Thomas Burnside (July 28, 1782March 25, 1851) was an American politician and judge who served as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

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 ...

for

Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district is located in the east central part of the state and encompasses all of Carbon County, Columbia County, Lebanon County, Montour County, and Schuylkill County, as well as parts of Berks County, Luzerne ...

from 1815 to 1816 and as an associate justice of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme ...

from 1845 until his death in 1851.

Early life and education

Thomas Burnside was born near

Newtownstewart Newtownstewart is a village and townland of in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is overlooked by hills called Bessy Bell and Mary Gray and lies on the River Strule below the confluence with its tributary the Owenkillew. It is situated in th ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

in the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...

. He emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with his father’s family, who settled in

Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the 7 ...

, in 1793. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1804 and commenced practice in

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania Bellefonte is a borough in, and the county seat of, Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is approximately twelve miles northeast of State College and is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The boro ...

Career

He was appointed deputy

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

on January 12, 1809, and served in the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

for the 13th district from 1811 to 1814 and again from 1823 to 1826 when he also served as Speaker of the Senate. Burnside was elected as a

to the Fourteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of

David Bard David Bard (1744 – March 12, 1815) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania. Born at Carroll's Delight in Adams County, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Princeton College (New Jersey) in 1773. He studied theology and was licensed ...

and served until his resignation in April 1816. He was appointed president judge of the Luzerne district courts in 1815, and resigned in 1819. He was again a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate and its presiding officer in 1823. He was president judge of the fourth judicial district from 1826 to 1841 and later presided in the same capacity over the seventh judicial district. He was appointed an associate justice of the

in 1845, which office he held until his death in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Interment in Union Cemetery in

Notes

References

The Political Graveyard
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnside, Thomas 1782 births 1851 deaths 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians Burials in Pennsylvania Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania state court judges Pennsylvania state senators People from Newtownstewart Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania