John Roberts Reading (November 1, 1826 – February 14, 1886) was a Democratic member of the

United States 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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

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

Somerton, Philadelphia Somerton is a neighborhood in the Far Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The neighborhood is bounded by Red Lion Road on the south, Roosevelt Boulevard on the east, East County Line Road and Poquessing Creek on the no ...

on November 1, 1826, Reading completed preparatory studies, graduated from the

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...

Philadelphia 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 ...

, in 1847 and began practice in Somerton. He later graduated from Hahnemann College in Philadelphia and practiced

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

. Reading presented credentials as a Democratic Member-elect to the

41st United States Congress The 41st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1869, ...

and served from March 4, 1869, to April 13, 1870, when he was succeeded by Caleb Newbold Taylor, who contested his election. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1870.

Death and interment

Reading died in Philadelphia on February 14, 1886, and was interred in the William Penn Cemetery in Somerton.

Sources

The Political Graveyard

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reading, John R. 1826 births 1886 deaths American homeopaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Drexel University alumni Politicians from Philadelphia Thomas Jefferson University alumni 19th-century American legislators