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Philadelphia


RichardB

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Non-Sheffield but strangely Sheffield also ...

Earliest reference to Philadelphia district in Sheffield ?

Definition/borders/maps of Philadelphia, Sheffield ?

Earliest known residents ? occupations ? homes/addresses/names ?

The question will, at least, provide amusement for someone, but, I'm really interested in any answers ... sent the questions to USA friends also - the word history had to be quite fully defined mind you ...

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Yes this one is in the mists of time. The religous connections of the term "Philadephia" are widely known

"Philedelphia or brotherly love is tied up with the Friends/Quakers

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.x.viii.html

http://thorn.pair.com/earlyq.htm.

However this being Sheffield in the early C19th,I think I may have a more suitable explanation. If you accept the "Phil" part as relating to either the church (St Philips - Infirmary Road) or previous owner of the land,there is what is known as a delf.

Webster's 1913 dictionary defines

"Delf (?), n. [AS. delf a delving, digging. See Delve.] A mine; a quarry; a pit dug; a ditch. [Written also delft, and delve.] [Obs.] "

As the area is adjacent t'river Don I would favour this explanation regarding the origins of the term as opposed to the "brotherly love" line of reasoning

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I have an ancestor (female), Sheffield-based but born in Philadelphia, USA (1830's) - lived down near Dixon's on Green Lane - hence the interest.

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My feeling is that the name probably derives from its American namesake.

*

Which came first, Philadelpia the district or the Philadelphia Steel Works. The latter already existed when the Butcher brothers moved into it in the mid 19th century (Tweedale - The Sheffield Knife Book)

I found this at A2A:

Sheffield Archives: ARCHIVES OF THE SHEFFIELD TOWN TRUSTEES

FILE - Assignment of a lease and a release from a legacy - ref. TT/120/3 - date: 2 Jan 1827

[from Scope and Content] James Goulden, of Islington, co. Middx., builder, a son and legatee under TT/120/2, to Thomas Goulden, of Philadelphia, near Sheffield, gent., a son and legatee under TT/120/2. Interest in the leasehold premises as TT/120/1 and release from legacy under TT/120/2. For £350.

Also:

Sheffield Archives: Royal Infirmary, Sheffield

Estate: surveys and valuations - ref. NHS17/2/11

FILE - Maps of the estates vested in the Trustees of the Sheffield General Infirmary in the parishes of Sheffield and Ecclesfield - date: 1827

[from Scope and Content] Plans, coloured, drawn up by W and J Fairbank, 1812, revised by J Fairbank and Son, 1827; comprising: the Infirmary and gardens between Philadelphia and Port Mahon; property at Loxley, Infirmary Road, Clark House Road, Whitehouse Lane, and Upperthorpe

Hugh

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There are 62 households listed with the address Philadelphia in the nether Hallam 1831 Census Book.

A selection of heads of household:

1831 census (Philadelphia)

SAYNOR John VICTUALLER

SMITH REV T DIS. MINISTER [Dissenting]

WATERHOUSE Robt CONFECTr

FLETCHER REV T MINISTER

CECIL Joseph CAPITALIST

LARNER Henry VICTUALLER

ROWLAND Edward 1 SKINNER 1 TANNER

Hugh

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The following is an advertisement notice from The Leeds Mercury dated 1st September 1838. Too young to rember the fruit orchards of Penistone Road

The reference that HughW found for the use of "Philadelphia" in 1800 mitigates against the St Philip's church "angle". But the interesting reference is that of

SMITH REV T DIS. MINISTER [Dissenting]

in the 1831 Census. If the Rev Smith was a Quaker it could be that local Quakers looked at the important developments in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and took the name for their community in Sheffield. For this to be proven though, you need to establish that there is some Quaker connection with the aforesaid land. This could be a place of worship or it could be a concentration of Quaker residents. In itself this wouldn't prove the proposition, but it would be strong circumstantial evidence.

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Not a Quaker...

White's 1833 Directory of Sheffield etc

Smith Rev Thos (min of Nether Chapel) "West Don h. Phil."

(West Don House?)

So, Congregationalist.

The chapel in Norfolk St had been rebuilt in the 1820's.

Hugh

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The same Directory (1833) has this, from its historical section. This seems to me to be the most likely context for the naming of this district:

"The hostilities which took place in British America, in July 1775, created much alarm in Sheffield, particularly amongst several merchants and factors; who, during the preceding fifteen years had opened a trade to Philadelphia, Boston, and other places in that distant quarter of the globe..."

Hugh

ps 'West Don house' is listed in the streets section.

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No help, but there's a district in Exeter called Philadelphia as well.

Kenneth Cameron in a book on English Place Names says that there it was common in the past to call fields some distance from the farmhouse after foreign places, including many of the US states, and includes Philadelphia on the list of commonly used names.

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Thnks HughW and Bayleaf for your excellent information. Whilst we may never know for sure, your explanations do seem far more in keeping with the Sheffield of the late C18th than some (of my) flights of fancy.

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According to this article:

http://archive.thenorthernecho.co.uk/2002/9/20/120460.html

The Philadelphia in Tyne and Wear was named in celebration of the British capture of the city during the American Revolutionary War. Sheffield has a few places named after military victories (Port Mahon, Portobello), so this seems like a reasonable explanation for the Sheffield Philadelphia too.

Jeremy

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There are 62 households listed with the address Philadelphia in the nether Hallam 1831 Census Book.

A selection of heads of household:

1831 census (Philadelphia)

SAYNOR John VICTUALLER

SMITH REV T DIS. MINISTER [Dissenting]

WATERHOUSE Robt CONFECTr

FLETCHER REV T MINISTER

CECIL Joseph CAPITALIST

LARNER Henry VICTUALLER

ROWLAND Edward 1 SKINNER 1 TANNER

Hugh

John Saynor victualler Falcon and Bowling Green, 62 Peacroft and Daisy Walk 1822

John Saynor Barrack Tavern, Hillfoot 1828-9

John Saynor victualler Paul Pry 64 Peacroft 1833

(Does this mean the Falcon and the Paul Pry were one and the same place ?)

Henry Larner - beerhouse, Millwright's Arms in 1849

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I'm interested in information about Philadelphia Steel Works following some research into a story from the Sheffield Telegraph in 1863 about a large steam hammer anvil that was transported from Rotherham to the Philadelphia Steel Works.

Did any of the machinery survive? Are there any remains of the buildings. Are the any pictures of the buildings and interior?

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Starting at Grammar School I found myself talking to a lad who told me he came from Philadelphia. I only knew of the American place and quietly wondered why he had a broad Sheffield accent...never realising that my town also had a Philadelphia....and that was on day one. I learned much more as time went on and reckon I learn something new every day.

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