Individual Details

Birth

Christiana Gulielma Penn, only child of William Penn (3d), by his first wife, Christiana Forbes, and after the death of her half-brother, Springett Penn, the only surviving representative of the elder line of the descendants of William Penn, the Founder, was born October 22, 1733, and was brought up in the family of her maternal grandfather, Alexander Forbes, at Dowgate Hill, their London Home, and at Auchorties, Scotland, the ancestral estate of the Forbes family. Her father, William Penn (3d), seems also to have resided with his father-in-law until he contracted his second marriage with Ann Vaux, after which he resided in Ireland. Alexander Forbes died May 25, 1740, but Christiana Gulielma Penn continued to reside with the family until her marriage in 1761 to Peter Gaskell, of Bath, and Ingersley Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
Christiana Gulielma Penn inherited from her father a one-half interest in the Shanagarry estate in Ireland, that had descended from Admiral Sir William Penn, though it was involved in litigation for a period of forty years, between her and her heirs, and those of Alexander Durdin, the second husband of her stepmother, Ann (Vaux) Penn, the final decree to possess that and the other Irish estates involved, being obtained by her son, Thomas Penn-Gaskell, of Shanagarry. Mrs. Gaskell also inherited valuable lands and lots in and around Philadelphia, from her great-aunt, Letitia Aubrey, including the old Manor of Mount Joy and Fagg's Manor, the latter being a grant of 10,000 acres to Sir John Fagg, from whom it descended to her. It lay partly in Chester county and partly in New Castle county. A great part of this was sold prior to her marriage to Peter Gaskell by virtue of a power of attorney from her to William Peters and Richard Hockley, dated March 5, 1755. She likewise inherited considerable entailed estate in Philadelphia and elsewhere, from her father, her uncle, Springett Penn, and the Fell-Thomas branch of the family, being the sole surviving heir of the elder branch of the Founder's family. In 1774 proceedings were begun to effect a common recovery in order to dock the entail, and considerable litigation ensued which continued until her death.

Death

Christiana Gulielma (Penn) Gaskell died at her house in Thornbaugh street, Bedford square, London, England, March 24, 1803, at the age of sixty-nine years, having survived her husband, Peter Gaskell, eighteen years. There are two portraits of Christiana Gulielma Penn-Gaskell, one in the possession of Alexander Penn-Gaskell, of London, and the other in possession of her greatgreat-granddaughter, Christiana Gulielma Penn-Gaskell Hall, of Philadelphia.