Capt Jean John Montour

• General Notes
  • "John Montour, Brother to Madam Montour (so called), formerly wife to Carundawana, alias Rob Hunter, is husband, as he says to Anameackhiskaman, who with her son claimes [sic] some Land at or near Leckey, or forks of Delaware, above Durham . . . ." [parenthetic information added in the original]
    
    This letter was written to introduce John Montour, who will be the "Bearer" of it, to Thomas Penn, one of the sons of the famous Quaker William Penn. I have to wonder whether John ever knew the letter's contents because Logan characterizes him in an unflattering but nevertheless picturesque way, saying he is "very noisy & troublesome . . . a senseless fellow, and is like his sister as an oyster is to an apple." Logan then provides another image of Madame Montour as he saw her in 1733, when Isabelle would have been sixty-six years old. After first reporting that John "says his sister will be in town [Philadelphia] in a day or two," Logan adds, in closing the letter:
    
    "She is of another make [from her brother], but _ancient_, & should be well treated. Pray know of her in ye [the] most proper manner whether ever she reced [received] that suit of clothes wch [which] I sent her about 8 years since, in your names, by Henry Smith." James Logan to Thomas Penn, from Stenton, 22nd of Aug, 1733, Papers Relating to Provincial Affairs, Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. VII, Harrisburg: 1896, p. 156, emphasis on "ancient" mine. I assume the "your names" refers to the two Penn brothers, sons of the founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn.