American statesman, born at Lurgan, Ireland, on the 20th of October 1674. He lived in Ireland and then in England till 1699, when he went to the United States as William Penn’s secretary. Soon afterward he became provincial secretary, commissioner of property, and receiver-general of Philadelphia, and from 1702 to 1747 was a member of the provincial council. In 1715 he was made a justice of the court of common pleas, and in 1723 presiding judge. The same year he became mayor of Philadelphia, and from 1731 to 1739 was chief justice of the supreme court. His latter years, spent in retirement, were devoted to science and literature, especially the classics, and he was a member of the first board of trustees of what is now the University of Pennsylvania. He died at Stenton, PA, on the 31st of October 1751.
