Benedict Arnold & Samuel L. Forman ???

Samuel Longstreet Forman died of congestive fever (malaria or yellow fever today) in 1844 when he was just 39 years old. He left his wife Eliza and four young children. His obituary lists his residence matter-of-factly as "Mount Pleasant." So I Googled it and found this:

A Scottish sea captain and American Patriot built this grand country estate called "Mount Pleasant" overlooking the Schuylkill River in the mid 1760's. John Adams (2nd President of the United States) called it "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania."

In 1779 Benedict Arnold bought the estate for his new bride, Peggy Shippen, though they never lived there. It passed through a series of owners and was ultimately sold to Fairmount Park in the mid 1850's. 

What happened between the early 1800s and Samuel L. Forman's residence at "Mount Pleasant" around 1844 was a gaping hole in history. Did he live in this stately mansion? I could find nothing related to "Mount Pleasant" other than this home. But Samuel L. was an 'innkeeper' according to an 1836 city directory.

• 1836 city directory- innkeeper
• 1836 newspaper ad - late law librarian of Philadelphia Bar Library, had now rented the Greenwich Point Ferry Hotel
• 1837 city directory- he has a tavern 
• 1837 newspaper ad - he is the proprietor of the Point House Hotel (Is that the same as the Greenwich Point Hotel in 1836? I can't find enough information to say for sure.)
• 1840 Census - he is living in Union Township, Gloucester, New Jersey (near Philadelphia)
• 1843 newspaper ad - the Mount Pleasant HOTEL is for rent. 

The riddle was really solved when I found this map in an 1862 Philadelphia atlas. You can just make out "M. Pleasant Hotel." The Mount Pleasant mansion (in the first photo above), though it isn't shown on this map, is directly across that railroad track while the hotel is down on the shore. There is no sign of any buildings near the shore nowadays. Google maps shows walking trails and grassy stretches only along the riverbank.

The newspapers of the day have been a wealth of information about the Mount Pleasant hotel. Without them, I would have no idea that there had been a hotel. Google is happy to help me find a place to stay in the town of Mt. Pleasant in Pennsylvania, or to visit the beautiful mansion called Mount Pleasant, but nothing about the historic hotel, which no longer exists. I haven't been able to find any information about its demise.

Samuel passed away 3 Aug 1844. Two months after his death, the furnishings are being sold 'by order of administrators.' He had no will so his brother-in-law (husband of his half-sister), James Cox, and William De Baufre (the part-owner of the hotel) were named as administrators, and they put together an accounting of the estate. An auction of the furnishings from the hotel was held in mid-October, 1844.

I was interested in a few more newspaper ads that referred to the Mount Pleasant Hotel over the next few years. In 1846, the same William De Baufre mentioned above is announcing that the Mansion House is now connected with the hotel.

Then 2 years later, just 4 years after Samuel's passing, the hotel is being sold. As an aside, the deceased owner R. A. Sullender was the son-in-law of the above William De Baufre. As a place of resort in the summer season it is unrivalled. The occupant has always done a very large business.

It appears that the hotel didn't sell in 1848, because it was again being listed in March and April of 1849. All the questions I originally had about where this hotel was located are answered in the ad from Thomas and Sons. All that large and substantial three story stone messuage , known as the "Mount Pleasant Hotel," ... having a front of about 100 feet on [Pennsylvania] Avenue and extending in depth about 184 feet to low water mark in the river Schuylkill, on which it has also a front of 100 feet.  And by the way, the steamboat stops at the landing during the summer months.

I can find no other mention of this hotel in the newspapers between 1849 and 1869 when, after terrible storms in the area, it was noted that the Mount Pleasant Hotel base was underwater. 

So our Formans didn't live in the same house once owned by Benedict Arnold, but they did live just a stone's throw away for a short period of time 175 years ago.