(London), December 22, 1681. Partially-printed land indenture on vellum, signed by William Penn, granting 500 acres of land in Pennsylvania to John Hewse of St. Clement Parish for ten pounds; scalloped top edge. Red wax seal at bottom. Creasing from old folds, small repaired separations and losses along same, affecting some text. Approximately 21 1/8 x 26 1/4 in. (536 x 667 mm) (sight). In mat with an engraved portrait of Penn, and unexamined out of frame.

A fine, large, and early land indenture signed by William Penn for 500 acres in Pennsylvania. John Hewse (or Hughes) was a collar maker in the Parish of St. Clement in Oxford, England. On February 2, 1688, Hewse conveyed the above tract to Robert Ewer, a Philadelphia merchant. Ewer subsequently sold a portion of the property to William Buzby, a farmer and Quaker living in Oxford Township. Buzby married Sarah Seary, the widow of Thomas Seary (Cerie), in 1685. Prior to the construction of the log meeting house at Waln and Unity Streets in Frankford was completed, the earliest Friends' gatherings convened at Sarah Seary's residence in Oxford Township. Over the following years, the property changed ownership multiple times until 1813, when it was acquired for the establishment of the Friends' Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason. (Ninety-Seventh Annual Report: Friends' Asylum for the Insane, 1914)