John Test:

Philadelphia Merchant and Inn Keeper

Several short biographies have been written about John Test.[1] This sketch, after a quick look at the basics, will focus on major points unmentioned until now.

There are many Tests listed in the mid-17th century Middlesex and London records of the Quakers but no record convincingly identifying his parents or siblings. The earliest indisputable record is the 1673 marriage license application naming John Test and Elizabeth Sanders.[2] The marriage allegation gives the ages of both as 22 indicating a birth (within months) of 1651. Those who wanted to avoid a church wedding could marry by license.

Described in the marriage allegation as a cordwainer by trade-a craftsman of custom made shoes of expensive fine leather, John Test was primarily a merchant. He was not a shop keeper but an importer and exporter of goods – who came to America in 1675 as part of the Fenwick colony planted at Salem, New Jersey. Still in London in June of 1675 he purchased 1000 acres in New Jersey.[3] This party of 100 pioneers in all arrived in at the mouth of the Assamhocking river in early October.[4] By January John Test had crossed the Delaware River over to Upland, (now Chester, Pennsylvania) where there was a well-established community of Swedish settlers and where he purchased 200 acres from Niels Matson.[5]

In most of the biographical sketches, John Test has been called a land dealer, a speculator, and one who subdivided and sold property.[6] He did buy and sell land on the Pennsylvania and the New Jersey sides of the river. In all, he made around forty transactions purchasing and selling land. About twenty on the west side of the Delaware River and about twenty on the New Jersey side.[7]

The problem is that the records fail to show that he sold as well as he purchased. In fact, the records show that from 1676 to 1703 he purchased almost 5,000 acres and sold about half of that amount. Subtracting the number of acres sold from the number of acres purchased he still possessed more than 2,400 acres by the time of his death. And this does not include the acquisition of the Lippincott estate (inherited by his 2nd wife Grace) nor the final indian purchase from Okeyman, Quiatemans and Awisham. The records do not show the sizes of those parcels. Apparently, all this land was divided among the hiers.

John Test is called an Upland merchant by the Upland Court in 1679.[8] Considering that some of the parcels of land he bought were then sold to London merchants we know he had connections with merchants in London. In 17th century English usage, a merchant is an importer–exporter who trades in wholesale goods with distant partners and customers. It appears that John Test exported tobacco and beaver furs. [9]

The most telling instance involves the 1694 board of admiralty case against the mariner Samuel Harrison. Harrison was carrying a ship load of goods into Pennsylvania without having paid the duties in violation of the British Navigation Acts. It should be obvious that John Test had a major interest in the cargo. The court record describes him as a Philadelphia merchant. He suddenly descends on Chester where the ship is docked and where the court is holding its proceedings. He explains to the court that the ship’s owner, viz, Harrison, violated the law and the cargo should be confiscated, 1/3 going to the governor, 1/3 to the king and 1/3 to John Test. The court so ordered it.[10]

In 1681 King Charles II gave Pennsylvania to William Penn. Penn sent his cousin, William Markham to act as governor until he could arrive in October of 1682. Markham appointed John Test sheriff at Upland. [11] When Philadelphia was being formed William Penn appointed Test the first sheriff of Philadelphia. [12] Unlike Quakers, John Test would have had few qualms about using force in arresting people.

In Philadelphia, he built a brick house and a bake house at the northeast corner of 3rd and Chestnut Streets. [13] In December of 1683 John Test was the prosecutor in the trial of Margaret Mattson accused of witchcraft. Apparently she was causing trouble in her Ridley township neighborhood and complaints and charges were filed. A few witnesses appeared but offered mainly hearsay evidence. The verdict of the jury was ambiguously precise: "Guilty of having the Common Fame of a Witch, but not Guilty in manner and Forme as Shee stands Endicted." Guilty but not guilty. A small fine was levied against her and she was warned not to cause more trouble. [14]

John Test operated an inn for several years beginning around 1689. An inn is a tavern that can feed and provides beds for overnight guests. "The Skales" as it was called sat near the docks on the river bank at the south east corner of Walnut and Front Street. [15] In the records of Philadelphia history, there are several mentions of pirates, who stalked the Delaware River, were sometimes seen at the taverns on the river. There are no mentions of parrots in these reports. Clearly, John Test lived a colorful life.

John Test was married twice. His first wife, Elizabeth Sanders, gave him four (and possibly five children) the first one died in childhood in London. Elizabeth died in 1689 and in 1691 John Test married Grace Wooley widow of Jacob Lippincott) John Test was not a Quaker. His parents may have been. His second wife was and the children by his second wife were Quakers as well as were William and Edward by his first wife.

Sources

[1] The most detailed is L.G. Fryburg, John Test 1651–1706: The Pioneer Ancestor of the American Family (monograph, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1936). See http://testfamilygenealogy.net

[2] Harleian Soc. Pub., Vol. 34, p. 103. https://archive.org/details/allegationsforma04cant

[3] Salem, New Jersey Historical Society The Malster Receipt Surveyed in 1679 see New Jersey Colonial Documents: Calendar of Deeds 1664 – 1703, p. 548.

[4] Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. and Marion R. Balderston "Early Shipping to the Jersey Shore of the Delaware" reprinted in a compilation by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970), p. 138.

[5] William Henry Egle, ed., Minutes of the Board of Property and Other References to Lands in Pennsylvania, (Harrisburg, Pa: Clarence M. Busch , State Printer, 1894), p. 50.

[6] For example, L.G. Fryburg, op.cit., unpublished monographs by Nathan Hall, by Glenn Test,and self–published biographies by Dorothy hardin Massey and Cliffort M. Hardin and by Dr. Charles E. Test. All of these are available at http://testfamilygenealogy.net/default.html

[7] See the Minutes of the Board of Property, op. cit. Eleven transactions recorded in the Record of the Court at Upland, (See Google Books) he patented two lots in Philadelphia (See online patent indexes of the Pennsylvania Historical Museum & Commission http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17PatentIndexes/A-AAPatentIndex309.pdf, and about twenty property transactions in New Jersey (See Wm. Nelson, ed. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of State of New Jersey, Vol XXI, Patents and Deeds: 1664-1703.

[8] The Record of the Upland Court, Mar 12, 1677/78 p. 90, Nov. 25 1679, p. 146.

[9] Ibid., p. 145,

[10] Record of the Courts of Chester County Pennsylvania 1681-1697 (Philadelphia: The Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, 1910), p. 3.

[11] The Court at Upland, Record of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1681-1697 (Philadelphia: Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, Patterson & White Company, 1910)

[12] Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 Minutes of the Provincial Council 1683 - 1700, p. 4.

[13] Albert Cook Myers, ed. Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware: 1630-1707 (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1953), pp. 270-271.

[14] Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania: From the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government Vol. 1 Containing the Proceedings of the Council from March 10th 1683, to November 27th, 1700 (Harrisburg: Printed by Theophilus Fenn, 1838) pp. 39-41.

[15] The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Vol XXIII, No. 2 1963 Philidelphia Business Directory, 1690 Compiled by Hannah Benner Roach p. 126

Robert Test

Posted 10 Oct 2018