William Penn Approves the Transfer of Land in Pennsylvania Between Two Quaker Families

In 1681, William Penn received a royal charter from King Charles II of England in 1681 to cover a debt of £16,000 owed by the monarch to Penn's father Admiral William Penn, by which he became the proprietor of a huge tract of land in what is now Pennsylvania. Just three months after the King signed the patent, young Penn had two agencies selling land there and also dispatched his cousin William Markham as his deputy. Markham arrived in the vast new colony in July 1681, charged with asserting the proprietors' authority over existing settlements, appointing a council, organizing judicial systems, selecting the site for Philadelphia, and settling the question of the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland. The land office officially opened in 1682, and Penn arrived at that time on his now famous vessel, the Welcome.

"I acknowledge and approve of the gift and hereby order compliance. Wm Penn."

Penn himself approved the disposition of his lands in and out of Philadelphia. One such transfer occurred in 1686, one of the early round of land grants, amounting to 625 acres to John Buy, a noted Quaker who had been persecuted in England, and who was a friend of Penn.  In 1707, Buy's heirs sold a large tract of their estate to the Townsend family, which had come to America on the Welcome in Penn's inaugural visit. This is that document: "Know all men who may be concerned that in the year one thousand six hundred and eighty three, I John Buy, of Reading in the County of Berks in old England, purchased six hundred and twenty five acres of land of William Penn in Pensilvania; and in the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-six ye said six hundred and twenty give acres of land was surveyed and set out by Robert Longshore in the County of Chester; adjoining to Richard Webb and Doctor Cox on side; and the Welch tract on the other side – Charles Pickring and partners adjoining.  Now these are to certify William Penn and his Commissioners in Pensilvania that I doe hereby give one hundred acres of ye same land to John Townsend, he settling upon it which he have given bond to doe." At the end, approving of the transaction, William Penn writes this Autograph Endorsement Signed, August 8, 1707, "I acknowledge and approve of the gift and hereby order compliance. Wm Penn." With minor loss to the "P" of "Penn."  Professionally restored. 

This document was acquired from the descendants of John Townsend.