Joel Barlow SUTHERLAND, Congress, PA (1792-1861)

SUTHERLAND Joel Barlow , a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Gloucester County, N.J., February 26, 1792; attended the common schools, and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1812; served in the War of 1812 as assistant surgeon to the ``Junior Artillerists of Philadelphia,'' transferred to the line, and was appointed in 1814 lieutenant colonel of rifles in the state militia; member of the state house of representatives, 1813-1816; founder of Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia; served in the state senate in 1816 and 1817; abandoned medicine for the practice of law; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twentieth and to the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1827-March 3, 1833); elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress, but accepted an appointment to serve as an associate judge of the court of common pleas in Philadelphia, Pa., in February 1833; seat declared vacant by the Governor of Pennsylvania; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third Congress, by special election, to fill his own vacancy on October 8, 1833 and reelected to the succeeding Congress (October 8, 1833-March 3, 1837); chairman, Committee on Commerce (Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses); unsuccessful Whig candidate for reelection to the Twenty-fifth Congress in 1836; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Twenty-sixth Congress in 1838; died on November 15, 1861, in Philadelphia, Pa.; interment in the Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa.

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