En Memory OF SAMUEL HAZARD, WHOSE LABORS IN BEHALF OF HIS NATIVE CITY AND STATE ARE ATTESTED IN FIFTY-TWO VOLUMES, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED. PREFACE. MAN, drifting with the tide of life, oft fancies he is carving out his own fortune, and yet perhaps at his most fortuitous moments he may be, and often is, the creature of circumstances, or perchance of destiny. That is, his destiny, all unknown to himself, may be already marked out. Or the Law of Inheritancethat which proves that like begets like-quietly but surely outlines his every thought, and leads him to shape his actions, his destiny, to carry out the fixed law. Surely, when the author of this volume, as it lies before him, reflects that circumstances over which he exercised no guiding hand have caused him to be the creator of its existence, he may believe some unseen power, whether it be that of Destiny or of Inheritance, has controlled his actions. For he is the third generation of his family in a direct line that has gathered materials for History, and, according to rule, in a descending scale. The first of the three generations collected materials for the history of the States; the second, of the State; and the third of the City. The publishers of this volume, having purchased the plates and copyrights of JOHN F. WATSON'S ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA, requested the compiler to prepare an additional volume of similar character, which, in the light of later research, would eliminate certain facts, and by additions bring some portions down to a recent period; also make necessary corrections of various things that either escaped Mr. Watson's notice, or which documents that were not then accessible have since proved to have been different. It would have been far more easy to write an entirely independent work, and certainly a much more pleasant book might have been produced by thus doing; or it would have been better, perhaps, in many cases to have inserted this later matter in the form of foot-notes in the original volumes or as addenda to the various chapters. But the desire was to leave Mr. Watson's work just as he made it—a work sui generis-so that they who possessed it should be able to add this volume to those, and that they who now obtain the whole work for the first time shall know what is Mr. Watson's and what that of the present Editor. There seemed, then, no other feasible method than to follow Mr. Watson's arrangement, and introduce our facts and articles seriatim and corresponding to his. While this has made a more useful book, it has prevented it being as agreeable a volume as might have been made of the materials, and sometimes has necessitated the repetition of some facts stated in the first two volumes. Many facts in this volume have been derived from an interleaved copy of Watson's Annals in which Samuel Hazard had written a large number of notes, additions, and corrections, with references to other sources of information, which have been diligently followed up. His Annals of Pennsylvania have furnished the material for the greater part of the early history in this volume, as have also his Colonial Records and Archives. His Register of Pennsylvania, 16 vols., has been largely drawn upon for many facts and incidents which his unwearied industry gathered. By the above books, the histories by Proud, Gordon, Dr. Smith, and various local histories, Watson's Annals, and that monument of perseverance, research, and historical acumen, Thompson Westcott's History of Philadelphia, this City and this State have had their history more developed and illuminated than that of any other City and State in this country, and the works of Watson, Hazard, and Westcott will be quoted as long as the State exists. The records of Council in the early days of the city, by the quaint, formal jottings down of the period, of important matters to those of that day, but now of such trivial moment as often to provoke a smile, give a faithful picture of the times, of the slow progress of the growth of the City and of the people in the arts and luxuries of civilization, and have to be drawn largely from until the advent of the newspapers; those faithful chroniclers of current events, though they may be, as Dr. Rush says, "vehicles of disjointed thinking." Now, the newspaper is the Daily History, though it may be written currente calamo. From the files of these the historian must glean many facts and elucidations. A late writer on art has said, defining Originality, "It consists in the power of combining, transfusing, digesting, assimilating the material that comes into our possession from any source whatever." That is all of originality that is, or well can be, in a volume of this character, and the compiler claims no more. His aim has been rather to preserve such facts as may frequently be referred to than to make a fascinating volume. From such an abundance of material as he had collected it was difficult to know what to cull out, and quite enough has been left to form another volume. This must account for its absence to many who will look for some article on his favorite topic; and to many friends who sent us articles and which do not appear this must be our apology. the MAPLE KNOLL, WESTCHESTER, WILLIS P. HAZARD. |