Biography

07/20/1838 - 02/13/1919

Staff Chaplain Norman Bruce Critchfield (R36) Bedford, Fulton Somerset Counties, 1890-1898

Early Life:

Norman Bruce Critchfield born July 20, 1838, Middlecreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania; son of Joseph Boucher Critchfield and Harriet King Critchfield; common schools education; Ohio University, Athens, Ohio; engaged, farming; staff Chaplain, Civil War, 1862-1865; teacher, superintendent, Somerset schools, 1866-1869; elected, Prothonotary of Common Pleas, Clerk of the Criminal Court, 1885-1889; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1890-1898; chaired, Board of Judges, United States Department of Agriculture, World Columbian Exposition, 1893; State Board of Agriculture, 15 years; Secretary of Agriculture, Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, 1903-1907; married, Eliza Jane Burnworth Critchfield, 1849, children, Norman B., Elmer, Sadie, Mary, Joseph, Martha, John B., Mignion and Lavinia; died, February 13, 1919, (aged 80) Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; interment Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Mustered in on November 24, 1862, staff Chaplain, 171st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, nine-month service. Reenlisted, staff Chaplain, May 22, 1864, 28th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; mustered out, July 18, 1865; participated General Philip Sherman’s capture of Atlanta and Savannah, and the Sherman’s march through the Carolinas to Washington, D.C. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Prothonotary of Common Pleas, Clerk of the Criminal Court, 1885-1889.  

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 36 district, Bedford, Fulton Somerset Counties, 1890-1898; chair, Agriculture Committee; member, Appropriations, Congressional Apportionment, Judicial Apportionment, Law and Order and Mines and Mining Committees.   

Chaired, Board of Judges, United States Department of Agriculture, World Columbian Exposition, 1893.

State Board of Agriculture, 15 years.

Secretary of Agriculture, Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, 1903-1907.

Cited: 

Cochran, T.B., (Ed.) Miller, H.P. (A. Ed.) (1898) Smull’s Legislative Hand Book, Biographical Sketches of Senators, pages 1136, 1164 and 1169-1171.