John Strohm (October 16, 1793 – September 12, 1884) 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 Whig 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 ...

for

Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district is located in the northeastern region of the state. It encompasses all of Wayne, Pike, and Lackawanna Counties; along with portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties. The district had been anchored i ...

from 1845 to 1849.

Early life

John Strohm was born in the part of Little Britain Township which formed the current Fulton Township to David and Ann Herr Strohm. He was home-schooled by is mother and encouraged to read newspapers and books. When he was twelve, his family moved to Strasbugh Township where his parents had been raised. For the next four years, he worked on the family farm and attended school for only three to four months during the winter until he reached age 16. After completing school, he continued working on the farm until 1815, except for a three-month period in 1813 where he taught school. In the fall of 1815, at age 22, he again taught school. This time it was in

West Lampeter Township West Lampeter Township is a township in central Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 17,365 at the 2020 census. History The Johannes Harnish Farmstead, Christian and Emma Herr Farm, Hans Herr House, Lime Valley Cov ...

from 1815 to 1821, after which he resumed farming. He moved to Providence Township in 1833 and lived there for forty-nine years.

Political career

In 1830, without his knowledge, friends attempted to nominate him for the state legislature. They were successful in the following year and he was elected, and twice re-elected, serving three consecutive one year terms. He was elected as an anti-mason. In 1834, he was nominated and elected to the

Pennsylvania 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 6th district and served two four-year terms. In 1845, he was elected to the United States Congress and served two two-year terms.

Political Office Chronology

*member of the

Pennsylvania 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 ...

(1832 - 1834) *member ( Anti-Masonic) of 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 ...

from the 7th District (1835 - 1836) **chair of the Claims Committee (1836 - 1838) *member (Anti-Masonic) of the

from the 6th District (1837 - 1842) **chair of the Claims Committee (1839) **chair of the Road, Bridges, and Inland Waterways Committee (1839) **chair of the Pensions and Gratuities Committee (1840 - 1841) **chair of the Improvement Committee (1841) *speaker of the

in 1842. *member ( Whig) of the

29th United States Congress The 29th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1845, ...

from the 8th District (1845 - 1846) *member (Whig) of the

30th United States Congress The 30th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1847, ...

from the 8th District (1847 - 1848) *delegate to the

1848 Whig National Convention The 1848 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held from June 7 to 9 in Philadelphia. It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1848 election. The convention selected General Za ...

*delegate to the

1852 Whig National Convention The 1852 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held from June 17 to June 20, in Baltimore, Maryland. It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1852 election. The convention sel ...

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in Providence Township (1859 - 1880) *delegate to the 1869 Pennsylvania Republican State Convention

Pennsylvania Senate Highlights

During his first term, Senator Strohm backed the chartering of the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January 1836.. The Bank's formal name, ac ...

as a state institution after its rechartering in the

Bank War The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) during the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). The affair resulted in the shu ...

by the US Congress failed. The effort failed. He supported

Thaddeus Stevens Thaddeus Stevens (April 4, 1792August 11, 1868) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of sla ...

's 1836 personal and property tax repeal and opposed the 1836 public school act. In his second term, after the

Buckshot War The Buckshot War was the outbreak of unrest in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that transpired after the Pennsylvania Governor, gubernatorial and legislative elections in 1838 when both the Whig and Democratic parties claimed control over the Pennsylvania ...

, he broke from his party as one of two dissenting votes that enabled Democrat Ebeneezer Kingsbury's passage of the 1840 tax-bill, which raised taxes at a time that the State was nearly insolvent. He also strongly advocated new revenue programs in support of the fledgling education system. Strohm promoted freshman

William Bigler William Bigler (January 1, 1814August 9, 1880) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democrat as the 12th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1852 to 1855 and as a member of the United States Senate for Pennsylvania from 1856 ...

's 1842 revenue-appropriations-bank bill. After Bigler spoke about his bill, Senator John Strohm prophetically said to Bigler: "Young man, that speech will make you Governor of Pennsylvania, if you behave yourself well hereafter." Bigler was elected governor in 1851.

Congressional Service

During his second term, he lived with

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

in a

Washington, DC ) , 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 ...

boarding house. Strohm was a pro-abolition Whig legislator. He retired from Congress in 1849.

Post-Congressional Period

Strohm returned to Pennsylvania worked as a

Surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

and served as

in Providence from 1859 through 1880. Strohm was a member of the board of directors of the Strasburg Bank during its founding. He was also a member of the board of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, being its secretary for thirty-six years and president for two years. He was president of the Big Spring and Beaver Valley Turnpike, and treasurer of the Providence Township School Board for six years. In 1882, Strohm moved to

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

. He died there in 1884 at age 93 and was interred in the Mellinger Mennonite Cemetery in Lancaster.

Personal life

Strohm was married in 1817 to Susannah Herr Barr, who died in 1832. After 23 years as a widower, he married Anne Witmer in 1857 after his time in

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Strohm, John 1793 births 1884 deaths 19th-century American politicians American Mennonites Burials in Pennsylvania Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania state senators People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania