SHIPPEN, Edward, mayor of
Philadelphia, born in Hillham, Cheshire, England, in 1639; died in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, 2 October, 1712. He was the son of William Shippen. His brother,
Reverend William Shippen, D. D., was rector of Stockport, Cheshire, and his
nephew, Robert Shippen, D. D., was principal of Brasenose college, and
vice-chancellor of Oxford university. Edward was bred to mercantile pursuits,
and emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1668, where he became a wealthy
merchant. In 1671 he became a member of the Ancient and honorable artillery
company of Boston. He married Elizabeth Lybrand, a Quakeress, united with that
sect, and shared the "jailings, whippings, and banishments, the fines and
imprisonments," that were inflicted on the Quakers. In 1693 Mr. Shippen was
either banished or driven to take refuge in Philadelphia. He did not quit Boston
without erecting a memorial on "a green," near to "a pair of
gallows, where several of our friends had suffered death fox' the truth, and
were thrown into a hole." He asked leave of the magistrates to erect some
more lasting monument there, but they were not willing. About the time he was
leaving he gave a piece of land for a Friends' meeting-house, located in
Brattles pasture, on Brattle street, near the site of the Quincey house, and on
which was constructed the first brick church in Boston. In Philadelphia his
wealth and character obtained for him position and influence. In 1695 he was
elected to the assembly, and chosen speaker. In 1696 he was elected to the
provincial council, of which he continued a member till his death, and for ten
years he was the senior member.
He was commissioned a justice of the peace in the same year, and in 1697 a
judge of the supreme court, and the presiding judge of the courts of common
pleas and quarter sessions and the orphan's court. In 1701 he became mayor of
Philadelphia, being so named in William Penn's city charter of that year, and
during this year he was appointed by Penn to be one of his commissioners of
property, which office Shippen held till his death.
As president of the council, he was the head of the government from May until
December, 1703. In 1704, and for several years thereafter, he was chosen one of
the aldermen, and from 1 June. 1705, till 1712 he was the treasurer of the city.
He contracted his third marriage in 1706, which led to his withdrawal from the
Society of Friends. His house long bore the name of "the Governor's
House." It was built in the early rise of the city, received then
the name of ' Shippen's Great House, ' while Shippen himself was
proverbially distinguished for three great things--' the biggest person, the
biggest house, and the biggest coach.' "
--His son, Joseph Shippen, born
in Boston, 28 February, 1679 ; died in Philadelphia in 1741, lived in Boston
until 1704, when he moved to Philadelphia. He was among the men of science in
his day, and in 1727 he joined Benjamin Franklin in founding the Junto "for
mutual information and the public good."
--Joseph's son, Edward Shippen,
merchant, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 9 July, 1703; died in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, 25 September, 1781, was brought up to mercantile pursuits by James
Logan, and was in business with him in 1732. as Logan and Shippen; afterward
with Thomas Lawrence, in the fur-trade, as Ship-pen and Lawrence. In 1744 he was
elected mayor of the city. In 1745, and for several years thereafter, he was one
of the judges of the court of common pleas. In May, 1752, he removed to
Lancaster, where he was appointed prothonotary, and continued such until 1778.
He had large transactions as paymaster for supplies for the British and
provincial forces when they were commanded by General Forbes, General Stanwix,
and Colonel Bouquet, and managed them with so much integrity as to receive
public thanks in 1760. He was a county judge under both the provincial and state
governments.
In early life he laid out and founded Shippensburg, Pennsylvania In 1746-'8
he was one of the founders of the College of New Jersey, and he was one of its
first board of trustees, which post he resigned in 1767. He was also a
subscriber to the Philadelphia academy (afterward the University of
Pennsylvania), and was a founder of the Pennsylvania hospital and the American
philosophical society. Mr. Shippen's advanced age prevented him from taking an
active part, except as a committee-man, during the Revolution, yet his
sentiments were warmly expressed in behalf of his country.-
William Shippen, another son of
Joseph, physician, born in Philadelphia, 1 October, 1712; died in Germantown,
Pennsylvania, 4 November, 1801, applied himself early in life to the study of
medicine, for which he had a remarkable genius. He speedily obtained a large and
lucrative practice, which he maintained throughout his life. He was a member of
the Junto, and aided in founding the Pennsylvania hospital, of which he was the
physician from 1753 till 1778, the Public academy, and its successor, the
College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), being chosen in
1749 one of the first trustees of the academy. He was a trustee of the college
in 1755-'79, and a member of the American philosophical society, of which he was
vice-president in 1768, and for many years after. He was for nearly sixty years
a member of the 2(1 Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, being (1742) one of its
founders. On 20 November, 1778, he was chosen by the assembly of Pennsylvania to
the Continental congress, and he was re-elected in 1779. He was for thirty years
a trustee of Princeton college.
Dr. Shippen was notably liberal toward the poor, and, it is said, not only
gave his professional art and medicines without charge, but oftentimes assisted
them by donations from his purse. He retained his physical powers very late in
life, and it is said that "at the age of ninety he would ride in and out
of the city on horseback without an overcoat in the coldest weather."
--William's son, William, known as William Shippen the younger, physician,
born in Philadelphia, 21 October, 1736; died in German-town, Pennsylvania, 11
July, 1808, was graduated at Princeton in 1754, and delivered the valedictory
for his class. He studied medicine with his father until 1758., when he went to
England, and studied under Dr. John and Dr. William Hunter and Dr. McKenzie, and
in 1761 was graduated M. D. at Edinburgh. Returning to Philadelphia in 1762, he
entered on the practice of his profession, and on 16 November, 1762, he began
the first course of lectures on anatomy that was ever delivered in this country.
The first were delivered at the state-house, and the subsequent ones in rooms
that were constructed by his father for the purpose in the rear of the latter's
residence. After the first lecture he made the following announcement in the "Pennsylvania
Gazette ..... Dr. Shippen's anatomical lectures will begin to-morrow evening, at
six o'clock, at his father's house in Fourth street. Tickets for the course to
be had of the doctor at five pistoles each; and any gentlemen who incline to see
the subject prepared for the lectures, and learn the art of dissecting,
injecting, etc., are to pay five pistoles snore."
Dr. Shippen's school of anatomy was continued until 23 September, 1765, when
he was chosen professor of anatomy and surgery in the newly established medical
school of the College of Philadelphia, of which he was one of the founders. This
was the first medical school in this country. Dr. Shippen retained this post
till 1780, when he was elected professor of anatomy, surgery, and midwifery m
the University of the state of Pennsylvania, and in 1791, on the union of these
institutions, under the name of the University of Pennsylvania, he became
professor of anatomy in the latter, retaining the place until 1806. On 15 July,
1776, he was appointed chief physician of the Flying camp. In March, 1777, he
laid before congress a plan for the organization of a hospital department,
which, with some modifications, was adopted, and on 11 April, 1777, he was
unanimously elected "Director-General of all the Military Hospitals for
the Armies of the United States." He was charged with an improper
administration of the office, and arraigned before a military court, which led
him to resign the post, 3 January, 1781.
The investigation did not develop any matters reflecting on his integrity. In
1778-'9, and again from 1791 till 1802, he was one of the physicians of the
Pennsylvania hospital. He was for snore than forty years a member of the
American philosophical society, in which he held the offices of curator and
secretary. His skill and eloquence as a teacher, exercised during forty years in
the first medical school in the country, made him widely known at home and
abroad, and won for him permanent distinction and respect in the medical world.
--Edward Shippen, son of the
second Edward, jurist, born in Philadelphia, 16 February, 1729; died there, 16
April, 1806, at the age of seventeen began the study of the law with Tench
Francis, and, while pursuing his studies, drafted the first common recovery in
Pennsylvania. In 1748 he went to London to complete his law studies at the
Middle Temple, and, returning to Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar. On 22
November, 1752, he was appointed the vice admiralty, and in 1755 he became one
of the commissioners to wait upon the "Paxton Boys," who were engaged
in an insurrection, to persuade them to disperse, which mission was successful.
He held several local offices until the Revolution. He took a deep interest in
the provincial wars, and watched and recorded every occasion when the provincial
troops were successful. In 1762 he was appointed prothonotary of the supreme
court, retaining this post till the Revolution. He became a member of the
provincial council in 1770, in which office he served for five years. During the
war for independence he probably sympathized with the mother country, as he was,
by order of the council, placed on his parole to give neither succor nor
information to the enemy. He remained in Philadelphia during the British
occupancy.
In May, 1784, he was appointed president judge of the court of common pleas,
and in September of the same year he became a judge of the high court of errors
and appeals, which latter office he retained until 1806, when the court was
abolished. In 1785 he was chosen a justice for the dock ward of Philadelphia,
and in the same year was appointed president of the court of quarter sessions of
the peace and oyer and terminer. In 1791, at which time he was still at the head
of the court of common pleas, he was appointed an associate justice of the
supreme court, in which office he served till 1799. Governor McKean then
nominated Judge Shippen to be the chief justice, which office he resigned in
1805. He "was a man of large views," said Chief-Justice
Tilghman. "Everything that fell from that venerated man," said
Judge Duncan, "is entitled to great respect."
The best extant portrait of him is that by Gilbert Stuart, now in the
Corcoran gallery in Washington, and is represented in the accompanying vignette.
To his pen we owe the first law reports in Pennsylvania. In 1790 he received the
degree of LL. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, of which institution he
was a trustee from 1791 till his death.
His third daughter, MARGARET Shippen
born in Philadelphia in 1760; died in London, 24 August, 1804, was second wife
of Benedict Arnold.
--Joseph, another son of the second Edward
Shippen, soldier, born in Philadelphia, 30 October, 1732; died in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 10 February, 1810, was graduated at Princeton in 1753,
and shortly afterward entered the provincial army, in which he rose to the rank
of colonel, and served in the expedition that captured Fort DuQuesne. After the
troops were disbanded he went to Europe, partly on a mercantile venture, but
chiefly for travel. He returned to Philadelphia in 1761, and in the follow-in/
year was chosen to succeed the Reverend Richard Peters as secretary of the
province, in which post he served until the Revolution, when the provincial
council ceased to exist. He subsequently removed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
where in 1789 he became a judge of the county courts. He was fond of the fine
arts, early noted Benjamin West's genius, and, with William Allen and other
friends, greatly aided him with means for pursuing his artistic studies in
Italy, for which West was grateful during life. He was for more than forty years
a member of the American philosophical society.
--Edward, great-grandson of the second Edward
Shippen, lawyer, born on his father's estate, "Elm Hill,"
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 16 November, 1821, was the son of Dr. Joseph
Galloway Shippen. He received an academical education, studied law, and, on 11
April, 1846, was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, where he has since practiced,
gaining reputation in his profession. Mr. Shippen is known for his active
interest in education. He was for many years a member of the board of public
education in Philadelphia, and from 1864 till 1869 its president. He has been a
delegate to several national educational conventions, before some of which he
has delivered important addresses. He is one of the founders of the Teachers'
institute and of the Teachers' benevolent association of Philadelphia. By an
appointment of the mikado, he was for many years in charge of the Japanese boys
that were sent by the government of Japan to this country to be educated.
During the civil war he was chief of the educational department of the
sanitary commission. During the Centennial exposition in 1876 Mr. Shippen was
the president of the Chilian commission. For his benevolent, interest in the
Italians in Philadelphia he received, on 10 October, 1877, from Victor Emanuel,
the order of Cavaliere della Corona d'Italia. He is the president of the art
club of Philadelphia. He is consul for the Argentine Republic, Chili, and
Ecuador, at Philadelphia, and has filled these posts for many years. Several of
Mr. Shippen's addresses on educational subjects have been published, among them
one on the dedication of the Hollingsworth school, 31 October, 1867
(Philadelphia, 1867) ; "Compensation of Teachers" (1872); and "Educational
Antiques" (1874).
--Edward, great-grandson of Chief-Justice Edward Shippen, surgeon, born in
New Jersey, 18 June, 1826, is the son of Richard Shippen. He was graduated at
Princeton in 1845, and at the medical department of the University of
Pennsylvania in 1848, entered the navy as assistant surgeon, 7 August, 1849, and
was commissioned surgeon, 26 April, 1861. He was on the "Congress"
when she was destroyed by the "Merrimac" at Newport News,
Virginia, and was injured by a shell, and in 1864-'5 was on the ironclad frigate
"New Ironsides " in both attacks on Fort Fisher and the
operations of Bermuda Hundred. He made the Russian cruise under Admiral Farragut,
was commissioned medical inspector in 1871, was fleet-surgeon of the European
squadron in 1871-'3, in charge of the Naval hospital in 1874-'7, commissioned
medical director in 1876, and was president of the naval medical examining board
at Philadelphia in 1880-'2.
Dr. Shippen has contributed largely to Hamersley's "Naval
Encyclopaedia," the "United Service Magazine," and to
kindred publications.
