[2]. The first of a delightful collection of folk lore and legends collected and published as “Allegheny Episodes,” by Colonel Henry W. Shoemaker, 1922.
During this errand John Penn met for the first time Marie Cox, the silversmith’s only daughter, and they fell desperately in love with each other. Many visits were made to the fine Quaker home of James Cox, which annoyed the elder Penn, and remonstrate as he did it proved of no avail. A trip to Gretna Green was made, and John Penn, aged nineteen, and Marie Cox, aged seventeen, were duly made husband and wife.
When Richard Penn, the father, and his brother Thomas were apprised by young John of what he had done, he was locked in his room, and after dark he was taken to the waterfront and placed aboard a ship sailing for the coast of France. He was carried to Paris, and there carefully watched, but supplied with all the money he required.
Temporarily John Penn forgot about his wife, Marie, as he plunged into the gayeties of the French capital. The pace was rapid and he soon became seriously ill, but he grew better and was taken to Geneva to convalesce. There he was followed by agents of his creditors, who threatened him with imprisonment for debt. John wrote his father in London, who turned a deaf ear to the prodigal; not so Uncle Thomas.
Thomas Penn wrote to his nephew that he would save him from a debtor’s cell provided he would divorce his wife and go to Pennsylvania for an indefinite period. John was in an attitude to promise anything, and soon his bills were settled. While awaiting his ship to take him to Philadelphia, the young man went to London for a day to say good-by to his relations.
The ship was delayed several days by a severe storm and as John was strolling up the streets in Cheapside, to his surprise he met his bride, the deserted Marie Cox Penn. He was much in love with her and she was ready to forgive. They spent the balance of that day together and during dinner in a restaurant it was arranged that Marie should follow her husband to America; meanwhile he would provide a home for her under an assumed name, until he became of age, when he would defy his family to again tear them apart.
John Penn arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1752. He evinced but little interest in provincial affairs, except to make a trip into the interior. He was accompanied by a bodyguard, among whom was Peter Allen. Penn took a fancy to the sturdy frontiersman, “a poor relation” of Chief Justice William Allen.
Allen had built a stone house twelve miles west of Harris’ Ferry, which he called “Tulliallan.” This was the outpost of civilization. John Penn selected this place for his bride, and as Peter Allen had three young daughters, Penn soon arranged that Marie should be their teacher.
John Penn dispatched his valet to London to escort Marie to America. She arrived and her husband took her to Peter Allen’s, where she became a great favorite and found the new life agreeable. She assumed the name Maria Warren. That was in 1754.
All went well until the Penns in London learned that Marie Cox Penn had gone to America, and they traced her to “Tulliallan.”