William McAleer (January 6, 1838April 19, 1912) was an American politician 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, ...

who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for

Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district Pennsylvania's third congressional district includes several areas of the city of Philadelphia, including West Philadelphia, most of Center City, and parts of North Philadelphia. It has been represented by Democrat Dwight Evans since 2019. With ...

from 1891 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1901.

Early life and education

McAleer was born in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

on the

island of Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

(the entirety of which was then part of

the U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

). He emigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 1851. He attended public and private schools.

Career

In 1861 he became a partner with his father and brothers in the firm of John McAleer & Sons, flour merchants. He was elected in 1870 to the Common Council, the lower house of the city council at the time. He was not renominated to a second term, but was appointed to the Board of Guardians of the Poor in 1873, and served as its vice president and later president. He was also member of the commercial exchange and served successively as its director, vice president, and president. In 1880 he was director of the chamber of commerce. As president of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick he organized for the relief of immigrants. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1886 to represent the 2nd Senate district. In 1890, he was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for Congress against Richard Vaux, who had just been elected in May 1890 to serve out the term of Samuel J. Randall. Vaux was nominated by the Independent Democrats and had his name on the Republican line; but McAleer won the election by about 3,000 votes. He won re-election in 1892 as an Independent Democrat with the endorsement of the Republicans. In 1894, after two terms, he was defeated for the Democratic nomination by Joseph P. McCullen, a lawyer who was defeated in the general election by Frederick Halterman. He won back his seat in

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that ...

by defeating Halterman by 2,099 votes. In the 1900 elections, he was defeated by Henry Burk, an election in which Republicans increased their majority from 18 to 47 members. After his defeat, he was appointed as a committeeman to the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee under a banner of reform. As a member of Congress, he served on the Committee of Naval Affairs and brought federal funds for improvements at the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

and secured construction for cruisers and battleships at the yard. he also won appropriations of $750,000 for the construction of the new

Philadelphia Mint The Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national ...

building. He resumed business activities in Philadelphia and died in

Germantown, Philadelphia Germantown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Deitscheschteddel'') is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded by German, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is ...

, aged 74. He is interred at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:McAleer, William 1838 births 1912 deaths Burials at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery People from County Tyrone Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators Philadelphia City Council members Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians