THE

REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA. REGISTER OF

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE.

VOL. V.-NO. 21.

EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.

PHILADELPHIA, MAY 22,1830.

HISTORICAL NOTES,

OF THE PRIMITIVE HISTORY OF GERMANTOWN.

JAMES LOGAN,

Of Stenton-near Germantown.

NO. 125.

country with Penn, he came to it as a place to hide himself from the cares of life, and with no wish or expecta tion to advance his fortune among us; but the reasons which he gives, in more advanced years, for changing his mind, are instructive, as they show that a religious I once had the privilege to see an original MSS. of man may moderately desire a measure of wealth with four pages, at Stenton, in the hand writing of James sincere purposes to make himself a better man, by atLogan, wherein he gave his parentage and early life."taining the proper means of becoming most useful. His It appears that his father, Patrick, was born in Scot- words strike me as sufficiently sensible and very impresland, and there educated for a clergyman. For some sive, to wit: "When he was a young man, and Secretatime he served as a chaplain, but turning Quaker by ry to Penn, he felt an indifference to money, and deemconvincement, was obliged to go over to Ireland, and ed this a happy retirement for cultivating the Christian there to teach a Latin school; afterwards he taught at graces; but after he had some experience in life, findBristol, in England. While yet in Scotland, he marri-ing how little respect and influence could be usefully ed Isabel Hume; her family was related to the Laird of exerted without such competency as could give man a Dundas, and the Earl of Panmar. ready access to good society, he thenceforward set himBesides those facts, related by James Logan, I have self seriously to endeavor, by engagements in commet with other facts of the early antiquity and distinc-merce, (a new track to him) to attain that consequence tion of his family, which, as it is but little known, I shall inscribe from the Scotsman's Library, and from the memoirs of the Somervilles, to wit:

It ap

and weight which property so readily confers." In the same connection, he adds, "he never had the wish to leave any large possessions to his posterity, from the be

"The name of Logan is one of those derived from lo-lief that moderate fortunes were more beneficial legacality, and hence deemed the more honorable. cies than large ones." It is probably from these views pears in Scotch history at the early period of William of moderate bequests to heirs, that he was so libthe Lion, and throughout subsequent ages is connected eral to bestow his large library and other gifts to public with important national transactions. The Chief was purposes, rather than to his immediate heirs. Baron of Restalrig, and this house was connected by various intermarriages with most of the noble families in the kingdom, and even with Royalty itself, one of them having married a daughter of Robert H. who granted him the lands of Grugar, by a charter addressed "militi dilecto fratri suo.”

In personal appearance James Logan was tall and well proportioned, with a graceful yet grave demeanor. He had a good complexion, and was quite florid, even in old age; nor did his hair, which was brown, turn grey in the decline of life, nor his eyes require spectacles. According to the fashion of the times he wore a pow. James Logan had several brothers and sisters, but dered wig. His whole manner was dignified, so as to none of them lived long, except his brother William,abash impertinence; yet he was kind and strictly just in who became a physician of eminence in Bristol. James all the minor duties of acquaintance and society. The Logan was born at Lurgan in Ireland, on the 20th Octo- engraved portrait is taken from a family piece now in ber, 1674; he had learned Latin, Greek, and some He- the Loganian Library. brew, even before he was thirteen years of age. While in Bristol, he assisted his father as a teacher. In his sixteenth year he instructed himself in the mathemat ics, a science in which he afterwards showed much ability in our country, as a scientific correspondent. At nineteen years of age he had studied French, Italian, and Spanish.

As a man of learning, he stood pre-eminent. His business never led him off from his affections to the muses. He maintained a correspondence with several of the literati in Europe, and fostered science at home.His aid to Godfrey the inventor of the quadrant, is in proof to this point; and his literary intercourse with Governor Hunter, Dr. Colden, Col. Morris, Dr. Johnstone, Dr. Jenny, Governor Burnet, and others, at New York and elsewhere in our country, show how much his mind was turned to the love of science, and to its disciples wherever found.

In the year 1699, then in his twenty-fifth year, he was solicited by William Penn to accompany him to Pennsylvania, as his Secretary, &c. where, in time, he fell into the general charge of all his business; but from motives of tenderness to his harrassed principal, he nev- As he advanced in life, he much desired to give er charged but £100 a year for all his numerous servi- up the cares of business. He retired altogether ces, for many years. This was itself a lively proof of to his country place at Stenton, hoping there to his liberality and disinterested zeal for a good man, and enjoy himself otium cum dignitate. Still, however, showed him at once a faithful and generous friend. Penn's business and official employs were оссаSteadfast as he was to his honored principal,it is hardly sionally pressed upon him; especially in cases of possible to conceive how irksome and perplexing his Indian affairs; because, in them he had merited duties, so moderately charged, always were. In his the peculiar affection and confidence of the Indian MSS. book of letters to the proprietaries is preserved a tribes, they often visiting his grounds and remaining long detail of them, such as they were in general, drawn there some time under his hospitality. As he grew in up by him about the year 1729, as reasons to show why years, he met with the injury of a limb, which confined he so earnestly prayed to be excused from further ser-him long to his home. Ile there endeavored to fortify vitude, saying, it injured his health, and much trespassed upon the time due to his proper business as a merchant, &c.

his mind, like Cicero before him, in cultivating the best feelings of old age, by keeping his mind and attachments young and cheerful. To this cause he translated Cicero de Senectute into English, a work which when pub

lished was imputed erroneously to Dr. Franklin, who was only the printer.

He died in 1751, aged 77 years, and lies interred at Friends' Arch street ground. [Vil. Tel.

AN ADDRESS,

have not removed the strong probability of future pecuniary need. Upon the munificence of philanthropic citzens, the Managers still anxiously depend for ability as well to meet its increasing necessities, as to expand the circle of its benefits. It requires constant replenishment to supply the loss of books unfit for use, by accidental or unavoidable injuries, and the accession of current works of sterling and enduring value. The mem

Delivered, at the request of the Board of Managers of the APPRENTICES' LIBRARY COMPANY, of Phil-bers on whose annual contributions of two dollars each, adelphia, in the Hall of the Franklin Institute, on the 26th of March, 1830. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

Br J. R. TYSON.

I appear before you in compliance with an invitation of the Board of Managers of the Apprentices' Library, to make some brief remarks on the subject of their institution. What, it may be demanded, can be said in favor of an establishment so meritorious which cannot readily be anticipated?-It can hardly be necessary for the purpose of recommending a public library to patronage, to advert to the effect of knowledge upon the general happiness of life, to insist that it is important to the social comforts of a free people, or that the permanence of our civil polity depends upon its diffusion. These are truths of universal sanction, and require neither enforcement or defence. But, as Cicero has emphatically pronounced, the effort to instruct and infuse virtuous principles into the youthful mind, "the highest benefaction that can be rendered to one's country," the question may be seriously asked, whether an institution whose aim and object are the moral and intellectual improvement of the junior portion of society-an institution, which of all the means employed, is the most likely to produce this result, be deserving of neglect or indifference?

the library chiefly relies for present succour and future augmentation, fluctuate in number from year to year.Since the yearly report for 1829, though nearly 1500 volumes have been added to the collection, its friends have no assurance of its prospective growth, commensu rately with the increase of applications. Without impropriety it may therefore be remarked, that an establishment which promises so much honour to this City, and such high beneficial consequence to the country at large, strongly addresses itself to the patronage of all, and irresistibly to those whose benevolence has prompted them to explore the distant regions of Greece and Africa, for the dispensation of cleemosynary blessings. The age and country in which we live offer subjects for reflection and remark in connection with such an institution as the Apprentices' Library. If the present age be distinguishable from the generations which have gone "with those beyond the flood," it is in the rapid advancement of practical science, and the happy explosion of ancient errors in regard to the subject of education. Art is overcoming the immensity of nature by rendering the correspondence between distant and hitherto almost incommunicable regions as easy as between neighboring parts of the same territory. Nature presents no impediments too untoward and formidable for The Association of the Apprentices' Library, formed resistance and conquest; rivers and inland seas are made about ten years ago, has struggled through many em- so many highways to facilitate commerce, and minister barrassments which, while they have contracted the to the mutual necessities and luxuries of remote counsphere of its usefulness, sometimes disheartened the en- tries. Science has already abridged the quantity of terprising and benevolent individuals who have direct- manual labour in the articles of use and comfort; it is ed its operations. From very slender beginnings the penetrating into every business, and furnishing light and library has grown to the number of 6000 volumes.-aid to most of the diversified operations of society. The These have been selected with competent judgment, spirit of improvement is not merely observable in the and the most scrupulous care to exclude all of a perni- march of profound or experimental science; its influcious or questionable tendency. They comprise the ence is silently perceptible upon opinions concerning most valuable standard writers in the English Language, equal rights and universal education. Nations supposon the various subjects of science and art; of history, ed for ages to be dead in slavery, are springing into biography, and travels; of good poetry and elegant lit-political life. Liberal notions of human dignity and natcrature. Works of the light and grave cast, of the elementary and profound character, are judiciously mingled. The library offers books which would furnish a sound and healthful repast either to the lettered and scientific, or the illiterate and uncientific student. Here may be found materials for accomplishing the mind with useful knowledge, and imbuing the heart with honourable sentiments and virtuous resolves. From it may be supplied the nutritious aliment which will nourish the child of genius, and sustain him already advanced in stature. Who can calculate the vast blessings which may be diffused through the instrumentality of such a library? The number of boys and young men rescued from indulgence in dissipated habits and evil companionship by the instructive lessons of its volumes, and the thirst of information which their circulation must excite? The benefits which will result to individuals, families and society by a transformation of their moral&intellectual character? Little aid from fancy is required to suppose,that of the 6000 individuals who are said to have partaken of the advantages of this library, many, who, from the mere destitution of the means of knowledge, would have grown up in ignorance, and vice, its almost inseparable concomitant, have imbibed a taste for liberal studies, and are laying the foundation for future respectability and usefulness. The public spirited legacies of John Grandom and William McKenzie, constitute the only permament fund to which the association can look beyond the year with confidence; and though these have certainly revived the prospects of the institution, and relieved it from the pressure of a part of its embarrassments, they

ural equality are spreading over every clime; and education to secure them is beginning to be cultivated.Shall the people of this country take the van or the rear in this march of intellect? Shall only the common mind languish and feel no revival in this general impulse?— Shall we supinely enjoy the diversified blessings scattered so prodigally around us, and show, by neglecting the means to preserve them, that we are unworthy of their continuance? It is here knowledge should erect her temple, and gather around her the sons of freedom. Here schools and libraries should be established to sow far and wide the seeds of intelligence and virtue.

Knowledge should be the inseparable attribute of man. Without it he can neither fulfil the high purposes, nor ascend to the proper elevation of his being. It should not therefore be confined to men of opulence and leisure; to the learned professions and the mercantile class; but, common as the breath of heaven, it should be liberally dispensed to the lowest employment in the scale of manual labour.

To prevent misconception, I may here, in passing, observe that the founders of this institution never had an intention to exclude from it those who were not acquiring a mechanical business. The term, 'Apprentices,' as applied to the Library, was used in a more liberal and extensive sense. Its volumes were designed to be, as they always have been, accessible to young men of every walk in life, who are desirous of improvement.

An opinion has sometimes been whispered, that as great acquirements are unattainable in the busy transac

1830.]

TYSON'S ADDRESS.

323

led by a constant and assiduous culture." The hideousness of the moral aspect of Turkey where learning is in disrepute, is very extensively known. The hapless conditions of ill-fated Greece and oppressed Ireland confessedly arise from the same fruitful source of violence and crime. Examples need not be multiplied; for the expcrience of every nation, the observation of every day, proclaim the benefits of universal education.

tions of life, all attempts at mental cultivation would prove useless or pernicious. Is then a man, it may be asked, to continue in absolute ignorance, because he cannot become greatly learned' is he to despise knowledge, because great amplitude and profundity of research are incompatible with his leisure? If we try the accuracy of this principle by the condition of mankind, its fallacy will be immediately discernible. Look for a moment at the state of that part of society who are within the opportunities of sound and deep acquisitions.-edge with the humblest offices of society, I admit that Are there no half-made scholars, no false pretenders to positive science? From the natural indolence of the human mind, perhaps the really learned do not comprise more than the meagre proportion of one to a hundred of those who have enjoyed all the advantages of education, and who profess extensive and thorough attainments. Are we to suppose that the remainder, so nu-haps most of the two former are mischievous, even when merous and overwhelming in comparison, are less important in society, less useful to themselves, their friends, and their country, than the wholly uneducated, the totally ignorant? It is an absurdity. The doctrine is false, the sentiment dangerous. Every degree of intellectual culture as it removes a man still further from the brutes, exalts him in the scale of existence, and brings him nearer to the proper level of his own nature. I cannot therefore subscribe to the meaning attributed to Pope in the line;

But while I contend for the compatibility of knowlthere is a sort of reading indulged in, which would probably interfere with the creditable but laborious duties of the mechanic. I mean novels, plays, and poetry of the sickly or dreamy cast. They produce a morbid sensibility and false delicacy, vitiate the intellectual appetite, and undermine every manly trait of character. Perread for amusement; they frequently do harm and seldom do good. But these are objections which apply to that species of reading in reference to all ranks in society; if a difference exist, it must refer to those only who are engaged in the active walks of life, in which a wholesome perception of plain realities, unmixed with fantastical chimeras about the present, and romantic visions of the future, is requisite to the integrity of their practical views and purposes. All inordinate excitement of the imagination is positively injurious. It makes "A little learning is a dang'rous thing,-" us dissatisfied with our present condition, destroys the If it be esteemed an authority favourable to ignorance, which usually give pleasure, blunt the edge of sensibileffect of those ordinary occurrences of domestic life that of the poet Campbell can be produced in opposiity to real enjoyment or woe, and is adverse to the usetion, for he has directly impugned the sentiment. But I humbly submit that the popular acceptation of the passage is erroneous. The remaining verse of the distich,

ful faculties of the mind; the attention, memory, and judgment. Books which excite this mental fermentation are not only hurtful to mechanics, they are univer "Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring;" sally pernicious, and are therefore excluded from the plainly shows that he referred to poetical taste and judg. Apprentices' Library. But how can sound, useful, pracment, which, in truth, were the drift and theme of the tical information interfere with the labours of the meelegant poem from which it is extracted. Independent- chanic? It must make him more respected and more ly of the sage legal maxim "qui hæret in litera, hæret respectable, and if his studies be rightly directed, open in cortice," and the explanation given by the context, his views for the improvement of his art. It must, by a single consideration will discover the impropriety of a imbuing his mind with true maxims and just principles, literal interpretation. A tyro in letters has "a little make him a better man, a more useful citizen; enable learning," and Pope who was a votary of knowledge, him to exalt the condition of his brethren, and to concould not despise what the studious adventurer in the tribute his mite to the benefit of his country. The handbeginning of his inquiries, must unavoidably possess.- icrafts include in their department a large body of res And yet this notion of denouncing incipient efforts, is pected and estimable men. Their claims to respectaas much countenanced by the phraseology of the coup- bility are derived from remote antiquity. The ancient let, as the belief that he wished to exclude those from Egyptians and Greeks honored the mechanical pursuits. reading altogether whose fortune or pursuits do not jus- The laws of Lycurgus especially regarded them as entitify that uninterrupted devotion of mind, so necessary tled to benignity. And nearer our own day, it is well to success in exploring the secrets of science. As an known, that according to a custom of Germany, a titled admirer of truth, a lover of recondite study, and zealot suitor could not aspire to the hand of a lady of equal in the cause of mental expansion, he might inveigh a- birth, without the recommendation of having acquired gainst crude opinions and superficial research. False some useful manual art. Labour is there esteemed so reasoning in criticism, he might be sensible, was the re-meritorious and laudable, that all the Princes of the sult of partial inquiry and imperfect light,and that these were the parents of foolish pride or incurable error in questions of literature; but he could not suppose that the practical benefits of the latter were countervailed or extinguished.

blood of the Emperor, have learnt some mechanical em-
ployment. It would therefore sound rather inconsistent
in the face of such examples as these, to hear avowed
republicans whose civil polity holds privileged orders in
contempt, using the language of disrespect to so useful
and reputable vocations. The government of this coun
try has adopted the sentiment of Ulysses-
"quæ non fecimus ipsi
Vix ea nostra voco.-"
amplified as it is by an English poet;

"Honour and fame from no condition rise,

But it has been urged by the enemies of this library that cultivation of the mind is at variance with the requisitions, and inimical to the interests, of the manual employments. If indeed the education of mechanics is to be approached as an abstract question of suitableness or expediency, to say nothing of the exertions of our New England brethren, the experiments of Germany and Scotland remove every difficulty. Knowledge is Act well your part, there all the honour lies." there diffused with an undistinguishing liberality. No It must be acknowledged, that if the laboring class individual is too humble to be denied its advantages. have sunk into comparative disesteem, the cause has And where shall we find in Europe such persevering in- arisen in a great measure from themselves. Many indidustry, unambitious content, tenacious honesty, and ar- viduals whose early life was spent, or who are actually dent love of country, as mark the lower orders of Ger- engaged in the manual operations of society, are distinmany and Scotland? Vice on the contrary is usually as-guished for the respectable character of their general sociated with ignorance. We have the elegant testimo- attainments, their enterprize in laudable undertakings, ny of Addison, that "the mind which lies fallow for a their stern sense of honour, and disinterested public spi. single day, sprouts up in follies that are only to be kil-rit. But very many, from the neglect which it is the

object of this institution to alter, of intellectual and moral culture, cannot aspire to social participation with others of their brethren. By due improvement of the individuals composing the class, it will assume a station entitling its professors to increased regard, and commanding adequate influence.

pia. Under the friendly tutelage of this learned and amiable gentleman, Godfrey became a profound mathematician. He has added credit to the genius of his country, by the invention of the instrument since known by the unjust appellation of Hadley's Quadrant.-David Rittenhouse was born in Montgomery county, and folTalents are not confined to wealth and noble ances- lowed the plough till his eighteenth or nineteenth year. try. Of the geniuses who have adorned the different His biographer informs us, that when at this employages of the world, perhaps more have come from the ment, the handles and every portion of the plough as humble, than the exalted walks of life. The annals of well as the fence at each end of the furrows, were alGreece and Rome, and of modern Europe, teem with ways filled with geometical figures. He suffered much men of low origin or rigorous pursuits, whose names inconvenience, from the want of books in the early pehave shed an imperishable lustre over their respective riod of his career. But overcoming every barrier, he countries. Epictetus, Esop, Phædrus, and Terence distinguished himself for his daring inquiries into the were originally slaves, and indebted either to accident, profoundest truths of philosophy. Learned bodies in or the indulgence of their masters, for their manumis- this country and abroad, tendered him the honor of felsion. Demosthenes, perhaps the greatest orator of an- lowship, and he preceded Franklin in the chair of the cient or modern times, was the son of a blacksmith, and American Philosophical Society. His Planetarian will being deprived of his estate by the cupidity of his guar-long be regarded as a monument of mechanical genius, dians, owed his education to his own exertions and assi- while his labours in other respects have largely contriduity. Horace himself was poor and the son of a freed-buted to the cause of science, and added much to the man, and Plautus, at an early age, entered into the fam- intellectual reputation of his country.-Robert Fulton ily of a baker, as a menial servant. It is well known was born and educated in Lancaster county. Though that many of those who have conferred intellectual re- not a mechanic by profession, yet as his patrimony was nown on modern Europe, sprung from the humblest of so slender that he is always said to have been "the artithe people. They almost equal the stars of the firma- ficer of his own fortune," and while a youth, was so dement in number. If we limit ourselves to the last cen-voted to the mechanic arts as to be almost constantly in tury, we have Dodsley, the author of "The Economy of the shops of the neighbourhood, he may fairly be enuhuman life," Simpson, Ferguson, Edmund Stone, Men-merated. He remained in this state till his 21st year, delsohn, Herschell, and a multitude of others whose ear- when at the solicitation of his friends, he embarked for ly indigence and parental obscurity are lost in the splen-England, to cultivate his talents for the fine arts, under dour of their future fame. The poverty of the English West, his illustrious countryman. His genius was soon Poet is so proverbial, that the garret is assigned by com- unfolded,&he has rendered his name immortal, in the sucmon consent, as his proper abode. Cowley, Shakspeare, cessful application of steam to navigation.—The poverBen. Johson, Otway, Butler, Robert Burns, and a host ty and orphanage of John Watson, seemed to oppose of others, were as remarkable for their obscure origin, insuperable bars to distinction, by means of knowledge. or humble pursuits in early life, as their fine genius af. He was placed at the age of twelve, with a man who terwards rendered them illustrious and great. kept both a store and tavern, in the interior of PennsylThe biography of our own country is pregnant with vania. In this situation he remained till his 19th year, similar instances. Of the very Committee selected by alternately engaged behind the counter and in the bar, the First Congress, to draft a Declaration of Indepen- Being forbidden to use any of a collection of books, dence from Great Britain, were two individuals, origin-owned by his mistress, he abstracted them secretly, and ally poor mechanies. I allude to Roger Sherman and read them by stealth. This practice being discovered, Benjamin Franklin. The former was a shoemaker, and the book-case was locked, and the key secured. But wrought at that employment till his 23d year. While no obstacle could repress or abate his ardor for knowlat labour, with his last upon his knee, it is related, he edge. He broke down every impediment, and became placed before him or at his side, a book which was the one of the greatest scholars of his time. Besides an inconstant object of his study. Sherman afterwards be- timate acquaintance with history, the Belles Lettres, came eminent as a lawyer and a statesman; was elected moral philosophy and metaphysics, he added extensive a member of the First Continental Congress; assisted philological learning. He combined with a familiar in framing the Constitution of the United States; and knowledge of the Roman and Greek tongues, the Heheld a seat under it successively in the lower and up-brew and Arabic, and the Italian, French, and Spanish. 4 per houses of Congress. Benjamin Franklin, first a In citing these as examples of the success of great soap-boiler and tallow-chandler, and then an apprentice abilities in vanquishing the obstacles of fortune, I must to the Printing business, afterwards enjoyed some of the not be understood as recommending them to the imita most elevated stations in the gift of the nation. Added tion of all. These are individuals above the popular levto his political honours, he became President of the A- el, whom nature intended for distinction and excellence. merican Philosophical Society, and lived to see his They were designed for a different sphere than that in name connected with those who were destined to be which untoward adversity had placed them. But in the cherished in grateful recollection, as the champions of great plurality of cases, inclination and capacity coincide liberty, and the benefactors of science. Nor has our to render a manual employment entirely fit and specialown state been wanting to furnish a due contingent.— ly eligible. This library is not established to foster inThe names of Godfrey, Rittenhouse, Fulton, and Wat-dolence under the pretence of unfitness; but to encourson, protrude themselves in bold relief from the multi-age industry and to make it well-directed and intellitude. Thomas Godfrey was a native of Germantown. After learning to read and write, and acquiring “a little Arithmetic," he was placed an apprentice with a very poor man to be taught the trade of a Glazier. Happening to meet with a mathematical book, owned by his master, he pored over it without an instructor, and after devouring that and every treatise which he could find To apprentices, therefore, who partake of this librain English on the mathematics, he applied himself with-ry, I would especially say, let the acquisition of your out aid, and under every imaginable discouragement, to respective trades be the leading object of your study.the acquisition of Latin. James Logan, with whom he Learn the various branches of your several callings, so was contemporary, relates that when he was able to un- far as they can be known, during the period of apprenderstand authors in that language, on his favourite sub- ticeship. Attend to each branch, for each must be useject, he solicited from him the loan of Newton's Princiful. By this course you will infallibly secure esteem;

gent. It is to enable young persons to prepare themselves by practical information and sound principles, for pursuing in after life with propriety their respective occupations; and to fulfil all the relative, social, and religious duties pertaining to them as men and Christians.

RECORDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

1736-August 20. Commission dated 7th May last, fore ye Council a letter from Mr. Weiser informing him to William Denny, as Lieutenant Governor,&c.