On our recent visit to the Tower of London, I was intrigued to discover that arguably my most famous DNA relative, William Penn, was imprisoned there. The Beefeater that conducted the tour inspired some further research on the Penn family connections to the Bannisters and Foists when he mentioned the familiar name as part of the historical presentation. I spent some time on the Ancestry Jerry Ban(n)ister Family Tree today reviewing this lineage. 

In 1868 William II wrote a tract (The Sandy Foundation Shaken) which attacked the doctrine of the trinity. He was a frequent companion of George Fox, the founder of the Quakers. “Like most Quakers he suffered persecution for his beliefs and was imprisoned several times throughout his life, serving out sentences at Newgate Prison, and the Tower of London, among other locations. So much for freedom of speech or press! It was for the protection of the Quakers that Penn initially sought land in the British Colonies of America.” 

King Charles II granted William, Jr. this request in 1681 to repay a debt owed to his father, Sir William Penn (1621-1670). The tract included the present-day states of Pennsylvania and Delaware. It was the result of the senior’s royal relationship with James, Duke of York, younger brother and eventual successor of Charles, who was soon appointed Lord High Admiral, on the Earl of Sandwich’s ship (later renamed the Royal Charles) which was sent to bring the king home to England following exile at Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. 

Sir William was also an English Admiral and Politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660-1670. He married Margaret Jasper, daughter of John Jasper, a wealthy Dutch merchant from Rotterdam, so he was quite influential. In 1653, as part of such connections, he helped to draw up the first code of tactics provided for the English Navy, 1664, Instructions by Sir W. Penn. This became the basis of the “Duke of York’s Sailing and Fighting Instructions.” In 1658, he was knighted by Henry Cromwell at Dublin Castle. 

While imprisoned, William Jr. penned the book No Cross, No Crown published in 1669 and founded the city of Philadelphia in 1682. “As one of the earlier supporters of colonial unification, Penn wrote and urged for a union of all the English colonies in what, following the Revolutionary War, later became the United States. 

I am the 13th generation of the Sir William Penn family. His grandson was John Penn (1680-1749), followed by Moses Penn (1712-1759), and the famous Declaration of Independence signer John Penn (1741-1788), a Virginia lawyer, elected in 1775 to the Continental Congress. His daughter, Lucy Penn Taylor (1766-1831) married Reverand John Taylor, and their son, Major Willis Taylor (1788-1863) espoused Nancy Morgan Taylor, as the family migrated from Virginia into Kentucky and eventually Indiana. 

Their son, John W Taylor 1814-1883 joined Mary Jane Shoemaker and the result was a daughter, Martha Ann Taylor (1848-1914) along with six other girls and two boys. Martha then married Randolph Foist (1835-1891), whose son, John Foist (1868-1956) united with Minnie Banister and began my Hoosier heritage. Her father was David Banister (1833-1918) from Jennings County whose brother Henry Otis Banister and wife Elizabeth Jane Beatty Banister bore my grandfather, Ivan Otis Banister. Edna Faye, one of his daughters was my birth mother.

You now know the story of my famous Penn relatives. I’m glad my recent London visit spurred this investigation into my past. It’s also interesting to note that my Florida neighbor just five doors down is also linked to this story as a Foist or Foust relative. I discovered this by chance at a neighborhood get together after asking if he had Indiana Relatives. He happened to grow up in Jennings County. It’s indeed a small world, despite the long Penn to Banister journey to Seymour, Indiana from the jail cells of the Tower of London.