Mr. Elder was that unusual combination;
preacher, scholar, politician and practical
farmer. Perhaps much of his hold on his flock,
who were almost without exception farmers, was
the good returns he got from his land. He had
nearly six hundred acres, reaching from the land
now being divided into city lots at Twenty-third
street to beyond the stone house now occupied
by Dr. Kauffman.
The Parson and his family lived in the old
stone house now occupied by Mr. John Elder
beyond Twenty-fourth street. It has been mod-
ernized, a frame wing was added by his son
Joshua and the stone was plastered by Joshua
Elder, the father of the present owner, but the
walls are just as built nearly two centuries ago
and the barn is unchanged.
This homestead has always been held by the
Elder family but not by the lineal descendants
of the old parson. At his death his sons by
the first wife, Mary Baker, acquired most of
the property. Dying without heirs, they cut off
73
the children of their stepbrothers and left the
properties, then divided into two tracts, to the
children of cousins, two Joshuas and two
Roberts, of a collateral branch.
A strictly methodical farmer was Mr. Elder.
To his habit of keeping exhaustive notes on do-
mestic subjects scattered through his marriage
records we owe many interesting side lights on
his home life. Thus we note :
Account of Grain Reaped & Put in,
1772.
of Rey. In ye stack in ye barn —
of Wheat, in ye big stack, 318
" in ye small do., 212
" in ye seed do., 54
" in ye barn. 45
Acc't of wheat in ye yr 1774
In the Big Field, viz 519 shocks
In ye small do, viz 188 shocks
Rey, viz 232 shocks.
Again we read :
Price of Wheat Aug. 1786, 6 shillings a
bushel.
1785. Had 476 bus. of Wheat and 175
of Rey. Oats sold at 1 shilling a bus. Bill
Boyd thrashed it all.
1774. Oct. 22. I sold to one Newman
a breeding sow and 4 shoats 1.6.0 (about
$6.00) and rec'd in part 0.5.0.
1783. Jan. 25. Then opened a barrel of
Cydar.
We also hear the farmer parson telling Wil-
liam Maclay that John Harris, the pioneer, was
74
the first to introduce the plough on the Susque-
hanna.
Perhaps some of his bitterness against the
"New Lights" may be due to his farmer thrift.
We learn from the diary of a grand daughter of
the senior John Harris, that when Whitefield
was preaching repeatedly near Harris' Ferry in
1740, the people who flocked to hear him were so
carried away by his eloquence that many, despite
remonstrances, neglected the cultivation of their
farms and left their fields unsown. Whole fami-
lies found themselves in such want in conse-
quence of this excitement that Mr. Harris sent
grain to the nearest mill and directed it to be
divided among such of his poor neighbors as
applied.
Page 26
Presented as published in 1913. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Mr. Elder was that unusual combination; preacher, scholar, politician and practical farmer. Perhaps much of his hold on his flock, who were almost without exception farmers, was the good returns he got from his land. He had nearly six hundred acres, reaching from the land now being divided into city lots at Twenty-third street to beyond the stone house now occupied by Dr. Kauffman.
The Parson and his family lived in the old stone house now occupied by Mr. John Elder beyond Twenty-fourth street. It has been modernized, a frame wing was added by his son Joshua and the stone was plastered by Joshua Elder, the father of the present owner, but the walls are just as built nearly two centuries ago and the barn is unchanged.
This homestead has always been held by the Elder family but not by the lineal descendants of the old parson. At his death his sons by the first wife, Mary Baker, acquired most of the property. Dying without heirs, they cut off
the children of their stepbrothers and left the properties, then divided into two tracts, to the children of cousins, two Joshuas and two Roberts, of a collateral branch.
A strictly methodical farmer was Mr. Elder. To his habit of keeping exhaustive notes on domestic subjects scattered through his marriage records we owe many interesting side lights on his home life. Thus we note :
Account of Grain Reaped & Put in,
of Rye. In ye stack in ye barn — of Wheat, in ye big stack, 318 " in ye small do., 212 " in ye seed do., 54 " in ye barn. 45
Acc't of wheat in ye yr 1774 In the Big Field, viz 519 shocks In ye small do, viz 188 shocks Rye, viz 232 shocks. Again we read :
Price of Wheat Aug. 1786, 6 shillings a bushel.
1785. Had 476 bus. of Wheat and 175 of Rye. Oats sold at 1 shilling a bus. Bill Boyd thrashed it all.
1774. Oct. 22. I sold to one Newman a breeding sow and 4 shoats 1.6.0 (about $6.00) and rec'd in part 0.5.0.
1783. Jan. 25. Then opened a barrel of Cider. We also hear the farmer parson telling William Maclay that John Harris, the pioneer, was
the first to introduce the plough on the Susquehanna.
Perhaps some of his bitterness against the "New Lights" may be due to his farmer thrift. We learn from the diary of a grand daughter of the senior John Harris, that when Whitefield was preaching repeatedly near Harris' Ferry in 1740, the people who flocked to hear him were so carried away by his eloquence that many, despite remonstrances, neglected the cultivation of their farms and left their fields unsown. Whole families found themselves in such want in consequence of this excitement that Mr. Harris sent grain to the nearest mill and directed it to be divided among such of his poor neighbors as applied.