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 University of California. 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY 
 
 OF 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 LI B K /v ;. 
 
 N I V K K S IT V O K f 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY 
 
 OF 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 JUNE 25, 1879. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 PHI LAD ELPH I A, 
 1879. 
 
 XL I B H A H Y . 
 < 
 JNIVKK8ITY OF I 
 
 C ALUMNI A. 
 
PRINTED BY 
 :. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 EXTRACT from the Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Di- 
 rectors of the Franklin Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia, 
 held March 5, 1879 : 
 
 "On motion of Mr. R. D. Benson, the following Resolution was 
 adopted : 
 
 " Resolved, That a Committee of two be appointed, who, with 
 the President and Vice-President, shall be authorized to take 
 action for the proper commemoration of the Semi-Centennial of 
 this Company, June 25th next ; also that the President be re- 
 quested to prepare and deliver an address appropriate to such an 
 event. 
 
 " The President appointed Messrs. R. D. Benson and F. P. 
 Steel, Committee." 
 
 In pursuance of the arrangements perfected by the 
 committee, the following-named gentlemen met together 
 at Augustin's, 1105 Walnut Street, on June 25, 1879: 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 ALFRED G. BAKER, President. 
 JAS. W. MCALLISTER, Vice-President. 
 EZRA T. CRESSON, Secretary. ^ ^ 
 
 SAMUEL W. KAY, Assistant Secretary. 
 
6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 Directors. 
 ALFRED FITLER, 
 WM. S. GRANT, 
 THOMAS S. ELLIS, 
 GUSTAVUS S. BENSON, 
 R. DALE BENSON, 
 FRANCIS P. STEEL, 
 THOMPSON DERR. 
 
 A. C. BLODGET, General Agent. 
 
 GEO. F. REGER, Manager Department of the East and South. 
 
 CHAS. W. KELLOGG, Manager Department of the West. 
 
 And the following invited guests : 
 
 HON. HENRY C. CAREY. 
 
 CHARLES DUTILH. 
 
 GEORGE W. BIDDLE, Counsel of the Company. 
 
 CHAS. J. MARTIN, President Home Insurance Company of New 
 
 York. 
 JAS. SOMERS SMITH, Secretary and Treasurer Philadelphia Con- 
 
 tributionship. 
 HENRY D. SHERRERD, President Insurance Company of the State 
 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 RICHARD S. SMITH, President Union Insurance Company. 
 JAMES W. COCHRAN, Lexington, Kentucky. 
 JAMES G. COFFIN, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 
 
 D. B. CUMMINS, President Girard National Bank. 
 WM. L. SCHAFFER, Cashier Girard National Bank. 
 
 JAMES L. CLAGHORN, President Commercial National Bank. 
 
 E. P. GRAHAM, Cashier Commercial National Bank. 
 
 S. W. BELL, Cashier Farmers' and Mechanics' National Bank. 
 PETER LAMB, Cashier Southwark National Bank. 
 GEO. FALES BAKER. 
 E. ALEX. SCOTT. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 7 
 
 After the removal of the cloth the President arose 
 and said : 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : Here are some letters of regret 
 which will now be read. This one is from Isaac Lea, 
 our Senior Director. I visited him at Long Branch on 
 Saturday last, and found him sitting on his porch, nigh 
 unto the seashore, hale, healthy, and hearty. He stated 
 that he was very sorry he could not be with us, but 
 appreciated everything that was being done to celebrate 
 the semi-centennial anniversary of the company. 
 
 LONG BRANCH, N. J., 
 
 June 18, 1879. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have received the invitation to be present at 
 the Semi-Centennial Celebration of the " Franklin Fire Insurance 
 Company of Philadelphia," and greatly regret that it is entirely 
 out of my power to accept it. 
 
 I am perfectly aware how much the stockholders are indebted 
 to their late President, Chas. N. Bancker, Esq., for its foundation, 
 as well as for its pre-eminent prosperity. I knew Mr. Bancker in 
 my early youth, when he was the largest importer of merchandise 
 in the United States, about 1808. Subsequently he was brought 
 down by the speculations of others. With his former energy and 
 intelligence, in 1829 he established on a sure foundation the 
 Franklin Fire Insurance Company, the present status of which 
 needs nothing to be said. His friends made up the subscription. 
 Subsequent to organization I made frequent purchases until I 
 became one of the largest stockholders interested. 
 
 In 1852, while I was in Europe, I was elected to the Board of 
 Directors, and I am now the oldest member of it. 
 
 Mr. Bancker's old friends well remember how much he was 
 
8 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 interested in natural philosophy and astronomy, and what supe- 
 rior instruments he possessed in these branches of knowledge, as 
 well also with what liberality he then gave to younger men like 
 myself the use of them. 
 
 In the sudden death of our President, Mr. Bancker, you will re- 
 member what perplexity we were in as directors, and I may now, 
 I think, congratulate the stockholders, and take some credit to 
 myself, as chairman of the committee, when I asked you to take 
 that responsible position in which over three millions were in- 
 trusted to us. It was unexpected to you, and you hesitated, but 
 fortunately for the stockholders you acceded to the wishes of the 
 Directors, and the Company is now foremost in the rank of in- 
 surers, known over the whole country for its absolute security and 
 promptness. Continuing under your charge, I have no doubt 
 this prosperity will be permanent. 
 
 Very resp'y yours, etc., 
 
 ISAAC LEA. 
 A. G. BAKER, ESQ., 
 
 President Franklin Fire Insurance Company. 
 
 Mr. Lea's sentences are rather too complimentary to 
 myself. 
 
 The next letter is from Caleb Cope, President of the 
 old Philadelphia Saving-Fund, and I will preface the 
 reading of it by saying that we regret his absence, 
 inasmuch as that staunch corporation, organized in 1809, 
 had for one of its originators the late Charles N. Bancker, 
 while Mr. Bancker also laid the corner-stone of their new 
 building, corner of Seventh and Walnut Streets. The 
 seal of the Saving-Fund bears the image of FRANKLIN. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. g 
 
 To THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTORS OF THE FRANKLIN FIRE 
 INSURANCE COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 GENTLEMEN, I feel honored by your invitation to dine with 
 you on the occasion of your commemorating the Semi-Centennial 
 anniversary of your prosperous institution. 
 
 I regret, however, to add that, governed by a rule imposed by 
 infirmities incident to old age, I have long since refrained from 
 meeting my friends in social assemblages, and accordingly must 
 deny myself the pleasure which I would otherwise enjoy in being 
 present at so interesting a period as the one alluded to. 
 
 With cordial thanks for the compliment tendered me, and my 
 fervent good wishes in behalf of the institution you represent, 
 and yourselves individually, 
 
 I am very respectfully yours, 
 
 C. COPE. 
 PHILADA., June I4th, '79. 
 
 Our senior counsel, Eli K. Price, Esq., who, on the 
 occasion of all our usual festivities, has had his place at 
 this table, rather surprised us yesterday by sending a 
 regret. We had hoped that he would have been present 
 at this time. 
 
 709 WALNUT STREET, 
 
 June 24th, 1879. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I thank you for your kind invitation to your 
 festive commemorative gathering. It will afford you occasion to 
 state what has been your aggregate success after having fully met 
 the losses of your customers according to your obligation. May 
 your company ever thus be able to exhibit its strength after full 
 performance of its most important duty of protecting others from 
 loss! 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 I wish my absence not to be taken as the slightest reflection 
 upon those that partake the pleasures of the festive board. It is 
 yet the right of my juniors to enjoy the good things a kind Provi- 
 dence has provided for them. All I ask is that they will kindly 
 remember and excuse the more than octogenarian, who remem- 
 bers with pleasure many such annual meetings. These were oc- 
 casions of exchanging much valuable information, and enabled 
 all the participants to know and appreciate each other better. 
 An eminent English judge said that they " were great lubricators 
 of business." He no doubt meant that they increased good-will 
 among men and the trust man may safely place in man. Yet 
 the old man of eighty-two asks excuse. As to him, " the custom 
 is more honored in the breach than in the observance." The 
 health and strength God gives, it is his duty to carefully husband, 
 that he may make the most enduring use of the life and faculties 
 given, and yet longer discharge the duty of trying to be useful to 
 society and to live in the love of his fellow-beings. 
 
 Though not personally with you, I approve, and in feeling shall 
 be with you, and am 
 
 Your friend, and friend of you all, 
 
 ELI K. PRICE. 
 ALFRED G. BAKER, ESQ. 
 
 It was the intent of the Directors, and the invitations 
 were so sent out, that the Presidents of all companies 
 that antedated the Franklin in organization should sit 
 with us to-day. J. Somers Smith is here, representing 
 the old Contributionship. David Lewis sends his re- 
 grets, the Mutual Assurance of 1784. Charles Platt, of 
 the Insurance Company of North America, 1794, sends 
 his regrets, but with them an appropriate toast : " May 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. j j 
 
 they live long and prosper!" The State of Pennsylvania 
 of the same year is here in the person of its President, 
 Henry D. Sherrerd. We then come to the Union, 1804, 
 represented by Richard S. Smith, President, now in his 
 ninetieth year, ninety years old in August next! I 
 have his letter of acceptance. The handwriting is so 
 remarkable that I propose to keep it as a memento. He 
 may smile as we look at him, but I know it is a wonder- 
 ful piece of paper. Then here is a letter from Thos. R. 
 Maris, of the American Fire, 1810, regretting that he 
 cannot be with us. I received a letter of acceptance from 
 A. Loudon Snowden, of the Fire Association, 1820, but 
 for some reason he is not here.* Also one of regret 
 from John Devereux, President Pennsylvania Fire, 1825. 
 
 * Mr. Snowden was taken suddenly sick at the Mint during the after- 
 noon, requiring medical attendance on getting to his residence; an 
 enforced absence, which caused him much annoyance, as his note subse- 
 quently advised us. 
 
12 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 FELLOW DIRECTORS, ASSOCIATE OFFICERS, AND FRIENDS : 
 FIFTY YEARS OLD ! We have met in this room 
 to-day to do honor to the Franklin Fire Insurance 
 Company of Philadelphia; to celebrate in a proper 
 way the semi-centennial of this corporation. At the 
 request of the Board of Directors, the pleasing duty 
 of speaking some facts that surround its life up to the 
 present hour has been placed upon its President. 
 
 FIFTY YEARS OLD! In one sense, that period may 
 not seem so long, yet when it bears upon a corpora- 
 tion, and one that has for its 'sphere the precarious 
 business of Fire Insurance, the years are many in 
 number. They tell of trials and losses, they speak of 
 experience dearly bought, they become a beacon to those 
 about entering upon the same treacherous sea that has 
 wrecked so many well-trimmed vessels, and has caused 
 so much capital to melt away like snow under an April 
 sun. As we linger over the doings and events about 
 to be given, let us divest our minds altogether of the 
 idea so current nowadays, that the Fire Insurance 
 business is one of " luck" solely ; it is a false doctrine 
 which time has set aside. Care, close attention to de- 
 tail, application, along with the study of statistics, all 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. ^ 
 
 do their special share in making any institution a suc- 
 cess ; without them underwriting, as any other business, 
 only leads to loss and ruin. " CHANCE" had nothing 
 to do with the past history of this Company. " HAP- 
 HAZARD" can claim no credit for elevating it to the high 
 position it now holds among the people. 
 
 FIFTY YEARS OLD ! Dwelling upon this simple though 
 pleasing thought and its surrounding reflections, the 
 sketch of the " Franklin's" life now begins. 
 
 The charter_oX.the company, perpetual in its provisions, 
 was obtained from -the Legislature in.. iSjzg. It was ap- 
 proved by Governor J. Andrew Shulze, April 22d of that 
 year. The_commissioners for receiving subscriptions to 
 the stock were Charles Graff, Benjamin W. Richards, 
 John K. Kane, Robert Toland, Levi Ellmaker, Robert 
 Taylor, James Schott, Peter Hertzog, Thomas Cave, 
 Charles N. Bancker, Samuel Patton, and Robert O'Neil. 
 These men are now all dead. Pursuant to notice in the 
 public newspapers of the day, the books were opened 
 May 1 3th, at the house of Daniel Rubicam, No. 20 
 South Sixth Street, and were closed upon the following 
 day, the stock having been all subscribed. Shortly after, 
 an advertisement in the daily newspapers appeared, 
 signed by all the commissioners, stating the fact; also 
 calling a meeting of the stockholders to elect directors, 
 June 8th, from 10 A.M. to I P.M., at the same place. The 
 first meeting was held that day. Richard Willing was 
 made president, and Charles Dutilh was selected to act 
 as secretary. 
 
!4 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 John K. Kane made the report of the commissioners 
 that the stock had been subscribed in conformity with 
 the Act of Assembly, and the proper authorities legally 
 notified of the same. Thomas I. Wharton moved that 
 the charter as now read be received and accepted. Car- 
 ried. Erskine Hazard, William Kirkham, and Robert 
 O'Neil were appointed judges of election. When the 
 polls closed the following-named shareholders were 
 declared elected : 
 
 Richard Willing, 
 
 James Schott, 
 
 Samuel W. Jones, 
 
 Thomas Hart, 
 
 Henry C. Carey, 
 
 Thomas I. Wharton, 
 
 Tobias Wagner, 
 
 Charles Roberts, 
 
 Levi Ellmaker, 
 
 William Chaloner. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. j 5 
 
 The following-named persons have filled the varied 
 official positions, following each other in order of suc- 
 cession as read : 
 
 ELECTION. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 PRESIDENTS. 
 June, 1829. Samuel W. Jones. 
 
 June, 1829. I Richard Willing. 
 
 Oct. 1829. 
 
 William Chaloner. 
 
 | Dec. 1829. j Clement C. Biddle, 
 
 I Oct. 1834. Henry C. Carey. 
 
 Feb. 1837. i Charles N. Bancker. 
 Feb. 1869. Alfred G. Baker. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
 
 Oct. 1857. ! Edward C. Dale. 
 
 Jan. 1867. I George Fales. 
 
 Dec. 1871. ! Jas. W. McAllister, 2 d. 
 Feb. 1879. Jas. W. McAllister. 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 June, 1829. Charles N. Bancker. 
 
 Feb. 1837. Charles G. Bancker. 
 
 March, 1857. P eter Notman. 
 
 April, 1857. Win. A. Steel, Sec. pro-tern. 
 
 April, 1861. 
 Feb. 1869. 
 
 J. W. McAllister, Sec. pro-tern. 
 Jas. W. McAllister. 
 
 Dec. 1871. j Theodore M. Reger. 
 Oct. 1878. Ezra T. Cresson. 
 
 June, 1868. 
 May, i86y. 
 Dec. 1871. 
 
 May, 1873. 
 
 ASSISTANT SECRETARIES. 
 
 William Green. 
 Theodore M. Reger. 
 Samuel W. Kay. 
 
 GENERAL AGENT. 
 Blodget. 
 
 Declined to serve, June, 1829. Now 
 
 deceased. 
 Declined a re-election, Oct. 1829. 
 
 Now deceased. 
 Declined to serve, Oct. 1829. Now 
 
 deceased. 
 Declined a re-election, Oct. 1834. 
 
 Now deceased. 
 Resigned, Feb. 1837. 
 Deceased, Feb. 1869. 
 Now in office. 
 
 Deceased, Dec. 1866. 
 Deceased, Jan. 1879. 
 Elected V ice-President, Feb. 1879. 
 Now in office. 
 
 Elected President, Feb. 1837. Now 
 deceased. 
 
 Resigned, March, 1857. Now de- 
 ceased. 
 
 Declined to serve, March, 1857. 
 
 Deceased, April, 1861. 
 
 Elected Secretary, Feb. 1869. 
 
 Elected Director and 2d Vice-Presi- 
 dent, Dec. 1871. 
 
 Resigned, Oct. 1878. 
 
 Now in office. 
 
 Resigned, May, 1869. 
 Elected Secretary, Dec. 1871. 
 Now in office. 
 
 Now in office. 
 
j6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 The company began business June 25, 1829, at No. 
 163^ Chestnut Street, under a lease from Stephen 
 Girard, duly signed by himself. In October, 1844, from 
 the demands of an increasing business, No. 163, an ad- 
 joining property, was rented also. Under the new num- 
 bering ordered by the City Councils these buildings 
 became Nos. 435 and 437. The rental in 1849 was 
 $2400 per annum, which, through various renewals, in- 
 creased in 1870 to $6000 for twelve months. Upon May 
 I, 1873, the "Franklin" moved to its present locality, 
 No. 421 Walnut Street, which had been bought by the 
 directors, and the building adapted to the growing wants 
 of the company. 
 
 The first perpetual policy was issued as follows : 
 
 "No. i. Issued July 20, 1829, to ALEXANDER HENRY. Trans- 
 ferred December, 1845, to SUSAN M. JACKSON, and again to OLI- 
 VER EVANS, present owner, October, 1856, covering a three-story 
 brick building, situate No. 65 North Second Street, now occupied 
 as a picture-frame manufactory. $2000 at 3 per cent, deposit." 
 
 This policy is still in force as originally issued, but 
 afterwards increased to cover a greater hazard, the owner 
 being the same OLIVER EVANS. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. l j 
 
 The following is a copy of the order for the first 
 temporary insurance : 
 
 1829. 
 
 July 21. 
 
 V 
 
 To the franklin Fire Insurance Company of 
 Philada : Make insurance for the space of Four 
 months against loss or damage by fire on Seven 
 unfinished Four Story Brick Houses, situated on 
 the South West corner of Fourth and Walnut 
 Streets, upon which property Five thousand dollars 
 are already insured at the office of the Pennsylvania 
 Fire Insurance Company. 
 
 Stim to be insured, Dollars 5000, @ 30 
 
 cts. p. 100$ . . . . . . 15 Dolls. 
 
 Novr. 21, 
 1829. 
 
 MATHEW CAREY, 
 
 P r H. C. CAREY. 
 
 It is a matter of much regret this policy cannot be 
 found. Numbers two and three were issued to the firm 
 of CAREY, LEA & CAREY, the orders being signed in the 
 handwriting of HENRY C. CAREY, ESQ. ISAAC LEA, ESQ., 
 our senior director, still living, now in his eighty-eighth 
 year, was a member of that firm. 
 
 Among those who were original stockholders we find 
 the following names, well-known citizens, who, during 
 
 3 
 
i8 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 their day and generation, held a high position among 
 their fellow-men : 
 
 Richard Ashhurst, 
 Chas. N. Bancker, 
 Clement C. Biddle, 
 Wm. A. Blanchard, 
 J. J. Borie, 
 Frederick Brown, 
 John Rea Barton, 
 John Cadwallader, 
 Henry Chancellor, 
 Nathaniel Chapman, 
 Elihu Chauncey, 
 Edward C. Dale, 
 Geo. Fales, 
 Coleman Fisher, 
 Charles Graff, 
 Samuel Grant, 
 
 Thomas Hart, 
 Erskine Hazard, 
 Peter Hertzog, 
 John K. Kane, 
 William Kirkham, 
 James Latimer, 
 John McAllister, Jr., 
 Samuel Patton, 
 William Rawle, 
 Benjamin W. Richards, 
 James Schott, 
 Robert Taylor, 
 Robert Toland, 
 Tobias Wagner, 
 Thos. I. Wharton, 
 Richard Willing. 
 
 Three of those who were shareholders at the birth of 
 this corporation still live, viz. : 
 
 Henry C. Carey, 
 Arthur G. Coffin, 
 Charles Dutilh. 
 
 Two of them, Messrs. Carey and Dutilh, time-honored 
 Philadelphians, unite with us in our celebration. We 
 regret the enforced absence of Mr. Arthur G. Coffin, for 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. l g 
 
 so many years the widely-respected President of the In- 
 surance Company of North America. The infirmities 
 of advanced life are a bar to his presence. We can well 
 assert he is in full harmony with all that is said and done 
 by us, who know him as a " friend to the Franklin" in 
 every sense of the word. Mr. Carey was an original 
 director, as you have heard, while he is also the only 
 living ex-president whom we can honor. Mr. Charles 
 Dutilh was secretary of the gathering of the stock- 
 holders having for its purpose the acceptance of the 
 charter as well as the election of the first board of 
 directors. 
 
 So few out of so many ! The tale of five times ten 
 years carries along with it food for serious thought and 
 solemn study. 
 
 Since organization, forty stockholders have at different 
 times been members of the Board of Directors. The 
 roll is herewith given : 
 
20 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 1 'HE 
 
 NO. 
 
 DATE. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 SUCCESSOR 
 
 I 
 
 June, 1829. 
 
 Richard Willing. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1829. 
 
 Samuel Grant. 
 
 2 
 
 " 
 
 James Schott. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1842. 
 
 David S. Brown. 
 
 3 
 
 " 
 
 Samuel W. Jones. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1829. 
 
 William Kirkham. 
 
 4 
 
 " 
 
 Thomas Hart. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1852. 
 
 Isaac Lea. 
 
 5 
 
 " 
 
 Henry C. Carey. 
 
 Resigned, Feb. 1837. 
 
 Chas. N. Bancker. 
 
 6 
 
 " 
 
 Thos. I. Wharton. 
 
 Resigned, Nov. 1845. 
 
 Morris Patterson. 
 
 7 
 
 " 
 
 Tobias Wagner. 
 
 Deceased, ? 1868. 
 
 Alfred G. Baker. 
 
 8 
 
 " 
 
 Charles Roberts. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1830. 
 
 Richard Ashhurst. 
 
 9 
 
 " 
 
 Lev! Ellmaker. 
 
 Deceased, April, 1835. 
 
 William Chaloner. 
 
 10 
 
 " 
 
 William Chaloner. 
 
 Resigned, Sept. 1832. 
 
 Frederick Brown. 
 
 ii 
 
 Oct. 1829. 
 
 Samuel Grant. 
 
 Deceased, Sept. 1872. 
 
 J. W. McAllister. 
 
 12 
 
 " 
 
 William Kirkham. 
 
 Resigned, Oct. 1829. 
 
 Clement C. Biddle. 
 
 13 
 
 Dec. 1829. 
 
 Clement C. Biddle. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1837. 
 
 Geo. W. Richards. 
 
 14 
 
 Oct. 1830. 
 
 Richard Ashhurst. 
 
 Resigned, Nov. 1830. 
 
 T. C. Rockhill. 
 
 IS 
 
 Nov. 1830. 
 
 T. C. Rockhill. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1837. 
 
 Jacob R. Smith. 
 
 16 
 
 Sept. 1832. 
 
 Frederick Brown. 
 
 Resigned, Sept. 1871. 
 
 A. E. Borie. 
 
 J 7 
 
 May, 1835. 
 
 William Chaloner. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1838. 
 
 M. D. Lewis. 
 
 18 
 
 Feb. 1837. 
 
 Chas. N. Bancker. 
 
 Deceased, Feb. 1869. 
 
 Gust. S. Benson. 
 
 J 9 
 
 Oct. 1837. 
 
 Geo. W. Richards. 
 
 Deceased, April, 1874. 
 
 R. Dale Benson. 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 Jacob R. Smith. 
 
 Deceased, ? 1865. 
 
 Peter McCall. 
 
 21 
 
 Oct. 1838. 
 
 M. D. Lewis. 
 
 Deceased, Feb. 1861. 
 
 Alfred Filler. 
 
 22 
 
 Oct. 1841. 
 
 A. E. Borie. 
 
 Resigned, Oct. 1856. 
 
 George Fales. 
 
 23 
 
 Oct. 1842. 
 
 David S. Brown. 
 
 Resigned, Jan. 1864. 
 
 Fras. W. Lewis. 
 
 24 
 
 April, 1846. 
 
 Morris Patterson. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1855. 
 
 Edward C. Dale. 
 
 25 
 
 Oct. 1852. 
 
 Isaac Lea. 
 
 Now Senior Director. 
 
 
 26 
 
 Oct. 1855. 
 
 Edward C. Dale. 
 
 Deceased, Dec. 1866. 
 
 Wm. A. Blanchard. 
 
 2 7 
 
 Oct. 1856. 
 
 George Fales. 
 
 Deceased, Jan. 1879. 
 
 Thompson Derr. 
 
 28 
 
 Oct. 1861. 
 
 Alfred Fhler. 
 
 Now a member. 
 
 
 2 9 
 
 Jan. 1864. 
 
 Fras. W. Lewis. 
 
 Resigned, Jan. 1869. 
 
 Thomas S. Ellis. 
 
 3 
 
 Oct. 1865. 
 
 Peter McCall. 
 
 Retired, Oct. 1867. 
 
 William S. Grant. 
 
 3i 
 
 Jan. 1867. 
 
 Wm.A. Blanchard. 
 
 Declined to serve. 
 
 Thomas Sparks. 
 
 32 
 
 Feb. 1867. 
 
 Thomas Sparks. 
 
 Deceased, Oct. 1874. 
 
 Francis P. Steel. 
 
 33 
 
 Oct. 1867. 
 
 William S. Grant. 
 
 Now a member. 
 
 
 34 
 
 Oct. 1868. 
 
 Alfred G. Baker. 
 
 " " " 
 
 
 35 
 
 Jan. 1869. 
 
 Thomas S. Ellis. 
 
 " " " 
 
 
 36 
 
 Feb. 1869. 
 
 Gust. S. Benson. 
 
 " " " 
 
 
 37 
 
 Oct. 1872. 
 
 y. W. McAllister. 
 
 " " " 
 
 
 38 
 
 July, 1874. 
 
 R. Dale Benson. 
 
 " " " 
 
 
 39 
 
 Nov. 1874. 
 
 Francis P. Steel. 
 
 " " 
 
 
 4 
 
 Feb. 1879. 
 
 Thompson Derr. 
 
 
 
 As a connecting link between 1829 and 1879, the col- 
 ored porter, Mingo Ricks, still lives in good health, 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 21 
 
 doing his work every day. One of the earliest entries 
 in the Cash-Book of 1829 reads as follows : 
 
 " Paid Mingo Ricks for services . . . $5.00." 
 
 His heart has been gladdened this day by a gift from 
 the Company appropriate to a term of service covering 
 half a century, during all of which time Mingo has been 
 truthful, faithful, and honest. 
 
 The synopsis of the dividends declared is now pre- 
 sented as a matter of special interest : 
 
 NOS. 
 
 DATES. 
 
 PER CENT. 
 
 NOS. 
 
 DATES. 
 
 PER CENT. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 Sept. 1831. 
 
 3 
 
 42-43 
 
 1853. 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 1832. 
 
 4 
 
 44-47 
 
 1854-1855. 
 
 18 
 
 3-H 
 
 1833-1838. 
 
 8 
 
 48-49 
 
 1856. 
 
 22 
 
 I5-I8 
 
 1839-1840. 
 
 9 
 
 50-51 
 
 I857- 
 
 24 
 
 19-30 
 
 1841-1846. 
 
 10 
 
 52-53 
 
 1858. 
 
 30 
 
 31-32 
 
 1847. 
 
 ii 
 
 54-73 
 
 1859-1868. 
 
 32 
 
 33-34 
 
 1848. 
 
 12 
 
 74-75 
 
 l86 9 . 
 
 34 
 
 35-36 
 
 1849. 
 
 16 
 
 76-77 
 
 1870. 
 
 35 
 
 37-38 
 
 1850. 
 
 12 
 
 78-110 
 
 I87I-I879. 
 
 32 
 
 39-40 
 
 1851. 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 4i 
 
 1852. 
 
 6 
 
 
 Average, 
 
 20 
 
 Gold dividends began with No. 78, April, 1871. 
 
 " " ceased with No. 105, January, 1878. 
 
 Whole amount paid since 1831, $3,767,016. 
 
 From this summary we learn that during each year 
 since 1831 the " Franklin," without a single exception, 
 has paid an annual dividend, the yearly average during 
 that time being TWENTY PER CENT. It is doubted if 
 
 
 
 
 
22 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 there exists a corporation anywhere that can make such 
 an exhibit. It shows the wisdom of a moderate capital, 
 supplemented by a large surplus, carefully guarded by 
 the directors to meet heavy losses when they every 
 noyiLand then occur. 
 
 It is a matter worthy of note to relate the large 
 fires in Philadelphia in which the Company paid over 
 $25,000. 
 
 DATE. 
 
 LOCALITY, ETC. 
 
 LOSS PAID. 
 
 May 21, 1836. 
 
 Front Street below Chestnut. Stores. 
 
 $34,428.95 
 
 Oct. 4, 1839. 
 
 Front and Chestnut Streets. Stores. 
 
 44,955-37 
 
 July 9, 1850. 
 
 The " Great Fire," originating in Brock's 
 
 
 
 stores, in Water Street near Callow- 
 
 
 
 hill. 300 buildings destroyed. Loss, 
 
 
 
 $1,500,000. 
 
 94,123.96 
 
 Dec. 27, 1851. 
 
 N. E. cor. of Sixth and Chestnut Streets. 
 
 
 
 Stores. 
 
 29,226.08 
 
 March 28, 1852. 
 
 Strawberry and Bank Streets. Stores. 
 
 78,453.94 
 
 July 5, 1854. 
 
 Ninth and Chestnut Streets. National 
 
 
 
 Theatre, Chinese Museum, stores, etc. 
 
 27,789.06 
 
 Dec. 14, 1854. 
 
 N. W. cor. of Fifth and Chestnut Streets. 
 
 
 
 Stores. 
 
 53,699-45 
 
 April n, 1856. 
 
 Ranstead Place, between Fourth and 
 
 
 
 Fifth Streets, above Chestnut. Stores. 
 
 3^964-97 
 
 May I, 1856. 
 
 Sixth and Chestnut Streets. Stores. 
 
 60,480.09 
 
 From this tabulation we find that at various dates the 
 " Franklin" has paid large sums to those of this city 
 who held her policies, in the highest confidence, as 
 indemnity against loss from fire. 
 
 The results of the business during half a century are 
 now in order. The records are as follows : 
 

 FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 23 
 
 Perpetual deposit premiums received . . $2,603,481.64 . \ f * 
 
 Losses paid on perpetuals 
 
 ,055,863.38 
 
 
 TEMPORARY PREMIUMS. 
 
 LOSSES PAID. 
 
 Home .... 
 Agency . . 
 
 $4,484,177.35 
 12,850,773.32 
 
 $2,671,490.15 
 7,361,483.70 
 
 Net gain in agency over and above all losses paid and expenses : 
 $1,002,366.48, or 7^ per cent., including losses by great fires at Chicago, 
 in 1871 ($635,429.39); Boston, in 1872 ($451,504.97) ; St. Louis, in 1849 
 ($294,855.42); and Pittsburgh, in 1845 ($19,936). 
 
 In placing before you this abstract, one thing must 
 not be lost sight of: the percentage of profit does NOT 
 include any gain arising from the custody of the money, 
 which is a very large item of profit, accruing during a 
 series of years. 
 
 The first agency planted by the " Franklin" was at 
 Lexington, Kentucky, in 1831. At that early date the 
 method was crude ; to this Company must be given the 
 crown of being the pioneer in a. system of business that 
 has grown with the growth of this land to one of vast 
 proportions. She might be named as the " van-courier" 
 in the agency field. John Tilford, a merchant of the 
 town, was duly appointed. Jas. W. Cochran, who is 
 present with us to-day, was a boy in his employ, who 
 used to pass some of his evenings in writing up surveys 
 for the risks taken. This same boy has grown to man- 
 hood, and still in his more matured years retainsjthe 
 
24 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 agenc^Jn^_eity which, under his care and conservative 
 manner of business, has shown a wonderful record : 
 
 Since 1831 the receipts have been . $173,390.68 
 Losses and expenditures . . . 108,894.36 
 
 Net profit $64,496.32 37^- per cent. 
 
 This worthy representative bears the honored title of 
 being the " SENIOR AGENT OF THE FRANKLIN." The 
 late president, Charles N. Bancker, Esq., developed this 
 new plan of increasing the moneyed returns by following 
 up Lexington with agencies at Trenton, York, Newark, 
 Richmond, Nashville, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and at many 
 other points. At each of these cities the Company has 
 its representatives this very day in good working order. 
 
 We now pass to the agency a_t_^ittsburgh. Our re- 
 spected friend, James G. Coffin, who also unites in these 
 festivities, and graces our table with himself in person, 
 was a2ointed_agent in 1849, having therefore been in 
 active service thirty years. No man in the employ of 
 this institution carries with him a higher record for in- 
 tegrity and prudent management than him to whom we 
 now award such words of praise. May he live long to 
 be known as " OUR ESTEEMED PITTSBURGH AGENT." 
 The figures of that city tell their own well-marked tale: 
 
 Receipts since 1844 .... $711,720.69 
 Losses and expenditures . . . 353,214.44 
 
 $358,506.25 50^- per cent. 
 This includes the losses by the big fire in 1845. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 2 $ 
 
 The Company has had two representatives in New 
 York City, who have both kindly responded to the invi- 
 tation to unite in this celebration ; we greet their coming 
 to partake of our hospitalities with a hearty welcome. 
 The president of the Home Insurance Company of New 
 York, Charles J. Martin, Esq., and the vice-president of 
 the Niagara Insurance Company, of the same city, Peter 
 Notman, Esq., are also in our midst* These eminently 
 successful men in their present walks of life once had 
 charge of our office in New York City. The former- 
 named gentleman presents to us the following figures, in 
 evidence of his well-conducted administration, viz. : 
 
 1849 an d 1850. Receipts . . $49,782.61 
 Losses and expenditures . . . 24,596.63 
 
 Net profit $25,185.98 50^ per cent. 
 
 Mr. Martin left the service of the Company to become 
 interested in that wonderfully successful corporation of 
 which he is now the respected president, to be followed 
 by Peter Notman, Esq., who discharged the duties of the 
 position from 1850 to 1858, extending over about eight 
 years. To cover this period, the following figures are 
 submitted : 
 
 1850 @ 1858. Receipts . 
 Losses and expenditures . 
 
 . $305,027.34 
 201,556.31 
 
 
 Net profit . 
 
 &IOT,, 47I.O"? T 
 
 jiii per cent 
 
 
 
 
 * For some unexplained reason Mr. Notman's chair was vacant during 
 the whole evening. No word has ever been received from him. 
 
 4 
 
2 6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 Mr. Notman was elected secretary by the directors in 
 1857, but declined to serve, shortly afterwards becoming 
 connected with the Niagara Insurance Company. 
 
 Such results speak for themselves. We congratulate 
 ourselves that such careful, prudent underwriters are 
 near to us at this hour ; we tender to them thanks for 
 what they have done for the " Franklin ;" we can offer to 
 them no higher eulogium than to say to them, merged 
 in a few little words, as a unit of praise, 
 
 " YOU HAVE DONE YOUR DUTY." 
 
 EASTVILLE, VIRGINIA. This agency must be named as 
 being a " FIRST HONOR." It was opened in 1839, forty 
 years ago. Premiums were taken during each and every 
 year up to this very week. The only outlays have been 
 the usual charges for commissions, taxes, etc. Not a 
 single cent has ever been claimed or paid for losses. 
 The net profit to the credit of Eastville, Virginia, on the 
 books is $16,309.15, ONE HUNDRED PE~R CENTTTi 
 
 We doubt if any other company can present such an 
 abstract of business covering forty years at any single 
 agency. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 It is fitting we should now pause to pay tribute to the 
 memory of three men who were closely connected with 
 the interests of the " Franklin" from its very start. 
 Reference is had to 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 2 / 
 
 CHARLES N. BANCKER, 
 GEORGE FALES, 
 SAMUEL GRANT, 
 
 a Trinomial Group, than which it is hardly likely its 
 equal can be found anywhere else. During more than 
 three-score years they were intimately associated in 
 their business relations, while they lived almost as 
 " THREE IN ONE" as to this Company. May we now 
 call to mind how much it owes to their steady deter- 
 mination and to their skilled experience for its past 
 record, for its present strength ! 
 
 CHARLES N. BANCKER. My venerable predecessor 
 first conceived the idea of the formation of this Insur- 
 ance Institution, worked with zeal to get the charter (no 
 common labor even in those days), and in the end saw 
 his exertions crowned with success, when the office 
 was ready for business this very day Fifty years ago. 
 Through years of gain and loss, of hope and despond- 
 ency, he lived until February 16, 1869, dying then, 
 while still its President, in the ninety-second year of 
 his age. 
 
 GEORGE FALES. The late highly-esteemed Vice- 
 President was a subscriber to the stock, when the books 
 were first opened, for fifty shares. Everything in and 
 around the " Franklin" was to him a matter of the 
 greatest interest; he was steady to all its calls during 
 his Directorship. He was the last living stockholder 
 who had never sold a single share during nearly half 
 
2 g SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 a century; his estate at this hour owns the original 
 certificate. He held his official position at the request 
 of the Board until he passed away from earth, Janu- 
 ary 14, 1879, in the ninety-second year of his age. 
 
 SAMUEL GRANT. A shareholder at the birth of the 
 Company, as well as a Director in continuous service 
 from October, 1829, until the date of his death, his aim 
 was solely to advance the interests of this Corporation 
 in all ways honorable and just. A prominent and suc- 
 cessful merchant, and a highly-respected citizen of Phil- 
 adelphia, he died September 23, 1872, in the ninetieth 
 year of his age. 
 
 As the memory of this remarkable Trio of Men, who 
 all lived to be nonagenarians, is brought before us to 
 dwell upon, and as the recollections of bygone days 
 are recalled by those now living, let us hope that the 
 same wise counsels may ever prevail in the future man- 
 agement that they gave to it in the past ; that their acts, 
 energy, and experience may through all time be as 
 guide-posts to us and to those who come after us. 
 
 The mortal remains of Charles N. Bancker rest in the 
 same churchyard within a few hundred feet of those of 
 Benjamin Franklin ; while the graves of Samuel Grant 
 and George Fales are to be found near unto one another 
 in their adjoining burial-lots at Laurel Hill Cemetery. 
 
 " For we are the same our Fathers have been ; 
 We see the same sights our Fathers have seen ; 
 We drink the same stream, we view the same sun, 
 And run the same course our Fathers have run. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 2 Q 
 
 The thoughts we are thinking our Fathers would think; 
 From the death we are shrinking our Fathers would shrink ; 
 To the life we are clinging they also would cling, 
 But it speeds for us all, like a bird on the wing. 
 
 " They died, aye ! they died, and we things that are now, 
 Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow, 
 Who make in their dwellings a transient abode, 
 Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road." 
 
 The history of Fifty years has been spoken, the story's 
 told! 
 
 Let me add that it is but human to feel an inward 
 pride in being the head executive of such a corporation. 
 The happy surroundings of the present moment, this 
 hour of good cheer, joined with the reminiscences of 
 the past that have been brought before us, all breathe 
 musical. My own term of office as President covers 
 more than a decade of years. It is a proper wish to 
 bear testimony just here to the kind assistance the 
 Directors, other officers, and employees have at all 
 times given any suggestions and efforts on my own part 
 to advance the " Franklin" still farther in her onward 
 march. To no single man should the credit be given of 
 doing what has been done : we are all component parts 
 of the " Great Unit" which has for its aim the carrying 
 on of the business with safety to both the policy-holders, 
 who look for indemnity in the hour of disaster, and to 
 the share-holders, who expect their regular quarterly 
 
3Q SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 income. Any seeming egotism is now pardonable if a 
 few words of kind advice are now spoken to him who 
 may stand in this place, and who may say a few words 
 to those who gather together to do honor to the 
 " Franklin," to drink a toast to her continued prosperity, 
 it may be ten, twenty, or fifty years hence ! Let him 
 consider well that no calling in life can be a success 
 unless all interested in it work for the common good ; 
 time, labor, thought, and brain-culture must be given 
 freely, at all times tempered with experience, while he 
 must be ever ready to grapple with each new phase of 
 the business that may from time to time present itself. 
 To use a trite expression, "His heart must be in it" 
 
 May my successor, and those who follow him, be 
 inspirited with principles like those, which have often- 
 times cheered him who now utters them ! All that is 
 within me responds to those truths, to this gathering of 
 friends around the festive table, to this most auspicious 
 hour. Dear old company, I do love thee ! " All earth 
 shall never pluck thee from my heart : thy history is en- 
 graved upon my memory in footprints that will endure 
 until death does us part. Who, who shall proclaim 
 divorce between thee and me ?" Let us now accord unto 
 thee an emblematic device taken from Holy Writ, and 
 thereby liken thee unto "A WISE MAN WHO BUILT HIS 
 
 HOUSE UPON A ROCK : 
 
 " AND THE RAIN DESCENDED, AND THE FLOODS CAME, 
 AND THE WINDS BLEW, AND BEAT UPON THAT HOUSE; AND 
 IT FELL NOT: FOR IT WAS FOUNDED UPON A ROCK." 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 31 
 
 The reading of the Address called forth from those 
 present hearty and generous applause. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : The first regular toast is 
 
 11 BYGONE DAYS. WHILE IT is SWEET TO CALL UP BEFORE 
 
 US THEIR MEMORY, SUCH THOUGHTS ARE INTERMINGLED WITH 
 SORROW THAT MANY WE ONCE KNEW SO WELL ARE AWAY IN 
 THEIR DWELLINGS OF REST," 
 
 which will be responded to by Mr. Henry C. Carey, 
 former President of the Company. (Applause.) 
 
 HON. HENRY C. CAREY. 
 
 Mr, President, Your toast covers for some of us, my 
 friend here (Mr. Richard S. Smith) and myself particu- 
 larly, a broad expanse of time. It carries me back to 
 the time when, eighty years ago, I witnessed the funeral 
 ceremonies of the then just deceased grandest man of 
 ancient or modern times, our Washington ! 
 
 A little later I see myself part of an assemblage in 
 the House of Representatives, in June, 1812, listening 
 to Mr. Clay and other great men of the time, all of 
 whom have since passed away, engaged in discussing 
 the question of war with Britain. Still later, I see my 
 friend Bancker struggling day after day and month after 
 month against the most serious opposition in his efforts 
 to obtain the charter of your Company. So serious was 
 the opposition that at times he was disposed to give it 
 up ; but I begged of him to go ahead, and so he did. 
 He obtained his charter, and the Company was then 
 organized. 
 
32 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 We had, perhaps, as respectable a body of directors 
 as could be found in our whole city ; and of that body I 
 am the only remaining member. 
 
 A little later, as you have been told, I was President, 
 subsequently and gladly giving place to my friend 
 Bancker, a man to whose energy and honesty you are 
 indebted for the wonderful success that you, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, have just now described. No man ever did give 
 to any service more energy, more activity, more determi- 
 nation, more honesty than were given to his company 
 by our departed friend. And I now ask you to join me 
 in drinking to the memory of the late President, Charles 
 N. Bancker, one of the best men our fair city has 
 produced. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : The next regular toast is 
 
 "OUR FRIENDS. WE BID THEM WELCOME; WE GREET THEM 
 WITH OPEN HANDS; WE WISH THEM GOD SPEED!" 
 
 George W. Biddle, Esq., replied as follows : 
 
 GEORGE W. BIDDLE. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, Were I to consult my 
 own wishes on this occasion I should certainly be a 
 silent participant in the festivities of this day. After 
 what has been said, and so well said, so exhaustively 
 said, in regard to the condition of the Company whose 
 semi-centennial anniversary we celebrate, any words 
 from me are words of supererogation. Yet, as the 
 pleasing duty of responding to this toast has been 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 33 
 
 imposed upon me, I must acquit myself of it as best 
 I can. 
 
 When, a day or two ago, it was announced to me by 
 the President that I was to reply to the toast just read, 
 I began, under the influence of a custom which from 
 professional habit has become almost inveterate, to try 
 to analyze the meaning of the words which I was to 
 answer, " OUR FRIENDS !" The friends of a corpora- 
 tion ! the friends of the Franklin Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany of Philadelphia ! Can a soulless body, as a corpo- 
 ration is defined to be, have friends ? The President has 
 many friends who wish him well, and will long continue 
 to do so. The Officers have friends. The only living 
 ex-President who has honored us ^with his presence 
 to-day (Hon. Henry C. Carey) has many friends, among 
 whom I may count myself among the humblest, cer- 
 tainly not the least, for I may say I have looked up to 
 him from my earliest boyhood as the friend of my de- 
 ceased parent, and as a citizen distinguished for his 
 eminence in more than one walk in intellectual life. 
 
 But has a corporation friends ? Yes, it has ; because 
 upon the same basis that the friendship of individuals 
 reposes may friendship be well asserted of a corporation 
 like this. What are the sources of true friendship ; not 
 of the mere casual intimacy begot by interest, selfish- 
 ness, or the like, but of true friendship ? I take it, it is 
 respect founded upon integrity, liberality, amenity of 
 manners, and a certain sympathy of thought and action. 
 
 Now, if I can show to you, in the few words with 
 
 5 
 
34 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 which I shall trouble you, that the Franklin Fire Insur- 
 ance Company justly rests upon such a foundation as 
 this, then, we may say that we are at least entitled to 
 have friends. And when I look down the long line of 
 sympathetic, cordial faces which grace this hospitable 
 board, I may say we are not only entitled to, but we 
 have, friends in the very best sense of the word. Have 
 we endeavored to conduct our business upon the eternal 
 principles of justice? Have we, in addition to mere cold, 
 impartial justice, occasionally added the virtue of liber- 
 ality ? Have we shown kindness in our intercourse with 
 our customers, and have we joined to it sympathy of 
 manner? I think we have done all this. No company, 
 let me say, Mr. President and gentlemen, can, in the 
 course of half a century, have reached the magnificent 
 yea, the magnificent financial results which you have 
 declared to us to-day have been the meed of the Frank- 
 lin Fire Insurance Company, without having conducted 
 their affairs upon the sound basis of justice to their cus- 
 tomers, and good sense and liberality in the administra- 
 tion of their business. 
 
 These results are not of chance. Chance may be for 
 a year, for half a dozen years, but for half a century of 
 unintermittent prosperity, which shows itself in the aver- 
 age of dividends of twenty per cent, it is impossible that 
 it can repose upon any other basis than the basis of eter- 
 nal truth in the administration of human affairs. This 
 may be received as an axiom. There is no chance in 
 this: dividends beginning a year or two after the inaugu- 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 35 
 
 ration of the Company, and ending with quarterly divi- 
 dends of eight per cent., or thirty-two per cent, per 
 annum, are the product of no chance. It is therefore 
 justice; justice to the customers, justice to the stock- 
 holders. 
 
 Justice is a very good basis to repose upon, but it is 
 not enough to bring about friendship. A man may be 
 just but may be very disagreeable. He may discharge 
 all his legal obligations, and may leave undischarged 
 what lawyers call the duties of imperfect obligation, the 
 moral duties. He may be in form a good man, and yet 
 be in substance a bad man. The height of justice is 
 sometimes the height of injustice. In sticking too 
 closely to the letter we very often smother and some- 
 times annihilate the spirit; and we have the highest 
 warrant in saying this. 
 
 _ Has, therefore, the course of the Franklin Fire Insur- 
 ance Company been governed by enlightened liberality 
 as well as justice? I think, yes. I have now in my 
 recollection one or two instances which I think you will 
 bear with me whilst I state. When the great fire of 1845 
 swept almost out of existence our sister city of the West, 
 Pittsburgh, a man had a temporary policy upon his 
 building (not a dwelling-house, but a place of business), 
 that had expired the day before. Justice required no 
 payment on account of this policy, because it had ceased 
 to be a contractual relation twenty-four hours before the 
 calamity occurred, but enlightened liberality, enlightened 
 selfishness if you please, dictated a different course, and 
 
3 6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 that course was as the man had intended bona fide to 
 renew his policy, and was only prevented by some acci- 
 dent that I do not now recollect that the policy should 
 be paid, and it was paid in full. This is what I call liber- 
 ality. 
 
 Another instance. The proprietor of a large manu- 
 facturing establishment, located at the Falls of Schuyl- 
 kill, now embraced in the limits of the Park, fancied 
 that he had a claim against the Franklin Fire Insurance 
 Company for a larger sum than they were willing to 
 pay. His claim say was for $10,000, and the Company 
 thought they owed him but $5000. In strict law they 
 were not obliged to pay anything until the courts 
 should decide whether the smaller or the larger sum 
 was the limit of their liability. But that would not 
 have been honorable, or just. They knew they owed 
 him so much, and they gave him a check for it, and 
 said to him, "Now fight us for the rest, and get it if you 
 can ;" and, of course, the Company going into court and 
 before a jury with such an advantage, went out of it 
 triumphant. 
 
 That was right ; that was moral ; but it was not re- 
 quired by strict law ; therefore I say we are liberal. 
 
 I might say a great deal about sympathy and amenity 
 of manners ; but really when I see looking into my face 
 the delightfully sympathetic face of my respected and 
 honored friend (the President), somewhat younger than 
 I am, and when I look down at the other end of the 
 table, and see the pleasant face of our still younger 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 37 
 
 friend (the Vice-President), I need hardly say to you that 
 this is a grace we claim to possess in a very high de- 
 gree. I do not think this requires much further expla- 
 nation. (Applause.) 
 
 I say, therefore, Mr. President and gentlemen, that 
 resting as we do as I think we do upon such foun- 
 dations, I may truly welcome you as friends. Indeed, 
 I am an interested party in this ; for (I may speak thus 
 much of myself), of the fifty years of the existence of 
 the Franklin Fire Insurance Company, every one of 
 which my honored and venerable friend who sits near 
 me (Mr. Carey) has seen, I myself, in a professional con- 
 nection, have seen over thirty-three and a third years. 
 My connection, it is true, began when I was a stripling 
 at the Bar, in the year 1844; an< ^ here I am to-day, 
 perhaps not quite so good as I was then, but still with 
 some capacity for work in me, talking to you in 1879, 
 thirty-five years, more than two-thirds of the whole 
 existence of the " Franklin." 
 
 We are therefore entitled and I think I have read 
 our title pretty clear to say to you, friends in the best 
 sense of the word ; friends reposing upon our integrity, 
 upon our liberality, upon our kindness of manner, upon 
 our sympathies, Come to our hearts ! You are not only 
 " welcome to our hands," as I think the language of the 
 toast reads, but to our hearts, too. Such friends as 
 we see before us to-day are not to be received merely 
 with the impress of the closed hand, but, as the poet 
 says, " are to be grappled to our souls with hooks of 
 
38 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 steel," for their devotion has been proved. They are 
 really friends. They have stood by us, as the late Vice- 
 President, Mr. George Fales, and his estate have stood, 
 from the first to the last. There has been no faltering ; 
 there has been no hesitation. When the skies were 
 gloomy and the clouds were lowering, no thought of 
 severing their interests from the interests of the Com- 
 pany which had stood by them entered their hearts ; 
 they remained faithful and firm. They are not holiday 
 friends, not summer friends, but friends of a lifetime. 
 Welcome to them ! 
 
 But there are other friends; there are absent friends; 
 there are friends separated from us by distance of time 
 and space, some of whom have sent in their excuses 
 to-day. There are others whose duty is finished forever 
 upon earth, and whom we can only trace in the retro- 
 spect of memory. 
 
 I recollect TWO who shared the hospitalities of this 
 Board with us just a decade ago. I find that on the 
 25th of June, 1869, just after your accession, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, to the chief executive office of this Company, we 
 dined here, I think, in this very room ; certainly on this 
 very day, the 25th day of June, which we now learn was 
 the date on which this Company began its active busi- 
 ness. There were present then, with the other direct- 
 ors, two who were peculiarly dear to me, now no more : 
 GEORGE W. RICHARDS, THOMAS SPARKS. One an emi- 
 nently successful merchant, the other deserving eminent 
 success, but not achieving it, or at least not retaining it. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 39 
 
 I never met either of those gentlemen without a cordial 
 smile and a gracious, kind remark, or something to in- 
 dicate that it was more than the mere casual meeting of 
 an acquaintance. We may not drink their health, but 
 we may recall their memory in solemn silence. We 
 may pause to recall the good example that they set be- 
 fore us in their lifetime, and we may hope that when 
 we, too, go down to our resting-place and many of us 
 can no longer call ourselves young, or even middle-aged 
 men we may hope that we may be embalmed in the 
 recollection of our fellows assembled here to-day. And 
 if we do in our day and generation perform any good 
 works, no matter how small, the odor of those works 
 may come up as a sweet-smelling savor to those who 
 remain, and cause a grateful recollection of us who have 
 passed before them. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT: The third regular toast is as follows: 
 
 " IN MEMORY OF THE DEAD. THEIR ASSOCIATES IN THE DIREC- 
 TORSHIP STILL LIVING PAY A TRIBUTE TO THEIR WORTH, AND 
 MAKE A MINUTE IN THEIR HEARTS OF THE GOOD THEY DID WHEN 
 
 ON EARTH. CHARLES N. BANCKER, SAMUEL GRANT, GEORGE 
 W. RICHARDS, THOMAS SPARKS, AND GEORGE FALES. PASSED 
 
 AWAY, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN." 
 
 Our associate director, Gustavus S. Benson, will reply 
 to that toast. 
 
 GUSTAVUS S. BENSON. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, The eloquent remarks 
 that we have already heard with regard to our departed 
 
4Q SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 friends, both from the President and our Counsel, will 
 make but a very few words necessary from me in answer- 
 ing to such a sentiment. But standing as we do in this 
 semi-centennial year of our corporate existence, at the 
 very pivotal point of our corporate century, looking back 
 upon the past, looking forward to the future, I think it is 
 well for us even on this festive occasion, even for a few 
 moments, to dwell upon that future which will come to 
 us all, and to which our friends have gone before, to 
 that bourne from which no traveller has ever returned. 
 
 These five gentlemen who are to be remembered to- 
 day have been, at some period of life, either in intimate 
 social or business relations with me. I have been ac- 
 quainted with and had business intercourse with them 
 all. Three of them lived beyond the extreme age of 
 ninety years. In speaking of Mr. Bancker, we all know 
 how he moulded the policy of this Company ; how he 
 controlled its business, and how great was his influence 
 upon its prosperity ; not only in his own day, but carry- 
 ing it down to ours. The business talent, the undoubted 
 integrity, the genial manners, of our late respected friend 
 George Fales we never can forget. 
 
 In 1812 I was brought from a neighboring State to 
 this city. Whether against my will or not I am unable 
 now to say ; I was of course at that time a lad. A very 
 few years afterwards, in 1816, I found myself living next 
 door to Samuel Grant, then a very young married man, 
 in Market Street below Eleventh, opposite what was 
 called Girard Row ; the whole square now covered with 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, 4 , 
 
 stately stores and handsome mansions, in the care and 
 management of which even at this day I have something 
 to do. I can well recollect his youthful appearance by 
 looking at his son, an honored member of this Board, 
 whom we all love and all respect. From that circum- 
 stance, and knowing him from that time to the day of 
 his death, I may say that his whole life lies before my 
 mind ; a life that this community holds to be without 
 spot or blemish, leaving a name which is a rich inherit- 
 ance to his children. 
 
 The genial spirits of our younger friends whom Mr. 
 Biddle has spoken of, Mr. Sparks and Mr. Richards, 
 always come to us with pleasant memories. We shall 
 never forget the happy associations we have had with 
 them in the Board and out of the Board. But when we 
 look at the past, when we remember these men and 
 what they were, and what they did, it seems to me that 
 this Company has great cause to be proud of its past his- 
 tory; and while we are satisfied with the present, we 
 may look forward with hope, feeling that its future ca- 
 reer may be as successful as its past record is honorable. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : The next toast in order is 
 
 " THE SENIOR AGENT OF THE FRANKLIN," 
 James W. Cochran, who has travelled from Lexington, 
 Kentucky, to sit with us to-day. 
 
 JAMES W. COCHRAN. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, It has been my good 
 
42 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 fortune on several occasions to be present at this festive 
 board. I have travelled many miles to be here, and 
 there has never been a more interesting gathering than 
 this very semi-centennial. Upon reading the kind invi- 
 tation of the President my first feeling was that I could 
 not come. After reading his letter further, on the im- 
 portance of my being here, I made up my mind at once; 
 and the consequence is I am now present. 
 
 The President has very kindly mentioned my name in 
 connection with his history of the Company, and it leaves 
 me but very little to say. He has gone over the whole 
 ground ; yet I feel I cannot let this moment pass with- 
 out saying something of my own connection with the 
 Company. As the President has said to you, when quite 
 a youth I was employed by my old friend John Tilford 
 as surveyor of the Company. I served in that capacity 
 four years ; after that time I was made agent of the 
 Company. Since that date the Company has had a con- 
 tinuous agent in the city of Lexington for forty-eight 
 years. 
 
 You will all recollect that in those forty-eight years 
 we have gone through a rebellion. Notwithstanding the 
 city of Lexington was for two months in a state of re- 
 bellion, under the control of some of the Southern Con- 
 federacy, the business of the " Franklin" was continued 
 during that time, so far as the renewals on the books 
 were concerned ; not through any instructions given me 
 by Mr. Bancker, but of my own volition. During the 
 whole time there never was a dollar lost. (Applause.) 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 43 
 
 I take great pleasure in saying that during the whole 
 forty-eight years of my services for the Company, I do 
 not recollect of an unpleasant thing between the Com- 
 pany and myself, either under its old administration or 
 under the present. Everything has been amicably done 
 by us. I have thought sometimes they placed more 
 confidence in me than they should do, for I have had 
 the control of the business in my own section in my 
 own hands. No company has stood higher in that 
 locality than she has for justice, ability, and fairness. 
 During the whole period that I have been agent we 
 have never had but one lawsuit, and that was with a 
 man who had been burned out three times; every one 
 offered to compromise the matter and get rid of it, but 
 he proved unreasonable and went to court. He had a 
 bad lawyer; I think if he had had such counsel as Mr. 
 Biddle he would have fared better. As it was, the jury 
 gave him three hundred dollars less than I had offered 
 him. That is the only legal contest in my local depart- 
 ment of the Company. 
 
 I am happy to say that the Company stands just as 
 high in the estimation of the community as she has ever 
 done ; and I am perfectly satisfied that the " Franklin" 
 will be able to hold on to all the business she has ever 
 had in that region. (Applause.) 
 
 THE PRESIDENT: I next call upon our esteemed agent 
 at Pittsburgh, Mr. J. G. Coffin. 
 
44 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 J. G. COFFIN. 
 
 Mr. President, I had hoped, in the presence of so 
 much learning and ability, you would have excused me 
 from any remarks on this festive occasion. After your 
 own eloquent address and the very interesting remarks, 
 so felicitously expressed, by those who have preceded 
 me, I could not say anything that would be found of in- 
 terest, and would fain give place to others more suited to 
 the task; but having noticed here, as almost every time 
 I have been present at a meeting of underwriters, some 
 things peculiar to the profession, I will mention one 
 such. The Company whose guests we are has made an 
 average dividend of twenty per cent, during its life of 
 fifty years, and this fact is justly counted as one of the 
 evidences of its success and able management; whilst 
 on the opposite side of this festive board sits the honored 
 representative of an older company, that has never made 
 a dividend, and yet it too is esteemed one of eminent 
 success. Who but an underwriter, or one somewhat 
 acquainted with the profession, could understand this 
 seeming anomaly? Thanking you for the honor of a 
 seat at this board on this very pleasant occasion, and 
 knowing my inability to add anything to the enjoyment 
 or pleasure of this exceptionally able presence, I hope 
 you will excuse me from any further remarks. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : The next toast in order is 
 
 "' HOME,' BEAUTIFUL WORD! THE COMPANY THAT BEARS 
 
 SO FITTING A NAME HAS CELEBRATED HER FIRST QUARTER- 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 45 
 
 CENTURY. WE GREET HER WITH WORDS OF GOOD CHEER IN HER 
 ONWARD MARCH TO GREATER SUCCESS," 
 
 which will be responded to by Mr. Charles J. Martin, 
 its President. (Applause.) 
 
 CHARLES J. MARTIN. 
 
 Mr. President, If I had known when you sent me the 
 invitation to be present on this pleasant occasion that 
 I was to be called upon to make any speech, or to re- 
 spond to a toast, I should have hesitated before accept- 
 ing it, and would probably have tried to transfer it to 
 the talking man of my Company, as I am " more a man 
 of deeds than of words." As you very well know your- 
 self, it is necessary for a Company to have connected 
 with it a man that can talk ; and our Second Vice-Presi- 
 dent, Mr. D. A. Heald, as you also very well know, is 
 the talkist of my Company. (Applause.) 
 
 I am very glad to be here to-night, notwithstanding. 
 
 You have made a pleasant reference to my connection 
 with your Company. I was its agent thirty years ago 
 in the city of New York ; and you were pleased to read 
 the result of my agency during the time that I repre- 
 sented the " Franklin ;" and although the figures had 
 passed from my recollection, it is very satisfactory to 
 find them thus noted in your report this evening. 
 
 When I resigned the agency of the " Franklin" I re- 
 gretted it for certain reasons, with which you are par- 
 tially acquainted ; and if those reasons had not existed, 
 so that the relations might have continued, I cannot but 
 
46 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 believe that the New York agency of the " Franklin" 
 would have proved even a grander success. You made 
 one little mistake in your report in regard to my sliding 
 at once into the " Home," for there was an intervening 
 period of three years before the " Home" was organized, 
 during which I was the secretary of another company. 
 
 You have honored my Company with your toast. 
 The " Home" has had its first quarter-century's career, 
 and you, Mr. President, personally, as one of its share- 
 holders, have a copy of the record, which shows satisfac- 
 tory results, notwithstanding the heavy draft upon its 
 resources by the two greatest conflagrations which have 
 visited this continent. 
 
 I would say a word in regard to the " Home" and the 
 " Franklin" which is of interest to both. The name of 
 my Company had been adopted before I accepted the 
 secretaryship, and when I saw it announced in the papers 
 that there was to be a Home Insurance Company organ- 
 ized, I thought it was a singular name for a fire insurance 
 company, and rather a tame one too. But I soon found 
 it to be a very popular name, for Home Insurance Com- 
 panies grew up, or tried to grow up, all over the country, 
 some of them hoping to profit by the prestige the name 
 had already gained in one instance ; but ill success fol- 
 lowed many of these attempts, and most of our name- 
 sakes have since gone into oblivion. I claim that there 
 is but one " Home Insurance Company." And so it has 
 been, and is, with your Company. The Franklin In- 
 surance Company of Philadelphia is the Franklin In- 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 47 
 
 surance Company of the country. We have had two in 
 New York: one burned up in 1835 legitimately and 
 honorably in the great fire of that year, and one com- 
 menced a few years since, and after a hard struggle has 
 just gone out of existence; and I know there are many 
 more of the same name elsewhere. I want to congrat- 
 ulate ourselves, however, that there can be but one 
 "Home" and one "Franklin" in the true sense, believing 
 that attempts to borrow the name of a successful insti- 
 tution as a prestige of success ought to fail, and will fail. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 I am very much gratified to meet you, Mr. President 
 and gentlemen, and particularly to see and hear these 
 venerable men, whose presence honors this company to- 
 night, some of whom I have long known by reputation, 
 and some I have met in years past. There is one thing 
 that especially attracted my notice this evening : from 
 the remarks made in connection with the history of the 
 Company, it seems to have been a good thing for those 
 who desire long life to be directors of the Franklin Fire 
 Insurance Company, for of the departed ones referred to 
 in your report I was particularly struck with the fact of 
 the large proportion who had reached into the eighties 
 and nineties ; and then look at these octogenarians, or 
 nearly so, who are left, and who support you on either 
 hand! The younger members of your Board may thus 
 look forward to the ripened years they may hope to 
 reach, and to the duties and responsibilities of the next 
 twenty-five or fifty years. And we will trust that they 
 
48 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 may bear the banner in the future as successfully as their 
 elders have in the past, so that when the next quarter- 
 century or "the Centennial" is celebrated they may be 
 here filling these honored places. 
 
 And I am glad to meet my venerable friend over there 
 on your right, Mr. Richard Smith, the venerable Presi- 
 dent of " The Union," whom I have not seen for twenty- 
 five or thirty years, and who is now one of the veteran 
 underwriters of the country. 
 
 Although so much the junior of many now in this 
 room, I am one of the oldest fire underwriters. There 
 is, I believe, but one now in the business who antedates 
 me in the business of fire insurance in this country. 
 
 It would give me pleasure to say more if I thought I 
 could interest you, but, as I said before, I am not a man 
 of words so much as of deeds. (Applause.) 
 
 THE PRESIDENT: We now pass back to J75.2, .and 
 propose : 
 
 "THE PHILADELPHIA CONTRIBUTIONSHIP." 
 
 It will be responded to by Jas. Somers Smith, Esq., its 
 executive officer. 
 
 JAMES SOMERS SMITH. 
 
 Mr. President, In rising to respond to that toast I 
 have to remark, I am very sorry the arrangement was 
 changed from what you originally intended, which was 
 that the representative of that Company should remain 
 seated. To be put upon my feet is, for me, to be placed 
 
, 
 
 ( 
 
 , 
 
 FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. . 
 
 Wo,. '*<" 
 
 in an unnatural position. I am here as the " Old 
 Fogy," representing the oldest fire insurance company in 
 America, _ancL feel very much out of place when called 
 upon to make a speech, for three reasons : first, I belong 
 to the family of Smiths, who have the reputation of being 
 extremely modest ; then, they generally are not orators, 
 although my uncle Richard S. Smith is a bright excep- 
 tion ; and lastly, you have " a chiel amang . ye takin' 
 notes," and I fear he will " print them." 
 
 I was very much struck with one fact, brought out in 
 the President's address, with reference to the origin of 
 " The Franklin." Their first meeting took place at " Ru- 
 bicam's," the best eating-house existing in Philadelphia 
 fifty years ago, and Mr. Dutilh will tell you there was 
 never a better place to dine in this city; and all here 
 agree with me in approving of the continuance of that 
 custom. 
 
 I have been much enlightened by the information re- 
 ceived here to-day, and am sorry I cannot impart wisdom 
 to you myself. The Company I represent never had an 
 agent, and when I look around me and see all these 
 gentlemen who have contributed to the success of the 
 " Franklin," I feel I ought to have stayed away. I have 
 been connected with insurance since 1853. A better 
 man for the business never existed than the late Charles 
 N. Bancker. He was the father of insurance by agents, 
 and was the originator of many matters beneficial to its 
 interests, and which have resulted, as Mr. Baker has 
 shown us, in the Company's paying most excellent divi- 
 
 7 
 
$0 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 dends. The Company I represent has never paid a cent 
 in that way. They are purely mutual, for the perpetual 
 insurance of brick or stone buildings in Philadelphia. 
 They started with names of eminent citizens as signers 
 of their Deed of Settlement, among whom was Benjamin 
 Franklin, who was the first elected director. They placed 
 badges of four hands on all buildings insured. In those 
 days fires were extinguished with leather fire-buckets 
 and small hand-engines ; and as trees in front of houses 
 interfered with application of water, the Company 
 charged an additional deposit for each tree. More than 
 thirty years afterwards in 1784 The Mutual Assur- 
 ance Company commenced business, and not objecting 
 to trees, the badge adopted by them was a green tree. 
 
 In conclusion, I would remark that representing, a 
 Company that is one hundred and twenty-seven years 
 old, I am delighted to see the success that has attended 
 the one now celebrating its semi-centennial. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : The next toast would have been re- 
 sponded to by David Lewis, Secretary and Treasurer, 
 
 "THE MUTUAL ASSURANCE OF 1783." 
 
 In his absence I have brought to this gathering a policy, 
 which I own, issued by the " Green Tree." 
 
 The " Green Tree" took its name, I believe, because 
 the old Hand-in-Hand, which Mr. Smith represents, 
 were such old fogies they would not insure a house with 
 any trees around it, because they attracted the light- 
 ning ; and also because water could not be thrown over 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 5 j 
 
 the trees and put out the fire with the hand-engines 
 then in use. Therefore in 1784 competition came in, 
 and the Mutual Assurance Company was started to be 
 more liberal in its policy. The name of " Green Tree" 
 attached to the Company from the above reasons, and 
 it still continues to be so known. 
 
 This policy was written in the year 1804, February 
 15, No. 1765. It is very different from the policies of 
 the present day, for it has only one condition : " Pro- 
 vided, and it is hereby declared, that this policy shall not 
 take effect or be binding if the said house, &c., be now or 
 hereafter insured in any other office, unless the same shall be 
 allowed of by the trustees of this office, and specified on the 
 back of this policy" That was independence ! They 
 would have no competition in those days. I do not 
 know whether they would allow the Philadelphia Con- 
 tributionship to be on a risk with them as co-insurers. 
 
 There is another singular thing about this old policy. 
 It is issued to "Philip Odenheimer, on a two-story dwel- 
 ling-house, on the south side of Sassafras Street, between 
 Fourth and Fifth, as per survey No. 725. On the house, 
 $700; on the back building, $700; stables and slaughter- 
 house, $600. Total, $2000 at 3 J^ per cent. Policy and in- 
 cidental expenses, $6." That is ahead of modern charges. 
 
 The next date we arrive at is 1794. In that year two 
 prominent Philadelphia companies had their birth; there 
 is some doubt which was born first in that year. As 
 Mr. Platt has sent us his toast, accompanying his regret, 
 and as Mr. H. D. Sherrerd used to be connected with 
 
$2 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 the Insurance Company of North America in an official 
 capacity, it is to be hoped he will respond for both. 
 These two companies are the Insurance Company of 
 the State of Pennsylvania and the Insurance Company 
 of North America, both organized in 1794. Mr. Henry 
 D. Sherrerd, a relic of the last century, 
 
 MR. BIDDLE. 
 
 Which is the relic, the Company or Mr. Sherrerd? 
 
 HENRY D. SHERRERD. 
 
 I apprehend our friend has but one meaning ; every 
 one can understand that. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, Speaking is not in my 
 line. (Laughter.) You may laugh as much as you 
 please, but that is a fact ; it is a truism that cannot be 
 controverted. (Laughter.) I am in this fix, and when I 
 look back a period of fifty years that this magnificent 
 Franklin Company has been in existence, it is sublime to 
 think of it through all the trials and incidents of that 
 half-century ; that we see it here to-day in such a state 
 of prosperity that we can predicate from its past history 
 that another fifty years it will be entirely out of sight. 
 I mean to say their prosperity will be so great in that 
 time that all then living will be congratulating them, as 
 we now do. 
 
 From 1682 the year that our city was founded, sur- 
 veyed, and regulated until 1752, a period of seventy 
 years, there does not appear to have been an Incorpora- 
 tion having for its object the business of protecting the 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, 53 
 
 community from losses consequent upon the ravages of 
 fire. During that long period there were private Insur- 
 ers, or Underwriters, who underwrote marine hazards, 
 but the people were apparently satisfied to run their 
 own fire risks. The incorporation of the Philadelphia 
 Contributionship (Hand-in-Hand), in 1752, was the first 
 effort to introduce into the city what of late years has 
 been so essential for protection and indemnification from 
 losses by fire. At that time, the population was esti- 
 mated to be about 20,000. In 1784, The Mutual As- 
 surance (Green Tree) Company was incorporated, the 
 first rival and only competitor of the Contributionship. 
 These two Companies had the field to themselves until 
 1794, when the Insurance Company of North America 
 and the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylva- 
 nia were incorporated, the former with a capital of 
 $600,000 and the latter with a capital of $500,000. 
 Both Companies were privileged to transact a Fire, 
 Marine, and Inland Transportation business. The two 
 corporations doing business prior to 1794 were organ- 
 ized on the mutual plan, while those two which com- 
 menced to issue policies in that year were stock corpo- 
 rations. We will skip over a period of forty-three years, 
 and in 1837 we f^d seventeen local companies in good 
 standing, transacting the insurance business : 
 
 Marine and Fire 2 
 
 Marine exclusively 7 
 
 Perpetual Fire 2 
 
 Fire exclusively ...... 6 
 
 17 
 
54 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 Among the latter, the name of the Franklin occupies an 
 honored place for reliability. Permit me to say, that in 
 this year of grace we have more insurance capital and 
 assets in this goodly city of Brotherly Love than is 
 requisite for its wants, viz. : 
 
 Capital. Assets. 
 
 29 Local companies . . . $7,333,100 $28,992,719.43 
 In addition to these there are 139 
 
 agencies of companies located 
 
 outside the city .... 84,272,851.00 
 
 Showing aggregate of assets . $113,265,570.43 
 
 Mr. President, if you will allow me, I will speak of 
 some of the peculiarities of the insurance business in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 I have stated elsewhere that insurance was without 
 music or poetry, a proposition to which I have no doubt 
 you will agree with me. Nevertheless, I am in posses- 
 sion of a bill of lading with an old Dutch galiot for a 
 vignette, which reads, " Shipped by the Grace of God by 
 Geo. Fox and James Thomas, of Philadelphia, on board 
 the good ship ' Marmaid' [it is to be presumed that she 
 was a sloop] four boxes of soape bound to Barbadoes," 
 terminating with the pious hope, " and so God send the 
 good ship to her desired port in safety, bearing date ye 
 9th mo., pth, 1696," one hundred and eighty-two years 
 ago. A peculiarity of this bill of lading is that it is 
 signed by " Robert Grymes," the master. The fame of 
 this good old man has been celebrated in song and 
 story as long back as the memory of man runneth ; and 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 
 
 55 
 
 it is satisfactory to know that he pursued the respectable 
 though perilous calling of an ancient mariner. So you 
 will perceive that there is some connection between ma- 
 rine insurance and both music and poetry. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I have nothing further to say 
 except to express the wish that in the future the pros- 
 perity of the Company may, if possible, exceed the 
 past, and that its Officers and Directors may always 
 serve it with integrity and fidelity in years to come as 
 they have in those gone by. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : The toast next in order is, 
 "THE UNION, OF PHILADELPHIA, 1804." 
 
 To be responded to by Richard S. Smith, its President; 
 and I wish to remark that I esteem it a great compliment 
 that a gentleman who will be ninety years of age if he 
 lives until next August is now with us to-day, and graces 
 our table. (Applause.) 
 
 RICHARD S. SMITH. 
 
 Gentlemen, I cannot say much, except that I do feel 
 proud to be so kindly noticed by this Company. I have 
 nothing to say worthy your attention, except, perhaps, 
 some experiences of my early youth. 
 
 One of the gentlemen has mentioned having been 
 present at the funeral procession of General Washing- 
 ton. I was also there, and that before I was twenty-one 
 years of age, when I was sent abroad with a ship and 
 cargo worth a hundred thousand dollars. There were 
 
5 6 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 many things connected with that passage that were 
 quite interesting. There was danger of our vessel being 
 captured, and I had to discharge her cargo in Gotten- 
 berg in Sweden. We had no consul there, and although 
 the youngest man among them, they elected me consul. 
 I presume it was because I had been wise enough to go 
 into a Swedish family and had acquired the language in 
 one year. It was of no pecuniary advantage to me, but 
 it took me into all the best society. Every vessel that 
 came into port had to present her papers to me as 
 consul. As the quarantine was in practice at that time, I 
 received the papers of the schooner " Champion," which 
 had cleared from New York to Eastport, Maine. I had, 
 when Madison's message was delivered, in 1811, written 
 a letter to my father in which that message was very 
 severely criticised, as he ignored all the wrongs we were 
 suffering from France ; for I had examples of our ves- 
 sels being caught out by French cruisers, which were 
 condemned without giving them any chance at all. Pres- 
 ident Madison never dwelt upon this fact in any way. 
 
 I imagined when this vessel came in there that war 
 had been declared, for here was a small vessel which 
 had cleared for Eastport, Maine, in a Swedish port. 
 Therefore, I got a boat, took my consular certificate 
 along with me, went down from the wharf, and the 
 quarantine master passed it up to the captain. I said, 
 " Captain, what brought you here ?" He said, " I came 
 out on a confidential errand, and I cannot talk about it." 
 I supposed he did not want to talk before the old 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 57 
 
 Swede. I asked him to let me put him on a rock, and 
 I rowed the boat out myself alongside, and then said to 
 him, " Now, captain, if you have some more important 
 information which affects the interests of your owners, 
 remember that other Americans have the same interest 
 to defend, and I think you ought to let me know it." 
 He said, " I tell you I cannot talk." I said, " Do you 
 see that convoy that lays there, an English convoy, 
 waiting for a wind ? There are thirty or forty sail of 
 your country in that convoy, and, if I comprehend the 
 state of affairs, the admiral will capture every one 
 within four and twenty hours." He then said war had 
 been declared on the 1 8th of June. 
 
 I hastened up to town and called the Americans to- 
 gether. Many were the captains of these vessels, and 
 they were scared out of their wits. However, they 
 wrote circulars which were taken down and distributed 
 among these ships, and before daylight they were under 
 the Swedish batteries, and there was a great inquiry as 
 to what had got into the Yankees. 
 
 Soon after that I started to go home, and had to go 
 by the way of England. When I arrived in London I 
 heard of the capture of General Hull and his American 
 army that had surrendered in Canada. After my return 
 home I did not go into business until 1815. In 1830 I 
 was elected a Director of the Union Insurance Company, 
 where I have been ever since ; it will be fifty years next 
 January. Then I was elected President in 1837, so that 
 my insurance experience has been a pretty long one. 
 
 8 
 
^ 8 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 I do not know that I have much more to say, except 
 that I am a pretty old fellow. (Applause.) 
 
 THE PRESIDENT: " The American Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany, 1810." Mr. Thomas R. Maris sent his regrets. 
 
 " The Fire Association, 1820." Mr. A. Loudon Snow- 
 den sent an acceptance, but for some unknown reason is 
 not present.* 
 
 "The Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company, 1825." 
 A regret was also received from its President, Mr. John 
 Devereux. 
 
 A very modest gentleman is on my left. He is not a 
 man of words ; he has held a very responsible position 
 in Philadelphia for very many years as President of the 
 Pennsylvania Life and Annuity Company. I propose 
 the health of Charles Dutilh, who was secretary of the 
 first meeting held by the stockholders of the Franklin 
 Fire Insurance Company. 
 
 CHARLES DUTILH. 
 
 I am very thankful to you, gentlemen, for drinking to 
 my health, but being no speaker you must excuse me 
 from making any remarks. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : I see sitting down at the end of the 
 table a gentleman that I am associated with in another 
 walk of life, in a board of directors in which he is my 
 president, viz., Commercial National Bank. I wish to 
 
 * Sudden indisposition kept Mr. Snowden absent. 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 59 
 
 say that Mr. Claghorn has done a great deal for the city 
 of Philadelphia in many ways, but especially as the 
 patron of art. I give as a toast 
 
 "THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS: ITS PRESIDENT, 
 JAMES L. CLAGHORN." 
 
 JAMES L. CLAGHORN. 
 
 Gentlemen, I only rise to acknowledge the compli- 
 ment paid me by the President in his reference to my 
 connection with the Academy of Fine Arts. This is the 
 second occasion on which he has chosen to refer to me 
 in connection with art, and I acknowledge it in this brief 
 manner, as I am a man of deeds rather than words. As 
 a large portion of my life has been devoted to business, 
 I have of course come much in contact with insurance 
 companies; and with three of the older companies, the 
 Franklin, Insurance Company of North America, and 
 Green Tree, which I have known almost from child- 
 hood, my associations have been very close with them 
 and their officers. 
 
 HENRY C. CAREY. 
 
 I propose, as a fitting tribute, that we now drink the 
 health of the Vice-President of the Company, James W. 
 McAllister. 
 
 JAMES w. MCALLISTER. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, I thank you for the 
 compliment tendered, and express much inward gratifi- 
 cation that the venerable ex-President, Mr. Carey, should 
 
6o SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 have offered so courteous a toast. Two days hence I 
 will have completed my twenty-sixth year of service in 
 this institution. On the 2/th of June, 1853, I com- 
 menced my duties as a subordinate clerk. Since that 
 time the changes have been varied and great in truth, as 
 my mind recalls the doings of more than a quarter of a 
 century. Mr. Baker has so thoroughly covered the 
 history of the corporation it leaves me but little to say, 
 unless I refer to the changes that have taken place within 
 my memory. 
 
 Of all the members of the Board of Directors in office 
 in 1853 but one, Mr. Isaac Lea, remains. All the officers 
 I found there have passed away ; an entirely new set of 
 men have taken their places. During this time, how- 
 ever, the corporation has remained the same as regards 
 its reliability and prominence. The methods of doing 
 business have entirely changed ; in fact, were it possible 
 for some of the old officers to come back, they would 
 hardly know how to proceed. The men and the times 
 have changed, the fire hazard is greater, the system of 
 putting out fires has changed, as also the ways of setting 
 places on fire have increased very materially. The only 
 two persons I can call to mind, except Mr. Lea, in con- 
 nection with the Franklin in 1853, and who are still with 
 us, are the counsel of the Company, Messrs. Eli K. Price 
 and George W. Biddle. From early youth to manhood, 
 therefore, my life, in its every-day duties, has been linked 
 in closest ties with this Company; and as I look back over 
 the many changes that I have seen in my time, how little 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 6 1 
 
 did I think, over twenty-five years ago, that a day would 
 come when I should be called to fill the chair once occu- 
 pied by my steadfast friend, my honored predecessor, 
 George Fales ! 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : I now call upon one of the directors 
 to respond to the toast, 
 
 "THE MERCANTILE INTERESTS OF THE CITY OF PHILADEL- 
 PHIA:" 
 
 Colonel R. Dale Benson. 
 
 R. DALE BENSON. 
 
 Mr. President, I was complimented by you in being a 
 member of the committee of arrangements in the cele- 
 bration of the semi-centennial of the Franklin Fire In- 
 surance Company, but I do not remember of anything 
 being said about my being called upon to respond to any 
 toast. I will, however, say a few words in response to 
 the sentiment. 
 
 It has given me a great deal of pleasure to listen to 
 the reminiscences of the last half-century, and I must 
 confess to the feeling of being somewhat appalled with 
 a sense of the responsibility which must rest upon the 
 rising generation. And representing that element in the 
 Franklin directorship, I can only say it is our duty to do 
 all we can to continue the same conservative course in 
 future years as has marked its past career. 
 
 In responding to " The Mercantile Interests of Phila- 
 delphia," as a young representative of the merchants of 
 
62 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 this great city, I take great pleasure in stating that I 
 believe as a class they have no superior in their con- 
 servative methods of doing business and in the matter 
 of their credit in the marts of the world, and it may be 
 well questioned whether they have been surpassed any- 
 where for energy of character. In these respects it is to 
 be doubted whether they are outranked in America or in 
 the Old World. 
 
 How closely allied the mercantile and insurance in- 
 terests are it would be needless to argue in this presence, 
 nor is it necessary to say that the mercantile interests 
 have found the necessity of availing themselves of the 
 protection of the insurance companies. You are all 
 familiar with the details of these facts. The merchants 
 of Philadelphia patronize to a very large extent the com- 
 panies of our own city. They have been taught by ex- 
 perience to feel confidence in and put their trust in them. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : I have a toast here to 
 
 "THE Loss DEPARTMENT, A NECESSARY EVIL. THE LESS IT 
 
 HAS TO DO THE MORE THE PROFIT," 
 
 and call upon General Agent Blodget to respond. 
 
 AMOS C. BLODGET. 
 
 Mr. President, If I understand the toast, the Loss 
 Department is a necessary evil. I do not see it. Insur- 
 ance companies were organized to pay losses, and the 
 loss department cannot therefore be a necessary evil. 
 Those who have addressed you here to-night, older in 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 63 
 
 experience than I am, tell you that it is one of the bright- 
 est jewels in the crown of an insurance company that it 
 has been able, from its organization, through its entire 
 existence, to meet justly and equitably the demands 
 made upon its treasury. That the man himself at the 
 head of the loss department may be a necessary evil, or 
 an evil of some kind, may be a debatable question, but if 
 the loss department is a necessary evil it is also a neces- 
 sary requisite, and I submit that proposition to every- 
 body who holds a policy of insurance. Properly man- 
 aged, indeed, all the leading companies of the land 
 to-day, without exception, find it necessary, not only 
 from the magnitude of their business, to have a loss 
 department, but find it necessary to have at the head of 
 it a necessary evil. 
 
 I see Mr. Martin smile. I know it is no new experi- 
 ment with his company or with many others. It is not 
 an evil. We must have an organization to pay losses ; 
 and to pay dividends, if we can. I have heard here to- 
 night, for the first time in my life, that companies have 
 been organized not to pay dividends. I suppose such 
 companies are purely mutual ; but they must have of 
 necessity a loss department, and they do not consider it 
 a necessary evil. Let somebody move to strike out that 
 " it is a necessary evil" so as to give me an opportunity 
 to talk about the loss department. It is hard to talk as 
 it stands. 
 
 I will not, however, detain you upon a dry subject at 
 this late hour. I have nothing to say that would interest 
 
64 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 you, and it would not certainly interest me. To con- 
 sider losses is my daily duty, a subject that would be 
 devoid of interest at such an hour and to such a gather- 
 ing. The proceedings of this evening have greatly im- 
 pressed me, for I have learned much from the President's 
 address of which hitherto I was ignorant. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT : We have a new-comer to our board, 
 the latest member. I have been puzzled to know what 
 toast to give him. Turning it over in my mind, and 
 knowing that he is able to speak for himself on all occa- 
 sions, and to write his mind clearly, it has seemed very 
 proper that he should respond to the toast of 
 
 "WOMAN." 
 
 My friend Derr, if I offer that toast and ask you to stand 
 up and say a few words in favor of " Woman," will you 
 do it ? Therefore, gentlemen, we will say " Woman," to 
 be responded to by Thompson Derr, of Wilkesbarre. 
 
 THOMPSON DERR. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, The subject of the toast 
 to which I am called to respond should have been dele- 
 gated to our worthy President, as a party whom I have 
 heard discuss it in his most eloquent style on a former 
 occasion. Women, our mothers and sisters, your wives 
 and daughters, of whom we should all be proud as the 
 conservators of our morals; whose beauty in youth is 
 admired by all, and whose advice in old age is a means 
 of doing good beyond the calculation of the most san- 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. 65 
 
 guine. Who can look upon a pure woman except to 
 revere her as the climax of the work carried out by Him 
 who created all that is good ? 
 
 THE PRESIDENT: There was placed before me during 
 the progress of the dinner a very handsome floral tribute. 
 It came very unexpectedly. I knew nothing of it. It 
 bears the card, " Compliments of the Clerks of the Frank- 
 lin," and the name, " Franklin, 1829-1879," very beauti- 
 fully worked in raised flowers. Such a compliment has 
 touched me nearly. While the employees of this Com- 
 pany have also enjoyed themselves in an adjoining room, 
 this unlooked-for testimonial marked their kind intents. 
 I accept these flowers as the typical emblem of their 
 feeling this very day towards their President. It is 
 beautiful in its character, and I have felt in a double 
 sense, as my eye has continuously fallen on those 
 flowers, that there is something, as Mr. Biddle has very 
 truthfully remarked, in friendship over and above the 
 cold business relations of every-day life. It will ever be 
 a green spot in my memory to think that the clerks thus 
 kindly remembered the man that was the head executive 
 of the Institution that furnished them and their families 
 their livelihood. 
 
 Gentlemen, it is something to think that independent 
 of a corporation being a copartnership merely to make 
 money for its stockholders, it furnishes a livelihood ; it 
 gives bread and butter to hundreds of those who are con- 
 nected with it in its various ramifications. There is no 
 
 9 
 
66 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE 
 
 gentleman at this table who can appreciate that idea 
 better to-day than the President of the Home Insurance 
 Company. These are not words of flattery. During a 
 visit to New York City a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Mar- 
 tin asked me if I would lunch with the officers about one 
 o'clock in their new and beautiful quarters in the Boreel 
 Building on Broadway. We were taken in an elevator 
 up six stories, where the inner man of all their employ- 
 ees is looked after during office-hours. The officers had 
 their special dining-room, while the clerks had their 
 own particular apartment also. They had their own 
 small tables, came up in corps or detachments, and 
 when their time ended another set came up with mili- 
 tary precision. 
 
 Our office is not probably as large as that, although 
 within the building we have some thirty souls, officers 
 and employees, attending every day to their appointed 
 work. We are all component parts of a great commu- 
 nity, and to the credit of no single man is to be placed 
 the success of the corporation. I repeat, this is a beau- 
 tiful tribute, and something never to be forgotten. 
 
 HENRY D. SHERRERD. 
 
 I propose the health and continued prosperity of the 
 Company, and those who are represented by this beau- 
 tiful dish of flowers. 
 
 GUSTAVUS S. BENSON. 
 
 Like my friend Sherrerd, I am no talkist. (Laugh- 
 
FRANKLIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. fy 
 
 ter.) I would have come even if I had known I was to 
 have been called on to talk. What I rise to say is, it 
 is very rarely in nature that a fact is produced without 
 a cause. If we hear of an earthquake we are pretty well 
 assured that away down in the bowels of the earth there 
 are forces and moving principles that cause the great 
 upheaval which we call an earthquake. 
 
 Our President says this beautiful testimonial touched 
 him nearly ; it touched me quite. I think it was an 
 evidence of a very just appreciation of what is a very 
 prominent characteristic of the President of this Com- 
 pany. I believe I have noticed it ever since I have 
 been in the office, that where a man does his duty 
 promptly, efficiently, industriously, there is not a man 
 on earth that he could more safely trust with his friend- 
 ship than the President of the "Franklin." I say nothing 
 about the abilities of our chief officer, for we all know 
 them. But there is an undercurrent to all this, a senti- 
 ment of good feeling that these clerks have. It is that 
 that has prompted them to make this testimonial to- 
 night, and I therefore propose a health to President 
 Baker, with glasses full to the brim. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Gentlemen, In responding to both Mr. Sherrerd's 
 and Mr. Benson's kind words, it must be known to all I 
 have been talking a great deal this evening, and I will 
 remark that there is an old saying that " on their own 
 merits modest men are dumb." When you all rise from 
 
68 SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 your seats to drink my health, all that which is within 
 me naturally responds to the compliment tendered. 
 
 I am now entering, as you well know, the second 
 decade of my services as President of this Company. 
 Where we will be, how many of us will sit around the 
 Franklin table at its sixtieth anniversary, no man can 
 tell, no living being can even conjecture. The 
 youngest is sometimes taken first. This is not a time 
 to be sad ; it is the moment of mirth and congratula- 
 tion. Thanking you for what you have said and done, 
 and responding to all of your courtesies so freely 
 offered, I can only borrow in conclusion words from 
 Longfellow's most beautiful " Psalm of Life :" 
 
 " NOT ENJOYMENT AND NOT SORROW 
 
 IS OUR DESTINED END OR WAY; 
 BUT TO ACT THAT EACH TO-MORROW 
 
 FINDS US FARTHER THAN TO-DAY." (Applause.) 
 
DINNER OF THE CLERKS. 
 
 IN response to an invitation of the President and 
 Board of Directors, the clerks met together in an ad- 
 jacent room at Augustin's the same day at five o'clock. 
 The full force was present, without exception. JOSEPH 
 W. FLICKWIR occupied the chair. Shortly after being 
 seated, the floral tribute, which had been prepared under 
 the supervision of a committee, was submitted for in- 
 spection, unanimously approved as appropriate and 
 emblematic, and sent in to the President with a neat 
 card bearing the inscription, " Compliments of the Clerks 
 of the Franklin." 
 
 Formal speech-making was not indulged in. Several 
 toasts were, however, offered, which were received with 
 the honor they merited, viz., 
 
 " THE HEALTH OF THE PRESIDENT AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS," 
 
 and 
 
 "SUCCESS FOREVER TO THE OLD FRANKLIN." 
 
 Several stories, full of humor, and numerous anec- 
 dotes were the source of much merriment. 
 
 When the hour to part came, every one felt that the 
 gathering had been a happy one, and that a few de- 
 lightful hours had been passed in commemorating the 
 " Golden Anniversary of the Old Franklin." 
 
 " WHEN LIFE is OLD, AND MANY A SCENE FORGOT, 
 
 THE HEART WILL HOLD ITS MEMORY OF THIS HOUR." 
 
 69 
 
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