Answer: Benedict Arnold

William Shippen was the grandson of Edward Shippen (1639-1712), Pennsylvania’s chief justice in 1699 and Philadelphia’s mayor from 1701 to 1703.  William, a self-taught physician, established a successful medical practice in Philadelphia and served with the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1753 to 1778.  Additionally, he helped establish Philadelphia’s First Presbyterian Church.  When Benjamin’s Franklin’s “Junto” evolved into the American Philosophical Society, William became its vice president  in 1768.  Ten years later, he was elected to the Continental Congress as a Pennsylvania delegate.

Margaret (Peggy) Shippen and Benedict Arnold were married at Christ Church in Philadelphia on April 8, 1779.  After Benedict’s plot to conspire with the British military against American forces was exposed, Peggy was banished with her young son from Pennsylvania.  They stayed in British territory in New York for about a year, and then along with, at that time, two young sons left America for England (in separate ships) in December 1781.  Benedict was in constant financial difficulty although he had some success with a trading business in Saint John, New Brunswick. He died in 1801 leaving Peggy with sizeable debts.  She managed to settle the debts in a year and a half, but became very sick and died August 24, 1804.

HSP holds miscellaneous manuscripts of Benedict Arnold, including the brief of title to his estate, Mount Pleasant, along the Schuylkill River (Am .8001).  We also have miscellaneous correspondence of Peggy Shippen Arnold, and a large collection of papers from her family.  The Shippen Family Papers (#595 A, B, C) range from 1701 to 1899 and include personal and professional papers of several generations of the Shippen and related families.