109 Elfreth's Alley
At the same time that he acquired the right to the land next door, where House 111 now stands, John Pechin acquired this lot from his father Christopher’s estate.
Christopher Pechin had rented the first building on this lot to financier Stephen Girard for six months in 1780; at the time, Girard identified himself as a storekeeper. After the elder Pechin’s death, his widow Christiana and son John moved into that first House 109. By 1811, they had constructed the Houses 109 and 111 that remain today.
Pechin descendants rented the house for profit until 1891. Early residents included hatter William Norman; later, Jeremiah Fitzgerald, who worked as a shipping clerk for a tin roofing factory, raised his family in House 109. At least one of his daughters, Marion, was born in the house. But while the Fitzgeralds managed to squeeze five children and a boarder into the tiny house, the 1920 and 1930 censuses reveal married couples without children renting the property.
