Author: Pennsbury Manor

I’m Kelly and I’m a summer intern here at Pennsbury Manor. Over the course of my three months here I’ve become a blacksmith’s apprentice, brushed a two thousand pound bull and spent a large portion of my days dressed as a 17^th century Quaker women. While some may consider these experiences wild, the craziest part of my internship was my summer research project.

It started off as a normal day; I had spent several hours doing research for my project on the blacksmiths here at Pennsbury. I sat down for lunch and made small talk with one of the other volunteers who preceded to tell me the most outrageous story I had ever heard. Apparently back in 1686, John Smith one of the blacksmith’s indenture at Pennsbury Manor, wanted to leave his indenture two months early, however James Harrison, the steward of Pennsbury would not let him go. Their disagreement escalated into a brawl that ended with Smith wounding Harrison and fleeing Pennsbury. Smith was gone for several days, but returned in the middle of the night with a cannon. He planted that cannon on Bile Island in the middle of the Delaware River and aimed it right at the Manor House, all to seek revenge on James Harrison.

I had been researching for a few days at this point and this was the first I had heard of any cannon, so naturally I had to find the primary source documentation. I thought it would be easy enough to find, it’s not every day that a disgruntled employee threatens his boss with a cannon. If this happened, surely there is some primary source documentation to prove it. What I thought would only take thirty minutes would end up taking several weeks, consuming all my free time at Pennsbury. I started my search at the first logical place, the bound copies of the William Penn papers that are kept in the Museum Library. I looked under every search term I could think of: Harrison, Smith, Cannon, but to my surprise nothing yielded results. I realized Smith’s actions must have resulted in some sort of discipline, so I checked all Quaker Meeting minutes from that date, and once again I found nothing! Having consulted every source I could think of, I was now convinced that I was the victim of some practical joke.

I was venting my frustration to another intern and telling him I wasn’t convinced that this letter was even real. To my surprise, he led me to my next clue. He told me that a reference to that letter could be found in the footnote on an obscure page of a larger guide book. I checked the footnotes and found that there was a letter that referenced cannon, and that this letter was dated September 17, 1686. The reason why I had not found it in the William Penn papers was because his archive was too vast to be contained in four bound volumes; the full archives were available on microfilm. I dusted off the microfilm reader, and after about twenty minutes of trying to figure out how it worked, I began combing through decades worth of letters. Much to my dismay there was no letter dated September 17, 1686. The following week I had some down time in between tours, and decided to try my luck with the microfiche again. All of the slides seemed to blend together, when suddenly something caught my eye. The transcribed copy of the letter I had just finished reading was dated 7 (September) 1686. THE QUACKERS HAD A DIFFERENT CALANDER! If September was considered the 7^th month, that means that the 9^th month was November. I quickly scrolled over to the records from November of 1686 and I saw the word I had spent about a month looking for: Cannon.

After reading through the letter a few times, I’d concluded that the original story I had been told was a bit exaggerated. There was no physical altercation, James Harrison went to Burlington for a few days and John Smith took his absence as an opportunity to go AWOL. He did come back a few days later with a cannon, but he did not put in on Bile Island, he put it off to the side of the Manor House. Hearing of the cannon, James Harrison returned to Pennsbury and found that John Smith had been staying with a friend, William Bile, the man from whom Bile Island is named. Smith confessed and was sentenced to jail, he completed the final two months of his indenture after his jail time was up.

I consider this search the craziest thing I’ve done during my internship at Pennsbury. I knew when I applied for the internship that I wasn’t signing up for a typical intern job like getting coffee and filing papers. I at least knew to expect the unexpected. When it came to this letter, I had no expectations. I had no idea where my next clue would lead me. I had no idea if this letter was even real until I actually found it. Though frustrating at times, my little cannon adventure was a great introduction to the world of historical research. Every other time I’ve taken on a research project, my primary sources have come from a database. The difficulty was in crafting the information from that document into a broader argument. This time around the difficulty was physically locating my source among the hundreds of documents we have here at Pennsbury Manor. Whether I was searching for the cannon letter, or even telling people about what I consider the most interesting part of internship, this summer has showed me that the wildest tales are found in the most unlikely places.

Kelly White, Intern Summer 2015

There are a lot of great things to see at Pennsbury Manor. There is the Worker’s Cottage, the Kitchen House, and the animals at the stable. There is one attraction that is off the beaten path. To the left of the Manor House down by the river is a cemetery. There are several little tombstones with nothing but the initials of their first and last names and their year of birth and death carved onto them. Unfortunately, William Penn is not among those buried here at Pennsbury, he is buried in England. Two of the people buried here, James Harrison and his son in law Phineas Pemberton, where trusted  friends of William Penn. They had very prominent roles in Penn’s life at Pennsbury Manor. James Harrison and Phineas Pemberton immigrated to North America together in 1682. Pemberton also brought over with him his wife Pheobe and their children Abigail and Joseph. William Penn relied very heavily on James Harrison. Penn granted Harrison five thousand acres of land before Harrison even left England. He used that later on to acquire land in Upper Makefield, Newtown, and Wrightstown. Penn appointed him to Proprietary’s Commissioner of Property and the agent to manage his personal affairs. In 1685, Harrison became one of the three provincial judges. Unfortunately, he did not hold these positions long as he died in 1687. Pemberton was also very important to William Penn. Phineas Pemberton was the first Clerk of the Bucks County Courts and he held that position until his death. William Penn thought very highly of Pemberton. So much so that after his death Penn wrote, “I will mourn for poor Phineas Pemberton, the ablest, as well as one of the best men in the province.” Phineas and Pheobe had nine children in all and several of them are also buried here at Pennsbury. Phineas would go on to outlive Pheobe, who died in 1696. Phineas lived for another six years dying in 1702. So next time you stop by for a visit to Pennsbury Manor, make sure you take a walk over to the cemetery!

Billy Lovering, Intern 2015

As the 4^th of July holiday approaches, we remember The Liberty Bell one of America’s most iconic symbols. It has served as a constant reminder of freedom for centuries. Abolitionists, civil rights advocates, Native Americans, immigrants, and war protesters have all used a Liberty Bell as a symbol for their causes. Originally the bell was simply known as the State House Bell, it wasn’t called the Liberty Bell until the 1830s when the abolitionists began calling it that. The abolitionists used the bell as their symbol because of the words inscribed on it from Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants thereof.” The verse is referring to the “Jubilee”, or instructions to the Israelites to return property and free slaves every 50 years.

The Bell resides in Philadelphia at 6^th & Market Street. The Liberty Bell is one of many nationally recognized sites in Philadelphia. The Bell was originally placed in the tower of Independence Hall. Independence Hall is of course iconic for being the building where the signing of the Declaration of Independence took place. The Document was declaring American independence from Great Britain. That is the reason why the Bell has become so iconic. It is part of the birthplace of American Independence. Many people don’t know without William Penn this bell may not have ever existed. The bell was cast in 1751 to commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of Pennsylvania’s Charter of Privileges. The Charter granted religious freedoms, procedures for a democratic government, and fair treatment of criminals. Penn’s frame of government was very different from other colonies in North America at the time. It guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. Penn had a 15 year absence from Pennsylvania and during that time many different governments were proposed but they all ultimately failed. When he returned in 1699 the assembly came up with a new frame of government. This frame of government became the Charter of Privileges. In the Charter of Privileges the provincial assembly would be the legislative authority. It would be self governing, have the ability to elect its own officers, form its own committees, propose and vote on legislation, and impeach government officials. The government would also be a representative government with members from each county being elected from the province. Penn was afraid of what the masses would do with large amounts of democratic power so he trusted small groups of elites to govern society. This relates back into the Liberty Bell because of Penn’s progressive thinking inspired the bell which made the bell the perfect symbol for all the progressive thinkers in history. It is this kind of forward thinking that inspired the bell to go from the State House bell to the Liberty bell and it may have never existed without William Penn.

Billy Lovering, Intern 2015

While this may raise an eyebrow today, in the 1600’s it was not uncommon for people to drink beer with every meal. It is often mentioned that even children would drink beer, and while this is true, the strength of the beer that they drank would not have been on par with what adults were drinking. It wasn’t alcoholic enough for them to become intoxicated, but provided them with necessary calories. In those days, polluted water in England caused such a distrust of water in general that the water in newly-colonized America wasn’t trusted either.

According to Penn’s own letters, there was a Brew House here at Pennsbury Manor, and he wrote that they made beer, cider, and perry (a pear cider), all with an alcohol content. While we don’t know how much they brewed here, it probably was a fair amount and was mostly for the workers. Penn also bought beer from brewers in Philadelphia, which would have been for his table and to serve to guests.

Today, the recreated Pennsbury Manor, has a Brew Room inside the Kitchen House where we demonstrate the 17^th century beer brewing process. Each month April through October we offer a beer brewing demonstration and focus on a different type of beer. Come out and watch as they discuss what they have brewin’. Make sure you wander into the Kitchen Garden to see our own hops plants growing along the Hops Wall. Check out the Calendar of Events for details.

On June 20^th from 4 – 8 pm we will be holding our 3^rd Annual Brews & Bites. Come out and Tap Into History and spend the day along the river at the 43-acre country estate. Enjoy beer, food, music, a 17th century beer brewing demonstration, and meet our own William Penn. For details please visit our website.