[Wistar, Caspar]:

[WARRANTY DEED ON PARCHMENT, DATED 22 NOVEMBER 1731, TRANSFERRING REAL ESTATE ON THE WEST SIDE OF THIRD STREET, PHILADELPHIA, FROM JONATHAN AND MARTHA COCKSHAW TO CASPAR WISTAR, A PHILADELPHIA "BRASS BUTTON-MAKER," FOR THE SUM OF FIVE SHILLINGS, "LAWFULL MONEY OF AMERICA"...].

Philadelphia: 1731. Oblong manuscript, 15-1/2" x 7-1/2", on parchment. Red seals, signed by Jonathan Cockshaw "& mark of Martha Cockshaw", with signatures of witnesses Nicholas Ashmead, Dennis Rachford, Joseph Lawrence. Docketed on an otherwise blank verso. Tiny stitch holes in blank inner margin from previous binding. Very Good.

Jonathan Cockshaw was a Quaker and weaver from Worcester, England, who emigrated to New England in 1683, arriving on the ship 'Comfort'. [Coldham, Peter Wilson: COMPLETE BOOK OF EMIGRANTS, 1700-1750. Genealogical Publishing Co.: 1987. Page 345.]
Caspar Wistar [1696-1752], born in Germany, came in 1717 to Pennsylvania, where he would make his fortune. He became a British subject in 1724 and joined the Quakers two years later. An entrepreneur, he was involved in brass button-making, hardware, dry goods and glass making; became one of the richest men in Pennsylvania; owned a large brick house on High Street in Philadelphia, staffed with several servants; and owned thousands of acres in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Lancaster counties. [Beiler, Rosalin J.: IMMIGRANT AND ENTREPRENEUR: THE ATLANTIC WORLD OF CASPAR WISTAR, 1650-1750. Pages 1-6.]
Nicholas Ashmead [1686-1749], a Keithian Quaker who converted to Quaker Baptist, was admitted as a freeman in Philadelphia in 1717. [Philadelphia: MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA: 1704-1776. Crissey & Markley: 1847. Page 120.] Dennis Rachford was a Quaker and potter. [Roney, Jessica Choppin: GOVERNED BY A SPIRIT OF OPPOSITION: THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PRACTICE IN COLONIAL PHILADELPHIA. JHU Press: 2014. Page 64.]. Item #32050

Price: $375.00