William Penn welcomed his old friend and personal
physician, Dr. Daniel Wills, with a warm embrace. “Daniel, thank you for
coming,” he began. “It is always good to see you, William,” the doctor replied.
2 “As you know, last year, the king granted us the
right to form two provinces in America,” Penn continued. “Simply put, it is our
intention to create a refuge there for our people – a place where they will be
at liberty to exercise their consciences without fear of interruption by any
one.”
3 “Yes, many of us are looking forward to moving
ourselves and our families there,” Daniel acknowledged. William smiled. “We,
the proprietors, would very much like to have you serve as one of our
commissioners there,” he continued.
4 “And what precisely would I be doing in that
capacity?” Daniel asked. “You would purchase lands from the Indians, divide
them into tracts of sufficient size and distribute them to our people there.”
5 “I would be happy to serve in that capacity,” Daniel
assured him. “We were hoping you would say that,” William smiled.
6 Then he turned and walked over to a table which was
covered in papers and maps. “Now, there is the matter of the Concessions and
Agreements,” Penn continued. “Before you commit yourself to this enterprise, we
would like for you to look over the document; and, if you agree with the principles
expressed therein, to sign it.”
7 The doctor walked over to the table and took the
chair that William offered to him and began reading. In the meantime, Penn
crossed over to one of the large windows in the room and amused himself with
something that was happening outside. After reading through what would be
expected of him as a commissioner, he noted that the document guaranteed
certain rights to the individual inhabitants of the new colony.
8 The proprietors had stated that no man (or
collection of men) had the “power or authority to rule over men's consciences
in religious matters.” They went on to guarantee that every person who lived
within the province would be free to fully enjoy “their judgments, and the
exercise of their consciences, in matters of religious worship.” The provision
which followed that one guaranteed the rights of the inhabitants to a trial by
a jury of their peers. When he was finished reading, Daniel added his signature
to the growing list of signatories at the end of the document.
9 He looked up and noticed that Penn was standing over
him with a broad smile on his face. “It will be a great source of comfort to me
knowing that you will make sure that these principles are put into practice,”
William told him. “It will be my pleasure to do so,” Daniel assured him.
10 Daniel then returned to his own home and began
making the necessary preparations for his trip to America. Toward that end, he
contracted with three men to serve him in various capacities in the new colony:
George Elkington as a blacksmith, William Matlock as a carpenter and Thomas
Kendall as a bricklayer. Daniel also gathered his pregnant wife and seven
children (James, Daniel, John, Samuel, Mary, Joseph and Elizabeth) together and
headed to London to board the ship that would take them all to America.
11 Captain Gregory Marlowe was the master of The Kent, and he was anxious to get his
passengers and their baggage aboard and begin their voyage. Hence, as soon as
everyone and everything was secured, Marlowe ordered his men to hoist anchor,
unfurl the sails and head down the Thames toward the open sea.
12 His passengers were all lined up along the ship’s
rails taking in one last look at London when they noticed the royal yacht
sailing along beside them. To their surprise, the king himself was seated on
the deck of the ornate ship! “Are you all Quakers?” he asked. “Yes, we are all
Friends,” George Elkington shouted. “May God bless you on the voyage to
America!” Charles II shouted back as the two ships passed each other. “Who woulda
thought we’d get a good send-off from the king?” William Matlock laughed.
13 However, before heading out to sea, The Kent made several stops along the
coast of England to pick up more Quakers bound for the new colony. Thus, when
the ship finally sailed for America in May, there were upwards of two hundred
and seventy passengers aboard it.
14 One of them was another personal friend of William
Penn from Sussex, England. His name was William Clayton, and his wife
(Prudence) and seven children accompanied him on the trip. Their twin
daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were the most enthusiastic of the children about
the voyage. They liked to pretend that the captain and his crew were a bunch of
pirates who had kidnapped their family and was going to maroon them on an
uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean.
15 It was high summer when they reached New York.
Then, after taking on some fresh supplies and allowing some of their passengers
to disembark there. Captain Marlowe sailed up the Delaware River to Rancocas
Creek and deposited Daniel and most of the other passengers and their goods.
16 They had finally reached New Jersey, and they
quickly set about the task of establishing themselves there. They called their
new settlement Burlington.
17 To be sure, they all knew that they would endure
hardships and suffer many deprivations over the years that followed, but there
was also a widespread certainty that things would be better for them here than
they had been in England. And, as if to reassure every one of that fact, the
doctor’s wife delivered herself of a happy little baby girl shortly after they
had arrived. They named her Anne.
18 Now these are the generations of some of the
colonists who arrived aboard The Kent:
19 Daniel Wills was the father of John, and John
married Hope Delafosse and had a daughter named Elizabeth.
20 Elizabeth Wills married Freedom Lippincott, and
they had a daughter named Hope.
21 Hope married Henry Jones and had a daughter named
Sarah.
22 Sarah married Joshua Ballinger, and they had a
daughter named Sarah.
23 Sarah Ballinger married Allen Haines, and they had
children together.
24 George Elkington married Mary Humphries Core, and
they had a daughter named Elizabeth.
25 Elizabeth Elkington married Thomas Ballinger, and
they had a son named Samuel.
26 Samuel was the father of Joshua Ballinger, who
married Sarah Jones.
27 William Matlock married Mary Hancock, and they had
a daughter named Sarah.
28 Sarah Matlock married Carlisle Haines, and they had
children together.
29 William Clayton married Prudence Lankford, and they
were the parents of Mary.
30 Mary married John Beals, and they had a son named
John.
31 John married Sarah Bowater, and they had a daughter
named Prudence.
32 Prudence married Richard Williams, and they were
the ancestors of Delilah Wade.
33 Delilah married Thomas Miller, a descendant of
Gayen Miller, and they had children together.
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