Thomas Wynne

Dr. Thomas Wynne (July 20, 1627 – March 17, 1691) was personal physician of William Penn and one of the original settlers of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania. Born in Ysceifiog, Wales, where his family dated back seventeen generations to Owain Gwynedd He accompanied Penn on his original journey to America on the ship Welcome.

According to church records, Thomas Wynne was the fourth of five sons of Thomas Wynne Sr., Thomas Wynne lost his father at the age of 11. While attracted to the study of medicine early on, heavy taxes levied on his family originally made the acquisition of proper learning materials difficult. His trade was that of cooper. He was later able to make the acquaintance of an established surgeon by the name of Richard Moore, and soon he was able to apprentice until he was deemed worthy of licensing. He was licensed in Shropshire by Drs. Hollins, Needham and Moore. He in turn after the death of Dr. Richard Moore apprenticed his son Mordecai Moore.

Born into the Protestant faith, he in 1655 married Quaker Martha Buttall (1627–1676) and found himself profoundly converted. Henceforth a devout Quaker and author of several pamphlets on Quaker doctrine, Wynne faced persecution and even six years' imprisonment in England in the 1680s. After Martha died, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Rowden (b. 1637; d. after 1691) on July 20, 1676, and she accompanied him as he joined Penn on his trip to America, leaving on August 30 and landing on October 27, 1682.

Wynne was notable for erecting the first brick house in the colony of Philadelphia, on his "Liberty Lot" at Front and Chestnut streets (known as Wynne Street until renamed by Penn in 1684). He built a home at 52nd Street and Woodbine Avenue in 1690 named "Wynnestay" (a reference to the famous Wynnstay estate in Wales owned by Sir John Wynn, 1st Baronet, a collateral cousin ), and several surrounding communities in the greater Philadelphia Area now bear his name. He returned to England with Penn in 1684. He served as speaker for the first two Pennsylvania Assemblies of the Province in Philadelphia in 1687 and 1688 and acted as Justice of Sussex county, now a county in Delaware, from 1687 to 1691. He was appointed a justice of the peace in January 1690 and held the position of justice of the provincial court from September 1690 until his death.

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