Edward Despard Gazzam (born

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

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, ...

, May 7, 1803; died

Philadelphia 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 ...

, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1878) was an American doctor, lawyer, politician, and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. He was a founder of the

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...

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 ...

Early life

Gazzam was the son of William and Martha (Hunt) Gazzam; his English journalist father fled Burwell for America in 1800 to avoid arrest for his radicalism after the arrest of his friend

Edward Despard Edward Marcus Despard (175121 February 1803), an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish officer in the service of the The Crown, British Crown, gained notoriety as a colonial administrator for refusing to recognise racial distinctions in law and, following his ...

. Gazzam attended the

Western University of Pennsylvania The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, graduating in 1824, and then read law with

Richard Biddle Richard Biddle (March 25, 1796 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – July 6, 1847 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was an American author and politician. Richard Biddle received a classical education, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1 ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1826 and practiced for a time with his mentor, but ill health made him change his profession. He next studied medicine, graduating from the

University of Pennsylvania medical school The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...

in Philadelphia in 1831. He established a practice in Pittsburgh.

Political career

In 1839 Gazzam was nominated for state senate by the "

Locofoco The Locofocos (also Loco Focos or Loco-focos) were a faction of the Democratic Party in American politics that existed from 1835 until the mid-1840s. History The faction, originally named the Equal Rights Party, was created in New York City as a ...

" Democrats, losing narrowly to Thomas Williams, the

Anti-Masonic Party The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest third party in the United States. Formally a single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry, but later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After ...

candidate. In 1841 he ran again on the Democratic ticket for state senate, losing by one vote to Whig George Darsie. In March 1844 he was nominated in a special election for United States Representative for

Pennsylvania's 21st congressional district Pennsylvania's twenty-first congressional district was a congressional district in northwestern Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Nor ...

, losing to Whig Cornelius Darragh. In 1848 he attended the organizing and nominating convention of the Free Soil Party in Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and also ran for governor of Pennsylvania on the Free Soil ticket. In 1855 he ran for the state senate from Allegheny County on the Free Soil line. By 1856 he had become involved with the fledgling Republican Party, addressing the organizing convention in Pittsburgh in February and serving as a delegate to the national convention in Philadelphia. Gazzam was elected to the state senate in 1856 on the Republican ticket.

Family

Edward Gazzam's older sister Catherine (1799-1882) married John Bartlett Butler (1793-1870); their son John Gazzam Butler (1842-1914) had a long career developing new munitions and manufacturing techniques in the Ordance Corps. Gazzam married Elizabeth Antoinette Beelen (1818-1871) in 1835. Beelen was the granddaughter of Baron Frederick Eugene de Beelen-Bertholf, the first Austrian minister to the United States; her father Constantin Anthony Beelen had become a wealthy Pittsburgh merchant and manufacturer. Edward and Elizabeth Gazzam had three children, Audley William, Emma Louise, and Joseph Murphy Gazzam. Audley Gazzam (1836-1884) was a bankruptcy lawyer who wrote several books on the subject and served as major of the Pennsylvania 103rd Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. Joseph M. Gazzam (1842-1927), a doctor and businessman, also served in the Pennsylvania state senate, from 1877 to 1880. Gazzam is buried in

Allegheny Cemetery Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a historic rural cemetery. The non-sectarian, wooded hillside park is located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, and boun ...

in Pittsburgh.https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=4279&body=S Pennsylvania State Senate biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gazzam, Edward D. 1803 births 1878 deaths University of Pittsburgh alumni Lawyers from Pittsburgh Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Politicians from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Democrats Pennsylvania Free Soilers Pennsylvania Republicans Pennsylvania state senators 19th-century American lawyers