Joseph LAWRENCE, Congress, PA (1786-1842)

LAWRENCE, Joseph, (father of George Van Eman Lawrence), a Representative from Pennsylvania; born near Hunterstown, Adams County, Pa., in 1786; moved with his widowed mother to a farm in Washington County in 1789; attended the common schools; engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the State house of representatives 1818-1824 and served as speaker 1820-1822; elected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses (March 4, 1825-March 3, 1829); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1828 to the Twenty-first Congress; again a member of the state house of representatives 1834-1836; state treasurer in 1837; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1838 to the Twenty-sixth Congress; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1841, until his death in Washington, D.C., April 17, 1842; chairman, Committee on Roads and Canals (Twenty-seventh Congress); interment in the Congressional Cemetery.

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