Member Biography

Biography

William F. Coplan (D18) Fayette and Greene Counties 1838-1842

William F. Coplan, born, circa 1804, Fayette County, Pennsylvania; printer; owner, The American Observer, 1825; owner, printing company, Boas and Coplan; appointed, justice of the peace, Redstone Township and Brownsville, 1828-1830; owner, The Brownsville Galaxy, 1829; unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1829, 1832; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1831-1832, 1836-1837, 1837-1838 terms; commissioner to build tollhouses and toll-gates for Cumberland Road (now the National Road) (1832); elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1838-1842); owner, Pennsylvania Reporter (1838-1840); merchant; appointed, school director, Brownsville (1850); died, July of 1855 in Iowa.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1829. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1831-1832. 

Following an act of legislature from the Pennsylvania General Assembly on April 4, 1831, would be named one of the two commissioners, build Cumberland Road which would become the Pennsylvania stretch of the National Road. 

Unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1832. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1836-1838. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 18th district, Fayette and Greene Counties, 1838-1842.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Official Website - PA House Archives Official Website

Cited:

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

Searight, Thomas B.; Bruce, Robert (1894). "The Old Pike and The National Road"

Burial location unknown.

So far this is the only known accurate information.