An Extremely Rare Confirmation of Land Ownership Issued and Signed by William Penn

This is all the more rare as it is signed by Penn in Pennsylvania, where Penn resided only four years

William Penn was the son of Admiral Sir William Penn. Despite high social position and an excellent education, he shocked his upper-class associates by his conversion to the beliefs of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, then a persecuted sect. He used his inherited wealth and rank to benefit and protect his fellow believers. King Charles II owed William Penn £16,000, money which his late father Admiral Penn had lent him. Seeking a haven in the New World for persecuted Friends, Penn asked the King to grant him land in the territory between Lord Baltimore’s province of Maryland and the Duke of York’s province of New York. With the Duke’s support, Penn’s petition was granted and Penn would become proprietor of land in Pennsylvania. The King signed the Charter of Pennsylvania on March 4, 1681, and it was officially proclaimed on April 2. In England, Penn drew up the First Frame of Government, his proposed constitution for Pennsylvania which became famous as a summation of his governmental ideals. He also started granting land to those Quakers that sought to leave Great Britain. Later, in October 1682, the Proprietor arrived in Pennsylvania on the ship Welcome. He visited Philadelphia, just laid out as the capital city, created the three original counties, and summoned a General Assembly to Chester on December 4. On December 7, the Assembly adopted the Great Law, a humanitarian code that became the fundamental basis of Pennsylvania law and which guaranteed liberty of conscience. By the time of Penn’s return to England late in 1684, the foundations of the Quaker Province were well established.

Penn only spent four years in Pennsylvania – his initial visit in 1682-84 and another in 1699-1701.

John Surkett was a landowner in Bucks County, PA. whose holdings were extensive – over 600 acres at a time that 150 acres would be considered substantial. There must have been a dispute over title to his land, as he requested Penn to confirm his title to it. This Penn agreed to do in this very rare conformation of granted land, a document we have not before seen. It is also signed in Philadelphia, which is itself uncommon seeing how little time Penn spent there.

Document signed, in Philadelphia, 4th day of seventh month [September], 1701, issued to Burkett. First comes the confirmation of ownership and enumeration of rights. “Now Know ye that at that special instance a request of ye sd John Surkett & for a further confirmation to him of ye premises I have granted, released & confirmed & by these presents for me, my heirs and successors do grant, Release & confirm unto ye sd John Surkett his heirs & assigns forever all of ye sd five hundred & thirty six acres & thirty five perches of land & as the same is now set forth, bounded & limited as aforesd together w[it]h all Mines, Mineralls Quarries & Woods, underwoods, timber & trees, meadows, swamp, cricks, marshes savannahs, ways waters watertours & Liberties, profitts commodities, appurtenances whatsoever to ye sd six hundred and thirty six acres & thirty five perches of land or to any part or parcel thereof…& also all free and liberty to & for ye sd John Surkett his heirs & assigns of fishing, fowling and hawking & hunting in & upon ye premises hereby granted or upon any part thereof, to have, hold & enjoy ye sd six hundred thirty six acres & thirty five perches of land hereby granted with ye appurtenances unto ye sd John Surkett his heirs & assigns to their only proper use & behoof of ye sd John Surkett…” Then the consideration – His [Surkett’s] “heirs & assigns forever to be holden of me, my heirs & successors, Propretarys of Pensilvania as of our Manor of Pennsbury in ye sd County aforesaid in free & common Sortage by fealty only yielding & paying therefore yearly hereafter forever to me, my heirs & successors at or upon ye first day of ye first month of every year at ye town of Bristoll in ye sd County of Bucks one English silver shilling or value thereof in coin current for every hundred acres…”

This is the only confirmation of land holdings we have even seen Penn issue, and one of the few documents from when Penn was in Philadelphia. It’s interesting that in return for this confirmation of the substantial holding of 600 acres, Surkett was obligated to pay Penn or his successors a nominal sum – one shilling annually.