In January 1611, Robinson, William Jepson, Henry Wood, and Robinson's sister-in-law Jane White, signed a contract to purchase for 8,000 guilders property called the "Groene Poort" or Green Gate near the Pieterskerk (St. Peter's Church) and within short walking distance of the University of Leiden. The purchase was completed on 12 May 1611 with a 2,000 guilder downpayment and mortgage for the balance to be paid annually at the rate of 500 guilders, the first payment due in May 1612. In the meantime, in April 1611 at Leiden, Jane White married Randulph (i.e., Ralph) Thickens, with Thickens replacing wife Jane as the fourth named party to the purchase mortgage. Unlike other non-Dutch Reformed Church congregations at Leiden whose religious facilities were owned, funded and their ministers compensated by the Dutch state, no church structure or funding was ever requested or provided to the Leiden Separatists. Thus, the property that Robinson and his associates purchased served both as the Robinson home and a church. Over the next several years, twenty-one apartments were constructed in the rear garden for less affluent members of the congregation.