47° APPENDIX. 



manor of Philipsburg, in Westchester county, with the Upper Highland 

 patent of Philipstown, in Putnam county.* 



During his studies of divinity young Blackwell apparently kept up 

 some of those studies in medicine and surgery which he began, as we 

 have supposed, at an earlier date. It is plain, from several evidences, 

 that Mr. Blackwell had considerable taste for the natural sciences. We 

 know, by what we remember of him, that he was fond of horticulture, 

 both the elegant branches of it and those merely useful, as he was also 

 of the culture of the finer varieties of fruit-trees. His garden, attached 

 to his city residence, was one of the largest in Philadelphia; even in its 

 earlier days, and up to the very close of his long life, it afforded to him, 

 in the rich collection both of plants and of fruits with which he had 

 stocked it, an unfailing source of interest. His library, too, which came 

 to his grandchildren imdispersed, has its very good collection of theo- 

 logical and classical books, largely varied by books of the physical 

 sciences, and especially by books on niatei'ia inedica, therapeutics and 

 surgery. It is obvious, too, that their owner read them. 



The first mention which I have found of Mr. Blackwell in connection 

 with the sacred ministry is in a letter from Dr. Auchmuty to the vener- 

 able Richard Peters, D. D., at this time Rector of the United Churches 

 in Philadelphia. We give an extract: 



New York, Sept. the 2d, 1771. 

 Rev. and Dear Sir : 



The purpose of this letter is to introduce to your friendship and countenance the 

 bearer of it, Mr. Blackwell, a serious, good young man. He has been reading divinity 

 for some time, and I think I may venture to say that though he is not very showy, yet 

 he will make a solid and good parish minister. If you Philadelphians are zealous in 

 supplying Gloucester, I know of no one who would suit for that mission so well.-}- He 

 is a single man, and at his first setting off a small income will suffice him. He intends 

 a jaunt beyond Philadelphia, to explore the country and see if there are any vacancies. 

 He is solicitous to be employed, and we have no employment here for him. He will 



* A large part of the estates of which we have spoken came to the Colonel Philipse 

 in whose family Mr. Blackwell was domesticated. But, on account of his loyalty to 

 the Crown during the war for independence, these and all his other estates were con- 

 fiscated Ijy the Legislature of New York, and upon the withdrawal of the British 

 troops from that State, in 1783, Colonel Philipse went to England, where he died in 

 the city of Chester, A. D. 1785. 



f The mission at Gloucester, established by the Society for the Propagation of the 

 Gospel in Foreign Parts, A. D. 1766, had recently (a. D. 1767) become vacant by the 

 death of the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, who had been a])pointed missionary there as far 

 back as 1765. In 1769 the mission seems to have been ofiered to "Mr. Lyon, of Taun- 

 ton." I am not aware that he performed any duty. In 1770, or early in 1771, Mr. 

 David Griffith — the same person who was elected, in May, 1786, Bishop of Virginia, 

 but relimiuished the appointment — filled it for a short time, but was never fixed there. 



