APPENDIX. 487 



In the year 1761 the Proprietaries, Thomas and Richard Penn, granted the whole 

 front on Pine street, from Second to Third, being four hundred and sixty feet in width 

 by one hundred and two feet in depth, to John Stamper, in consideration of ^i 100 

 sterling and a yearly quit-rent of five shillings. Stamper was an Englishman who had 

 been a successful merchant. He was a member of the Common Council and an alder- 

 man, and in 1759 was mayor of the city. After the purchase from the Penns he 

 bought forty feet of ground south of the original grant, which made his lot one hun- 

 dred and forty-two feet deep, to an alley, which was called, after him. Stamper's alley. 

 At this time Mr. Stamper lived in Second street, at the southwest corner of Stamper's 

 alley. Upon this large lot oh Pine street Mr. Stamper built, some time before the 

 Revolution, a fine three-story brick house, which was formerly No. 50, and which is 

 now known as No. 224. It will be readily distinguished by its red and blue glazed 

 brick, its ancient columnar doorway, and its low steps. The cornice and dormer win- 

 dows are fine specimens of old-fashioned woodwork. The interior of the house was 

 finished, according to the taste of the ante-Revolutionary times, with elaborate panel- 

 ing, wainscoting, surbases, heavy doors, etc., which still remain. The stable and 

 coach-house in Stamper's alley are also still standing. Stamper had two daughters. 

 One of these — Mary Stamper — married William Bingham the elder, and was the 

 mother of the Hon. William Bingham, afterwards Senator of the United States, whose 

 property finally went, through the marriage of one of his daughters, to the English 

 family of the Barings. Hannah, the other daughter, married, in second marriage, the 

 Rev. Robert Blackwell, D. D., and, upon the division of her grandfather's (Stamper's) 

 estate, this fine house, running to within about thirty feet of Third street, passed into 

 the possession of Dr. Blackwell, who was one of the ministers of Christ Church and 

 St. Peter's. Dr. Blackwell lived in this until his death, which occurred in the year 

 1831 — nearly half a century. It is yet one of the best specimens of stately city archi- 

 tecture which now remains in Philadelphia. 



On the west end of this lot Dr. Blackwell, before the marriage of his only daughter, 

 Rebecca Harrison Blackwell, with George Willing, built on the I'ine street front of 

 the lot the fine house formerly No. 64, now No. 238, in which Mr. Willing long lived, 

 and which is still standing. It is now inliahited by the Hon. J. R. Burden. It was 

 one of the best houses of the modern style, with chimneys against the sides, and with 

 folding-doors in the middle of the parlors. The garden attached to Dr. Blackwell's 

 house was filled with flowers, shrubbery and fruit trees, and was common to the 

 Blackwell and the Willing families. 



At the southeast corner of Pine and Third streets Mr. Stamper built, before the 

 Revolution, a fine house for his son, Joseph Stamper, on the occasion of his marriage 

 with Miss Sarah Maddox, the granddaughter of Joshua Maddox, Esq., one of the 

 Justices of the Province. Mrs. Stamper, who survived her husband for many years, 

 remained in this old house until her death, which occurred about the year 1826. The 

 property was then bought by Dr. Philip Syng Physic, who pulled down the old house 

 and erected on the lot a row of houses facing upon Third street, which are still stand- 

 ing. They extended from Pine street to Stamper's alley. 



At the southwest corner of Pine and Second streets another house, which is still 

 standing, was built about the year 1773, and was long owned by Dr. Blackwell. In 

 this house, at the time of the Revolution, there dwelt a Mr. Franklin, and here 

 boarded, during this period, Elias Boudinot, LL. D., at one time President of the 

 Continental Congress, Commissary General of prisoners during the Revolutionary war, 

 subsequently member of the Congress of the United Slates, and finally Director of the 



