Notes for John Anderson Penn: PENN, JOHN married ANDERSON, NANCY MADISON 06/07/1825
John was about 8 or 9 years old when his family moved from Georgia to Illinois. Joseph and Sally moved from Georgia to Illinois in 1811 or 1812. There is listed a Muster Roll of a company of drafted militia of the Illinois Territory commanded by Captain Amos Squires, called into service by His Excellency Ninian Edwards, Governor of said Territory. In this muster roll from September 9, 1812 to November 14,1812 were listed Joseph Penn Corporal, and also listed were Joseph Penn, Jr. and William Penn. In the period from August 10, 1814 to October 9, 1814 the muster rolls listed the sons, Philip Penn and William Penn as serving. Joseph Penn was a Justice of Peace in St. Clair Co. in 1818. On January 24,1835, Joseph Penn, Sr., of St. Clair Co. got permission to locate a road from Lebanon to the house of Benjamin Johnson.
John was a soldier on the side of the Confederacy.
The following is the text of a letter from a Dr. A. B. Palmer, addressed to Joseph Rollins Penn, the eldest son, sometime after 1860, no date available:
"I have been acquainted with Major John Penn about 15 years, and was several years of the time, his family physician, and acquainted with the state of his general health and know that he often, and nearly always complained of symptoms of chronic disease of the base of the brain, I therefore attributed all the old man's extremely irritable temper and also was the cause of his lewd indulgence. I am well convinced that his mind was not sound, was the leading cause of the difficulties betweenhim and his family that brought about this separation from his first wife. Therefore, I believe that he would and did make a sacrifice of property and money to get a woman or wife with whom to gratify his lascivious passion. In this view of his condition I am forced to the conclusion that he was not capable of managing his own pecuniary affairs after 1860."
Next is a letter from John Penn, writing from Pana, Illinois, to this same son, Joseph Rollins Penn, dated March 30, 1868. This letter was written after he had divorced Nancy and left the area of Dallas County, Texas. He had previously asked if he could live with one son after the divorce but was told he could not, so he left Dallas County and returned to Illinois (from the collection of Bobbye Jo Miniard):
Pana, Illinois
March 30, 1868
My Son, Joseph:
There is nothing in all that man uttered that can equal the mercy and magnanimity of these words: 'Father forgive them; they know not what they do.' When we consider the terribleness and the rancor of this world's malignity, the sharpness and rancor of its cruelty, the unabated perseverance of its revenge and the relish of its enjoyment - when we remember the forces of resentment and the willingness, the justification of retaliation - how hard it is - it has always been at any time under any circumstances to forgive and forget.
I confess nothing, in all my reading, nothing I have ever seen or heard, or expect to see or hear, equals this prayer of Christ in the midst of agony and pain, in the midst of the cruelest wrongs and the most aggravating insults - after hours of protracted outrages and mockeries and while the sharp pangs of the cross were torturing the body and distracting the mind - to forget all this - to go back and behind the crime and seek for its palliation in the ignorance of the inhuman and barbarous perpetrators and with this thought uppermost, and self forgotten, to pray for God's forgiveness and mercy of the inhuman throng that surrounded him, this oh this, was something so great, so magnanimous, so Godlike, that nature itself seemed to mark with astonishment the hour, by veiling her face, extinguishing her light and shrouding the heavens in darkness.
I have thought proper to drop you these lines by way of admonishment both for you and your brothers, and also myself, we have all had difficulty and have all been very stiff. Well, I should not have thought any the less of any one of you, to have had a letter from you long since, but I suppose you could not condescend. Well, after mature consideration, I came to the conclusion that I would give you to understand, Joseph, that I fully forgive you, and all the rest of the family, for all the offense committed against me. Perhaps you will think this rather uncalled for, if you should, so be it. I never was disposed to bear malice in my heart towards any person or persons. I delight in the principal, or spirit, of humanity that rests on the broad foundation of universal happiness in a future state for every child of Adam. When I look at the prayer our Savior offered up to his Father for the characters that crucified Him, I cannot but believe in universal salvation for all the human race.
My Sun of life is fast declining. I am now 64 years old and must soon return to our Mother Earth and have no fears but that I shall then be in a state of perfect rest. Those lines leaves us in reasonable good health, and I hope that they will find you and Nancy and the children all enjoying the same, best of earthly blessings. I have nothing further of interest to write, we have had a cold winter, the spring opens up thus far very favorable, the wheat crops look fine, general health is good.
Hand this to your brothers, I am sure it will do them no harm, tell them that I often think of them, but get no word from them. Will you let me hear from you, I would be pleased to hear from you any time, tell Georgeto write to me.
I add no more, but remain yours as ever,
John Penn"
John Penn moved to Dallas County, Tx in December 1854. Two married sons came with he and Nancy by wagontrains. One was my Great Grandfather Joseph Rollins Penn. All of that generation made good at farming and ranching - John went to California on the gold rush and struck, came back to Texas and went to Illinois buying sheep and brought back to Dallas County. He was a good looking son of a biscuit eater as he is the one that divorced Nancy and was pretty loose for awhile. He asked one of his sons if he could live with him after the divorce and was told "Hell No" - I think my great grandfather was the only one of the children that wrote to him. That letter was unearthed in our reunion researches - and I think the info was turned in by Robert Gilmore Penn's descendants - Robert Gilmore is the one that lost his fortune to crooked investors. John's tombstone in Illinois was broken and couln't be repaired so my sis and I had another put in place and Frank and I stopped in Illinois 3 years ago to have it taken care of. We also have a letter the family doctor wrote to our great-grandfather telling him of his father's illness.(LUST) - Bobbye Penn Streightoff
The following is quoted from "Lucretia Barker's, "History of Cedar Mountains."
"About where the Mountains turn back south, standing on the high cliffs, one sees just below and a little out in the valley a hill joined to the mountain by only a narrow hill. This hill, set apart as it is, and gently sloping on all sides to the valley floor, afforded an ideal spot for a home. Near its brow was a spring surrounded with beautiful trees. The Indians camped there and it came to be called Indian Spring (and later Penn's Spring).
In 1854 a man and his son rode into this valley. They saw the hill and camped for a time at this spring; then they rode on. They traveled over Texas and went on to California but came back to Indian Spring and bought the land that included the hill and spring. Major Penn bought out Phillip Kimmel on the east side of the mountain. Major Penn went into the sheep business with Samuel Uhl, getting the sheep from Illinois. The trips were made by horseback. In one flock were 1,000 head of sheep.
Major Penn had five sons and two daughters that settled in this country. He and his wife separated and he married Mrs. Morvay(?) [or Eliza Moriarty or Sarah E. Crow]. From the second marriage, there was one daughter, Emily G. Penn, who married _____ Lewis.
The son, John W., who came to Indian Spring with him got that land and that spring and became a cowman in a cow country. While gathering cattle in Collin County, John W. met Lucinda Moore. They had grown up within six miles of one another but had never met until they came to Texas. They were married, and lived the rest of their lives on the "Hill." John W., died June 23, 188, from a rattlesnake bite. His wife lived on the home place with her son, Andy, until her death in 1928, age 81..... Major Penn's son, Joe, got land near Wheatland. He married before he came to Texas. To this union came five children: Sarah Jane, John S., Delilah, Robert, Henry, and George A.... Major Penn's son, Robert G., got his land that is now west of the railroad to the Cedar Mountains, south of Horne land to Trees land. He married a Littrel to them one daughter, Nannie, was born. While the child was quite small, the mother died and her grandmother Penn, Major Penn's first wife, raised Nannie. Robert Penn traded his land for land in West Texas, and before a deed could be recorded, a mortgage was put on it for all it was worth by the original owners and Mr. Penn lost it all. He moved to Oklahoma, where Nannie married Van Burkleo. Robert Penn gave the land where the Methodist Church was located in the early 1950's.
Early settlers, such as the Penns, Andersons, Loyds, and Rapes took advantage of these small natural prairies. Without any initial preparation, these prairies offered feed for livestock and required little maintenance. Our research of early land records supported the proposition that the Penn and Anderson families settled on the edge of the Mountain Creek escarpment specifically to take advantage of small, upland prairie patches away from flood prone bottomlands and the larger, more open "grand prairies".
John was a soldier on the side of the Confederacy. John Penn divorced Nancy Anderson and married on April 19, 1867, (2) Sarah E. Crow.
More About John Anderson Penn: Burial: Unknown, Linwood Cemetery, near Pana, Ill..
More About John Anderson Penn and Nancy Anderson: Marriage: June 07, 1825, Madison.
More About John Anderson Penn and Sarah E. Crow: Marriage: April 19, 1867
Children of John Anderson Penn and Nancy Anderson are:
+William Anderson Penn, b. August 13, 1828, St. Clair County, Il., d. October 22, 1864, Benton, Ak.
+Joseph Rollins Penn, b. April 21, 1826, Lebanon, St. Clair County, Illinois, d. September 04, 1899, Wheatland, Dallas County, Texas.
John Anderson Penn (b. March 16, 1804, d. December 01, 1871)
Notes for John Anderson Penn: