Joseph Baltzell Showalter (February 11, 1851 – December 3, 1932) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

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, ...

Personal

Joseph B. Showalter was born near

Smithfield, Pennsylvania Smithfield is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 830 at the 2020 census. It is served by the Albert Gallatin Area School District. The town's largest employer is a small wire producing plant run by Nels ...

. He attended Georges Creek Academy at Smithfield, and taught school in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

from 1867 to 1873. He moved to

Chicora, Pennsylvania Chicora is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,043 at the 2010 census. Geography Chicora is located at (40.949468, -79.742631), along the upper reaches of Buffalo Creek. Pennsylvania Route 68 passes thr ...

, in 1873 and engaged in the production of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. He studied medicine at

Long Island College Hospital University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital (or LICH) was a 506-bed teaching hospital located in the Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York. The hospital was founded in 1858 as Long Island Coll ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, in 1883, and graduated in 1884 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of

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 ...

(which later merged into the

University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine (abbreviated UMSOM), located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medi ...

which is a component of the

University of Maryland, Baltimore The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1807, it comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States ...

. He died in 1932 in Washington, D.C., and was interred in the North Cemetery in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Career

Medicine

Showalter practiced medicine in Chicora from 1884 to 1890, when he again engaged in the production of petroleum and natural gas.

Politics

Showalter was elected as member of the

Pennsylvania State House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

in 1887 and 1888. He served in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1889 to 1892. He was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James J. Davidson. He was reelected to the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1902.

Later career

He resumed his former business pursuits and resided in

Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502. History Butler was n ...

. He later moved to

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, and then to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He was engaged in the development of land in southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
* 1851 births 1932 deaths SUNY Downstate Medical Center alumni University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni Republican Party Pennsylvania state senators Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Burials in Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub