John Penrose (1697 - 1754)

Born 1697 in England

Died Oct 1754 at about age 57 in Savannah, Province of Georgia

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Biography

One of 112 Passengers on the Ann, - Original Settler of the Province of Georgia -

John Penrose was a Georgia colonist.

Based on his age in 1732, John was born about 1697.

On the 7th of November 1732, the Trustees for establishing the New Colony of Georgia appointed John West and John Penrose Tythingmen of the Town of Savannah.^[1] The Tything was the Guard formed by General Oglethorpe. According to the passenger list for the Ann, John Penrose, age 35, and his wife Elisabeth, age 46, embarked on the ship Ann which sailed from Gravesend on Friday the 17th of Nov 1732, and arrived in the the new Colony of Georgia on the 1st of February 1733.^[2]

A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia recorded:

1138. Penrose, Jo. Lot 15 in Savannah. Fyn’d thrice for retailing spirituous liquours without lycense. And twice for assault and defamation. His lot swamp overflow’d. He went over 2d. Tything man of Savannah. Run away to Carolina Aug. 1742.

1139. ____, Eliz., w., - Age 46. Found guilty of the same things, and also of keeping a bawdy house 26 May 1736. Went to Carolina for fear of the Spaniards. Quitted Sept. 1740^[3]

In 1741 John Penrose was building a Schooner, and was at a loss for some particular sorts of timber useful in the work & finding some such within the limits of the Great Road one mile SE of the Town, he desired liberty to cut a log or two of the same, which the Board agreed to with this caution given him; that he lops up and clears the head of the tree which he hath the benefit of that it be no annoyance to the Road.^[4] According to the Colonial Records, the Schooner was completed by February of 1743/4, and was loading in the port and about to embark on a voyage for the Port of the Province of New York when David Mountigut petitioned to stop the Schooner from proceeding until John Penrose settled payment for a bond he had given for Mountigut for £200 to enable John to finish and comletely fit out for sea the Schooner.^[4] The Board denied the petition, and the Schooner was aloud to proceed with the cargo.

On the 23rd of April 1742 the Meeting of the President and Assistants recorded John Penrose and three other persons applied for "Lycences" having kept publick houses for some time past, and no complaint appearing against them, whereupon the four person were adjudged properly qualified, and were granted for the year ensuing agreeable to the Trustees Instructions.^[4]

John petitioned for 300 acres of land. "A small island containing about fifty or sixty acres near Whitemarsh where he built a schooner, and the remainder upon the said Island of Whitemarsh: he being one of the first settlers and having made considerable improvements on his town lot in the town and township of Savannah, and knowing him to be a very industrious man the Board agreed."^[4] According to the Georgia Colonial and Headright Plat Index, 300 acres of land on Tybee river was surveyed for John Penrose in 1749.^[5]

Mr. John Penrose was approved for Pilot at Tybee in the room of David Cunningham who was displaced for neglect of duty on the 13th of July 1750.^[1]

John's wife, Elisabeth, having been noted as "Went to Carolina for fear of the Spaniards. Quitted Sept. 1740," apparently died, and John was married to one Margaret at the time of his death. John Penrose of Savannah wrote his Last Will and Testament on the 6th day of November 1754 noting these legatees:

Margaret Penrose, his wife

two children, Mary and John Penrose, Town lot on the bay

Catherine Cammeron, the lot late James Turners.

The property listed in the will was his boat, a tract of 300 acres of land on the Island of Whitemarsh, and his Town lot on the bay. Henry Hamilton, Benjamin Goldwere, and Richard Milledge were joint Executors, and the will was recorded in Nov 1754.^[6]

Documented children born to John and Margaret Penrose:

Mary Penrose

John Penrose

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Candler, Allen D. Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, Volume II. Minutes of the Common Council of the Trustees...Atlanta, Georgia. The Franklin-Turner Company Printers, Publishers. 1904. Page 11, citing Tythingman, John Penrose, Page 509, citing Pilot John Penrose. Digital images: Hathi Trust Digital Library. Accessed 12 Nov 2020.
2. ↑ Immigrant Ships. Transcribers Guild. Harbuck, Deborah. Ross. Mary.Ship Ann. 30 Nov 1999. citing Penrose. Digital image: Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020.
3. ↑ Coulter, Ellis Merton, and Saye, Albert B., editors. A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia. Athens, Georgia. The University of Georgia Press. 1949. Persons Who Went from Europe to Georgia at the Trustees' Charge. Page 40, citing Penrose, Jo. Page 76, citing Jo. Penrose Phil. Gordon, Page 109, citing John Penrose.. Digital PDF: dlg.galileo.usg.edu. Accessed 1 Nov 2020.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Candler, Allen D. The Colonial Records of Georgia, Volume VI. Proceedings of the President and Assistants from October 12, 1741 to October 30, 1754. Atlanta, Georgia. The Franklin-Turner Company Printers, Publishers. 1906. Page 22, citing building of Schooner, John Penrose, Page 30, citing license public house for John Penrose, Page 92, 93, citing voyage of Schooner, John Penrose; Page 176, citing land petition of John Penrose. Digital images: Hathi Trust Digital Library. Accessed 12 Nov 2020.
5. ↑ Abbe, Mary H. Georgia Colonial and Headright Plat Index, 1735-1866. R. J. Taylor, Jr., Foundation and The Georgia Archives., Record ID 45638. Citing Penrose, John. Digital images Georgia Archives, Virtual Vault.
6. ↑ Will Books, Colony of Georgia, RG 49-1-5, Georgia Archives, Record ID cwb001, Volume A., Page 3, 4. Will of John Penrose. Digital images Georgia Archives, Virtual Vault. Accessed 12 Nov 2020.