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Baptism 23 Oct 1644 All Hallows Barking - notes his parents were of the Tower Liberty. [3]
Although a member of a distinguished Anglican family and the son of Adm. Sir William Penn, Penn joined the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers at the age of 22. The Quakers obeyed their "inner light", which they believed to come directly from God, refused to bow or take off their hats to any man, and refused to take up arms. [4]
Penn was a close friend of George Fox, the founder of the Quakers. These were times of turmoil, just after Cromwell's death, and the Quakers were suspect, because of their principles which differed from the state imposed religion and because of their refusal to swear an oath of loyalty to Cromwell or the King.[5]William Penn, as a Quaker, was persecuted for his beliefs in England. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for seven months during 1668-69 for pamphleteering.[6]
William Penn was a member of the Monthly Meeting of Upperside, Buckinghamshire and is mentioned several times in the "Minute Book of the Monthly Meeting of Upperside, Buckinghamshire 1669-1690" between 1671 and 1676.[7] His first marriage, the birth of several of his children and several family burials were recorded in the Upperside registers.
Penn founded Pennsylvania as a bastion of religious freedom. It was one of two colonies, along with Rhode Island, that tolerated Quakers . Penn wanted to establish a colony where people could live in harmony:
James, Duke of York, conveyed the territory embraced in the Royal Charter of March 4, 1681, to William Penn (1), Esquire, by deed dated August 31, 1682.
Shortly after receiving the grant, William Penn (1), the Proprietary, divided the Province of Pennsylvania into three counties, Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia. There does not appear to be any record of the date upon which the division was made.[10]
William married twice, and had a large family, although sources disagree about the exact number of children he had. Many of his children died young.
The Minute Book of the Monthly Meeting of Upperside includes the following entry:[7]
William Penn and Gulielma Maria Springett married on the 4th of the 2nd month of 1672 (4 April 1672 new style) at King's, Charlewood, Hertfordshire. The certificate was signed by 46 witnesses.[11] Gulielma was the daughter of Sir William Springett (1620-1644) who died before she was born and Lady Mary Springett who later married Isaac Penington. They had the following children:[2][12]
Two years after Gulielma's died, he married Hannah Margaret Callowhill, the 25-year-old daughter of Thomas Callowhill and Anna (Hannah) Hollister. Penn was 52. They had eight children over a twelve year period:
William Penn, his second wife Hannah, and daughter Letitia Penn (by his first wife) sailed out of the Isle of Wight on September 3, 1699 on the Canterbury, or Canterbury Merchant. The ship reportedly survived an attack by pirates during the voyage, which ended December 3, 1699 at Philadelphia[16] - a city planned and developed under Penn's direction.[15][12]
William Penn contributed significantly to our form of government in the United States. Penn’s belief that “Religion and Policy…are two distinct things, have two different ends, and may be fully prosecuted without respect on to the other” took hold and became one of America’s most important ideals the separation of church and state which is the basis for religious freedom. [19]
Quakers believed that everyone had to seek God in his or her own way. Penn also thought that religious tolerance – or “liberty of conscience” – would create stronger governments and wealthier societies. Penn was unique among his fellow philosophers in that he had the opportunity to act on his beliefs. In Pennsylvania, religious tolerance was the law. [19] William Penn's belief that this would create wealth was disappointed. He had hoped that his colony would be profitable for him and his sons. It never became so:
William Penn died penniless on 30 July 1718, at his home in Ruscombe, near Twyford in Berkshire. He was buried on 5 August 1718 in an unmarked grave next to his first wife in the cemetery of the Jordans Quaker meeting house near Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire in England. His wife as sole executor became the de facto proprietor [of Pennsylvania] until she died in 1726.[20][21][22][23]
William Penn and Hannah Callowhill were declared US Honorary Citizens by Ronald Reagan in 1984.[24]
This week's connection theme is Monsters! William is 15 degrees from Lon Chaney, 22 degrees from James Arness, 18 degrees from Ricou Browning, 21 degrees from Warwick Davis, 24 degrees from Michael J. Fox, 20 degrees from Kevin Hall, 19 degrees from William Pratt, 20 degrees from Elsa Lanchester, 18 degrees from Bela Lugosi, 22 degrees from Maila Nurmi, 17 degrees from Vincent Price and 19 degrees from Claude Rains on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
Categories: This Day In History October 14 | William Penn and Early Pennsylvania Settlers Project | Activists and Reformers | Quaker Notables | Upperside Monthly Meeting, Buckinghamshire | Prisoners of the Tower of London | Prisoners, Fleet Prison | Canterbury (1699) | Quaker Emigration to America | William Penn's Great Charter | Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Slave Owners | Fleet of William Penn | Welcome, sailed August 1682 | Jordans Friends Burial Ground, Jordans, Buckinghamshire
Wildes devoted a chapter of his biography towards Penn's attitudes towards slavery. He was a product of his times; very few of the early Quakers (and none of the wealthy class) were abolitionists. Penn held the same beliefs as other Friends in this period--Black people had souls and deserved the light of God, but not liberation. While he verbally expressed wanting to manumit his slaves after putting in a lifetime of service, his financial circumstances and the wishes of his family did not support this position and at least one of his slaves was never freed and sold by his son after his death.
Quakers and Slavery has many stories of early Quaker abolitionists who stuck their neck out against the consensus of their communities, and the story of how, finally, in 1776, the Philadelphia YM took its abolitionist position.
Sources I consulted:
edited by H Husted
In addition to sources mentioned above, I ran many databases searches to see if any journal articles were written on the topic. All I found was that Penn was used as an example of Northern hypocrisy in a pro slavery editorial at the outbreak of the Civil War. So at no point in history was he even considered an abolitionist.
"For Penn, slaves were essential to expanding his holy experiment and the settlement and expansion of Pennsylvania. Not only were slaves advantageous to his new colony but also lucrative to his personal wealth. Penn acknowledged his preference for owning slaves (rather than indentured servants who would eventually earn their freedom) in his correspondence with the overseer of his plantation, Pennsbury Manor: “It was better they was blacks for then a man has them while they live.”
edited by H Husted
edited by Anne X
Gulielma Maria lived 23 Jan 1672/3 O.S. - 17 Mar 1672/3 O.S. She was followed by twins William [not listed] (28 Feb 1673/4 O.S. - 15 May 1674) and Margaret [NOT Maria Margaret] (28 Feb 1673/4 O.S. - 24 Feb 1674/5 O.S.) then Springett etc. FamilySearch has images of the Upperside Monthly Meeting registers which have the birth and death entries for many of the children.
PS sorry about the duplicate message. Discovered how to make the set braces appear for the Template names in the comment.
This child is noted by Mr Cadbury in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LXXXI, 79.
Anyone disagree?