Biography

06/29/1821 - 12/13/1893

Bedford County (1850), Beford and Cambria Counties (1851), Bedford County (1862-1864, 1893)

CESSNA, John, a Representative from Bedford and Cambria Counties; born, June 29, 1821 in Colerain Township, Bedford County, Pa.; LL.D., Marshall College, Mercersburg, 1842; Latin tutor, Marshall College (1843-1844); attorney-at-law; eleced, delegate, Democratic State Convention (1849); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representative for the 1850 and 1851 terms; elected, Speaker (1851); elected, delegate, Democratic National Convention (1856, 1860); seated as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1862 due to contested election, January 16, 1862; reelected to the House for the 1863 term; elected, Speaker (1863); chair, Republican State Convention (1865); trustee, Franklin & Marshall College (1857-1894; chair, 1866-1894); elected, delegate, Republican National Convention (1868, 1876, 1880); elected as a Republican, United States Congress (1869-1871, 1873-1875); unsuccessful campaign, Congress (1870); not a candidate for reelection to Congress (1874); Assistant United States Attorney General (1875); reelected as a Republican to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1893 term; died while in office, December 13, 1893 in the city of Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania; interred, Bedford Cemetery, Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania.