Member Biography

John Joseph McCreesh Sr.

Member
Sessions Office Position District Party
1935-1936       4 Democrat
1937-1938       4 Democrat
1939-1940       4 Democrat
1941-1942       4 Democrat
1943-1944       4 Democrat
1945-1946       4 Democrat
1951-1952       4 Democrat
1953-1954       4 Democrat
1955-1956       4 Democrat
1957-1958       4 Democrat

COUNTIES: Philadelphia  


Biography

08/03/1876 - 09/09/1959


John Joseph McCreesh, Sr., (D4) Philadelphia (Part) County 1935-1946 (D4) Philadelphia (Part) County 1951-1958

Early Life:

John Joseph McCreesh, Sr., born August 13, 1876, Armagh, Ireland; son of Peter and Mary Ann Campbell McCreesh; public school education of Ireland; removed, America, 1910; engaged, real estate; garage owner; Democrat Leader, 27th Ward, Philadelphia; elected, Democratic, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1935-1946; elected, Democratic, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1951-1958; married, Susan A. McCabe McCreesh, children, John J. McCreesh, Jr., Francis McCreesh, Charles Francis McCreesh, Howard M. McCreesh, Reverend Eugene P McCreesh, Thomas P. McCreesh; died, September 9, 1959 (aged 83), Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interment, Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. 

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

Member, Knights of Columbus, 4th Degree. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Democrat Leader, 27th Ward, Philadelphia; Chairman, West Philadelphia Campaign Committee Democrats for President Alfred E.  Smith, 1928.

Elected, Democratic, Pennsylvania State Senate, 4th district, Philadelphia (Part) County, 1935-1946; Elected, Democratic, Pennsylvania State Senate, 4th district, Philadelphia (Part) County, 1951-1958; committee assignments, Federal Relations, Forestry, Game and Fisheries, Judiciary Special, Law and Order, Municipal Government; authored blind pension bill, 1935; Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1937; weekly day off for Philadelphia Policemen, Sunday Polo, Commodore Barry Day. 

Legacy: 

Armagh is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All Ireland for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland.

Son, Reverend Eugene P McCreesh, S.J., missionary, Rangoon, Burma. 

Upon, retirement, 1958, succeeded by his son, Thomas P. McCreesh, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Philadelphia (Part) County, 1959-1966; 8th district, Philadelphia (Part) County, 1967-1974.

Thomas P. McCreesh  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Cited:

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

The Pennsylvania Manual (1939). Westerbrook, C. H. (Editor). (Volume 84). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, page 707, 712. Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 701.

The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania) Thursday, September 10, 1959, page 55.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Thursday, September 10, 1959, page 26.

John J. McCreesh (1876-1959) - Find a Grave Memorial