Lived: 1644-1718 William Penn, son of a prominent naval officer, was a convert to the Quaker faith, and would become one of the faith's most prominent figures, second perhaps only to its founder, George Fox. As members of his radical faith found scorn both at home and in already existing colonies, Penn took it upon himself to use his ample family connections to create a colony where members of any faith, not simply Quakers, could live and worship unmolested. This open door policy made the great forest of Penn's Woods, or Pennsylvania, into a patchwork of different sects and one of the most populous colonies on the continent.