William Penn Biography

William Penn was generally known as the Quaker leader who founded Pennsylvania. Penn’s achievements were far greater than just the founding of a colony. He had commitment, spirit and love for the Quakers and in turn, spent his whole life trying to get others to see the good in Quakerism and create tolerance for his religion.

On October 14, 1644 William Penn was born in London, England to Sir William Penn, an Admiral, and Margaret Penn, the daughter of Irish parents. Sir William Penn was a well-regarded member of the Royal Navy who was placed with the decision of nurturing his family or returning to war. As most Englishmen did, Sir William Penn chose war, due to the primary fact that his father believed his biggest priority was to provide for the whole family. Sir William Penn was preoccupied during the first two years of his son’s life and developed smallpox, permanently losing most of his hair, leading him to wear a wig for the rest of his life (William Penn Was Born). The absence of his father in William’s early childhood took a toll on the rest of his life.

William Penn moved his family to Chigwell, Essex County upon his arrival in England. William received a decent education as a child; learning Latin, Greek, English grammar, spelling and catechism. He was also familiarized with Quakerism when his father hosted Thomas Loe, a Quaker preacher, at their home. Penn attended Christ Church College in Oxford in 1660, where he was later expelled for his bad behavior. After being expelled, William attended Huguenot Academy of Saumur in 1662 to study divinity (William Penn, America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace). When England declared war against Holland for the second time in 1665, Sir William Penn removed ...

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...lvania in 1699, which had reached the title of second largest city in America, after Boston. William enforced trade and anti-pirate laws and acted as an arbitrator of tribal wars, a significant task as the French were making great progress with the American Indians.

Prior to William Penn’s death, Philadelphia was America's largest city with almost 18,000 citizens. It was a significant commercial center with sometimes more than a hundred trading ships anchored there during a single day. In 1711, Penn suffered a minor stroke, preventing the sale of Pennsylvania to the Crown, which had been in the works for some time but was held up by discussions of financial worth. A second stroke in 1712 greatly disabled Penn, followed by a third, more serious stroke the next year, preventing William’s recovery. Penn died six years later, on July 30, 1718 in Berkshire, England.