Jacob D. LEIGHTY, Congress, IN (1839-1912)

LEIGHTY, Jacob D., a Representative from Indiana; born near Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pa., November 15, 1839; in 1844 moved with his parents to De Kalb County, Ind., where they settled on a farm at Spencerville; attended the public schools; taught in district schools; spent two years at a commercial school at Fort Wayne and then entered Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio; on July 1, 1861, after two years in college, he left to enlist in the Union Army and became a member of Company E, Eleventh Indiana Volunteer Zouave Infantry; engaged in farming and general merchandising with his father until 1875, when he established the town of St. Joe, Ind.; member of the State house of representatives 1886-1888; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1897); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress; United States pension agent at Indianapolis 1897-1901; died at St. Joe, De Kalb County, Ind., on October 18, 1912; interment in Riverview Cemetery.

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