty dollars and he there built for himself a new house into which he moved and there he spent the remainder of his life
Chapter VIII
I commenced to act as salesman for the farm
After I had gone to market some little with my Mother and I had learned from her how I should transact my business my Father when I was twelve years of age sent me a lone to the city of Burlington a town in which their then lived about three thousand people which then had a market where many of the farmers and their wives which lived in that locality went with their butter eggs and other prouduce which they then had fore sale but my Father during the summer months made me his salesman and there was then nothing which gave to me more pleasure than to go to town twice each week with such produce as could then be gatherd from the farm and in my efforts to please my Father so that he would still let me continue to act as his salesman I endeavoured to get the best prices that could then be procured that my Father might be well pleased with the money which I then returned and I then worked very hard and took much interest in my Fathers behalf for one to do who was then so young and while I write I am reminded that it was with much toil and labor that I spent that part of my young life for it was then necessary for me to get up in the long days of summer at two
(page 37) Oclock in the morning in order to feed my team and to get started from my home and to get on my way to town so that I might reach there in the early morning light that I might then get my fruit and vegitables into the market and be prepaired to meet with my customers for it was then the custom of the people who lived in the city to go in the early morning hours to the market and there buy from the farmer their butter eggs and poltry and all of the fruits and vegitables which they then needed and it was alsow then necessary for the people who wanted fresh meat to buy it in the market for in that day thir was none sold in any of the stors but the people was compelled to buy their meats from the butchers who then had their stalls in the market but as the market was then a publick institution which was owned by the city it was located in the center of one of their principal streets and then their was a law which the city authoritys had made which was upon their ordinance book which compeled the farmer under a penalty who wished to sell his produce to go to the market and there offer it for sale and then under the law their was a clerk of the market who was a city official to whom the farmer had to pay such sums of money as the law directed for the room or space which he occupied each day and as their was no stalls or space that was permantly rented except that which was occupyed by the butchers it left the ballance of the market open to all who came which was very often the cause of much unpleasent feelings among those whome came to the market for to sell their produce for every farmer who came regular always made it a custom to occupy the same stall or space each day as near as possible that he might be easily found by his customers but it hapend quit frequent
(page 38) That some stranger or
some farmer who was not in the habit of coming to the market regular would
come in and with their load of produce they would occupy the first vacant
stall or space that suited their fancy and as their was then no law by which
they could be made to move they then felt at their ease but if the stall
or space which was occupied by them hapend to
be one which was mostley taken up by a regular comer when they appeard their was often many long and very bitter quarrels
over the matter and I am reminded of that which was to me a very troublesom contest in which I had a part that took place between
a Mrs Weatheril and
my self for it so happend that it was late one
morning when I reach town and where I then found that my usual place was
taken up by another but I unloded my produce and
carried it into the market and placed it as Mrs
Weatheril said upon her upon her stall for when she
came in the market and found me there she in her anger said that I should
move and take my produce away from where she was going to stand but I refused
to obey her command but I did not hesitate to offer to devide
with her the room but as I was only a boy she was not inclined to settle
the difficulty in so easey a manner for then a
Mrs Richardson a farmers wife who was a neighbor and a warm
friend of Mrs Weatheril
took a part in our quarrel and she called me a saucy and impudent boy which
made Mrs Weatheril mor presistent in her determination
that I should vacate her stall and she began to carry in her baskets and
to move that which I had fore sale out of her way but I still maintain my
position and contested for my wrights and in our quarrel I became so angry
and determined in the matter that I gatherd up
Mrs Weatheril baskets
of produce which she carried in
(page 39) And threw them in the
ile of the market and emptyed their
contents out on the floor and then I set my own baskets which she had moved
back in their places where they belonged and the clerk of the market then
came to my relief for he then told Mrs Weatheril that she would be compelled to get a nother place for he said he had no legal wright to settle the difficulty over which we had quarrel
in any other way for he was not allowed to make any discrimination among
the farmers but Mrs Weatheril
rememberd me with much bitter feeling for that which I done
for many years and the law which was then in vogue in that ancient city
made it compulsory on the part of the clerk that after the farmers had gatherd in the market which was early in the morning for him
to take a heavey chain and put it a crost the street at each end of the market and then to lock
it to some large post which stood on each side of the street for that purpose
to prevent the farmers from geting in or out with
their wagons untill ten oclock
in the day for such was the law that no farmer was allowed under a heavey penalty to sell any of their products of any kind to
any merchant who kept a store or to any other person except it was done
in the market untill after the legalized hour
ten oclock and when that time arived
it was the duty of the clerk then to take down his chains and to toll the
bell which was then for that purpose in a steple
and on the top of the market to notify the farmers and others that the hour
had arived wen all was at liberty to
go and to dispose of that which they had left as best they saw fit and it
was not only a market and a place where trade and trafick
was carried on but the upper story of the main building was then used by
the city council and other officials as a town or city hall in which they
they then made and devised their laws and in that
(page 40) Old market house the time honord mayor of that day held his corts and dispensed out justice to those that disobeyed their laws and to many who made that old but quiet quaker town ring with riot and their drunken brawls deeming that they had made pleanty of fun for themselves to the great anoyance of others and though I was but a boy I have seen and with much sorrow looked upon many a poor human soul who was serving out his sentence and receiving his punishment as they were then often kept for days and nights with only a small alowance of bread and water and had to sleep upon the floor in the cold damp cellar which was then used as a prison that was under the old structure but such was then the human law that their was but few who then droped a tear for their fallen race but the old market with all of its time honord land marks has disapeared in the years that has gone and all the scenes around that once busy place has become new other structures have been built other laws have been made and the restrictions which was then placed upon the farmer is no more for he now goes at his will and disposes of his produces at his own time and leasure
Chapter VIII
My first trip to
In the summer of 1847 my Father then sent me on my first trip with a load of peaches to the Philadelphia market for I had then though young as I was became quite proficient as a huckster or salesman in that line and my Father had that year that which was then called a large crop of peaches fore he there had about eight hundred trees in full bering which made him in that day quit a fruit grower which was then above the average farmer in that direction and a full crop which then grew upon eight
(page 41) Hundred or a thousand trees required some skill and much work to prepare them for market for then their was no such facilitys for that purpose as their is now and it was then with much good management that a farmer succeeded in geting all of his fruit to market for it was then posible to gather from a single tree ten or twelve baskets of fruit but for some unknowen cause the peach tree in the locality where my Father then lived is not as prolific as they were then and the fruit dose not now grow with the same perfection neither does the tree grow so large in sise nor flurish so many years but when on my first trip to the market of Philadelphia I felt very proud of my position and enjoyed the distinction of one who was then able to cope with many of the old farmers which then sailed on the broad blew waters of the noble delawar in their little crafts with their produce to that market for it was then a custom among the farmers where my Father lived to load all of their various produts upon some sailing vessel which then carried it to market for which the owner of the vessel colected three cents freight on each basket which the farmer had so carried to market in that way and most of the owners who sailed same sloops or vessels up and down the river for that purpose mostley made three trips there and back each week and most of the crafts which then sail and carried the farmers produce landed with their freight at the foot of market street for it was then the center of that trade and the owner of the vessel paid one dollar each trip for the use of the wharf on which most of the farmers produce was sold and in that day every farmer who had his produce carried to market in that way had the privilege to live and sleep on board during his trip without futher expence for that reason it then cost many of the farmers who went to market but very little money
(page 42) Outside of that which
they paid for their freight but their was some of the farmers who did not
relish that which was furnish to them by the captin
of the boat and they bought their meals but at that period of my history
living was very cheep for which I write out the story of my first trip to
Philadelphia market it comes back to my recollection that it was upon that
trip that I spent the least money that I have ever spent during my whole
life from that time on ever spent or any other occasion like it for I then
went to a great city and was from my home two days and one night and spent
but twelve cents which was for my breakfast but in that day you could get
a most exlant meal for twelve and a half cents
then called a shiling a much better meal than
you can now get in many of the first class resturants or hotels for a dollar for it was then prepaired and furnished in a differnt
manner from that which they are now for in that day their was a number of
eating houses kept on market street and in other parts of the city where
it was your privilege to go in and sit down to a table that was loaded with
a bountiful suply of fresh and wholesom
food and there help your self and eat that which you desired for then they
had no bill of fare from which you had to select that which went to make
up your meal but all of the various kinds of meet was then carved after
they came upon the table and their was no lack of every kind of vegitable
then in the market with with your bread
and butter that was not sit upon the table in large flowing dishes
that was full to the brim and it was all at your disposial
and you could then eat without stint and when you had finished that part
of your meal the puddings and pies and other desserts were
(page 43) Set upon the table in life manner but their was no still or show of fine table linen strewed with the best crockery and then adorned with all the latest and most fashionable silver ware composed of castors knifes forks and spoons and then there was no napkins in use no servants then stainding at your back watching every move you made or gapeing at every mouthful you eat and it was not then surved on a water which brings you now a small peice of meat and a slice or two of bread with two or three vegitables but the food then used was all well and most admirable cooked and it was scrupulously clean and sit upon a common table coverd with a clean white clouth and placed in plain dishes and with common cutlery you could eat that which you wanted and pay your shilling or twelve cents and go away and feel that you had done justice to a good and holesom dinner in that day their was no resturants but the places of which I have spoken was then called vitling houses but Joseph Jackson who was located in a cellar on the south side of market street between second and third entertained many of the farmers who then went to Philadelphia market from the vecinity of Burlington for Mr. Jackson who then kept a bar from which he sold all kind of drinks made it a custom to prepair but one meal which was supper for which he colected twenty five cents and when that was done and cleard away he took his tables which was four feet wide and ten or twelve feet in length and placed them up against the wall in such a manner that he made a bed that was some fifty or sixty feet long upon which he spread a matteress that was prepaired for that purpose and with one continious
(page 44) Row of pillars he made a bed which was free and without charge for his patrions which was mostley farmers and it was one of Mr. Jackson most stringent orders that none but farmers and only those who were knowen to him should be allowed to occupy his bed but I have slept there many times and I have often seen fifteen or twenty farmers there all sleeping in a row for it was then their custom to take off their coat and shoes and to crall in wherever there might be room and many of the farmers who then slept in that cellar and made it their abideing place while in the city was some of the most foremost and most wealthiest of that day in the community of Burlington but it was in that day necessary for every farmer who then had produce for sale to go to market for their was then but very few commission men and no commission houses in that line and their was then much produce carted for a long distance by the farmers with their own teams and hauled to the city and set out on the payment on the lower side of market street where it was sold by the owners and during the summer months have I seen the payment on the south side of market street for a number of squairs so crouded and packed with baskets and barrels of fruit and other produce that their was scarcely room for the people to pass for such was the law of the city that the farmer had a legal wright to use that part of the street at any time for his own use and purposes in that direction but it was very anoying to those who had their stores and done their business on that side of the street but that which I learned by my activity on the farm and in the market was then of much use to me for as I grew in years my
(page 45) Desire become stronger to make mor money for myself and as my knowledg of the markets increased my Father gave me mor privileges which then accrued to my interest for I then bought fruit and other produce from our neighbors and others and took it to market from which I generally made a profit and I am now reminded that it was upon one occasion while I was in the city with a load of peaches for my Father which I then sold early in the morning that I then went upon one of the boars which lay at the warf and there bought a small lot of the finest fruit which was then to be found for which I gave twelve cents a basket and I then carried them up market street above second on my sholder one basket at a time and there sold them for a small advance and by thease speculations I was enabled to have a small amount of money which was retained by me for my own use but to return to my story of my first trip to the Philadelphia market Samuel Taylor who was then the owner and captian of the vessel in which I made my first trip renderd me on that occasion much assistance and I sold my first load of peaches which I then took to that market all to one party for fourteen cents a basket which now seemes to be but a very low price but when I returned home and told me Father of that which I had done he was so very much pleased with my first experience in that direction that he made me his salesman in that market for the balance of that summer which was to me a very good school in which I learned much which has been to me of great use all through life but during that entire summer peaches was sold at a very nominal figure for the crop was large and it was estimated that their was at one time over fifteen thousand baskets on board of the different boats laying at the
(page 46) Wharfs awaiting a purchaser and I saw thousands of baskets of as fine peaches as was ever picked from a tree sold in the open market for ten and fifteen cents a basket
Chapter IX
I may be wrong in some of my statements of that which I may make of Philadelphia as I remember it in my early life but I have no desire to do that but in which I now feel that I am corect but the city has growen to such an extent that it has surpassed every conceivable idea of man in that day of which I write for she as a city has spread out over a vast extent of teritory and far beyound that which was the city lines in that day for she is now far from being in size and population and other improvements from that which she was then for now she is a great city and that great and rapid strides which she has made as a great and commercial city in the last fifty years of the present history of this great country does not seem as though it could be possible for her to make of that which she was then that which she is now for where now stands the great and mamoth building on ninth street which was built by the goverment for a post office was then but a row of small two story houses and the post office then was but a small structure which stood on chestnut street and their was then no system of delivery which now brings your male and leaves it at your door but it was then necessary for every man and from every part of the city who then wished to used the male to go to the office and there deliver or get his male and where the great city hall now stands which is one of the finest and most expensive buildings of it kind in the known world and which
(page 47) Took twenty five years to construct at a cost of over twenty millions of dollars was then but a vacent plot of ground called a park which was surrounded with a common slat fence that was made from common rough boards and their was no telegraph wires of any kind in that day which is now to be seen runing in every direction and such things as a telephone was not then only unknown in Philadelphia but it was unknowen in every part of the world and their was then no street railways nor street cars of any form or kind in existance but the people who was then conveyed from one part of the city to that of another then road in stages or that which was then called an omnibus for their was in that day some few lines of that character then runing in some different parts of the city but as a rule they were but poorly patronised although they then only charged the same fare as is now charged five cents and it was then with much economy that they made enough to meet their daly expences for I am reminded though young as I was that their was a gentleman who then lived on spruce street who was in that day one of the most welthiest and one of the most formemost citizens of that period said that he invested ten thousand dollars in the first regular line of omnibuses which ever ran upon the streets of Philadelphia and that the line then run from the exchange which was then located at third and dock all went to (hell) for he never received one single dollar in return for the investment which he then made in that direction and in that day their was no fery or line of boats at the foot of market street where they are now so well established that they carry hundreds of thousands of passengers to and from the
(page 48) City but at that period it was but a dock where the small vessels that then run up and down the river on their mission which carried the produce of the farmer to that market then landed and then came from every part of the delawar river shore that extended from Burlington to Cape May and it was there that then the farmer could be found and the people could there then buy every kind and veriety of produce which then grew from the soil for it was then the largest wholesale market in that line of that now great city and as market street was at that period of the city history supposed to be the center of trade it was encumberd with a very old fashion one storey market house which was coverd with a shingle roof but it was open on all it sides and the people had no protection from the weather and it would be now but a very odd and inconvenient market for the people but it then ran from delawar avenue up through the center of the street for a number of squairs and the first two blocks down nex to the river was then used and occupied by those who delt exclusively in fish where they could be bought both at wholesale and retail and it was called the fish market the other blocks which then extended a long way up the street was used by the butchers and others who sold at retail that which was produced by the farmers and their was no markets houses in all that great city at that period except those which then stood in the centre of the street located at different points which was most convenient for the pepole and their was then no great rail road corporations which now exist which has built their massive depots and other great structures that now adorn the city for then their was but one line which was then called the Camden and Amboy rail road company
(page 49) And it then had but a single tract which then conected the two great citys of Philadelphia and New York togather but their lines now go out and reach every other city of any note in this vast country but then all the passengers and all the freight which was then carried by rail between then the two great citys of this vast country was then carried over one track which then run from Camden to Amboy in the state of New Jersey and it was then transported acrost the water at each end of the road and in that day all the passengers and all the freight which was then carried by rail that came from New York after it was landed in Camden it was then carried acrost the river and landed at walnut street wharf and in that period of my history all the freight which was then of a perishable nature was carried in small crates or cars which was then so constructed that they were placed upon small wheels which was then carried upon large flat bottom cars which it then took six or seven of thease smal cars to mak a load and when the train reach Camden theas small cars which was then loded with freight were taken acrost the river on the fery boat and then hawled up on the wharf where they was then unloaded and their contents deliverd to their owners and it was then no uncommon sight to see two or three hundred of thease small cars then crowded togather and standing on or near walnut street wharf where they was then exposed to the hot rays of a summers sun or to the cold winters storm for they was all then kept without a shelter and I am now reminded as I persue this work that their was then many large sailing vessels which was then to be seen laying at many of the most prominent wharfs along the river frunt with their great Jib booms which when set in their proper shape that extended far beyound that streets but
(page 50) Their was no steem ships then to be seen laying at the wharfs which are now but a common sight that now travers every sea and hail from every clime and nation but they were all then winged with their white sails that crossed the ocean and their was no other method then in use by which the freight and passengers was then carried acrost the mighty deep from one country to another and in that period of the citys history their was no elevatiors or other devices in any of the stores or other buildings which now carry you from one floor to another but it was then imperative for all to travel up and down the common steps to reach the other floors and in that day their was no electric power or light which now shines forth that is so brilliant and bright to light you on your way in the dark and dreary night but much of the city was then clothed and shrouded in darkness for such was the custom of the people that the city was then but spareingly lit with oil and gass neither was their in that period of my life nor in the history of Philadelphia nor no other city in this country up to that time the great monopolies which now exist with their great and mammouth stores which now cover nearly a whole squair with their millions of money and filled with every kind of goods which hailes from every port and kingdom that is now knowen to the world monopolizeing the vast retail trade of the present day which extends for more than one hundred miles in some parts of the country which should now be devided among the people for in that day of which I speak the most of the retail trade was then done in the small stores which was then located mostley on second and chestnut street and where Mr. John Wanamaker great store which was first established on the cornor of thirteenth and Market now stands was
(page 51) Later in my life but
a common fraim structure which was used by the
Pennsylvania rail road as a freight depot and it was then no uncommon sight
to see fifteen or twenty mules all stretch out in a row pulling the freight
cars up and down market street to get them in and out of the depot but in
my early life the most elaborate and expensive building then standing in
the city proper of Philadelphia was that which was then called the United
States banks which was built by the goverment
and which now stands
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