Biography

11/21/1740 - 07/07/1810

Colonel John Michael (Schmeisser) Schmyser (Federalist, no district number) Lancaster and York Counties 1790-1794 (Federalist, no district number) York County 1794-1795

Early Life:

Colonel John Michael (Schmeisser) Schmyser, born November 21, 1740, Kreutz Creek, York County, Pennsylvania; son of Mathias and Anna Koppenhoffer Smyser; married, Anna Marie Margaetha Hoke Smyser, 1760, children, Peter Smyser, Michael Smyser, Mary Smyser; Colonel, Revolution, 1775-1776 prisoner war, Fort Washington, 1776, returned, 1778; engaged, agriculture, tavern owner; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly (Unicameral), 1778-1779; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly (Unicameral), 1780-1783; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly (Unicameral), 1785-1789; elected, Whig, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1790-1795; died, July 07, 1810 (age 69), Manchester, York County, Pennsylvania. Burial location unknown.

Early Career:

One of 12 who raised money to send to Boston for the patriots when the port was closed, if the American cause had failed, everyone on that committee would have forfeited his life on the scaffold of the enemy. Captain, company under Colonel Michael Swope's York County Volunteers regiment. Taken prisoner at Fort Washington, North of New York City, September 16, 1776, returned, 1778. Retired as a Colonel.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, York County, Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly (Unicameral), 1778-1779. 

Elected, Republican, York County, Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly (Unicameral), 1780-1783. 

Elected, Republican, York County, Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly (Unicameral), 1785-1789

Elected, Federalist, original member, Pennsylvania State Senate, no district number, Lancaster and York Counties 1790-1795; first person elected to that office under the State Constitution of 1790. 

Legacy:

Two grandnephews, (sons of his brother Mathias, Jr.) Pennsylvania State Senators:

Henry Smyser, Pennsylvania State Senate, Adams and York Counties 1831-1835, 

Henry Smyser  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Philip A. Smyser, Pennsylvania State Senate, York County 1847-1849.

Philip A. Smyser  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Cited:

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

John Michael Schmeisser (1740-1810) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree