Doctor William Shippen was born in Philadelphia 1 October, 1712, the son of Joseph Shippen, a native of Boston, who moved to Philadelphia about 1704, and who became in 1727 one of Franklin's Junto. He was the son of Edward Shippen, who was named by William Penn in his charter of 25 October, 1701, as the first Mayor thereunder of the City of Philadelphia,[1] and who was President of the Council, 1702–04, and in May, 1703, became the actual head of the government until Governor Evans arrival in December following. Joseph's connection with the Junto shows him to have been a man inclined to self improvement, and whose leisure enabled him to pursue any special line of study. His eldest son Edward, William's senior by nine years, entered mercantile life under James Logan, and later was in business with him as Logan & Shippen, and in 1749 with Thomas Lawrence, one of the College Trustees, as Shippen and Lawrence; he was also Mayor of the City in 1744, and afterwards Judge of the Common Pleas. In 1748, he was one of the founders of Princeton College and one of its first Trustees, which he remained until his resignation in 1767 and was a subscriber to the Philadelphia Academy, of which his brother William was now one of the first trustees. William himself became a Trustee of Princeton College in 1765 which he remained until his resignation in 1796. His tastes for scientific pursuits were fostered by his father, and an early inclination for the study of medicine developed the rare talent he possessed for a successful practice of it, by which he attained a high reputation and secured an extensive business which remained to him through his long life. But diligent as he was in his professional duties, and reliant as he was in the medical knowledge of his day for the cure of all the ills that flesh is heir to, the story is told of him that on occasion of his being complimented by a friend on the number of cures he effected, he replied, "My friend, Nature does a great deal, and the grave covers up our mistakes." He was sensible of the necessity of more education than could
- ↑ Humphrey Morrey was the first Mayor of the City of Philadelphia under the charter of 1691. See Allison & Penrose, Philadelphia, a History of Municipal Development.
