on which St. Luke's Church, Germantown, now stands and aided in the erection of the building. There was a chamber in his home at Loudoun called the Minister's Room set aside for the incumbent of the parish. He was among the first to suggest coal for heating and patented a hay scales. From 1820 to 1835 Loudoun was rented by Madame Greland as a school for young ladies whom she brought there for the summer. The hill was a hospital after the battle of Germantown and many dead were buried in the grounds.

Mr. Armat's daughter married Gustavus Logan, son of Albanus and Maria Dickinson Logan, great-greatgrandson of James Logan and grandson of John Dickinson. The last was the most conspicuous person in the service of the State from 1760 until his term expired as President of the Supreme Executive Council of the State in 1783. From the meeting of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 until his death in 1808, he was a prominent figure in national history. He was the first to advocate resistance, on constitutional grounds, to the ministerial plan of taxation and for a long period after the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill he controlled the counsels of the country. He courageously maintained that the Declaration of Independence was inopportune but despite this, and the fact that he was a Friend, fought valiantly in the War of the Revolution. In the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States he took a leading part and prepared many memorable State papers at the request of the Continental Congress.

He is, perhaps, best known for his "Farmer's Let

ters," addressed to the people of Great Britain, which embodied the Pennsylvania idea and brought about the repeal of the Stamp Act, so well were they regarded abroad. He lived at Fairhill on the Germantown Road below the town and was the son of Samuel and Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, Maryland Quakers who lived at Crosia-doré on the eastern shore of Maryland. His training in the law was received with John Moland, Esquire, of Philadelphia, and at the Middle Temple in London.

Loudoun is now occupied by Albanus Logan and his sister, Miss Maria Logan, son and daughter of Gustavus.

It may be fairly said to mark the beginning of Germantown, now the twenty-second ward of Philadelphia. At the foot of its lawn, the old Main Street begins its winding way toward Chestnut Hill. In early days the roadway was so bad that one gentleman is said to have saddled his horse in order to cross it. In later days came the railway tracks for the horse cars, solitary and infrequent, which came out from the city through the regions of Fairhill Meeting (given to the Society of Friends by the founder, George Fox), Rising Sun Village, and Robert's Meadow, climbed Neglee's Hill and jingled on through the toll-gate at Rittenhouse Street and so to the "horsecar depot" at "Carpenter's."

5261 GERMANTOWN ROAD, GERMANTOWN

WISTER

HE name of Wister, whether spelled er or ar, is a familiar one to Philadelphians and particularly to those residing in Germantown, technically known as the twentysecond ward of Philadelphia.

Hans Caspar and Anna Katerina Wüster dwelt at Hillspach, near Heidelberg in Germany. Of their children two sons came to Pennsylvania, the first being Caspar who arrived in Philadelphia by the ship William and Sarah, in September, 1717. The second son, Johann, reached the same port in May, 1727. Both brothers prospered and became the heads of important houses. In his oath of allegiance to the King in 1721, Caspar had his name spelled "Wistar" through the mistake of the clerk and from him are descended those who thus spell their names to-day. From him came the Doctor Caspar Wistar in commemoration of whom and of his charming entertainments were established the famous Wistar Parties at Fourth and Locust Streets which made the Saturday nights of Philadelphia so well and favourably known among visitors of the polite and cultivated classes from other cities and abroad.

In May, 1727, shortly after the death of his father, the second son John embarked for America and after a long and stormy passage of four months arrived in Philadelphia. He established himself in Market Street west of Third, where he cultivated blackberries, made and im

ported wine, and had a large business. He was thrice married and there were four children by Salome Zimmerman and five by Anna Catherina Rubinkam. In 1744 he built "Wister's Big House" opposite Indian Queen Lane and now numbered 5261 Main Street. The stone came from Cedar Hill near the east end of Bringhurst Street where it touches the Philadelphia & Reading Railway, and the woodwork from oak trees hewn in Wister's woods. It was the first countryseat in Germantown, was two and a half storeys high with a high-pitched roof over a garret without dormers, lighted from the ends. Across the front and side of the house was a pent roof or projecting eaves marking the line of the second floor, with a balcony to break its uniformity over the main entrance, upon which opened a door from the second storey. There were two chimneys, stout and strong, at either end. The main entrance was centrally placed, with two windows to the right, and a smaller door with a window bounding each side of it to the left. These doors were upper and lower parted, and looked out upon sidelong seats. In 1808 repairs and changes caused the rent roof to vanish, dormer windows to appear, the upper door and balcony to make way for a window as did the small door on the ground floor. The front seats and railing-guard as well as the locust trees that shaded them also passed away and the front of the house was pebble dashed. A long wing extends eastward and in its shade is a well with stone steps leading to depths where the provisions were kept. Back of this is the workshop with its rows of tools and store of curiosities, not the least interesting of which are numer

ous clocks in various stages of completion. Still farther east is the observatory with its telescope and then the beautiful formal garden with its ancient markings of boxbush, out of which rises the old rain-gauge.

The hallway is spacious, the rooms low ceilinged and the great fireplace in the kitchen still holds the crane and its pots. John Wister was a charitable man and caused bread to be baked every Saturday which he distributed to the poor who came to his door for it.

His hospitality was shared by many famous personages. Adjoining him on the south was Christopher Sower, one of the most remarkable men in the Colonies. He was preacher, tailor, farmer, apothecary, surgeon, botanist, clock and watchmaker, bookbinder, optician, manufacturer of paper, drew wire and lead, and made most of the materials for the books he printed. In 1739 he issued the first almanac and in 1743 the Bible was printed by him in German, forty years prior to its appearance here in English. He commenced his newspaper in 1739 and the printing business has been carried on by his descendants down to the present day. To Grumblethorpe also came Gilbert Stuart, the gifted, jovial artist, Squire Baynton, David Conyngham, Reuben Haines, "Ben" Shoemaker, Daniel and John Jay Smith, Doctor George Bensel, physician and poet, Isaiah Lukens, a mathematical expert, Thomas Say, the great entomologist and president of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Parker Cleveland, the writer of the first book upon American mineralogy, Doctor W. S. W. Ruschenberger, traveller and writer, Professor James Nichol, a celebrated