George Gray Leiper (February 3, 1786 – November 18, 1868) was a Jacksonian member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Biography

Born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on February 3, 1786, George Gray Leiper was a son of businessman

Thomas Leiper Thomas Leiper (15 December 1745 – 6 July 1825) was a Scottish American businessman, banker and politician who owned a successful tobacco exportation business as well as several mills and stone quarries. He served as a lieutenant in the Philade ...

. Educated in his community's common schools and an 1803 graduate of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, he relocated in 1810 to Ridley Township,

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

, which was known at the time as "Lapidea." While there, he engaged in logging. He also operated

bark mill Bark mills, also known as Catskill's mills, are water, steam, horse, ox or wind-powered edge mills used to process the bark, roots, and branches of various tree species into a fine powder known as tanbark, used for tanning leather. This powderin ...

s and stone quarries. In 1814, Leiper served as a first lieutenant with the Delaware County Fencibles, and performed his duties near Brandywine Creek. A member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

in 1822 and 1823, he was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress, during which time, he was the chair of the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury. He was not a candidate for renomination in

1830 It is known in European history as a rather tumultuous year with the Revolutions of 1830 in France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and Italy. Events January–March * January 11 – LaGrange College (later the University of North Alabama) b ...

, but, instead, resumed the management of his quarry properties. He was then appointed as an associate judge of the courts of Delaware County on February 25, 1843. Reappointed to that position on February 16, 1848, he served until December 1, 1851, when the office became elective.

Death and interment

Leiper died at his home, “Lapidea,” on

Crum Creek Crum Creek (from the Dutch, meaning "crooked creek") is a creek in Delaware County and Chester County, Pennsylvania, flowing approximately , generally in a southward direction and draining into the Delaware River in Eddystone, Pennsylvania. It ...

in Delaware County, Pennsylvania on November 18, 1868, and was interred in the Ridley Presbyterian Church Cemetery in

Ridley Township, Pennsylvania Ridley Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The population was 30,768 at the 2010 census. Ridley Township contains the census designated places of Folsom and Woodlyn along with the unincorporated communities of Crum Lynne a ...

."Leiper, George Gray," ''The Political Graveyard''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiper, George Gray Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania state court judges 1786 births 1868 deaths People from Ridley Township, Pennsylvania Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Politicians from Philadelphia Burials in Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians

Biography

Death and interment

See also

References