Alexander Gordon PENN, Congress, LA (1799-1866)

PENN, Alexander Gordon, a Representative from Louisiana; born near Stella, Patrick County, Va., May 10, 1799; moved with his parents to Lexington, Ky.; completed preparatory studies and attended Emory and Henry College, Marion, Va.; moved to the parish of St. Tammany, La., in 1821 and engaged in planting near Covington; served in the State house of representatives; postmaster of New Orleans from December 19, 1843, to April 18, 1849; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1844, 1852, 1856, and 1860; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John H. Harmanson; reelected to the Thirty-second Congress and served from December 30, 1850, to March 3, 1853; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Thirty-second Congress); returned to St. Tammany Parish and engaged in planting and the operation of a lumber mill near Covington; at the conclusion of the Civil War returned to Washington, D.C., where he died May 7, 1866; interment in Glenwood Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present