The Middle Ferry's Echo: How London's Ancient Wharf Seeded Philadelphia's River Trade in 1682
By David Todd Gardner, January 21st, 2026 Sir William’s Key™ the Future of History unlocks the secrets of a 1682 Pennsylvania land warrant—that unassuming entry from the Pennsylvania Archives (Series 3, Vol. XXIV, p. 56), where " John Gardyner, late of London , is granted 500 acres at the Middle Ferry on the Schuylkill, with rights to tavern and trade post, for services to the Proprietor." It's the kind of quiet grant that slips past if you're hunting for founding fathers or colonial charters, but for an escheator like me, posted here in the docks of New Orleans with the Mississippi tide lapping at the stones below, it's a Key. This isn't some dusty colonial footnote; it's the forensic clue that the City of London's logistics machine—our family's ancient system of ferries, tolls, taverns, and trades—didn't end at the wharfs of Queenhithe or Haywharf. It was exported, replicated, and replanted across the empire, from Ulster's linen f...
