"My object for writing to you sir, is to request that you will cause inquiry to be made as to one Richard Penn who is stated to have died last year, & who was the last descendant of the celebrated Quaker, & that he also left large property, both in specie & land, & that in the event of no descendant of the Penn family such property will revert to the Government of the United States, & if such is the case I will most respectfully request that you will communicate with me and I will be ready to pay any expenses attendant thereon as also to prove my descent before the proper authorities in these islands.

"I have the honor to be

"Honble Sir

"Your most obdt. Servt,

"WM. BENJAMIN PENN."

This letter was delivered to Justice James Thompson, then Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, who forwarded it to William Henry Rawle, of Philadelphia, who was counsel for the Penn heirs. May 1, 1871, Mr. Rawle wrote William Benjamin Penn, stating the facts of the case, explaining the devolution of the estate, and the vesting of it in William Stuart, then owner, and nothing further appears to have been heard from the writer of the letter.

SUNDRY NOTES.

The old farm-house, King's Farm, Chorley Wood, where William Penn and Gulielma Maria Springett were married, is still standing, 1898.

It is the tradition, Joseph J. Green says, that Gulielma Maria Penn, wife of the Founder, died at Rawdon House, at Hoddesdon, Herts. This was the seat of Marmaduke Rawdon, Esquire. The old mansion is still standing. That she died at Hoddesdon has been already definitely stated, and it may have been at Rawdon House.

Referring to Dennis Penn's birth at Ealing, J. J. Green thinks it probable that this event occurred at the Manor House, Ealing, the then residence of John Wilmer, a Friend. John Wilmer's daughter Grizel married Jonathan Gurnell, William Penn being present at the marriage. (Jonathan Gurnell is repeatedly referred to in the chapter on the family life at Ruscombe during the closing years of William Penn's life.)

An obituary notice from a periodical of the time gives the death of the widow of Governor John Penn, Ann Masters:

"July 4, 1830, in Upper George Street [London] Anne, relict of John Penn, formerly Governor of Pennsylvania."

Richard Dawson, Earl of Dartrey, great-nephew of Baron Cremorne, who married Philadelphia Hannah Freame, died 1897, aged eighty years. He was succeeded in the peerage by his son, Lord Cremorne, who was formerly an officer of the Coldstream Guards, and sat as a Liberal in Parliament for Monaghan, 1865-68. "The family," a newspaper paragraph says, "is one of the great landlords of the United Kingdom, owning about 30,000 acres."

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF SAMUEL
PRESTON, SURVEYOR, 1787.

[The following extracts have been selected from the "Journal to the Frontiers of Northampton County, for Henry Drinker," kept by Samuel Preston, who was engaged to locate and survey the lands of Henry Drinker and Abel James, merchants of Philadelphia, located in what is now Pike County, Pennsylvania.]

"June 12, 1787.-After endeavouring to hire William or Joseph Walton to accompany me (to no purpose), I sat out on my journey about eight o'clock in the morning. Traveled up Durham Road to the sign of the Harrow, where I fed and eat dinner; from thence by Bursons and Brackinridges to Valentine Opp's tavern, where I fed and rested about two hours. From thence through the Saucon settlement, and over the Salsbury Hills to Allentown, which I reached about dusk and put up at the large tavern.

“June 13.—This morning I set out and rode to Michael Snyder's tavern to breakfast. As to the entertainment in Allentown, 'tis rather indifferent than midling. At Snyder's I met William Edwards who lives near the land on Lizzard Creek. I treated him to his breakfast and a bottle of rum to accompany me back to the land, find pasture for my mare and assist in survey. We set out together. There is some little good land on Jordan's Creek by Snyder's, but the most of the land from Allentown to the mountain is barren; some settlements, the grain poor, and not much water, and very little timber either for fences or buildings. We traveled on together about six miles to Andrew Feller's, where, as we had an opportunity, we fed again, after which we started to cross the mountain, the foot of which being about six miles distant and nine to Lizzard Creek.

"As I was riding along I met a Dutchman on a very poor horse, riding fast. I gave him what of the road I could,

yet he rode so nigh that his horse's high hip bone struck me under the cap of the knee and lamed me so much that I found it difficult in walking up the mountain. About half way up is a fine spring of water, the head of the Jordanarrived on the top I had a fine prospect of the country on both sides to the S. E., and could see all the houses and plantations between the mountain and Saucon or Lehigh Hills, which intercepts the prospect of any thing further.

"I then proceeded with William Edwards and viewed on horseback both the tracts on Lizzard Creek, between Josiah Thomases and Michael Oalds. From Lizzard Creek I proceeded on to Isaac Longstreth's (at the place where Benjamin Gilbert formerly lived). I found myself too lame to walk much, and my knee pain'd me at such a rate I wished the Dutchman had rode a better horse. I reached Longstreth's in the evening, where I eat supper, having eat nothing on this side the mountain except strawberries, which grow in great plenty and perfection even in the woods where it has been burned. I bathed my knee with warm vinegar which relieved the pain so that I slept tolerable well.

"June 14.-This morning my knee was much better and the swelling gone down considerably-I walked out and viewed the place, after which we had a fine breakfast of trout, of which they catch plenty in Mahony Creek.

"Longstreth accompanied me to Gnadenhuetten, the old Moravian town (formerly burned by the Indians), which stands on Mahony Creek about half a mile above the Lehigh, and contains seven poor old wooden houses. At the mouth of the Mahony they have a grist and saw mill, but for the want of more fall they are worth little.

"We also rode over the Lehigh to Col. Weiss', whose house stands on or very near the spot where Fort Allen formerly stood. The Lehigh makes a strange turn here round a point and Weiss has dug a race across the point and set up a saw mill with two frames and carriages.

"Here I parted with Isaac Longstreth, and started for George Hoods. I proceeded over the Barrens along up the N. W. side of Head's Creek about seven miles, where I

crossed it just below a saw mill. They raft 6 and 7000 feet of boards at a time down from this mill. I then kept up the Barren Hill, on the S. E. side of the creek, and passd a few little houses. The land is exceeding poor and I could obtain no provisions for myself or creature until I reached the place where Fort Norris formerly stood, where I got a cup of milk and bread and let my mare bate in the meadow. Here lives an old woman, the widow Serfass, who entertain'd me with an historical account of her family first migrating over the mountain, being the first settlers, the hardships they underwent for three or four years, and having no neighbours nearer than fifteen or twenty miles. In about five or six years they began to raise plenty of hay and grain, and had a good house and barn and plenty of cattle. The first Indian war broke out and they saw some few Indians but received no damage, until the soldiers came there to build a fort. The Commissary was scant of provision and took all they had for the soldiers, and sent them off empty handed to seek their fortunes. They were gone eight years, during which time all their buildings were burned as well as fences, and the fields and meadows overgrown with bush, and as hard to clear as at first. Since then they were driven off by the Indians three times and met with like losses. She gave me this account part in Dutch and part in English, and I believe told the truth. Her husband had been dead about one year, and they had lived together fifty-five years, and raised a large family. She was about seventy-five years old.

"From here I kept up the creek to the forks, where the good level land begins, called Peters's Flat, for Richard Peters owns a fine tract of land here. I went about four miles to one Jacob Everarts, a Dutchman who has some fine meadows on Head's Creek, where I put up for all night and they were very civil people. His son caught me a mess of trout for supper.

"June 15.-This morning I accompanied my young Dutchman to catch trout, at a large pond covering about two acres and very deep, out of which issues a large stream called