Rash's Surname Index
Notes for John Martin BROOMALL
A judge and a member of the PA legislature. He helped frame the consitution of Penna. He had a thriving law practice and sent his kids to college. He built the first house in the USA (in 1850 in Chester city) which had gaslights. BROOMALL, John Martin, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Upper Chichester Township, Delaware County, Pa., January 19, 1816; attended private schools; taught school for several years; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice in Chester, Pa.; member of the State house of representatives in 1851 and 1852; served on the State revenue board in 1854; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress and in 1858 to the Thirty-sixth Congress; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860; moved
to Media in 1860 and continued the practice of law; served in the Union Army as captain of Company C, Twenty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Emergency Men, from June 18 to August 1, 1863; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1869); chairman, Committee on Accounts (Fortieth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1868; resumed the practice of law; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1874; appointed judge of the courts of Delaware County in March 1874 and served until January 1875, being an unsuccessful candidate for election to succeed himself; again resumed the practice of law in Media, Delaware
County, Pa.; died in Philadelphia, Pa., June 3, 1894; interment in Media Cemetery, Media, Pa.
The Mud Fort, or "The House that Jack Built" was an unusual building at Penn's landing in Chester, on Chester Creek at Front and Penn streets. Built in 1852 by John Martin Broomall 1st, it had one half inside the old marsh river bank, and one half outside of the bank. To prevent uneven settling, it was constructed on a timber crib tied together with iron rods. The building had a lovely view of the river, and at that time there were no industries nearby.
The mansion was 50 feet fronting on the river and 40 feet on front street and originally had a two storey porch extending all the way around the building. A feature of this porch is that a circuit of twenty times around comprised one mile. The house had two noted features, installed by its inventive owner. One was a tidal pond which used the difference in water levels to drive a hydraulic ram which supplied the house with water. The house also had the first gas plant installed in this country for residential lighting. The gas was generated from rosin
oil in the gas plant in the basement. The plant provided enough gas in one operation to last for two or three weeks. After the county seat was moved to Media in 1858, Broomall sold the house and it was torn down in 1915, since the neighborhood had become unsuitable for residential purposes.
JOHN M. BROOMALL was born in the township of Upper Chichester, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, and is the son of John and Sarah (Martin) Broomall, of that locality. His ancestors, prior to the commencement of the eighteenth century, were English, and of the religious faith of the Society of Friends. He received his education in the Friends' School in his native county, and also in Wilmington, Delaware, at Smith's Quaker Academy. In the interim between his attendance at school, and while yet a pupil, he took upon himself the role of a teacher, and for a brief space pursued that avocation with success in the Friends' Academy. In 1837, he commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Bouvier, of Philadelphia, and in the month of May 1840, was admitted to the bar. He was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature, and served during the sessions of 1851 and 1852. During 1854, he was a member of the State Revenue Board. In 1862, he was elected a Representative of his district in Congress, and was continuously returned at three separate elections, his service in the House terminating in 1869; though again nominated, he refused to accept the office. In 1872, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of Pennsylvania, and, during several sessions of that body, served as Chairman of the Committee on Taxation, etc. He earnestly labored in the Convention for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, and also in behalf of Female Suffrage. During the War of the Rebellion, in 1862 and 1863, when the State was invaded by the armed insurgents, he volunteered, and served as Captain of a Company of " Emergency Men," and was in the field for two months defending the border. He has been twice a member of the Electoral College of Pennsylvania, first, in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was chosen President for his first term; and again, in 1872, when General Grant was re-elected. In 1874, he was appointed President Judge of the District. He was much interested in the extension of the city of Chester, and is the principal owner of the South Ward, which he laid out. With other parties embarked in the improvement, he purchased and projected most of the ground now (1874) occupied as South Chester; and to both of these enterprises he gives much attention. Of late years, he has manifested considerable interest in the extension, welfare, and prosperity of Media, the shire town of Delaware County. He was married, in 1841, to Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Martha Booth, of Delaware County, who died, in 1848, leaving two children, one of whom, a son, is at present practicing law in Chester; and the other, a daughter, has graduated in medicine, at Philadelphia, and is now continuing her studies in Vienna. He was married a second time, in 1853, to Caroline L., daughter of John and Charlotte Larkin, of Chester.
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