Edward Shippen (February 16, 1729 – April 15, 1806)Randolph Shipley Klein. "Shippen, Edward IV"; ''

American National Biography Online The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Lea ...

'', Feb. 2000. was an American lawyer, judge, government official, and prominent figure in colonial and post-revolutionary

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 ...

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, ...

. His fourth daughter, Margaret Shippen, was the second wife of

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

Early life

Shippen was born in Philadelphia, the son of merchant

Edward Shippen III Edward Shippen III (July 9, 1703 – September 25, 1781) was an American merchant and mayor of Philadelphia. Biography He was born on July 9, 1703, in Boston. Shippen entered into mercantile pursuits with James Logan, with whom he was in busi ...

and, his first wife, Sarah Plumley. He learned law from Tench Francis, Pennsylvania's attorney general. He married his mentor's daughter Margaret Francis in 1753, with whom he had nine children. In 1748 he went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to complete his law studies at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, and, after returning to Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar.

Career

He was appointed judge of the admiralty court in 1755. Three years later he was elected to the city's common council. In 1762 he was appointed

prothonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

of the supreme court, a post retained till the Revolution. He became a member of the

Pennsylvania Provincial Council The Pennsylvania Provincial Council helped govern the Province of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1776. The provincial council was based on the English parliamentary system and namely the Upper House or House of Lords. From the Frame of Government of Penn ...

in 1770. Shippen attempted to stay neutral in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, hoping that the colonies and the mother country would be reconciled. He did not support the extension of royal authority and was therefore not a

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

, but he also opposed the radically democratic

Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 (ratified September 28, 1776) was the state's first constitution following their declaration of independence and has been described as the most democratic in America; although it notably based rights in "men" ...

, which sought to reduce the hold on government by powerful families like the Shippens. He received in 1790 an honorary

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

degree from 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 ...

, of which he was a trustee from 1791 until his death. He was also a member 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 ...

. In 1791, he was appointed to the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court 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 J ...

, serving with

Jasper Yeates Jasper Yeates (1745–1817) was an American lawyer and judge from Pennsylvania, a justice of the state Supreme Court from 1791 to 1817. Early life and education Jasper Yeates was born in Philadelphia on April 9, 1745 to John and Elizabeth Side ...

and Edward Burd, both kinsmen and former students. Shippen became chief justice in 1799. Shippen was

impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

on flimsy political grounds on March 23, 1804 by the Democratic–Republican-led

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

alongside the other two

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

justices of the Supreme Court, Thomas Smith and

. The sole Democratic–Republican member of the court, who had been not in attendance on the day the court heard the case central to the impeachment, was not impeached. The justices were not removed, being acquitted in their

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment, but differ as to when in the impeachment process trials take place and how ...

before the

Pennsylvania Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

in the vote held on January 28, 1805. Multiple sources: * * * The next year the Pennsylvania Senate acquitted him and his associates. Shippen retired to private life and died soon thereafter.

Personal life

On November 29, 1753, Shippen was married to Margaret Francis (1735–1794), a daughter of Tench Francis and Elizabeth Turbutt, at Christ Church in Philadelphia. Together, they were the parents of nine children: * Elizabeth Shippen (1754–1828), who married her cousin Col.

Edward Burd Edward Burd (February 5, 1749July 24, 1833) was a Revolutionary War officer in Pennsylvania and later a Prothonotary#Chief court clerk, Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Life Burd, the son of Colonel James Burd and Sarah (Shippen) ...

, son of Col.

James Burd James Burd (March 10, 1725 – October 5, 1793) was a colonial American soldier in the French and Indian War, during which he played an important role in fortifying the Pennsylvania frontier. Early life Born in Ormiston, near Edinburgh, Scotland, ...

and Sarah Shippen, in 1778. * Sarah Shippen (1756–1831), who married Thomas Lea, son of Eleanor and Thomas Lea of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

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, in 1787. * Mary Shippen (b. 1757), who married, as his second wife, Dr. William McIlvaine of

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

. * Edward Shippen (1758–1809), a doctor married Elizabeth Juliana Footman, daughter of Eleanor and Thomas Footman, in 1785. * Margaret "Peggy" Shippen (1760–1804), who married, as his second wife, Gen.

V, son of Benedict Arnold III and Hannah Waterman King, in 1779; she died in

, England. * John Francis Shippen (1762–1763), who died young. * James Shippen (1766–1769), who also died young. His wife died at Philadelphia on May 28, 1794. Shippen died in Philadelphia on April 15, 1806, at age 77.

Notes

References

Genealogy at RootsWeb
*Randolph Shipley Klein, ''Portrait of an Early American Family: The Shippens of Pennsylvania Across Five Generations''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975.

External links

at the University of Pennsylvania
Biography at Virtualology.com (under his great-grandfather, also Edward Shippen)
by

Robert Feke Robert Feke ( 1705 or 1707 1752) was an American portrait painter born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. According to art historian Richard Saunders, "Feke’s impact on the development of Colonial painting was substantial, and his pictures ...

at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shippen, Edward IV 1729 births 1806 deaths Members of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council Lawyers from Philadelphia People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution American people of English descent

Edward Shippen, IV Edward Shippen (February 16, 1729 – April 15, 1806)Randolph Shipley Klein. "Shippen, Edward IV"; '' American National Biography Online'', Feb. 2000. was an American lawyer, judge, government official, and prominent figure in colonial and post- ...

University of Pennsylvania Chief Justices of Pennsylvania People of colonial Pennsylvania Members of the American Philosophical Society University of Pennsylvania people Politicians from Philadelphia United States judges impeached by state or territorial governments