Excerpt from The Family of William Penn: Founder of Pennsylvania, Ancestry and Descendants The occasion of this volume is substantially, perhaps sufficiently, stated in the opening of the first chapter. To the explanation there given a few particulars may be added. There has always been, the author believes, a strong and very reasonable interest in the personality of William Penn, as the Founder of Pennsylvania, and as a worthy figure in the world's history, and some of this interest attaches to the line of those who have descended from him. The volume here prepared assumes simply to deal with this Family subject. It is not a history nor a biography. In one or two places, perhaps, the record has been permitted an extension which could not be entirely justified by the plan of the work, but excusing this by the special interest of the subject at those points, the author thinks the book has been fairly confined to its original and legitimate plan. Some of the family letters, very possibly, may be regarded as containing details too trivial for printing. The view adopted as to such matters has been that the account is thus made more precise and distinct, and is invested with human interest. Indeed, a book of this character must in part find its justification as being a study, a picture, of social conditions in the period to which it belongs, and such a study or picture is obviously of little value unless it is presented with lines sufficiently distinct, and details sufficiently definite, to make a positive impression on the mind. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.