486 APPENDIX. 



On the 14th of May, 181 1, the Rev. Jackson Kemper (afterwards the 

 first Missionary Bishop of the West) was elected an Assistant in the 

 place of Dr. Blackwell; and we fix the termination of Dr. Blackwell's 

 official relation to the United Churches from that day. On the same 

 day the Vestry makes this request ; 



The Vestry request that the Church Warden present their thanks to the Rev. Dr. 

 Blackwell for his past service, and at the same time express their hope that, notwith- 

 standing his resignation, he will occasionally favor them with his sermons when the 

 Rector or either of the Assistant Ministers may request. 



In the year 17S8 Dr. Blackwell received from the University of Penn- 

 sylvania the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 



Dr. Blackwell was twice married : 



First, January 17, 17S0, by the Rev. William White, to Rebecca 

 Harrison, daughter of Joseph and Ann Harrison, of Gloucester county. 

 New Jersey. This lady died February 25, 17S2, aged 25 years. Family 

 affection has preserved an old manuscript which contains an account of 

 her death and some graceful elegiac lines to her memory. I am unable to 

 state with certainty the author of theni. They have been attributed, 

 not without some probability, to the accomplished first Provost of the 

 College of Philadelphia. \{ he was not the author of them, it is difficult 

 to say to whom in Philadelphia at that time we can assign them. 

 Second, November 2, 1783, to Hannah Benezet, relict of John Benezet, 

 Esq., and daughter of William and Mary Bingham. This lady died 

 December 16, 181 5. 



■ No issue by the latter marriage survived. By the former. Dr. Black- 

 well left one child, a daughter, Rebecca Harrison, who became, No- 

 vember 26, I Sod, the wife of George Willing, of Philadelphia. 



Dr. Blackwell's dwelling-house in Philadelphia was on the south side 

 of Pine street below Third, and within a hundred yards of the church 

 in which he most frequently ministered. At the distance of more than 

 a century from the time of its erection it still stands, shorn, indeed, of 

 its spacious and well-kept grounds, but, as respects the house itself, ab- 

 solutely unimpaired, we may say, in solidity or even in appearance ; a 

 conclusive evidence of the superiority of its materials and modes of 

 structure. The house, its occupant, the surrounding houses, and the 

 occupants of these, made in their day so considerable a feature of the 

 city that the local historian of Philadelphia, Mr. Thompson Westcott, 

 in a chapter devoted to "Notable Mansions in the City built between 

 1750 and 1776," gives us quite an extended mention of them. He 

 says : * ^ 



* History of Philadelphia, chapter ccxix. 



