USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 2
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Granville and Isabella (Forbes) Penn, had issue: nine children of whom only one married, and she left no issue.
Granville John Penn, second and eldest surviving son, graduated at Christ Church, Oxford, and became a barrister-at-law; was a Deputy Lieutenant and magistrate of Bucks; he twice visited Pennsylvania, in 1852 and again in 1857; presented to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, a large wampum belt pre- sented to the Founder at the "Great Treaty of 1683" by the Indian Chiefs. He died unm. March 29, 1867.
Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn, second surviving son of Granville and Isabella, graduated at Christ Church College, and took orders in the Established Church of England. At his death, Sept. 10, 1869, he was the last male descendant of William Penn, the Founder, bearing the name of Penn, and the entail of the Proprietary estate passed to his Aunt Sophia, wife of Archbishop Stuart, of whom presently.
Sophia Penn, only married child of Granville, became the wife of Sir William Maynard Gomm, Field Marshall, K. C. B., an officer of high distinction in the English military service, but d. without issue in 1827.
Sophia Margaretta, b. Dec. 25, 1764, was the last of the children of Thomas and Lady Juliana (Fermor) Penn; she m., in 1796, William Stuart, subsequently Archbishop of Armagh, Established Church, and Primate of that church in Ireland. He was a son of John, third Earl of Bute, a famous figure in English politics, an early associate and adviser of George III, and for several years his Prime Minister, by his wife, daughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
Mrs. Stuart d. April 29, 1847, having survived her husband, the Archbishop, twenty-five years. She was survived by thrce of her four children, two of whom have living issue, the sole representatives of William Penn, the founder, by his second wife, Hannah Callowhill.
Mary Juliana Stuart, eldest child of the Archbishop by his wife Sophia Mar- garetta Penn, b. May, 1797, d. July 1I, 1866; m. Feb. 28, 1815, Thomas Knox, Viscount Northland, later second Earl of Ranfurly, of Dungannon Park, county Tyrone, Ireland, by whom she had three sons and five daughters, the eldest of whom, Thomas, third Earl of Ranfurly, b. Nov. 13, 1816, d. May 20, 1858; m. Oct. 10, 1848, Harriet, daughter of James Rimington, of Broomhead Hall, county York, and his oldest son, fourth Earl of Ranfurly, was killed in a hunt- ing expedition in Abyssinia, 1875, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Uchter John Mark Knox, fifth Earl of Ranfurly, b. Aug. 14, 1856, who still sur- vives. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge; was Lord- in-waiting to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 1895-7; Governor of New Zealand, 1897-1904; is Knight of Justice of Order of St. John of Jerusalem, in England; K. C. M. G., 1897; G. C. M. G., 1901; P. C. 1905. He m. in 1880, Hon. Constance Elizabeth Caulfield, daughter of the Seventh Viscount Charlemont, and has issue, a daughter, Lady Constance Harriet Stuart Knox, m. in 1905, Maj. Evelyn Miles Gaskell.
William Stuart, eldest son of the Archbishop by his wife, Sophia Margaretta Penn, b. Oct. 31, 1798, d. July 7, 1874. He was educated at St. John's College,
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Cambridge; was a Magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, and High-Sheriff in 1846; was a member of Parliament for Armagh, 1820-26, and for Bedfordshire, 1830-34. His seat was Aldenham Abbey, near Watford, Herts. On the death of Rev. Thomas Gordon Penn in 1869, he became "tenant in tail general" to all the entailed Penn property in Pennsylvania, and in 1870 "barred the entail" and confirmed all the Penn conveyances previously made in Pennsylvania. He devised his estate to his son,
Col. William Stewart, b. March 7, 1825, d. Dec. 21, 1893, member of Parlia- ment for Bedfordshire, 1854-7, and 1859-68; Magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant. He m. Sept. 13, 1859, Katharine, eldest daughter of John Armitage Nicholson Esq., of Belrath, county Meath, Ireland, who d. Oct. 16, 1881.
Their son, William Dugald Stewart Esq., of Tempford Hall, county of Bed- ford, b. Oct. 18, 1860. Magistrate, late Captain in Kings Royal Rifle Corps, is present representative of the Stuart line of the Penn family. He has in his possession a "Portrait in Armor" of William Penn. He m. July II, 1893, Melli- cent H. C., eldest daughter of Capt. G. W. Bulkely Hughes, J. P.
Hannah Margaritta Penn, third child of William Penn and Hannah Callowhill, b. at Bristol, England, July 30, 1703, d. there, in Feb. or March, 1707-8.
Margaret Penn, fourth child, b. at Bristol, England, Nov. 7, 1704, d. Feb., 1750-I; m. 1727, Thomas Freame, and had issue: Thomas, d. 1746, and Philadelphia Hannah Freame, b. in Philadelphia in 1740, who m. Thomas Dawson, Viscount Cremorne, and had two children who died in infancy; Margaret Freame and her husband came to Philadelphia with her brother, John Penn, in 1734, and resided in Pennsylvania for a number of years.
RICHARD PENN, b. at Bristol, England, Jan. 17, 1705-6, d. 1771; m. Hannah Lardner ; of whom presently.
Dennis Penn, b. at Ealing, Middlesex, England, Feb. 26, 1706-7, d. unm. Feb. 6, 1722-3.
Hannah Penn, b. in Ludgate Parish, London, Sept. 5, 1708, d. at Kensington, Jan. 24, 1708-9.
RICHARD PENN, youngest son of the Founder, who lived to mature years, was born at Bristol, England, at the home of his maternal grandparents, Thomas and Hannah Callowhill, January 17, 1705-6. He was apprenticed when a young man to the mercantile business in London, and seems to have resided there some considerable part of his life, though soon after his marriage he appears to have made his principal residence at Stanwell, Middlesex, a suburb of London. He married, in 1728, Hannah, daughter of Dr. John Lardner, of Gracechurch street, London, and Woodford, Epping Forest, Essex, and a sis- ter to Lynford Lardner, who came to Pennsylvania in 1740 and was Receiver General, Keeper of the Great Seal, etc. Richard Penn was joint Proprietary of Pennsylvania with his brothers John and Thomas, but took much less interest in the affairs of the Province than either of them. Richard Penn died February 4, 1771, and was buried at Stoke Poges. His widow Hannah, survived him until April 20, 1785.
Richard and Hannah (Lardner) Penn had issue :-
John Penn, b. July 14, 1729, d. in Philadelphia, Feb. 9, 1795, having spent the greater part of his life in Pennsylvania, since his arrival in 1752. He married when a school- boy, Grace, daughter of James Cox, of London, much to the displeasure of his rela- tives, especially his uncle, Thomas Penn; after four or five years spent in studying at Geneva and in traveling on the continent with his uncle he came to Pennsylvania, in Nov., 1752, and directly afterwards was made a member of Provincial Council, and filled other positions under the Proprietaries until the fall of 1755, when he returned to England, returning in Oct., 1763, with a commission from his uncle and father as Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, dated June 18, 1763. He was twice re-commis- sioned for three years each, and served as Governor of Pennsylvania continuously until his return to England, after the death of his father, May 6, 1771. His brother Richard succeeded him as Governor, Oct. 16, 1771, and served until John's return with a new commission as Governor, Aug. 30, 1773. He retained the position of Governor until the collapse of the Proprietary government in the Revolution, being the last of the Proprietary Governors. His first wife having died March 17, 1760, he married, May 31, 1766, Anne, eldest daughter of Hon. William Allen, Chief Justice of Penn-
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sylvania, by his wife, Margaret Hamilton, daughter of Andrew Hamilton, the distin- guished Attorney of the Penn family, and sister to Governor James Hamilton, of Bush Hill.
After his marriage to Miss Allen, John Penn made his city residence on the west side of Third street, in the house built for Col. Byrd, of Westover, but on his final return to Pennsylvania in 1773, he purchased an estate of 142 acres on west side of the Schuykill, erected thereon a mansion, and called his place "Lansdowne," now included in Fairmount Park. Here he resided the greater part of the later years of his life, though he had a town house on Pine street between Second and Third, from which he was bur. in 1795. He had no issue by either marriage.
Hannah Penn, b. about 1731, was bur. at Stoke Poges, Oct. 2, 1791; m. July 19, 1774, James Clayton, who d. in Jan., 1790, without issue.
RICHARD PENN, Gov. of Pennsylvania, Oct. 16, 1771, to Aug. 30, 1773, when he was super- seded by his brother John, was b. in 1735, and d. at Richmond, Surrey, England, May 27, 1811. He came to Philadelphia with his brother John in Oct., 1763, and was made a member of Provincial Council, Jan. 12, 1764. He was the first President of the Jockey Club of Philadelphia, organized in 1766, and presided over that organization until 1769, when he returned to England, returning with his commission as Governor in Oct., 1771. He m. at Christ Church, May 21, 1772, Mary Masters, of Philadelphia, and took up his residence in the fine mansion on the south side of Market street, between Fifth and Sixth, erected by Mary (Lawrence) Masters, the bride's mother, and conveyed to the bride two days before the wedding. The house, one of the finest in Philadelphia, was the residence of Gen. Howe during the British occupancy of the city, by Arnold after Howe's departure, and later by Holker, French Consul, and subsequently by Robert Morris, Gen. Washington being entertained there during the Constitutional Convention, 1787, and it became his presidential residence in 1790-7. The original house, however, was burned in 1780, and was rebuilt by Robert Morris. In April, 1775, Richard Penn purchased the Pell Hall estate, on which Girard College now stands, and like his Market street house, it was also burned during his ownership.
Richard Penn went to England with his family in the summer of 1775, carrying with him the petition of the Continental Congress, called the "Olive Branch", drawn up by John Dickinson, and when it was under consideration in the House of Lords, was interrogated as to the condition of the American Colonies. He continued to reside in England, and was a member of Parliament for Applyby, Westmoreland, 1784-90; for Haslemere, Surrey, 1790-96; and for the borough of Lancaster, 1796-1802, and again elected for Haslemere, in 1806. He came to Philadelphia with some members of his family and resided at 210 Chestnut street for about a year in 1808. He d. in Surrey, May 27, 1811. His widow survived him eighteen years, dying Aug. 16, 1829. William Penn, b. 1747, d. Feb. 4, 1760.
Richard and Mary (Masters) Penn had issue :-
William Penn, b. in England, June 23, 1776, d. there Sept. 17, 1845. He came to Philadelphia with his parents in 1808, and remained in Pennsylvania for many years, living for a time in Dauphin county, and later in Easton, Northampton county. He m. Aug. 7, 1809, Catharine Balabrega, of Philadelphia, but so far as known left no issue. He was a man of "trancendent abilities, an excellent classical scholar, and possessed of a wonderful memory, which he displayed by an extraordinary power of quotation in conversation. *
* * When he chose he could transfix the minds of those with whom he associated with the depth of his research and splendid talents. He mixed with the highest ranks of society and was courted by every company. There was probably no elevation attainable which he might not have reached." (Gentleman's Magazine).
Hannah Penn, d. unm. at Richmond, Surrey, England, July 16, 1856; she accom- panied her parents on the visit to Philadelphia in 1808.
Richard Penn, b. 1783, d. at Richmond, Surrey, April 21, 1863; was many years a trusted and useful official of the Colonial Department of the English govern- ment ; was elected Fellow of Royal Society, Nov. 18, 1824; his portrait by E. W. Eddis was engraved in 1834 by M. Ganci. He was never married.
Mary Penn, b. April II, 1785, d. March 26, 1863; m. in 1821, Samuel Paynter Esq., of Richmond, Surrey, J. P. for Surrey and Middlesex, and High Sheriff for Surrey, 1838, d. March 26, 1844; she had no issue.
Daughter d. in inf., June 17, 1790.
We now return to the elder line of the descendants of William Penn, the Founder, descendants of which still reside in Pennsylvania.
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WILLIAM PENN JR., only son of the Founder, by his first wife, Gulielma Maria Springett, who lived to mature years, married and left issue; was born at Worminghurst, in Sussex, his mother's estate, March 14, 1680-I, ten days after the grant of the Province of Pennsylvania to his father by Charles II. His mother died when he was less than thirteen years of age, and his father married Hannah Callowhill, a little over twenty months later. Of his child- hood, education and youth little is known. He married, January II, 1698-9, when less than eighteen years of age, at a meeting of the religious Society of Friends, at Bristol, England, Mary Jones, four years his senior, daughter of Charles Jones Jr., of Bristol, merchant, by his wife Martha Wathers, and granddaughter of Charles and Ann Jones, of Redcliffe street, Bristol, who were among the early Friends of that city; Charles Jones' name appearing among those mentioned by Besse, in his "Sufferings of Quakers", as early as 1663, and later.
William Penn Jr., did not accompany his father on his second visit to Penn- sylvania in 1699, his young wife preferring to remain in England, and his first visit to his father's Province was in February, 1703-4, when he accompanied Lieut. Gov. John Evans. This visit was the result of a long cherished plan of his father, that his son might get acquainted with the new country as well as acquire a mode of living more in keeping with his income, he having developed extravagant tastes in England. In a letter to Logan, the father earnestly recom- mended his son to the society of Samuel Carpenter, Richard Hill and Isaac Norris, in whom he had the greatest confidence. The society of the young and dissolute Lieutenant Governor, however, proved disastrous, and young Penn was even more extravagant in Pennsylvania than in England, and finally broke with the Quakers altogether. He sold his Manor of Williamstadt, on the Schuylkill, including the site of Norristown, to Isaac Norris, and in November took passage on the "Jersey" for England. While here he officiated as a member of Pro- vincial Council, and the good friends of his father doubtless did their best to reconcile him to a life in the Colony. A portion of his time was spent at Penns- bury, Penn's Manor, in Bucks county, but during the greater part of the time he and James Logan, his father's secretary, kept bachelor's hall, in William Clark's newly built house, on Chestnut street at the southwest corner of Third street, where later Gov. Evans joined them. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, William Penn Jr. and his family had resided at Worminghurst, which he had inherited from his mother, and on his return he again took up his residence there, but becoming involved in debt sold it in 1707. From this date he seems to have led a somewhat roving life, part of his time being doubtless spent on the Irish estates inherited from his grandfather, Admiral Sir William Penn, and some part of it certainly spent in France. After 1712 his wife and children spent the greater part of the time with their step-grandmother, Hannah Penn, at Ruscombe, in Berkshire, where William Penn, the elder, and his family made their home from 1710 until after the death of the Founder in 1718.
William Penn Jr. had expected to succeed his father as Proprietor and Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, and was much chagrined at the provisions of his father's last will, executed in 1712. He even took measures to obstruct the proving of the will and sent instructions to Governor Keith to call the Council and Assembly together to have him proclaimed Proprietor and Governor, but later acquiesced
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in the provisions of the will. He survived his father but two years, dying June 23, 1720, either in the north of France or in Liege, Belgium, the place of his death being a matter of dispute. His wife survived him thirteen years, dying about December I, and was buried December 5, 1733.
Issue of William Penn Jr., by Mary Jones, his wife :-
Gulielma Maria, b. Nov. 10, 1699, at Worminghurst, d. Jan. 17, 1739-40, "the Beauty", and "Sweet Girl", so often mentioned in her grandfather's letters. She m. (first) "early in life" Aubrey, son of Rees and Martha (Awbrey) Thomas, of Merion, Pa., and nephew of William Aubrey who had married her aunt, Letitia Penn. He did not long survive his marriage and left one son, William Penn Thomas, d. unm. 1742. Gulielma Maria (Penn) Thomas m. (second) Charles, son of George and grandson of Judge Thomas Fell, of Swarthmore, whose widow became the wife of George Fox ; and had issue :
Robert Edward Fell, of St. Martin's in the Fields; bap. Nov. 29, 1726; Captain of Marines, 1756, later Lieutenant Colonel in the English Army; d. 1787, unm. and without issue.
Mary Margaretta Fell, bap. Aug. 23, 1724; m. John Barron; residing in Leeds, England, May 26, 1750, when she writes to Thomas Penn; said to have left no issue.
Gulielma Maria Frances Fell, bap. Aug. 10, 1725; m. John Newcomb: in a letter to Thomas Penn, dated Oct. 22, 1750, Newcomb, announces birth of "fine little boy", who by his "dear little woman's particular desire" has been named Thomas Penn Newcomb. A former letter had referred to "our little girl". It has been commonly assumed that this line of the descendants of William Penn, the Founder, has become extinct.
John Newcomb, husband of Gulielma Maria Frances, was a clergyman of the Established Church, and at the date of the marriage vicar of Leire, near Lutterworth, Leicestershire. They had issue, Gulielma Maria; Susanna Margar- etta; Philadelphia, who m. Thomas Brookholding, John Springett, and William Hawkins Newcomb.
Springett Penn Fell died without issue.
Springett Penn, b. Feb. 10, 1700-1, at Worminghurst, was the "little Saracen" so lov- ingly alluded to in his grandfather's letters. He spent much of his time after arriving at manhood on the Penn estates in Ireland, and d. unm. at Dublin, Ireland, Feb. 8, 1730-I. He instituted Chancery proceedings over the will of his grandfather, the Founder, and while his suit was still pending, joined Hannah Penn, his step-grand- mother, in the appointment of Patrick Gordon as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsyl- vania in 1725. At the meeting of the Provincial Council of the Province, held at Philadelphia, June 22, 1726, the commission of Major Gordon, "from Springett Penn Esq., with the assent of Hannah Penn, and his Majesty's royal approbation thereof" was produced and read, and "was forthwith published at the Court House." This was his sole connection with the Province of Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM PENN (3d) was b. at Worminghurst, March 21, 1702-3, and through his first marriage was the ancestor of the Penn-Gaskell family.
WILLIAM PENN (3d) spent his childhood and youth under the care of his mother and step-grandmother. He was seventeen at the death of his father in 1720, and from that time for several years spent most of his time in Ireland. On the death of his elder brother, Springett Penn, in 1731, he inherited the remaining estates of the elder line of the Penn family, of which he then became the eldest male heir. These included the estate of Shanagarry, granted to his great-grandfather, Admiral Sir William Penn, by the Protector in 1660, and an estate known as the "Rocks" in Sussex, a remnant of the estate of his grandmother, Gulielma Maria Springett, whose whole possessions of course descended in the elder line. Through the break with the Friends in Philadelphia by his father, William Penn Jr., the family seem to have entirely withdrawn from the Society, but on the approach of his marriage, William Penn united himself with the Society and was married under the care of "the people of God
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called Quakers, in Wandsworth, in the county of Surrey, according to the good order used amongst them" * * *
"on the 7th day of the month called December in the year 1732," to Christian Forbes, daughter of Alexander Forbes, of London, merchant, and Jane his wife, a daughter of Robert Barclay, of Ury, the author of the famous Quaker book, the "Apology", and through him a descendant of the royal family of Stuarts; Robert Barclay's mother, the wife of Col. David Barclay, of Ury, (who served under Gustavus Adolphus, in the Thirty Years' War) was Lady Catherine Gordon, a daughter of Sir Robert Gordon, second son of the Earl of Sutherland, and a cousin of James VI. of Scotland, later James I., of England. Through this marriage of Col. David Barclay to Lady Catharine Gordon, their descendants trace their ancestry through all the English Kings back from Richard II. to King Alfred.
The father of Alexander Forbes was John Forbes, of Auchorties, near Aber- deen, Scotland. Ury, the home of the Barclays, being an adjoining estate, the two families were closely associated, and both joined in the Quaker movement that invaded Scotland in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and the heads of both families suffered imprisonment at Aberdeen and were otherwise per- secuted for their religious faith. The life and works of Robert Barclay, of Ury, and his association with the colonization of New Jersey is too well known to need repetition in giving an account of his descendants through the Penn family.
The married life of William Penn (3d) with his first wife was pathetically brief, as she died November 1, 1733, within a year of her marriage, and soon after the birth of her daughter, Christiana Gulielma Penn, and at the early age of eighteen years. She was buried among the Penn family at Jordans. In a sketch of her in "Piety Promoted", her religious character is highly extolled.
William Penn (3d) married (second), December 7, 1736, Ann Vaux, daugh- ter of Isaac Vaux, of London, and thereafter lived principally in Ireland, chiefly at the ancestral estate of Shanagarry, where he died February 6, 1746-7. He had by his second wife a son, Springett Penn, born at Cork, Ireland, March I, 1737-8, died at Dublin, Ireland, in November, 1766, unmarried, being the last survivor of the name descended from Gulielma Maria Springett.
The widow, Ann (Vaux) Penn, to whom Springett had devised his estate, married (second) Alexander Durdin, and on her death bed willed to him the half of the Shanagarry estate devised to her by her son. A great deal of liti- gation followed between Durdin, (and later his heirs) and Christiana Gulielma Penn-Gaskell, daughter of William Penn (2d), by his first marriage.
CHRISTIANA GULIELMA PENN, only child of William Penn (3d), by his first wife, Christiana Forbes, and after the death of her half-brother, Springett Penn, the only surviving representative of the elder line of the descendants of William Penn, the Founder, was born October 22, 1733, and was brought up in the family of her maternal grandfather, Alexander Forbes, at Dowgate Hill, their London Home, and at Auchorties, Scotland, the ancestral estate of the Forbes family. Her father, William Penn (3d), seems also to have resided with his father-in-law until he contracted his second marriage with Ann Vaux, after which he resided in Ireland. Alexander Forbes died May 25, 1740, but Christiana Gulielma Penn continued to reside with the family until her marriage in 1761 to Peter Gaskell, of Bath, and Ingersley Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
PETER GASKELL was brought up in the family of his kinsman, the Earl of
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Powis and Herbert, (his father having died when he was young, was buried at Presbury Church, near Macclesfield). He was a connection of the Gaskell fam- ily of Beaumont Hall, Lancaster, Kiddington Hall, Oxfordshire, and the Gas- kells of Rolf's Hold, in Bucks, as shown by the arms he bore, viz: Three bars engrailed vert, in chief of a rose gu. barbed and seeded ppr. between two tre- foils slipped of the second; crest, a sinister arm embowed with an anchor with cable, sable. Motto, over "Spes". These arms, quartered with those of the Penn family, accompanied the engraving of the portrait of William Penn in armour, inscribed to Peter Penn-Gaskell, grandson of Peter Gaskell, above men- tioned, by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in 1877.
Christiana Gulielma Penn inherited from her father a one-half interest in the Shanagarry estate in Ireland, that had descended from Admiral Sir William Penn, though it was involved in litigation for a period of forty years, between her and her heirs, and those of Alexander Durdin, the second husband of her stepmother, Ann (Vaux) Penn, the final decree to possess that and the other Irish estates involved, being obtained by her son, Thomas Penn-Gaskell, of Shanagarry. Mrs. Gaskell also inherited valuable lands and lots in and around Philadelphia, from her great-aunt, Letitia Aubrey, including the old Manor of Mount Joy and Fagg's Manor, the latter being a grant of 10,000 acres to Sir John Fagg, from whom it descended to her. It lay partly in Chester county and partly in New Castle county. A great part of this was sold prior to her mar- riage to Peter Gaskell by virtue of a power of attorney from her to William Peters and Richard Hockley, dated March 5, 1755. She likewise inherited con- siderable entailed estate in Philadelphia and elsewhere, from her father, her uncle, Springett Penn, and the Fell-Thomas branch of the family, being the sole surviving heir of the elder branch of the Founder's family. In 1774 pro- ceedings were begun to effect a common recovery in order to dock the entail, and considerable litigation ensued which continued until her death.
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