Source:Fleming-gazzam/content
Last week's story was of Oakland, but all the Oakland history could not be told in one article. Then there is some additional Soho history—Gazzam family history accidentally brought to light.
Gazzams Hill may be properly accounted in Soho, but it overlooks Oakland and the Bellefield section and all the South Side and much of Pittsburgh. Incidental to the Gazzam story is the Beeler [sic] story (ancestors of the Gazzams) and the true story of Patrick and Mary Murphy.
We have in addition to the hill commemorating the name Gazzam a stret [sic] also, together with Beeler [sic] street, both on Gazzams Hill.
Stephen Quinon in his historic researches, published in the Pittsburgh Times and News 25 years ago and running for several years, traced the story of the Murphys. He stated that Beelen's wife was the adopted daughter of the Murphys.
In this he is partly correct. The Gazzam family history as given in the biography of the late Joseph M. Gazzam states that she was Patrick Murphy's daughter, but not Mary's—commonly known as "Molly" Murphy.
It may be presumed that the Gazzam biography is correct, though it says nothing of Molly's saloon near Fort Pitt and of Molly's propensity to the use of cuss words and her fluency in that respect. We can admire the discreetness that omits these details.
Anyhow, Molly was only the foster-mother of Mrs. Elizabeth Beeler [sic], but she was good to her, loved her and made her rich. Molly was Patrick Murphy's second wife.
The Gazzams boast of a distinguished lineage. They trace it back with pardonable pride, for their first American ancestor suffered much for humanity's sake.
This was William Gazzam, an English journalist, who published a paper at Cambridge, England, during the latter part of the eighteenth century.
William Gazzam was a cotemporary [sic] of Pitt and Burke and other high-minded Englishmen who advocated the cause of the American colonies. The love of freedom so openly expressed by William Gazzam offended the government of that stiff-necked monarch, George III, that steps were taken to arrest Gazzam.
Warned in time, Gazzam made a hasty flight and came to the new United States—America folks called it over the sea.
Dr. John Rippon was a Baptist clergyman of considerable fame in England. When Gazzam was obliged to flee, Dr. Rippon gave him a letter to some distinguished American clergymen of the Baptist denomination in Philadelphia, New York and other cities, and also to any other of Dr. Rippon's American correspondents whom Gazzam might meet.
This letter reads:
This is to certify that William Gazzam, bearer of these lines, is an honorable member of the Congregational Church at Cambridge. He has been driven from his own country only for speaking in behalf of the rights of mankind perhaps incautiously. So hasty was his removal that his much loved Pastor had no opportunity to give him testimonials. He is united, with one of our Baptist families and with others of our friends whose names would gladly be united in recommending him and his attention to our foreign friends with the name of their obliged and affectionate
Brother and Servant,
JOHN RIPPON.
Dr. Rippon then was well known as the author of "Rippon's Hymns" and his testimonial carried weight.
William Gazzam left London early in 1793. He came to Philadelphia and engaged in business there. Old directories, as early as 1796, give the firm:
Gazzam and Taylor, N. Front street.
Later this firm name changed to Gazzam, Taylor and Jones, and still on North Front street. Mr. Taylor withdrew about 1801, and soon after the firm removed its business under the name of Gazzam and Jones, to Carlisle, Pa., where it conducted a general mercantile business for about a year, when the partnership was dissolved by reason of the appointment by President Monroe of William Gazzam to be collector and surveyor of the port of Pittsburgh.
Here he removed in 1802 and here he resided until his death in 1811.
William Gazzam was married twice. His Pittsburgh descendants traced their line to the second union which was with Ann Parker.
Dr. Edward D. Gazzam was the fourth son of this couple and was born in Pittsburgh in 1803. Edward Gazzam in his early youth began the study of the law with the celebrated Richard Biddle and was admitted to the bar here, but after two years' practice gave up this profession and took up the study of medicine. The law he found too laborous for his none too robust health.
In our early politics Dr. Gazzam was prominent for many years. He was reared a Democrat, but was opposed to the extension of slavery. With thousands, he left the Democratic party on that account.
In 1848, with Salmon P. Chase, Dr. Gazzam was one of the originators of the "Free Soil" party at the convention in Buffalo, N. Y. This was a forerunner of the Republican party.
Dr. Gazzam was the candidate of the "Free Soilers" for governor of Pennsylvania that year. William F. Johnston was the Whig candidate and Morris Longstreth the Democratic.
The vote was: Johnston, 168,522; Longstretth [sic], 168,225; Gazzam, 48; scattering, 24.
A close vote and no contest, and few Free Soilers, but we must admit Dr. Gazzam had the courage of his convictions.
But the doctor came to the front again. In 1855 he was the candidate of the Free Soilers, known as the Union party, for state senator from Allegheny county. His opponents were Judge Hopewell Hepburn, Democrat, and Paul A. Way, American.
Dr. Gazzam had over 1,000 majority and became the first Republican state senator from this county. He was spoken of as a Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1857, but declined to permit the use of his name. That year William F. Packer, Democrat, was elected by a large majority over David Wilmot, Republican.
When John B. Floyd, secretary of war under President Buchanan, attempted to send away the cannon and munitions from the Allegheny Arsenal to the South in December, 1860, there was intense excitement in Pittsburgh, and the attempt was frustrated. The Allegheny Arsenal was not dismantled and the artillery and munitions were saved for use of the Union.
Dr. Gazzam and Dr. George L. McCook were the first persons in Pittsburgh to take actual measures to prevent the transferring of the guns to New Orleans, via river. Dr. Gazzam was chairman of the Committee of Safety for the Community of Pittsburgh, and a great quantity of powder saved by this committee was tendered by Dr. Gazzam to the government in May, 1861, and accepted by the government by direction of the secretary of war, Simon Cameron.
In 1867 Dr. Gazzam removed to Philadelphia and died there February 19, 1878.
We come now to the romance of Dr. Gazzam's marriage, and the Austrian-Irish lineage of his children. Now this would be queer lineage—very odd, indeed.
When peace was declared between the warring colonies of Great Britain and the mother country in 1783, Emperor Joseph sent a resident minister to the young republic. This was Baron Antonie De Beelen de Berthoff, who was accompanied by his wife and their only son, Antonie Constantine Beelen, then a lad of 15.
The Baron did not return to his native land, on account of political troubles there. Those were strenuous days in Europe.
The Baron's mission lasted four years and at its expiration he settled in Chester county, later moving to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
Here we are told he passed the remainder of his days and that his remains and those of his wife repose in a sequestered cemetery on the banks of the Conewago.
Mr. Quinon regarded the Beelens as French. The Gazzam family history must be accepted as authentic, however.
We will drop the foreign spelling and call the son Anthony, by which name he was subsequently known in Pittsburgh, and it so occurs in the records of Allegheny county.
Patrick Murphy was no plebian—far from it. He was an Irish gentleman of learning and had been a tutor in the family of an Irish nobleman. He was devoted to the instruction of this nobleman's daughter, but there sprang up a mutual devotion. Friendship became warmer—closer—and Cupid entered; result, an elopement to America, marriage and bliss.
Patrick Murphy espoused the cause of the colonists and became an officer in the Continental army. His bliss was short. His wife died in childbirth, leaving an infant daughter who became an heiress to much of Soho in Pittsburgh. The child was named Elizabeth Antoinette.
Capt. Murphy had some difficulty in securing a suitable person to care for the child, but finally gave her to a young married woman in Carlisle, Pa. This was the woman subsequently known as Molly Murphy.
The woman became greatly attached to the infant and adopted her, moving to Pittsburgh with the child, and here her husband (name not given) died.
When Patrick Murphy found his daughter, Molly refused to surrender her.
There was only one way he could get possession of Elizabeth Antoinette, and that was by marrying the child's foster mother. So Patrick and Molly were married and "lived happily ever afterwards," at least until Patrick died a few years later.
There were no hero medals going in those years or Molly would have been granted one commemorating Patrick's heroic death, for he was drowned in the Monongahela River while trying to save a drowning child. The inference is that both were drowned.
We know from the chain of title to the Gazzam Hill and Soho properties that the Murphys took title to the land by grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1787, as told in the history of the Tustin family in November last in these columns.
Anthony Beelen, to call him by his American name, became acquainted with Elizabeth Antoinette Murphy. "Acquaintance ripened into love" is the way they used to state it.
They were married and had two children, both daughters. Mary became the wife of Dr. William A. Simpson of Pittsburgh. The other daughter, named for her mother, married Dr. Edward D. Gazzam and became the mother of Joseph M. Gazzam of the Allegheny county bar, and Maj. Audley W. Gazzam of the One Hundred and Third Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1861–1865.
Mrs. Simpson was the mother of the wife of Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia. Dr. Gazzam's wife died in Pittsburgh in 1871.
Joseph M. Gazzam was the doctor's second son. He was born in Pittsburgh, December 2, 1842, and died in Philadelphia a few years ago.
In Pittsburgh he was familiarly known as "Joe," and was active in the politics of the Republican party here for many years. He inherited his political bent from his father.
He was a delicate child and was not sent to school until he reached the age of 14. However, he was carefully instructed by his father and at 14 entered the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh, remaining three and a half years, when he was reluctantly obliged to quit his studies on account of his failing health and take an extended Western tour, from which he returned greatly benefited.
In 1861 he entered the law office of David Reed, uncle of Judge James H. Reed, and was admitted to the bar here in 1864. His first fame was as a criminal lawyer, and in this line he soon attained an extensive practice.
But he disliked this and avoided it, except as his regular clients became involved, which was rarely.
In 1872, the law firm of Gazzam and Cochran was formed, the junior partner being Alexander G. Cochran, who lived in Allegheny City. Their offices were in the law building then but recently erected by the late John F. Edmundson, at Diamond street and Cherry alley, now occupied as a hotel.
The firm of Gazzam and Cochran lasted until 1879, when Mr. Cochran removed to St. Louis, Mo., to become the attorney of Capt. James B. Eads, then constructing the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi.
In 1874 "Aleck" Cochran was swept into Congress by the Democratic tidal wave of that year, defeating Thomas M. Bayne, Republican, in a very light vote by a small majority. But "Tom" Bayne came back in 1876 and one term did "Aleck."
"Joe" Gazzam was a hot Republican, but politics cut no figure in the firm. "Joe" attended to all the legal business when "Aleck" was in Congress.
In the history of "Joe" Gazzam's legal career, it is worthy of mention that he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States on the motion of Benjamin F. Butler, of war fame, much hated by the Democratic party that he had left, and "affectionately" termed "Best Butler" by his many enemies.
"Joe" Gazzam's penchant for politics first had fruit in Pittsburgh in his election to Common Council in 1869 from the old First Ward, where he then resided.
His biographer, probably at his own dictation, says that "'Joe' attracted the attention of the citizens of the First Ward from his high-toned bearing and his desire to see political affairs conducted in an honest manner."
At the time the press of the city spoke in high terms of his candidacy and declared him to be liberal minded and progressive. We learn also that he contended while in Council, often and earnestly, for economical government and for many improvements, "both of a moral and sanitary character, in the public departments."
Those of us whose memories carry us back to those years must admit there was room for "said improvements."
Mr. Gazzam visited Europe in 1873 and came back "a better American than ever," so he said.
In 1876 "Joe" Gazzam was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania from the old Forty-third District, comprising the first 15 wards of Pittsburgh and the old Twenty-third Ward. He defeated John M. Irwin, well known in those years as a furniture dealer.
Senator Gazzam succeeded George H. Anderson, later postmaster of Pittsburgh under President Hayes, and secretary of the Chamber of Commerce for some years.
"Joe" Gazzam made a good senator. He was recognized as a clear-headed and forcible member. Through his influence many important laws were passed, not necessary to go into details here.
Mr. Gazzam removed to Philadelphia in 1879. He was popular in Pittsburgh—"a good fellow," a man of literary tastes and a close student. He attained prominence at once in the Quaker City, belonging to the Union League, Union Republican Club, Medical Jurisprudence Society, and was a life member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. He was a director in nine corporations, including two railroads.
Mr. Gazzam was married in 1878 to Miss Mary Reading, only child of John G. Reading, a prominent and successful business man of Philadelphia.
No data is at hand of Maj. Gazzam, but it can be had in the History of the One Hundred and Third Pennsylvania Volunteers published a few years ago.
The Gazzam family in Pittsburgh has left its name and history only.
Gazzam's Hill was one [sic] a beauty spot. Large trees grew on its sloping sides and summit, and the now deep furrowed sides were not in evidence. It was covered with a green sward.
There was a coal pit well towards the top, the pit mouth facing Ruch's Hill.
The improvement of Soho street in the 70's, under the legislation known as the Penn avenue act, was the first cut into the primitive beauty of Gazzam's Hill. It is not an inviting spot now, and has not been for many years.
In last week's story mention is made of a conflicting claim of title to the Semple estate in Oakland, subsequently known as the Craft patent. Letters of administration on the estate of Steele Semple were granted to William Wilkins, whose name we have commemorated in the Borough of Wilkinsburg and in Wilkins avenue, Pittsburgh, a name prominent in the history of Pittsburgh until 1865, when he died a very old man, after a long and useful life spent in this community.
Judge Wilkins was an intimate friend of Steele Semple and wished to save what he could of Semple's estate for his family. Semple, as we have seen, had wasted the property and at the time of his death was hopelessly insolvent. The property was sold at sheriff's sale in 1815, Judge Wilkins becoming the purchaser of the Juliet Semple tract, afterwards known as the Craft patent, and in a declaration of trust recorded as to other property declared that the purchase was made in trust, first to pay the debts of Steele Semple and after payment of these debts to pay the residue to the guardians of his children.
The efforts of Judge Wilkins were unavailing. Real estate in the Oakland section at that time was undesirable property.
Semple's creditors became impatient and in 1819 a suit was brought by James Ross against Steele Semple's administrators and the Semple tract was again sold by the sheriff, but not until March, 1833. James Rose was the purchaser and he conveyed the same to James S. Craft, to whom a patent was issued January 14, 1835.
To secure possession Craft brought an ejectment suit against John Redding, a tenant, who confessed judgment apparently and executed a quitclaim deed to Craft on payment of $1,000. But Craft's troubles had only begun. Years went on until 1846, when the heirs of Steele Semple brought suit against Judge Wilkins for an accounting as trustee for the creditors and heirs of Steele Semple. In his answer to this suit Judge Wilkins acknowledged that the purchase was made by him in trust, but also admitted that the sheriff's sale to Rose was valid.
The heirs of Steele Semple then secured deeds from Judge Wilkins as trustee, to the trustee of Sarah Payne, a one-half interest, and the three children of Catherine Williams, one-half interest.
Catherine Williams was the widow of John Williams and the daughter of Steele Semple by a previous marriage.
Sarah Payne in 1842 brought an action of ejectment against Louis Heidelberg, a tenant of Craft's, but judgment was rendered against her, which was affirmed on her appeal to the Supreme Court.
In 1847 the children of Catherine Williams brought a similar suit against Heidelberg, which was decided against them, appealed to Supreme Court again, where the judgment was again affirmed.
The controversy was now shifted to the United States courts. The heirs of Catherine Williams in 1848 conveyed their interest to Jedidiah H. Lathrop, a citizen of Virginia, but after several different suits had been brought the matter was finally determined for all time by a decree rendered by the Circuit Court of the United States of the Western District of Pennsylvania, which is one of the most complete and far-reaching injunctions ever obtained in the history of land litigation.
This decree enjoins the respondent, Lathrop, from prosecuting the suits then pending and from commencing or prosecuting any other action of ejectment against the complainant, his issue, alienees or heirs, for the tract of land in question, under any title or pretense of title; also ordering him to convey to Craft all his rights, title and interest in the land in dispute by a deed properly executed, and in default of his so doing the clerk of the court was appointed commissioner to execute such a deed of release, which was accordingly done, and the litigation of nearly half a century then ended.
John E. Potter, vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Society, has very kindly furnished the legal history of the Craft patent for insertion in this story.
The pictures today showing the old-time residences of Oakland in 1876 and prior to that year will certainly appeal to old residents of that section.
Next to the old Eichbaum or John Moorhead property on the hill stands the former residence of Louis W. Dalzell, prominent in the lubricating oil business here for many years. The Moorhead property was first the home of William Eichbaum, one time postmaster of Pittsburgh, city treasurer during the war, father of the late Joseph Eichbaum and grandfather of William Eichbaum Watson, who is yet a resident of the Oakland district.
The Schmertz home at the corner of Craig street was torn away to erect St. Paul's Cathedral. The old-time mansion across Craig street was the home of A. A. Carrier.
The Jacob Reese property was at Neville street, a style of dwelling similar to Schmertz's and Carrier's.
The Eichbaum home has for some years been known as the Kindergarten College, and is distinguished by the street signs on each side—distinguished or disfigured from one's point of view.
The opening of the Schenley Farms tract some 10 years ago sounded the knell of Casey's row on the terrace. The splendid edifice of the Athletic Association now stands on part of the site of the row. The terrace was graded away.
A view of the Schenley farm and the rear of the row is also shown today.
