Hannah Callowhill Penn

About

Remembered for her marriage to prominent Quaker, entrepreneur, and Province of Pennsylvania founder William Penn, this late 17th and early 18th-century colonist successfully governed Pennsylvania during her husband's six-year illness and for an additional eight years following his death.

Before Fame

She grew up in Bristol, England, as the child of a merchant named Thomas Callowhill. She set sail for the New World at the age of twenty-eight.

Trivia

When he was making plans for the development of Philadelphia, William Penn drew a Callowhill Street into the map of the city to honor Hannah Callowhill Penn and her extended family.

Family Life

Her marriage to William Penn resulted in nine children. Of those, only John, Thomas, Margaret, Richard, Dennis, and Louis survived to adulthood.

Associated With

She was William Penn's second wife; when they married, she was in her mid-twenties, and he was in his early fifties.