John Hoover Rothermel (March 7, 1856 – August 1922) was an American lawyer and politician who served four terms as a Democratic 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, ...

from 1907 to 1915.

Biography

John H. Rothermel was born in Richmond Township, Pennsylvania. He pursued an academic course at Brunner's Business College in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

. He taught school in Blandon Township, Pennsylvania, from 1876 to 1881. He served as a member of the faculty at Brunner's Scientific Academy. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1881 and commenced practice in Reading.

Early career

Rothermel worked as an assistant district attorney of Reading from 1886 to 1889. He served as county solicitor of

Berks County, Pennsylvania Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware Ri ...

from 1895 to 1898. He was an unsuccessful candidate for judge of the court of common pleas in 1899.

Congress

Rothermel was elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from 1907 to 1915. He served as the chairman of the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor during the Sixty-second Congress, and of the United States House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce during the Sixty-third Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1914.

Later career and death

He resumed the practice of law, and died in Reading in 1922. Interment in Reading's

Charles Evans Cemetery Charles Evans Cemetery is an historic, nonsectarian, garden-style cemetery located in the city of Reading, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Charles Evans (1768-1847), a son of Quaker parents and native of Philadelphia who became a prominent attorne ...

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothermel, John H. 1856 births 1922 deaths People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Burials at Charles Evans Cemetery Pennsylvania lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American lawyers