III. EARLY FIRE UNDERWRITING IN PHILADELPHIA. THUS much for the growth of marine insurance in Philadelphia. It. appears to us of this day remarkable that our ancestors had no means for indemnifying themselves against losses'by fire on land; no individual capitalist stood ready to underwrite indemnity to the house-owner for the possible destruction of his property by fire. Such losses, however, were not unknown to our earlier citizens, for the necessity for some mode of extinguishing fires led to the establishment of a fire company, the Union, on 7 December, 1736,-follow-ed by the Fellowship, 1 January, 1738, the Hand-in-Hand, 1 March, 1742, the Heart-in- Hand, 22 February, 1743, the Friendship, 30 July, 1747, and the Hibernia, 22 February, 1752, with an aggregate membership of two hundred and twenty-five members, em- ploying seven engines, one thousand and fifty-five buckets, and thirty-six ladders. This force witnesses to the dano-ers from fire the citizens felt themselves surrounded with, and yet they remained without any source of indemnity from loss whatever, until 13 April, 1752, when certain Contri- butors, as they were called, then organized under a Deed of Settlement The Philadelphia Contributionship for the In- surance of Houses from Loss ~by Fire, and it was not until INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 29 1 June following, that any member of this mutual associa- tion sought its first policy, and he was the Hon. John Smith, the author of the "Deed of Settlement," and the first treasurer of the company. This organization was the result of an invitation to ''All perfons inclined to fubfcribe to the articles of infurance of houfes from fire, in or near this city, are desired to appear at the Court-house, where attendance will be given, to take in their fubfcriptions every feventh day of the week, in the afternoon, until the \yh of April next, being the day appointed by the faid articles for electing twelve directors and a treafurer," which was first inserted in the Pennsylvania Gazette, on 18 February, 1752, and continued therein until the date of meeting, but the paper gives no intelligence of the action then had. The office of the company, we have already seen, was opened at the store of Mr. Joseph Saunders, its first "Clerk." Mr. Smith was a native of Burlington, ]STew Jersey, and a vouno-er brother of Samuel Smith the Historian of JNew ./ ?"' Jersey; he was at this period a prominent merchant in Philadelphia, and had established the first line of regular packets trading to Liverpool from this city, was a member of the General Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, and prominent in the affairs of the Society of Friends, and one of the originators of the Pennsylvania Hospital; he was the promoter of this invaluable scheme, and to him must be conceded the honor of its authorship. Though but thirty vcars of age at this time, his practical views at once enlisted Benjamin Frankllirs co-operation, and this with his own personal influence in the community, which was enhanced by his being the son-in-law of James Logan, 80 A HISTORY OF THE Chief Justice and afterwards President of the Council of Pennsylvania, and whose death had occurred but a few months before, secured the establishment of the first in- surance organization in the American Colonies. He was an active member of the Hand-in-Hand fire com- pany, then a young organization, which he joined shortly upon his coming to Philadelphia in 1743, and which in time enrolled in its membership some of the leading citizens, and in its later history, continued the same characteristics of membership. In the year 1771 the entire corporation of the city, according to Mr. Thompson Westcott, appears to have been embraced in its membership, and statesmen, lawyers, physicians, divines and merchants were among its "honor- ablemen"; four signers of the Declaration of Independence, Clymer, Hopkinson, "Rush and Wilson, Chief Justice Tilgh- man. Bishop White, Provost Smith, long maintained their membership. In later years it ceased active duties at fires, fulfilling only its social claims in the monthly dinners, and leaving the use of its engine to other organizations, and finally ceased to exist in 1817; of its last roll of members, the Hon. Horace Binney was one. Mr. Smith in his MS. Journal, before referred to, makes frequent allusions to attendance on its meetings; and his connection with it may have secured his attention to some scheme of insuring owners of buildings from loss by fire. On 26 August, 1748, his Journal records: "in the evening rode to Stenton; took with me a plan of the damage done by the fire in London, and gave to the old gentleman; and the magazines for March and April, which I left 'with Hannah." This refer- ence is to the fire on 25 March preceding, which consumed INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 31 two hundred houses in Cornhill, the severest conflagration in London since the great fire of 1666 (Walford's Cyclo- pcedia). The Journal unhappily ends before the establish- ment of the Contributionship, but from the entry now qnoted, we can judge that the thought of such a company, and perhaps its plan of organization, were the result of mature consideration before he presented the subject to the citizens of Philadelphia. While its popular title Hand-in- IIand "is not contained in any part of the Deed of Settle- ment, nor in the policy, nor in any of its minute-books or papers" (Mr. Binney's Centennial Address, page 29), we cannot but connect its use from the outset with the title of Mr. Smith's fire company, many of the members of this, being the contributors in that. A later by-law of the Contributionship forbade the insur- ance on buildings surrounded by trees, which was expressly permitted by its Deed of Settlement; this led to the forma- tion on 5 -July, 1784 of the Mutual Assurance Company/or Insuring Houses from Loss 5y Fire in and near Philadel- phia, to whom our citizens by the payment of an additional Deposit could have both their Insurances and their Trees. The interest and feeling created by this restriction in the Contributionship Articles can best be seen in the public announcement made by the objectors, which we find in their advertisement in the Gasette of 25 Aug-ust, 1784: 0 - Philadelphia, August 10, 1784. A NEW SOCIETY For infuring HOUSES from Lofs by- Fire. A GREAT number of the citizens of Philadelphia, who are proprietors of houfes in the city and its fuburbs, many of whom now are or have been Members of the Philadelphia Contributionship for infuring Houfes 32 A HISTORY OF THE from Lofe by Fire, have found it convenient and agreeable to them to have trees planted in the ftreets before their houfes, which the said Contribution- ship have thought proper to prohibit by one of their bye-laws, although the same is expressly permitted by a law of the State, and notwithftanding application has been made by above forty of their Members to have the faid bye-law repealed, who fignified their willingnefs that an addition mould be made to the premium of their insurance for the fuppofed rifque attending trees in cafes of fire, as is now done with refpect to bake-houfes, coopers, apothecaries and oil men's mops, ftores containing pitch, tar, brimstone, &c., which application has been rejected. Wherefore a number of perfons, desirous of having their houfes infured from lots by fire, and feeing themfelves precluded from the advantages of the prefent inftitution, have judged it necessary to form another fociety for the purpofe aforefaid, and have entered into an agreement, that as toon as to many perfons as have property in houfes to the value of one Hundred Thoufand Pounds collectively, shall have figned the faid agreement, a meeting of the fubscribers mould be called, to form a plan for the manage- ment of the intended fociety. That having no intention to prejudice the inftitution already eftablifhed, and being only actuated by a defire to fecure their own property, they further agreed, that if the bye-law above referred to shall be repealed within ten months from the date of their agreement, which was the cth of July, 1784, that then their faid agreement mould be void, or otherwife to be carried into execution. Subfcriptions to near the amount above prescribed having already been made, at a meeting of the fubscribers it was unanimously agreed to lay their proceedings before the public, and to inform fuch as are difpofed to join them, that fubfcription papers are lodged with Mr. WILLIAM CRAIG, in Second-ftreet, and Mr. JOHN PHILIPS, at the corner of Front and Pine-ftreets. A meeting of the fubfcribers will be held in September next, whereof each one will be informed by a particular notice. In the Gazette of 27 October, 1784, we find the following: The Office of the Mutual Aflurance Company, for infuring Houfes from lots by Fire, TS kept by the subfcriber, at his houfe in Quarry-ftreet, between Moravian-alley and Third-ftreet, where the members of the said Com- pany and all others defirous of having their property infured mav apply. APPLICATIONS will also be received at the store of Mr. MATTHEW CLARKSON, in Front-ftreet, between Market and Arch-ftreets. John Jennings, Clerk. [H 0 V S E.]
By the Presdent and Directors of the Infurance Company of North America INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 33 Article XXXII of their Deed of Settlement is as follows:
"That there be an Addition to the Deposite Money upon the Insurance of all Houses having Trees planted before them, and also for Trees planted in Yards near the Houses; which Addition shall be determined by the Trustees, and be in proportion to the Risque such Trees may occasion. All Trees planted near Houses shall be Trimmed every Fall, in such Manner as not to be higher than the Eaves of the Houses. And Trees planted after Insurance made must be reported to the Office, and the additional Deposite paid within twelve Months after they are planted, or the Deposite Money will be forfeited and the Insurance become Void." One practical result arises from this favor, interesting to the arboriculturist, by often establishing the date of the shade trees planted by our old citizens; one instance we find at Bishop White's dwelling, built by him in 1786, :N"o. 89 (now 309) Walnut street, for not until 14 November, 1795, did he plant his trees, as we find by endorsement on his Policy JSTo. 191, he made "his Deposite for Planting two Trees in front of the within described house and paid to the Treasurer one pound five shillings," which was at the rate of one-quarter of one per cent. for the privilege of shade trees. This Company became and still is popularly known as the Green Tree, from the house badge it adopted, as the Contributionship, from its early badge of four-clasped hands is as well known by the name of the Hand-in- IIand. The latter's office, at the time of the organization of the Insurance Company of ~North America, was kept in the house of its "Clerk," Mr. Caleb Carmalt (afterwards Treasurer from 1807 to 1817), located at Xo. 99 (now 239) 34 A HISTORY OF THE Market street; and the former at JN"o. 92 (now 230) Vine street, the residence of its Clerk, Mr. John Jennings; both the buildings thus occupied have now disappeared, and modern structures stand in their places.