Thomas Penn Sends Instructions Concerning the Disposal of Family Property in Pennsylvania & the Division of His Father William Penn's estate, Pennsbury Manor

Autograph Letter Signed "Tho Penn", 2 pages, 7.5" x 8.75" bifolium letter sheet, London, October 9, 1762. Addressed in his hand on the integral transmittal leaf to Edward Penington in Philadelphia. Usual folds, extremely minor marginal tear to front leaf, seal tear expertly repaired with period paper, else fine condition.

Penn begins his letter detailing instructions on how to dispose of several properties belonging to his nephew and several family friends: [with period spellings retained]: "As I mentioned you to my Nephew Springt Penn to sell his land in Pensilvania I have desired the Attorney of Capt. Robt Edward Fell, Mr. & Mrs Beson, and Mr. & Mrs. Newcombe to desire your assistance to dispose also of theirs, which they hold joyntly with their Cousin and with him on all the descendants of my eldest Brother Wm Penn who had a manor granted to him, which he sold to Isaac Norris, and also another called Steining or New Garden some smal[l] parts of which remain to be sold, but the most valuable thing they have is a string of Lots, joyning to Wm. Lowthers on Society hills of one hundred and two feet wide, from front to fourth street, both on Delaware and Schuylkil[l], and my Father when he was last in Pensilvania having given some order that the Survey should be carried from one lot to the other, we are willing to grant it to them paying the common quitrent on back lots. Mr. Logan can give you all the information you want of the Manor of Steining the power of Attorney is drawn and executed by one of the partys, but as others are a considerable distance from London it cannot be executed so as to go by this packet, by the next I shall send it to you. You knew before this time that Springets share of the front lot is claimed by Joseph Wharton, who I hope has not an equitable right, however this may prove, you should apply for a warrant for the whole as Attorney to all the partys if that is necessary to have the 102 feet returned, else by the old warrant if that is sufficient, and then have the twenty five feet six inches cut of which I wish to do at the South end or side of the lot joyning over one hundred forty two feet which I want to enlarge in order to build a house upon, this cannot be in the least injurious to Springet, and I will be the highest bidder for it, or give the very highest price. As to Joseph Wharton you must be advised, but I suppose you will keep possession as Mr. Inglis did."

Pennsylvania then moves on to the subject of his father's estate on the banks of the Delaware located just south of present-day Trenton, New Jersey: "My Nephew has told me he has sent you a power to send pen[n]sbury [Manor], I have desired I may have the house and a piece of land of three quarters of a Mile on the River with the house in the middle to run a mile back, to which he has consented and I desire when you lay out the four thousand acres, which he is to have, in farms that you will lay out this as I have directed for which I shal[l] pay in the manner any other persons do. I desire you will inform me of any thing necessary relating to these affairs".

William Penn began work on his great manor house on the banks of the Delaware soon after his arrival in Pennsylvania in 1682. Wishing to establish a gentleman's country estate similar to his home in England, Penn spent little time at Pennsbury Manor as public affairs kept him in Philadelphia for much of the year. Still he preferred the country life, remarking that it "was to be preferred

for there we see the works of God

but in cities little else but he works of men: and the one makes a better subject for our contemplation than the other." The estate remained in the family following Penn's death in 1718, but the house soon fell in to disrepair. In 1735 Thomas Penn, William's son, inspected the house, remarking the following year: "I found the house at Pennsbury was very near falling, the Roof open as well as windows, and the woodwork almost rotten." Thomas began making repairs on the estate in an effort to stabilize the house and the outbuildings. Five years after Penn wrote the present letter to Pennsbury concerning his desire to divide up the property, it was carved into 30 tracts to be sold. Richard Penn, Thomas' nephew, took control of the original manor house in 1775, but appears to have never lived there. By the 1790s the house had become a ruin only to be reconstructed in the 1930s as a historic site.

Edward Penington (1726-1796) was a prominent Philadelphia merchant and a colonial official. Although sympathetic to the whig cause during the early years of the American Revolution (he was even a member of the Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence), he could not in good conscience support armed rebellion. His religious beliefs resulted in his imprisonment and exile with numerous other Quakers as the British approached Philadelphia in 1777. He spent the the eight months under guard in Virginia until the Continental Congress ordered his release.

Provenance: Walter Benjamin Autographs, 1955

The Collection of Henry E. Luhrs.

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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