William Penn Jr. (14 March 1681 – 23 June 1720) was the eldest surviving son of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, proprietor and founder of the

colony of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to Wi ...

Biography

Penn was born on 14 March 1681, the sixth child of Penn and his first wife, Gulielma Maria Springett, in

County Cork, Ireland County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. At

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, on 12 January 1699, he married Mary Jones (1677–1733), the daughter of Charles and Martha (Wathen) Jones. His father was present at the wedding. The couple had three children. He came to the colony with newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor John Evans, arriving February 2, 1704, and was made a member of the provincial council six days later. He raised a militia company, but, being presented before the corporation of the city of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, the chief men in which were unfriendly to his father, for disorder at a tavern, he took offense and returned to England. He was an unsuccessful candidate for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. On his mother's side he was related to the wife of

Lord Fairfax Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron Lord Fairfax of Cameron is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. Despite holding a Scottish peerage, the Lords Fairfax of Cameron are members of an ancient Yorkshire family, of which the Fairfax baron ...

, and engaged with him and others in a project to recover sunken treasure. By various means he added to his father's financial embarrassment, and he was obliged to sell the manor of Williamstadt, which had been laid out for him at the founding of the colony. In 1708, he signed the Pennsylvania Mortgage Agreement. Around this time he formally renounced Quakerism and became a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. After William Penn's death in July 1718, his second wife,

Hannah Callowhill Penn Hannah Margaret Penn ( Callowhill; 11 February 1671 – 20 December 1726) was an Anglo-American governor. The second wife of Pennsylvania founder William Penn, she effectively administered the Province of Pennsylvania for six years after her ...

, had to deal with a challenge to her husband's will. The will had provided William Jr. with the estate of Shanagarry,

, which had descended from his grandfather, Admiral William Penn, and certain other property, including all but of the American estate. In an effort to cut Hannah and her children out of the inheritance, he waged a legal effort to contest his father's will. Although he died before the case was settled, his son Springett attempted to have the court declare the will invalid, asserting that his grandfather was mentally incompetent when he wrote it. Hannah Penn prevailed, and saw to it that her children received the estate, after payment of her husband's debts. When she died on December 20, 1726, the proprietorship of Pennsylvania passed to her three sons:

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

. He died of tuberculosis in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

on 23 June 1720. {{DEFAULTSORT:Penn, William Jr. 1681 births 1720 deaths American Quakers English Quakers American people of Welsh descent Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

People of colonial Pennsylvania