Biography

1804 - 07/1855

COPLAN, William F., a Representative from Fayette County; born, circa 1804 in Fayette County, Pa.; printer; owner, The American Observer (1825); owner, printing company, Boas & 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 as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1831-1832, 1836-1837, and 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.