Beschreibung:

Manuscript indenture on vellum, signed and sealed by Penn, a lease for one thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania to William Beakes of Barkwell, Somerset.
N.p. [but London]: 26 July 1681. 1 p., large vellum membrane (255 x 568 mm). Signed by Penn on the fold recto with attached red wax seal. Docketed on the verso, with the signatures of four witnesses E. Woolley, Charles Jones Charles Marshall and Will Smith. early deed signed by william penn leasing 1000 acres to a somerset county yeoman. "Between July and October 1681, [William Penn] … sold over 300,000 acres to nearly 300 First Purchasers … During the first four years after W[illiam] P[enn] obtained his charter, about 600 First Purchasers bought more than 700,000 acres of Pennsylvania land. They paid W[illiam] P[enn] approximately £9000, which was less than he had hoped for, but in every other respect his salesmanship proved to be highly successful … About half of them actually migrated to Pennsylvania, bringing their families as well as many servants, and making possible the rapid development of the new colony." (Soderlund, William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania: A Documentary History, p.72). In accordance with British law, each land conveyance by William Penn occurred in two separate transactions. The first part, the lease, transferred title to the land for a period of one year usually in exchange for five shillings; the second part, the release, occurred the following day and transferred the full title to the property. This document is an example of the first part. "The use of deeds of lease and release extends back to the English feudal system … A deed of lease and release passed effective ownership from the Crown to Penn and to the purchaser. For this two-step transfer the deed actually consisted of a pair of indentures acting as one conveyance. The first indenture was a lease, or statement of intention to sell, and placed the land in the hands of the purchaser for a specified period of time, usually one year. The second indenture, a release, dated the day after the lease, removed the land from the jurisdiction of the Crown and placed it under the jurisdiction of the proprietor" (Munger, Pennsylvania Land Records, pp. 40-41). William and Mary Beakes were among those who actually settled in Pennsylvania, arriving in the city aboard the Bristol Merchant in February 1682/3. “Their sons Stephen, Samuel and William also came over, and probably at the same time, but being of age were not included with their parents in the List of Arrivals. William Beakes had by deeds of lease [i.e. the present document] and release, July 26 & 27, 1681, purchased from Wm. Penn 1000 acres of land in Pennsylvania. This land, or part of it, was laid out to him in Bucks County … In right of his 1000 acres purchase, he had two lots in the city of Philadelphia, one on Delaware Front St., 20 feet wide, going back 396 ft. to 2nd St., and one on High [Market] St. , 26 ft. front and 306 feet deep … William Beakes was a Member of Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1684 and 1685; and a Justice of the Bucks County Court" (Hough, "Atkinson Family of Bucks County, Pennsylvania" in PMHB, vol. 30). It is curious that this lease required Beakes to pay ten shillings, rather than the usual five and that it is entirely manuscript rather than an example of an engraved form with manuscript additions. Perhaps these anomalies are explained by its early date, that is, prior to having the standardized engraved form prepared.