John Findlay (March 31, 1766November 5, 1838) was an American politician and served two terms as a 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's 5th congressional district Pennsylvania's fifth congressional district encompasses all of Delaware County, an exclave of Chester County, a small portion of southern Montgomery County and a section of southern Philadelphia. Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon represents the distri ...

Biography

John Findlay was born in

Mercersburg Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, located near the southern border of Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is southwest of Harrisburg, the state capital. Due to its location in a rural area, it had a relatively large percentage ...

in the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

as the oldest son of Samuel Findlay and Jane (née Smith). His younger brothers were William Findlay and James Findlay. All three brothers became politicians, serving at national, state and local levels. William served two terms as governor of Pennsylvania, and James served as mayor of Cincinnati before the War of 1812, and later as US Representative, from 1825-1833. Findlay served as a

prothonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

from 1809 to 1821. He served as a captain in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. He moved to

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Mas ...

, where he served as a register and recorder of deeds, generally considered an advantageous appointment. He later was appointed as a clerk of the orphans’ court and clerk of the court of quarter sessions, serving from 1809 to 1818. Findlay joined the Republican Party. He won a special election to the Seventeenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Duncan. He was reelected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress and elected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1826. Appointed as US

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Chambersburg on March 20, 1829, he served until his death there in 1838. He was buried in Falling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery at Chambersburg.

Notes

Sources

The Political Graveyard

External links

* American military personnel of the War of 1812 Presbyterians from Pennsylvania 1766 births 1838 deaths Pennsylvania postmasters People from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians People of colonial Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub