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The Purchase of Gwynedd Township
On March 10, 1698 William John and Thomas Evan purchased 7,820 acres from
Robert Turner. (Turner was a Quaker who had purchased some of the land from
William Penn, and the rest from Robert Gee, Joseph Fuller and
Jacob Fuller. He also built the first brick house in
Philadelphia, at the corner of Front and Mulberry streets) The deciding factors of their selection are
presumed to have been fertility of the land, price and
availability. The price was "Sixty-one pounds
Eight pence three farthings Silver money". (The land was
resurveyed in 1702 and found to actually be 11,449 acres. The
various landholders then paid for 2,846 additional acres
directly to William Penn)
On the deed the area is called "the Township of Gwinned
in the County of Philadelphia". The land was heavily timbered with
oak, hickory and chestnut trees, but had no large bodies of
water. The Leni Lenape Indians sometimes passed through and an Indian
trail ran somewhat through the center of the tract. Except for
this, the land was unoccupied and
undisturbed wilderness.
Click here for a full sized view
of map. (1.4 mb)
This 1687 map shows the land
(shaded green) owned by Robert Turner, John Gee,
Joseph Fuller and Jacob Fuller. By 1695 Turner owned all of
it, then sold it to
William John and Thomas Evan in 1698, thus creating Gwynedd Township.
On April 18, 1698 the Gwynedd Company set sail
from Liverpool, England aboard the ship Robert and Elizabeth.
They arrived in Philadelphia on July 17th, eleven weeks after
leaving Liverpool and fifteen after starting from their homes in
Wales.
Forty-five passengers died of dysentery
during the voyage, including William John's sister, Margaret. Gwynedd
was thus settled in 1699 by less than 70 persons.
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History
