The Richard Penn (Junior - 1735-1811) who signed this document in 1773 on behalf of his uncle, Thomas Penn and his brother, John Penn, as Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania was Lieutenant Governor (1771-1773) of the Province at the time. His father was Richard Penn Sr. (1706-1771) who was a Proprietary of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Counties of Newcastle, Sussex and Kent (eventually the State of Delaware). Richard, Junior, was Lt. Governor (1771-1773) and served in the position between the two administrations of his brother, John (1763-1771, 1773-1776) the last colonial governor of Pennsylvania. Richard and John were grandsons of William Penn. When the survey of the Province was made, land was set apart exclusively for the Penn Family use. This land included the Forks of the Delaware, the Lehigh River and Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania exclusive to the Penn Family. The document is a Patent dated 1773, based on a Warrant survey made in 1760, giving to a group of Easton residents an island (36 perches long and 7 perches wide at its broadest) in the Lehigh River south of Easton for mineral mining, hunting and fishing in exchange for five shillings and annual Quit rent. The island is located south of Easton in the Lehigh River opposite the land of Melchior Hoy (Hay) located on the south bank of the Lehigh River according to the Patent. The Patent’s group of grantees are: Lewis Gordon (d.1777), Peter Kachlein (1722-1789), Henry Barnet, Herman Snyder, Henry Alshouse and Abraham Labar. Lewis Gordon, Esquire, was Easton’s first lawyer, served as Recorder (1761-1777) and Deputy Registers’ General (1750-1777), also served as Prothonotary for Northampton County in 1763 and had several parcels of land in Easton. In 1777 Gordon defected from the Colonial cause to the British side and died in Easton before he was captured (according to an account in the History of Northampton County). Peter Kachlein (Kichline), Esquire (1722-1789) was a publican, miller, politician, Sheriff, Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, Member of Assembly and Colonel of Northampton troops. Henry Barnet and Herman Snyder were tanners. Henry Alshouse (Allshouse) was a carpenter (house builder) who built the first Jail in Easton. Abraham Labar was a tailor. Melchoir Hoy (Hay) was a farmer with a farm tract of 300 acres on the south bank of the Lehigh River, a region now referred as South Easton (according to History of Northampton County he acquired the land from the Penns in exchange for work he performed in cutting trees to lay out Easton, Pa). The farm was sold in 1795 to Henry Snyder of Easton. Subsequently the land went to the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. Possibly Melchior Hoy/Hay’s land was incorporated into the canal site now referred to as Guard Lock No. 8 on Island Park Road, Glendon. Also the island could have disappeared following the building of two dams across the Lehigh River immediately south of Easton during the 19th century (see Atlas of Northampton County). There was at one time an Island Park in southwest Easton which was a trolley amusement park at the turn of the 20th century destroyed by flood in 1972. There was a trolley bridge across the Lehigh River but the bridge was washed away in a flood in 1919.

As of 2012, there still is a limestone quarry on Island Park Road operated by Chrin Brothers Co.