Biography:

William Redwood, son of Abraham Redwood and his second wife Patience Phillips, was born in 1726 in Newport, Rhode Island. He worked for a number of years in partnership with Elias Bland. Together as local merchants, they imported goods from Britain, China, and India for their customers. Redwood moved to Philadelphia 1772 where he continued his mercantile pursuits.  

In addition to these New England connections, the Redwood family (through Abraham's marriage to his first wife, Mehetabel Langford) also owned an estate on the island of Antigua in the West Indies. The estate was maintained by a number of Redwood's half-siblings. When his nephew Jonas Redwood died, Redwood traveled to Antigua to help take care of the estate. He lived there from 1782 to 1787 and helped run a plantation located on the estate.

Redwood returned to Philadelphia in 1787 and continued his work as a merchant. He married twice, first to Hannah Holmes, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Holmes, and second to Sarah Saunders, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Saunders. Each marriage produced several children. For a time, Redwood helped keep track of the finances of Joseph Saunders' estate after his death.  William Redwood died in Philadelphia in 1815.