A Few Women on the Streets of 1800 Philadelphia by William Russell Birch 1755 - 1834

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Pennsylvania Hospital, in Pine Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Bank of Pennsylvania, South Second Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) The Water Works in Centre Square, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Bank of the United States with a View of Third Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Third Street from Spruce Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

 William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Congress Hall and New Theater on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) State House with a View of Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Back of the State House, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) State-House Garden, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Arch Street and the Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Alms House in Spruce Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

 William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Preparation for WAR to defend Commerce. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) The City and Port of Philadelphia on the River Delaware. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Arch Street Ferry, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) New Lutheran Church on Fourth Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Old Lutheran Church in Fifth Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) South East Corner of Third and Market Streets, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) High Street, with the First Presbyterian Church. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) High Street Market, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) High Street Market form the Country Marketplace, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) High Street from the Country Marketplace, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) High Street from North Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) The House intended for the President of the United States. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) An Unfinished House in Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Second Street North from Market Street and Christ Church, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) New Market in South Second Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Bank of the United States on Third Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Library and Surgeons Hall from Fifth Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

William Russell Birch (English artist, 1755-1834) Goal in Walnut Street, Philadelphia. City of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania, North America, as it appeared in the Year 1800

1841 Rare African American portraits connected to Philadlphia's 1st Mayor

Franklin Street (Philadelphia artist) Charles Montier (1818–1905) 1841

Franklin Street (Philadelphia artist) Elizabeth Brown Montier (1820–c. 1858)


The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses an extremely rare pair of portraits of African American sitters whose heritage can be traced back to the city’s first mayor, Humphrey Morrey (b. c. 1650, England; d. 1716, Philadelphia), appointed to his office by William Penn in 1691. In 1742, Mayor Humphrey Morrey's son Richard (1675-1754) married one of the family’s servants, Cremona Satterthwaite (1710-1770) who was 35 years younger than he. The union resulted in five children, and in Cremona Morrey receiving 198 acres of land from Richard in 1746, near Guineatown in Cheltenham Township of Montgomery County just northwest of Philadelphia. One of their 5 children, Cremona, married a free black man, John Montier. Hiram Chales Montier descended from this union.

 The portraits were painted in 1841 and depict Hiram Charles Montier (1818–1905), who was a bootmaker on N.W. 7th Street at the time of the painting, and his wife Elizabeth Brown Montier (1820–ca. 1858) whom family records indicate had lived in the city’s Northern Liberties neighborhood.  Living in Philadelphia, the Montiers were members of one of the largest free African American communities in the North although Pennsylvania’s gradual emancipation law of 1780 permitted slavery well into the 19th century.  

The signature “Fr Street” on the reverse (now concealed by lining) of Elizabeth’s portrait corresponds to an artist named Franklin R. Street who was active in Philadelphia between 1839 and 1872. No other works by the artist are recorded and no contemporary exhibition records for him have been found, though he was listed in city directories and census records; he was likely a professional painter, producing commercial signs and fancy work as well as portraits. The paintings nevertheless adopt the conventions of high-style portraiture, including the elegant attire, grand architecture, and dramatic landscapes that characterize the works of Philadelphia masters such as Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Sully. At the time of these paintings, Franklin Street’s studio was located at 41 Chestnut Street.

Philadelphia Seed Dealer & Nurseryman - Robert Buist 1805-1880 who called his female customers his "Patronesses."

Robert Buist 1805-1880 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Buist was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, November 14, 1805. He was trained at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and sailed to America in August 1828.

When he arrived in America, he was employed by David Landreth, and then took employment with Henry Pratt who owned Lemon Hill which was probably one of the finest gardens in the U.S. at the time.

He formed a partnership with Thomas Hibbert in 1830 in a florist business in Philadelphia. They imported rare plants and flowers, especially the rose. He sold many of his plants to neighborhood ladies in Philadelphia, whom he called them his Patronesses.

After Hibbert’s death he began a seed business, along with the nursery and greenhouse business. The business in Philadelphia started out as Robert Buist's Seed Store, selling gardening supplies, potted plants, shrubs, small fruits, and rose bushes. By 1837, the growing business relocated to 12th Street below Lombard; and in1857, the company moved to a location on Market Street.  And in 1870, it expanded to 67th Street near Darby Road. The Buist farm, Bonaffon, was located in the section of Philadelphia through which Buist Avenue now runs.

Alfred M. Hoffy, lithographer. View of Robert Buist’s City Nursery & Greenhouses. Philadelphia Wagner & McGuigan, 1846.

Buist if often credited with introducing the Poinsettia into Europe, after he saw it at Bartram's Gardens in Philadelphia.  During Buist’s early training at the Edinburg Botanic Garden, he met James McNab, a scientist & artist who eventually became the garden’s director.  In the early 1830s, McNab traveled to America with retired nurseryman Robert Brown to study plants native to the United States. While in America, McNab visited his friend Buist in Philadelphia. When McNab met with Buist in 1834, he gave the Poinsettia plant to him to take back to Scotland. The garden’s director, Dr. Robert Graham introduced the plant into British gardens.

Buist was reknown for his roses & verbena.  He was the author of several books and many catalogues of his plant offerings, among them are The American Flower-Garden Directory (1832); The Rose Manual (1844, 6 editions); and The Family Kitchen-Gardener (c1847).

Buist was obsessed by roses.  Gardener & plant historian Alex Sutton tells us that Buist sailed to Europe every year or two to buy new rose hybrids being developed in Europe.  He purchased much of his stock from M. Eugene Hardy of the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. In 1832, Buist saw 'Madame Hardy' for the first time and he wrote: "Globe Hip, White Globe, or Boule de Neige of the French, is an English Rose raised from seeds of the common white, a very pure white, fully double and of globular form. A few years ago it was considered 'not to be surpassed,' but that prediction, like many others, has fallen to the ground, and now 'Madame Hardy' is triumphant, being larger, fully as pure, more double, and an abundant bloomer; the foliage and wood are also stronger. The French describe it as 'large, very double pure white, and of cup or bowl form."  Buist introduced 'Madame Hardy' in Philadephia to his customers, many of whom must have been Philadelphia matrons.

In 1839, Buist visited another of his suppliers, Jean-Pierre Vibert, of Lonjeameaux, near Paris, where he found 'Aimee Vibert'. He brought this rose back with him to Philadephia and wrote: "Aimee Vibert, or Nevia, is a beautiful pure white, perfect in form, a profuse bloomer, but though quite hardy doe snot grow freely for us; however, when budded on a strong stock it makes a magnificent standard, and blooms with a profusion not surpassed by any."

Seed storage warehouse of Philadelphia seedsman Robert Buist. From an 1891 wholesale seed catalog

In his catalog of 1872 Buist wrote “Three of the celebrated ‘Gordon’s Printing Presses’ are kept constantly at work on seed bags, labels, and other printing matter required in our business, and the stock of type and other printing material we use is equal in extent to that required by some of our daily papers...“When we established ourselves in 1828, the Seed business in this country was in its infancy, the trade was really insignificant in comparison to what it is in the present day.”

He was active with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, treasurer from 1858-1862 and vice-president for twenty-two years. He died in Philadelphia, July 13, 1880.  The family business was carried on by his son, Robert, Jr.