Member Biography

William Pennell 

Seal
Sessions Office Position District Party
1804-1805       1 Republican
1805-1806       1 Republican
1806-1807       1 Republican
1807-1808       1 Republican

COUNTIES: Delaware, Philadelphia  


Biography

11/29/1767 - 01/25/1818


William Pennell (Democratic-Republican1) Delaware, Philadelphia City and Philadelphia Counties 1804-1808

Early Life:

William Pennell, born November 29, 1767, Middletown Township, Chester (now Delaware) County, Province of Pennsylvania, British Colonial America; son of William and Mary Dell Pennell; unsuccessful campaign, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1800, 1801, 1802; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1803-1804; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1804-1808; unsuccessful campaign, Auditor, 1811; unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1817; married, Dorothea Graham, 1796 (d.1798); died, January, 25, 1818; Burial location unknown.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Unsuccessful campaign, Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Delaware County, 1800, 1801, 1802.

Elected, Democratic-Republican, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Delaware County, 1803-1804.

Elected, Democratic-Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1st district, Delaware, Philadelphia City and Philadelphia Counties, 1804-1808; Judicial Reform, establishment of two supreme court districts, abolished the old High Court of Errors, transferring duties to Supreme Court, 1804-1805; Passmore v. Justices Shippen-Yeates-Smith Supreme Court impeachment trial, Senate, 1805; committee assignments Health Laws, 1806-1807; establish Militia; Schools or Seminaries of Learning. 

Unsuccessful campaign, Auditor, Delaware County, 1811. 

Unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Delaware County, 1817. 

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Currently not available.

Legacy: 

Member, Senate, Impeachment, Chief Justice Edward Shippen, Jasper Yeates and Thomas Smith, for charging a man named Thomas Passmore with contempt of court. All were acquitted, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1805.

Pennell Road, Lima, Delaware County is named for his family.

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members P"Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)