John Penn was born on May 6, 1740 in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. He was the son of Moses and Catherine (Taylor) Penn. His father was well to do, but made no effort to secure any education for his son beyond the little he could obtain in a country school of that day.
After the death of his father, John Penn's kinsman, Edmund Pendleton, gave him the use of a fine library in which he studied and read law to such profit that he was licensed at twenty-one.
John Penn practised law with success for some twelve years in Virginia, and in 1774 moved to the neighborhood of Williamsboro in Granville County, North Carolina, where many of his relatives lived. There, having an attractive personality and ability as a speaker, he became a leader and in 1775 was sent to the provincial congress, where he served on numerous committees and won a reputation for tireless industry. Within a month he was elected to the Continental Congress. He soon lost hope of any adjustment with England and declared: "My first wish is that America may be free; the second that she may be restored to Great Britain in peace and harmony and upon Just terms". His service in Congress was performed at great personal sacrifice. Others retired but he held on, writing to his friend, Thomas Person, "For God's sake, my Good Sir, encourage our People, animate them to dare even to die for their country". As a member of the provincial congress at Halifax in April 1776, he favored the instruction to vote for independence, and returned to Philadelphia in time to vote for and sign the Declaration.
John Penn was a member of Congress until 1777, was elected again in 1778, and served until 1780. The task of the North Carolina delegates was by no means purely legislative; "they combined the functions of financial and purchasing agents, of commissary generals, reporters of all great rumors or events, and in general bore the relation to the remote colony of ministers resident at a foreign court". They had to buy military supplies, arrange shipment, and conduct intricate financial operations. All these things Penn did besides attending regularly the sessions of Congress. One contemporary allusion suggests that he found some relaxation from labor in Philadelphia society. Some light is thrown upon his character by his conduct in a certain affair of honor. Henry Laurens, president of Congress, challenged him to a duel, but since they boarded at the same place, they took breakfast together on the morning of the day set for the meeting and then started out together for the meeting place.
After John Penn had assisted his elderly opponent across an almost impassable street, he suggested that they abandon their foolish proceeding, to which proposal Laurens agreed. In 1780 Penn became a member of the North Carolina board of war. Upon him fell the major part of the work of that body, and he rendered able service, although the board was unpopular with the army and opposed by the governor, whose constitutional powers it curtailed. It was abolished in 1781 at the insistence of Gov. Thomas Burke. Penn had declined a judgeship in 1777, and in July 1781, on the plea of ill health, he refused to serve on the council of state. Robert Morris appointed him receiver of taxes in North Carolina for the Confederation, but he retained the place only a few weeks. He returned to the practice of law, and little is known of the remainder of his life.
John Penn died on September 14, 1788.
On July 28, 1763, John Penn married Susannah Lyme. They had three children. Their daughter, Lucy, married John Taylor of Caroline, a political leader from Virginia.
