John V. Creely

John Vaudain Creely (November 14, 1839 – declared dead September 28, 1900) was an Independent Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Biography

John Creely was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he practiced law as an adult. During the Civil War served with the Union Army as an officer of Light Artillery. He was a member of the Philadelphia City Council for four years.

He was elected in 1870 as an Independent Republican to the 42nd United States Congress. However, Creely rarely participated in his duties as a congressman and only appears once in the Congressional Globe Index, a predecessor to the Congressional Record, for a ceremonial vote at the beginning of the Congress. Before his term of service had expired he mysteriously disappeared, and upon the application of his sister, Adelaide G. Creely, to whom was awarded his estate, he was declared legally dead on September 28, 1900, by the orphans’ court of Philadelphia.

In 1927, as the Joint Committee on Printing prepared to reprint the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, one clerk went through extensive research to obtain more information about John V. Creely and his fate, writing to men he served with during the Civil War. One response he received stated, “He [Creely] was a splendid soldier, with a fine record and was honorably discharged at the end of his term of service . . . He went to Washington and that was the last time I, or any of his friends, ever heard of him. He never came back to Philadelphia, and disappeared utterly.”

See also

• Independent Republican

References

• John V. Creely at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-14
• The Political Graveyard
• History: The Case of the Missing Congressman by Kenneth Chamberlain, November 16, 2012. Retrieved on 2014-09-20
• The life and mysterious disappearance of Representative John V. Creely of Pennsylvania U.S. House of Representatives