Alexander McDOWELL, Congress, PA (1845-1913)

McDOWELL Alexander , a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Franklin, Venango County, Pa., March 4, 1845; attended the common schools; learned the printing trade; studied law but never practiced; during the Civil War served in the Union Army in the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers; mustered out at the close of the war as brevet major; editor and publisher of the Venango Citizen until 1870, when he moved to Sharon and engaged in banking; treasurer and director of the School Board of Sharon, 1880–1913; treasurer of the borough of Sharon, 1880–1909; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893–March 3, 1895); was not a candidate for renomination in 1894; elected Clerk of the United States House of Representatives for the Fifty-fourth and for the seven succeeding Congresses and served until his resignation on April 4, 1911 (December 2, 1895–April 4, 1911); delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1900, 1904, and 1908; resumed banking interests; died in Sharon, Mercer County, Pa., September 30, 1913; interment in Oakwood Cemetery, Sharon, Pa.

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