Penn

FOREBEARS The Commonwealth of PA was founded in 1681 by an English Quaker, William Penn (1644–1718), who was born in London into a family of Gloucestershire origin. His grandfather was a merchant and sea captain, and his father was an admiral on the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, who later served King Charles II after the Restoration. Because of his father's services to the crown, Penn the younger received a grant of a vast tract of land in North America, formerly part of New Netherland, which later became the state of PA.