During his travels Penn had seen many of these letters and heard the subject of emigration freely discussed, and gradually he formed a plan which indeed had been the dream of his youth, although there had then seemed no prospect of its ever being realized. This plan, however, was forced into the background for a time by an event of more personal importance; namely, his betrothal to Guglielma Maria Springett, daughter of Sir William Springett of Sussex, who had greatly distinguished himself as a colonel in the parliamentary army and died during the civil wars at an early age. His widow and her three children, of whom Guli, the youngest, was born shortly after her father’s death, had retired to the village of Chalfont in Buckinghamshire, where she afterward married Isaac Pennington, one of the most prominent of the early Quakers. It was while visiting Friend Pennington at his home in Chalfont that Penn met and fell in love with the charming Guli, who willingly consented to bestow her hand on this stalwart young friend of her stepfather, whose belief she shared. The marriage took place in 1672 and proved one of lasting happiness on both sides. Conjugal bliss did not divert Penn from his sacred calling, however, for we find him soon on his travels again, with his faithful Guli, who accompanied him everywhere until the birth of their first child made it no longer possible. This was a son, to whom they gave the name of Springett, for his grandfather. But even the joys of fatherhood could not confine Penn to his home, now doubly happy. He travelled about the country constantly, either alone or with other distinguished Friends, and was so active both as a preacher and as a writer that he soon became known as the “sword” of the society.