USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 15
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In 1703, the father thus directs respecting him on his arrival say- ing, " Immediately take him away to Pennsbury, and there give him the true state of things, and weigh down his levities as well as temper his resentments, and inform his understanding, since all depends upon it, as well for his future happiness as in measure the poor country's. I propose the best and most sensible for his con- versation. Watch hin, out-witt him, and honestly overreach him, -for his good."-[Even as did St. Paul himself, "who, being artful, caught them with guile; if by any means he might win some."]
On another occasion the father writes, saying, his son goes out " to see how he likes the place, and if so, to return and fetch his family. He aims to improve his study this winter with thee, as well to know the laws and people. Use thy utmost influence upon him to make him happy in himself and me in him. Qualify his heats, inform his judgment, increase his knowledge, advise him to proper com- pany, he being naturally too open. In short, keep him inoffensively employed at those times that he is not profitably concerned .* En- treat our friends to gain him all they can, and never speak or report any thing to his disparagement behind his back, but tell him of it, and he has that reasonableness and temper to take it kindly. Be as much as possible in his company for that reason, and suffer him not to be in any public house after the allowed hours."
The preceding may be deemed a remarkable premonition, con- sidering how very soon after his arrival he fell into an affray, in such a snare! The facts will presently be told; and as they will be found to drive him from Friends and to make the after members of Penn's family churchmen, it may well be said of him in the pre- sent case,-" There are moments in the progress of time, which are the counters of whole ages !"
It may be remarked too, that Friends did not seem to get much in- fluence over his conduct ; for one of them writes, that "he goes to no worship, and sometimes comes to Meetings. He is good na- tured and loves company,-but that of Friends is too dull !"
James Logan in speaking of him to the father says, " I hope his voyage hither will prove to the satisfaction of all. It is a great stock of good nature that has led him out into his youthful sallies when too easily prevailed on ; and the same I hope, when seasoned with
* All this good conduct to proceed from James Logan, himself but a young and single nan, shows the great confidence that was reposed in his exemplary morals and good sense.
VOL. I .- P 10*
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the influence of his prevailing better judgment, with which he is well stored, will happily conduct him into the channel of his duty to God, himself and thee."
It would seem that young Penn himself had had some intimation before his coming to Philadelphia, that his habits were not well spo- ken of there ; for, in his letter to James Logan of 28th Feb. 1703, he says, " Villainous reports I know have been industriously by some brought over (to you) against me. The Lord forgive them as I do. In the fall, if 1 am well, I will be with you. I give my- self a great deal of satisfaction every day in considering of the pleasures of Pennsylvania and the benefit I shall reap in your con- versations and in the books I design to bring over with me, &c." Perhaps you may think I write too gravely to be sincere, unless you know me well enough to believe that hypocrisie was never my talent." He also says, " I'm told the church party are very desirous of my coming over, as not doubting but to make me their property, but they will find themselves as much mistaken as others have been that have thought me a churchman, which, I thank God, I'm as far from as you can wish or desire."
In the year 1704, while he was in Philadelphia, he took such of- fence against some Friends as to declare himself virtually absolved from all connexion with the Society. Although he was then a mar- ried man he appears to have been lavish of expense and fond of display and good living. For instance, J. Logan says he much ex- ceeded his father's limit in expenses, kept his kennel of hounds, and, because " the whole town did not afford a suitable accommoda- tion for the Governor's son, as a boarder," James Logan took William Clarke's great house ; (afterwards Pemberton's in Chestnut Street) where James Logan, William Penn, jun'r., Judge Mompesson, Governor Evans, &c. kept house en famille,-none of them having wives there. It was even supposed that he had become too free with a Miss -, in Bucks county ; so much so, that James Logan writes, " "Tis a pity his wife came not with him, for her presence would have confined him within bounds he was not too regular in observing."
With such dispositions he got into a fray one night at Enoch Story's Inn, in Coombe's alley, quarrelling with the watch there (respectable citizens then serving in their turns) about the militia, then newly organized in three counties as volunteers. The affair was presented by the Grand Jury, and came into court to the inten- ded exposure of the young Governor !
In 1704, 7 mo .. the Grand Jury present them for an assault on James Wood, constable, and James Dough, watch ; the names pre- sented were William Penn, jun'r. John Finny, sheriff, Thomas Gray, scrivener, and Joseph Ralph, quondam friend of Franklin. As the fracas progressed, other persons presented .- Penn called for pistols to pistol them, but the lights being put out, one fell upon young Penn and gave him a severe beating. Cross actions were
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brought by several of the parties. Governor Evans, who was him- self a gay fellow, so much favoured the escape of Enoch Story, the host, who joined Penn's party at the time, that he reversed the pro- ceedings of the court against him. In the Logan MS. at Stenton, there is some correspondence between Evans, Penn, and Logan, concerning the affair.
James Logan seems to have regarded this as incensing and deroga- tory in the Grand Jury, and therefore palliates him, saying, "The indignity to put upon the son of the founder is looked upon by most moderate men to be very base, [they besides gave him some hearty knocks !] and by himself and those concerned in the government is deeply resented ; thy son therefore holds himself no longer obliged to keep up appearances, and throws off all of the Quaker, although he still professes a tender regard to his father's profession, but he has resolved to leave us and go home in the Jersey man of war from New York." Probably, however, the explanation offered by Isaac Norris, sen'r., at that time, is nearer the truth, to wit: "William Penn, jun'r., is quite gone off from Friends ; he, being with some extravagants that beat the watch, was presented with them ; which unmannerly, disrespectful act, as he takes it, gives him great dis- gust, and seems a waited for occasion ; I wish things had been better, or he had never come."
It is probable from the influence of this first-born son of the foun der, that the subsequent race of the Penns have been led off from Friends; a circumstance, which one, although no Friend, may re- gret, because it entirely destroys their identities and even sympa- thies with their much honoured progenitor !
William Penn, speaking of that affair, says, "See how much more easily bad Friends' treatment of him stumbled him from the truth, than those he acknowledges to be good ones could prevail to keep him in possession of it, from the prevailing ground in himself to what is levity more than to what is retired, circumspect and virtu- ous ; I justify not his folly, and still less their provocation."
"Their provocation" probably alludes to such acts as these, among others, to wit: David Lloyd, the speaker, who, although a Friend, was inimical to the father, expressed himself thus offen- sively, saying, " This poor province is brought to poor condition by the revels and disorders which young Penn and his gang of loose fellows are found in here, to the great grief of Friends and others here."
The better to enable him to return home and pay debts here he sold out the manor, since Norrington, to Isaac Norris and William Trent for £800.
When in England he much added to his father's expenditures by free living ; the father, thus expressing his regrets thereat, saying, his "son with his young wife of united sentiment in expensive living beyond their means, they are much expense and grief to him for many years and many ways." He writes also, "he intends going into the army or navy." Afterwards he is spoken of as putting up
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for Parliament, and losing it, as was suspected by bribery ; where- fore his father " wishes he would turn his face to privacy and good husbandry."
After this we hear nothing of this head-strong son, save his join- ing himself to the communion of the church of England, until after the death of his honoured father. He then, in opposition to his mother who was executrix, affected to assume the government of the province and to re-commission Governor Keith, the council, &c. in his own name,* saying, "I am, as his heir, become your proprie- tor and Governor, and I take this occasion to declare to you my in- tentions of strictly adhering to the interests of Pennsylvania. I in- tend to be of no party, but am resolved to shake hands with all honest men. Although I am of the church of England, and trust I shall die in her communion, I solemnly promise the Quakers that I will on all occasions give them marks of my friendship," &c.
But alas, poor man ! he had for some four or five years before this event given himself too much to intemperance ; for, about the time his affectionate and anxious father had lost his ability to govern, (by his sickness,) his son, who should have stood in his stead, proved himself an unworthy scion of the parent stock, and could not be intrusted. He wandered abroad and left his wife and children with the parent family at Ruscombe. He died in 1720, (two years after his father) at Calais, or Liege in France, of a deep consumption induced by his own indiscreet living, and deeply " re- gretting the wrongs he had done!" "The way of the transgressor is hard !"
He left three children, viz. Springett, Gulielma Maria, and Wil- liam .- The latter when he grew up was offered 10,000 acres of land near the forks of the Delaware as a present from the Indians, who, in love of his grandfather, desired him to come over and live in the country. None of them however came to the country. One daugh- ter, Gulielma, married Charles Fell, Esq., as her second husband. Springett died young ; and the Irish estate passed through the daugh- ter of William, who married Gaskill in 1761, to the present Phila- delphian family of that name.
John Penn .- This was the eldest son by the second marriage. He was quite an amiable man, and in the esteem of James Logan, his favourite of all the proprietor's children. He was besides born in Philadelphia, and was called therefore " the American ;"-he was born in 1699, and died in 1746, unmarried. He had been brought up in Bristol in England with a cousin, as a merchant in the linen trade,-a situation in which " he gave his parents much satisfaction." He visited Pennsylvania in 1734 ; he was a churchman ; but I have
* As this appointment, so made, was without the consent of the crown, the question was made by Keith to the Lords Justices, which brought out an order from the Lords of trade of 21 July, 1719, availing themselves of the pretext of that informality to claim back the province under the half formed sale of surrender
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observed he wrote to James Logan, as late as 1719-20, in the style of a Friend ; so also did Thomas Penn as late as 1726. The service of plate bestowed by John Penn to the church at Lewistown is still there.
William Aubrey and Lætitia his wife .- He appears to have been a pressing man of business as a merchant,-pretty roughly quarrel- ling both with William Penn and James Logan about his wife's por- tion, in an unreasonable manner. It appears that he would have come over to Pennsylvania, but that " his wife's regards for the coun- try was at low ebb." They never had any children.
I have seen a copy of the certificate, granted by the female part of the Friends' Meeting in Philadelphia to Lætitia Penn, dated the 27th of 7 mo. 1701, which reads in part thus, to wit:
" These may certify that Lætitia Penn, &c., has for good order sake desired a certificate from us, and we can freely certify to all whom it may concern that she hath well behaved herself here, very soberly and according to the good instructions which she hath re- ceived in the way of truth, being well inclined, courteously carriaged, and sweetly tempered in her conversation amongst us, and also a diligent comer to Meetings, and hope hath plentifully received of the dew which hath fallen upon God's people to her settlement and establishment in the same." It also set forth that she was under no marriage engagements to the best of their knowledge and belief .*
The natural disposition of Lætitia was gay and sportive. As an instance of her girlish spirits, when she was with her father at Evans' place at Gwynned, seeing the men at threshing, she desired to try her hand at the use of the flail, which, to her great surprise, brought such a racket about her head and shoulders, that she was obliged to run into the house in tears and expose her playful freak to her father.
She lived a widow several years after the death of Mr. Aubrey, and had often occasion to correspond with James Logan, upon her landed concerns remaining in this country.
* Lætitia, while a girl in Philadelphia, was claimed as pledged to him by William Masters ; it was denied ;- but in time afterwards, it occurred that a Governor (Richard) Penn married a Miss Masters, a descendant.
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PENN GENEALOGY, BY J. P. NORRIS, ESQ.
DENNIS PENN, ob. Infans.
- PENN, nupt. James Clayton, 1774.
SECUNDA UXOR. WILLIAM PENN,HANNAH CALLOWHILL, OB. 1718.
4
MARGARET PENN,~ nupt. Thomas Freame.
PHILAD. HAN. FREAME, nupt. T. Dawson, Viscount Cremoine of Ireland. ob. 1826, etat 86. THOMAS FREAME.
3
HANNAH PENN, ob. Infans.
HENRY, nat. 1804.
2
THOMAS PENN, nupt. 1751, Lady J. Fermer,~ ob. 1775. Lady Juliana. ob. 1801. 8
PENN, nupt. William Baker, ob. 1773.
2
WILLIAM, nat. 1798.
NAT. 1644.
1
*
SPRINGETT PENN, ob. 1696, s. p. I
JOHN PENN.
M. JULIANNA nat. 1797, nupt. T. Knox
2
MARY PENN, ob. Infans.
GULIELMA M. SPRINGETT, PRIMA UXOR.
HANNAH PENN, ob. Infans.
* * GULIELMA MARIA PENN, nupt. A. Thomas, p. m. Charles Fell, s. m.
* W. THOMAS.
4
LÆTITIA PENN, nupt. William Aubrey, ob. s. p.
2
SPRINGETT PENN, ob. in Ireland, Infans, 1731.
**
WILLIAM PENN, 2d .~ nupt. Mary Jones, 3 ob. 1720.
WILLIAM PENN, 3d aupt. p. ux. - Forbes,- 1. ux. Ann Vaux, ob. 1746.
CHR. GUL. PENN nat 1733, nupt. 1761, Gaskill.
SPRING'T PENN nat. 1741, ob. 1762.
NOTE .- Ann Penn survived her husband, and married Alexander Durdin, 1737. In William, 3d, the male branch by his first wife became extinct.
WILLIAM.
RICHARD PENN, nupt. - Lardner, ob. 1771.
RICHARD PENN, nupt. Mary Masters, ob 1811, etat 77. Mary ob. 1829, etat 73. JOHN PENN, nupt. Ann Allen, ob. 1795.
*
*-
PENN, nupt. Doct. Stewart, Primate of all Ireland, 1796. 3
LOUISA.
7
*. JOHN PENN. ob. 1746, s. p. nat. 1699. 2
GRENVILLE PENN.
5 *
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The Penn Family.
The Penn Family of the Royal Tudor Race .- As a sequel to the foregoing genealogical table I here annex some facts, derived from Hugh David, an early emigrant, which go to show that Wil- liam Penn said his house was descended of that royal race.
The Rev. Hugh David came into this country with William Penn about the year 1700, and lived in Gwynned, a place settled princi- pally by emigrants from Wales; he related an anecdote of the Penn family, perhaps known only to few, as follows:
They, being both on board the same ship, often conversed to- gether. William Penn, observing a goat gnawing a broom which was laying on the ship's deck, called out: Hugh, dost thou observe the goat? see, what hardy fellows the Welsh are, how they can feed on a broom; however, Hugh, I am a Welshman myself, and will relate by how strange a circumstance our family lost their name: My grandfather* was named John Tudor, and lived upon the top of a hill or mountain in Wales; he was generally called John Pen- munnith, which in English is John on the top of the hill; he re- moved from Wales into Ireland, where he acquired considerable pro- perty. Upon his return into his own country he was addressed by his old friends and neighbours, not in their former way, but by the name of Mr. Penn. He afterwards removed to London, where he continued to reside, under the name of John Penn; which has since been the family name.
These relations of Hugh David, were told by him to a respectable Friend, who gave them in MS. to Robert Proud; and withal they are confirmed by the fact of Mr. David's declaring it again in some MS. lines of poetry prepared as a compliment to Thomas Penn on his arrival in 1732, and now preserved in my MS. Annals in the City Library, page 187, with some elucidatory remarks.
Hugh David's verses addressed to Thomas Penn.
For the love of him that now deceased be, I salute his loyal one of three, That ruleth here in glory so serene --- A branch of Tudor, alias Thomas Penn.
From Anglesie, an Isle in nich array, There did a prince the English sceptre sway; Out of that stem, I do believe no less, There sprung a branch to rule this wilderness.
May Sion's King rule thy heart .- Amen ! So I wish to all the race of Penn, That they may never of his favour miss Who is the door to everlasting bliss.
In 1832, Jos. F. Fisher visited William Penn's grave, " at Jordans, near Beckersfield, Buckinghamshire." He says, "the little meeting house and grave yard of Jordans' lies about three miles from the
* Robert Proud, in MS., says it was probably his great grandfather, for his grand father's name appears to have been Giles Penn.
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London road, on a corner of a simple, yet pretty country seat of a Lady Young. It would appear to have been anciently the property of some Friend, who gave the ground and the meeting place as a secluded place in times of persecution. Here repose also the bodies of Isaac Pennington, and others famous for their writings and piety. No stone marks the spot, but the shape of the cemetery is an oblong, at the head of which, and on the middle of its breadth, is seen a little mound, square, but hardly exceeding in height the elevation of a common grave. This is the only distinction it possesses. Some lime trees have been lately planted on the premises, and one which has been placed at his grave is already marked with several initials of visitors. A book is kept in the meeting room, wherein strangers who visit the place write their names. The same book contains a slip of paper inscribed thus, viz. :- ' The graves on the right, imme- diately on entering the burial ground, contain the bodies of William Penn and both his wives ; Isaac and Mary Pennington, Thos. Ell- wood and his wife-also, Geo. Bowles and his wife.'" These facts are confirmed by a letter to me from Js. T. Hopper, who visited it in 1831.
A slanderous publication of 1703, written in Philadelphia, and published in London, (done by enemies of course,) thus describes the noble Founder, saying :- " Although our present Governor, Wm Penn, wants the sacred unction, he was not to want majesty,-for the grandeur and magnificence of his mien is equivalent to that o the great Mogul. The gate of his house [a palace] is always guard- ed with a Janisary, [peace officer] armed with a club of near ten feet long, crowned with a large silver head, embossed and chased as an hieroglyphic of the master's pride. There a certain day is appoint- ed for audience; [for convenience and method of business,] and, as for the rest, you must keep your distance. His corps du garde gene- rally consist of seven or eight of his chief magistrates, both eccle- siastical and civil, [most probably his Council, &c.,] which always attend him, and sometimes there are more ;- when he perambulates the city [probably going to Court or to the Assembly,] one bare headed, with a long white wan [wand] over his shoulder, in imita- tion of the Lord Marshal of England, marches gradually before him and his train, and sometimes proclamation is made to clear the way For the support of this and such like rule, here are all sorts of tolls, taxes and imposts. Such as 8d. per tun on vessels, duties upon all liquors, &c. Penn is spoken of as driving out ' in his leathern con- venience.' 'To get into the grant of such indulgences, he used the utmost of his rhetorick to oppose any churchman's election, standing upon a high place, and making long speeches till many of our party were tired and gone home, and by often shaking his carnal weapon, commonly called a cane, at us, so that in fine, he got those of his own creatures chosen.'"
Of the Pirates it says :- "These Quakers have a neat way of getting money, by encouraging of pirates when they bring in a good
12
Penn's Descendants.
store of gold, so that his government hath been a sure retreat for that sort of people ;- insomuch, that when several of Avery's men were here, the Quaking justices were for letting them live quietly,-and so pirates for the most part have been set at liberty, and admitted to bail one after another; nay, on the very frontiers of the country, [Lewistown] and at the mouth of the river, [New Castle] a whole knot of them are settled securely."
PENN'S DESCENDANTS.
THE following facts concerning several individuals of the Penn family, descended of the founder, are such as I occasionally met with in various readings,-to wit:
1724-Mrs. Gulielma Maria Fell, grandaughter of the famous Quaker, Sir William Penn, was publicly baptised in the parish church of St. Paul, Convent Garden, in October last .- London Gazette.
1732-This year one of the proprietaries, Thomas Penn, made his visit to Pennsylvania, and was received with 'much pomp and state,-probably in such manner as to give him some personal em- barrassment. His former habits, for some years, had not been accus- tomed to ride aloft amidst the hosannas of the people; for both he and his brother, after the death of their father, and the difficulties of their mother, had been placed with a kinsman, a linen draper, in Bristol.
I found the following description of his arrival and reception in 1732, in the " Caribbeana," a Barbadoes publication of Kriemer's. It purports to be a letter from a young lady to her father in Barba- does. I have extracted as follows, viz :
" He landed at Chester, when our Governor, having notice of it, went to meet him, and carried so many gentlemen with him, and so many joined them on the road, that they made. a body of 800 horse. They paid him their compliments and staid till he was ready to set out."
" The poor man who had never been treated but as a private man In England, and, far from expecting such a reception, was so sur- prised at it, that he was entirely at a loss how to behave; and I was told, when he took a glass of wine in his hand, he trembled so, he was scarcely able to hold it. At length he recovered himself and returned their compliments. He reached here at four o'clock in the afternoon. The windows and balconies [mark, the houses then had them,] were filled with ladies, and the streets with the mob, to see him pass. Before he arrived a boy came running, and cried the proprietor was coming on horseback, and a sceptre was carried before VOL. I. - Q 11
-
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Penn's Descendants.
him in the Governor's coach! [It was a crutch of a lame mar therein ; and the person on horseback was probably the servant be- hind the coach !] When arrived, he was entertained at the Go- vernor's house, where he stays ever since. The ships at the wharf kept firing, and the bells ringing, all the afternoon. At the night bonfires were lighted."
" The Assembly and Corporation feasted him afterwards; the Chiefs of the five nations being present, rejoiced to see him, and, to renew treaties. The fire engines played all the afternoon and diverted the Chieftains greatly."
From the minutes of the City Council of the 18th of August, 1732, it appears that the Mayor acquainted the board that the honourable Thomas Penn, Esqr., being lately arrived in this city, he thought it the duty of this board to give him a handsome welcome by providing a decent collation at the expense of the Corporation; to which the board unanimously agreed, and fixed the time for Monday next, at the Court House, &c.
Mrs. Nancarro told me she well remembered hearing her father, Owen Jones, the colonial treasurer, describe the arrival of Thomas Penn, as Governor, in 1732. That it gave great joy to the people, to have once more a Penn among them. The people were of course very anxious to behold him; and although he had shown himself from the balcony of the old Court House, they urged him to another exhibition, at the vestibule of the " old Governor's house," so called, in South Second Street below the present Custom House. He, however, soon became unpopular, and when he retired from us, (on his return,) some of the grosser or more malignant part of the people actually raised a gallows over a narrow pass in the woods by which he had to pass. It was not, however, countenanced by any of the better part of society.
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