Biography

03/12/1767 - 08/15/1848

THACKARA, James, a Representative from Philadelphia City; born, March 12, 1767 in England; engraver (1786-1833); proprietor, Thackara & Vallance, engravers (1790-1797); elected, commissioner, Philadelphia County (1797); book binder and publisher (1797-1807); proprietor, book and stationary store (1799-1803); member and chair, New Market Ward Democratic Committee; unsuccessful campaign, common council, Philadelphia (1800); assistant clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1801-1802); elected, Inspector General of Elections, Philadelphia (1805-1810); unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1806, 1816, 1817); elected, Chief Clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (December 3, 1807-December 7, 1810); curator, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1816-1828); unsuccessful campaign, Chief Clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1817); elected as a Federalist to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives  for the 1818-1819 term; reelected to the House as a Democrat for the 1819-1820 term; clerk, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1820-1821); member, Commission to Erect a State Penitentiary within the Bounds of the City and County of Philadelphia (1821-1833); died, August 15, 1848 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interred, Saint Peter’s Episcopal Churchyard, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.