British Parliamentary Post and Early Colonial Period continued...

ALMOST CERTAINLY THE EARLIEST COVER IN PRIVATE HANDS ADDRESSED TO THE FOUNDER AND FIRST PROPRIETOR OF PENNSYLVANIA, WILLIAM PENN.

William Penn received the Charter of Pennsylvania from King Charles II in 1681. Penn's cousin was appointed deputy governor of the province in 1681, and Penn himself arrived in Pennsylvania in October 1682 (www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC/visitor_info/pa_history/whole_pa_history.htm ).

According to www.ushistory.org, "...a statement in the Pemberton family papers...declares that in [July] 1683 William Penn granted to Henry Waldy, of Tekonay, the right to hold a weekly post between Philadelphia and Wilmington. The Colonial Records do not mention this commission, but in that year a law was passed at Philadelphia making every justice of the peace, sheriff and constable responsible for the speedy forwarding of such letters, 'directed to or from the Governor,' as should come to hand. It is possible that this service was soon after extended to the dispatch of private letters." (www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/postoffice.htm). Another reference to this post will be found in Ter Braake (p. C-5).

There are no clearly-defined postal markings, but Waldy's post was probably operating when this letter arrived in Pennsylvania in late 1684. The enigmatic crossed-out "M" at top appears to be written in a shade of ink that differs from the address. On August 12, 1684, before this cover was sent (according to the receipt docketing), William Penn departed Pennsylvania for England (www.gwyneddfriends.org/wmpenn.htm).

This is the first 17th century cover to William Penn we have seen offered at auction. (Image)

"These for his Esteemed friend Phineas Pemberton in ye County of Bucks in Ponsillvania in Amerika [wth. Care]"

The backflap is docketed "Roger Haydock, Warrington, 4 mo 25 1683 to Phineas Pemberton, Bucks County"

AN IMPORTANT EARLY COVER ADDRESSED TO PHINEAS PEMBERTON SOON AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN AMERICA IN SEPTEMBER 1682. PEMBERTON, ONE OF THE FIRST ENGLISH QUAKERS TO SETTLE IN PENNSYLVANIA, WAS DESCRIBED BY WILLIAM PENN AS "THE ABLEST AS WELL AS ONE OF THE BEST MEN IN THE PROVINCE."

In April 1683 the well-known Quaker minister, Roger Haydock, residing at Warrington in Cheshire County, England, mailed this cover to his friend, Phineas Pemberton, shortly after Pemberton arrived in the American colonies in September 1682 (Emigrants to Pennsylvania 1641-1819, A Partial List of the Families Who Resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Prior to 1687, p. 26). Haydock was later imprisoned for his religious activities in Lancaster, England, from December 1684 until March 1686.

The following biographical information comes from www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2767/pfamily.html: "Phineas Pemberton was William Penn's chief administrator in Bucks County and Falls Township's most prominent citizen. He and his father-in-law, James Harrison, and his own father Ralph Pemberton and families arrived from Bolton, Lancashire, England in 1682 on the ship SUBMISSION . They settled on 300 acres opposite Bordentown, NJ, on the bend of the Delaware River just below Biles Island and the 13 farms shown on the 1690 map, and just outside the tract of Pennsbury that Penn reserved for himself. He and James Harrison named it, 'Grove Place.'"

William Penn received the Charter of Pennsylvania from King Charles II in 1681. Penn's cousin was appointed deputy governor of the province in 1681, and Penn himself arrived in Pennsylvania in October 1682 (www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC/visitor_info/pa_history/whole_pa_history.htm ). According to www.ushistory.org, "...a statement in the Pemberton family papers...declares that in [July] 1683 William Penn granted to Henry Waldy, of Tekonay, the right to hold a weekly post between Philadelphia and Wilmington. The Colonial Records do not mention this commission, but in that year a law was passed at Philadelphia making every justice of the peace, sheriff and constable responsible for the speedy forwarding of such letters, 'directed to or from the Governor,' as should come to hand. It is possible that this service was soon after extended to the dispatch of private letters." (www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/postoffice.htm). Another reference to this post will be found in Ter Braake (p. C-5).

This letter probably took at least 70 days to reach an American port, which would date its arrival around mid-July 1683, coinciding with the month Waldy's post is reported to have been authorized by William Penn. There are no postal markings.

This extraordinary cover is one of the earliest pieces of mail to or from the newly-established Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. (Image)

"To Phineas Pemberton in the County of Bucks in Ponsillvania in Amerika these" and "DDD" talismanic inscription

The backflap is docketed "Nathaniel Atharton, Bolton, 6mo 18 1686 to Phineas Pemberton, Bucks County", minor repairs and soiling

AN EXTREMELY EARLY COVER TO PHINEAS PEMBERTON IN THE NEWLY-ESTABLISHED COLONY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

According to www.geocities.com/capitolhill/lobby/2767/lippcott.html: "On November 17, 1683, Phineas Pemberton...purchased 500 acres on the Delaware River opposite Biles (Oreclan's) Island and built a house there which he called, 'Grove Place.' Being desirous of a more comfortable home for his large household he finished one in 1687, on a part of Pennsbury, Penn's home, some five miles distant and more in the interior, which he called, 'Bolton Farm'." This cover was sent with a letter from Nathaniel Atherton (Atharton) in Bolton, England, where Pemberton had lived and for which Bolton Farm was named.

There are no postal markings on this cover, but there is the possibility it was carried by the Waldy post, which is reported to have started in mid-1683. (Image)