I, Isabel Hardwick, being the wife of James Hardwick of Upper Merion Township in the State of Pennsylvania, being of sufficient age and of sound mind, have taken up my pen at ten o’clock in the forenoon, on this third day of December in the Year of our Lord 1813, and desire thereby to record the matters following.
I was born Isabel Johnstone on the fourth day of June in the year 1788, in the early evening, less than an hour after the sun had set, to Ezra and Mary Johnstone of Upper Merion Township in the State of Pennsylvania. I was married to my husband in 1806. In that same year, after my marriage, my father came to me on behalf of his employer, Jacob van Eyck, who lived close by in Upper Merion Township. I was well acquainted with Mr van Eyck, as my father had served him as his bailiff on his lands along the Schuylkill River and elsewhere for many years, and I had been in his presence many times. My father explained that Mr van Eyck, being now of more advanced years, and having no wife or children left alive to minister to him, had need of a companion to assist him in carrying on his domestic and business tasks, in return for which he would make some small payment as his means permitted. My father explained, though I already well knew, as it was generally known, that Mr van Eyck’s estate was much diminished by reason of his generous sustenance of General Washington’s army while it was encamped hard against his lands during the bitterly cold winter before he proceeded victoriously against the enemy.
With the consent of my husband, I agreed to assist Mr van Eyck, to his benefit, as I was able to perform many household tasks on his behalf, and also to accompany him when he left home, as he was already somewhat frail, though less so than he was to become. My employment also brought me great benefits, not greatly on account of my wages, which as my father had foretold, were modest, but on account of his generosity in other ways. Mr van Eyck took it upon himself, with my consent, to school me. My parents had never done so, it not being the custom of our community generally to school girls, no purpose, according to the general opinion, being served thereby. But because of Mr van Eyck’s generosity with his time, I was instructed in reading and writing, in arithmetic, in the positions, transits, and retrograde motions of the planets, in the keeping of accounts, and in many other matters of business. This instruction, which I have passed on to my own daughters, has benefitted them as much as myself, and enriched my life more than higher wages could ever have enriched it.
In the summer of the Year of our Lord 1810, Mr van Eyck, who had by now become very frail, desired of me that I should accompany him to Philadelphia, which, with the consent of my husband, I undertook to do. Mr van Eyck had by this time entrusted me with many confidences regarding his affairs. He had confided to me that the cause of his penury was indeed his most generous support for General Washington, which was evidenced by certain papers supplied to him by Congress, recording the amount of his benevolence and the terms on which he was to be repaid. He had been unsuccessful concerning the repayment due to him, no gold being available to repay such a large amount. Mr van Eyck further confided in me that some years earlier, I know not when – he was not specific on this score – in accordance with certain advice offered to him by General Washington, he had personally carried some sixteen such papers to the loan office in Philadelphia. He carried with them a letter asserting that General Washington was much interested in his being recompensed and proposed to assist him with respect to the same, though whether the General had himself written the letter, or whether Mr van Eyck had written it, I no longer remember, nay, I doubt that Mr van Eyck was specific on that score. The official with whom he then dealt required him to deposit the papers and the letter with the office, assuring him that suitable inquiries would be made of the Treasury, and causing him to hope that payment would be forthcoming. However, he received no payment, neither were his papers or the letter ever returned to him, the loan officers later in place, upon his making further inquiry of the office, denying all knowledge thereof.
Now, Mr van Eyck, having written many letters to the Treasury in the intervening years, to no avail, and feeling that his time to redress his grievances was drawing short, proposed to return to the loan office to press his case. I asked whether it might not be to his advantage to secure the services of an attorney, but he determined to make the effort himself, whether by reason of his penury, or of his personal desire, I know not. It was a most arduous journey, since although it was not one of truly great distance he was not strong enough to travel in haste, and suffered great pain in his bones, and we were obliged to pass a night in an inn. The loan office was in operation yet, though other government business was now also conducted there, the business of the war loans being by that time no doubt largely concluded. Mr van Eyck was courteously received, but once again his intervention was in vain. Plain it was that whatever papers he had delivered to the office, years before, had been conveyed to Washington, but their whereabouts were no longer known. Mr van Eyck was greatly affected by this development, after which it appeared to me that he ceased to entertain any hope of being repaid.
Upon his return home, Mr van Eyck made of me a most confidential request, a matter on which I was to speak to no one. He entrusted me with the custody of two-and-twenty papers, and charged me to deliver them to his Brother, who had agreed to take custody of them until such time as the Government should agree to deal with them, in circumstances in which they would assuredly be preserved and their provenance proved. I agreed to perform the task he had asked of me, and delivered the said papers to his Brother in Philadelphia at eleven o’clock in the forenoon on the fourth day of September in the Year of our Lord 1810. No acknowledgement of the delivery was provided or requested, Mr Van Eyck having full confidence in the benevolence of his Brother in this regard.
Now, Mr van Eyck being deceased, and believing that he would have released me from the obligation of confidence I then undertook, I have made this record, so that it may be known what was done with respect to his papers, and so that in due course his fortune may be restored to his heirs, if not to Mr van Eyck himself, when the Treasury shall be able to do so. However, I will keep this record in a secure place, and speak to no one about it unless it clearly appears that some benefit will accrue thereby to Mr van Eyck’s heirs. In the event of my approaching death, if no opportunity shall have arisen to put this record forward in advantageous circumstances, I will entrust it to the custody of a person in whom I have the greatest confidence, on whom I may rely to ensure that the record is preserved and used when the time shall most favourably present itself.
I declare that this record is true and correct in all points.
Isabel Hardwick, née Johnstone
Dated this third day of December 1813