PENN, John, signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Caroline county, Virginia, 17 May, 1741; died in North Carolina in September, 1788. He was the only child of Noses Penn, and Catherine, his wife, who was a daughter of John Taylor, of the same state and county. Owing to a singular neglect on the part of his parents, who could well afford to pay the expense of his tuition, at the age of eighteen, when his father died, he had only been instructed for a few years at a country school, and was largely self-educated. He studied law with his relative, Edmund Pendleton, was admitted to the bar in 1762, and displayed great ability and eloquence in practice. In 1774 he removed to Greenville county, North Carolina, and on 8 September, 1775, was chosen to the Continental congress to supply a vacancy, taking his seat on 12 October he signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was re-elected in 1777 and in 1779. When Lord Cornwallis invaded North Carolina, Mr. Penn was placed in charge of the public affairs of that state, given almost dictatorial powers, and he discharged the duties of his trust with credit. In March, 1784, he was appointed receiver of taxes for North Carolina, which office he resigned in the following April. His reason for so doing was principally owing to the fact that the state, while eagerly maintaining the cause of independence by resolutions and declaration, refused to furnish the means by which it could be secured. Mr. Penn afterward resumed his station of a private citizen, and, being possessed of sufficient property, derived from his industry and patrimony, was employed in discharging his private duties with benevolence during the remainder of his life.