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.