Biography

07/17/1769 - 07/13/1854

John Read (Federalist1) Philadelphia and Philadelphia County 1817-1818

Early Life: 

John Read, born July 17, 1769, New Castle, New Castle County, Delaware, British Colonial America; son of George and Gertrude Ross Read; Princeton, 1787; studied law with his father; admitted, bar, 1792; married, Martha Meredith Read, 1796, son, John Meredith Read; appointed, agent general, Jay Treaty, 1797-1809; member, Select Council, Philadelphia City, 1809-1815; elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1815-1817; Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1816-1817; state director, Philadelphia Bank, 1817-1819; president, Philadelphia Bank, 1819-resigned 1841; Episcopalian; died, July 13, 1854 (aged 84), Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey; interment, Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

State director, Philadelphia Bank, 1817-1819; president, Philadelphia Bank succeeding his wife's uncle, George Clymer, 1819-resigned 1841.

Authored:

Read, John: Arguments on the British Debts (Philadelphia, 1798). 

Government Service / National Politics:

Appointed, President John Adams, agent general of the United States under the sixth article, The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, 1797-1809.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Member, Select Council, Philadelphia City, 1809-1815.

Elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Philadelphia City and Philadelphia County, 1815-1817.

Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1st district, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, 1816-1817; Nicholas Biddle resigned his seat prior to the beginning of the session, was replaced by John Read.

Pennsylvania State House of Representatives Biography:

Not currently available. 

Legacy:

Father, George Read, American politician, New Castle, New Castle County, Delaware; Continental Congressman, Delaware; delegate, United States Constitutional Convention, 1787; president of Delaware; United States Senator from Delaware; chief justice of Delaware. Founding Father, United States, one of only two statesmen who signed four of the great state papers on which the country's founding is based: Petition to the King and Continental Association, both passed by the Congress of 1774, Declaration of Independence, 1776, Constitution of the United States, 1787.

Son, John Meredith Read, American lawyer, jurist, politician, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; elected, Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, 1823-1825; United States Attorney, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1837-1841; Attorney General of Pennsylvania, 1846; one of the founders, supporter, organizer, Republican Party national convention, Philadelphia, delivered the convention keynote address, 1856; chief justice, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1872.

Cited:

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

Cox, Harold. Senate1790-1869 (wilkes.edu). Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)

Trenton State Gazette (Trenton, New Jersey) Friday, July 21, 1854.

John Read (1769-1854) - Find a Grave Memorial