In his twenties, William Penn converted to become a Quaker. His father had been very wealthy and to pay for debts that Charles II owed him, the king gave Penn's son a large chunk of land in the New World which became Pennsylvania, one of the thirteen original colonies. William Penn did not want to name it that because he feared people would think he named it after himself. However, in actuality it was named after his father. William Penn died on July 30, 1718, more than thirty-five years after he founded his 'Holy Experiment' of Pennsylvania.