Scope and Content
Recites that Hannah Penn widow and executrix of William Penn esquire deceased, proprietary governor of Pennsylvania, John, Thomas, Margaret, Richard and Dennis Penn, infants by their mother, plaintiffs, in Michaelmas term, 1721, exhibited a bill versus
Springett Penn, Henry Gouldney, Joshua Gee, John Wood, Thomas Oade, John Field, Richard Hill, Isaaca Norris, Samuel Preston, James Logan, Aubrey Thomas and wife Gulielma Maria, William Penn grandson of William Penn deceased, Mary Penn widow, William Aubrey and wife Letitia, Robert Earl of Oxford, Earl Powlett and H.M. Attorney General, defendants, reciting letters patent of Charles I and a grant by James Duke of York to William Penn, that he having a considerable estate in England and Ireland, settled on his eldest son by his first wife, could not pay his debts thereout or provide for his children the plaintiffs; that William Penn offered the powers of government to Queen Anne who resolved to accept them and to pay £12,000 for them, of which £1,000 was paid; the various mortgages on the American property; that in 1720 William Penn the son died leaving Springett Penn his heir; that some of the trustees of William Penn’s will were deceased; that Gulielma Maria had married Aubrey Thomas; that the Earl declined to act; that the Attorney General insisted that without a proper conveyance to the Crown that remainder of the £12,000 could not be paid; that the mortgagees insisted that the government was included in the mortgage, and that the surviving trustees refused to act; the Court was requested to settle. Proceedings insued; before any settlement Dennis Penn died, also Henry Gouldney, his executor being Adam Gouldney. John, Margaret and Thomas Penn being 21, they and Hannah Penn and Richard Penn by Hannah, in Michaelmas term, 1725, exhibited their bill of revivor and supplemental bill. Case was heard 13 December 1726. Court decreed the will was proved, and should be duly performed, that the Deputy Remembrancer should take account of the testator’s debts, that the defendants Hill, Norris, Preston and Logan should sell enough property to pay debts, and that being done should convey to Gulielma Maria Fell, Springett and William Penn, the three children of William Penn the son, to Letitia wife of William Aubrey, 10,000 acres in America each, and then the rest to John, Thomas, Richard and Margaret by Hannah Penn; the surviving mortgagees should give an account of what had already been paid off, and when all was paid convey the property back to John, Thomas, Richard and Margaret; and that the money raised by sale of the government should be accounted part of the personal estate of William Penn senior and applied accordingly. It was also ordered that the cause as concerning His Majesty the King, should stand until the next Easter term. Before further proceedings Hannah Penn died. In Easter term, 1727, John, Thomas, Richard and Margaret Penn exhibited their bill of revivor, against Springett Penn, Richard Hill, Isaac Norris, Preston, Logan, Gee, Wood, Oade, Adam Gouldney, John, Earl Powlett, William Penn grandson, Mary Penn, Gulielma Maria Fell, William Aubrey and wife Letitia and Sir Philip Yorke, H.M. Attorney General. It was decreed by the Court 15 May 1727 that the will was proved and should be performed.
Ordered by the present court that the cause stand to be heard some time in the next Michaelmas term.