Through Colonial DoorwaysWharton, Anne Hollingsworth
History
Through Colonial Doorways
Wharton, Anne Hollingsworth
United States -- Social life and customs -- 1775-1783; United States -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
Walter Franklin’s house on Cherry Street, and that of his brother
Samuel, which was around the corner on Pearl Street, were both near
the shipping quarter of the town, in which respect they resembled
fashionable Philadelphia residences of the same period. A number of
interesting family traditions cluster about these fine old houses,
in which a bevy of gay girls was gathered together, who charmed the
British officers during their occupation of the city, just as their
Quaker sisters were doing in old Philadelphia. Some of the officers
were quartered on the Franklins, among them Lord Rawdon and Admiral
Lord Richard Howe, who respectively commanded the army and the fleet.
Sally Franklin, the writer of the letter from which we have quoted,
was then a young girl, and a very beautiful one. Her marriage with
Mr. Robinson took place while the British had possession of New York.
She was evidently a great favorite with the officers in command, who
begged to be permitted to attend her wedding in Quaker meeting. This
request was refused, on the plea that the wedding was to be a very
quiet one. British officers, as Miss Rebecca Franks has informed us,
were not accustomed to take no for an answer, unless accompanied with
shot and shell. Accordingly, on the morning of the marriage, when the
beautiful bride, in her white silk dress and white bonnet, stood in
the quaint old meeting, listening to the words of her lover, “I take
this Friend, Sarah Franklin, to be my wedded wife,” a sudden sound of
footsteps and clattering of swords against the benches was heard, and,
lo! Lord Rawdon, Lord Howe, and a train of young officers, resplendent
in gay uniforms and gold lace, stood within the solemn enclosure of the
meeting. They seated themselves, with malice aforethought, on a long
bench opposite the bride, whose turn had now come to speak. Trembling,
and carefully avoiding the eyes of the strangers, who had vowed that
they would make her smile in the midst of the ceremony, she performed
her part, declaring her intention to take Friend William to be her
wedded husband. When the marriage certificate was signed, the names of
Lord Howe, Lord Rawdon, and the other officers were appended, beautiful
Sarah Robinson showing her forgiving spirit still further by allowing
those, among the intruders, who were well known to her to return to the
house and partake of the wedding-feast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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