1747 Downtown Philadelphia Near The Waterfront, Resurvey For William Allen By John William Parsons

1747 Downtown Philadelphia near the waterfront, resurvey of the land for William Allen by John William Parsons, surveyor with his notations. A rare document. Measures folded, 7.75 by 6.25 inches and unfolded, 12.75 by 7.75 inches. Toned and old tape repairs present on the backside but not affecting text. Some edge tattering bun not serious. A historical document with plots of land apparently not recorded or not in the record of the Philadelphia historical society.
Estimate: $500-$750
Reference: 206-129
More information on William Allen and John William Parsons follows:
William Allen (August 5, 1704 – September 6, 1780) was a wealthy merchant, attorney and chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, and mayor of Philadelphia during the colonial era. At the time of the American Revolution, Allen was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Philadelphia. A Loyalist, Allen agreed that the colonies should seek to redress their grievances with British Parliament through constitutional means, and he disapproved of the movement toward independence.[1]
He built a manor and country estate, known as Mount Airy, in 1750 outside Philadelphia; the neighborhood became known by his estate's name and is now part of the city. In 1762, he founded what became Allentown, Pennsylvania, and had a hunting lodge there.

William Parsons Plan, 1741-47 While serving as surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, 1741-1748, William Parsons researched and drew up a citywide plan of lots already surveyed and granted in the city. The names listed on the lots indicate the original title owners from the seventeenth century, rather than the property owners of the 1740s. As devised, this manuscript provides a prototype of the first lot dimensions for block one of Independence Mall. The High Street lots, called "great lotts," were assigned as bonus lots to Purchasers of 1000 acres or more.20 On block one the High Street lots all extended south 306 feet to the "back lotts" on Chestnut Street, which had a depth of 178 feet. Thus, block one measured 484 feet running north-south. Parsons lists seven lots on High Street of varying widths, and eight on Chestnut, also of different widths. The larger lots on High between Fifth and Sixth Streets add up to 416 feet, and the eight smaller Chestnut Street lots measured together 414-plus feet for the same dimension. Parsons identified fifteen names as original owners of the lots, but of these, only one, William Crews, took up the land. Most of these citizens -Robert Greenaway, Robert Harley, Enoch Flower, John Bezer, to name a few-were wealthy First Purchasers who lived elsewhere, in the city, country, or in England. They either sold their titles to the land or passed them down to their heirs, who eventually sold or rented to someone who settled the lot. By 1747, then, the Chestnut Street back lots had been divided into three large blocks all with depths of 178 feet and owned from east to west, by George Emlen (1S5 feet), James Hamilton (the tavern lot, 133 feet) and the Davis family block on the westernmost 110 feet. (Note: these three frontages add up to 398 feet, not the 414 indicated by Parsons' plan described above. The former figure is closer to accurate, although measurements in surveys regularly were adjusted in the 18th century.) The 1750s, with its surge of population in the city, brought more real estate development and turnovers to this section of the block.
Parsons lists seven lots on High Street of varying widths, and eight on Chestnut, also of different widths. The larger lots on High between Fifth and Sixth Streets add up to 416 feet, and the eight smaller Chestnut Street lots measured together 414-plus feet for the same dimension. Parsons identified fifteen names as original owners of the lots, but of these, only one, William Crews, took up the land. Most of these citizens -Robert Greenaway, Robert Harley, Enoch Flower, John Bezer, to name a few-were wealthy First Purchasers who lived elsewhere, in the city, country, or in England. They either sold their titles to the land or passed them down to their heirs, who eventually sold or rented to someone who settled the lot. 21.
21 Hannah Benner Roach, "The Planting of Philadelphia," PMHB 92 (1968), 1-47 and 143-193, discusses the First Purchasers, including John Bezer, (p. 17) a commissioner for William Penn, who originally held title to the Fifth and High Street lot, and Enoch Flower, (p. 158), who received the adjoining High Street lot. See Illustration I for Parsons plan. In Colonial Philadelphians (Philadelphia, 1999), Roach gives further clues to the life and locations of these early settlers by way of a 1689 tax list and a conjectural city directory for 1690 based on her extensive research on early Philadelphians. More on the individuals listed on Parsons' plan is available by using the index to the PMHB (Volume 75).
The actual landscape features on block one of Independence Mall prior to man's intrusion have received only sketchy documentation. William Penn selected a site for Philadelphia that was heavily wooded with oak, black walnut, chestnut, cypress, hickory, beech, and elm, which the first settlers had to clear. There seems to be no written recollection of this tedious work, much of which must have been done by imported slaves or indentured servants. Perhaps all of the trees were not cut down; as ·early ·deeds ·and records occasionally--refer to landmark trees, such as the one describing "cedar tree" lot on Walnut Street that William Allen purchased in 1762 for the State House yard.18 Evidently, according to recollections, the old inn of 1693 on Chestnut Street across from the State House stood in a grove of "lofty and primitive walnut trees," which Watson claimed dated to William Penn's lifetime. The last of these walnuts was taken down in 1818. 19.
19 Watson and Hazard, Annals, J, 403; Whitfield Bell, "Addenda to Watson's Annals of Philadelphia: Notes by Jacob Mordecai, 1836," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 98 (1974), 131. Hereinafter cited PMHB.

Notes: Good condition, toned with some edge paper loss, old tape repairs but not effecting the text. Pencil notations and folds with occasional spots and blemishes of the paper.

$500 - $750

12.5" x 0.001" x 7.25"

Sports Memorabilia, Trading Cards & Ephemera, Envelopes & Letters

20%

Richard Gabriel | (781) 883-6639 | gabriel@calixbooks.com

Pickup Details

Shipping Available

Ask a Question

Report Item