Fleet of William Penn

Date: Dec 1681 to Dec 1682
Location: [unknown]

Work in progress, feel free to jump in! Powell-5629 14:28, 2 January 2015 (EST)

Contents 1 Project 2 History and Background 2.1 Indentured Servants 3 The Ships 3.1 Welcome 4 Further Reading 4.1 Footnotes 5 Ship Categories

Project

The main sources for information are:

» Sheppard, Walter Lee Jr., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684. Volume 1 of Penn's Colony: Genealogical and Historical Materials Relating to the Settlement of Pennsylvania. Heritage Books (2009) .

» McCracken, George E., Penn's Colony: Genealogical and Historical Materials Relating to the Settlement of Pennsylvania. Volume 2: Welcome Claimants-Proved, Disproved, and Doubtful. Heritage Books (2009) .

Tasks for project team

Complete short introduction for ships & link to Space pages

History and Background

Indentured Servants

Several passengers were registered as "servants", however it should be considered that these indentured servants were the social equals of their masters, in many cases relatives or friends. Those indentured agreed to work for a designated period of time in exchange for their passage to Pennsylvania. William Penn guaranteed a grant of 50 acres of land at the termination of an indentured's contract. His purpose was to secure a class of settlers trained to work for a livelihood and ready to assist in developing the new Province. He hoped to avoid the problems experienced by the Virginia Colonists, where too many were "Gentleman", unskilled and unprepared for the rigors of creating a new settlement in the wilderness.

These early indentured servants were of a different status from the numerous indentured servants of "redemptioners" who followed in late years, and sold themselves or were sold by the masters of the ships that brought them to strangers among the settlers.^[1]

The Ships

Welcome

The ship upon which William Penn himself arrived. An outbreak of smallpox while en-route killed many aboard Welcome.

Further Reading

• Voyage of William Penn in ship "Welcome" 1682: With a View of Philadelphia, Welcome Society (1917) archive.org (1/16/2015)

• A Partial List of the Families Who Resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Prior to 1687, with the Date of Their Arrival. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 9. page 223-233 archive.org

• Bucks County Arrivals, Sandra Buckman (note: find original source)
• The Welcome Society
• HayGenealogy.com
• Jon Holcombe The Holcombe Family and Collateral Lines database

See also - other compiled passenger lists:

• Chester PA roots
• US Gen Web, Chester Co. PA (not all of these ships are part of William Penn's "fleet")
• Bucks Co Book of Arrivals
• Tepper, Michale, Emigrants to Pennsylvania, 1641-1819, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore (1979)

Footnotes

1. ↑ Holcombe

Ship Categories

	Fleet of William Penn Pennsylvania Settlers
1681	Bristol Factor, John & Sarah
1682	Adventure, Amity, Antelope , Bristol Factor, Elizabeth, Ann & Catherine , Freeman , Friends Adventure , Friendship, Golden Hinde, Hester and Hanna, Hopewell, Jeffrey, Lamb, Lyon, Mary, Providence, Samuel, Society, Submission, Unicorn, Welcome