William Penn
- Author:
- Kevin Winters
- Published:
- June 1, 2014
- Updated:
- June 2, 2025
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William Penn is likely well-known to most readers as the founder/proprietor of the colony of Pennsylvania. While the township of Horsham is part of that colony it is likely that Penn had very little, if anything, to do with the township and likely never visited since the land was still wilderness with the 1st settler in Hatboro reaching this area only by 1701 (Smith 1945 p17 ) which is the year that Penn left the colony for good. (Independence Hall Association (3) -no date ) He had sold off the land that would become the township to Samuel Carpenter, May Blunston, Thomas Palmer and Joseph Fisher by 1686. (Smith p4 )
While William Penn did not have any direct interaction with Horsham Township, the Quaker ideals he based the colony’s governance on attracted Quakers to the colony and to early settlements such as Horsham. The Horsham Meeting was established as early as 1714. Other local meetings were also established in Gwynedd, Abington, Byberry and other locations (citation needed ) Travel to and from and between these meetings drove the creation of many of the early roads such as Byberry, Norristown and Dresher Roads. (Smith pp 8-10 )
With this in mind it is worth at least a brief bio of Penn here.
Quaker Ideals in the New World
William Penn is known as the proprietor of Pennsylvania, a colony he designed to be governed by democratic systems, freedom of religion, fairness and pacifism. These ideals attracted many colonists from across Europe and Philadelphia, his “greene country towne’ and the “City of Brotherly Love” was soon the largest and most successful city in the New World. The ideals he brought to this land were quite different from those that governed the Old World and would eventually be the basis for the United States Constitution. Indepence Hall Association (4) – no date )
William Penn was born at Tower Hill, London, England in 1644 to English naval officer Admiral Sir William Penn and Margaret Jasper, a Dutchwoman. A bout with smallpox at the age of four caused him to lose his hair and he wore wigs for much of his life. He attended Oxford University in 1660 at the age of 15 with the intention of becoming a doctor but was apparently asked to leave for his non-conforming (but not yet Quaker) religious beliefs. His father sent him away to study in Paris for 2 years where he studied theology and then returned to London where he read law. In 1666 his father was stricken with gout and Willaim was sent to represent his father on business in Ireland. In Ireland he helped quell a rebellion and was offered a military commission. It was also in Ireland where he first heard Thomas Loe speak and decided to join the Society of Friends (Quakers) at the age of 22, In 1667 he was arrested with 18 others for attending a Friends’ meeting. Penn was apparently very well dressed, very likely carrying a sword, and was offered freedom in exchange for a promise (as a gentleman) of good behavior, but he refused. When he was released and returned to England, his father – the Admiral – requested only that William would remove his hat when in the presence of King Charles II, the Duke of York (the king’s brother and later King James II), or himself. He refused and was disowned. The carrying of a sword by William Penn is an interesting story which may or not be true. Carrying a sword was customary among men of his rank and he apparently used it to save his life – without injuring anyone – when he was assaulted in Paris. He may have also brandished it when he helped quiet the rebellion in Ireland. But carrying a sword would likely not be tolerated among the Friends. Penn supposedly once asked George Fox, the leader of the group, about carrying the sword and related the story of when it saved his life in Paris. He also quoted scripture where Christ said “ He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one” (Luke 22:26 ) . Fox then advised Penn to “wear it as long as thou canst”. Fox saw Penn a short time later without the sword and Penn told him “I have taken thy advice, I wore it as long as I could. “ Another story says that Penn likely was wearing his sword when arrested in Ireland but would have had to give it up when jailed. He reportedly was not seen with it after that. Penn was jailed four times for his Quaker beliefs and due to his estrangement from his family spent several years living with other Quaker families. His high profile and prolific writings helped establish the Society of Friends. In 1677, a group of prominent Quakers that included Penn received the colonial province of West Jersey. 200 settlers founded the town of Burlington. Penn remained in England but helped draft a Charter of Liberties for the settlement. Admiral Penn passed in 1670 and his estate was owed £16,000 by the crown. In repayment of this debt, King Charles II on March 4, 1681 ?? granted Willam a grant for land west and south of New Jersey, an area encompassing 45,000 miles making Penn the largest non-royal landowner. William named this land Sylvania but Charles changed it to Pennsylvania or Penn’s Woods in honor of Penn’s father. Bucks County, just across the road from Horsham in Pennsylvania, was named after Buckinghamshire where Penn and many of the first settlers were from. Penn married his first wife, Gulielma Springett in April 1672. They would have 8 children together, although only Laetitia and William Penn, Jr. would survive. Gulielma died February 24, 1694. Penn had a vision for his new colony and its main city Philadelphia as a land of democracy and religious freedom, but also as a profitable venture for his family with Philadelphia at the center of the Atlantic trade. He advertised the colony throughout Europe and this brought English, Welsh, German and Dutch Quakers plus Huguenots (French Protestants), Mennonites, Amish, and Lutherans from Catholic German states. Penn was in the colony from 1682 to 1684. He drew up the plans for Philadelphia as a “greene country towne’. He had survived the Great Fire in London and wanted the city laid out so in would ‘never be burnt’ with a communal environment where people would live in a way that “taketh away the need for all wars.” He also began work on his country house “Pennsbury”. Penn also traveled the interior and met with the native Lenape, reportedly even learning some of their language. He promised them fair treatment. The traditional story is that in October 1682, Penn met with Lenape Chief Tamanend under a majestic elm tree along the Delaware River at Shackamaxon (now Fishtown in Philadelphia) to solidify peaceful relations. A belt of wampum depicting two men joining hands was presented to the Historical Society of Philadelphia by Penn’s great-grandson which supposedly was given to Penn by the Lenape to commemorate this Treaty of Shackamaxon. Penn is famous for having a friendly relationship with the Lenape and while they were not always treated as fairly as Penn may have wished there was peace between the Lenape and colonists in Pennsylvania much longer than in the other colonies. Penn sold off almost all the available land within 30 or 40 miles of Philadelphia before the end of the year 1686, and so was plotted on Holme’s map of Pennsylvania (1687). The district which later became known as Horsham Township had been allotted to four individuals; George Palmer, Joseph Fisher, Samuel Carpenter, and Mary Blunston. A member of the family later settled on the Palmer tract; the other three purchasers lived elsewhere, and sold off their land to others as rapidly as opportunity offered. (39). 5,000 acres sold for £100 William married his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, on March 5, 1696 in Bristol, England. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1699 with Hannah and his daughter Laetitia. A month after arriving, Hannah gave birth to their first child, John, at the home of Samuel Carpenter known as the Slate Roof House. By June, their new home at Pennsbury Manor was ready and the family moved 24 miles north. Penn had wished to settle in the colony but financial problems forced him to return to England. He and Hannah had 5 more children, all born in England.. He had a stroke in 1712 which left him unable to speak or take care of himself. He died in 1718.