John Penn

His education incomplete,

he borrowed books and studied well.

Quiet, competent, and discreet,

Penn signed on for freedom's bell.

        John Penn was the only child of his parents, Moses and Catharine Penn.  They adhered to a certain type of practicality, believing time was needed for chores and not for quiddling or reading.  John Penn's formal education was, therefore, neglected.  His schooling in Virginia was only for a couple of years.
        When his father died, he was on his own, still a lad, with a small inheritance.  Believing his chance at a fruitful future would be improved by learning a profession, he soon got busy on his goals.  His neighbor Edmund Pendleton was a lawyer that lent John the use of his library.

Image by Ole Erekson, Engraver, Library of Congress

     "By means of reading, the powers of his mind soon began to unfold themselves, and he, at length, determined to devote himself to the study of law....  At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Penn reaped in part the reward of his toil and indefatigable industry, in being licensed as a practitioner of Law. ... He rose with great rapidity into notice, and soon equaled the most distinguished at the bar.  As an advocate, in particular, there were few who surpassed him."   Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, 1829, by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich

        In 1774, Penn moved his family to North Carolina where he learned a new code of laws and then set up practice.  In 1775, he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, and re-elected in the years 1777-79 when he became admired for his dependable character and competence.  "He was seldom absent from his seat, and hesitated not, either from want of firmness or patriotism, to urge forward those measures, which were calculated to redress the wrongs, and establish and perpetuate the rights of his country."  Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, 1829, by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich   He  became a member of the North Carolina Board of War in 1780 and returned to the practice of law in 1781 until his death in 1788, being buried on his estate near Island Creek in Granville County.  He was reinterred in Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in 1894 alongside fellow delegate William Hooper.  Rev. Charles A. Goodrich Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. New York: William Reed & Co., 1856. Pages 433-435.     

The Dictionary of American Biography  The American Council of Learned Societies. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964.University of Pennsylvania
Cheyney & Oberholtzer. Boston: R. Herndon Company, 1901. 2 volumes.Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biographyby

Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress

He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 

Proverbs 2:8-9