REMARKS OF WILLIAM PENN

100^th MICHENER-WORTHINGTON FAMILY REUNION

Saturday, June 25, 2005

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

Greetings, Friends! I am William Penn, founder and proprietor of this colony.

 

Much has changed since I left here in 1701. For example, there are so many more people, so many more inhabitants who enjoy the right to religious toleration. In fact, on my way here, I noticed a large sign outside a Catholic Church which announced tomorrow’s sermon. It was titled: “Did you ever wonder what hell is like?” Then, in smaller letters below, were the words: “Come hear our Church Choir!

 

Does anybody still wonder why the early Quakers didn’t have music in the Meeting House!

 

We are gathered here today to celebrate two of the earliest settlers of my colony—John Michener and Sarah Moore—and their descendants, who now, I understand total more than 67,000. Impressive!

(applaud)

PENN’S RELATIONSHIP TO FAMILY

 

I had been acquainted with Sarah since she was twelve years old. Orphaned at an early age, she came to live with our family in 1676 at Worminghurst in Sussex.

 

My wife, Gulielma Springett, found her to be a most able maid-servant, a great help to her as she was still grieving over the loss of our first three children while having to tend to two others.

 

As Sarah’s master, I was responsible for her welfare and by the early 1680’s, was concerned that she had become a spinster. That changed in 1685, when John Michener, a young man, from Ash of Normandy in Surrey, began attending Meeting in our neighborhood.

 

Tho’ he was a poor Friend, John appeared to me to be a good and honest man and I noticed that Sarah took a liking to him. A year later they declared their intentions to marry to the Dorking and Horsham Monthly Meeting.

 

 

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I am happy to say that John and Sarah were wed on the fifth day of August in a public and solemn ceremony at my estate in Worminghurst. It was the only wedding that ever took place there.

 

Shortly after, I wrote a letter of introduction for John and Sarah to James Harrison, my secretary at my New World estate of Pennsbury. I requested that the couple have a week’s time there with the hope that John, a farmer, might find employment in the surrounding countryside.

 

QUESTION: “Why do you suppose John Michener and Sarah Moore would leave England and resettle in America?”

 

They were young, of course. No doubt in search of adventure and willing to take a risk. Those who came to Pennsylvania were no different. We were all taking a great risk, but one that was inspired by a “Holy Experiment.”

 

 

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“HOLY EXPERIMENT”:

 

My own risk began on March 4, 1681, when I was granted the colony by King Charles II in payment of a 16,000 pound debt he owed to my father, an Admiral, for services rendered in naval warfare. And so, the King, in my father’s honor, named the colony after him, “Penn’s Woods,” or “Pennsylvania.”

 

It was a tract of land almost as large as all of England itself, being roughly, 45,000 square miles. It had good fertile soil for farming and the raising of livestock; sufficient waterways for trade as well as for transportation into the interior. The air was sweet and clear and the heavens, serene.

 

But most important, there was unsettled wilderness where an example could be set up to all other nations of a just society free from the religious intolerance, arbitrary authority, and wars of Europe.

 

‘Twas a clear and just thing, I believed, to resettle there, for God who has given it to me through many difficulties would bless and make it the seed of a nation.

 

 

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Indeed, Pennsylvania was a Holy Experiment. “Holy” because the Lord helped me in obtaining it and it was settled to glorify Him. “Experiment” because no one ever before attempted to create a just society where people of different ethnicities and religions lived together without the fear of political or religious persecution and in the spirit of brotherly love. Thus, I named the capitol, “Philadelphia,” or “City of Brotherly Love.”

 

If my Holy Experiment was to succeed, however, I realized that I had to ensure a broad based and stable society. Therefore, I encouraged three sorts of people to settle in Pennsylvania.

 

The first group was limited to purchasers of 5,000 acres or more. This small but influential group consisted primarily of Quakers.

 

The second group was composed of large numbers of yeomen and artisans. These were needed to transform the wilderness into a prosperous community, but since they had no capital, they would have to pay quitrents.

 

 

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Third, was the class of indentured servants. These people agreed to do work for a period of years in exchange for their passage to the colony. At the end of their indenture, each would receive 50 acres of land.

 

QUESTION: To which group do you think John Michener and Sarah Moore belonged?

 

They were a part of the second group. As a farmer, John was a yeoman. Sarah had been a servant under my care. When she was married, her period of indenture ended and I provided her with passage to America.

 

Tho’ they had a yeoman’s status, the couple did not have their own property until 1702. It was a small plot of ground in the Town of Philadelphia that had been bequeathed to John from a First Purchaser—John Martin—who I had also known from Worminghurst.

 

 

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FRAME OF GOVERNMENT:

 

During this time, I was engaged in the business of constitution-making. I realized that if my Holy Experiment were to succeed, I would also need a government to protect the religious and political freedoms upon which it was based.

 

After toiling over 17 drafts of a Frame of Government—some more democratic than others—I arrived at a constitution that organized the government into three parts: a governor, a Provincial Council, and a bicameral Assembly elected by the landholders or freemen.

 

While the Upper House drafted legislation, the Lower House passed on it. In this way I hoped to avoid factions and prevent corruption in government.

 

It was, after all, only fitting that the people be given a voice in government. Government, like clocks, goes from the motion that men give them. As governments are made and moved by men, so by them are they ruined, too. Let men be good and the government cannot be bad, and if it becomes ill, good men will cure it.

 

 

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QUESTION: Now, of course, John and Sarah Michener were good people and I have already told you that they enjoyed the status of yeoman, or independent farmer. But do you think that status entitled them to become freemen? That is, to vote or to hold public office in my colony?

 

No, it certainly did not! But lest you, their descendants, think that you are better than they were, let us see how many of you would enjoy the status of a freeman in Pennsylvania.

 

GROUP EXERCISE: All those over the age of 21, please raise your hand and keep it up until you are disqualified. If you are female, please put your hand down. If you are Catholic or Jewish, please put your hand down. If you are not white or Caucasian, please put your hand down. If you do not own at least 100 acres of property, please put your hand down.

 

Quite a humbling exercise! I can see that few of you would qualify to be freemen. Only white, male Protestants over the age of 21 and owning significant land had a political influence.

 

 

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Regardless of political status, all settlers enjoyed the right to worship; the right to open courts of justice with trial by jury; and the right to send their children to my Friends Public School so that they could learn the rudiments of literacy as well as a useful trade or skill.

 

RISKS OF LIFE IN EARLY PENNSYLVANIA:

 

I should remind you that life was not without difficulty for many who settled in the colony, though. Medical science was primitive and many families lost newborns within a year’s time. In 1696, John and Sarah lost a baby girl, Mary.

 

Farming was not always a stable or prosperous trade. A poor harvest or two could result in financial debt, especially if there was a family to support. And by 1701, John had six children: Sarah; Rebecca and Hannah, who were twins; William; John; and Elizabeth.

 

Through little fault of his own, John Michener had fallen into great debt by 1715. Unable to provide for his family in Philadelphia, he and Sarah moved to Horsham.

 

 

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“HOLY CONVERSATION” & IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY:

 

At the same time, I believe Pennsylvania offered families like the Micheners another opportunity for prosperity through the lives of their children.

 

Of the six children, we know that the four daughters—Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah, and Elizabeth—married well. All of them wed landholders who held the status of freeman, either at Horsham or Byberry.

 

The two sons—William and John—also became landholders in Philadelphia.

 

Most important, each one of the 6 children had their own family and continued to cultivate the principles of the Quaker faith among their own children.

 

Why is that so important? The early Friends believed that the family was the foundation of the community. Not the government. Not the school. Not even the Meeting itself.

 

 

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Those institutions were only as good as the people who founded and composed them. It was the family that was ultimately responsible for the character, behavior, and morals of the members within it.

 

To live in “Holy Conversation” was the greatest reward a Quaker could desire.

 

It meant to remain true to the principles of Friends: the non-violent resolution of conflict; the leading of a simple, Christian life; to respect others equally for their humanity as you would have them respect you; and to speak truth to power, even if there are personal risks involved.

 

Essentially, to live in “Holy Conversation” is to live a life in integrity. And, ultimately, the family is the only institution that can best model that virtue.

 

 

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CONCLUDING PRAYER:

 

Today, then, we celebrate the greatest achievement of John Michener and Sarah Moore—the propagation of their family for more than 10 generations.

 

Whether you realize it or not, all of you are also the stewards of the same Holy Experiment on which they embarked more than 300 years ago.

 

And so, I would like to end with a prayer, dear Friends, for you and for your families:

 

“My soul prays to God for thee that thou may stand in the day of trial; that thy children may be blest of the Lord; and thee saved by His power. May God bless thee and keep thee.”

 

Thy Friend,

 

William Penn

 

 

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