Charles Rollin BUCKALEW, Congress, PA (1821-1899)

BUCKALEW, Charles Rollin, a Senator and a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Fishing Creek Township, Columbia County, Pa., December 28, 1821; graduated from Harford Academy, Susquehanna County, Pa.; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1843 and commenced practice in Bloomsburg, Pa., in 1844; prosecuting attorney for Columbia County 1845-1847; member, State senate 1850-1853; commissioner to exchange ratifications of a treaty with Paraguay in 1854; chairman of the Democratic State committee in 1857; member, State senate 1857-1858; appointed one of the commissioners to revise the penal code of the State in 1857; Minister Resident to the Republic of Ecuador 1858-1861; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1869; member, State senate 1869; unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1872; delegate to the constitutional convention of 1873; elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1891); resumed the practice of his profession in Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pa., where he died on May 19, 1899; interment in Rosemont Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Hummel, William W. “Charles R. Buckalew: Democratic Statesman in a Republican Era.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1964; Buckalew, Charles R. Proportional Representation. Edited by John G. Freeze. Philadelphia: John Campbell Son., 1872.

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