John Van Lear Findlay (December 21, 1839 – April 19, 1907) was a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Biography

Born at Mount Tammany, near Williamsport, Maryland, Findlay was privately tutored, pursued classical studies, and graduated from

Princeton College Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

in 1858. He served as member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

in 1861 and 1862. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in 1869. He served as collector of internal revenue for the third district of Maryland at Baltimore in 1865 and 1866, and was appointed city solicitor for Baltimore in 1876 and served two years. He was orator for Maryland on "Maryland Day" at the United States Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Findlay was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887). He resumed the practice of law, and was appointed a member of the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n Claims Commission in 1889, and nominated as arbitrator on the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an Claims Commission in 1893, but the Senate rejected the nomination. He died in

, April 19, 1907, and was interred in Greenmount Cemetery.

Family

Findlay was a nephew of U.S. Senator William Findlay's son John King Findlay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Findlay, John Van Lear 1839 births 1907 deaths Princeton University alumni Maryland lawyers Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland 19th-century American politicians