Harmar DENNY, Congress, PA (1794-1852)

DENNY, Harmar, (great-grandfather of Harmar Denny Denny, Jr.), a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Pittsburgh, Pa., May 13, 1794; was graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1813; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1816 and commenced practice in Pittsburgh, Pa.; member of the State house of representatives 1824-1829; elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Wilkins; reelected to the Twenty-second through Twenty-fourth Congresses and served from December 15, 1829, to March 3, 1837; was not a candidate for renomination in 1836; resumed the practice of law in Pittsburgh, Pa.; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1837; presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840; commissioner under act of incorporation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. April 13, 1846; incorporator of Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 1848; declined the nomination to be a candidate for Congress in 1850; president of the Pittsburgh & Steubenville Railroad Co. in 1851 and 1852; trustee of the Western University of Pennsylvania and director of the Western Theological Seminary; died in Pittsburgh, Pa., January 29, 1852; interment in Allegheny Cemetery.

Bibliography

Backofen, Catherine. “Congressman Harmar Denny.” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 23 (June 1940): 65-78.

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