William Coleman (2)

Election date: 1743 (Elected to the original American Philosophical Society.)
APS Office(s): First treasurer of the original APS (1743-1744)

William Coleman (1705?–11 January 1769) was a merchant, lawyer, judge, and elected official, and a founding member of the original American Philosophical Society. Born in Philadelphia, he was a member of Benjamin Franklin’s Junto and treasurer of the Library Company. He was also one of the first directors of the Philadelphia Contributionship and a clerk, treasurer, and original trustee of the Academy of Philadelphia. Frequently tasked with writing letters, petitions, and resolutions in these roles, Coleman was soon elected town clerk and clerk of the Philadelphia Common Council. Thereafter, he served as a judge in the Orphans’ Court, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Quarter Sessions and as an associate justice of the Provincial Supreme Court, while simultaneously running a thriving merchant business with first APS president Thomas Hopkinson. In 1752, when Parliament confirmed a London firm’s monopoly on trading rights in Labrador, Coleman served on a committee of Philadelphia merchants that arranged its own expedition to the region, hoping to discover a Northwest Passage in the process. His reputation for mathematical knowledge earned him a position on the Pennsylvania-Maryland border commission in 1761. His nephew George Clymer, whom he adopted, was an APS member. (PI)

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