Biography

1741 - 1812

Born in Ireland in 1741; immigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania in 1760; attended the public schools; Lancaster County Committee of Safety, 1776; Provincial Conference of County Committees, Philadelphia (ordered the first state constitution, 1776); member of State Assembly representing Lancaster County, 1777-1779; served in the Revolutionary War; moved to Fayette, Pa., in 1780-81; returned as a member of the State Assembly, Fayette County, 1784-1786; member of the state constitutional convention in 1790; served in the state senate from 1790 to 1793, when he resigned; elected as an Anti-Administration candidate to the Third Congress (March 4, 1793-March 3, 1795); elected as a Republican to the Sixth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1799, until his death; had been reelected to the Thirteenth Congress, but died in Washington, D.C., December 29, 1812, before the close of the Twelfth Congress; interment in the Congressional Cemetery.   Married Jane Porter of Lancaster County.