Jenny Kile has recently turned up an interesting item on her blog: a 1716 letter describing the location of buried treasure in Philadelphia, originally uncovered by Historical Society of Pennsylvania historian Daniel Rolph in around 1996 or so.
According to her commenter Buckeye Bob, though Jenny probably found it in a 2016 Philly Voice article, it was 2008 when the details first came out in an HSP blog entry. Though the original page is still there, it has mysteriously lost the image of the treasure map letter it once proudly displayed.
But no longer! Thanks to the Internet magic of the Wayback Machine, I was able to find a 2012 grab of the post including the image, and so here it is (click on it to see a much larger scan):
So (of course) here’s my first pass at a transcript:
Society Hill Treasure Map Transcript
(The main peculiarity of the spelling is the use of ‘u’ where we would now use ‘w’.)
01 – D[ea]r
02 – brother. Having said to you in my 2 Letters all that was nesisare it now
03 – remains that I give you the proper directions which is as followeth, V[i]z that
04 – at the South End of the town of Philadelphia is a Gutt of water with a few –
05 – Planks Layd over it which the Inhabitants call a drau Bridge: a little to ye
06 – Southward of that is a Rising Ground called Society Hill: upon which hill is
07 – a pretty good Brick house with one apple Orchard: But called Cherry Garden
08 – Observe at the front of the S[ai]d house which fronts the west is a porch :-
09 – Measure exactly 45 foot from that Porch along the lane due South
10 – there you will find a Stone post in the ground if not moved which may
11 – be easily done by accident or perhaps by makeing a Neu fence : 3 foot
12 – or perhaps 4 foot west from the s[ai]d stone is a Chist 4 and a half foot long 2 foot
13 – broad and half foot and the same depth accordingly being about 6 foot from the
14 – bottom of the Chist to the surface of the Ground. It contains 15 hundred peases of
15 – Silver or peases of Eight. So called and 4 times the fill of my hat in Rials and
16 – Double rials otterways Bit and double bits: and further contains 250 quadruple pistole
17 – peaces Comonly Caled Double Double Loans: perhaps ther may be a feu more or
18 – les: for time would not alou of ane exact reaconing
19 – N B: if you wil not folou my my Advice and go there with the first opportunity
20 – I order you Imediatly to burn this direction and both my Leters and send me
21 – a particular act and direct for me Exactly according to my direction. But Be
22 – sure to put the Leters in the post office and trust not to your Whistling acquaintances
23 – for I expect your Imediat answer
24 – St Jago de la Vigo in Jamaica
25 – May 14 1716
26 – PS: I have in my 2 letters to you Re[……..] actions you can make posibly
(Please feel free to suggest corrections and improved interpolations, I shall be happy to update the above accordingly. Thanks to John Comegys, James Comegys, milongal and Greg Stachowski for their corrections and comments [which I have incorporated], much appreciated!)
Finding The Treasure…
The various landmarks mentioned in the letter do make historical sense, according to the Philly Voice article:
[…] Philadelphia historian John Fanning Watson, who died in 1860, referenced the drawbridge, Cherry Garden and a “precipitous and high bank” in Society Hill in his 19th century manuscripts detailing the city’s history, Rolph said. The drawbridge and creek running along Dock Street are included on old maps, but by the 1680s – some three decades before the letter was written – many brick houses were being constructed in the area.
“I get the impression it had to have been buried many years before,” Rolph said. “By 1716, it was built up along the docks and all down that area.”
Moreover, professional treasure hunter Dennis Parada of Clearfield PA claims to have identified the exact location where the chest would be: “at one of two locations along Second Street between Spruce and Pine streets”.
The key problem is that there are all sorts of legal issues concerning treasure hunting in Philadelphia, so nobody is sure who would own the treasure if it were to be found. And so there seems to be little appetite for digging anything up to have a look, a process that might well destroy much but gain little.
All the same, it’s a great story, right? 🙂
Please find suggested corrections, compliments of John and James Comegys.
Line 2: …all that was [nesisare] it now – necessary, note first s is long.
Line 4: …Gutt of water with a [ftn] – fountain, f and n are clear, middle t is not.
Line 8: …front of the [Sd] house – Said
Line 9: …along the [lane den] South – den = then, note the Pennsylvania Dutch accent
Line 10: …in the ground [9 ft (strike through) Re]moved – Re in removed is quite faint.
Line 14: …15 or so [???? pieses of] – pieces of, note superscript es above pies
Line 16: …[otterways] Bit and double bit(s): — otterways = otherwise
Line 17: … Caled Double Double (strike Loans): insert [2 guns:] — double barreled, like a shot gun
Line 18: …not alou of an[e] exact – ane = any
Line 26 …[?????? actions] you can make [posibly] – note long s.
4: With a ‘few-‘ (or feu, more likely)….
Agree with line 9, “lanes den”
Line 14, I think there’s “hundred” in the missing bit (you can see the loops of 2 d’s, so “15 hundred”
18: “ans exact reaconing” (sort of a strange variation of ‘an’)
26: It looks like “possibly”, but using an Eszett (a germanic character representing double s
NB: There looks 2 distinct styles of ‘e’ throughout (one looks more like an ‘o’ – like in ‘Letters’, row 2), and also ‘s’ (the long s mentioned by John above, and a shorter one too) – it’s not written in two hands, becasue sometimes the character vary within a word
2c
According to https://books.google.de/books?id=MKBfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA431 the cherry garden was located between Front street and the Delaware, “vis a vis” Shippen street (today Bainbridge Street, at that time near the Windmill Island in the Delaware). Apparently it was owned by William Penn’s steward James Harrison. The “brick house” mentioned in the letter might have been the house at Front street where, according to the Annals, refreshments were sold.
The cherry garden house and its location: http://ggll.weebly.com/cherry.html.
I would start digging in the park east of Front street between Bainbridge street and Kenilworth street.
I think milongal is right on line 4 about few instead of the abbreviated ftn for fountain. Nice work!
Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on the long s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s
Milongal is right, the German Eszett is a modern German survival of the old long s that was generally abandoned by printers in the beginning of the 1800s. The long s can be seen in the American Declaration of Independence.
I’d be fairly concerned as to several words and expressions used by the letter writer, as being perhaps a little too modern to have been used so casually in eary colonial times. For instance; whilst it is well documented that Billy Penn had proposed his so called “letter office” by 1687 and appointed a Post Master to run it, his plan was likely not put into virtual effect for quite some time after the lawful enactment, for various reasons. I really don‘t think that the expression “Post Office” as such would have conveyed to the letter‘s recipient, any specific advice that he might readily be able to act upon. His reply would have to be through the usual instrument of informal mail delivery, there being no actual post office in Phili per se’; though I’ll stand corrected of course.
The initial form of address doesn’t work for me, nor the abreviated NB or PS, both of which may have just come into accepted parlance back home around 1700, perhaps even a little beforehand, but not in Quakerville PA?. I’ll defer to ignorance on the Spainish coinage issue, but the four pistols, no way. For a start they should have been refered to as ‘two brace of pistole’, furthermore any such hand guns would have been rare indeed in 17th century colonial Philadelphia, which had neither craftsmen to make them or means to aquire them so commonly. PS. Did I see something suggesting an ornamental fountain (ftn) and an apple orchard, presumably already bearing fruit which the Devonish settlers might still have called pommes in 1700.
*Sigh*, does no-one read The Three Musketeers anymore?
‘pistols’ are pistoles, which were valuable gold coins, and ‘double loans’ are obviously ‘doubloons’.
The pistole was another name for a double escudo, otherwise known as a doubloon, and an eight-escudo coin was thus a quadruple pistole, or … a double doubloon. The sentence then becomes obvious:
“contains 250: 4 pistols – peaces Comonly Caled Double Double Loans”
“contains 250 quadruple pistoles, [which are] pieces [i.e coins] commonly called double doubloons”.
The whole thing is a list of coins, not guns or “loans”.
Rewritten, the chest contains “1500 pieces of silver or pieces of eight, so called, and 4 times the fill of my hat in Reals otherwise bits and double bits and further contains 250 quadruple pistoles”
(silver) piece of eight a.k.a. peso a.k.a Spanish dollar = 8 reales = ½ escudo
so 1500 p.o.e. = 750 escudo
real = (silver) real de plata = 1/16 escudo
bit = (silver) 1/8 dollar = 1 real = 1/16 escudo
double bit = 2 reales
a hat might have a volume of about 2.5 liters
reales were about the size of a nickel (around 2cm)
so 4 hats worth might be around 10 000 reals = 625 escudo
(gold) quadruple pistole = 8 escudo
250 x 8 = 2000 escudo
so total value would be somewhere around 1300-1500 escudo
For comparison the Spanish galleon San Jose sunk by the British in 1708 which was in the news recently was carrying something of the order of 5 million escudos (10 million pesos) worth of coins.
John/James, milongal and Greg: thanks very much indeed for your corrections. I’ve had a fresh look and have made a few more subtle changes (e.g. I can’t really accept “lane den south” as a reading over “lane due south”, etc), but I think we’re now pretty much there as far as a workable transcription goes. And yes, it is decades since I read The Three Musketeers (in my half-defence, I did buy a copy to read a couple of years ago, but never quite got round to it).
John Sanders: I have to say that I too am a little uneasy with some of the chosen words. For example, “whistling acquaintance(s)” is a phrase that seems to have had its vogue in the early twentieth century, rather than the early eighteenth century: and St Jago de la Vigo (Spanish Town, close to Kingston Jamaica) was almost always written St Jago de la Viga or St Jago de la Vega (and there’s no obvious sign that the last letter is ‘a’ rather than ‘o’). However, the famous Philadelphia Post Office (later run by none other than Benjamin Franklin) I don’t yet see as a problem, so it’s not all one way traffic here, as per normal with cipher mysteries. :-/
William Penn’s postal system was put into effect in July 1683. This is 41 years before the date of the letter. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1835049.pdf Double Barreled pistols were fairly common and were used from the early 1700’s. For example: http://www.militaryheritage.com/pistol16.htm Here are some pictures of pistols with 4 barrels from the 1700s. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1536&bih=759&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=kzAPW8rmD4aUtQWrsKKoBA&q=double+barreled+pistol+1700&oq=double+barreled+pistol+1700&gs_l=img.12..35i39k1.2976.4558.0.6452.5.5.0.0.0.0.130.525.2j3.5.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.5.525…0i30k1j0i8i30k1j0i24k1.0.1R_0jAGhyYw#imgrc=5nuSK5YY790MlM: I suggested ftn was fountain and clearly stated that the f and n were strong, the t weak. I later concurred with milongal that few was a better reading, the e became clear to me once it was pointed out. The last letter could also be an n and so be read as fen.
Apart from looking afresh into very interesting aspects of the new colony‘s first? designated post office and Ben Franklin‘s much later role in it, I was surprised to learn that Phili’s founder, William Penn who was apparently the world’s largest private land owner, only ever spent four years in the colonies and later died back in Blighty a pauper. I’m sure many of our American friends might believe that Pennsylvania was named for him, alas King Charles owed Bill‘s dad, the admiral a quid or two, so named it in the old fellow‘s honour to cancel the debt according to wiki….Nick: If someone of the period were refering to a nominal amount, would they be likely to list it figuratively or lay it out in word form. My personal feeling is that perhaps “One thousand and five hundreds” whatever, would seem to have been more appropriate for those times; a little picky to be sure and I’m only going by translations of the letter, form of which I’m unable to read on my little machine.
JC: Pray forgive me, for I knew not the original timeline or full ramifications of the Society Hill letter. Certainly the interim Philadelphia Post Office under tutelage of Ben Franklin was up and running; and with frequent mailings to Jamaica, only delayed by regional hostilities and of course the hurricane season….I’ll bide awhile on those rusty old buried pistols, which I still maintain would not have been so common, that they might have been the subject of casual banter in the year o.o.L one thousand six hundred and eighty. At that time the population of Philly would have been little more than four men and a turkey if we’re lucky; though forty years hence, it would have increased by a thousand fold at least, and every son-of-a-gun armed with a fairly sophisticated locally or french manufactured flintlock short arm piece, as per your really good addendum pics. Amen.
JC: I guess in my initial assumption that some letters must have been written shortly after interrment of the loot, my only argument regarding the pistols ceases to have any validity it would seem.
JS: Philadelphia was the largest English speaking city in the Americas throughout the 18th century. My father, who taught US History at Fresno State University, told me several times that Philadelphia was the second largest English city, second only to London before the Revolution. Post masters were set up in eachetter colonial city by William and Mary in 1692 and included Philadelphia and Jamaica.
Greg: You are quite right about pistoles–the oxford dictionary says they were Spanish gold coins worth between 16S 6d and 18S. So your reading of Double Loans as Doubloons seems quite reasonable. I once transcribed an inventory of goods left behind when the British troops evacuated New Jersey during the Revolution made by an earlier Comegys for General Washington. The paleography was not nearly as challenging as the vocabulary and many abbreviations, which fortunately this letter avoids. Reading it properly took several months and a great deal of research. This letter is not as easy as it looks at first glance, now is it?
@ Senor Comegys : My sons and I spent a few years in Key West, Florida. At that time a Spanish treasure ship was found not far from shore. Mel Fisher’s divers would appear at the local bookstore, where I was the clerk. They asked me what would be good reading besides the magazines and newspapers.
Mel’s divers were successful in finding the ship’s remains — and the very large hoard of gold pieces of eight. It was a crazy place in which to live — until Mel’s son and daughter-in-law drowned one evening in the dredge. Oh, the shock was more than I could stand. Mel never recovered. On top of that shock was the State of Florida imposing an 80 percent tax on everything that was still in Mel’s “Treasure Museum”.
JC: Still trying to get around certain date issues through me ole noggin; so I implore you to bare with me. My take is that there were perhaps up to three letters, the last of which? is our subject missive dated May 14th 1716 and it refers to something that occurred many years earlier. If we’re to follow your own reckoning ie., forty one years subsequent to the Post Office‘s inception in 1683, that leaves us with the year 1724 which hasn’t come up before. Of course we’re not to know the dates of earlier letters, which our writer refered to in his May, 1716 missive, however you seem to suggest a later one which, I for one am not familiar with. The only significance I’m able to read into 1724, is that it does appear to coincide somewhat conveniently, with eighteen year old Benjamin Franklin‘s first unofficial connection with Philadelphia Post Office; just prior to him heading off across the briney and England, where he quicklyl picked up on the finer points of modern printing. Greg: I concur with you, in that there do not appear to be any second ammendment violations involved this excercise and thanks for pointing out my misinterpretation of the treasure trove details.
It has come to my attention that on Philadelphia‘s north side along the Delaware heading towards Betsy Ross Bridge, lies Frankford/Tacony Creek, the site of which was possibky settled around 1670; it being then subdivided in 1687 and called Penn Town after the developer or more likely his dad. The big man chose for himself a hill top area on the western side which he called Fairmount (still so named), and south towards the creek, not far off, was a place on the charter map called Society (not near today‘s Society Hill). On the near adjacent Jersy Shore there is also a place named Cherry hill and mid channel is Petty Is. Of course this particular area today lies north of the city centre but I’m thinking that this may not have always been the case. If so it would not be so outlandish as to suggest that perhaps the settlement on the south side of Penn Town, across Frank‘s Ford, could be the place refered to in our informant‘s missive of 1716, as opposed to Society Hill near to-day‘s city centre.
Anyone picked up on the then totally undignified and ill bred manner that the brother’s informant dates his letter ie., May 14th 1716. Whilst such impropriety has sadly become the norm for our modern day cousins in the USA, such form would not have bern tolerated in the early pre revolutionary period….ps. Not unsurprisingly, colonial bred Ben Franklin was also a part time offender in this disgusting habit.
Double Doubloon, not Double Double Loan, Double Doubloon– Greg got it right.
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Doubloon
In the New World, Spanish gold coins were minted in one, two, four, and eight escudo denominations, the two escudo piece was called a “pistole”; the large eight escudo coin was called a “quadruple pistole” or, at first, a double doubloon. English colonists would come to call it the Spanish doubloon.[2]
Jordan, Louis. “Spanish Gold”, The Coins of Colonial and Early America, Department of Special Collections, Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame
Jc: Are you suggesting that the chap in Jamaica‘s letter to his dear brother in Philly was misdated for 1726 and refered to an event in 1675 (your 41 year hiatus) or was that an error in math. 1675 was some time before the Royal land grant and Philadelphia charter investiture for William Penn and the only settlers at that time would have been a couple of Swedes and a Duchy or two. They would have likely been bivouacing along the banks of the Delaware, east of Tacony Creek, near to where the new city grid was to be established. Whereas a little further north in Buck County? and also across on the ‘Jarsey Shore’ some permanant settlement appears to have been already established. Of course pirates of the Blackbeard genre were known to be frequent visititors from the various Carribean disputed territories and perhaps, one of their number made the deposit at an isolated safe house across the way from the main Petty’s Island (named later) hangout. I do have some further thoughts as to the origins of the correspondence and interpretation on its possible implications; however I’d best await your explanation re possible date mix-up first.
JS: You did the math. The letter was written in 1714. William and Mary ordered postmasters in the colonies in 1683, 1714 less 1683 is 31. Its a typo or a math error, not a research error. The evidence is there for all to see and judge on its merits. Give it a rest. We are here to have fun and play nicely together and maybe learn from one another. Or at least I am. I never knew about double doubloons or that pistols were gold coins. That is fun for me. Some here apparently did know know the name of the long s, maybe my research is fun for them too. You could have fun with us too. If you care to, by presenting historical evidence to back up your opinions. Just saying. I’m here to have fun solving mysteries. Give it a rest and join in.
JC: There’ll be time for fun when the figurers are done and yours seems to be still off, which is somewhat unsettling. My own dad was no whiz at US history, though he was rather strict about numbers, dates and charts. Now you seem to be talking about 1714 and 1683 for some reason and so one can’t help thinking that perhaps you have more information on the other letters. I happen to have thoughts concerning a possible Post Office security operation put into effect by (don’t laugh yet) Benjamin Franklin in 1726. If you care to check on his handwriting, you will note the obvious similarities with that of the May 14th 1716 letter. Of course Ben was only ten years old and still living in Boston then, but come 1725, he is already living in Philly; rumored to have some connection with the Post Office and is possibly behind misdated correspondence in some sort of in house sting operation. That to me is where the fun comes in; I’d like to follow it through, going in both old ‘quadruple pistoles’ a’blazing, with a little help from some fun loving pals, just as eager to get an outcome. ps. If the letter is real and written by Ben, we can forget about the pieces of eight and make a motza on his unique unsigned note. Cheers js
The letter we are transcribing is dated 1714. The post office you thought not to exist was established by King William and Queen Mary in 1683. I have no information on other letters, unless by letters you mean paleography. I do have examples of the Voynich alphabet written in Early Colonial Mexican documents carefully supported with solid research by recognized scholars, but that may not be as much fun for you as idle banter, Ben Franklin or matzohs. Cheers, JC
JC: You’re obstinance is becoming a little beyond the pale old chap. Frequently historical dates can be fudged a little, just so long as they arn’t key to the point of discussion’ so if you don’t mind, I’ll ‘give it a rest’ as soon as you pick up on the importance of the correct year 1716, as opposed to your incorrect 1714. As far as the Post Office year of charter is concerned, I guess you are getting me confused with some other ignorant nay sayer, In fact I’m certain that I provided information of its establishment, though perhaps forgetting to mention the flowery William and Mary letters of patent.
Your, pertains to ownership, whereas you’re, has to do with what ye be. Poor spelling, grammar and syntax generally relate to me, sadly..
I suppose the ‘pieces of eight’ stemmed from the Spanish treasure fleet sunk near the shore of Florida in 1715. In 1716 Capt. Henry Jennings and his crew seized the treasure which the Spaniards had recovered before, https://archive.org/stream/generalhistoryof00defo#page/27 and https://wikivividly.com/wiki/Henry_Jennings and https://books.google.de/books?id=0LW8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PP35.
In line 13, depth looks like it’s written with two e’s.
As a logical alternative to being the writer’s own brother, the initial address may not have refered to his blood sibling at all. By choosing to use the lower case nominal form of address ‘brother’ for his opening, the intended recipient might well have been a non related entity. Perhaps he was a brother Quaker aquaintance or else, just a fellow seafaring brother-in-arms, sharing plunder from their pirate days on the Spanish Main. I’d really love to know how it was thus determined that the treasure trove was buried illogically close to a rapidly expanding town, three decades before 1716. Unless this can be historically satisfied, I’ll stick to a time period and more unsettled location based on my own illogical reckoning…
I’m not so sure that I agree with Mr. Rolf, however I do know where he‘s coming from, there being no doubt that the early era of Penn‘s Philadelphia (City of brotherly love..halelulia) is understandably confusing with regard to its understated haphazard development from the get go. My best hunch to date is not consistent with most of all you latter day American historians, though I’ll stand corrected if other Philly researches can come up with a more plausable solution. The corner of nowdays 13th Street and Ridge Ave., which at the time was a mere bridle path leading towards the port, was the setting a Quaker common and said to exist, most likely from around 1710 or so; being most well known for youngish Ben Franklin‘s kite flying experiments with his son Bill around the 1730s. A look at the map will show that it’s not as far south as some pundits would opt for, yet its quite close to the river and near to the letter’s nominated points of reference, namely the (Barnam’s) cherry garden, Society Hill and the gut re-entrant stream with its drau (sic) bridge, none of which were likely to have existed prior to 1710 in my opinion. There was a cemetery closeby and it was also a place popular with locals for picnics or pleasure outings, where refreshments could be had from the managing vendor (Barnam). The renowned horticultural Barnam family, John & son William, had their town dwelling half acre block by the corner, most likely facing west towards the Schuykill river which might well have looked out towards their allotted acreage on the western side of the stream. I think this is the spot refered to in the letter, which I’d say was penned by Franklin around 1735 or so as a ruse, perhaps to push a sale for the property on behalf of his best mate John Barnam who had by then built his new place over river. I’d really like to have someone more capable than I, to check out cagey Ben’s Philly Gazette for around the time I’m suggesting or perhaps even his Old Richard’s Almanac to see if there’s a mention of the treasure. ps: I’m really quite serious about Franklin‘s penmenship of the backdated letter and that there’s more to this hoax than meets the eye!…
John and William Bartram, 1674-1711 & 1699-1777, father and son horticulturslists of Philadelphia.
Birth dates for the above are arse about, William being an English born Quaker farmer and son John being local born, with no strict adherance for the Gospels, much like his pal Ben Franklin…If you care to look online at that great man’s own description of his kite experiment, you will certainly notice the quite unusual and unnecessary proliferation of capital letters to start all nouns and some other words, especially all commencing with the letter ‘C’. So now go to the instruction letter, perporting to have come from St Jago de la Vigo (sic) and what do you see?, exactly the same almost individualised characteristic, one that does not come up so frequently with other writers of the period. Franklin was well known for his effluence (sic) in gramar and quite ordinary spelling abilities. He was also a rather offish practical joker, especially with the pen, under his alias of Richard Saunders. He was not known to have visited jamaica during his much travelled over imortalised life; Certainly not the likes of tumble down old St Jago de la Vego, a place that he had most likely only ever heard of from 17th century lost pirate treasure stories which he loved.
My spelling and grammar are plainly no better than Ben’s..
Now that we seem to be satisfied that the letter is/was indeed the product of a harmless self serving joke; albeit a trifle overdone, devised most likely by the then new owner, editor and anonymous fake news contributor, of the Philadelphia Gazette Ben Franklin, there are a few little corrections in order…To start with, when the anonymous letter of instruction refers to an area South of the town of Philadelphia, then Society Hill a little further to the south, his sense of direction seems to have let him down. It’s compass heading is East and so in that regard, I must also confess to a map reading error of sorts, most likely to do with there have been other areas known as Society Hills around in the old days. For instance, there is a spot on Thomas Holme‘s 1687 map, over by Fairmount Hill clearly marked Society which I have a feeling was meant to be a Quaker reserve, then yet another across the Schuykill river South towards Chester County. The Franklins’ kite flying actually took place there on the commons at Darby, a little to the South of Philadelphia township about 1751 (not 1730) and it was close by the old Society of Friends Hilltop Quaker cemetery (still in use). It is located near the Cnr. of Main and Sth.13th Street, a totally different locality than the one I mistakenly mentioned in an earlier post as Ridge and 13th which is way over by Spring Gardens.
In the abridged AB of Ben Franklin, he talks a bit about his first days in Phyladelphia in 1723, naming all the streets of present day Society Hill, then later on working at a printery near the Friends meeting house, then upon returning from England in ’26 how he sets up his own shop in depressed Market Street where he prospered and remained busy til old age. He never once refered to this area as Society Hill and infact during his life it seems to have been known locally as either the Dock Ward or somewhat less lovingly as “the swamp”. Now the local historical crowd would have us believe that the PA Colony’s very first river crossing, a draw bridge, was built over the Dock Creek inlet near Front Street by 1703. Respectfully questionable in my view, indeed considering that numerous market towns had been set up near tributaries in areas very closeby the future metropolis for more than half a century. Some accredited folk are also insisting that the 1716 letter refers to sometime about the mid 1680s, one erroniously citing a William & Mary regal order to open post offices in 1683, which as we’re aware, was six years prior to their coronation in 1689 thereabouts….Where to go from here is anybody’s guess and it depends a lot on what others may have to say, which is needed to keep the old pot boiling and my interest with it if you get my drift….
The smart arse is obviously having a lend of us with his deliberate spelling mistakes, in particular on the six occasions where he substitutes ‘u’ for ‘w’ and omitting doubles etc., though getting things like acquaintance, inhabitants and accordingly right, which I for one rarely do. Seems as if he’s trying to have us believe that perhaps he is not so well educated or that English is not his mother tongue, for reasons that come to mind.
John sanders: still flying that old kite, are you? You ain’t gonna find no key there. 😉
The electrifying shock of some condescending bright spark choosing to reward my efforts with a smartarse quip and a black ban face, has Ben Frankly not un-anticipated; en-lightning albeit, though shocking to the point of distraction neverthess. Realizing that to conduct inquiries that might be considered as kite flying and results deemed idle banter, be not in the best interests of the whole, I’ll hand over and let others try for that ellusive key with my sincere best wishes as always. js
Nick: If you can find the time to read fully the contents of your own latest thread inclusions, vis. John Watson on the draw bridge and the Dock Creek problem, go to the year 1747. Ben Franklin and his pals have formed a comittee with set intententions to ‘drain the swamp’. His assuteness is evidenced then, by his 1748 report back to council, thereby outlining improvements sufficient to allow for landing of certain classes of craft to enter and dock in the widened creek mouth. Question is how to engage volunteer labour sufficient for the task in such an unhealthy (yellow fever) invironment?. Only too simple; You then release details of an old treasure Chist buried in the very near vicinity in your own little spreadsheet, the Philly Gazettee; then stand back and see how gold fever effects the minds of determined simple and inspired people…I’m done!..
…”anc(e) aple (sic) Orchard: But Called Chery (sic) Garden”…
Nick: Yes, we can agree that the ‘u’ for ‘w’ does seem to be quite peculiar at first bluff, though perhaps with a little delving into our writer’s background, some clarity might emerge. Firstly, there appear to be six instances where our writer does his thing; namely with words ending in ‘w’ as in now, few (twice), draw, new, and follow, all of which happen to be softish sounds unlike the other full rounded out pronunciations that are used elswhere in the missive. It does suggests to me that he is most likely a native English speaker, though not disinclined to drop in a few sexy sounding French inflections to impress himself and/or his readers…. It wasn’t until about the time of Blutcher’s Prussian route at Waterloo that the beaten French saw reason and introduced our ‘w’ into their alphabet. In the mid eighteenth century some intellectual Yankee doodle dandies such as our Ben-a-la-Francofile, must have thought the lilt was pretty cool and it naturally followed that it also made its merry way into the written word a well. Ben taught himself French in the 1740s and it formed the basis for many of his essays in later life; so my earlier suggestion that the ‘great’man’ was my likely author of choice, not only derives from my having had some modest success with handwriting comparisons in a former vocation, but also by the noted froggish inflexions as well; if you follou moi drift wee/non whatever?…
Going through the letter for the umpteenth time for leads; apart from small detail ie. a fence, not a lane due South from the porch; only one other thing stands out. The author seems to be detailing his instructions to someone not at all familiar to the fledgling town of Philadlphia, hence a need to explain coloquial terminologic reference points such as ‘drau Bridge’ and ‘Chery Garden’ to name a few. One can only wonder where the three letters were directed, if not to the said town; my particular view being that there was no one addressee and that the writer intended a very much wider audience (even modern day dupes) for his missive. PS: I guess Spainish coinage would have been legal tender in early colonial America as Ben Franklin refers to ‘pieces of eight’ and ‘quad. rubles’ in his writings.
Nick: Now I seem to recall whence we derive the expression ‘whistling Aquaintance’, and indeed it post dates the letter by 150 years whilst refering to a setting of about even date. Of course Long John Silver’s ‘whistling aquaintance’ was a parrot named Cap’n Flint who was known for her loud whistle, foul mouthed beak and bad habit of giving away secrets ie., directions to hidden treasure like Spanish pieces of eight etc. Could R.L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island circa. 1880s hold the key to our own lost bounty; if so it would undoubtedly make the letter a sham, and point to the possible complicity of those who offered it up as the real McCoy….As much as I’d like for this to be just another coincidence, I still maintain a shakey trust in our informant and favour my man on the C note as our likely culprit for the missive. “…..Home is the sailor, home from sea, and the hunter from Society Hill”. RLS & js. just for fun ok.