Edward Shippen III (136)

Edward Shippen III “of Lancaster” (9 July 1703–25 September 1781) was a merchant, landowner, and public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. He was born in Boston, but his family relocated to Philadelphia a year later. There, he was apprenticed to a merchant and then entered the fur trade, assisting and then partnering with James Logan. Shippen’s success as a merchant provided opportunities to purchase land and invest in enterprises like the Durham Ironworks. It also allowed him to enter public office. He was elected to the Philadelphia City Council in 1732, as alderman in 1743, and as mayor in 1744. His tenure in these offices focused on improvements like paving the streets and extending the night watch. He was also a trustee of the College of New Jersey at Newark and Princeton and contributed to the College of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1752, Shippen relocated to Lancaster, where he served as prothonotary, clerk of the courts, recorder of deeds, register of wills, and justice of the peace. He led the commission that settled the accounts for the wagons and horses Benjamin Franklin had arranged for General Braddock. Shippen was a member of the Union Fire Company of Lancaster and the Lancaster Library Company as well as a trustee of a charity school established to teach German citizens English. Though he was a member of the proprietary party and generally conservative in his views, Shippen supported American independence, serving on his local Committee of Correspondence. He took the oath of allegiance in 1778 and died three years later. His sons Edward Shippen IV and Joseph Shippen, Jr., his brother William Shippen, Sr., and his nephew William Shippen, Jr., were APS member. (PI)