Biography

08/18/1826 - 12/16/1893

Lieutenant Colonel John Beale Selheimer, (D31) Juniata, Mifflin, and Perry Counties, 1885-1888

Early Life: 

John Selheimer, born August 18, 1826, Milford Township, Mifflin County, (now Juniata) Pennsylvania; son of Absalom and Eleanor Beale Selheimer; common school education; engaged, tinsmithing; owner, Lewistown Hardware; married, Eliza Jane Matthews, six children; director, Electric Light Company, director, Mann Tool Company; elected, Democrat, Borough of Lewistown, school director, town commissioner, chief burgess, Mifflin County Treasurer, 1859-1861; Lieutenant Colonel, Union Army, 1861; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1885-1888; died, December 16, 1893 (age 67) Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, Interment Saint Marks Cemetery, Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania (i)

Early Career:

Commanded, Logan Guards, the “first” of Pennsylvania’s First Responders (volunteer company) to march in and secure Washington D.C. for the defense of the Union, April 18, 1861, against a Confederate invasion at the outbreak of the Civil War. They later became a part of the Twenty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry, elected, Lieutenant Colonel mustered out with his unit, July 1861.

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

Member, Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, Free and Accepted Masons; Lewistown Chapter, No. 186, Royal Arch Masons; Lewistown Commandery, No. 26, Knights Templar. (ii)

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Borough of Lewistown, school director, town commissioner, chief burgess, Mifflin County Treasurer, 1859-1861.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 31st senatorial district, Juniata, Mifflin and Perry Counties, 1885-1888; member, Constitutional Reform; Canals and Island Navigation; Military Affairs and Pensions and Gratuities Committees.

Cited:

Pennsylvania Manual Example:

Cochran, T.B., (Editor) (1887) Smull’s Legislative Hand Book, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 651, 656-658, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 626.

1. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23164528/john-beale-selheimer
2. https://www.alamy.com/a-history-of-the-juniata-valley-and-its-people-n-the-civil-war-absa-lom-b-a-captain-in-the-civil-war-jane-a-married-e-w-eisenbiseoliver-p-who-enlisted-when-fifteen-years-of-age-and-served-nine-monthsduring-the-civil-war-iv-colonel-john-beale-selheimer-third-son-of-absalom-b-sel-heimer-and-his-first-wife-eleanor-beale-selheimer-was-born-in-mil-ford-township-juniata-county-pennsylvania-died-in-lewistown-penn-sylvania-december-17-1893-he-attended-the-district-schools-andworked-on-the-farm-until-he-was-sixteen-years-of-age-then-determiningnot-to-be-a-farmer-left-hom-image338904504.html