{"id":16080,"date":"2023-07-04T12:44:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T16:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/?p=16080"},"modified":"2023-07-19T09:29:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T13:29:10","slug":"americas-founding-hosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/americas-founding-hosts\/","title":{"rendered":"America’s Founding Hosts – Gifford Dalley"},"content":{"rendered":"

America’s Founding Hosts<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The First Family of Hospitality (The Dalley\/Fraunces\/Simmons family)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 1 \u2013 Gifford Dalley<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Historians have long recognized the central role played by taverns and boarding houses during formative periods in American history. In particular, delegates to the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention were very familiar with City Tavern and Miss Dalley\u2019s boarding house in Philadelphia. Fraunce’s Tavern and Simmon\u2019s Tavern similarly played an important civic function in New York. New research reveals that these establishments formed an inter-connected network catering to the founding generation. It is thus not surprising that the proprietors of these patriotic businesses were in fact an extended family of siblings \u2013 the Dalley, Fraunces and Simmons families.<\/p>\n

At various times from the late 1770s through the 1790s Gifford Dalley[1]<\/a> operated City Tavern, the Merchant\u2019s Coffee House, and Dally\u2019s Hotel in Philadelphia.[2]<\/a> His sister, Mary Dalley, operated a long-overlooked boarding house whose residents included Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Alexander Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Two other Dalley siblings, Elizabeth and Catherine, would have been well known in New York. Elizabeth Dalley married Samuel Fraunces, the proprietor of Fraunce’s Tavern famously located at 54 Pearl Street in Manhattan.[4]<\/a> Sister Catherine Dalley married John Simmons, who operated Simmon\u2019s Tavern located at 63 Wall Street near City Hall in Manhattan.[5]<\/a> \u00a0Recognizing its importance, City Tavern was reconstructed by the Park Service in connection with America\u2019s bicentennial in 1976.<\/p>\n

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In an age before electronic communications, taverns provided a mechanism to share breaking news, conduct business and exchange political views in an emerging democracy. Taverns were a focal point for \u201cpolitical discussion, for social clubs, and for meetings of all kinds.\u201d[6]<\/a> They also served as transportation hubs which were \u201ckey nodes in Atlantic networks of communication.\u201d[7]<\/a> It is no accident that stage coaches between New York and Philadelphia regularly departed from the \u201cstage-office\u201d located across from City Tavern.[8]<\/a> Tickets and schedules for stage coaches and packet boats were available at the stage office (or designated boarding houses), depending on the particular stage line.<\/p>\n

Gifford Dalley\u2019s Hospitality Ventures<\/em><\/p>\n

Operating a tavern in the 18th<\/sup> century was a fickle line of work, as remains the case today. \u201cNewspaper advertisements from the period demonstrate that tavernkeepers frequently switched locations, hung out different signs, started businesses and failed, converted public houses into dwellings, and vice versa.\u201d[9]<\/a> As illustrated below, this was particularly true for Gifford Dalley who operated taverns from three separate locations between 1778 to 1798.<\/p>\n

Gifford Dalley appears to have been born around 1742 in Middlesex County, New Jersey.[10]<\/a> During the Revolutionary War he served as a quartermaster in the New Jersey militia and was selected as the doorman for Congress in 1789, a job he would hold during the First, Second and Third Congress from 1789 to 1795. The doorkeeper was elected at the beginning of each Congressional session and was responsible for managing the chambers and maintaining order. When the First Congress relocated from New York to Philadelphia in 1790 Gifford moved with the federal government. Gifford likely played a logistical role, having operated City Tavern after the British departure from Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

When Philadelphia\u2019s famous City Tavern initially opened in 1773-1774 it was considered the finest boarding house of its kind in America. It was furnished \u201cin style of the best London taverns.\u201d[11]<\/a> As described by John Adams, City Tavern was \u201cthe most genteel\u201d tavern in America.[12]<\/a> Designed with \u201cseveral large club-rooms, two of which could be thrown together to make a large dining-room, fifty feet long.\u201d[13]<\/a> For many years City Tavern was \u201cthe most important public house in the most important city in British North America.\u201d[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

During the Revolutionary War the British captured Philadelphia in September of 1777 forcing Congress to flee America\u2019s largest city. The nine-month occupation of Philadelphia ended in June of 1778 enabling Congress to return home. After General Howe\u2019s departure, City Tavern was a shell of its former self. The owners of City Tavern retained Gifford Dalley to replace the former proprietor, Daniel Smith, a Tory who left the City with the British and 3,000 other loyalists.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Gifford Dalley reopened the City Tavern in August of 1778 following the British departure from Philadelphia.[16]<\/a> According to Gifford he was persuaded \u201csuddenly to undertake accommodation of travelers.\u201d He promised to provide \u201cthe utmost industry and exertions\u201d hoping that the \u201cobstructions to free commerce and the late peculiar circumstances of this City\u201d would excuse any \u201cunavoidable deficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before opening his doors to the public Dalley celebrated Congress\u2019 return to the city from exile with a \u201cdecent entertainment\u201d on July 4th<\/sup>.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

The entertainment was elegant and well conducted. There were four tables spread, two of them extended the whole length of the room, the other two crossed them at right angles. At the end of the room opposite the upper table was erected an orchestra\u2026As soon as the dinner began, the music consisting of clarinets, haut-boys, French horns, violins and bass violins\u2026Then the toasts followed each by a discharge of fieldpieces, were drank and so the afternoon ended. In the evening there was a cold collation and a brilliant exhibition of fireworks.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

The thirteen toasts given on July 4, 1778 at City Tavern are listed below, as widely reported in newspapers around the nation. Attendees included the Honorable Congress and the principal civil and military officers. The toasts were led by Henry Laurens, the President of Congress in 1778.<\/p>\n

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The celebration with Congress at City Tavern was followed by other formal galas. On July 22 Dalley hosted \u201can elegant entertainment\u201d provided by army officers and gentlemen of the city \u201cto the young ladies who had manifested their attachment to the cause of virtue and freedom, by sacrificing every convenience to the love of their country.\u201d[19]<\/a> Shortly thereafter, Dalley catered French Minister Plenipotentiary Conrad Alexander Gerard\u2019s reception by Congress on 6 August 1778.[20]<\/a> \u201cNothing was spared in making this \u2018entertainment\u2019 suitable to the great event, signifying recognition of America by the world\u2019s greatest power.\u201d[21]<\/a> Gerard responded with a \u201cgrand entertainment\u201d of his own at City Tavern on 25 August 1778, on the occasion of the birthday of \u201cHis Most Christian Majesty Louis the Sixteenth.\u201d Pennsylvania Packet<\/em>, 27 August 1778.<\/p>\n

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While operating City Tavern, Dalley catered to patriots in Philadelphia during the war. For example, the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania paid Dalley to host a \u201cdinner for 270 gent\u201d on 1 December 1778.[22]<\/a> John Jay was a guest at City Tavern when elected President of the Continental Congress on 10 December 1778.[23]<\/a> Pictured above are sample expenses paid by New York Congressional delegate James Duane to Gifford Dalley for room and\/or board at City Tavern in November of 1778 and January of 1779.<\/p>\n

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Pictured above is a Congressional report evidencing payment to Gifford Dalley for \u201cpublic entertainment\u201d on 5 July 1779.[24]<\/a> Despite these elegant wartime affairs, Dalley discontinued operations at City Tavern in late 1779. During a period of inflation Dalley was likely impacted by the fixed scale of tavern prices set by the Philadelphia County\u2019s Court of Quarter Sessions.[25]<\/a><\/p>\n

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After the war, Dalley operated the Merchant\u2019s Coffee House (also known as the London Coffee House) on the corner of Market and Front streets in Philadelphia. In an ad from January 1783 Dalley described the \u201cgood stock of beer, wine and other liquor of the best quality\u201d that was available along with \u201coyster and other suppers on the shortest of notice.\u201d[26]<\/a><\/p>\n

Gifford Dalley was elected doorkeeper for the House of Representatives on 4 April 1789, along with an assistant doorkeeper and sergeant at arms. [27]<\/a> Dalley held the doorkeeper position during the 1st through 3rd Congress, moving from New York to Philadelphia with Congress in 1790.<\/p>\n

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A decade later, after his tenure as the doorkeeper for Congress, Gifford opened Dally\u2019s Hotel in Philadelphia on Shippen Street between Third and Fourth Streets. In the advertisement pictured below from 1794 he described that the newly renovated hotel was \u201cgreatly improved and is now very commodious.\u201d In addition to offering the \u201cbest liquors\u201d Gifford advertised that he would furnish \u201cthe best provisions the markets afford, at any hour\u201d based on his \u201clong experience in this line of business.\u201d The top of the advertisement emphasized that Gifford was \u201cformerly the keeper of City Tavern and the Merchant\u2019s Coffee House.\u201d[28]<\/a><\/p>\n

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The newly fashionable French concept of \u201chotel,\u201d gained popularity after the American Revolution. The word hotel denoted an establishment which was fancier than an ordinary \u201ctavern.\u201d Two years after its well-publicized opening, Dalley\u2019s Hotel closed its doors in 1796. Both Gifford and his daughter Kitty died of Yellow Fever in 1798.[29]<\/a><\/p>\n

This post is part of a multi-part series discussing the extended Dalley family and the taverns\/boarding houses that they operated. Part II<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0continues with a discussion of Miss Marry Dalley’s boarding house. Part III<\/strong><\/span><\/a> discusses sister Catherine Dalley Simmons (Simmons’ Tavern). Sister Elizabeth Dalley Frances (Fraunces’ Tavern) will be discussed in Part IV (pending)<\/strong>. \u00a0Genealogical records of the Dalley\/Simmons\/Francis\/Fraunces family and as yet unanswered questions for future researchers will be discussed in Part V (pending).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Endnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Primary sources, including correspondence, newspapers, and the Congressional Journal spell Gifford and Mary\u2019s last name as Dalley, Dally, Dailey and Daley.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gifford Dalley operated City Tavern beginning in August of 1778 after the British departed Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Packet<\/em>, 6 August 1778, page 3. In 1783 he became the proprietor of the Merchant\u2019s Coffee House in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Packet<\/em>, 14 January 1783. He opened Dalley\u2019s Hotel in January of 1794. Dunlap & Claypoole\u2019s American Daily Advertiser<\/em>, March 10, 1794.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the early 1780s the Massachusetts delegates to Congress boarded with Miss Dally, including Artemas Ward and Samuel Holten. Other notable boarders included Dr. John Jones who is credited as being the \u201cFather of American Surgery\u201d due to his widely circulated surgical handbook.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Elizabeth Dalley married Samuel Fraunces at Trinity Church on 30 November 1757.<\/p>\n

“New York, Church Records, 1660-1954,” database, FamilySearch (https:\/\/familysearch.org\/ark:\/61903\/1:1:QGPJ-9Q8S:10 October 2019), Samuel Francis and Elizabeth Dally, 30 Nov 1757; citing Marriage, New York City, New York, United States, multiple churches, New York.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Catherine Dalley married John Simmons on 28 December 1758 after her first husband, William Slater, passed away two years earlier.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 W. Harrison Bayles, Old Taverns of New York <\/em>(1915), xv-xvi.\u201d In the years preceding the Revolutionary War, \u201ctaverns or public houses brought together a cross-class political network that would be necessary for the coherence of a revolutionary alliance.\u201d Benjamin L. Carp, Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution<\/em> (Oxford University Press, 2007), 18-19. Taverns became \u201cthe perfect venues for revolutionaries seeking to surmount the challenges of political mobilization.\u201d Carp at 63. Indeed, the very name of the \u201cSons of Liberty\u201d may have been inspired by tavern clubs prior to the war. Carp at p. 85.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the years preceding the Revolutionary War, \u201ctaverns or public houses brought together a cross-class political network that would be necessary for the coherence of a revolutionary alliance.\u201d Benjamin L. Carp, Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution<\/em> (Oxford University Press, 2007), 18-19. Taverns became \u201cthe perfect venues for revolutionaries seeking to surmount the challenges of political mobilization.\u201d Carp at 63.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During the 18th<\/sup> Century Philadelphia was the nation\u2019s largest city. In 1787, Philadelphia\u2019s population numbered around 40,000. New York, the nation\u2019s second largest city, had approximately 25,000 residents. Richard Beeman, Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution<\/em> (2009), 73.<\/p>\n

During most of the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia served as the nation\u2019s capital. Congress resided in New York from 1785 until 1790. Congress returned to Philadelphia in 1790 until the Jefferson Administration moved into Washington, D.C., in the year 1800.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carp at 65.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives,<\/em>\u00a0\u201cDALLEY, Gifford,\u201d\u00a0https:\/\/history.house.gov\/People\/Listing\/D\/DALLEY,-Gifford\/<\/a>\u00a0(July 02, 2023)<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott, History of Philadelphia<\/em>, 1609-1884 (1884), 1:291, note.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Adams diary, 29 August 1774, https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Adams\/01-02-02-0004-0005<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Scharf & Westcott, 1:291.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Constance V. Hershey, Historic Furnishings Plan: City Tavern<\/em> (Independence National Historic Park, 1974), p. iii.\u00a0 http:\/\/npshistory.com\/publications\/inde\/hfp-city-tavern.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gifford Dalley was retained under an agreement dated 8 July 1778 by the investor\/subscribers who owned City Tavern. Hershey, p. 19.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dunlap and Claypoole\u2019s American Daily Advertiser<\/em>, 20 August 1778.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John D.R. Platt, Historic Resource Study: The City Tavern<\/em> (Independence National Historic Park, 1973), 139.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 William C. Ellery, \u201cDiary, June 28-July 23, 1778\u201d, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography<\/em> 11 (1887): 477-78. Ellery was a member of the Rhode Island delegation who likely participated in the usual thirteen toasts during dinner. Pennsylvania Evening Post<\/em>, 8 July 1778.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pennsylvania Evening Post<\/em>, 25 July 1778.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Platt, 141.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Platt, 140-144.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Fold 3….(cite pending).<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Platt, 148-149.<\/p>\n

[24]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Congressional Report, 20 August 1779….(cite pending)<\/p>\n

[25]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Platt, 156; Charles R. Barker, \u201cColonial Taverns of Lower Merion,\u201d Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography<\/em>, III, 227.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pennsylvania Packet<\/em>, January 14 1783.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 https:\/\/todaysdocument.tumblr.com\/post\/81678502292\/congressarchives-on-april-4-1789-the-house<\/p>\n

[28]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Gazette of the United States<\/em>, 17 February 1794.<\/p>\n

[29]<\/a> \u00a0 https:\/\/philahistory.org\/2014\/05\/05\/the-black-bear-tavern-and-ball-alley\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America’s Founding Hosts The First Family of Hospitality (The Dalley\/Fraunces\/Simmons family) Part 1 \u2013 Gifford Dalley Historians have long recognized…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16080"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16227,"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16080\/revisions\/16227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.statutesandstories.com\/blog_html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}