26 Facts About John Grubb

John Grubb was a two-term member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was one of the original settlers in a portion of Brandywine Hundred that became Claymont, Delaware.

John Grubb founded a large tannery that continued in operation for over 100 years at what became known as Grubb's Landing.

John Grubb was one of the 150 signers of the Concessions and Agreements for Province of West Jersey.

John Grubb was one of the early settlers who greeted William Penn in 1682 when he arrived in New Castle before he founded Philadelphia.

Ultimately Penn and John Grubb clashed over property they jointly owned and were unable to settle the dispute in their lifetimes.

At that time, John Grubb owned 500 acres, which was typical of the early settlers to the Delaware Valley.

John Grubb was survived by his wife, Frances and nine children.

The John Grubb family was first recorded in Stoke Climsland, Cornwall in 1329 and over the centuries lived in the small village as tenant farmers and trades people.

John Grubb finished his apprenticeship about the time the small Quaker Meeting in Stoke Climsland heard about William Penn's plans for West Jersey.

The fare was high: five pounds, but for only another five pounds John Grubb could buy enough land in the Delaware Valley for a tannery and a decent sized farm.

Shortly after the arrival of the Kent, John Grubb became one of the 150 individuals involved with the West Jersey venture to sign the West Jersey Concessions and Agreements.

The fact that John Grubb was one of the signatories was not unusual because almost every free adult male in the colony at that time signed.

However, as an indentured servant, Henry John Grubb was not one of the signatories.

John Grubb probably became an inactive Quaker about 1680 because Wade was the most prominent Quaker on the west side of the Delaware River and the only meeting place was in his house.

Emanuel Grubb's obituary in Penn's Gazette eighty-six years later reported that his parents lived in a cave along the banks of the Delaware River until John finished their house, and that Emanuel was born in this cave.

The story about the cave seems improbable because John Grubb already lived on the Naaman's Creek tract for a year or so by the time Emanuel was born.

John Grubb began his political career in 1692 when he was elected to a one-year term in the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from New Castle County including Brandywine Hundred.

The next year, John Grubb did not return to the Assembly and was appointed a Justice of the Peace.

John Grubb was responsible for tax collection and his own property was assessed at 200 pounds: an amount which one source termed, moderately substantial.

In 1698, John Grubb was elected to the Assembly for his second term.

Further, John Grubb took the position that because he already lived on the land, that he should have first choice of which 200-acre portion he would receive in the subdivision.

In 1691 and 1692, Penn's agents complained that John Grubb was making "daily Havock and Spoyle" of the timber on that portion of the tract claimed by Penn.

However, John Grubb objected to the resulting line and cut down the marked trees.

One of Logan's letters indicates that John Grubb suffered a serious illness during this period.

The John Grubb family burying ground is located on this tract.

John Grubb left a cow and one-third of his personal estate to Frances and various amounts to his daughters.