Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Samuel Richards SHIPLEY
SAMUEL R. SHIPLEY
WHEN the Quakers settled in Pennsylvania they left branches of their stock in various sections of the State to take root in the kindly soil, flourish and grow; and today the descendants of these early colonists are among the most progressive of the Pennsylvania families.
SAMUEL R. SHIPLEY was born in the city of Philadelphia, on January 8, 1828, of Quaker ancestors, and his family traces its genealogy back to the year 1680 or thereabouts. Mr. Shipley's grandfather on the paternal side, William Shipley, emigrated from Staffordshire, England, in 1750, and settled in Philadelphia; an uncle of his having come to America about twenty years before. This uncle married Elizabeth Levis, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, and settled at Wilmington, Delaware, where he built the first mill. A descendant of this branch of the family was Joseph Shipley, who was long connected with the American Banking House, in London, of Brown, Shipley & Company. The son of the William Shipley who settled in Philadelphia, in 1750, was Thomas Shipley, and he was the father of the subject of this biography. Thomas Shipley was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, and at his decease, in 1836, was President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the first President of which was Benjamin Franklin. His wife was Lydia Richards, a descendant of John Sharpless, one of the emigrants with William Penn to Pennsylvania.
Samuel R. Shipley received his education in the Friends' Schools, in Philadelphia, and at West town, Chester County. At fourteen, he chose a mercantile career, and within a few years after arriving at manhood was made a member of the importing house of C. W. Churchman & Company, in Philadelphia. While with them he made many trips to Europe, acquiring a wide reputation as a merchant of the highest standing. He devoted his leisure moments to the completion of his education, especially in literary branches, efforts that are reflected in his later writings. After 1857 Mr. Shipley became associated with the firm of Shipley, Hazard & Hutchinson, a commission house handling Philadelphia made goods.
After seven successful years Mr. Shipley retired with a modest competence. During his business career, and, since that time, he has given much attention to the city's public charities and to works of a benevolent nature, not only among the Society of Friends, but throughout the city at large. He has long been connected with the Preston Retreat, the House of Refuge, the Home Missionary Society and other Quaker City charities. He is also Treasurer of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The connection in which he is best known, however, and through which his name is honored as that of a splendid financier and remarkable manager, is his presidency of the Provident Life and Trust Company. The great success of the Friends' Provident Institution, of Bradford, England, had attracted the attention of prominent members of the Society of Friends in this country, and the idea was conceived of organizing a similar company to popularize life insurance among Friends in the United States. Owing to the fact that the peculiar training of Friends inclined them to great care in business matters, and especially as there was a general prejudice against life insurance, it was supposed that to place a life insurance company under the management of prominent Friends would be the surest way to induce the members of the Society to avail themselves of so desirable and necessary a protection for their families and dependents. It was decided, however, that the membership should not be confined to Friends, but extended to all persons of like careful habits. The design of the promoters of the Provident Life and Trust Company was that the business should be conducted upon the mutual plan; that is, that the members should be insured at actual cost, the difference between the premium charged and the actual cost as ascertained at the end of each year to be applied to reduce the next following premium. It was decided further to combine with life insurance the trust business. The first company of the kind was organized in 1812, since which time the number has been largely multiplied, and they now occupy a high standing among the financial institutions of the country. Their business consists principally in the management of the estates of deceased persons and the discharge of similar duties. These are so delicate and sacred that only companies managed with the highest skill and integrity can hope for favor and patronage. The reputation of the Provident Life and Trust Company is of the highest, and to Mr. Shipley, who was elected President at the organization, much of this is due. He has continued as President to the present time, and it does not detract from the value of the assistance which he has received from his associate officers to say that much of the success of the company has been due to his courage, foresight and great administrative ability.
Mr. Shipley has been twice married. His first wife was Anna Shinn, daughter of Earl Shinn, of Philadelphia, and a descendant of Thomas Shinn, the first Surveyor-General of New Jersey. She died in 1888. In 1890, Mr. Shipley married Agnes Gillespie Evans, the daughter of William D. Evans, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and a descendant of Henry Paul Mallet-Prevost, one of the bodyguard of Louis XVI., who, leaving France at the time of the Reign of Terror, settled in Frenchtown, New Jersey, in the latter part of the last century.
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