John Fisher Land Records

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

From AWSmith

1. From a deed in the Recorder's office at Philadelphia (Book E, No. 2, page 12), dated the 19th day of the 7th month, 1683, it appears that John Fisher purchased, while in England, five hundred acres of land within the city of Philadelphia.
2. Certain it is that John Fisher at one time owned one of these caves, from a deed recorded in Book E, No. 1, page 226. In it Margaret Fisher, widow of John Fisher, and Thomas Fisher, her son, executors of the last will of John Fisher, convey to Samuel Atkins, of the town of Philadelphia, glover, " for the Love, favor and Affection which they have and bear" toward him, a certain house or cave in the bank of the river Delaware, which he, the said John Fisher, lately bought from Thomas "Wynne, for the remainder of the term of three years, from 2d September, 1684, and longer if the Governor shall please.
3. The first (Book E, No. 1, page 224) is dated 14th April, 1686, in which Margaret Fisher and Thomas Fisher, executors of the last will of John Fisher, sell to Samuel Atkins, for ten pounds, a lot on the north side of Walnut Street, forty feet front by two hundred and fifty feet deep, with a house on it of sixteen feet, and two bedsteads in the same. It was conveyed 12th May, 1685, to John Fisher, by Samuel Satchell, in consideration of six pounds. From this deed it is evident that John Fisher was living on the 12th May, 1685, and that he had died before the 14th April, 1686.
4. In the second (Book E, No. 2, page 107), Margaret Fisher, relic of John Fisher, late of the town and county of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania, in America, glazier, deceased, and their son Thomas Fisher, both executors of the last will of the said John Fisher, deceased, by indenture dated the 26th day of the 3d month, 1688, convey to Charles Pickering, of the said town, in consideration of forty-five pounds, a certain piece of land containing three hundred acres, situate in the county of ________, held by a patent dated 24th day of the 3d month, 1688 ; also three lots situate on the north side of Walnut Street, which were sold to John Fisher, 10th May, 1683, by E. Cartlidge.
5. Recorder of Deeds at Georgetown, Delaware: " Henry Stretcher acknowledged in Open Court to the sale of four hundred acres of land called Millbunie on the east side of Mill Creek from them their heirs Executors and administrators to John Fisher and Richard Core them their heirs Executors and Administrators and assigns for- ever, according to the contents of an Indenture of sale given for the same, bearing date the 10th day of this present month.
6. Recorder of Deeds at Georgetown, Delaware: "Rodger Gum acknowledged in open court the sale of five hundred acres of land to Jno. Fisher called Twiver according to the Patent and Indenture of sale — " At a court held by the King's Authority in the Proprietors name the 10th day of the first month at Lewis for the County of Sussex. " Commissioners Present William Clark, Presid'. " Luke "Watson, Jno. Roads, Alexander Draper, Robert Bracey, and Hercules Shepard."

" I know little of John Fisher after his arrival [in Amer- ica]. He is second on the list of the Second Grand Jury, — the very one which proscribed Margaret Mattson as a witch ; but as the majority of the panel seems to have been Swedes or illiterate persons, we need not consider him as a sharer in the superstitions of the day.

" A curious paper has, however, been preserved, and is in my possession, being an act of the members of this jury, subscribed Patk. Robinson as foreman, and by John Fisher, the second on the list, in a good bold hand, protesting against some indignity put upon them by the court, and demanding redress or an apology under threat of calling them to account before their superiors.

" "We have no trace of the cause of grievance or of the result of the remoustrance. "We may almost suppose my ancestor was an active mover in this extraordinary act, for we have additional evidence of his boldness in asserting what he believed his rights in another document, saved from the same source, which is in fact an indictment for treasonable words denying the authority of the Proprietor. "Whether the prosecution led to trial and punishment we are also unable to discover, for all the records of the court are destroyed." *

• " This does not seem to have been his only quarrel with the judicial authorities, for I find on the back of a jury's verdict of the sixth court held in Philadelphia the following rough endorsement : ' Memorandum — that a Mittimus be drawn to commit John Fisher to the Sheriff's Custody for affronting the Court.' Whether this was a new affair or one that grew out of the matters above noted can never be ascertained, all of these papers having been picked by me out of the mass of manuscript court files which were in the lofts at the ' Woodlands' when that establishment was broken up. They were selected as curiosities without the knowledge that John Fisher was my ancestor, or any appreciation of the value of the collection which I left to be destroyed. Whether his contemporaries condemned him as a wrong-headed, troublesome fellow, or admired his manly vindication of public liberty and private conscience, we may at least find some indication of the wilfulness of action and independence of thought which has been rather characteristic of his descendants to the present day."

" Unto the County Court of Judicature for the City and County of Philadelphia, setting fourth : — " That whereas "Wee are deeplie sensible of the yesterday's abuses done us by some of your Bench, and that "Wee intend to Remonstrate the same to your and our Superiours, if before the dissolution of this Court, satisfaction be not given as openlie as we are abused — and since it is not ours to forgive this injurie, being done to Persons in a public capacity " We therefore desire your answer therein."

" In the King's name, and by the Authority of the Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Territories thereunto belonging : — " Thou, John Fisher, having wickedly and maliciously defamed Reproached and denyed the King's authority and legislative Power of the Governor, The Provincial Counsell and General Assembly of this Province to the great prejudice and danger of the same Therefore thou art hereby indicted and arraigned at the Bar of the King's Court held at Philadelphia the fifth day of the Seventh Month next ensuing "Where thou art to be judged (or justifyed) of the above named crime. " Given at Philadelphia the 11th day of the 6th Month 1683. " Subscribed by us. Thomas Holme, Prest., " Thomas "Wynne J "John Longhurst "Lasse Cock " Swan Swanson"

• These copies have been preserved in Thomas Gilpin's Family Memo- rials, with the statement that the original papers were in the possession of J. Francis Fisher. Their authenticity being so far vouched for, it seems permissible to quote them.