1714 MANUSCRIPT INDENTURE / PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA / JOHN KINSEY TO WILLIAM BRADFORD
A great vellum membrane, with a scalloped top edge, manuscript indenture dating 1714 for the transfer of land between John Kinsey, eldest son and heir of Ralph Kinsey, deceased, and William Bradford Jr., son of William Bradford, of New York a printer. A Ralph Kinsey of London purchased one hundred and twenty-five acres of land from William Penn in Pennsylvania on October 29, 1681. His eldest son and heir, John Kinsey of London, sold the same and as far as is known never came to America. [From the Ulster Ancestry web site and RootsWeb.com, Ralph Kinsey is listed as a Pennsylvania land purchaser in 1682.] [From PA State Archives, Records of the Land Office for Philadelphia Old Rights 1682-1745, a register of old rights warrants and surveys for pre-1733 Philadelphia city and county, and Bucks and Chester County, a Ralph Kinsey is listed as a purchaser of 125 acres and a William Bradford, Junior, is listed as "to whom granted" and in Chester County is listed as "where taken up."]
The difference in dates from 1681 to 1682 is due to British law in which 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. "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).
The signing of this Indenture took place in both London and America. Thomas Story left Pennsylvania for England in 1714, thus he signed this document in England. That fact is noted by the statement written at the bottom of the Indenture where Charles Brockdon appears before Ralph Assheton to attest that the signature is indeed Thomas Story's. He could attest to the signature as he worked for Thomas Story when he first came to Philadelphia.
A transcription of the indenture follows:
This indenture made the twelfth day of the twelfth month, commonly called February, in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George King of Great Britian, France, and Ireland, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fourteen. Between John Kinsey of Ko…sditch in the parish of St. Buttolph Aldgate London, silk throwster (eldest son and heir of Ralph Kinsey late of the parish of St. Buttolph Aldersgate London husbandman deceased) of the one part and William Bradford junior son of William Bradford of New York in America printer of the other part. Witnesseth that for and in consideration of the sum of three pounds eleven shillings and six pence of lawful money of Great Britain to the said John Kinsey by the said William Bradford junior at or before the sealing and delivery of these presents well and truly paid the receipt whereof he the said John Kinsey doth hereby acknowledge and thereof and of every part thereof doth acquit and discharge the said William Bradford his heirs executors administrators and assigns and every of them by these presents be the said John Kinsey hath granted bargained and sold remised released and confirmed and by those presents doth grant bargain sell remise release and confirm unto the said William Bradford all that those his full and just proportion and quantity of one hundred twenty five acres of land situate … this the province of Pennsylvania as the said land is now set forth surveyed and limited or as the same shall hereafter be set forth bounded and limited according to the stated rules orders and customs of and in the said province in such cases provided together with all the city--Lots Liberty--lands ways waters watercourses profits privileges and appurtenances whatsoever to the said land and premises belonging or in any wise appertaining and the reversion and reversions remainder and remainders of the premises and of every part thereof and also all the estate right title and interest use possession property claim and demand whatsoever which he the said John Kinsey now hath might or should have of in and to all and singular the premises or any part thereof. All which said land and premises were granted by deeds of seal and release bearing date the eight and twentieth and nine and twentieth days of October respectively Anno Domini 1681 unto the said Ralph Kinsey his heirs and assigns by William Penn then of Worminghurst esquire now proprietor and governor of the said province and descending unto the said John Kinsey as son and heir of his said father are now in the actual possession of the said William Bradford junior by force and virtue of one Indenture of bargain and sale for a year bearing date the day next before the day of the date of these presents and made between the same parties hereunto for the consideration of five shillings therein mentioned and by force and virtue of the statute for transferring uses into possession. To have and to hold the said one hundred and twenty five acres of land lots and premises hereby granted or released or mentioned or intended to be hereby granted or released with their and every of their appurtenances unto the said William Bradford junior his heirs and assigns. To the one by use and behoof of the said William Bradford junior his heirs and assigns forever under the quitrents from henceforth to become due for the premises to the lord of the see or soyle offered same. And he the said John Kinsey and his heirs all the said land and premises hereby granted or released with their appurtenances unto the said William Bradford junior his heirs and assigns against him the said John Kinsey and his heirs and against the said Ralph Kinsey and his heirs and against all and every other person and persons whatsoever lawfully or rightfully claiming or to claim by from or under him them either or any of them shall and will warrant and forever defend by these presents. And the said John Kinsey for himself his heirs executors and administrators doth covenant promise and grant to and with the said William Bradford junior his heirs and assigns by these presents that he the said John Kinsey his heirs and assigns or any of them and all and every person and persons rightfully claiming or which shall or may so claim any state interest or thing in to or out of the premises hereby granted or released or mentioned to be granted or released or any part thereof by from or under him them or any of them or by from or under the said Ralph Kinsey deceased shall and will from time to time and at all times hereafter at the reasonable request and costs and charges in the law of the said William Bradford junior and his heirs and assigns or any of them make do acknowledge and execute or cause or procure to be made done and acknowledged and executed all and every such further and other lawful and reasonable act and acts thing and things device and devices in the law whatsoever for the further or better conveying or assuring of all and singular the said lands and premises hereby granted or released with their appurtenances unto the said William Bradford junior his heirs and assigns as by the said William Bradford his heirs and assigns or any of them or his their or any of their council learned in the law shall be reasonably devised advised or required. In witness whereof the parties to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals this day and year first above written.
Sealed and delivered (being first legally stamped in the presence of us): Thomas Story, John Gildersleve.
Signed: John Kinsey [along with a piece of silk material]
The eighteenth day of June 1714 before me Ralph Assheton Esq. one of the Justices of the Peace, came Charles Brockdon (Brockden) of the City of Philadelphia, gentleman, the above written indenture subscribed with the name John Kinsey. To a seal and with the names Thomas Story, John Gildersleve as witnesses to the sealing and delivery thereof being shown unto him this appearor. He this appearor upon his solemn affirmation according to law did solemnly declare and affirm that he verily believes the same Indenture was so sealed and delivered by the said John Kinsey in the presence of Thomas Story sometime of the City of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania late residing in the City of London in Great Britain, gentleman. The reason of such this affirmants belief being that he this affirmant was very well acquainted with the said Thomas Story when he resided in Pennsylvania and with the manner of his writing his name. Wherewith his name Thomas Story subscribes to the sealing and delivery of the aforesaid Indenture doth well agree in character and manner of writing his name. Signed C. Brockdon.
Affirmed before me the day and year above said. Witness my hand and seal. Signed Ralph Assheton (Asheton or Ashton).
[On the reverse side is written "Release of 125 acres John Kinsey to William Bradford"]
The Kinsey's mentioned in this Indenture are believed to be descendents of John Kinsey of Wales [http://www.octhouse.com/kenziereport.html.] A noted descendent of this line is a John Kinsey who was Chief-Justice of the Providence of Pennsylvania, and one of the incorporators of grandson of John Kinsey, one of the commissioners of the proprietors of West Jersey who came from London in 1677. He was born in Philadelphia in 1693, and died in Burlington, New Jersey, May 11, 1750. He was educated in the law and practiced in the courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Until nearly forty years of age he was a resident of New Jersey, where he was a member of the Assembly and for several years Speaker of the body; but in 1730 he removed to Philadelphia, and was at once elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly, in which he served continuously by re-elections, and as Speaker from 1739, for the remainder of his life. From 1738 to 1741 he was Attorney-General of the Province, and in 1743 was appointed Chief-Justice, which office he held until his death. Judge Kinsey was one of the two commissioners sent to Maryland in 1737 to negotiate for the settlement of the boundary dispute, and was also one of the commissioners who in 1745, in conjunction with commissioners from New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, negotiated at Albany, New York, a treaty with the Six Nations.
William Bradford 1663–1752, British pioneer printer in the American colonies. Born in Leicestershire, England, he served an apprenticeship under a London printer before emigrating in 1685 to Philadelphia, where he set up the first press. He added a bookstore in 1688 and was in 1690 one of the founders of the first paper mill in the colonies (with William Rittenhouse). He was arrested for printing a pamphlet critical of the Quaker government; his trial, at which no verdict was reached, was probably the first in the United States involving freedom of the press. Bradford moved (c.1693) to New York City where he became royal printer and issued some 400 items in the next 50 years, including the first American Book of Common Prayer (1710), some of the earliest of American almanacs and many pamphlets and political writings. In 1725 he began publication of the royalist New York Gazette the first New York newspaper. He retained an interest in the press in Philadelphia, which was managed by a Dutchman named Jansen until Bradford’s eldest son, Andrew, took charge of it in 1712. Benjamin Franklin, upon arriving in Philadelphia in 1723, found employment as a compositor in his printing office. Many of his descendants, including Andrew Bradford (a son) and William Bradford (a grandson), became printers.
Thomas Story was born at Justice Town in the parish of Kirklinton, between 1660 and 1670 where his father owned property. Story went to school in Carlisle, later attending "Fencing School, as a fashionable and manly accomplishment." In 1690 he converted to the Quakers. Story's position, his abilities and learning, both as a lawyer and scholar, made his conversion remarkable and it appears to have made much stir in the city and county. In 1695, after a dispute with his father, Story settled in London working as a conveyancer. Here, he became a friend of William Penn and they traveled together to visit Friends' Meetings in Ireland. In 1698, Story fulfilled a long-held ambition to visit Pennsylvania. Penn came to see him off at Gravesend and, after a stormy passage of about three months, he arrived in Chesapeake Bay. He settled in America and became William Penn's deputy in the province, and also a member of the Council of State, Keeper of the Great Seal, Master of the Rolls and one of the Commissioners of Property. In 1714, he left Pennsylvania for England. On his return he found William Penn had suffered a stroke and his father was quite blind. He died at Justice Town in 1742. Thomas Story is supposedly one of the figures to the left of Penn in Benjamin West's painting "Penn's Treaty with the Indians."
Charles Brockdon (Brockden) (1683-1769) He came to Philadelphia in 1706, and was employed by Thomas Story, who (under William Penn) was the first keeper of the Great Seal and Master of the Rolls. In 1712, Brockdon was appointed Deputy Master of the Rolls, and on the retirement of Mr. Story, in 1716, he was selected to succeed him. He was appointed Recorder of Deeds and a Justice of the Peace in 1722. Brockdon drew up the articles of agreement for the Library Company of Philadelphia for Benjamin Franklin in 1731, the "mother of all the North American subscription libraries." [See The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XII (1888), 185-189.] In 1757, he was known as the Colonial Recorder of Deeds and was mentioned in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin as one of the principal attorneys of the town and a great scrivener and skillful conveyancer.
Ralph Assheton, a provincial councilor of Pennsylvania, and the first lawyer to settle in that province. He was a descendant of Sir John de Assheton, of Assheton-under-Lyne, Salford Hundred, Lancashire, England, who was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Henry IV. He appears on the record in the courts of Chester County in 1726, along with John Kinsey, Peter Evans, Francis Sherrard, and Joseph Growden, Jr. He owned 750 acres of land in the County of Philadelphia in 1734. He was a kin of William Penn by marriage and assisted Penn in founding his colony.
The term "Liberties" was applied by William Penn to certain tracts of land lying north and west of the city of Philadelphia. It contained what was called "the liberty land or free lots" because the proprietaries gave to the first purchaser of ground in the colony, according to the extent of their purchase, a portion of the land within those limits free of price. When commissioners came to survey the space of ground (10,000 acres) it was found somewhat difficult, and when Penn arrived in 1682 he determined to divide the great town into two parts, one to be called the city and the other the Liberties.
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