William Jack (July 29, 1788 – February 28, 1852) 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 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, ...

Biography

William Jack was born in

Greensburg, Pennsylvania Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau (ecoregion), W ...

. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced. He moved to

Brookville, Pennsylvania Brookville is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, the population was 3,933. Founded in ...

, in 1831 and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was the division inspector of militia for Westmoreland and Fayette Counties from 1830 to 1835. He served as

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of Brookville in 1833, and was a contractor and builder in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and assisted in the construction of a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

there. He returned to Pennsylvania and served as a county judge of

Jefferson County, Pennsylvania Jefferson County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,492. Its county seat is Brookville. The county was established on March 26, 1804, from part of Lycoming County and later organized ...

, about 1840. Jack was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-seventh Congress. After his time in Congress, he was engaged in agricultural pursuits. He returned to Greensburg in 1846 and died there in 1852. Interment in the Old Cemetery of the St. Clair Cemetery Association.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
1788 births 1852 deaths Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania state court judges Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American legislators 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers {{Pennsylvania-state-judge-stub