| Carruthers |
07-04-2020 11:58 AM |
William Penn’s Grave Jordans, England
2 Attachment(s)
The remains of the man who founded Pennsylvania lie in an unassuming grave in the English countryside.
Attachment 70922
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William Penn may be best known for establishing the Pennsylvania Colony, but his remains lie in an unassuming grave in the English countryside at the Old Jordans Cemetery near the experimental Quaker town of Jordans in Buckinghamshire, England.
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Upon his father’s death, Penn received a large inheritance from the family’s estate. In 1681, he accepted a grant from King Charles II for the land that would become the Pennsylvania Colony.
The grant covered a debt of 16,000 pounds the Crown had owed to Penn’s father. William Penn used the land as a sanctuary for his persecuted sect, the Religious Society of Friends.
Penn traveled to the New World in 1682, along with other religious dissidents, to establish the Pennsylvania colony and the city of Philadelphia, laying out a grid for the city himself.
After founding the colony, Penn traveled back and forth between the New World and England twice, living in Pennsylvania only from 1682 through 84 and 1699 through 1701. Between these visits, Penn returned to England to defend his grant against those who would place it under direct royal control instead of under an individual land grant.
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In 1712, Penn suffered a stroke, severely limiting his abilities until he quietly died in July 1718.
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Attachment 70921
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Penn’s gravestone is plain and carved with only his name and death year.
He is buried with his second wife Hannah Callowhill directly above him and his first wife Gulielma Springett and her mother Margaret Penington lie to his right.
Additionally, 10 Penn children are buried in the cemetery.
The tombstones date from the mid-1800s as the first stones were removed in 1766, when in an attempt to equalize the dead, the local Quaker group removed all markers.
In 1881, the Pennsylvania State Government requested his remains be moved to Philadelphia, but the request was refused in keeping with Quaker values due to the pomp and circumstance it would entail.
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Link
William Penn Landing Site Chester, Pennsylvania
It's purely by coincidence that I've posted this on 4th July, but happy Independence Day to all US Dwellars! |
