Richard Brodhead

Richard Brodhead (January 5, 1811 – September 16, 1863) was an American lawyer and politician from Easton, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in both the U.S. House and Senate. He was the father of U.S. Representative Jefferson Davis Brodhead.

Biography

Richard Brodhead was born in Lehman Township, Pennsylvania, the son of Hannah (Drake) and Richard Brodhead, Sr. Brodhead moved to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1830. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1836 and commenced practice in Easton. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1837 to 1839. He was appointed treasurer of Northampton County, Pennsylvania in 1841. His wife was Mary Jane Davis Bradford, a niece of Jefferson Davis of Mississippi.

Brodhead was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Revolutionary Pensions during the Twenty-ninth Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1848.

Brodhead was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate. He served as chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Claims during the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses. and the United States Senate Committee on Revolutionary Claims during Thirty-second Congress. He died in Easton in 1863. Interment in Easton Cemetery.

Legacy

He was the most recent resident of the Lehigh Valley area to serve as United States Senator from Pennsylvania until the election of incumbent Pat Toomey in 2010.^[1]

References

Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe (Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1900), 80-1; Papers of Jefferson Davis 1:520-1; 1:279, n20.

External links

• United States Congress. "Richard Brodhead (id: B000861)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 
• The Political Graveyard

United States Senators from Pennsylvania
Class 1	W. Maclay Gallatin Ross S. Maclay Leib Roberts Findlay Barnard Dallas McKean Sturgeon Brodhead S. Cameron Wilmot Buckalew J. Scott Wallace Mitchell Quay Knox Oliver Knox Crow Reed Guffey Martin H. Scott Heinz Wofford Santorum Casey
Class 3	Morris Bingham Muhlenberg Logan Gregg Lacock Lowrie Marks Wilkins Buchanan S. Cameron Cooper Bigler Cowan S. Cameron J. Cameron Penrose Pepper Vare† Grundy Davis Myers Duff Clark Schweiker Specter Toomey
Notes	† Never officially seated.