Edward Shippen (1639 – October 2, 1712) was the second

mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...

, although under

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

's charter of 1701, he was considered the first.

Early life

Edward was born in

Methley Methley is a dispersed village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, south east of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It is located near Rothwell, West Yorkshire, Rothwell, Oulton, West Yorkshire, Oulton, Woodlesford, Mickletown and Aller ...

, West Yorkshire, to William and Mary, who were married there on July 16, 1626. Shippen's father was settled in the village of his birth,

Monk Fryston Monk Fryston is a small village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The village was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Selby District, Selby, i ...

, before he migrated to Methley. Monk Fryston is closely linked to the village of Hillam, which was where the Shippen family had hailed from, possibly as early as the thirteenth century according to family tradition.

Political and legal career

Shippen was appointed to a one-year term by

in 1701. In 1702, he was elected to a second one-year term, making him the first elected mayor of Philadelphia. He was also a leader of the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

, and served as Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...

in 1699. He also served as the chief executive for the Province of Pennsylvania as the President of the Provincial Council between 1703 and 1704.Armor, William C., Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania, With the Incidental History of the State, from 1609 to 1872, Philadelphia, J.K. Simon (1873) Shippen first lived in Boston, where, according to family oral history, he was whipped for being a Quaker before being invited by William Penn to move his merchant business to the new city of Philadelphia. After the sudden death of Deputy Governor Andrew Hamilton in 1703, Shippen, by virtue of being the president of the Provincial Council, became the chief executive of the Province of Pennsylvania. It was during his term that the Lower Three Counties (modern day

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

) elected their own Assembly and acted in their own interests. These counties, however, remained under the Penn Proprietorship and their appointed Deputy Governors until 1776 when Delaware became an independent state.

Personal life

He married Elizabeth Lybrand, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, in 1671 and became a member of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

. She died in Boston in 1688. Shippen married, secondly, at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

, on September 4, 1689, Rebecca, widow of Francis Richardson, of New York, and daughter of John Howard, of Yorkshire, England. She died in Philadelphia on February 26, 1704, or 1705. In 1706 he married Esther, widow of Philip James and daughter of John Wilcox, in Philadelphia. Esther died on August 7, 1724. Shippen had multiple children with his wives, with many dying at a young age: Frances (1672-1673), Edward (1674-1674), William (1675-1676), Eliza (born 1676 and died in infancy), Edward (1677-1714), Joseph (1678-1741), Mary (1681-1688), Anne (1684-1712), Elizabeth (1691-?), John (died in infancy), and William (?-1731). One of Shippen's grandsons was

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

man William Shippen. A granddaughter was the wife of Philadelphia Mayor Charles Willing, whose daughter was Mary Willing Byrd. Another grandson, Edward Shippen III, was also a mayor of Philadelphia. Shippen's great-great-granddaughter was

Peggy Shippen Margaret Shippen (July 11, 1760 – August 24, 1804) was the second wife of General Benedict Arnold. She has been described as "the highest-paid spy in the American Revolution". Shippen was born into a prominent Philadelphia family with Loyalist ...

, wife of

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

References

External links

Biography from ''Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania'', Vol. One, 1682–1709, pp. 666–669

Biography at Virtualology.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shippen, Edward 1639 births 1712 deaths 18th-century mayors of places in Pennsylvania People from Cheshire English emigrants Merchants from colonial Pennsylvania 17th-century American merchants People from colonial Boston Mayors of Philadelphia Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council Edward Shippen Speakers of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly

Early life

Political and legal career

Personal life

See also

References

External links