Marriage Certificate, Witnessed By Peter Stretch And Others. Philadelphia, 1705

Francis Richardson and Elizabeth Growden

Marriage Certificate, Witnessed By Peter Stretch And Others. Philadelphia, 1705

Single piece of vellum, irregularly cut (measured at widest points, approximately: 23 1/8 x 16 5/8 in.; 590 x 427 mm). Ink on velum, signed by Francis Richardson and Elizabeth Richardson (née Growden), and witnessed by numerous others, including Peter Stretch; old folds, some discoloration and staining, small hole affecting one letter, presumably cleaned at some date. 

A who's who of early Philadelphia.

Francis Richardson was a Philadelphia Quaker goldsmith, and the present document was witnessed by Peter Stretch, the renowned clockmaker, as well as James Logan (secretary to William Penn), Anthony Morris (judge and mayor of Philadelphia), William Fishbourne (a wealthy merchant and another mayor of Philadelphia), Edward Shippen (speaker of the assembly, chief justice of the province, mayor, and president of the Governor's Council), and Griffith Owen (a medical man much respected by William Penn).