Henry Marie Brackenridge

Whig Representative of Pennsylvania's 22nd district

Congresses Served

House Terms

May 11, 1786 (84 years old)

Birthday

January 18, 1871

Death

American lawyer, politician, writer, and judge.
Born in Pittsburgh and educated by his father, private tutors, and at the Pittsburgh Academy.
Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1806 and practiced law in Somerset, Pennsylvania.
Moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a lawyer and journalist.
First recorded tourist to present-day South Dakota in 1811.
Served as deputy attorney general and district judge of Louisiana in 1812.
Played an intelligence role during the War of 1812 and published a history of the war in 1814.
Appointed secretary of a mission to South America in 1817.
Served as U.S. judge for Florida from 1821 to 1832.
Experimented with cultivating live oak trees for shipbuilding as the first federal forester in America.
Returned to Pennsylvania in 1832 and founded the town of Tarentum.
Elected to the 26th United States Congress as a Whig to fill a vacancy, serving from 1840 to 1841.
Pursued literature after his political career until his death in 1871.