Biography

12/31/1828 - 03/16/1894

Private Andrew Jackson “Jack” Herr (R15) Dauphin County

Early Life: 

Andrew Jackson Herr, born, December 31, 1828, Greencastle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania; son of Daniel Kunkle Herr and Salome Sarah Herr; graduated, Zane Street Grammar School (Philadelphia High School); author; contributor, Saturday Evening Post, Neal's Gazette, of Philadelphia; Dauphin county bar, 1850; private, Civil War, 1862; lawyer 1850-1894; elected, District Attorney, Dauphin County, 1856-1865; elected, solicitor, Dauphin County, 1866; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1867-1868; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1874-1884; elected, President Pro Tempore, 1879-1880; married, Martha Linn Coyle Herr, (d.1858) no children; married, Nancy Mathers Coyle Herr (d.1862) son, Daniel Coyle Herr; married, Nancy Jane “Nannie” Gilmore Herr, 1863 one child Eleanor Gilbert Boyd; died, March 16, 1894, (age 61) Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; interred, Harrisburg Cemetery, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.(i)

Early Career:

Enlisted, private, First Regiment, Company E, First Militia, mustering out, Camp Curtin; regiment disbanded, September 25, 1862, it served its purpose, supplying General George Brinton McClellan’s troops during the Maryland Campaign (Battle of Antietam). Afterwards known as the “Colonel”

Authored:

Herr, Andrew Jackson.  Fanny Roberteen, or, The Chain of Destiny: A Romance.  Boston: Gleeson, 1847.

Herr, Andrew Jackson.  Maid of the Valley, or, The Brother’s Revenge: A Tale of the Revolution.  New York: W.H. Graham, 1847.

Herr, Andrew Jackson.  In Memoriam: Decoration Day.  n.p., 1882.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, District Attorney, Dauphin County (1856-1865).

Elected, solicitor, Dauphin County (1866).

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1867 and 1868; not a candidate for reelection 1869.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate 15^th district, Dauphin County, 1874-1884; elected, President Pro Tempore, 1879-1880; unsuccessful campaign for reelection to the Senate (1884), member, Finance, Judicial Apportionment, Judicial Special, Municipal Affairs and Public Buildings Committees.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=7540&body=H

Legacy:

Andrew Jackson Herr won the next three elections, serving as District Attorney from 1856 to 1865. Described by contemporaries as a remarkable criminal lawyer and “...perhaps the most accomplished word painter the Bar has for several generations produced.” Herr went on to greater distinction in the State House and the State Senate, serving in the latter for 9 years, for two years as President Pro Tem of that body. (ii)

Served as President Pro Tempore for the opening of the 1879 session, marked the first day of the Senate’s new biennial system, an iconic provision of the 1874 Constitution.

Cited: 

Smull’s Legislative Hand Book, (1883) Miller, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 732, 764 and 770-772.

         (i)  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13940277/andrew-jackson-herr

          (ii) History of the District Attorney's Office https://dauphin.crimewatchpa.com/da/310/content/history-district-attorneys-office