Member Biography

Biography

Charles Rollin Buckalew (D16) Columbia, Luzerne and Montour Counties 1851-1856 (D13) Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder Counties 1858 (D15) Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Sullivan Counties 1870-1871 (D15) Columbia, Montour, Lycoming and Sullivan Counties 1872

Early Life:

Charles Rollin Buckalew, born December 28, 1821, Fishing Creek Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania; son of John McKinney Sr. and Martha Funston Buckalew; Harford Academy, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania; studied law; admitted, bar, 1843; law practice, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, 1844; prosecuting attorney, Columbia County, 1845-1847; elected, Democratic, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1851-1856; commissioner to exchange ratifications of a treaty with Paraguay, 1854; chairman, Democrat State Committee, 1857; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1858; Minister Resident for Ecuador, 1858-1861; elected, Democrat, United States Senator for Pennsylvania, 1863-1869; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1870-1872; unsuccessful candidate, governor, Pennsylvania, 1872; delegate, Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1873; elected, Democrat, United States House of Representatives, 1887-1889; elected, Democrat, United States House of Representatives, 1889-1891; resumed, law practice, 1891, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; married, Permelia Wadsworth Buckalew, children, Warren Jay Buckalew, Alice Mary Buckalew Waller; died, May 19, 1899, Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania; interment, Old Rosemont Cemetery, Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Life:

Law practice, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, 1844; prosecuting attorney, Columbia County, 1845-1847; commissioner to exchange ratifications of a treaty with Paraguay, 1854.

Authored: 

Buckalew, Charles Rollin. Proportional representation: or the representation of successive majorities in federal, state, municipal, corporate and primary elections. John Gosse Freeze, editor. 
Philadelphia: J. Campbell & Son, 1872.

Buckalew, Charles Rollin. An Examination of the Constitution of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Kay Brother, 1883

Pennsylvania Politics:  

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 16th district, Columbia, Luzerne and Montour Counties, 1851-1856. 

Chairman, Democrat State Committee, 1857.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 13th district, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder Counties, 1858.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 15th district, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Sullivan Counties, 1870-1871; Democratic, Pennsylvania State Senate, 15th district, Columbia, Montour, Lycoming, Sullivan Counties, 1872; committee assignments, Constitutional Reform, Federal Relations, Library and Retrenchment and Reform. 

Unsuccessful candidate, governor, Pennsylvania, 1872. 

Delegate, Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1873.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Minister Resident for Ecuador, 1858-1861. 

Elected, Democrat, United States Senate, 38th, 39th, 40th, Congresses, 1863-1869, Chairman, Select Committee on Representative Reform of the United States Senate. 

Elected, Democrat, United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania's 11th district, 50th, 51st Congresses, 1887-1891. 

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members B". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1871). Smull, J.A., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 428, 430, 436-438.

Charles Rollin Buckalew (1821-1899) - Find a Grave Memorial