Biography

06/04/1874 - 04/29/1955

Frederick Thomas Gelder (R23) Bradford, Susquehanna and Wayne Counties

Early Life: 

Frederick Thomas Gelder, born June 4, 1874, Carbondale, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; son of Frederick T. and Katherine Blake Gelder; attended public and business schools; city editor, Carbondale Leader; editor and publisher, Forest City News; married, Edith L. Brown, 1903; postmaster, United States Postal Service, Forest City, 1907-1915; elected, justice of the peace, 4 years; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1920-1923; not a candidate for reelection, 1924; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1925-1940; elected, Senate President pro tempore 1939-1940; member, State Highway Commission; member, Susquehanna County, State Committee of Public Safety, World War II; trustee, president of the Board, Fairview State Hospital for the Criminal Insane; unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania Auditor General, 1940; appointed, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board 1940-1955, chair, 1941-1955; died, April 29, 1955, (aged 80) Carbondale General Hospital, Carbondale, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; interment, Willow View Cemetery, Clifford, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Journalist, city editor, Carbondale Leader; 1929; purchased, editor and publisher, Forest City News, 1898-1941.  

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Trustee, president, Board, Fairview State Hospital for the Criminal Insane; director, vice president, board, First National Bank of Forest City; member, Enterprise Hose Company No. 1; Mason; president, Kiwanis, member, Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association; Susquehanna County chair, World War I, Four Minute Men; member, State Highway Commission; member, Susquehanna County, State Committee of Public Safety, World War II. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Appointed, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and William Howard Taft, Postmaster, United States Postal Service, Forest City, 1907-1915.   

Elected, justice of the peace, 4 years.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1920-1923; not a candidate for reelection, 1924.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1925-1940; elected, Senate President pro tempore, 1939-1940; chaired Public Printing 1927-1928, Forestry, 1929-1930; Public Roads and Highways, 1931-1936; represents the first pro tem to chair a Rules Committee, 1939-1940, President pro tempore and member ex-officio all Standing Committees.

As pro tem, served as point man for the final assault on deactivating Governor George Howard Earle III, programs. Among his confederates were senators Charles Ealy Appropriations chair, Charles Mallery Judiciary General chair, and Weldon Heyburn chair Labor and Industry: who formed the “Four Horsemen,” who, with Senate floor leader and Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association vice president Mason Owlet, dismantled the General State Authority.

Unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania Auditor General 1940.

Appointed, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board 1940-1955, chair, 1941-1955.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=3152&body=H

Legacy:

His pallbearers included governors, Arthur James, Edward Martin, James Duff and John Fine.

 Cited: 

The Pennsylvania manual, 84. (1939). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 693 and 711.