WISSAHICKON CREEK, GERMANTOWN SHOEMAKER-LIVEZEY SHERE Wissahickon Avenue ends at Allen's Lane, in Germantown, Livezey's Lane runs down toward the Wissahickon Creek in a northerly direction. The creek is but a short distance away and on its banks stands Glen Fern, more commonly known as the Livezey House, surrounded by numerous dilapidated buildings which originally served as mills, granaries, and cooper shops. The mill was built by Thomas Shoemaker, who conveyed it to Thomas Livezey October 10, 1747. He was probably the son of Jacob and Margaret Shoemaker as this was the only Thomas Shoemaker of a possible age in the country at this time. Jacob was the first to arrive in Germantown, coming with Pastorius in the ship America which sailed from Gravesend, England, June 6, 1682, and arrived August 16, of the same year. He gave the land upon which the Germantown Friends' Meeting now stands at Coulter and Main Streets and was sheriff of the town in 1690. The son Thomas married Mary Powel in 1775. The progenitor of the Livezeys was Thomas, who came from Chester, England, about 1680, and settled on the Pennypack Creek in Lower Dublin Township. He also had a house on the south side of Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, midway between Fourth and Fifth Streets, where he lived for the first three years. He served on the first grand jury of the first court held in the Province, January 2, 1681. His land consisted of seven hundred and fifty acres and the original house is still standing about a mile east of Fox Chase in the thirty-fifth ward of Philadelphia. A son, Jonathan, married Rachel Taylor and of the six children born to them, Thomas, who married Elizabeth Heath, was the father of Thomas, Jr., born January 23, 1723, who bought the property on the Wissahickon Creek. Thomas Livezey was a many sided man; he lived beside his mill on the Wissahickon and cultivated a large farm on the hillside and adjacent country. His house stood on a terrace with stone steps leading up to the door with seats on each side, over which there is a balcony. The hallway is rather small with a winding stairway leading to the second storey. The rooms are wainscotted in white panels and there is a fireplace in each room surrounded by dark marble. In the kitchen there is a fireplace of huge dimensions, large enough for several people to sit in, with a window alongside the seat in the inglenook which they called the "courtin corner." In front of the house the old box-bushes denote the presence of a garden. A spring sparkles forth at one end of the house and the whole is surrounded by the virgin forest. Thomas Livezey was somewhat of a wag and given to expressing himself in verse at times. While interested in the law itself, as his mention of Blackstone's Commentaries in his will indicates, he enjoyed an opportunity to cast aspersions playfully upon its practitioners. He was a fellow-trustee of the Union School of Germantown, now the Germantown Academy, with Joseph Galloway, a prominent Friend, lawyer, and politician. They seem to have been very close friends and Galloway was wont to poke fun at his friend Livezey for living in such a hidden place as the wilds of the Wissahickon, so far removed from the busy world and so inaccessible. This gave him the occasion to describe his abode in the following lines: DEAR FRIEND Dec. 14th. 1769. As thou hast often concluded from the lowness of my situation, that I must be nearly connected with the lower regions, or some infernal place of abode, I have sent thee the following true description of the place of my residence in order to convince thee of that errour. Near Wissahiccon's mossy banks, where perling fountains glide, And in the room of anxious fear, would form a harmless smile. I drink the wine my hills afford, on wholesome food I dine, |