Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/89

Rh be had in the colonies, and when he found his son William intending the same profession, he sent him to Europe when he was twenty one years of age, and in 1761 the latter received his degree of Doctor in Medicine at Edinburgh, and four years later we find his election in the minutes of the Trustees as the first Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the new medical school of the college. Doctor William Shippen, Senior, as he now became known on his son's rising reputation, found his name worthily reproduced in his son, who added fresh honors and dignity to it.

Dr. Shippen interested himself in public affairs, and foresaw the coming shadows of the Revolution. On 20 November, 1778, when these shadows were the heaviest, he was elected a member of the Continental Congress by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and was re-elected in the November following. He retained an interest in his father's associations and was Vice President in 1768 of the American Philosophical Society, the child of the Junto. He was one of the first members of the Medical Staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital, from 1753—1778; and one of the founders of the Second Presbyterian Church and a member of it for sixty years. His life was serene and useful; and possessing a temper calm and equable, and the affection of all who knew him, he died 4 November, 1801, in the ninetieth year of his age. He retained his trusteeship in the College until the abrogation of the charter in 1779, and was made one of the Trustees of the new institution created in its place, the University of the State of Pennsylvania, which he remained until 1786. His attendance at the meetings of the Trustees testifies to his interest in the institution, as his absences were very few; and the action of the Trustees were often influenced by his sage counsel, though for two years from April, 1761, he did not attend, and most of the meetings in 1764 and 1765 he missed.

Dr. Shippen married 19 September, 1735, Susannah daughter of Joseph Harrison of Philadelphia, who died some years