Virtual Museum of Art | Virtual Museum of History | Virtual Public Library | Virtual Science Center | Virtual Museum of Natural History | Virtual War Museum
   You are in: Museum of History >> Hall of North and South Americans >> John Penn





The Seven Flags of the New Orleans Tri-Centennial 1718-2018

For more information go to New Orleans 300th Birthday

 

Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889 and 1999. Virtualology.com warns that these 19th Century biographies contain errors and bias. We rely on volunteers to edit the historic biographies on a continual basis. If you would like to edit this biography please submit a rewritten biography in text form . If acceptable, the new biography will be published above the 19th Century Appleton's Cyclopedia Biography citing the volunteer editor




Virtual American Biographies

Over 30,000 personalities with thousands of 19th Century illustrations, signatures, and exceptional life stories. Virtualology.com welcomes editing and additions to the biographies. To become this site's editor or a contributor Click Here or e-mail Virtualology here.



A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 





Click on an image to view full-sized

John Penn

PENN, John, signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Caroline county, Virginia, 17 May, 1741; died in North Carolina in September, 1788. He was the only child of Noses Penn, and Catherine, his wife, who was a daughter of John Taylor, of the same state and county. Owing to a singular neglect on the part of his parents, who could well afford to pay the expense of his tuition, at the age of eighteen, when his father died, he had only been instructed for a few years at a country school, and was largely self-educated. He studied law with his relative, Edmund Pendleton, was admitted to the bar in 1762, and displayed great ability and eloquence in practice. In 1774 he removed to Greenville county, North Carolina, and on 8 September, 1775, was chosen to the Continental congress to supply a vacancy, taking his seat on 12 October he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was re-elected in 1777 and in 1779. When Lord Cornwallis invaded North Carolina, Mr. Penn was placed in charge of the public affairs of that state, given almost dictatorial powers, and he discharged the duties of his trust with credit. In March, 1784, he was appointed receiver of taxes for North Carolina, which office he resigned in the following April. His reason for so doing was principally owing to the fact that the state, while eagerly maintaining the cause of independence by resolutions and declaration, refused to furnish the means by which it could be secured. Mr. Penn afterward resumed his station of a private citizen, and, being possessed of sufficient property, derived from his industry and patrimony, was employed in discharging his private duties with benevolence during the remainder of his life.

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 StanKlos.comTM
John Penn - Signer of the Declartion of Independence Biography by Appleton's edited by Stanley L. Klos

John Penn

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

 

JOHN PENN was born on Mary 17, 1741 in Caroline County, Virginia. He was a "transplanted" patriot, as he would build his political and legal career in North Carolina.  He was the only child of Moses Penn a moderately successful plantation owner and his wife, Catherine Taylor. Penn received little formal education, although his parents could well afford to pay the expense of his tuition. At the age of eighteen, upon the death of his father, he had only been instructed for a few years at a country school and was largely self-educated. At that time, he was urged to study law by his mentor, Edmund Pendleton. Pendleton maintained a vastlaw library, which he put at Penn's disposal. Penn studied hungrily and remarkably passed the bar examination at Virginia at the age of twenty-one. 

 

Penn was, however, unable to forge a rewarding practice in Virginia so he moved with his wife, Susannah Lyme, and their three children to Williamsboro, North Carolina. There, he displayed great ability and eloquence, and his practice flourished, as did his interest in politics. He soon became a leader in his community. He was elected to the provincial legislature in 1775 and to the Second Continental congress, taking his seat on October 12, filling a vacancy. It was said that Penn, though very talkative in private, rarely spoke in congress. However, he was very diligent in public business and voted consistently for independence.

 

After signing the Declaration, John Penn returned home and was chosen at once to occupy an important position on the North Carolina board of war. His major task was to keep the militia well supplied. His dedicated efforts in fact helped the Americans force Lord Cornwallis into retreat before the end of 1780. In March of 1784, he was appointed receiver of taxes for North Carolina, but he resigned that office the following April. His reason for doing so was the fact that the state, while eagerly maintaining the cause of independence by resolutions and declaration, refused to furnish the means by which it could be secured.

 

John Penn afterward resumed his life as a private citizen due to the state of his health, and continued to practice law. He died on September 14, 1788 at the age of forty-eight.
 


 

 

 

Declaration of Independence
A Brief History and early record of the printings

Click Here


William Stone Copper Plate and 1976 Printing Photo
Courtesy of the National Archives
Click to Enlarge

Authenticate your Declaration of Independence - Click Here

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

 

 
About Stanley L. Klos

Click Here to return to Rebels with of Vision


Start your search on John Penn.


 

 


 


Unauthorized Site: This site and its contents are not affiliated, connected, associated with or authorized by the individual, family, friends, or trademarked entities utilizing any part or the subject's entire name. Any official or affiliated sites that are related to this subject will be hyper linked below upon submission and Evisum, Inc. review.

Copyright© 2000 by Evisum Inc.TM. All rights reserved.
Evisum Inc.TM Privacy Policy

Search:

About Us

 

 

Image Use

Please join us in our mission to incorporate The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America discovery-based curriculum into the classroom of every primary and secondary school in the United States of America by July 2, 2026, the nation’s 250th birthday. , the United States of America: We The People Click Here

 

Historic Documents

Articles of Association

Articles of Confederation 1775

Articles of Confederation

Article the First

Coin Act

Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence

Emancipation Proclamation

Gettysburg Address

Monroe Doctrine

Northwest Ordinance

No Taxation Without Representation

Thanksgiving Proclamations

Mayflower Compact

Treaty of Paris 1763

Treaty of Paris 1783

Treaty of Versailles

United Nations Charter

United States In Congress Assembled

US Bill of Rights

United States Constitution

US Continental Congress

US Constitution of 1777

US Constitution of 1787

Virginia Declaration of Rights

 

Historic Events

Battle of New Orleans

Battle of Yorktown

Cabinet Room

Civil Rights Movement

Federalist Papers

Fort Duquesne

Fort Necessity

Fort Pitt

French and Indian War

Jumonville Glen

Manhattan Project

Stamp Act Congress

Underground Railroad

US Hospitality

US Presidency

Vietnam War

War of 1812

West Virginia Statehood

Woman Suffrage

World War I

World War II

 

Is it Real?



Declaration of
Independence

Digital Authentication
Click Here

 

America’s Four Republics
The More or Less United States

 
Continental Congress
U.C. Presidents

Peyton Randolph

Henry Middleton

Peyton Randolph

John Hancock

  

Continental Congress
U.S. Presidents

John Hancock

Henry Laurens

John Jay

Samuel Huntington

  

Constitution of 1777
U.S. Presidents

Samuel Huntington

Samuel Johnston
Elected but declined the office

Thomas McKean

John Hanson

Elias Boudinot

Thomas Mifflin

Richard Henry Lee

John Hancock
[
Chairman David Ramsay]

Nathaniel Gorham

Arthur St. Clair

Cyrus Griffin

  

Constitution of 1787
U.S. Presidents

George Washington 

John Adams
Federalist Party


Thomas Jefferson
Republican* Party

James Madison 
Republican* Party

James Monroe
Republican* Party

John Quincy Adams
Republican* Party
Whig Party

Andrew Jackson
Republican* Party
Democratic Party


Martin Van Buren
Democratic Party

William H. Harrison
Whig Party

John Tyler
Whig Party

James K. Polk
Democratic Party

David Atchison**
Democratic Party

Zachary Taylor
Whig Party

Millard Fillmore
Whig Party

Franklin Pierce
Democratic Party

James Buchanan
Democratic Party


Abraham Lincoln 
Republican Party

Jefferson Davis***
Democratic Party

Andrew Johnson
Republican Party

Ulysses S. Grant 
Republican Party

Rutherford B. Hayes
Republican Party

James A. Garfield
Republican Party

Chester Arthur 
Republican Party

Grover Cleveland
Democratic Party

Benjamin Harrison
Republican Party

Grover Cleveland 
Democratic Party

William McKinley
Republican Party

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican Party

William H. Taft 
Republican Party

Woodrow Wilson
Democratic Party

Warren G. Harding 
Republican Party

Calvin Coolidge
Republican Party

Herbert C. Hoover
Republican Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democratic Party

Harry S. Truman
Democratic Party

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican Party

John F. Kennedy
Democratic Party

Lyndon B. Johnson 
Democratic Party 

Richard M. Nixon 
Republican Party

Gerald R. Ford 
Republican Party

James Earl Carter, Jr. 
Democratic Party

Ronald Wilson Reagan 
Republican Party

George H. W. Bush
Republican Party 

William Jefferson Clinton
Democratic Party

George W. Bush 
Republican Party

Barack H. Obama
Democratic Party

Please Visit

Forgotten Founders
Norwich, CT

Annapolis Continental
Congress Society


U.S. Presidency
& Hospitality

© Stan Klos

 

 

 

 


Virtual Museum of Art | Virtual Museum of History | Virtual Public Library | Virtual Science Center | Virtual Museum of Natural History | Virtual War Museum