William Penn

He met Gulielma Maria Posthuma Springett, the step-daughter of Isaac Pennington, a Buckinghamshire Quaker in 1669 and married her in 1672 at King's Farm, Chorley Wood. The couple had three sons and five daughters.

In 1694 Gulielma Springett died and in 1696 at the age of 52, he married Hannah Callowhill, the 25-year old daughter of a Quaker Bristol merchant. He had eight children by this marriage.

He died on July 13, 1718, the age of 73, leaving the province of Pennsylvania under the possession of his second wife and her sons.

William Penn was born on October 14, 1644, to English Admiral, Sir William Penn and Margaret Jasper, the daughter of a rich Dutch merchant.

He studied at Chigwell School and in 1656 he entered a private school on Tower Street, London. While he lived in Ireland, he was educated by private tutors.

In 1660, he enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford as a scholar and became well-versed in history and theology. He became acquainted with the Society of Friends or Quakers and was later expelled from the University as a result of supporting the group’s activities.

He was then privately tutored by Moses Amyrault, a renowned French scholar and a member of the Reformed church.

In the autumn of 1664, he studied for a year at the Huguenot Academy and later traveled to France and Italy.

In 1665, he decided to practice law at Lincoln's Inn, Chancery Lane, London and the following year, he began his career a lawyer in Ireland.

He was sent to control a rebellion at Carrickfergus in 1667, after which he returned to London. The following year, while he was at Ireland, he became a Quaker and was arrested for attending a Quaker meeting at Cork. After his release, he returned to England.

He met George Fox, the founder of Quakers in 1669 and suffered the wrath of his father who vowed to disown him. He was arrested and imprisoned at the Tower of London for writing the pamphlet ‘The Sandy Foundation Shaken’.

After his release, he moved to Ireland and practiced law. With the influence of powerful friends including Lord Arran, he was successful in freeing the Quakers, who were imprisoned in Ireland.

In 1670, Penn’s father died and Penn inherited a sum of £1500 annually from his father’s estate.

In 1668, William Penn authored a tract, ‘The Sandy Foundation Shaken’, which was a follow-up of his first pamphlet, ‘Truth Exalted’. This pamphlet criticized all religions except ‘Quakerism’ in harshly worded statements, which resulted in his imprisonment in the ‘Tower of London’. This is considered one of his major works because of his bold opinions and his theories on why he believed ‘Quakerism’ should prevail over all other religious institutions.

With his affluence and political power, he was able to establish a province to promote his Quaker belief in one of the colonies of England named Pennsylvania.

He implemented a “Frame of Government”, a democratic system offering freedom of religion, separation of powers, and fair trials by a panel of jury that became instrumental in the formation of the Constitution of the United States.