Judge Jasper Yeates made a visit to Braddock’s battlefield in August, 1776, and then to the site of Fort Pitt. He remarked about seeing the grave of Colonel Clapham.
It is probable that the family became extinct after the Indians perpetrated their dastardly crime, and the ashes of the famous commander and builder of Fort Augusta have long since mingled with the soil.
Free Society of Traders Organized with Aid
of Penn, May 29, 1682
Soon as William Penn received the grant of land in America which is now Pennsylvania, he immediately issued advertisements in which certain concessions were offered to settlers. Among those who made application for large quantities of land were companies organized for colonization purposes.
One such company was “The Free Society of Traders,” whose plans Penn favored and whose constitution and charter he helped to draw.
The first general court of this society was held in London May 29, 1682, at which time the “Articles, Settlement and Offices” of the society were adopted and the actual operations begun.
The charter to the Pennsylvania Company, the Free Society of Traders, bears date March 24, 1862. The incorporators named in Penn’s deed to them were “Nicholas More, of London, medical doctor; James Claypoole, merchant; Philip Ford (Penn’s unworthy steward); William Sherloe, of London, merchant; Edward Pierce, of London, leather seller; John Symcock and Thomas Brassey, of Cheshire, yeoman; Thomas Barker, of London, wine cooper, and Edward Brookes, of London, grocer.”
The deed recites Penn’s authority under his patent, mentions the conveyance to the company of 20,000 acres in Philadelphia, erects this tract into the manor of Frank, “in free and common Socage, by such rents, customs and services, as to them and their successors shall seem meet, so as to be consistent with said tenure.” It allowed them two justices’ courts a year and other legal privileges.