Description:

William Penn
London, England, December 22, 1681
William Penn Sells 500 Acres in His 9-Month-Old Colony, Where the Earliest Friends' Meetings Were Held
MDS
A large, manuscript document signed by Pennsylvania founder William Penn for 500 acres in his new colony, dated December 22, 1681. Signed at the bottom fold "Wm Penn" with a red wax signet seal attached to a vellum tab at bottom. Penn grants 500 acres in Pennsylvania to John Hewse of St. Clement Parish for the sum of ten pounds sterling. Inscribed overall in gorgeous secretarial script, with a decorative scalloped top edge. 1p vellum, measuring 26.25" x 23.75", [London]. Expected flattened folds and minor discoloration and soiling. Else very good to near fine. Mounted and framed to the overall size of 42" x 30.5".

King Charles II granted a land charter of 45,000 square miles to William Penn--corresponding to parts of modern day Pennsylvania and Delaware--on March 4, 1681. The royal land grant made William Penn the largest private landowner in the world and enabled him to fashion a true "peaceable kingdom" in Pennsylvania. Penn's policies of religious tolerance, and of maintaining good relations with local Native Americans, attracted religious refugees and settlers alike.

Just nine months after the subsequent colony of Pennsylvania, or "Penn's Woods," was established, William Penn sold the above 500 acres for 10 pounds, which equates to approximately 5 pennies per acre. John Hewse (or Hughes) was a collar maker of the Parish of St. Clement in the suburbs of the city of Oxford, England. On the February 2, 1688, Hughes granted the said tract unto Robert Ewer, a merchant of Philadelphia. Ewer shortly thereafter sold a portion of this tract to William Buzby, a farmer of Oxford Township and a member of the Society of Friends who, in 1685, married Sarah Seary, the widow of Thomas Seary. It was at the house of Sarah Seary in Oxford Township that the earliest Friends' meetings were held prior to the completion of the log meeting house at Waln and Unity streets, Frankford. The land passed hands several more times through the years before it was purchased for the Friends' Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason in 1813. (Ninety-Seventh Annual Report: Friends' Asylum for the Insane, 1914).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 42" x 30.5"
  • Medium: MDS

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