William Peters - Revision history

M-westerby at 17:16, September 28, 2021

2021-09-28T17:16:43Z

V-Federici at 09:19, August 6, 2020

2020-08-06T09:19:36Z

L-Baradel at 20:35, December 18, 2019

2019-12-18T20:35:04Z

Bchristen at 15:22, October 8, 2018

2018-10-08T15:22:13Z

Bchristen at 15:15, October 8, 2018

2018-10-08T15:15:02Z

Bchristen:

2018-09-20T17:13:54Z

<hr>

E-athens at 18:26, February 26, 2018

2018-02-26T18:26:19Z

L-baradel: /* History */

2017-08-28T16:59:53Z

History

L-baradel at 16:58, August 28, 2017

2017-08-28T16:58:54Z

L-baradel: /* History */

2017-08-28T16:57:13Z

History

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:16, September 28, 2021
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		+	{{Person
		+	\|Birth Present=No
		+	\|Birth Date=1702
		+	\|Birth Circa=No
		+	\|Birth Concurrence=Exact
		+	\|Birth Questionable=No
		+	\|Birth HasEndDate=No
		+	\|Birth Present End=No
		+	\|Birth Circa End=No
		+	\|Birth Questionable End=No
		+	\|Death Present=No
		+	\|Death Date=September 8, 1789
		+	\|Death Circa=No
		+	\|Death Concurrence=Exact
		+	\|Death Questionable=No
		+	\|Death HasEndDate=No
		+	\|Death Present End=No
		+	\|Death Circa End=No
		+	\|Death Questionable End=No
		+	\|Roles=Architect
		+	\|Keywords=Avenue; Chinese manner; Green; Hedge; Labyrinth; Obelisk; Prospect; Seat; Statue; Summerhouse; Temple; Vase/Urn; View/Vista; Walk; Wood/Woods
		+	}}
	'''William Peters''' (1702–September 8, 1789) was an English lawyer and amateur architect from Liverpool who lived in Philadelphia for nearly three decades before returning to England. He built [[Belmont (Philadelphia)\|Belmont]], one of the earliest villa-retreats on the banks of the [[Schuylkill River]], and laid out formal gardens there.		'''William Peters''' (1702–September 8, 1789) was an English lawyer and amateur architect from Liverpool who lived in Philadelphia for nearly three decades before returning to England. He built [[Belmont (Philadelphia)\|Belmont]], one of the earliest villa-retreats on the banks of the [[Schuylkill River]], and laid out formal gardens there.

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 ==History==
-[[File:0301.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, William Russell Birch, “View from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country Seats of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.]]
+[[File:0301.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, William Russell Birch, “[[View]] from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the [[Seat]] of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country [[Seat]]s of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.]]
 Peters arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 and embarked on a lucrative private law practice. Guided by his taste for luxury and his pretensions to high social status, he purchased in July 1742 a 220-acre parcel of land on a commanding position on the west side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], which he named [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] [Fig. 1].<ref>Richard Peters Jr., “Belmont Mansion,” ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref> He immediately began to develop the property in a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated manner. Conceiving of [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] as an Epicurean retreat, he designed a Palladian-style villa (only the second in America) and extensive [[pleasure garden]]s.<ref>Mark Reinberger, “Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] evidently established Peters’s reputation as an amateur gentleman-architect and he was often called upon to provide his Philadelphia neighbors with expertise in architectural matters. In 1743, while mulling plans for a new residence at [[Springettsbury]], his country estate on the opposite side of the river from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], Thomas Penn, the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, informed Peters, “I hope to have the pleasure ere long of visiting your Country Retirement and gaining something by your experience.”<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]. For the involvement of “Mr. Peters” in Penn’s plans for a projected residence at Springettsbury, see Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, June 27, 1742, in Richard Hockley, “Selected Letters from the Letter-Book of Richard Hockley, of Philadelphia, 1739&ndash;1742 (Continued),” ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 27 (1903): 435, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NHUS9BK7 view on Zotero].</ref> Writing to Penn a few years later, the Philadelphia merchant Richard Hockley praised the plan Peters had drawn up for a townhouse as “a very compleat one, of the dimensions, and the best I think by far in this place and most convenient and commodious.”<ref>Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, April 18, 1749, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Peters went on to supervise the construction of a ferry house on the Delaware River for Penn, and to advise Benjamin Chew on plans for a country house he intended to build in the Germantown neighborhood near Philadelphia.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
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 <gallery widths="170px" heights="170px" perrow="4">
-Image:0301.jpg|William Russell Birch, “View from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country Seats of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.
+Image:0301.jpg|William Russell Birch, “[[View]] from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the [[Seat]] of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country [[Seat]]s of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.
 </gallery>

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 Image:0301.jpg|William Russell Birch, “View from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country Seats of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.
 </gallery>
 <hr>

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 Peters arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 and embarked on a lucrative private law practice. Guided by his taste for luxury and his pretensions to high social status, he purchased in July 1742 a 220-acre parcel of land on a commanding position on the west side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], which he named [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] [Fig. 1].<ref>Richard Peters Jr., “Belmont Mansion,” ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref> He immediately began to develop the property in a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated manner. Conceiving of [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] as an Epicurean retreat, he designed a Palladian-style villa (only the second in America) and extensive [[pleasure garden]]s.<ref>Mark Reinberger, “Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] evidently established Peters’s reputation as an amateur gentleman-architect and he was often called upon to provide his Philadelphia neighbors with expertise in architectural matters. In 1743, while mulling plans for a new residence at [[Springettsbury]], his country estate on the opposite side of the river from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], Thomas Penn, the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, informed Peters, “I hope to have the pleasure ere long of visiting your Country Retirement and gaining something by your experience.”<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]. For the involvement of “Mr. Peters” in Penn’s plans for a projected residence at Springettsbury, see Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, June 27, 1742, in Richard Hockley, “Selected Letters from the Letter-Book of Richard Hockley, of Philadelphia, 1739&ndash;1742 (Continued),” ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 27 (1903): 435, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NHUS9BK7 view on Zotero].</ref> Writing to Penn a few years later, the Philadelphia merchant Richard Hockley praised the plan Peters had drawn up for a townhouse as “a very compleat one, of the dimensions, and the best I think by far in this place and most convenient and commodious.”<ref>Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, April 18, 1749, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Peters went on to supervise the construction of a ferry house on the Delaware River for Penn, and to advise Benjamin Chew on plans for a country house he intended to build in the Germantown neighborhood near Philadelphia.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
-Peters’s introduction to the Penn family came through his younger brother, the Anglican Reverend Richard Peters (1704&ndash;1776), who had immigrated to Philadelphia in 1735 and secured Thomas Penn’s patronage soon after. William Peters provided legal services to the Penns and through their agency gained appointments to a number of profitable public offices, including Notary Public for Pennsylvania (1744), Register of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania (1744), and Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans (1757).<ref>John Hill Martin, ''Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia: Together with Other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'' (Philadelphia: Res Welsh & Co., Publishers, 1883), 9, 33&ndash;34, 45, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VSUDNHA3 view on Zotero].</ref> Over the years, Thomas Penn became concerned by the degree to which building and landscaping projects at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] were distracting Peters from his official duties. In 1752 Rev. Peters felt obliged to apologize for his brother’s extravagant expenditure of capital and attention at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], acknowledging in a letter to Penn that William’s “country schemes had well night ruined him, & [the] hurt done to his circumstances by their expense was not half so great as that done by a dissipation of mind.” He nevertheless assured Penn that “now he is come to town & in full business I am in hopes he will do much good.”<ref>The Rev. Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, June 20, 1752, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 36n17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Despite this reassurance, William Peters continued to devote himself to rural retirement at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] while neglecting his business in town, prompting Penn, in a letter of 1760, to make the pointed observation, “He may, I think fix some office hours, so as to have time for his Air, Exercise and Retirement.”<ref>Thomas Penn to the Rev. Richard Peters, November 15, 1760, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 27, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
+Peters’s introduction to the Penn family came through his younger brother, the Anglican Reverend Richard Peters (1704&ndash;1776), who had immigrated to Philadelphia in 1735 and secured Thomas Penn’s patronage soon after. William Peters provided legal services to the Penns and through their agency gained appointments to a number of profitable public offices, including Notary Public for Pennsylvania (1744), Register of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania (1744), and Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans (1757).<ref>John Hill Martin, ''Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia: Together with Other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'' (Philadelphia: Res Welsh & Co., Publishers, 1883), 9, 33&ndash;34, 45, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VSUDNHA3 view on Zotero].</ref> Over the years, Thomas Penn became concerned by the degree to which building and landscaping projects at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] were distracting Peters from his official duties. In 1752, the Rev. Peters felt obliged to apologize for his brother’s extravagant expenditure of capital and attention at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], acknowledging in a letter to Penn that William’s “country schemes had well night ruined him, & [the] hurt done to his circumstances by their expense was not half so great as that done by a dissipation of mind.” He nevertheless assured Penn that “now he is come to town & in full business I am in hopes he will do much good.”<ref>The Rev. Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, June 20, 1752, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 36n17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Despite this reassurance, William Peters continued to devote himself to rural retirement at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] while neglecting his business in town, prompting Penn, in a letter of 1760, to make the pointed observation, “He may, I think fix some office hours, so as to have time for his Air, Exercise and Retirement.”<ref>Thomas Penn to the Rev. Richard Peters, November 15, 1760, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 27, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
 Penn allowed William Peters to succeed his brother Richard as secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office in 1760. Peters served in that capacity for five years, using his position to supplement his income and expand his property holdings by raising warrant and patent fees and purchasing land under false names.<ref>Donna B. Munger, ''Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research'' (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1991), 96, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/GHI9ENMV view on Zotero].</ref> This self-dealing led to a final rift with Penn, who dismissed Peters from office in 1765. Peters returned to England in 1768, settling in Knutsford, Cheshire.<ref>John W. Jordan, ed., ''Colonial Families of Philadelphia'', 2 vols. (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 2:1107, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemkey/vsvcx46v view on Zotero].</ref>  He created a deed of trust leaving [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] in the care of his eldest son, [[Richard Peters]], to whom he legally transferred the estate and all his other Pennsylvania properties in 1786.<ref>Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 61, 91, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref> Peters continued to pursue his interest in horticulture after returning to England. In his 84th year, he sent parcels of flower seeds to his son and daughter in Philadelphia, informing them in a letter of January 8, 1787: “The seeds consist of an amazing variety of sorts, and if you are as fond of flowers as I am, they will afford you a great deal of pleasure and I shall be glad to hear from you how they succeed.”<ref>Black 1904, 36, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref>

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==History==
 [[File:0301.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, William Russell Birch, “View from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters,” in ''The Country Seats of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.]]
-Peters arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 and embarked on a lucrative private law practice. Guided by his taste for luxury and his pretensions to high social status, he purchased in July 1742 a 220-acre parcel of land on a commanding position on the west side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], which he named [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] [Fig. 1].<ref>Richard Peters Jr., “Belmont Mansion,” ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref> He immediately began to develop the property in a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated manner. Conceiving of [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] as an Epicurean retreat, he designed a Palladian-style villa (only the second in America) and extensive [[pleasure garden]]s.<ref>Mark Reinberger, “Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] evidently established Peters’s reputation as an amateur gentleman-architect and he was often called upon to provide his Philadelphia neighbors with expertise in architectural matters. In 1743, while mulling plans for a new residence at [[Springettsbury]], his country estate on the opposite side of the river from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], Thomas Penn, the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, informed Peters, “I hope to have the pleasure ere long of visiting your Country Retirement and gaining something by your experience.”<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]. For the involvement of “Mr. Peters” in Penn’s plans for a projected residence at Springettsbury, see Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, June 27, 1742, in Richard Hockley, “Selected Letters from the Letter-Book of Richard Hockley, of Philadelphia, 1739&ndash;1742 (Continued),” ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 27 (1903): 435, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NHUS9BK7 view on Zotero].</ref> Writing to Penn a few years later, the Philadelphia merchant Richard Hockley praised the plan Peters had drawn up for a townhouse as “a very compleat one, of the dimensions, and the best I think by far in this place and most convenient and commodious.”<ref>Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, April 18, 1749, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Peters went on to supervise the construction of a ferry house on the Delaware River for Penn, and to advise Benjamin Chew on plans for a country house he intended to build in the Germantown neighborhood near Philadelphia.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
+Peters arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 and embarked on a lucrative private law practice. Guided by his taste for luxury and his pretensions to high social status, he purchased in July 1742 a 220-acre parcel of land on a commanding position on the west side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], which he named [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] [Fig. 1].<ref>Richard Peters Jr., “Belmont Mansion,” ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref> He immediately began to develop the property in a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated manner. Conceiving of [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] as an Epicurean retreat, he designed a Palladian-style villa (only the second in America) and extensive [[pleasure garden]]s.<ref>Mark Reinberger, “Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] evidently established Peters’s reputation as an amateur gentleman-architect and he was often called upon to provide his Philadelphia neighbors with expertise in architectural matters. In 1743, while mulling plans for a new residence at [[Springettsbury]], his country estate on the opposite side of the river from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], Thomas Penn, the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, informed Peters, “I hope to have the pleasure ere long of visiting your Country Retirement and gaining something by your experience.”<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]. For the involvement of “Mr. Peters” in Penn’s plans for a projected residence at Springettsbury, see Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, June 27, 1742, in Richard Hockley, “Selected Letters from the Letter-Book of Richard Hockley, of Philadelphia, 1739&ndash;1742 (Continued),” ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 27 (1903): 435, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NHUS9BK7 view on Zotero].</ref> Writing to Penn a few years later, the Philadelphia merchant Richard Hockley praised the plan Peters had drawn up for a townhouse as “a very compleat one, of the dimensions, and the best I think by far in this place and most convenient and commodious.”<ref>Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, April 18, 1749, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Peters went on to supervise the construction of a ferry house on the Delaware River for Penn, and to advise Benjamin Chew on plans for a country house he intended to build in the Germantown neighborhood near Philadelphia.<ref>Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
 Peters’s introduction to the Penn family came through his younger brother, the Anglican Reverend Richard Peters (1704&ndash;1776), who had immigrated to Philadelphia in 1735 and secured Thomas Penn’s patronage soon after. William Peters provided legal services to the Penns and through their agency gained appointments to a number of profitable public offices, including Notary Public for Pennsylvania (1744), Register of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania (1744), and Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans (1757).<ref>John Hill Martin, ''Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia: Together with Other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'' (Philadelphia: Res Welsh & Co., Publishers, 1883), 9, 33&ndash;34, 45, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VSUDNHA3 view on Zotero].</ref> Over the years, Thomas Penn became concerned by the degree to which building and landscaping projects at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] were distracting Peters from his official duties. In 1752 Rev. Peters felt obliged to apologize for his brother’s extravagant expenditure of capital and attention at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], acknowledging in a letter to Penn that William’s “country schemes had well night ruined him, & [the] hurt done to his circumstances by their expense was not half so great as that done by a dissipation of mind.” He nevertheless assured Penn that “now he is come to town & in full business I am in hopes he will do much good.”<ref>The Rev. Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, June 20, 1752, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 36n17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Despite this reassurance, William Peters continued to devote himself to rural retirement at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] while neglecting his business in town, prompting Penn, in a letter of 1760, to make the pointed observation, “He may, I think fix some office hours, so as to have time for his Air, Exercise and Retirement.”<ref>Thomas Penn to the Rev. Richard Peters, November 15, 1760, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 27, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
-Penn allowed William Peters to succeed his brother Richard as secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office in 1760. Peters served in that capacity for five years, using his position to supplement his income and expand his property holdings by raising warrant and patent fees and purchasing land under false names.<ref>Donna B. Munger, ''Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research'' (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1991), 96, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/GHI9ENMV view on Zotero].</ref> This self-dealing led to a final rift with Penn, who dismissed Peters from office in 1765. Peters returned to England in 1768, settling in Knutsford, Cheshire.<ref>John W. Jordan, ed., ''Colonial Families of Philadelphia'', 2 vols. (New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 2:1107, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemkey/vsvcx46v view on Zotero].</ref>  He created a deed of trust leaving [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] in the care of his eldest son, [[Richard Peters]], to whom he legally transferred the estate and all his other Pennsylvania properties in 1786.<ref>Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 61, 91, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref> Peters continued to pursue his interest in horticulture after returning to England. In his 84th year, he sent parcels of flower seeds to his son and daughter in Philadelphia, informing them in a letter of January 8, 1787: “The seeds consist of an amazing variety of sorts, and if you are as fond of flowers as I am, they will afford you a great deal of pleasure and I shall be glad to hear from you how they succeed.”<ref>Black 1904, 36, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref>
+Penn allowed William Peters to succeed his brother Richard as secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office in 1760. Peters served in that capacity for five years, using his position to supplement his income and expand his property holdings by raising warrant and patent fees and purchasing land under false names.<ref>Donna B. Munger, ''Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research'' (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1991), 96, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/GHI9ENMV view on Zotero].</ref> This self-dealing led to a final rift with Penn, who dismissed Peters from office in 1765. Peters returned to England in 1768, settling in Knutsford, Cheshire.<ref>John W. Jordan, ed., ''Colonial Families of Philadelphia'', 2 vols. (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 2:1107, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemkey/vsvcx46v view on Zotero].</ref>  He created a deed of trust leaving [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] in the care of his eldest son, [[Richard Peters]], to whom he legally transferred the estate and all his other Pennsylvania properties in 1786.<ref>Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 61, 91, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref> Peters continued to pursue his interest in horticulture after returning to England. In his 84th year, he sent parcels of flower seeds to his son and daughter in Philadelphia, informing them in a letter of January 8, 1787: “The seeds consist of an amazing variety of sorts, and if you are as fond of flowers as I am, they will afford you a great deal of pleasure and I shall be glad to hear from you how they succeed.”<ref>Black 1904, 36, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref>
 —''Robyn Asleson''
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ==Texts==
-*[[Hannah Callender Sansom|Callender Sansom, Hannah]], June 30, 1762, diary entry (quoted in Callender 2010: 182&ndash;83)<ref name="Callender 2010">Hannah Callender Sansom, ''The Diary of Hannah Callender Sansom: Sense and Sensibility in the Age of the American Revolution'', ed. Susan E. Klepp and Karin Wulf (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2010), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/33F7ZBKJ view on Zotero].</ref>
+*[[Hannah Callender Sansom|Callender Sansom, Hannah]], June 30, 1762, diary entry (quoted in Callender 2010: 182&ndash;83)<ref name="Callender 2010">Hannah Callender Sansom, ''The Diary of Hannah Callender Sansom: Sense and Sensibility in the Age of the American Revolution'', ed. Susan E. Klepp and Karin Wulf (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010), [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/33F7ZBKJ view on Zotero].</ref>
 :“. . . went to Will: Peters’s house, having some small aquaintance with his wife who was at home with her Daughter Polly. they received us kindly in one wing of the House, after a while we passed thro’ a covered Passage to the large hall, well furnished, the top adorned with instruments of musick, coat of arms, crest, and other ornaments in Stucco, its sides by paintings and [[Statue]]s in Bronze. from the Front of this hall you have a [[prospect]] bounded by the Jerseys, like a blueridge, and the Horison, a broad [[walk]] of english Cherre trys leads down to the river, the doors of the hous opening opposite admitt a [[prospect]] [of] the length of the garden thro’ a broad gravel [[walk]], to a large hansome [[Summerhouse|summer house]] in a [[green|grean]], from these Windows down a [[vista|Wisto]] terminated by an [[Obelisk]], on the right you enter a [[labyrinth|Labarynth]] of [[hedge]] and low ceder with spruce, in the middle stands a [[Statue]] of Apollo, note: in the garden are the [[Statue]]s of Dianna, Fame & Mercury, with [[urn]]s. we left the garden for a [[wood]] cut into [[vista|Visto’s]], in the midst a [[Chinese Taste|chinese]] [[temple]], for a [[Summerhouse|summer house]], one [[avenue]] gives a fine [[prospect]] of the City, with a Spy glass you discern the houses distinct, Hospital, & another looks to the [[obelisk|Oblisk]].”

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 Peters's introduction to the Penn family came through his younger brother, the Anglican Rev. Richard Peters (1704&ndash;1776), who had immigrated to Philadelphia in 1735 and secured Thomas Penn's patronage soon after. William Peters provided legal services to the Penn's and through their agency gained appointments to a number of profitable public offices, including Notary Public for Pennsylvania (1744), Register of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania (1744), and Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans (1757).<ref>John Hill Martin, ''Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia: Together with Other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'' (Philadelphia: Res Welsh & Co., Publishers, 1883), 9, 33&ndash;34, 45, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VSUDNHA3 view on Zotero].</ref> Over the years, Thomas Penn became concerned by the degree to which building and landscaping projects at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] were distracting Peters from his official duties. In 1752 Rev. Peters felt obliged to apologize for his brother's extravagant expenditure of capital and attention at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], acknowledging in a letter to Penn that William's "country schemes had well night ruined him, & [the] hurt done to his circumstances by their expense was not half so great as that done by a dissipation of mind." He nevertheless assured Penn that "now he is come to town & in full business I am in hopes he will do much good."<ref>The Rev. Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, June 20, 1752, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 36n17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Despite this reassurance, William Peters continued to devote himself to rural retirement at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] while neglecting his business in town, prompting Penn, in a letter of 1760, to make the pointed observation, "He may, I think fix some office hours, so as to have time for his Air, Exercise and Retirement."<ref>Thomas Penn to the Rev. Richard Peters, November 15, 1760, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 27, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
-Penn allowed William Peters to succeed his brother Richard as secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office in 1760. Peters served in that capacity for five years, using his position to supplement his income and expand his property holdings by raising warrant and patent fees and purchasing land under false names.<ref>Donna B. Munger, ''Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research'' (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1991), 96, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/GHI9ENMV view on Zotero].</ref> This self-dealing led to a final rift with Penn, who dismissed Peters from office in 1765. Peters returned to England in 1768, settling in Knutsford, Cheshire.<ref>John W. Jordan, ed., ''Colonial Families of Philadelphia'', 2 vols. (New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 2: 1107, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemkey/vsvcx46v view on Zotero].</ref>  He created a deed of trust leaving [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] in the care of his eldest son, [[Richard Peters]], to whom he legally transferred the estate and all his other Pennsylvania properties in 1786.<ref>Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 61, 91, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref> Peters continued to pursue his interest in horticulture after returning to England. In his 84th year, he sent parcels of flower seeds to his son and daughter in Philadelphia, informing them in a letter of January 8, 1787: "The seeds consist of an amazing variety of sorts, and if you are as fond of flowers as I am, they will afford you a great deal of pleasure and I shall be glad to hear from you how they succeed."<ref>Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 36, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref>
+Penn allowed William Peters to succeed his brother Richard as secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office in 1760. Peters served in that capacity for five years, using his position to supplement his income and expand his property holdings by raising warrant and patent fees and purchasing land under false names.<ref>Donna B. Munger, ''Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research'' (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1991), 96, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/GHI9ENMV view on Zotero].</ref> This self-dealing led to a final rift with Penn, who dismissed Peters from office in 1765. Peters returned to England in 1768, settling in Knutsford, Cheshire.<ref>John W. Jordan, ed., ''Colonial Families of Philadelphia'', 2 vols. (New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 2: 1107, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemkey/vsvcx46v view on Zotero].</ref>  He created a deed of trust leaving [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] in the care of his eldest son, [[Richard Peters]], to whom he legally transferred the estate and all his other Pennsylvania properties in 1786.<ref>Nellie Peters Black, ''Richard Peters, His Ancestors and Descendents: 1810&ndash;1889'' (Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1904), 61, 91, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref> Peters continued to pursue his interest in horticulture after returning to England. In his 84th year, he sent parcels of flower seeds to his son and daughter in Philadelphia, informing them in a letter of January 8, 1787: "The seeds consist of an amazing variety of sorts, and if you are as fond of flowers as I am, they will afford you a great deal of pleasure and I shall be glad to hear from you how they succeed."<ref>Black 1904, 36, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/TM8MFVBZ view on Zotero].</ref>
 --''Robyn Asleson''

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 ==History==
 [[File:0301.jpg|thumb|left|Fig. 1, William Russell Birch, "View from Belmont Pennsyl.<sup>a</sup> the Seat of Judge Peters," in ''The Country Seats of the United States'' (1808), pl. 16.]]
-Peters arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 and embarked on a lucrative private law practice. Guided by his taste for luxury and his pretensions to high social status, he purchased, in July 1742, a 220-acre parcel of land on a commanding position on the west side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], which he named [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] [Fig. 1].<ref>Richard Peters, Jr., "Belmont Mansion," ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref> He immediately began to develop the property in a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated manner. Conceiving of [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] as an Epicurean retreat, he designed a Palladian-style villa (only the second in America) and extensive [[pleasure garden]]s.<ref>Mark Reinberger, "Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] evidently established Peters's reputation as an amateur gentleman-architect and he was often called upon to provide his Philadelphia neighbors with expertise in architectural matters. In 1743, while mulling plans for a new residence at [[Springettsbury]], his country estate on the opposite side of the river from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], Thomas Penn, the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, informed Peters, "I hope to have the pleasure ere long of visiting your Country Retirement and gaining something by your experience."<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998: 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]. For the involvement of "Mr. Peters" in Penn's plans for a projected residence at Springettsbury, see Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, June 27, 1742, in Richard Hockley, "Selected Letters from the Letter-Book of Richard Hockley, of Philadelphia, 1739&ndash;1742 (Continued)," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 27 (1903): 435, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NHUS9BK7 view on Zotero].</ref> Writing to Penn a few years later, the Philadelphia merchant Richard Hockley praised the plan Peters had drawn up for a townhouse as "a very compleat one, of the dimensions, and the best I think by far in this place and most convenient and commodious."<ref>Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, April 18, 1749, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Peters went on to supervise the construction of a ferry house on the Delaware River for Penn, and to advise Benjamin Chew on plans for a country house he intended to build in the Germantown neighborhood near Philadelphia.<ref>Reinberger 1998: 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
+Peters arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 and embarked on a lucrative private law practice. Guided by his taste for luxury and his pretensions to high social status, he purchased in July 1742 a 220-acre parcel of land on a commanding position on the west side of the [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], which he named [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] [Fig. 1].<ref>Richard Peters, Jr., "Belmont Mansion," ''Proceedings of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia'' 30 (1925): 78&ndash;79, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NFTXIF6S view on Zotero].</ref> He immediately began to develop the property in a remarkably ambitious and sophisticated manner. Conceiving of [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] as an Epicurean retreat, he designed a Palladian-style villa (only the second in America) and extensive [[pleasure garden]]s.<ref>Mark Reinberger, "Belmont: The Bourgeois Villa in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," ''Arris: Journal of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 9 (1998): 23, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] evidently established Peters's reputation as an amateur gentleman-architect and he was often called upon to provide his Philadelphia neighbors with expertise in architectural matters. In 1743, while mulling plans for a new residence at [[Springettsbury]], his country estate on the opposite side of the river from [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], Thomas Penn, the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, informed Peters, "I hope to have the pleasure ere long of visiting your Country Retirement and gaining something by your experience."<ref>Thomas Penn to William Peters, August 22, 1743, quoted in Reinberger 1998: 17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero]. For the involvement of "Mr. Peters" in Penn's plans for a projected residence at Springettsbury, see Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, June 27, 1742, in Richard Hockley, "Selected Letters from the Letter-Book of Richard Hockley, of Philadelphia, 1739&ndash;1742 (Continued)," ''The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 27 (1903): 435, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/NHUS9BK7 view on Zotero].</ref> Writing to Penn a few years later, the Philadelphia merchant Richard Hockley praised the plan Peters had drawn up for a townhouse as "a very compleat one, of the dimensions, and the best I think by far in this place and most convenient and commodious."<ref>Richard Hockley to Thomas Penn, April 18, 1749, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Peters went on to supervise the construction of a ferry house on the Delaware River for Penn, and to advise Benjamin Chew on plans for a country house he intended to build in the Germantown neighborhood near Philadelphia.<ref>Reinberger 1998: 18, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>
 Peters's introduction to the Penn family came through his younger brother, the Anglican Rev. Richard Peters (1704&ndash;1776), who had immigrated to Philadelphia in 1735 and secured Thomas Penn's patronage soon after. William Peters provided legal services to the Penn's and through their agency gained appointments to a number of profitable public offices, including Notary Public for Pennsylvania (1744), Register of the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania (1744), and Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans (1757).<ref>John Hill Martin, ''Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia: Together with Other Lists of Persons Appointed to Administer the Laws in the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Province and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania'' (Philadelphia: Res Welsh & Co., Publishers, 1883), 9, 33&ndash;34, 45, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/VSUDNHA3 view on Zotero].</ref> Over the years, Thomas Penn became concerned by the degree to which building and landscaping projects at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] were distracting Peters from his official duties. In 1752 Rev. Peters felt obliged to apologize for his brother's extravagant expenditure of capital and attention at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]], acknowledging in a letter to Penn that William's "country schemes had well night ruined him, & [the] hurt done to his circumstances by their expense was not half so great as that done by a dissipation of mind." He nevertheless assured Penn that "now he is come to town & in full business I am in hopes he will do much good."<ref>The Rev. Richard Peters to Thomas Penn, June 20, 1752, quoted in Reinberger 1998, 36n17, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref> Despite this reassurance, William Peters continued to devote himself to rural retirement at [[Belmont (Philadelphia)|Belmont]] while neglecting his business in town, prompting Penn, in a letter of 1760, to make the pointed observation, "He may, I think fix some office hours, so as to have time for his Air, Exercise and Retirement."<ref>Thomas Penn to the Rev. Richard Peters, November 15, 1760, quoted in Reinberger 1998: 27, [https://www.zotero.org/groups/54737/items/itemKey/UWBTRV23 view on Zotero].</ref>