(Vol. iii., p. 409.)
In reply to your correspondent A. N. C., William Penn, eldest son of the
famous Quaker, married Mary Jones, by whom he had three children,
Gulielma Maria, Springett, and William. The latter had a daughter by his
first wife, Miss Fowler, who married a Gaskill, from which marriage the
present Penn Gaskills of Rolfe's Hould, Buckinghamshire, are descended.
While writing on this subject, allow me to send you two other "notes."
Hugh David, a Welshman, who went out to America in the same vessel with
William Penn, used to relate this curious anecdote of the state founder.
Penn, he says, after watching a goat gnaw at a broom which lay on deck,
called out to him, "Hugh, dost thou observe the goat? See what hardy
fellows the Welsh are; how they can feed on a broom! However, Hugh, I am
a Welshman myself, and will relate by how strange a circumstance our
family lost their name. My grandfather was named John Tudor, and lived
on the top of a hill or mountain in Wales. He was generally called John
Penmunith, which in English is--_John on the top of the hill_. He
removed from Wales into Ireland, where he acquired considerable
property. Upon his return to his own country he was addressed by his
friends and neighbours, not in the former way, but as Mr. Penn. He
afterwards removed to London, where he continued to reside under the
name of John Penn, which has since been the family name." David told
this story to a Quaker, who wrote it down in these words, and gave the
MS. to Robert Proud, the historian of Pennsylvania. The same David, in a
copy of doggrel verses presented to Thomas Penn on a visit to
Philadelphia in 1732, made an allusion to this descent. I quote four of
the lines:
"For the love of him that now descended be,
I salute his loyal one of three,
That ruleth here in glory so serene,
I branch of Tudor, alias Thomas Penn."
This is at least curious. But I attach little credit to Mr. David's
report. He certainly mistook or ill remembered Penn's words; as his
grandfather was Giles Penn, and his ancestors for two generations
before Giles are known to have been William.
The second note refers to Penn's descendants, and may claim a corner in
your chronicle on more than one ground. William Penn was born in 1644:
in 1844 his grandson, Granville Penn, well known as a writer on
classical subjects, was still alive! The descendants of his first
marriage with Miss Springett, six years ago were in the fifth and sixth
generation after him; those by his second wife, Hannah Callowhill, in
the second.