Biography

07/29/1776 - 02/03/1849

James McSherry (Federalist11) Adams and York Counties 1813-1817

Early Life:

James McSherry, born July 29, 1776 Littlestown, Adams County, Pennsylvania; son of Patrick and Catherine Gartland McSherry; Lancaster Academy; engaged, mercantile pursuits; founder, Littlestown Railroad, founding director, Gettysburg National Bank; elected, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1807-1812; entered the military, defending Baltimore during the War of 1812; elected, Pennsylvania State Senator, 1813-1817; elected, Federalist, United States House of Representatives, 1821-1823; elected, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1824-1830, 1834-1835; delegate, Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention, 1837, 1838; married, Ann Ridgely Sappington McSherry, children, James McSherry, Jr., William M. McSherry; died, February 3, 1849, Littlestown, Adams County, Pennsylvania; interment Saint Aloysius’ Catholic Cemetery, Germany Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career:

Engaged, mercantile pursuits; founder, Littlestown Railroad, founding director, Gettysburg National Bank; entered the military, defending Baltimore during the War of 1812. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1807-1812.

Elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senator, 11^th district, Adams and York Counties, 1813-1817.

Elected, Federalist, United States House of Representatives, Seventeenth Congress, 1821-1823;  unsuccessful candidate for reelection, 1822, Eighteenth Congress.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1824-1830, 1834-1835.

Delegate, Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention, 1837, 1838.

Legacy:

Pennsylvania’s first Roman Catholic state senator. Father Pennsylvania State Senator William McSherry; prominent author, James McSherry, Jr., grandson James McSherry III, Maryland Supreme Court Justice. 

McSherrystown, Pennsylvania is named in the family’s honor.

Cited:
 

William McSherry (III), History of the Bank of Gettysburg, 1814-1864 (Gettysburg: Gettysburg National Bank, 1914)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6856466/james-mcsherry