USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 49
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It has been stated that the rear-admiral then acted in Goodman's place as vice- admiral, and that Capt. Crispin became acting rear-admiral. The journal of the expedition (as quoted by Granville Penn in his "Memoirs of Admiral Penn"), at this point, says, "Some of the captains expressed their desire to go home, notwith- standing their vessels remained, viz : rear admiral Captain Crispin (of the Laurel), C. Newberry and C. Story."
Capt. William Crispin, Richard Wadeson, and Thomas Broughton, who were appointed to take charge of supplying the English forces in the island, were called by the home authorities the "Commissioners for supplying Jamaica." Crispin re- turned to England early in the spring, for the Calendar has a letter dated London, April 24, 1656, from him to Col. John Clerke and Mr. Hopkins, about some Jama- ica hides to be disposed of for the use of Gen. (Admiral) Penn.
Penn and that part of the fleet that returned had arrived at Spithead, August 31, 1655, and soon afterwards he and Venables were committed to the Tower, the reason given being that they had disobeyed orders by returning, but in reality be-, cause Cromwell knew that they favored the Prince of Wales. Penn was soon released but was dismissed from the service of the Protector, and retired to his Irish estates. (In the autumn of 1657 he was living on his estate of Macromp in county Cork ; this was the confiscated estate of Lord Muskerry ; after the Restora- tion it was restored to the latter (then Earl of Clancarty), and, in compensation, Penn was given the estate of Shannagarry, in the same county). About this time many of the principal men in the navy and their adherents found much cause for dissatisfaction in Cromwell's conduct, especially in the ascendency of the army over the navy which he fostered. For a number of years they had borne the brunt of foreign wars and successfully carried out expeditions of conquest ; in return for which, instead of being given higher commands or other suitable rewards, they were dismissed from the service or required to serve under Cromwell's land officers, whom he made admirals and generals-at-sea over the heads of tried and experienced naval officers. During the internal troubles most of the leading naval
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officers had had little to do with party strife at home, being at sea engaged in fight- ing the common enemies of the whole English nation, consequently they had not much sympathy with Cromwell and his party ; some of them, indeed, were royalists by birth and education, and had been in the navy before the struggle between King and Parliament began. Penn was one of these, and, as we have seen, he had been dismissed by the Protector. Crispin was retained longer ; but when the naval party began to plan opposition to the Protector's government and adherence to the King, he was among the leaders of the movement. Granville Penn in his "Memoirs of Admiral Penn" has shown that the naval party laid the foundation for the Restor- ation, which was afterwards accomplished by Gen. Monk. This naval party had been gradually forming for some time, and circumstances contributed to increase its following. Hume in his "History of England" says that many of the inferiors, as well as the leaders of the West Indies expedition, were inclined to the King; and that, when Spain declared war against England on account of the violence of treaty by the sending out of this same expedition, several sea officers, entertaining scruples against this war, threw up their commissions. Crispin was undoubtedly one of the latter ; and they, with the officers dismissed by Cromwell and their friends still in the service, formed the nucleus of the naval party which took part in the succeeding events.
In 1656 the fifth-monarchy men began to hold secret meetings and prepare for an outbreak; at the end of the year the naval party and some of the royalists hear- ing of it, attempted to turn it to their own account, and in the beginning of the next year (March, 1657) had come to terms with them and were preparing for a rising against Cromwell. Sec. Thurloe made a report of the discovery and frustra- tion of this scheme, which is published in his collection of State Papers (vol. vi., pp. 184-186). (In the index to this volume Crispin is described as a fifth-mon- archy man, but as Granville Penn points out, the report to which the index refers shows him to have been one of those Thurloe calls "behind the curtain"). After describing the actions of the fifth-monarchy men, Thurloe's report says :
"Thinges being thus settled among the men of these principles, those, who were all this while behind the curtain, and thought themselves as well of their own judgment as some of others, began to thinke, that these men might be made good use of; and in order thereto, the first step must be to reconcile the fifth monarchy and the common wealth partye. And to this end a meeting was betweene them, which they agreed should consist of twelve. The per- sons who met, wer vice-ad. Lawson, col. Okey, capt. Lyons, capt. Crispin, capt. Dekins, one Portman, Venner, mr. Squib, and some others. Four of these were officers at sea, and three deserted the fleet, when it went upon the coast of Spayne."
Cromwell had dismissed Lawson in the summer of 1656, and the three who, Thurloe says, deserted the fleet, but had, in fact, thrown up their commissions, as mentioned above, were Lyons, Crispin and Dakins (the latter the rear-admiral in the West Indies expedition). Venner, who was the leader of the fifth-monarchy men, was a wine-cooper, and Thurloe calls him a person of very mean quality. The report continues :
"These twelve being met together, engaged solemnly to each other to secresy, and not to disclose to any creature, that there was any such meetinge save that a liberty was given to * * *
communicate all to m. g. Harrison and col. Rich, both of whom had beene sounded
One party was for actinge under a visible authority; and for that purpose propounded, that forty of the longe parliament should be convened in some fitting place, for they would not have all of them neither, under whom they would act."
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This was probably the naval men and royalists, while what follows accords better with the fifth-monarchy ideas :
"The other were neither carefull for any authority to act under, nor that any way of government should be propounded beforehand; but were for action with such members as they could get, and wait for such issue as the providence of God should bring things to. Thus the difference stood betweene them, and many meetings there were upon it *
* * These meetings continued thus, till it was resolved by his highnes (Cromwell) that a parliament should be called, and some of the chief of this meeting were apprehended and secured."
The report does not name those taken, and we do not know whether Crispin was among them. Venner escaped, and he and his fifth-monarchy partisans re- solved to take up arms at the first opportunity ; but early in April several of their meeting places were broken up, their arms seized, and twenty of them captured. This conspiracy came to naught, but the naval party continued their secret activity in conjunction with the other royalists. If Crispin participated in any of the latter conspiracies, there is nothing at present known in evidence of it. After the last attempt he may have gone at once to Kinsale, in Ireland, where he is found soon after the Restoration. His former commander (and connection by marriage), Admiral Penn, was living at that time on his estates in county Cork, which were not far from Kinsale, and this probably drew Crispin to that place. (It has been stated that Cromwell gave Crispin a forfeited estate near the Shannon, not far from Limerick, but no evidence in support of the statement has been found after considerable search ; there is no proof that Crispin was ever in that vicinity. His name may have been confused with that of Sir Nicholas Crispe, one of the Lon- don adventurers, who had an estate in the locality mentioned). In 1660, after the Restoration, Penn, who took an important part in the final acts of that event, was knighted and made Commissioner of the Admiralty and Governor of the town and fort of Kinsale. Crispin probably assisted Penn at this time, and no doubt came in for a share of the royal favor ; he may have obtained a magistracy or judicial office of some kind in county Cork, as the Admiral's son afterwards wrote that Crispin was skilled in court-keeping. He lived in Kinsale about twenty years, but left very little of record there that has survived. The Council Book of the Cor- poration of Kinsale ( from 1652 to 1800) mentions the reading at the meeting of July 18, 1662, a letter of protection from arrest granted to William Crispin by Thomas Amery, dated June 20, 1662. In the Marquis of Ormonde's papers (cata- logued by the Historical Manuscripts Commission) is a letter from William Cris- pin dated at Kinsale, December 12, 1665, the last record of him here until his appointment to Pennsylvania. If he ever joined the Society of Friends he may have done so while at Kinsale, for the Friends were quite numerous in county Cork, and many of the Commonwealth soldiers there had adopted their tenets. It is supposed, however, that he was not a Friend.
In 1681 William Penn, son of the Admiral, having obtained the grant of Penn- sylvania, proceeded to plant a colony there. He first sent his cousin, William Markham, as Deputy-Governor, to receive the government from the Duke of York's representatives at New York. In September he appointed three Commis- sioners for settling the colony, with authority to purchase land from the Indians, select the site for a city, etc. In his letter of instructions to them, dated Septem- ber 3, 1681, he calls them "My Commissioners for the Settleing of the present Collony this year transported into ye said Province."
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These Commissioners were William Crispin, John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen. The next month he gave them further instructions, and added another Commis- sioner, William Haigue. The commission to the four is dated October 25, 1681, and refers to instructions of October 14. This may have been the first commission issued, as no other is known to exist at the present day, nor have the instructions of October 14 been found. These Commissioners sailed for Pennsylvania soon afterwards, but not all in the same ship. There were three ships that sailed from England for Pennsylvania in the year 1681, the "John and Sarah," the "Bristol Factor," and the "Amity." Allen sailed in the "John and Sarah" the first that arrived in Pennsylvania, and Bezar probably in the same. Crispin went in one of them and the facts points to the "Amity," of London, Richard Dimond, master, as the one. The historians, Proud, Gordon and Clarkson, all say that the "Amity" was one of the three that sailed this year, that she was delayed by contrary winds and did not arrive until spring of the following year. Hazard says that the "Amity" was said to have been blown off the coast to the West Indies and did not arrive until spring, but remarks that we have proof that she did not sail until April of the next year; and later historians follow Hazard's statement. But we only have proof that she did sail from the Downs, April 23, 1682 ; none that she had not sailed before and returned without reaching Pennsylvania. By all accounts the ship Crispin sailed in was blown off after nearly reaching the capes of Delaware, and put into Barbadoes, and there we lose sight of her. The similarity of the accounts shows that Crispin's ship was the "Amity," and that the earlier historians were correct, as far as they went, while Hazard is mistaken in placing her first voyage in April, 1682, as she no doubt returned from Barbadoes to England, and made a new start in that month. William Crispin died in Barbadoes, when the ship put in there, and the news of his death was probably taken back to England by the "Amity," for Thomas Holme, Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania, who is said to have succeeded Crispin as Commissioner, came out in her next voyage. Crispin is also said to have been the first appointed Surveyor-General, but no proof of this has been found. Silas Crispin, son of William, came out with Holme. He had probably first sailed with his father and returned to England in the "Amity," as no doubt many of the other passengers did, to get another chance to reach Pennsyl- vania.
Penn also intended Captain Crispin to be Chief-Justice, as evidenced by the fol- lowing extract from a letter to Markham:
"London, 18th 8th mo. 1681.
"Cosen Markham : ** * * I have sent my Cosen, William Crispin, to be thy Assistant, as by Commission will appear. His Skill, Experience, Industry & Integrity are well known to me, & perticulerly in court-keeping &c; so that it is my will & pleasure that he be as Chief Justice, to keep the Seal, the Courts & Sessions; & he shall be accountable to me for it. The proffits redounding are to his proper behoof. He will show thee my Instructions, which will guide you all in the business. The res is left to your discretion; that is, to thee, thy two Assistants & the Coun- sel * * *
"Pray be very respectfull to my Cosen Crispin. He is a man my father had great confi- dence in and value for "William Penn." * * *
William Crispin was one of the "First Purchasers" of land in the Province ; but his purchase of five thousand acres was never laid out to him. After his death this amount was confirmed to his children, in separate portions, by the Pro-
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prietary's patents, in which it is stated to be of the latter's "free gift." William Penn granted five hundred acres to his son Ralph, one thousand acres to his daughter Rachel, and three thousand acres to his seven younger children, and his son Silas in 1692 obtained a patent for five hundred acres, stated to be in right of a purchase of five thousand acres (presumably his father's).
William Crispin's city lots are shown on Holme's "Portraiture," or plan of the city. They were: No. 43, on the south side of Vine street, running from Dela- ware Front to Second street; and No. 74, half on the southeast and half on the northeast corners of Eighth and High streets, each sixty-six feet on High and three hundred and six feet on Eighth street. These lots were never patented to him, but Silas Crispin obtained patents to some other city lots, presumably in place of these.
Capt. William Crispin married (first) about 1650, Anne, daughter of John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam, Holland, who was a sister of Margaret Jasper, wife of Adm. Sir William Penn, and mother of William Penn, Proprietary of Pennsylvania. Some authorities state that John Jasper was a native of Rotter- dam, others that he was an Englishman by birth. Samuel Pepys, in his Diary, describes John Jasper's daughter, Lady Penn, as a "well-looked, fat, short old Dutchwoman," but her appearance might have been inherited from a Dutch mother, even though her father had been English. Howard M. Jenkins in "The Family of William Penn" (Penna. Mag., vol. xx) remarks, "By one authority he is named a burgomaster, and the editor of Lord Braybrooke's edition of Pepys calls him Sir John." It has also been said that his name was Petre, translated Jasper in Dutch.
William and Anne (Jasper) Crispin had issue:
Silas, d. May 31, 17II; m. (first) 1683, Esther Holme; m. (second) Mary (Stockton) Shinn; see below;
Rebecca, m. (first) Aug. 24, 1688, at Ifield Friends' Meeting, in Sussex, Edward Black- fan, son of John Blackfan, of Stenning, co. of Sussex, England. (John Blackfan, of Stenning, father of Edward, appears to have been a man of some position in his locality. He early joined the Society of Friends and suffered much persecution for his religion. Besse, in his "Sufferings," reports several instances. In 1659 John Blackfan was persecuted in the Exchequer for twenty pounds for tithes of eight and a half acres, when all the corn that grew on his land was scarce worth half that amount. In 1662 he was committed to Horsham Gaol on a writ de excommunicato capiendo, after prosecution in the Ecclesiastical Court for refusing to pay towards the repairs to the Steeple House. In 1663 he and the others were persecuted in the Ecclesiastical Court for being absent from public worship, and he was excommunicated and some of the others imprisoned). Her cousin, William Penn, Proprietary of Pennsylvania, and some of his family attended the wedding. Edward Blackfan was a member of the Society of Friends, and came in for a share of the ill treatment afforded that Society. In 168I he was indicted, with others, at Horsham Assizes, for absence from the national worship, and in 1684 for being present at some Quaker meetings at Stenning, and according to Besse, he "was fined £7, 18s, which, at the Pursuasion of some Justices and others, he paid in order to Appeal, but when the Sessions came on, he found so little Encouragement in prosecuting the same, that he chose rather to lose his Money, than to be put to farther Charge."
Edward Blackfan intended to go to Pennsylvania, but was prevented by death. He is spoken of in Penn's letters in 1689 as being about to take official documents to the Council, and was on the point of sailing when he died in 1690.
His widow, with their son William, afterwards went to Pennsylvania, in the same ship with Thomas Chalkley and other Friends, about 1700. She was a member of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania. On her arrival, her relatives, the Penns, sent her to take charge of their manor of Pennsbury, in Bucks co., where she lived a number of years.
Edward and Rebecca (Crispin) Blackfan had one child:
William Blackfan, m. at Friends' Meeting, 2d mo. 20, 1721, Eleanor Wood, of Phila. From them descend the Blackfan family of Bucks co., Pa.
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Rebecca (Crispin) Blackfan m. (second) in 1725, Nehemiah Allen, of Phila., son of Nathaniel Allen, one of the Proprietary's Commissioners for Settling the Colony in 1681 (of whom her father, Capt. William Crispin, had been one). She is not known to have had any issue by Allen ;
Ralph, remained in Ireland, and may have continued to live at Kinsale, for in the assign- ment of his land in Pennsylvania, dated 1690, he is styled "Ralph Crispin of Cork in the Kingdom of Ireland, gentleman," which probably meant the county of Cork and not the city. By patent of July 25, 1688, William Penn, granted of his "free gift" to his "loving cousin Ralph Crispin," son of Capt. William Crispin, late of the Kingdom of Ireland, deceased, five hundred acres of land in Pa. This was his share of his father's five thousand acres. Ralph Crispin assigned this patent to Ebenezer Pike, May 24, 1690, the land not having then been laid out. Nothing further is known of his life at present;
Rachel, m. Thomas Armstrong. William Penn granted her one thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania; he re-granted this to her husband, by a deed dated 11th mo. 2, 1694, in which he acknowledged having some years before granted the same to Rachel Arm- strong, by the name of Rachel Crispin "(which grant is mentioned to be lost in the Wars of Ireland)," and therefore repeated it to Thomas Armstrong; five hundred acres to be disposed of for the support of him, his wife Rachel, and their child born, or children to be born, and the other five hundred acres to Silas Crispin, Samuel Car- penter, and Lasse Cock, in trust for Rachel Armstrong, her child, etc. At the meet- ing of the Board of Property held 6th mo. I, 1733, Samuel Mickle, of Philadelphia, requested a warrant for this one thousand acres, which was granted him, as it was shown that Rachel and her heirs had sold to Henricus Chapman, of London, who sold to Mickle. (Thomas Armstrong and Rachel his wife, Robert Swiney and Jane his wife (one of the daughters of said Thomas and Rachel), by deed dated May 15, 1724, for forty pounds granted the said one thousand acres to Henricus Chapman, of Lon- don, who, together with George Armstrong, son and heir of Thomas and Rachel Arm- strong, by deeds of lease and release dated July 6 and 7, 1731, granted the said one thousand acres to Samuel Mickle, of Philadelphia. At the meeting of the Board of Property held 4th mo. 15, 1736, a patent was signed to Samuel Mickle for two hundred and fifty acres on a branch of the "Parkeawining," in right of Rachel Armstrong, formerly Crispin. On 8th mo. 2, 1731, James Buckley requested a grant of about two hundred acres on the branches of the Ocoraro, to build a mill. This was afterwards confirmed to him in right of Samuel Mickle's purchase, "made of the children of Capt. Crispin," the minutes of the Board have it, but Mickle's purchase was from only one child of Crispin's).
Thomas and Rebecca (Crispin) Armstrong had issue :
Jane Armstrong, m. Robert Swiney (probably Sweeney) ;
George Armstrong, "son and heir;"
Another child, or children (at least one daughter), name or names unknown.
Capt. William Crispin married (second) Jane Nothing is known of her family. For at least seventeen years after Capt. Crispin's death, however, his widow and younger children lived at Kinsale. William Penn granted of his "free gift" to James, Joseph, Benjamin, Jane, Eleanor, Elizabeth, and Amy Crispin, children of William Crispin by his second marriage, three thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania ; as they were all minors at the date of this grant, August 8, 1687, he named Thomas Chudleigh, Martin Perse, and John Watts, of Kinsale, as trustees. One thousand five hundred acres of this were to be sold by the trus- tees for the children's education, support, and settlement in life; of the one thousand five hundred acres the portion of any child dying under seventeen years of age was to return to the Proprietary. As no return of the laying out of this land was sent to the trustees, they did not sell any of it; and William Penn, by deed of November 22, 1698, in consideration of Jane Crispin, though left in poor circumstances by her husband, having paid for the education and support of her children (and, as stated in the deed, Eleanor and Joseph having died after reach- ing seventeen years, Jane, Elizabeth and James having married very well, and Benjamin and Amy being capable of supporting themselves), granted to her, "Jane Crispin, of Kinsale, widow," half of the three thousand acres. This was afterwards inherited by her surviving children.
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William and Jane Crispin had issue:
James, m. (between 1687 and 1698) He removed from Kinsale to the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies. He appears to have eventually obtained the whole of the three thousand acres mentioned above; by the law of Pa. he was entitled as eldest brother to two shares of it, each of his brothers and sisters having one share. In an account of the disposition of this land among the Penn Papers in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania it is stated that his surviving brother and sisters, Benjamin, Jane, Elizabeth and Amy, by deed of May 10, 1702, sold their rights to James, who died intestate, seized of the three thousand acres, leaving issue. James Crispin's children were clearly considered the heirs of the whole three thousand acres, for about 1731 they all sold their shares, aggregating this amount, to persons living in Pennsylvania, and their right was unquestioned until 1752, when a controversy arose about one of these sales, during which Thomas Penn wrote that he had in his possession the deed of 1698, which had on the back a conveyance, dated July 30, 1702, from Benjamin, Jane, Elizabeth, and Amy to Captain Arthur Smith, and that this appeared to be the original conveyance, and they therefore had not conveyed to their brother James. But if, as is surmised, James Crispin had married a daughter (and possibly heiress) of Captain Arthur Smith, his possession of his brother's and sisters' rights would thus be explained. (The deed of November 22, 1698, with the conveyance of 1702 on the back, is now in possession of Mr. Daniel Sutter, of Mount Holly, New Jersey. A number of papers relating to this matter are in the Penn mss., volume of land grants ( 1681-1806), pages 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 227, and 231, in pos- session of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania).
James Crispin had issue :
Arthur Smith;
Prudence, m. Smith; living in St. Christopher in 1752;
James, drowned off St. Christopher in a hurricane, 1731; died intestate, under twenty-one years, probably unm .;
Richard, living in 1733;
Elizabeth, m. Harris; living in St. Christopher in 1752;
Joseph, lived in St. Christopher; was in Phila. in 1752;
Michael, living in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1751.
Joseph, d. unm. between 1687 and 1698, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one years;
Benjamin, m. (between 1698 and 1702) Alice
Jane, m. (between 1687 and 1698) Greenslaid Lucomb;
Eleanor, d. unm. between 1687 and 1698, aged between seventeen and twenty-one years;
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