Famous Signers on Colonial Currency
John Benezet Signed July 20, 1775 Pennsylvania Note
JOHN BENEZET. Member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Congress, named to Philadelphia's Committee of Correspondence, Continental Congress Commissioner of Claims in the Treasury Office in 1777.
Pennsylvania. July 20, 1775. Twenty Shillings. Plate B. Choice Extremely Fine. Fr. PA-179. A bold note with four large margins, even and quite clean in overall its appearance. Only 3,500 printed. Boldly signed in dark brown “John Benezet” being the top of three signatures.
John Benezet was a native of Philadelphia and the son of Daniel Benezet, a prominent Philadelphia merchant. Benezet briefly attended the College of Philadelphia in 1757 and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1768. In 1775, he married Hanna Bingham, and with that, his father gave him £3,000 plus £6,000 in stock to set up an import business. On March 27, 1776, Benezet purchased George Taylor's estate (the Signer of the Declaration of Independence) for £1,800.

Benezet, like George Taylor, became active in political affairs, but only briefly. In early 1775, he served as one of the Secretaries who recorded proceedings at the Pennsylvania Provincial Congress, a meeting Taylor also attended. In August of that year, he was named to Philadelphia's Committee of Correspondence.

Two years later, in 1777, the Continental Congress appointed Benezet as Commissioner of Claims in the Treasury Office. However, he resigned in 1778 and returned to his business interests. Benezet died in the winter of 1780-81, when his ship, the Shillelagh, was lost at sea during a voyage to France.