Hanging out with the Founding Fathers.

Today we spent the day in Philadelphia. For a couple of reasons, one being that the Philadelphia area is where the first recorded mentions of the Few name were noted in the New World. Secondly, being the hub for the quest for Independence, it is where William Few came to sign The Constitution.

Richard Few (spelled "Fue" at the time) and his family was one of the "First Purchasers" of land acquired by William Penn. In fact the Few family arrived just prior to William Penn's official recorded arrival according to records kept at the time. They were Quakers fleeing religious persecution from the King of England. They were able to acquire 500 acres located outside of Philadelphia to the west as well as a five acre bonus city lot within city limits. From what I can tell from maps of the period, what the area looks like now is all industrial. It is interesting to think about how things used to look like 200+ years ago.

The general area where the 5 acre city lot owned by Richard Few may have been located.  Near the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA.

Richard Few and his family eventually divided out the land he had acquired, and moved further west to a new township called Chester in Chester County, PA. These are still present today. Richard would eventually go on to become a Constable as well as the repairer of roads and highways for the area.

Sign for Chester, PA

The back side of Chester, PA

Issac Few, Richards son moved on further west to the township of Kennet, PA. He also went on to be a part of the local government as well as to help set up the Quaker meeting house there. Although I imagine it is not the same building, it is in the same general spot as it was back in the early 1700's.

The town of present day Kennett, PA

Quaker Meeting house in Kennett.

The Few family later went on to moved to North Carolina and Georgia. We will talk more about those in later posts. All you need to know today is that in 1787, William Few Jr. made his was back to Philadelphia over 100 years after the first Few's arrived, and signed the Constitution for the state of Georgia in Independence Hall. We toured the building and saw where the delegates for Georgia would have sat during deliberations. Someone can feel free to correct me, but I may just be one of the  few Few's to step in the room since it was signed. At the least, in my branch of the family tree. ;)

Independence Hall. It was likely the most prominent building at one time. Not anymore!

Courtroom of Independence Hall

The "Signing Room" William Few and his co-signer for Georgia, Abraham Baldwin sat at the table in the corner by the window.

The rest of the room, including the very chair that George Washington sat in leading the deliberations.

Plaque on the side of Independence Hall.

Clocktower on Independence Hall.

Our next stop was the Liberty Bell. Its been cool to think that the Liberty Bell would have been heard by William Few when meetings were called into session.

Whenever the bell was repaired people would either steal or sell pieces of the Liberty Bell  and make lots of money from the relic. They would either keep the pieces or make them into or a part of various items.

Liberty Bell and its attempted repairs.

After the Liberty Bell we made our way to the Constitution Center. This was an interesting experience. Their presentations on the current state of the debates on various amendments were both informative and grounded in fact. If you ever have the opportunity to visit I would recommend it. You may learn something new no matter where you stand on many issues.

The flag from in the Constitution Hall.

The main reason we went, though, was to visit the Signers Room. Here they have true to life depictions of each and ever signer and of George Washington based on the information they had from that period. You'll be happy to know that Although George Washington may have been the tallest in the room, I still beat him by four inches! We were able to find William Few and what he probably would have looked like. See any resemblance? ;)

The Signers Room.

Statue of William Few.

39 Years old when he signed. Only six years ahead of me!

I was able to sign my name to an electronic version of the Constitution. Pretty cool!

After losing then finding Crista's wedding ring in a downtown Philadelphia parking garage, we made our way down to Gettysburg for tonight. Come back tomorrow for more on that!