william penn, a leading member of the religious society of friends or quakers, was one of those who was granted the colonial province of west new jersey in 1677. while colonists settled there, penn remained in england. charles ii of england owed penn's father a large loan which at the elder penn's death the king settled by granting penn a large area of land "sylvania" (latin for woods) west and south of new jersey. charles renamed it pennsylvania in honor of penn's father. perhaps charles ii was glad to have a place to send political outsiders like penn that was far away from england. issued on march 4, 1681, the boundaries of pennsylvania were: