William Coleman (1704 – January 11, 1769) was a merchant, lawyer, municipal official, and judge in colonial

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Coleman was born in

, where he was educated and studied law. His parents were

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

; his mother, Rebecca Bradford, had arrived in the new colony of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

as a child in 1683, and his father, also William Coleman, was a carpenter and one of the earliest members of the Carpenter's Company of Philadelphia. After he was admitted to the bar, Coleman held a variety of municipal offices, beginning as Town Clerk and Clerk of the City Court. He became a Judge of various local courts including the Orphan's Court, Court of Common Pleas, and Quarter Sessions. In 1758 he was appointed an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

. He was also a merchant, in partnership with

Thomas Hopkinson Thomas Hopkinson (April 6, 1709 – November 5, 1751) was a lawyer, public official, and prominent figure in colonial Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Early life Thomas Hopkinson was born in London, on April 6, 1709, the son of Mary Hopkinson, and T ...

. He was also active in Philadelphia's emerging cultural institutions. By 1727 Coleman was a friend of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and member of Franklin's Junto. He was a founder and first treasurer of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, one of the first directors of the

Philadelphia Contributionship The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire is the oldest property insurance company in the United States. It was organized by Benjamin Franklin in 1752, and incorporated in 1768. The Contributionship's build ...

, and an early supporter of

Pennsylvania Hospital Pennsylvania Hospital is a private, non-profit, 515-bed teaching hospital located in Center City Philadelphia and is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Founded on May 11, 1751, by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, Pennsyl ...

. Benjamin Franklin was a close friend of Colman, and said of him, "He has the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the best morals of almost any man I ever met." Coleman was also a founder of the College of Philadelphia (now the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, serving as the original clerk of the Board of Trustees, 1749–1755, and as its first treasurer, 1749–1764. In 1738, William Coleman married Hannah Fitzwater, daughter of George Fitzwater, a successful merchant and landowner. The couple was childless, but Coleman adopted his nephew,

George Clymer George Clymer (March 16, 1739January 23, 1813) was an American politician, abolitionist and Founding Father of the United States, one of only six founders who signed both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. He was among the e ...

, son of Hannah's sister Deborah and Captain Christopher Clymer, a sea captain and privateer. In 1747, Coleman joined with other Philadelphia merchants to fit out a privateer, ''The Warren'', to defend the Delaware River and Bay from Spanish and French pirates, who had been carrying off slaves and other property in the bay and river. The Philadelphia Friends Meeting considered this incompatible with the Meeting's pacifist beliefs and read Coleman out of the Meeting. Subsequently, Coleman joined with Franklin to help manage a public lottery held in 1748 to raise funds to cover the costs of building Philadelphia's first military defense, the Association Battery. In 1756, William Coleman purchased 12 acres of land along the Schuylkill River, where he built an elegant country home which he named Woodford. In 1761, Coleman was appointed to serve as one of the Pennsylvania Members of the Commission formed to adjust the disputed boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland. English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were engaged to record the boundary, now known as the Mason-Dixon line, and the Commission certified their map of the boundary line in 1768. He died in Philadelphia on January 11, 1769.

References

External links

Biography at the University of Pennsylvania
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, William 1704 births 1769 deaths Pennsylvania lawyers University of Pennsylvania people Lawyers from Philadelphia People of colonial Pennsylvania Colonial American merchants Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Members of the American Philosophical Society University and college founders