Temp Caleb Hewes

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Biography 2.1 Caleb Hewes in Philadelphia 2.2 Marriage to Abigail Ellis 2.3 Caleb Hewes Disowned by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting 2.4 Philadelphia Hat Maker and Merchant 2.5 Caleb Hewes Marries Deborah Pyewell Potts 2.6 The Isaac Potts House 2.7 George Washington at Valley Forge 2.8 Final Years 3 Sources 4 Appendix

Introduction

It is generally thought that Caleb Hewes was born about 1735. He was the youngest son of William and Mary Withers Hewes a prominent Quaker family in Marcus Hook, Chester County, Pennsylvania. In 1755 he relocated to Philadelphia where by 1757 he seems to have been in partnership with Caleb Jones in a general merchandise shop. In 1771 he opened a new shop under the name of "White Hat and Beaver". He married Abigail Ellis in 1757. She died the following year.

In 1762 Caleb Hewes was investigated for fathering a child outside of marriage. The Philadelphia Monthly Meeting disowned him. In 1766 he married Deborah Pyewell Potts a widow. They had two children one of whom survived childhood.

Biography

We have no record of Caleb's date of birth. But in the earliest sources it appears as though the names of the children of William Hewes III and Mary Withers Hewes, are ordered by age indicating that Caleb is probably the youngest of the nine children born somewhere between 1730-1735.

The family were members of the Religious Society of Friends better known as the Quakers. In general Quakers kept good records of their members but the Concord Monthly Meeting which they belonged to was apparently too small to create the family listings or registries that other meetings were recording in their books.

The earliest mentions of Caleb Hewes are in three documents:

1) the the estate papers produced when his father William Hewes died intestate in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1746;^[1]
2) the will that his mother Mary Withers Hewes wrote in 1750 that names all her nine children;^[2]
3) the Discharge paper produced by his brother William Hewes filed in 1761 in which Caleb is described as a felt maker.^[3];

Caleb Hewes in Philadelphia

Four documents provide credible evidence that the Caleb Hewes in Philadelphia mentioned in various records as a hatter is the same Caleb Hewes that belongs to the Markus Hook family in Chester County. We have a tight sequence of events connecting the Markus Hook Chester County Hewes family and Caleb Hewes the Philadelphia hat maker:

1) The certificate dated May 5, 1755 issued by the Chester County Concord Monthly Meeting to Caleb Hewes to relocate to Philadelphia;^[4][5]

2) The 1756 Philadelphia tax list showing Caleb Hewes is a Philadelphia hat maker.^[6]

3) William Hewes, deceased, was mentioned as the father of the Caleb Hewes from Philadelphia that married Abigail Ellis in 1757 at Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Camden County, New Jersey.^[7]

4) In 1769 just a couple of months before Caleb Hewes married Deborah Potts her father died. Joseph Ogden and Caleb Cash performed the inventory on his estate. Odgen was a Philadelphia Merchant married to Jemima Hewes from Chester County. She was a first cousin to Caleb Hewes. ^[8][9]

5) In 1769 Caleb Hewes took on his nephew Robert Grubb (son of Caleb's sister Lydia and William Grubb) as an apprentice to learn hat making.^[10]

Marriage to Abigail Ellis

On 10 October 1757 Caleb Hewes and Abigail Ellis appeared before the Men's and Women's Monthly Meetings at Haddonfield, Camden County, New Jersey to declare their intentions of marriage to each other. The "young man" was informed that he would be expected to present a certificate from his monthly meeting in Philadelphia to the next meeting at Haddonfield. Abigail's father was present and expressed his consent to the marriage. ^[11]

On 14 November Caleb Hewes and Abigail again appeared before the Men's and Women's Monthly Meeting and declared for the second time their intentions of marriage. The "young man" produced a certificate from the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting which met the satisfaction of the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting. The meeting gave them liberty to accomplish the marriage which probably occurred within the next day or two.^[12]

On July 22, 1758, Abigail Ellis Hewes died.^[13]

Caleb Hewes Disowned by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting

At a the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting on August 12, 1762 an overseer "acquainted the meeting that Caleb Hewes is charged with being the father of an illegitimate child." A committee was appointed to talk to him about it and report to the next meeting."^[14].

The record of the next meeting on August 27, reads as follow:

"the friends appointed to treat with Caleb Hewes report that two opportunities of conferring with him have been had on the matter he [?] charged with and that it does not appear to be in his power to make his innocence manifest and from the relation? now given of the pains taken by the overseers in diverse conferences had with him in the course of which tho' he professed a willingness to endeavour to clear his character yet upon his attempting to do it, it was found what was done had rather tended to increase the proofs of his being guilty which was further confirmed by the declaration of the woman before them he being present. Wherefore as he does not appear to be in a disposition to do that justice to the woman which the nature of the case requires, Owen Jones & John Greynall are appointed to prepare a testimony against him to be brought to the next meeting."^[15]

At the next meeting on September 24, 1762 the testimony, i.e., the formal document was read before the meeting and adopted. This would have been a solemn proceeding. There was nothing resembling a trial with arguments from prosecutors and a representative of the defendant. Caleb Hewes would have been allowed to attend these meetings and would have been allowed to speak. His supporters would have been permitted to speak. But in general the practice was for disputes of this sort to be handled by a committee which would report their findings to the meeting as a whole.

After the testimony was read there would have followed several minutes of deliberative silence. During this silence any member of the meeting may have stood uttering a few statements to express hopes, fears or beliefs perhaps intended to support one side or the other. After a silent pause someone else may have stood and to contribute a bit of information or express some feeling about the matter.

At the end of silent deliberation, the clerk, without any vote of the meeting would declare the sense of the meeting -- the consensus. And that consensus was that Hewes was guilty and would be dismissed or disowned by the Quakers. One of most prominent members of the meeting, Israel Pemberton^[16] was appointed to communicate the testimony to Hewes and acquaint him with his right of appeal.

See Appendix 1 for the text.

Philadelphia Hat Maker and Merchant

Caleb Hewes owned a house on the north side of High Street opposite Jersey Market in Philadelphia. In 1762 he purchased fire insurance. The insurance company inspected the house and according to its records it was a good-sized three story house with fairly elegant first floor:

20' front, 38' back, 3 stories high, 9" party walls [the common wall shared with the adjoining building], railed above plaster partitions, parlor and 1 chamber painted, piazza and stairway 7 1/2' x 10 1/2', 3 stories plastered newelled staircase, kitchen 18' x 12 1/2' 2 stories high, new shingling and painted £500 on the whole at 20 shillings.^[17]

On page 3 of The Pennsylvania Gazette of April 18, 1771 Hewes announced he was manufacturing wool hats and was expanding his business beyond anything that had been seen in the city previously.

CALEB HEWES, Hatmaker, In Market street between Second and Front street, five doors below Hall and Seller's printing-office, at the sign of the White Hat and Beaver, HAVING erected a manufactory for wool hats, proposes carrying on that branch of the business, in a more extensive manner than has yet been effected in this city. Those who are pleased to encourage this undertaking, may depend on being supplied with wool hats of different kinds, manufactured in the best and neatest manner, and at the lowest prices. Allowances will be made to shopkeepers, and others, that take a quantity. Beaver and castor hats are also made & sold by him as usual.^[18]

Caleb Hewes Marries Deborah Pyewell Potts

On September 14, 1766 Caleb Hewes was baptized at Christ Church Philadelphia and on October 16, 1766 Caleb Hewes and Deborah Pyewell were married.^[19] Tax records show that they made their home at the High Street house, that they had a horse, a cow, a servant and paid £32.10.0 in tax.^[20]

In February of 1770 Caleb and Deborah Hewes purchased a house on Lombard Street for £695.^[21] In 1772 they sold their High Street House for £1700.^[22] They lived at the Lombard Street address until they moved to Valley Forge in 1777.

The Isaac Potts House

Deborah Pyewell's first husband was Thomas Potts Jr.^[23] The Potts family was involved in iron making and when Thomas Potts married Deborah Pyewell he was the iron master at Colebrook Dale. John Potts, Deborah's brother-in-law, purchased a controlling share of the Valley Forge iron works in 1759. Upon his death his son Joseph Potts, Deborah's nephew, acquired the iron works. In 1773 he sold the the sawmill, merchant mill, and the mill house, all at Valley Forge, to his younger brother Isaac Potts. He sold the iron forge to William Dewees who had married Deborah's daughter in 1762. Isaac Potts became a Quaker and married Martha Boulton in 1770. In 1773, Potts moved to Pottstown and began running a tannery there. Isaac Potts still owned the mill house at Valley Forge and probably rented it out. It was up for rent again in February 1776.

George Washington at Valley Forge

In September of 1777 British troops defeated American troops at Brandywine Creek and occupied Philadelphia. Many patriots abandoned the city and this appears to be what the Caleb and Deborah Hewes family did. They rented the mill house at Valley Forge and moved in apparently sometime that summer of 1777.

General Washington and the army spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. In need of a headquarters and a place to live, Washington and his staff rented the Valley Forge house from Caleb and Deborah Hewes. Martha Washington spent the winter there as well arriving in early February and staying until June. Comfortable enough for the Hewes family it was crowded for Washington and his staff until a log dining hall was built near house.

Hewes's furniture remained in the house during this time. Exactly where Caleb, Deborah and three of their children (two by Deborah's first married and Mary Hewes their daughter) went to live is unclear. A Potts family historian writing in 1873 says that they stayed nearby. Rebecca (Potts) Hewes who was Deborah Hewes's oldest daughter. Rebecca's daughter-in-law wrote that

I Remember perfectly hearing her speak of sitting with Mrs. Washington, who taught her to sew, and, when she left Valley Forge, gave her a variety of little articles, among others a silver netting-needle and thimble, pincushion and needle-book, which my daughters now have in their possession.^[24]

Final Years

Caleb Hewes may have served in the militia during this period. The name 'Caleb Hughs' and Caleb Hughes' appear in the militia roles. He may be the Caleb Hughes listed in the Seventh Battalion of Philadelphia that was composed of men living near Caleb in Philadelphia. But he might be the Caleb Hughes that was listed in Douglass Township. From 1779 until 1782 their Lombard Street house was rented out. When they sold the house in 1782 for £1,200 the deed indicates they lived in Pottstown. Caleb appeared in the Douglas Township or New Hanover Township tax roles, both close to Pottstown, until 1795. The date or place of death of both Caleb Hewes and Deborah Hewes are unknown.

Sources

1. ↑ Pennsylvania. Orphans' Court (Chester County); Probate Place: Chester, Pennsylvania ancestry.com;
2. ↑ Estate Papers, 1713-1810, Chester County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; ancestry.com;
3. ↑ Chester County Pennsylvania Deed Book L vol. 11 1758-1760, pp. 550-551, image 578 familysearch.org
4. ↑ Bulletin of Historical Society of Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) Vol. 36 p. 8ff, reprinted at familysearch.org.
5. ↑ Hinshaw Index to Selected Quaker Records 1680-1940 Concord Monthly Meeting (A-P) image 2893 ancestry.com.
6. ↑ Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Hannah Beimer Roach, "Taxables in the City of Philadelphia, 1756," Vol. 22, No.l, p. 17 referenced by Dan Graham "George Washington's Valley Forge Landlady, Deborah (Pyewell) Potts Hewes" in Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, vol xxxvi no. 1, p. 9.
7. ↑ Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Camden Co., N.J. Minutes 1731–1935, p. 372 image 373.
8. ↑ Katherine B. Menz, Washington's Headquarters: Valley Forge National Historical Park (National Park Service: 1989), p. 36.
9. ↑ Ogden had trained both Joseph Hewes (singer of the Declaration of Independence) and his brother Josiah in the merchant business. Jemima’s brother Moses ran the upholstery business in Ogden’s shops in Philadelphia.
10. ↑ Concord MM Minutes 1757-1776, p. 270. ancestry.com
11. ↑ Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes 1731-1935, p. 372 ancestry.com.
12. ↑ Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes 1731-1935, p. 373 ancestry.com.
13. ↑ William Wade. Marshall, Thomas Worth, comp. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. 2 (Ann Arbor: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1938), p. 379 ancestry.com.
14. ↑ Philadelphia Monthly Meeting Minutes 1752-1762, p. 55. ancestry.com
15. ↑ Philadelphia Monthly Meeting Minutes 1752-1762, pp. 62-63. ancestry.com
16. ↑ Theodore Thayer, Israel Pemberton: King of the Quakers (Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1943).
17. ↑ Contribution ship Insurance Survey, April 21, 1762 Loose Survey Number 712-713, Independence National Historical Park Microfilm Collection, Philadelphia quoted in Dan Graham "George Washington's Valley Forge Landlady, Deborah (Pyewell) Potts Hewes" in Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, vol xxxvi no. 1, p. 10
18. ↑ The Pennsylvania Gazette, Thursday, April 18, 1771, p. 3 newspapers.com
19. ↑ Christ Church Historical Collections Online.
20. ↑ Dan Graham "George Washington's Valley Forge Landlady, Deborah (Pyewell) Potts Hewes" in Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, vol xxxvi no. 1, p. 10. See Pennsylvania Archives, Series 3, Volume 14, p. 186. familysearch.org
21. ↑ Philadelphia Deed Book E-F, Vol. 2, pp. 391-393. Referenced in Dan Graham "George Washington's Valley Forge Landlady", p. 11.
22. ↑ Philadelphia Deed Book I, Vol. 16, pp. 37-39. Referenced in Dan Graham "George Washington's Valley Forge Landlady", p. 11.
23. ↑ The story that follows is from Dan Graham "George Washington's Valley Forge Landlady", pp. 14-17.
24. ↑ Mrs. Thomas Potts James, The Memorial of Thomas Potts Junior (Privately Printed, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1874), p. 242. archive.org.

Appendix