Individual Details

Event

In September, 1734, John Penn arrived at Philadelphia with his sister Margaret—the " Pegg" of the Ruscombe family life—and her husband Thomas Freame,1 and now all the children of Hannah Callowhill but Richard—for Dennis had died in 1722—were gathered at Philadelphia. John returned to London in a year, to carry on the controversy with Lord Baltimore over the Maryland boundary, but Thomas and the Freames remained at Philadelphia.

1 Thomas Freame had come over earlier, probably in 1732, and had returned to England. With some persuasion his wife now accompanied him to Pennsylvania. She finally returned to England in 1741 with her brother Thomas.

Thomas Penn established himself at Philadelphia in a residence between Bush Hill and the Schuylkill, with grounds esteemed handsome in that day, and long known as the " Proprietor's Garden."

Event

He returned to England in 1741. He had taken a somewhat active part in the affairs of the Province, especially in the treaties and conferences with the Indians, and had been occasionally present at the meetings of the Governor's Council. The Council's minutes record him as present March 26, 1741, and at a meeting October 14, that year, several Cayuga chiefs being present, Governor Thomas told them that " Mr. Penn had hoped to have seen the Chief

of their Nations here this summer, but being disappointed, and being obliged to go for England, he had left the Governor in his place."

The Pennsylvania Gazette, August 20, 1741, has this paragraph :

" This Day the Honourable Thomas Penn, Esq., one of the Proprietors of this Province, attended by a Great Number of the Principal Inhabitants of this City, set out for New York, in order to embark on board his Majesty's Ship Squirrel, Capt. Peter Warren Commander, for Great Britain."

Apparently he did not sail from New York, however, but from a port in New England, and his ship did not get away until October. The following letter to Richard Hockley,1 who was about to sail from England for Pennsylvania, to act as agent for Thomas Penn, gives the time and circumstances of his arrival in England :

" Dear Dickey :

" As we have been in pain for you, hearing Privateers were off our Capes, and shoud have great pleasure in hearing you were safe, I conclude it has fared so with you, and that you will be glad to hear my Sister [Margaret Freame], with her Children and myself are arrived, in perfect health, as wee have been ever since our departure, which was this day five weeks from New England; wee expected after seeing the mast ship in the morning to have proceeded to Portsmouth, but the wind blowing hard at South our Captain judged propper to put in here, where it blows hard, but as soon as the wind is fair wee propose to sail for Portsmouth, from where I shall be very glad to see you. Enclosed is a letter from my Brother which put in the Post if he is not in Town, and desire Joseph Freame to get the enclosed bill for £1000 accepted and take his receipt for it. Wee all affectionately salute you, and I am

" Your Very Sincere Friend,

"Tho:Penn " Plymouth Harbor, Nov 22d 1741."

Death

He never married and died in Hitcham, Buckinghamshire, England, without issue, and was buried at Jordans. His will left his rights in the province and lower counties to his brother Thomas Penn.
The death of John Penn, in 1746, left Thomas Penn the holder of three-fourths of the Proprietary and family land in Pennsylvania and Delaware. One-fourth had come to him in fee, as we have seen, and two-fourths had been left him in life-right by John.

Event

Thomas Penn established himself at Philadelphia in a residence between Bush Hill and the Schuylkill, with grounds esteemed handsome in that day, and long known as the " Proprietor's Garden." A young Virginian, Daniel Fisher, who had come to Philadelphia to seek his fortune, and who walked late in the afternoon of the first day of the week in May, 1755, " two miles out of town," found the garden, though somewhat neglected, more attractive, he thought, than that of ex-Governor James Hamilton at Bush Hill. It was, he says," laid out with more judgment." The house, of brick, was "but small," with a kitchen, etc., "justly contrived for a small rather than a numerous family," —a bachelor's establishment, plainly. " It is pleasingly situated," says the writer, " on an eminence, with a gradual descent, over a small valley, to a handsome, level road, out through a wood, affording an agreeable vista of near two miles." The greenhouse, at that season empty, its plants and flowers disposed in the pleasure-garden, " surpassed everything of its kind" Daniel Fisher had seen in America, and he looked with pleasure on " a good many orange, lemon, and citron trees, in great perfection, loaded with abundance of fruit, and some of each sort seemingly ripe." There was also a neat little deer park, but he was told that no deer were then kept in it.