Laird Howard Barber (October 25, 1848 – February 16, 1928) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician who was 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, serving one term from 1899 to 1901.

Life and career

Barber was born on a farm near

Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania Mifflinburg is a borough in Union County, located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. Mifflinburg was first settled in 1792 by Elias and Catharina Jungman (Youngman) and their two children. They divided the land into 60’ by 1 ...

. He prepared for college in the Mifflinburg Academy, and graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1871. He taught school at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania and was principal of the

Mauch Chunk Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe. Jim Thorpe is ...

Public Schools from 1875 to 1880. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, in 1881, and commenced practice at Mauch Chunk. He was elected in 1890 a director of the Mauch Chunk School Board and served as president and treasurer, and also served as secretary of the town council.

Congress and judicial career

He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States House of Representatives in 1896. Barber was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1900. He resumed the practice of law in Mauch Chunk. In 1913, he was elected president judge of the fifty-sixth judicial district of Pennsylvania. He was reelected in 1923 and served until his death in Mauch Chunk in 1928. He is interred in Evergreen Cemetery in East Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.

Sources

Laird Howard Barber
at ''The Political Graveyard'' 1848 births 1928 deaths 19th-century American lawyers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Lafayette College alumni Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania state court judges People from Carbon County, Pennsylvania People from Union County, Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-state-judge-stub