Guide to the Records of the Penn Proprietorship, 1684-1791
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Records of the Penn Proprietorship
- Creator
- Penn family
- Collection Number
- MSS#223
- Extent
- 0.25 cubic feet (1 box)
- Date
- 1684 - 1791
- Abstract
- The Penn Proprietorship (1681 - 1776) began when land was given to the Penn family as repayment of an outstanding loan by King Charles II of England. Both governorship and proprietorship were inherited by Penn family members until 1776 when the Second Continental Congress divested the family of their proprietorship. Records include correspondence, property records, receipts and other sundry items.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History of the Penn Proprietorship (1681-1776)
William Penn (1644-1718) founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681. The land for the colony was given to William Penn's father by King Charles II of England as repayment for an outstanding loan. William Penn, a Quaker, served as governor and proprietor of the colony from 1681 to 1718. After Penn's death in 1718, his second wife Hannah Callowhill Penn (1670-1726) governed the colony for a brief period until Penn's will was settled and his sons John, Richard, and Thomas were granted shares of the proprietorship.
By 1771, Thomas Penn had inherited the interests belonging to his now deceased brothers and gave a portion of the shares to his own son, John Penn (1760-1834), who became the chief proprietor of the colony. The son of Richard Penn, also John Penn (1729-1795), was appointed governor of Pennsylvania in 1763. After his father's death in 1775, John inherited a share of the Pennsylvania proprietorship. In 1776, as voted by the Second Continental Congress of Pennsylvania John Penn was relieved of his position as governor and the Penn family was divested of their proprietorship.
Throughout most of the Revolutionary War (1776-1783) the former governor was in exile and the fate of his estate and the proprietary lands and revenue was unknown. The Divestment Act of 1779, as voted by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, claimed twenty-four million acres of the Penn family lands for the Commonwealth. The Divestment Act left the Penn proprietors five million acres of their private estates and an annual payment as settlement for lost revenue. For almost two decades after this act, John Penn the former governor, John Penn the chief proprietor, and various attorneys representing the family argued for a larger settlement from the new Pennsylvania government. The former governor and his wife Ann Allen Penn stayed in Pennsylvania until 1788 when they left for London. In 1792, they returned to Philadelphia (Pa.) where they lived until John Penn, the last Penn family member to hold office in the Pennsylvania legislature, died in 1795.
During the Penn proprietorship and for several years thereafter, Pennsylvania was involved in overlapping boundary disputes with Connecticut. In 1753, Eliphalet Dyer and other Connecticut colonists formed the Susquahanna Company and settled in the Wyoming Valley (now Lackawanna and Wyoming counties (Pa.)) The overlapping claims were not settled until 1782 when a special committee of the Continental Congress awarded the disputed territory to Pennsylvania.
Scope and Content Notes
These papers include correspondence, property records, receipts and other sundry items. The records primarily focus on land purchases, rent collection, and property surveys with some correspondence relating to the Pennsylvania-Connecticut boundary dispute, back-country settlement and issues regarding land ownership after the Revolutionary War. Correspondence is separated by family member or associate and includes only one letter by William Penn (1684). These records document colonial land acquisition and settlement including expansion into western territory and would be helpful to those researching colonial boundary disputes, squatters, and the expansion and divestment of the Penn proprietorship. While the majority of correspondence is that of Penn family members, the contents reveal little regarding family and personal matters.
The correspondence to John Penn (the Governor) is primarily from Anthony Butler of Philadelphia writing to Penn while he was living in London. A majority of the correspondence to Penn includes reports on his estate and land interests in Pennsylvania. These materials provide insight into how the Penn family lands were maintained after the Revolution. The correspondence of Thomas Penn include both original letters and transcribed copies of the originals. This is the largest volume of correspondence and primarily documents the conflict of land territory with Connecticut, Indian relations and land agreements, issues regarding squatters and ownership rights, and the distributions of lands in Reading (Pa.). The correspondence also details policies regarding land value and rent collection. The correspondence of James Tilghman also document policies and procedures for collecting rent from tenants of the Penn Proprietorship in addition to information on western boundary lines for Pennsylvania, land grants and expansion, and the settlement of Reading (Pa.). This correspondence contains substantial information regarding Native Americans, especially in relation to the dispute with Connecticut settlers in the Wyoming river valley. Also included in the correspondence of James Tilghman are two letters (1775-1776) that describe the unsettled state of affairs within the colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. There is only one letter from John Van Camp that relates to matters of rent collection and the management of Penn property. The petition presented to King George III of England (1764) by Eliphant Dyer and the Susquahanna Company requests a land grant of territory also claimed by Pennsylvania.
Arrangement
The Penn Proprietorship Records are housed in one archival box and are arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in several accessions.
Acc#1973.0002 Gift of R. K. Mellon Foundation, August 11, 1972
Preferred Citation
Records of the Penn Proprietorship, 1684 - 1791, MSS# 223, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania Previously cited: Penn Proprietorship Records, 1684 - 1791, MSS# 223, Historical Society of Western PennsylvaniaGeneral
Previously cited: Penn Proprietorship Records, 1684 - 1791, MSS# 223, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by HSWP Staff in 1995.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Kate Colligan on June 15, 1999.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.